Page 125 of Nanny and the Beast

“What do you want me to say, Helena?” I sigh.

“Don’t give me that attitude,” Helena says. “I’m just a well-wisher. I think the two of you would make a lovely couple.”

“Helena, don’t.”

I can’t let myself even go there in my head.

As if she can feel me staring, Emma looks up at my window. She shouldn’t be able to see me through the tinted glass, but it feels like she’s looking right at me.

“She looks beautiful in that dress, doesn’t she?” Helena asks.

I want to bang my head against the window.

“Apart from torturing me, don’t you have anything else to do?” I ask.

“I know you’ve been hurt before, but don’t close your heart to love, Klaus,” Helena says. She raises her hand as if to pat my shoulder, but thinks better of it. “Join us for dinner if you change your mind.”

She leaves the room, but I stay where I am.

Carnal hunger claws at my insides.

I want to march down there and bring Emma back to my room to finish what we started last night.

I take deep breaths and remind myself that nothing good can come of this.

I see the way she looks at me. If we were to give in to this living, breathing attraction between us, there’s no knowing where the tides will take us.

I’m about to drag myself away from the window when I see one of the men approach Emma. He’s a young man close to her age. They talk for two minutes twenty-five seconds when he says something that makes her laugh.

Something dormant awakens inside me.

I have no power to stop it.

Before I can think about what I’m doing, I storm out of the room. My blood simmers inside my veins as I replay the memory in my head. All I know right now is that I can’t stand to see her with another man.

Jealousy has set my heart on fire. There’s nothing that can douse the flames now.

The chilly night air bites into my skin as I step outside. The echo of her laughter still rings in my ears. When I reach the area where they’re all gathered, each one of them looks my way.

James runs toward me in his T-Rex costume. He stops a few feet before me.

“You came,” he says. His cheeks are rosy from the fire.

“I did,” I reply. “Are you having a good time?”

“It’s the best night of my life,” he exclaims.

In this moment, I feel like a complete jackass. These kids deserve so much more than I can ever give them. Emma entered our lives only a few weeks ago, but she seems to know far more than I do about what these kids need.

“Is there any candy left for me?” I ask.

He nods excitedly. “There’sunlimitedcandy. Miss Turner said we can have as much as we want tonight.”

He takes me toward the hot chocolate station and makes a drink for me.

“Extra chocolate. Extra marshmallows. Extra whipped cream,” he says, handing it to me.

“Thank you, James.” I carefully take the drink from him.

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