Page 76 of My Not So Wicked Boss (My Not So Wicked 3)

Emma smacked my arm. “First of all, I could totally go for some red meat. But most importantly, you were and are the ‘it’ girl. You just never saw it. You still don’t.”

I ruffled Henry’s hair. I couldn’t get enough of the kid’s curls. “I’m definitely not. I mean, look at me.” I waved a hand over my go-to outfit of a cardigan and ankle pants. “I’ve turned into Mrs. Brady from the Brady Bunch, minus the five extra kids. And even Mrs. Brady wore shorter skirts than me. She probably wore skimpy panties too. How do you think she got all those kids?”

“Half of them were her stepchildren,” Shelby snickered.

“True, but my point is that I’m a boring mom and nanny who wears grandma panties. And I’m fine with that.”

Henry looked up when I said nanny and gave me the cheesiest grin. I loved him.

Jenna pulled out her phone and pulled up an article. “I’ve been meaning to share this with you. Look at this, it says the new celebrity trend is grandma panties.”

I took the phone from her to see if she was joking. She wasn’t. “Wow. Those are some expensive, ugly panties. They could seriously get a six pack of those for half the price of the one pair.” I handed Jenna back her phone. “Listen to how boring I sound.”

Emma sat up and turned toward me and shook my shoulders. “Aspen, you’re gorgeous. You’ve always been put together. Your look is classic, and it comes off as confident. Of course Leland went running, because he knew he was never worthy of the steak. He’s a ground beef guy. And you are anything but boring. Not only are you singlehandedly raising a preteen girl, but you work for one of the most popular authors in the world right now, not to mention the most attractive.”

“Ooo la la.” Jenna fanned herself. “Seriously, how do you keep your hands off him?”

“Well . . .” I bit my lip. “I don’t, exactly.”

“What!!!” they all yelled in unison. The librarian came over and gave us a stern look. We all hung our heads in shame for a moment. But it didn’t take long until I had three sets of eyes begging me to give them some details.

I wasn’t sure I should, but I guess I had already let the cat out of the bag. And honestly, the cat needed some advice. I set Henry on my lap and covered his ears for a second. He thought it was a game, but I didn’t want him accidentally repeating anything. “So, we kissed Friday night.”

They each faux screamed into their hands, lest we should have to wear the cone of shame from the librarian again.

I removed my hands from Henry’s ears and kissed his head.

Shelby took my hand. “Is that why you were crying on Sunday?”

“It’s part of it,” I responded.

“Did he say something about the K-I-S-S?” Jenna spelled out to protect Henry.

“He said it was perfect, but it only happened because my mom told him his kissing scenes were pathetic and he wanted to know how to fix them.”

“And you volunteered?” Emma wagged her brows.

“In a manner of speaking.” I grinned.

Jenna rolled her eyes. “He was totally looking for an excuse to make out with you.”

“I don’t know. He kind of freaked out afterward and left.”

Shelby kicked her legs like a child. “You got to him. And I think he’s gotten to you.”

“So why were you crying?” Emma rubbed my leg.

“Because,” I sighed, “I felt something. I felt him. But I signed that stupid contract and he’s always going on about how we need to stay friends because he doesn’t want to hurt me. To top it off, his ‘friends’ are coming to visit on Thursday and staying through the weekend. One of them is that woman, Penelope, I told you all about. And honestly,” I choked up, “I’m confused and scared. I don’t know what’s happened to me.”

Henry turned around and smooshed my cheeks. “Don’t cry. I love you, Nanny.” It was the first time he had ever said that.

“I love you.” I wrapped my arms around him and snuggled him for as long as he would let me while my friends watched half in adoration and half in awe. Henry would only cuddle for so long, before he climbed out of my lap and toddled over to Elliott, who was playing with some toy cars now. Jenna gave Henry some to play with as well.

Shelby patted my leg. “Sugar, I know what’s happening to you. It is as I expected all along; you’re falling for your boss.”

“The Brit got to you.” Emma wiggled her brows.

“Forget all that. You never said if he was a good K-I-S-S-E-R.” Jenna was back to spelling.

“Of course, he was,” Emma said. “Look at her, she still has the afterglow.”

---