Page 85 of A Whole New Play

“Are you sure? We don’t know if he’ll hear about it yet.”

“Of course, he’ll hear about, Carter. He’s your freaking defensive coordinator!” She dismisses my foolish optimism. “There’s no way everyone in the Rough Riders organization isn’t going to see that photo, and I bet most of them will recognize me.” Her hands shake as she buries her face in her palms. “This is a disaster.”

“Hey,” I say softly, stepping forward. “It’s going to be okay.”

“This is a mess.” She shakes her head. “A dumpster-sized mess.”

“That’s a big mess.”

She looks up and levels a pointed glare at me. At least, she tries to. But amusement shines in her beautiful gaze even as she clips, “This isn’t funny.”

“It’s not,” I agree. “But I don’t think it’s going to be that bad, either.”

“You don’t?”

“No.” In the hour I waited to text her, I decided that having a girlfriend wouldn’t interfere with my custody case in any significant way. Neither will the fact we kissed in public. I won’t allow it.

Davis is a fantastic lawyer. He and his team will argue why I’m the best parent to have custody even if Laura’s lawyer tries to bring up the PDA to attack my character.

I’m sure of it.

And with that worry put aside, I have to admit, the possibility of no longer needing to hide my relationship from the world is appealing.

I just hope Valerie feels the same way.

She pinches her lips together as her eyes search mine, trying to figure out where my head is at. “What about taking things slow? This kind of ruins that.”

“We can still take things slow. People knowing about us won’t change that.”

“But I’m your nanny.”

“So?”

“So?” She scoffs. “People aren’t going to say nice things about either of us when that information gets out. They’ll say you took advantage of someone who works for you, or they’ll say that I’m a gold-digger who intentionally seduced you.”

My lips twitch. “I wish you would’ve tried to seduce me. That would’ve been fun.”

“Stop it.” She shoves me in the chest playfully even as she says, “This isn’t a joke.”

I capture her hand in mine before she can pull away. “I know it’s not, but… it is kind of funny. The reason I fired so many nannies wasn’t just because they weren’t right for the twins, but because nearly all of them tried to sleep with me. I didn’t want anything to do with any of them.” I chuckle softly. “But then you came into the picture, and I can’t even count the number of nights I’ve spent lying awake, thinking about what I would give for you to make a pass at me like those women did.”

Her lips part in surprise. “Really?”

“Really.” I lift her hand to my lips and gently kiss her fingers. “It doesn’t matter what anyone thinks about us or how our relationship started, Valerie. All that matters is us and the people we care about.”

The twins will learn about our relationship. I don’t know what I’ll do if they disapprove. I don’t even want to think about it. Just like how Valerie likely doesn’t want to think about her parents’ reactions.

She takes a deep breath and releases it on a heavy exhale. “Are you sure? Like… really, really sure?”

I draw Valerie into my chest, cupping the side of her face and gazing down into the deep green eyes of the woman who is very possibly on her way to becoming the third most important person in my life.

“Valerie, I’ve never been more sure of anything in my entire life.”

27

VALERIE

“Are you sure you don’t want to respond to your dad? He’s been blowing up your phone since we landed.” Carter keeps his focus on the road as he speaks. Which is good. If he looks at me, he’ll see the way the blood drains from my face when he mentions my dad.

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