Page 47 of Bad Nanny

It was way too soon to be sleeping in each other’s beds, right? Trying to convince myself that it was for the best, I trudged to the bathroom, a little sad that my night wasn’t ending in his arms.

Chapter 16

Who the Fuck is Brad?

Gabriel

Nothing appealedto me more than spending a quiet evening at home after a stressful day. Things were going well for Badden Apparel, but every once in a while, a team we worked with would throw us for a loop and make things more difficult than they needed to be—especially if a team was suddenly under new ownership and management right before we were supposed to go to production.

My shoulders were tight and damn near touched my ears as I pulled into the garage. Tomorrow was going to be a make-or-break day for our contract with the San Diego Seawolves. They were already being touted as the top team heading into the NFL season, and the cocky new owner was difficult, to say the least.

Adding to that stress, I’d have to go with Noah to a meeting in San Diego, since Lex was in New York to meet with our marketing firm. Besides, San Diego was the teamthat had signed Lex before he injured himself, and any reminder of that sent him into a spiral.

I didn’t know how Delaney was going to react to me getting home late on a Friday, but hopefully, with Josie at the helm, she’d be okay. The gradual changes to Delaney’s daily schedule were working out fine so far. Luckily, she didn’t have a therapy appointment this week that Josie would need to take her to in my absence.

Josie.

The thought of her made me grin like a fool as I entered the house. Things had been good over the past week since the plastic-in-the-vent incident and the best sex of my life. There was something about watching Josie come undone that made everything heightened for me.

We spent most evenings together, and once Delaney was asleep, we’d explore each other’s bodies or cuddle on the couch. With her living in my house already, it was like we were on the fast track to...something. I was hesitant to label what we were. Girlfriend and boyfriend didn’t feel quite strong enough for our relationship.

As soon as I rounded the corner from the hallway to the main living space, Delaney squealed. “Daddy! Come see! Come see!” She was bouncing in her seat, waving me over to the dining room, where a colorful mess covered every inch of the table.

I stopped in my tracks next to the kitchen island, shocked she hadn’t come running to me. Should I be concerned? Delaney always ran and gave me a hug—sometimes with tears—when I returned from work.

This was a good thing, right?

Brushing aside the weird tugging sensation in my chest, I set my bag on the counter and walked to the table.

“Oh, wow.” I took in the colored craft sticks, sequin lips, wiggly eyes, and other various materials. “This is quite the surprise.” Both the lack of a hug and the arts-and-craft explosion strewn across the table.

“We’re making stick puppets.” Delaney held up one with a tie made of felt. “This is you, Daddy.”

I took the stick from her. “Wow, the resemblance is uncanny. Did you make this all by yourself?”

“Yup!” She held up another stick puppet. “This is Josie.”

“Where is Josie?” I smoothed back Delaney’s hair and smacked a kiss on her forehead.

“Peeing.” Delaney covered her mouth and giggled.

“Oh, geez.” I chuckled. “I’m going to change.” I turned and stopped in my tracks. “Is that...an olive tree?” I blinked a few times at the seven-foot tree in the corner of my living room.

“Delaney helped me pick it out. We thought the living room needed a little more life,” Josie explained as she came into the room.

“I’d hardly call a fake tree ‘more life.’” I walked over to the tree, examining the silk-like leaves and plastic olives. “Delaney might stick one of these up her nose or try to eat one and choke.” I was only half-joking; Delaney was a smart little girl, but kids were unpredictable.

Josie came to stand next to me, grabbing my pinkie with hers. It was a subtle way we liked to touch when Delaney was in the room. I would have much rather pulled her to me and wrapped my arms around her.

“The only one who will be choking on anything is me...later.”

Her words were spoken low enough for only my ears, but that didn’t stop me from turning my head to make sure Delaney hadn’t heard. “I’m going to hold you to that. I could really use one.”

“Use one of what?” she asked innocently while batting her eyelashes.

“You know exactly what.” The stress from the day started to evaporate as I looked into her playful eyes. “The fake tree needs to go, though.”

“Nope. We already named it. It’s a part of the family now.”

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