Page 25 of One Touch

I gritted my teeth. It was more like ten with the high-end vehicle premium, the time spent on the car, and the parts I’d already put into it. In any case, I nodded. “Ballpark.”

She smiled nervously. “Okay, well, that would be eight and a half years for a full repayment. Unless you want to take interest into account, which is fair enough—”

“Look, I appreciate how committed you are to paying me back, but it’s really not necessary.”

“I don’t like to be in debt to people.”

“So, what’s the second plan?” I prompted, my heart rate inexplicably accelerating.

“Well. Elara mentioned that you were looking for a live-in nanny for Ava.”

My eyes widened. “Do you have nanny experience?”

“Well . . . no. But I love kids.”

“What about your store?”

“El said that you need someone for the evenings. I can drop Ava off in the morning at school, go to work, pick her up at the end of the day, and then stay with you at night.”

“You’ll be exhausted.”

“I owe you lots of money.”

“Lily, listen, I don’t need you to pay this back.”

She paused for a moment, sighed deeply, and then looked straight at me. “This might be hard to understand,” she said, wringing her hands together, “but I really need this right now. I need to keep myself distracted. Do something different. I don’t know how I feel about the bookstore anymore.”

“I get that. It’s just not so straightforward.” I looked back over my shoulder. “Ava’s going through some stuff right now. She needs stability. I’m not saying that you would just change your mind about it—”

“Good, because I wouldn’t. There’s no way. I know what it’s like to be let down.”

“Sure, but even with the best will in the world, things happen and plans change.”

To my surprise, she put her hands on her hips in defiance. “Well, that’s true of anyone. You could get the most committed nanny in the world and a piano could fall out of the sky onto her head.”

“Piano? On her head? Jesus.”

“My point is nothing’s a sure thing.”

“You’re not exactly filling me with confidence here.”

“I swear to you I won’t stop being Ava’s nanny until you ask me to.”

There was another problem, of course. A problem that I couldn’t discuss with Lily at all.

I had a massive fucking crush on her. A crush so big it would make a falling piano look like a feather in terms of its destructive power. The thought of having Lily under my roof, sleeping just a few feet away from me, was way too exciting.

It wasn’t like I couldn’t control myself. Of course I could. But the last thing I needed was for Ava to see my drooling over some young woman who was clearly not ever going to be a replacement for her mom.

“Please, Ethan, give me a chance.”

“I don’t know, Lily,” I sighed. “If we’re doing this, then it’ll be on the understanding that you don’t owe me a cent and I’ll be paying you a damn wage.”

“Wait, we’re doing this?”

“If! I said if!”

“Sure! Sure!”

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