Page 21 of A Very Daddy Christmas

“Need another?” Sebastian asks, noticing my empty glass.

“Yes, please.”

I keep my eyes on him as he gets up and refills my glass. I note his broad shoulders atop his tall frame, his arms long and strong. The sweater sleeves struggle against his muscles. I love the way the jeans he’s wearing hug his thighs. This man knows he looks good and carries himself accordingly. That kind of self-confidence does things to me. I’m practically melting in my chair by the time he comes back.

“How does it feel so far? This whole arrangement?” Sebastian asks.

“So far, so good,” I quip, briefly losing myself in the blue pools of his eyes. “I mean, it’s only the first day. We’ll see how Dariofares later down the road. Right now, it’s the excitement of me, the new nanny, coming in. Fresh face, new person. There will still be sleepless nights, I’m sure. My sister did her best to keep me super busy after our parents passed away. She signed me up for every after school activity there was. By the time I got home, I was so tired, I’d practically pass out before dinner was ready.”

“He still has tantrums,” Sebastian replies. “Dario is a wonderful kid. He just doesn’t know how to manage his emotions.”

“Well, he’s only four, and he’s been through a hell of a lot,” I kindly reassure him. “Time tends to do its job better than we could even hope for. The grief never really fades, but we learn to grow around it.”

“Your own experience with loss is the second reason we offered you this job,” he admits, lowering his gaze for a moment. “The guys and I have dealt with loss of our own, but nothing like what happened to Dario. You, on the other hand, you’re a bird of the same feather.”

“Yeah, I guess I’m able to relate to him in a way others can’t, and Dario feels it, too. But you three are doing an amazing job with him,” I reply, smiling softly. “You’re good men. Generous. Kind. Patient. You put his needs first, even if it means you stepping out of the picture for a little while.”

He nods in agreement. “It’s only until we wrap up this UB campaign.”

After a moment of silence, I tell him, “I have to confess, I did some research on you guys.”

“You did?” He sounds surprised.

I need another sip of whiskey for this. “I was curious. Doing my due diligence. You know, the basics. Three guys I just met ask me to take care of their kid for a ridiculous amount of money… I had to know a little bit about you.”

“I get it,” he says, smiling softly. “So which was it? Curiosity or due diligence?”

“They’re not mutually exclusive.”

“Fair enough. But which one was dominant in your decision to look us up?”

The tone of his voice lowers, causing my body temperature to rise. The look in his eyes shifts. It darkens, igniting embers in my core as I wrap all ten fingers around my glass and take a longer swig. There are a few feet between us until Sebastian leans forward, causing me to hold my breath.

“Curiosity,” I manage.

“You know what they say about curiosity, don’t you?”

“I’m not a cat.”

Sebastian leans back into his seat, never taking his gaze off me. “You’re one hell of a woman, though,” he says. “Whatever am I going to do with you?”

“Well, what do you want to do with me?”

I don’t regret asking the question in the moment, but something tells me I might at some point in the future. Tonight, however, as the alcohol works its way through my system, demolishing my inhibitions one by one, I let myself go. I’ll let the conversation take us wherever it leads, knowing the deeper we go, the harder it will be for me to pull away.

“I don’t think you’re ready to hear what I want to do with you, Cora,” Sebastian replies. “Not to mention it would be thoroughly unprofessional on my part.”

“Pretty sure I’m off the clock while the little guy’s asleep,” I shoot back.

Where is this self-confident audacity coming from? It can’t be the whiskey. I’m barely on my second glass. Sebastian’s eyes widen with decadent delight, a smile stretching across his lips.

“You’re just looking for trouble, aren’t you?”

“I think that was obvious when I said yes to coming here.” I can’t help but laugh as I say the words.

“At least I know I wasn’t imagining anything.”

I shake my head slowly.

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