Page 61 of Holiday Hire

He runs over and pulls a slinky out of the box.

I step over to the white plastic sheet. We spent hours painting a huge turkey on it, along with red, blue, yellow, and green dots. I ask, "Who wants to play Turkey Twister?"

The kids all run to the edge of the sheet, and the adults follow.

Alexander states, "I was the master at Twister."

I arch my eyebrows. "Were you?"

He nods. "Yep! I could beat all my siblings."

"Why don't you play, then?"

"You want me to play?"

"Yeah."

"The games are for the kids."

"Who said adults can't play?"

"Let's have the kids play first and then adults," Evelyn suggests.

We agree. After several games and tons of laughs, the kids finally have enough. At one point, all of them win, and all get prizes.

Alexander looks at me. "Ready to see how this is done?"

I smirk. "Who says you'll beat me?"

"Guess we'll find out," he says in challenge.

I tease, "Should I be scared?"

He grins. "We'll see." He takes his cowboy hat off and sets it on the picnic table. He grabs my hand and pulls me in front of the game, adding, "Don't chicken out now, Miss Nanny."

I hold in my laugh. He's never called me that before. I realize how much I like the relaxed side of Alexander. He hasn't shown me it until now.

Paisley grabs the spinning wheel that we made. She flicks it, calling out, "Blue."

Alexander puts his left foot on a blue dot. I put my right foot on one.

Isabella takes a turn and spins. She chirps, "Red." We both put a hand on red.

The kids all take turns spinning and calling out colors until our bodies are twisted, and I end up underneath Alexander.

"You're going down, nanny," he taunts, reaching over me and moving his hand to the green.

"You wish!"

"Yellow!" Jacob Jr. yells.

I move my hand, and Alexander moves his leg over my torso so his body is in a V over me. His T-shirt falls toward his neck, revealing his six-pack…and another surprise.

My pulse pounds between my ears. I stare at the ink trailing over the right side of the V of his torso. A rope twists between the letters s, t, a, l, l, i, and o.

What word is that?

"Red!" Isabella orders.

---