Page 17 of Even if It Hurts

Meet her. Possibly re-hire her. Thank Ada for her incredible timing.

“Nanny?” the social worker asked with a whisper of surprise and even more doubt. “Then you should get to that meeting; I’m sorry for keeping you. Oh, and don’t forget...I’ll be stopping in soon.”

How could I?

She’d told me no less than a dozen times before she’d left yesterday, every time sounding more like a warning. Every time sounding more confident that I wouldn’t be able to handle this.

I’d already failed my brother once. I refused to do it again.

“Looking forward to it.” Ending the call, I turned and stormed out of my office, stopping cold when I walked into a completely different living room than before.

It was still a wreck, but there wasn’t a person in there, and it was silent.

Slanting my head as I soundlessly moved through my living room, I listened for any indication of what could be wrong and found my team gathered in the far hallway, peering into what was now Kaia’s room.

“You might wanna rethink firing her,” Rush said when I stepped up beside him.

I narrowed in on the back of a petite girl, unruly blonde curls messily piled on top of her head and tugging at a memory I tried to keep buried, subtly rocking back and forth as she spoke to Ada. “She got Kaia to sleep?”

“Almost immediately,” Rush whispered. “Said we were overwhelming Kaia, then scooped her up and walked away. By the time we followed them in here, Kaia was out.”

A grunt rumbled in my chest as my gaze involuntarily trailed over the girl’s figure again. The subtle flare of her hips and dip of her waist that emphasized with each sway and had my heart racing as flashes of a short, chance encounter from nearly a year ago barreled through my mind.

“Then again...” Rush went on, slanting his head in my direction and lowering his voice even more, “maybe she won’t be the best fit.”

“Why’s that?” I tore my stare from the girl when Rush didn’t respond to find him giving me a meaningful look. “She’s Ada’s great-niece,” I reminded him.

“Still hot,” he mumbled.

“And young.”

His head tipped back with a laugh that was too loud, considering we were all standing outside a room where there was a baby who was finally sleeping. “Sure. If that’s what you need to tell yourself.”

I’d use anything to remind myself the girl in that room was completely off-limits.

Because she’d turned at the sound of Rush’s laugh, her familiar, breathtaking features pinning me in place and making me want a dozen things I couldn’t have. Not then. Not with her. Especially not when I was about to rely on her for Kaia.

“There you are,” Ada said when she noticed me standing there, then waved me into the room. “Lainey, honey, this is my boss, Asher Briggs.”

Surprise had flared in Lainey’s eyes the moment she turned, and even after a subtle shake of her head, a stunning smile lit her expression as she stared at me in disbelief.

I knew the feeling.

But considering I’d told Ada everything about last year within minutes of it happening, I had a feeling this wasn’t another chance encounter. And as much as I wanted to hate her for it because she knew better than to do something likethis...right now, I needed her great-niece.

Lainey’s stare quickly darted around before falling as if just remembering the rest of my team was gathered behind me. With a subdued clearing of her throat, she said, “It’s nice to meet you,” as she set Kaia in the crib we’d built the other night. The emphasis onmeetso subtle, I wasn’t sure anyone else caught it or the slight darkening of her cheeks. “I’ve heard so much about you over the years that I feel like I already know you.”

My eyes narrowed at the double meaning behind her words because she clearly remembered me, but I also had no doubt Ada would tell anyone who’d listen every terrible thing about me. “I can only imagine what you’ve been told.”

“All good things,” Lainey assured me as Ada said, “She knows what a surly, stubborn, frustrating man you are.”

An acknowledging hum rumbled in my chest, but I forced my stare to where my niece was sleeping when a flush swept up Lainey’s cheeks as if she hadn’t expected Ada’s boldness.

“Do you have experience in this?”

“Nannying?” Lainey clarified once she realized I was talking to her. “No. But I?—”

“Went to school for something to do with early childhood, I heard,” I mumbled before she could repeat everything Ada had already told me. “And you don’t wanna be a nanny, correct?”

---