Page 37 of Single Dad's Hot Nanny

She must have taken my silence to mean I was upset because she glanced up at me with a frown. “Don’t be mad at your aunt for sharing. I wasn’t prying or anything when she told me.”

Her worried expression heightened my guilt for overreacting earlier. “About earlier…” I shoved my hands into the pockets of my jeans. “I’m sorry.”

“You don’t apologize often, do you? You look so uncomfortable.” She let out a little laugh as she rose to her feet to face me. “I appreciate the apology, Michael, but it isn’t necessary.”

Rubbing my jaw, I grunted with a mixture of amusement and confusion. “And here I thought it was normal to apologize for being a dick.”

She smiled as she always did, and my eyes hungrily moved over her face. Usually, I was more subtle with my assessments of her. I supposed a part of me was done denying that I was attracted to her. What happened last night made me realize that fighting it was futile. I stared at Mia, amazed that she mademe want to break my strict rule of never getting intimate with employees. The woman was the bane of my control.

“The thing is, you weren’t a dick,” she said. “

“I was,” I insisted.

“Well, you weren’t wrong. I work for you. There’s no need for me to know the imitate details of your life. I understood your reaction.” She tucked her chin into her chest and shrugged. “I know you’ve been feeling uneasy around me after what happened last night.”

I blew out a barely audible sigh. I’d been skirting around her like a coward, which was unlike me. “Look, Mia…” I searched for the right words to explain my mixed feelings. My attraction to her refused to go away as I thought it would, but I couldn’t afford to complicate things. A part of me wished I’d never met and slept with her because she was the perfect nanny.

However, another part of me wouldn’t change what had happened for the world because it was fucking fantastic. Before I could say anything more, a loud croak erupted from the nearby garden. Mia jumped, her eyes wide with alarm as she peered around me.

“What was that?” she whispered, inching closer to me.

Amusement surged through me. It seemed she was a city girl through and through if she didn’t know what that was.

“It’s just a toad, Mia. They’re harmless.”

“Oh, god. I don’t do frogs.”

“Toad,” I corrected. While there were plenty of frogs around, Aunt Neddy’s backyard was also littered with toads.

“It doesn’t matter. I don’t do amphibians. Period. I… I don’t do arachnids either… Hell, I don’t do any species that isn’t a fish, feline, canine, or human.”

I chuckled. “Okay.”

“I’m going back inside.”

Another croak sounded, this one even louder, and Mia visibly tensed as her eyes darted around the yard. “Harmless or not, that thing sounds like it’s the size of a freaking dog.”

I was about to reassure her when the toad decided to make an appearance. It hopped out of the shadows and landed near our feet. Mia let out a startled yelp. She backed right to the edge of the deck and lost her balance. With flailing arms and a surprised squeal, she toppled backward into the water.

“Mia!” My amusement instantly turned to concern, and without a second thought, I jumped in after her. I couldn’t see a thing under the water, so I was immensely relieved when she surfaced, sputtering and gasping.

Before I could even reach for her, she leaped into my arms, wrapping herself around me like a vine. For a moment, I was stunned into a stupor by her warm body pressed against mine, but then I realized she clung to me because she was still terrified.

Through her frightened haze, she realized our positions too and quickly unwrapped herself from me. I kind of wish she hadn’t…

“Holy shit, Michael! It’s huge!”

I followed her bulging eyes to the tiny animal and shook my head. She was so dramatic. “It’s not.”

“It looks like it wants to jump in here with us. Swim away, Michael. Save yourself,” she whisper-shouted.

I couldn’t help it. I burst out laughing. The sound boomed, carrying on the night breeze. “Mia, this is hardly a life-threatening situation,” I sputtered between chuckles. “If it was, I’d be a real asshole for saving myself, wouldn’t I? Has anyone ever told you you’re way too dramatic?”

Mia glowered at me. “Oh… shut up! I panicked.”

I only laughed harder. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d laughed this hard. After a beat, Mia snickered, and then her giggles joined my uproarious chortling. She shrieked andpounced on me again when the toad croaked and hopped away. We found ourselves face-to-face with her arms wound around my shoulders and mine around her waist… I hadn’t even registered grabbing onto her.

As our laughter died down, we just stared at each other.

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