Page 11 of The Billionaire & the Nanny: Part 4

Wearing a finely-tailored gray suit, he strides toward me. All man. All height and hair and intense dark eyes. No smiles, no warmth, no bullshit. Just a finely-assembled man on a mission to meet his new employee at the door. When he stops, a cloud of deliciousness wafts over me.

“Miss Frasier, I’m Kase Hardwin.” He reaches the spot where I stand sinking into the floor. He takes in my entire body with one visual scan, turns on his heels without shaking my hand, and I literally die. Because I’m not naked. But Kase Hardwin makes me feel stripped down to my lady bits, hardening nipples and all. “Follow me, please.”

I have to catch my breath. And wrap my arms around my torso. And calm the hell down. Holy shit, I feel like everyone is staring at my schoolgirl reaction, but how can I not react this way? That Roman god statue stuffed into perfectly-fitted pants is…Kase Hardwin? The man who hired me to care for his child?

Someone somewhere giggles at my suffering.

Ignoring the whispers, I follow the man down a long hallway, trying to conjure up the right words for that moment when I will inevitably make a fool of myself. Nobody told me my boss would look this way or make my stomach quiver into melted mush. We enter an expansive office with more angles than curves, more shadows than light, more coldness than warmth.

Wait.

Is that a playpen?

Kase walks up to the rectangular corral, picks up a tiny human pumping his little arms and legs, and holds him close to his chest. With a kiss to the little guy’s rosy cheek, he hugs the baby in the most loving way imaginable. My heart immediately melts into puddles of awww. Well, what do you know? I misjudged this man. Took him for a soulless bastard, but look at him being all Dream Dad.

“Miss Frasier, this is my son, Liam.” Kase regards his son with a touch of sadness in the corners of his eyes. But why is the baby here? Shouldn’t he be at home? I thought I was coming here to get the talking-to, then go to his house and begin work.

“He’s adorable,” I say, approaching with a smile.

But Liam draws into his father, resting his face against Kase’s chest, and Kase looks like he has no intention of handing him over to me. “He’s without a mother.”

“Oh.”

“She died of a brain aneurysm a few months after giving birth.”

“Oh, my goodness. I am so sorry to hear that.” His wife died?? Why couldn’t Le Nanny clue me in on this, so I don’t look as shocked as I feel? That is the saddest thing I have ever heard. “How old is he now?”

“Six months.”

“This must be so hard on you,” I say. “Having the baby at the office with you and all…”

“Only because I’m overloaded with work. Not because of him.”

“Of course not.” I mean, he’s his son. He wouldn’t exactly suggest his son is a burden, would he?

Kase sighs. “I don’t want a nanny—I need a nanny. If I could, I’d take care of Liam full-time, but it’s just not possible. I had no idea…” He pauses, bounces the baby a bit, then looks out the window at something I can’t quite follow.

“No idea?”

“Nothing.” He sighs again, and I sense his pain. Life had other plans for him instead of his own. I could not empathize more.

Suddenly I’m filled with sadness for this man. Here he is, standing in his cold office, looking lost, holding a motherless child, undoubtedly thinking about his wife who perished right as their life was just getting started.

I feel something else, too…like I shouldn’t be witnessing such an intimate moment, like the two of them should be dancing and humming to some quiet lullaby while outside, rain threatens to dampen the morning.

My heart races, as I try to gather my wits, because Kase Hardwin is, by far, the sexiest man I have ever laid eyes on. Not just because he’s handsome as all hell, finely built, well over six feet tall with Italian model looks, but because he’s holding a child. A six-month-old ball of squish who depends on him, smiles every time Kase drops kisses on his cheek. I’m so used to seeing rich parents not giving a shit about their kids, pawning them off to house workers. It’s refreshing to see Kase this way with his son.

All my life, I’ve been so driven and focused, I’ve barely had any interest in men. College guys were, frankly, embarrassing with their hormone-filled attempts at getting my attention, but this man—this man practically slaps the tears out of me, drops me to my knees. It’s like some secret door has opened, unleashing lust I’ve only heard about but never seen for myself. He’s so immeasurably hot with his love for this child, I have to wipe my forehead and look away.

Holy shit.

“I’m working fifty, sometimes sixty hours a week, so I can’t watch him all the time, or I would,” Kase explains, looking at Baby Liam. Placing the baby back in the playpen, he hands Liam a little stuffed bear, which immediately goes into his mouth. “It’s bad enough I’m trying to assume the role of both parents.”

“I understand.”

“I don’t think you do.” He gives me a harsh look.

And suddenly, I’m nobody again, daughter of parents in the lower ranks, and I can’t even tell him that I’m not really a nanny, or he’ll fire me on the spot. Nobody wants a finance manager handling their baby.

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