Page 13 of The Spice Play

He was built like some kind of Greek god, like Achilles himself.

“Cat got your tongue?” he asked, but the playfulness I’d seen on his face last week was gone, hidden behind a mask of irritation.

“No, I just…”

“Did you stalk your way into getting this gig?” he laughed, but it sounded angry, as if he was disappointed and frustrated with me, even though I’d done nothing other than show up to a meeting that was requested of me. As ifhewasn’t the one who had taken my number and never followed up. As ifhewasn’t, apparently, the reason I was here.

The realization that he was the single dad in questionwas starting to click in my head, and nausea climbed my throat. “What? No. Of course not.”

“Mmm. Seems unlikely, Moreno,” he said, his lips pursing as he dropped his shirt back into a normal position and saved me from staring at his body.

“I work for Rosie,” I insisted. “I have for two years. I didn’t even know I was meeting you here. I wasn’t told a name or anything, and I’m assuming you weren’t either. She just assigned this to me. Do you seriously think I’m so insane that I would have followed you around for a week trying to figure out who you were and somehow wormed my way into a job you needed filling?”

He shrugged. “It wouldn’t be unheard of.”

“I’m more than capable of taking a hint when someone doesn’t call. I wouldn’t do that,” I snapped, and dear God, I immediately regretted it.

His nostrils flared wildly as he stared at me, looking like a bull about to charge. Everything about him seemed less inviting than he had been last week, every part of him oozing irritation, exhaustion, and just general unease, to the point that I almost wondered if he’d been replaced by a carbon copy of himself with a worse attitude.

“Look, I can just go,” I grumbled, pushing up off the seat and nearly startling myself as it folded back into itself. “If this is even an inkling of what it would be like to work for you, then I’m not interested.”

A damp, sweaty hand wrapped around my forearm — the same hand whose fingers had been buried inside of me eight days ago. I stared down at it, trying not to imagine what they’d looked like as he slid them out, trying not to picture the clear lines of sticky fluid holding them together.

Even though he was a dick, it was harder than I wanted it to be to push those images from my head.

“Stop,” he huffed. “I’m sorry, it’s been a shitty practice, so I’m not in the best headspace right now, and you appearing out of thin air threw me off even more. Idoneed a nanny. Desperately.”

“Right. You just wish it wasn’t me,” I deadpanned.

His mouth opened but closed almost immediately, his jaw clenching. “I’d need you more than full-time. Round the clock most days, last-minute calls, evenings, and weekends when I’m playing out of town. This wouldn’t be a steady schedule. I’m offering exceptional pay in exchange. Can you do that?”

I blinked at him, surprised by the amount of detail he was willing to just drop on me after accusing me of stalking him. “I don’t have any other clients right now.”

He huffed out another exhausted breath. “So that’s a yes?”

“How much are you paying?” I asked, narrowing my eyes at him.

“Six per week.”

I snorted. “Six hundred a week? For that much work? That’s not exceptional?—”

“Six grand.”

What?

I froze, my gaze locked on his light blue eyes as he stared me down. The lightest bit of stubble coated his jawline, a new addition since I’d seen him clean-shaven the last time, and as the thoughts ran wild in my mind of everything I could do with six thousand dollars every week, I didn’t know what else to say.

“Six… grand?” I choked out.

“Per week,” he clarified, as if he hadn’t already said that. His fingers tightened around my arm, almost hard enough to bruise. “That exceptional enough for you, Nel?”

I swallowed down the pooling saliva in my mouth. “Yeah.”

“I need you to start immediately,” he added, his eyes flicking between mine as he moved just an inch closer.How the hell is he so stable on skates?

“I don’t have any plans,” I said. “Like, ever.”

He nodded, his mouth contorting as he sucked his teeth. “I need to clean up and pick up Matty from school. Meet me at my house in a couple of hours. You can meet him, see if you two mesh.”

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