Page 20 of My Not So Wicked Boss (My Not So Wicked 3)

Emma found in her the strength to grab my shoulders and shake them. “Then why in the world did you agree to take this job? He could find another nanny.”

“Besides my awful track record with men, I feel like I’m supposed to be his nanny. There is something about Henry. I feel like he needs me.”

“What about what you need?”

“I don’t need a man.”

“They’re kind of nice.” Emma giggled.

“You’re still in the honeymoon phase.”

Emma smooshed my cheeks. “Listen to me, it’s not that. And I’m sorry, I don’t care what you say. You never had a ‘honeymoon phase’ with Leland, so you don’t even know what that means. But by the way, they’re fabulous and you deserve one. Regardless, though, I saw the way you looked at Miles last night. Your sparkly eyes said you missed whatever it was that was igniting between the two of you.”

I closed my eyes and tried to blow a breath out, but Emma’s hands made it sound more like I was blowing raspberries, which made us both laugh. She dropped her hands and took my arm back.

“Em, this job could be a game changer for me and Chloe.”

“I get that.” She leaned more into me. “Just make sure you don’t forget it’s not the only game you could win.”

I was about to ask her what she meant, but her assistant coach, Gwendolyn, who was basically a trophy coach, waved at us from her lounge chair in her skintight designer jeans with sky-high leopard-print boots. “Ladies,” she called, “I asked Mario,” her Latin lover and husband number three or four, I couldn’t remember, “to run to Starbucks and get us all hot chocolate. Isn’t that nice?”

“Do you know what would be nice?” Emma grumbled. “If she actually helped me coach.” Emma’s tired eyes lit up. “Now that you work for Miles, does that mean you would be free to help me coach?”

I thought about it for a second, excited about the prospect and the doors taking this job would open for me not only professionally, but personally. I could finally be the kind of mom I’d always wanted to be, volunteering at the school and, of course, being more involved in the sport Chloe and I loved so much. “I would love to. Just let me make sure it’s okay with Miles if I bring Henry to practice with me.”

Emma threw her arms around me. “You know, I think this job is going to be the best thing ever.”

~*~

I thought so too on Sunday when I brought Chloe with me to Miles’s home to see where we would be living and to sign my employment contract. When we entered the gated community up on the mountain above Carrington Cove, Chloe’s eyes widened as she took in all the magnificent homes, each with their own distinctive look. One was reminiscent of a castle, another a lodge, but Miles’s home was in a class of its own. The steel, wood, and glass house was the crown jewel of the neighborhood. It was set up above the other homes as if it was meant to be their shining light. I would imagine in the dark it was just that with all the floor-to-ceiling windows the house boasted. I couldn’t believe we would be living in such dream surroundings.

I turned down the radio with my sweaty palms feeling a little self-conscious driving up the long driveway lined with large pine trees in my old Subaru that had tears in each seat. I may have grown up in Carrington Cove, but my parents lived in the older section on a couple of acres that they bought back when Carrington Cove was a one streetlight town. My dad was a geologist for a local gas and oil company and had provided a comfortable life for us, but he was never going to be wealthy. Though they could sell their house and property for a small fortune now, thanks to the extensive growth Carrington Cove had seen over the years. I didn’t see that happening. Mom and Dad loved it here. Besides, this is where Chloe was, and she was their life. Even though my parents were wary about me taking this job.

Mom had done her own research on Miles, even going as far as writing a report for me. She was dad’s unofficial research assistant, so she lived and breathed digging for information. I had a nice fifteen-page report that she had spiral-bound and laminated. I’d shoved it in my glove compartment after skimming through it and laughing. It was filled with pictures printed off the internet of him and her hand-written captions that were all questions like, “Don’t you think he’s a little old to be wearing such tight jeans?” The answer was no. He looked amazing. Other captions included, “He’s forty, why isn’t he married?” She also listed all his books and ranked them by critical reviews and how much money they had made. Silent Stones was on the top. She had informed me she would be reading every book and doing a book report on each one. Oh, how I loved my silly mom. Dad, I believe, was holding out judgment until Mom came to her conclusions. I think he thought it couldn’t be worse than marrying Leland, and it meant that Chloe and I would be closer, so for now he was tentatively giving his approval.

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