Page 33 of Stick Move

“Workaholic, huh?”

She snorts out a laugh. “Something like that?” She walks toward me and hands me a glass full of amber liquid.

“Like father, like daughter.”

Another snort of laughter. “Yeah, and look where that got me.” She holds her glass out for a salute.

I clink glasses with her. “I’m really sorry you nearly lost this place.”

“Nearly?” She looks at me like I might have cracked my head on the ice too many times. “I did lose the place, Noah.”

“Right,” I agree. “But you’re still here and you can stay here and you can always be a part of this place. I know how much it means to you. Plus, you have some time off and I don’t think you’ve had time off in a very long time. That’s not so bad, is it?”

She shakes her head. “No, I didn’t mean to sound like it was. I’m grateful.” She walks to the floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, now empty, and runs her fingers along the edges. “I don’t remember a time I’ve never worked. I don’t even know what a vacation is. It’s so weird, to have all this free time. I don’t know what to do with myself. What to do for fun?”

I lean against the desk. “We had fun earlier, didn’t we?”

Her cheeks turn pink again. “Yeah.”

“Does that mean you don’t hate it? Your new position?”

“I don’t.”

That gives me a measure of relief. When it comes right down to it, I’m not the guy to be making decisions for her. I have no place or right to do that. What she does, and who she does it with, is all her business. But having seen the stress on her face, knowing the bind she was in, I reacted. And again, while I have no right to make decisions that affect her life, I just wanted to give the girl a fucking break, time to figure out who she was and what she wanted.

“Where do you see yourself in a year? Five years?”

With the glass tipped to her lips she turns back to me, her face flushed, sexy. God, I want her again. “This sounds like a job interview. Didn’t you already hire me?”

I laugh and push off the desk. “Right, okay, so about these rules.”

“I’m a full-time, private nanny for Camryn. Cooking, cleaning, seeing her back and forth to school when it starts in a couple weeks, etc.”

“Yes, everything a full-time care giver would do. You can also drop her at the childcare center here as well, if you have things to do. I just don’t want her there full time. Also, one of the women at the park near our old home, wants to arrange a play date. Camryn has a good friend from the playground. It’d be good for you to get to know her mother. I take Camryn to the park every Sunday, and I can introduce you to her.”

She arches a brow, a sly grin on her face. “Are we talking about the woman who had you sandwiched on the left or the right?”

I grin back. “You saw that?”

“It was hard to miss, Noah.” She pokes my chest. “I have a feeling the playdate this woman wants is with you.” She rolls her eyes. “Could they have been any more blatant?”

“Jeez, kind of sounds like you were jealous.”

“No, I wasn’t. I’m not.”

“I didn’t know you were watching me.”

“I…” She shakes her head, flustered. “You’re hard to miss.”

“For what it’s worth, I saw you too. You’re hard to miss, Sunshine.”

She takes a big drink from her glass. Liquid courage, maybe? I’m not sure, but it’s easy to tell she has something else on her mind.

“Sex,” she begins finally addressing the elephant in the room, or at least its long trunk as it dangles between my legs. “It didn’t change anything, right?” I eye her not sure what she’s getting at. “I mean, I’m still the nanny, things are still the same? I mean sex is just for sex, right?”

Is she worried that I’m going to want more?

“Right,” I agree, keeping my voice even, professional. I wave a finger back and forth between the two of us. “We can do more of this.” I’m not sure if I’m asking a question or letting her know I’m game.

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