Page 18 of Single Dad's Hot Nanny

As I watched him dress, there was a kick in my gut. He seemed in a rush as if…he had to get to someone.“Oh, God, you’re not married, are you?”

His eyebrows hiked up. “No.”

Relief swamped. “Then have breakfast with me.” I smiled. “I know you have your reservations.” I waved a hand as if to fan off the whole age thing, so we could forget about it and move on. “But after last night, I’m thinking we can?—”

“Jane…”

My mouth snapped shut and that hope I had of a romance dwindled when I saw the remorseful look on his face.

“I don’t want you to think I’m an asshole…” He sighed heavily. His shirt was still open and I could see the ripple of his muscles as he shoved his fingers through his hair. “Maybe I am because I shouldn’t have slept with you knowing that I didn’t want anything more, but last night was…”

“It was great,” I said, hoping the reminder would help to sway him toward the idea of us.

“Sure, but it didn’t change anything. I still don’t think we’d be a good idea.”

“I’m not saying we have to get serious. I was thinking along the lines of another date to see where things lead. We had fun last night.” I hoped I didn’t sound desperate.I wasn’t. I was simply the type who wasn’t afraid to try my hand at love and relationships. My mother often chastised me for wearing my heart on my sleeve, but I was like my grandmother, the biggest cheerleader for romance.

“My life isn’t set up for dating a…”

“Twenty-one-year-old?” I finished. I took his lack of a response to mean yes. My lips twisted sardonically. “Of course, I’d lose my virginity to a man who doesn’t want to see me again.” With my luck, that sounded about right.

“What?” Michael gawked at me. “You were a…? For the love of God!”

I folded my lips and stared at him through wide eyes. “Crap, I said that out loud.”

He scoffed. “Yeah, you did. You couldn’t have said it out loudlast night?” His eyes were lit with anger, and I just didn’t get it.

For a moment, he eyed me with doubt as if he thought I was lying, but then I could practically see him replaying last night. Whatever he remembered must have confirmed my honesty because he rubbed the bridge of his nose and sighed heavily.

“You had a box of condoms at your bedside, for Christ’s sake, and you were avirgin?”

Heat scalded my face. “They weren’t really mine… long story.” Scrambling out of bed, I hauled the sheet along to keep myself covered. “Wait a minute. You have something against people my ageandvirgins?” I held up a finger. “Which I’m not anymore, so that should be one thing off your list of things you don’t like about me.”

That must have only infuriated him more because a muscle ticked in his jaw. He pointed an accusing finger at me, and his eyes narrowed to slits. “I have a feeling that if I spend even another minute with you, you’ll send my blood pressure through the roof. You are trouble.”

My mouth opened and closed, but I didn’t deny that I was. He wasn’t the first to say that to me.

“See? You can’t even deny it.” He buttoned up his shirt, tucked it back into his pants with jerky movements, and grabbed his jacket from the back of a chair. “Goodbye, Jane.”

As he stormed to the door, I intercepted him. He halted and glowered so hard at me I should have melted. “I’m sorry, but I don’t get what the big deal is.”

He sighed as if trying to gather the last shreds of his patience. “Alright, let me explain it to you then,” he said softly and calmly.

I liked that about Michael. He didn’t blow his top or throw things when he was angry. Though fury burned in his gorgeous eyes, he was in control and never once made me feel unsafe. Thatwasn’t the experience I had with my last relationship… not that Michael and I had a relationship.

“Do you remember what I said about my preferences last night?” He asked. “I like when people respect them, just as I respect theirs. I wouldprefernot to date someone fourteen years my junior, and I would havepreferredto not have unwittingly taken one’s virginity.Respectthat Jane.”

I swallowed. “Okay, I get it, and I respect it. So you would have stopped last night if I told you you’d be my first lover?”

His features softened slightly. “I’d like to think I would have.”

The sliver of uncertainty in his eyes gave me hope. He mightpreferme to be older, but Michael was attracted to me. The blind could see that, and I felt it in the way he touched me—even in the way he looked at me.

“I would have liked the choice to not be taken from me,” he said softly. “And you know what else, Jane?” The severest scowl I’d ever seen darkened his features. “I detest liars.”

Yeah, so he’d said last night. We had an intense staredown, and that’s how I caught the tiniest flicker of pain in his eyes. I doubted he meant for me to see it, but by that look, I could tell that he’d been lied to before. Guilt pulsed through me until my eyes skated away from his. I stepped aside and allowed him to pass. However, my injured pride and hurt feelings made me lie… again. What did it matter if I continued to do the very thing he hated? He was going to walk out the door anyway.

“Michael.”

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