Page 30 of Risky Game

“You did?”

“Yeah, figured I should get started on that, but you were right in that they’re all full. I was able to get on the waiting list for a couple of them, though. Can I show you them?”

“God. Yes. Please.” It was a relief. And impressive. When I asked her to call, I hadn’t meant immediately. But a waiting list was better than nothing.

I pushed my laptop toward her, and she brought her chair closer to me. She leaned in, and once again, I got the overwhelming urge to dive my hand into all that hair. Ocean sunrises and salty air made my head swim, along with the idea of Ruby in a bikini that I couldn’t squash before she froze, turning her head in my direction.

“Is this okay?” she asked, and God, I swore her voice was gravelly. Huskier than normal.

“Of course.”

She bit her bottom lip, turned back to the computer, and fuck me sideways.

This was a disaster waiting to happen, and I’d gone so long with using my hand for pleasure, I wasn’t sure I was strong enough to resist.

Two damn days she’d been in my home, not even, and I was already losing it.

This was not good. Not good at all.

I cleared my throat and pushed my chair back. A cool drink would calm me down, give me a second to get my shit together. I grabbed a glass and filled it with lemonade I usually kept on hand for Amelia. By the time I returned to the table, Ruby had put space between us again and had the laptop facing where I’d been sitting.

“I pulled up the three I was able to get on the waiting list. The first one is closest, but when I was looking at them with Molly, she and I both liked the third the most. But you can look and decide.”

I quickly flipped through the open tabs and then favorited them so I could look more into them later. If she’d looked at preschools and had Jassen’s wife involved, I trusted them completely. “Thank you for this, truly. It’s one thing that’s been on my mind and I really appreciate it.”

She leaned back in her chair and gave me that blindingly bright smile again. “You’re welcome. Now”—she leaned in, arms on the table, hands clasped together—“tell me all of Amelia’s favorite foods and meals so I can get her to fall in love with me.”

“Bribing my daughter through food?”

She shrugged and gave me a quirky little grin. “Seems to work on all the men I know, and they have the same mental capabilities as a four-year-old.”

“Ouch.” I laughed. “Damn, that’s harsh. Those must be some men you’ve been around.”

Her smile instantly fell, wiped to a straight line, and the light in her eyes vanished. “Yeah… guess so.”

I’d said something wrong again. Something I wanted to fix, but before I could, she was standing from her chair. “I should probably get to bed. If you could leave me that list, I’d be grateful.”

She was hurt, and it’d been something I said. And since I didn’t know her well enough, there was no easy way to fix it. “I’ll make sure I type and print it so you can read it.”

There was a faint hint of a smile on her when she glanced back at me over her shoulder. “Good night, Logan.”

“Night.”

“Daddy!” I barely had time to crouch low before Amelia’s body came slamming into me, arms around my shoulders. I picked her up easily with one hand on her bottom, still holding on to my bag with the other, and carried her farther into the house.

“Hey there, sweetie. Do anything fun today with Miss Ruby?”

It’d been well over a week. So far, she hadn’t said a single nice thing about her nanny, and instead, changed the subject. In that week, Ruby looked more tired, sadder, but every time I caught the first glance of her, she gave me a warm and hopeful smile.

“Maybe today will be the day she cracks,” she’d jokingly muttered to me this morning.

Apparently, today was not that day because Amelia pushed her lips out. “We did nuffin’ fun.”

I carried her into the kitchen and set her down on the island, where Ruby was wiping down the island counter.

Despite Amelia’s unhappiness with her nanny, I couldn’t bring myself to call the service and find someone better. Mostly because I knew this was Amelia’s issue, and it wasn’t anything to do with Ruby. On her part, my home had never been cleaner, my kitchen never smelled as good when I came home, and she’d taken to writing out a list of everything they did during the day, everything she attempted to bribe Amelia with, including treats from a gas station, a trip to the library, and many days spent swimming in Jassen’s pool with his kids.

She was having plenty of fun, proven by the smiles she gave when Ruby took pictures of her when she wasn’t looking. She just wasn’t willing to admit it.

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