Page 6 of Risky Game

He gave me a pleading look. One I hated because my heart was weakest toward my brother. It couldn’t be helped. He’d protected me and taken care of me my entire life. Outside of him offering to hand me however much money I needed, I wasn’t sure I’d ever said no to him.

“I’ll think about it,” I muttered.

“That’s all I ask. Thanks, Rubes.”

“Yeah. Yeah. I’m going to head back to my place. You all enjoy your night.”

I gave them all cheek kisses and laughed as Luke followed me to the front door. He did it every night I left. Said he stayed on the stoop to make sure I was safe.

“Night, Aunny Ruby!”

“Night, buddy!” I waved back at him once I hit the top of my stairs and waited at the doorway until he went back inside.

Cute damn kid. And my brother was raising him well. It wasn’t a huge surprise because Jassen was incredible, but considering we had never had a decent man in our lives growing up, well… I was damn proud to call him my brother.

It was later, after I’d taken a quick shower to wash off the chlorine, after I’d started a load of laundry, and after I’d poured myself a drink when I finally considered the potential job.

A nanny. Jassen had only mentioned one girl, a daughter.

One kid. Maybe I could bring her here so I could keep helping Molly.

Well, damn.

I could probably do that. Wasn’t like I had other job offers blowing up my phone.

Nannying for one little girl.

How hard could it be?

Chapter 3

Ruby

Hard.

Nannying for the new coach of the Nashville Steel was going to be hard, and Amelia wasn’t even in the same time zone yet. But hard was all I thought as soon as Logan Caldwell appeared in his doorway after I rang his doorbell, showing up three days after my brother floated this idea to me. After getting three more rejections at bars I’d interviewed for as a cocktail waitress, it’d taken me a full twenty-four hours to agree to meet with Logan. I had questions. I had a full list of them to ask to make sure this would work, but right then, staring up at him from two steps down on his front porch, I couldn’t remember a single one of them. Thank God I’d remembered to type them up on my phone.

Logan’s face was granite. His eyes were iron. His entire body was hard from all those muscles he couldn’t hide beneath his T-shirt and athletic shorts.

“Ruby, I take it?”

“Uh. Um. Yeah.” My head was a bobblehead on someone’s car dashboard but damn… At least a decade older than me, this man was fine. His wavy, thick hair was tousled on top, short on the sides, and I couldn’t quite tell if he was trying to grow a beard, liked to keep it cut short, or just didn’t give a damn about shaving. Regardless, Jassen had in no way prepared me for who I was about to meet. “That’s me. Mr. Caldwell?”

A deep furrow dipped between his thick brows before he stepped backward. “Please. Logan will work. Come in. Thanks for agreeing to meet with me today. I know it was short notice.”

“No problem.” I tore my eyes off his face. It was too stunning. Unfortunately, my gaze just fell to the rest of his body as he led me toward his living room. Shoulder muscles. A trim waist, that ass… those calves. What was it about a guy with sexy calves that did something to me? I wiped away drool forming at the corner of my lips and focused.

This was a job. One I might need if I ever wanted to get back on the path I’d dreamed of since fourth grade.

No eye-fucking the boss allowed, even if he was the most delicious piece of man candy I’d ever seen.

“Would you like something to drink?”

It was nine in the morning. A mimosa had never sounded like a better idea.

Probably not the best thing to request during an interview. “I’ll take a water. Thank you.”

Maybe some hydration would cool me down.

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