Page 10 of Undeniable You

“Uh huh. I also like watermelon. And strawberries sometimes. But not blueberries or raspberries.” She made a face.

“I like mango and watermelon too. What about grapes?”

Juniper nodded and we sat together at the table and ate mango and talked about fruit. Larison bustled around and poured iced tea for me, herself, and Allison, and couldn’t seem to sit still, fluttering around and cleaning and doing other things. Allison tried to get her to sit down, but she didn’t seem to want to.

Instead I hung out with Juniper and I knew that I wanted to be her nanny. She was funny and bright, and we totally clicked.Of course, I was seeing her just on one day, and there would be times when she was difficult, but I was ready to handle that.

“Jo?” Juniper asked, motioning for me to lean closer once we’d demolished the mango.

“What is it?” I whispered as she leaned close.

“Will you come over and play with me?” she whispered.

Well. That was a pretty good endorsement.

“Why don’t you ask your mom?”

Larison looked up from scrubbing the counter for the second time. I couldn’t tell if this was regular behavior for her, or if she was nervous about something.

“Mama? Can Jo come over and play with me? I want her to read me books.”

Larison’s mouth dropped open and I thought I saw Allison hiding a smile.

“Oh. Um, I’m not sure about today, but how would you like it if she came over and hung out with you while I’m at the bookshop?”

Juniper looked at her mom and then looked at me.

“Okay!” she said, shrugging. “You can stay in my room. You’re too big for the bed, but you can have some of my blankets and stay on the floor.”

I couldn’t help it, I burst out laughing. “That’s really nice, Juniper, but I think I’ll just come over during the daytime and go back to my own house at night if that’s okay.”

She thought about that for a few seconds.

“Okay. Iguess.” She didn’t sound very enthused about me going home and I shared a look with Larison, who was also trying not to laugh.

“But would it be okay with you if we hung out during the day?” I asked her. Her mom might be making the final decision, but I had to win over this kid if I was going to keep this job.

“Yup,” she said, nodding her head.

I gave Larison a look.

“That’s great, Juni,” Larison said. “Because Jo is going to be coming over a lot.”

Guess I got the job?

Chapter Four

Larison

I shouldn’t have brought her to meet Juniper. I’d had a feeling that my daughter would love this woman and that was a huge problem.

Jo was…well, she wasgorgeous. I’d been so busy worrying about her being qualified and getting along with Juniper I hadn’t considered the fact that she might be pretty. That my initial reaction to her might have almost knocked me out of my chair and I had to keep finding things to do at my parents’ house so I wouldn’t just sit there and stare at her as she interacted with my daughter.Of courseJuniper adored her immediately.

I’d never considered how attractive it might be to see a beautiful woman immediately click with my daughter. It was arousing and heartwarming at the same time, which was a confusing cocktail of feelings that I was doing my best not to swallow and choke on.

When was the last time that I’d had this kind of reaction to a woman? To anyone? A long fucking time. It was even longer since I’d sought anyone out for the purposes of dating or sex. All that had gone out the window when I had Juniper.

Even if I’d found the time to date, did I really want to fall for someone my daughter might not like? Or someone who said that they were fine with me having a child in theory, but then in reality couldn’t handle it? There were just too many ways that things could go wrong, so I’d set that aside and had focused on raising Juniper and keeping my crap together.

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