Page 14 of A Baby Surprise For My Billionaire Boss

“When I do, you’ll have to agree that he’s the cutest guy ever. Only don’t let Damian see it,” Maddie warned. “He’ll probably be jealous.”

“He’s not going to be jealous because I looked at a picture of your boss. How cute can this guy possibly be?”

“Heart-stoppingly.”

Tess grew serious. “You need to be careful, Maddie,” she said. “You know that, don’t you? I mean, you know you can’t get involved with your boss.”

“Of course I do,” Maddie said quickly. “Do you really think I would do something like that?”

“Generally, no, but I also didn’t think you’d quit your job lifeguarding and become a live-in nanny for a guy you just met. You’re surprising me quite a lot lately, and I just want you to be careful. You cannot get involved with this man, no matter how cute he is. There’s no way that would end well.”

“I know,” Maddie agreed, half grateful for her friend’s advice and half annoyed that Tess felt the need to give it. “Nothing is going to happen.”

But as they ended their call, Maddie had to admit that she wasn’t completely confident in her ability to stay away from Eli Sinclair.

I can do it,she told herself firmly.It’s just a crush, and this is just a job. I can look, but I won’t touch. It’s as simple as that.

CHAPTER 6

MADDIE

“Charlie, breakfast time.”

Charlie, who was clearly a morning person, opened the door to his bedroom. He had already dressed for the day, Maddie saw. It was no surprise to her that a six-year-old could dress himself, of course, but she did find it a pleasant surprise how much joy he seemed to take in the task. She had also been happy to see that he had some of the options an ordinary boy of his age would have had — she’d wondered whether his father would always dress him in clothes with designer labels, but today he was wearing a T-shirt with a superhero on it.

“What’s for breakfast?” he asked her.

“What do you want?”

“I don’t know,” he admitted. “Do you know how to cook?”

“I’m all right at it. Let me know what you want and I can give it a try.”

“French toast?”

“I think I can manage.”

Charlie grinned and joined her in the hallway. The two of them made their way down the stairs to the kitchen.

As it turned out, the staff was nowhere near as large as Maddie had imagined it might be when she had first moved in. There was a groundskeeper, as she’d thought, but she rarely saw him. There were cleaners, but they were hired to come intermittently. Eli did have a cook, but the cook’s job was to make dinner, not breakfast — breakfast had turned out to be one of Maddie’s duties. Eli had said she was welcome to just pour Charlie a bowl of cereal each day, but she’d gotten into the habit of making him something a little nicer, and she could tell that it meant a great deal to him.

Something occurred to her as they reached the kitchen. “It’s Sunday,” she said.

“I know,” Charlie said. “I have a calendar in my room.”

“Isn’t your dad at home?”

“Probably not,” Charlie said. “Probably he’s at the office.”

“On Sunday?”

“Yeah. Why not?”

“Well… most people don’t go to the office on Sundays,” Maddie said.

“Oh. They don’t?”

“I don’t know about everybody, but a lot of people take Sundays off and stay at home. Some people do that on Saturdays too.”

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