Page 17 of The Billionaire & the Nanny: Part 4

Your secretaries all think you’re a god, I think to myself. “Why are you here?” I ask instead. “I thought you had work to do and I would be meeting a housekeeper or someone at your home today.”

“First of all, I don’t have housekeepers. A team comes once a week to clean, but I don’t hire full-time service, Miss Frasier. I come from humble background and don’t need it. Definitely don’t need anyone snooping down my back either. You’re the first person who’ll ever live here besides me.”

I’m floored.

In a home like this one? He doesn’t have full-time service? That’s unheard of. How did he earn this home? I know he’s a top dog at the ad agency, but this is an old Manhattan home, and you don’t get to live in a place like this by coming from humble beginnings.

I follow him into the living room, furnished with excessively expensive paintings, statuettes, furniture, and artifacts. You can tell his wife used to live here at some point, because there’s photos of her on the walls holding little Liam, and suddenly, my heart breaks all over again. I have to remember, when I’m thinking of him as an asshole, that this man is mourning the loss of his wife, the mother of his child.

And now, I’ll be the first woman to live here since her death.

“Second of all,” Kase says, picking up Liam from his swing, cuddling with him a moment before handing him over to me, “I’ll be working from home a few days.”

“A few days? Why?” It’s not that I’m panicking, but okay—I’m panicking. So much for not having Kase around all the time to look down on me.

“To watch you. Make sure you’re assimilating nicely. No offense to you, Miss Frasier. I would stay home a few days no matter who the agency sent for a nanny. I need to make sure you’re the right fit for Liam, seeing that I work full-time, and you’ll be the one to raise him. I’m sure you can understand that.”

Slowly, I nod. “Fair enough.” But still, I can’t help but feel that he doesn’t trust me. That he’s staying home just to make sure I don’t feed the baby kerosene or dip him in a flea bath instead of a nice warm lavender soak.

The second Baby Liam slides into my arms, he reaches his little chunky arms toward Kase asking for rescue. “Nuh-uh,” I walk away toward a window overlooking Central Park on the brink of blossoming with springtime colors. “Maybe it’s better if Daddy isn’t here to give you options.” I glance at Kase standing against the counter, arms folded over his chest.

“What does that mean?” he asks.

“All I mean is, it would be easier for Liam and I to get along if you weren’t here all the time watching over us. The very fact that you’re in the same room as me means he’s going to prefer you, of course.” Go, shoo, get the fuck back to your office, I want to tell him. He’s only making my job harder by insisting to stay.

“I can see that, so I’ll stay out of the room, but you’ll indulge me a few days. After all, Liam’s life is in a stranger’s hands, and I want to make sure I’ve made the right choice.” With that, he smirks and exits the living room, just as Liam starts to cry.

“Don’t listen to him, baby,” I whisper in his ear. “It’s like he wants me to fail, but you won’t let me, will you?” I pull the keys out of my purse and hand them to Liam who immediately stops crying and becomes engrossed in the shiny metal. Easy peasy. And soon, Kase won’t need to watch after me anymore.

* * *

Everything is going just fine,but that night, I apparently commit the mother of all sins and begin dipping the baby into the bath water before testing it with my elbow. Though the water wasn’t too hot—just barely lukewarm—Kase barks at me from the hallway where he’d been watching me in secret the whole time.

Honestly, I can’t work this way and come infuriatingly close to quitting.

“Stop!” he yells, comes into the bathroom and takes the naked baby from me. “How do you know this isn’t scalding hot if you don’t touch it, Alana?”

I scoff but keep my control. “I can tell, Mr. Hardwin,” I say, my voice shaking. “Hot water feels…well, just hot. There’s steam rising from it, and I don’t feel any warmth coming from the tub at all.”

“It could be misleading,” he says, kneeling in front of the tub and putting his hand in. He sees that the water isn’t going to give his son first-degree burns and finds another excuse to be mad at me. “You also didn’t put the mat down, so then what? He’s just going to slide all over the tub?”

Seriously?? Does he think I’m that stupid? “I was going to hold him the entire time, Mr. Hardwin. I would never leave a baby sitting in the tub all by himself, even if I’m only one foot away!”

We stare at each other for a moment, and I have to wonder—is this about my ineptitude? I know I’ve never cared for a baby, but like I said before, some things just come naturally. He’s blowing this out of proportion.

My heart races inside my chest, and for a second, I think Kase is going to lunge at me, kiss me with passion and fervor, but instead, he plops the baby in my lap and moves out of the bathroom.

I feel like we just avoided a car accident with my stomach in my throat and my head pounding like a drum. The bath goes exceptionally well, and I even get Liam to take his bottle without qualms before bedtime. “Sleep well, little guy,” I tell him, covering him with the blanket and stroking his cheek.

He might’ve been difficult yesterday, but today he’s already better.

I retire to my room and let out the biggest sigh ever.

What am I going to do? There’s clearly tension between me and Kase, but I can’t exactly ask him to stay away from me while I do my job, and I can’t ask him to stay away from his kid either, when the whole reason he needs a nanny is because he has to work. As stressful as this job is, I need it.

I need money.

There’s a knock on my door. I’m hesitant to open it, because a) I don’t want to deal with Kase Hardwin anymore today, and b) I’ve already changed into my sweatpants and tank top for the night. Cracking my door open, I peek out to find him standing there, leaning against the door frame. “Can I talk to you a moment?”

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