Page 92 of The Secret

I frowned. “Why does everyone keep saying that?”

“What do you mean?”

“That I’m going to fit in well. Murray said it, too.”

“What? He did?” She dropped her arm to look at me properly as we walked.

I nodded.

“Wow. That is…” She rolled her lips, but didn’t seem to find the words she needed for the rest of her sentence, and I didn’t push it because we’d veered off topic

“Anyway, what do you know about Dasha? And them?”

Freddie shook her head. “Nothing. Murray never tells us about anyone he dates. We don’t even know if he dates or just sleeps around. The only time we know he’s been with girls is when he’s photographed and it turns up in the paper. She’s definitely not someone you need to worry about; there’s been a couple more since her.”

“Oh.” I wasn’t sure if that made me feel better, because it still didn’t shed any light on how our relationship was different, seeing as we hadn’t been out either. And it wasn’t like he could hide me, even if he wanted to, because they’d hired me. They’d known about me before he did.

“Kit, this isn’t that,” Wolfie said reassuringly, taking in my slight dismay. “That’s how we know something’s happening.”

“What do you mean?”

She smiled as she watched a dad running to catch up with his toddler who’d made a bolt for the water. “It’s been a lot for him the last few months, but you seem to have made it… I don’t know, bearable? Easy? We’ve never seen him behave like this, or be like this…”

“Like what?”

“Protective, possessive,” she smirked, “all moony-eyed. He never stops staring at you.”

“No, that’s because of Bell.”

She shook her head. “It’s not Bell, it’s you. Freddie said he was watching you like a hawk on the dance floor last night.”

“She’s right. Jamie told me that Jasper told him that Murray called him at the beginning of the week, asking for advice on dating. But I’m not supposed to know that,” Alex added.

Wolfie gasped, slapping her arm. “I didn’t know that! He didn’t tell me.”

“Probably because he knew you’d make a big deal of it. I only found out last night when we got home.”

The Williams’ family rivalled Payton for how much she loved the gossip, although theirs seemed to be exclusively involving the family. They didn’t seem to care about anything else. While I didn’t want to add to the fire, I was intrigued to hear more, and knowing Murray had been thinking of me so much he’d asked for advice started up the butterflies again.

“Yeah, we’ve wanted him to settle down for a long time.”

I put my hands behind my head, as I always did when I needed to think, because there was something I couldn’t put my finger on… And again, they were almost determining that this was what would happen, that it was a given we’d be together when I didn’t even know myself. Then it struck me that maybe there was more to this.

I stopped walking.

“Why did you hire me?” I looked between Freddie and Wolf, wanting the truth, because I knew it was more than to care for Bell. My suspicions were confirmed when their expressions turned shifty. “Come on, why did you really hire me?”

Wolf wouldn’t meet my eye, and Alex was openly grinning at her squirming. “Murray needed help.”

I shook my head. “There were plenty of better qualified nannies who could have done the job, but you requested me from Marcia, and she wouldn’t let me say no. I wasn’t planning on nannying again, and you’re paying me double what you needed to. Give me the real reason.”

I crossed my arms over my chest, waiting for the honest answer.

“Fine, we liked you. We thought you’d be perfect for each other, and we wanted to give Murray a nudge in the right direction.”

My nose creased up. “What does that mean? What direction?”

“You’ve seen the kind of girls he goes for…” She left it hanging in the air until the silence bordered on awkward. “We wanted to him to spend time with someone who didn’t have a giant stick up her ass or daily Botox injections.”

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