Page 33 of Single Dad's Hot Nanny

“He took me to some god-awful make-out spot and immediately started trying to get into my pants. I mean, at least buy a girl dinner before trying to cop a feel, am I right?”

Michael’s eyebrows shot up. For a man, who kept his expression unreadable most times, he had such expressive eyebrows. I smiled at the thought.

“What’s so funny?” he asked.

“Nothing.”

His eyes narrowed with suspicion, but he said, “Go on, continue with this supposed boyfriend curse.”

“Okay, so there was this one guy. He seemed really sweet at first—handsome, with a great smile and personality. We went on a few dates, and everything was going well. Until he invited me to a barbecue at his place.”

“A family thing?” Michael asked.

“That’s what I thought. I was thrilled that he wanted me to meet his family and friends. That meant we were moving to the next stage of our relationship.” I shook my head sadly at the memory. “I was so wrong.”

Michael grunted. “I’m almost afraid to ask what happened.”

“Turns out, the ‘barbecue’ was actually just him and his ex-girlfriend. Hisstill-living-togetherex-girlfriend. They were supposedly just friends. As if the entire situation wasn’t awkward enough, they invited me to join them in a threesome.”

I giggled when Michael just stared at me with ano shitkind of expression.

“I ran out of there so fast you’d think they were trying to murder me. I ghosted the guy after that.”

I then went on to tell him some more horror dating and relationship stories. He laughed uproariously at the one about the guy who was obsessed with conspiracy theories and spent the three weeks of our relationship trying to convince me that lizard people were running the government. The sound ofMichael’s laughter always made me feel tingly inside. It was so deep and smooth. Plus, I reveled in the fact that it seemed only Poppy and I could make him laugh that hard.

When I got to my most recent relationship, I held back quite a few details… like the part where I discovered my ex was a con artist who had racked up a mountain of debt with dangerous people and put me in their crosshairs.

“Oh, there was a very interesting one before my most recent ex,” I said. “The guy who asked me if I’d be willing to pee on him during sex.”

Michael, who had gotten up to grab us bottles of water while I talked, sputtered on his next sip. When he regained his composure, he turned to me with a look of disbelief.

“You’re kidding, right?” he asked.

“I kid you not. I ghosted him, too, after his request. I’ve done a lot of ghosting in my day. My many encounters with crazy guys is the reason I stayed a virgin… until I met you.”

He froze, and so did I when I realized what I’d said. The reminder that we had slept together made things get super awkward. Hot faced, I swerved away from that minefield of a topic.

“I mean… Well, I just attract the wrong guys,” I said. “Maybe there’s something wrong with me.”

“There’s nothing wrong with you,” he assured.

“It hasn’t all been bad. There was this one blind date I had where the guy was really decent. A gentleman who wined, dined, and treated me like a lady as I always wanted. Hell, it was theonlynormal date I’ve ever had.” I smiled sadly. “But then I messed it up…” As I tended to do.

Michael’s gaze jumped to my face. As our eyes stayed locked, the unease that had started to vanish slithered its back way in. Why couldn’t I just shut up sometimes? I had promised him there would be no awkwardness when he hired me, and there Iwas, making things awkward. I swallowed and quickly changed the subject.

“It’s your turn. Tell me about the so-called nanny curse.”

As he held my gaze, his eyebrows furrowed slightly. He opened his mouth and then closed it as if he was about to say something but changed his mind. Good. I bet he was about to mention something about our date, and I didn’t want to talk about it.

“Poppy has been through a few nannies—more than I’d like to admit. For some reason, they all seem to lose interest in the job quickly. Either they can’t handle the responsibility, or they misunderstand the situation.”

I studied him closely. “You mean they misunderstand things with you?”

He sighed. “Yes, and I don’t understand it. I’m not saying I’m a perfect employer, but I can say with certainty that I’ve never given any of them a reason to believe I was interested in them as more than employees.”

I believed him. Michael might be standoffish sometimes, and I admit, I’d referred to him as an asshole on a few occasions because of the icy way he handled things with me in the beginning, but he was an honorable man. In a world of Mr. Wrongs, he was one of the good guys… A Mr. Right forsomebody, and a part of me wished I were that somebody.

“Some of them seem to think that being Poppy’s nanny is a stepping stone to something more with me. I’ve had to turn down more than a few advances, and it’s made things uncomfortable.”

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