Page 42 of Worth Every Risk

“Mmm.” She inhales and licks her lips. “Who knew you had a secret talent for cooking eggs?”

“It’s not hard.”

She scoffs a mouthful. “Mmm, but this is delicious. Yum.” I fill a glass of water and give it to her. “Thanks. You do this for all your nannies?”

“No. Never done this for anyone.”

Her features widen in amazement. “Now I feel special.” She points her fork at me. “You shouldn’t go making a girl feel special if you don’t mean it.”

“It’s an omelet.”

She licks the side of her knife. “Special omelet.”

“You’re drunk.”

“Yes.” Her eyebrows move up and down in unison. “And you’re special.”

I laugh. Fuck, this woman is funny. She might be the strangest, most beautiful woman I’ve ever met. No one… and I meanno one, has ever spoken to me like this. Especially not an employee. I don’t even want to consider why I’m allowing it to happen…

For a few minutes, I watch her eat, which she does with gusto.

“Why were you awake? What were you doing down here?” she asks as she chows down a mouthful.

My mind flits to the email from Barney and the conversation about Charlie. There’s no way I’m getting into that now. “Couldn’t sleep.”

She arches a brow. “I can help with that.”

“How?”

“Reiki.”

I cross my arms over my chest. I don’t miss how her gaze slides over me, drawn by the movement, lingering on my upper arms. She gives a tiny shake of the head, as if to release whatever distracting thought popped into her mind. “Ah, yes. The reiki,” I say with a heavy dose of scepticism.

“It’s very relaxing. You lie down, I wave my hands over you—”

“No.” That sounds way too intimate. I’m not getting on my back for this woman, especially not if she’s drunk.

“No? You’d fall asleep in no time. My mother used to do it for me as a kid all the time. I’d fall asleep while she directed healing energy at my body. I felt surrounded with love while I drifted off.”

That sounds oddly appealing. “I thought you were a nanny, not a healer.”

“I’m a lot of things. Close your eyes.”

The air thickens around us, but I’m not sure she notices. She’s so bright, so bubbly. Maybe she’s completely oblivious to the attraction that’s pulsing through me right now.

“Here? Now? Standing up? Not that I mean to doubt you, but I’m not sure even you have the power to make me fall asleep standing up.”

Aries laughs, tipping her head back, rustling all that hair like an autumn breeze moving through fallen leaves. God, even this woman’s hair has me turning poetic. “I just meant for you to feel the sensation of it. The tingles.”

Tingles?That soundsdangerous… like it might lead to places I shouldn’t go with this woman. “No.”

Aries sighs as though I’m a disappointment to her. To think I might be makes me uncomfortable, like my skin has shrunk in a hot wash. “You’re such a sceptic. It’s written all over you.”

I can’t help it, but I let my arms fall and glance down at the bare skin of my forearms, my hands, my chest, as if something isactuallywritten there, and Aries laughs again. I love the way she laughs… it’s sofree. On the plus side, if she can laugh so easily then perhaps she isn’t too disappointed in me. Judging by the way she’s smiling at me, she’s certainly not holding onto any resentment.

“Thanks for the omelet. I’m going to go to bed. If you can’t sleep, message me.” She waves her phone at me as she stands to put her plate in the dishwasher. “I’ll send you some distance healing.”

I say nothing, because the only thing I want to do is tell her to scrap the distance part of that sentence. And maybe the healing part too.

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