Page 5 of Falling for the Single Daddy

“You are welcome, C-A-L-L-I-E!”

Chapter Three

Gray

I stay on the porch, my phone open on the surveillance app so that I can watch and hear Callie with my daughter. Seeing Emery light up with Callie stirred something in me. I can’t lie—not to myself—I was checking Callie out big time during the interview. Sweat was sliding down her neck and chest toward her curvy mounds. My body was acting in all kinds of inappropriate ways.

When she mentioned reading romance novels, a flush crept over her cheeks and neck, making me wonder if her luscious body flushes like that all over. But when Emery joined us, something else replaced the lust. Emery took to Callie so quickly. And now, in the library, she’s giggling as Callie makes a walrus face at her. Emery will often try to avoid being ‘childish,’ but she seems much more carefree with Callie.

I grind my teeth, leaning forward, staring at the phone, at the two of them together. I’ve got a serious choice to make. If I hire Callie—and she seems like the clear choice—I’ll have to forget I ever felt like this. I’m going to have to pretend that my shaft isn’t stirring, threatening to get hard, trying to ignite my mind as I think about her walking ahead of me when she first arrived. It was the way the fabric settled on her round ass, her curves tempting me, her generous legs begging me to grab them, pull her dress up, and reveal her creaminess.

Fuck. I stand, roll my arms, twitch my neck from side to side.

“Wow, Callie, yeah,” Emery says through the phone. “Ha ha,yeah!”

“Imagination is a beautiful thing,” Callie says. “It’s like this library, Emery. Magic. You close your eyes, and you can think ofanything you want. Your imagination is your superpower. Never forget that.”

“I won’t, Callie. I promise.”

I close my eyes and try to take Callie’s advice. I imagine coming home from work and seeing Callie in the front room after putting Emery down for a nap. Instead of looking at her mouthwatering legs, gazing longingly into her chocolaty brown eyes, or flooding my mind with thoughts of the moaning sounds she’d make if I tore down her shirt and took her nipple into my mouth—instead of all that, I must only see her as the nanny and be thoroughly professional.

“May I be excused?” Emery says, jolting me from my thoughts. “I’d like to use the bathroom.”

“What wonderful manners,” Callie replies. “Of course you can.”

“Will you wait here?” Emery says eagerly.

“Absolutely.”

I know what’s going to happen before it does. Emery comes, running around the corner, her hands balled into tight fists of pure excitement at her side. She can barely contain her energy. “Daddy, Callie is the best!” she exclaims. “Can she be my nanny? Please, Daddy? She’s really funny and smart,andshe liked my walrus story,andshe even told me how I could make the story even better. Daddy? Please?”

Part of me knows what the responsible move would be here. I should take a knee and look my little angel in the eye. Tell her that, while she likes Callie, there will be other nannies who will appreciate everything that makes her special. If I don’t do this, I’m playing this fire. It will mean letting Callie into our home.It will mean trying every single day to fight this unexpected temptation.

“Are you sure?” I ask my seven-year-old daughter, as if she can save me.

She looks at me like I’m stupid. “I’m super sure!”

There’s no reason to deny her. Callie is qualified and well-trained and obviously makes my daughter happy. Against my better judgment, I say, “Yes, okay, sweetness. But it will be a trial run at first.”

“What does that mean, Daddy?”

“We’ll have to see how she does for a couple of weeks, make sure she’s the right fit.”

“The right fit?” Emery cocks her head at me.

“Like a glove.”

“Sheisthe right glove,” Emery says emphatically, nodding rapidly.

I smile. “Yeah, well… It’s basic procedure.”

“What’s that word?”

“It means it’s the way things are done.”

“Can I tell her?” Emery glows with excitement.

What am I setting into motion here? If I'm attracted to a woman for the first time in years, the reasonable thing would be to ask Callie on a date while telling her she can’t be Emery’s nanny. But I’ve been burned once before. Abandoned. Maybe this is for the best, then. It means Ican’tget attached. And pretty soon, thisfeeling, this crush, this whatever the fuck, it’ll fade. I just have to ignore it.

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