Page 53 of Single Dad's Hot Nanny

MICHAEL

I glanced at the cake still sitting on the counter. “Happy Birthday, Mia!”was scrawled on it, and a big 22 candle was stuck in the middle. Since I did a thorough background check on her and knew plenty of details, like her birthday, I mentioned it to Poppy. I thought we could do something special for our amazing nanny.

When Mia left earlier this evening, she said she’d be back in a few hours, so rather than present her with the cake and gifts we got her, I decided we could wait until she got home. That was a mistake because it was past eleven, and she still wasn’t home. Was she out with the guy she went on that date with? Had they gotten serious? The possibility had me grinding my molars.

Releasing a slow hiss of breath, I told myself, for the millionth time, to get over Mia. What she did during her personal time shouldn’t concern me. Our platonic relationship was working out just fine. I returned my attention to the spreadsheet on my laptop. Not long after I got back to work, my landline rang. That was strange. No one rang that line. Getting up, I went to the phone hanging on the wall.

“Hello?”

“Hi.” A man’s voice greeted me. “Is Mia there?”

I gritted my teeth. If it was her significant other, I’d likely lose my shit because why the fuck would she give himmyhome number? “Who is this?”

“Jonathan Clarke. I’m Mia’s brother.”

My shoulders relaxed, and I instantly felt like an idiot for my jealousy. I felt bad for practically snarling at the man. “Oh… She isn’t here.”

The man’s deep sigh had me on alert. “Is everything alright?” I asked.

“Are you her boss…? I’m sorry, she didn’t give me your name.”

“Michael Hayes.”

There was a pause that had me raising my eyebrows.

“Wait…theMichael Hayes as in Hayes Global Equity?”

My eyebrows, which Mia liked to make fun of, arched even higher. I guess her brother was a fan of the finance sector. “Uh-huh.”

“Wow… Mia didn’t tell me that… Look, I’m sorry to bother you, but she gave me this number to call in case of emergencies. This is an emergency.”

My entire body went rigid. “Is Mia okay?”

“I sure as hell hope so. We were with our parents, and Mia was pretty upset when she left. She’s not answering my calls, so I went to her apartment. She isn’t there, and you said she isn’t at your place. It’s beenhourswith no call-back. She never disappears on me like this no matter what. I’m worried about her…”

Running my fingers through my hair, I told him, “If I get in touch with her, I’ll tell her to call you.”

“Thanks.”

My heart pounded as I hung up. From what I’d learned, Mia and her brother were pretty close. Something must be wrongif she wasn’t answering his calls. Plus, she said she’d be home by now, and she wasn’t. My stomach dropped into my ass as I thought the worse. It hit me that I cared a hell of a lot about her. Grabbing my cell phone, I called Lincoln.

“Hey, man,” he greeted. “Everything okay? You don’t usually call this late.”

“Are you busy?”

“Nope.”

“I need a favor.”

“Name it.”

“Can you come over for a bit? Poppy is asleep, and I need to run out. I don’t want to wake her. It’s an emergency.”

“Say no more.”

I heard shuffling as if he was already on the move. Thank god for great friends.

The tracker on the Bentley I’d given Mia access to (because it was the most child friendly of my collection) led me to a parking lot behind a popular bar. I parked beside it and peered into the dark interior. Mia wasn’t in there, so hopefully she was in the bar.

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