Page 231 of Nanny and the Beast

Rosalie sniffles. “I don’t want to come to the party. I feel blue.”

“It’s okay to feel blue. Everyone feels blue sometimes.”

She considers that for a moment.

“You can stay in your room if you like, but there’s going to be cake,” I say.

She sighs. “Okay, I’ll come for the cake.”

I smile at my niece. It feels like a weight has been lifted off my chest when she smiles back at me.

I get the kids showered and dressed within thirty minutes.

There’s a soft knock on the door. The scent of sweet frosting wafts through the air before I even see her.

“Hi,” Emma says.

I look at her and forget how to breathe.

She stands in the doorway, looking like an ethereal angel in a flowing yellow dress. Her dark hair tumbles down her bare shoulders in soft curls. The off-the-shoulder neckline accentuates her curves, making my heart squeeze in my chest.

She looks like a princess, and I can’t take my eyes off her.

“I can’t wait to have boobs,” Rosalie declares.

“Gross,” James says, making a face. He smiles at Emma. “You look very pretty, Miss Turner.”

“Thank you, James,” she says. “You guys all look amazing too.”

The puppy barks from downstairs, waking up from his nap. The kids say goodbye and bolt out of the room, eager to play with their new best friend.

Emma and I are alone in the room now.

I walk toward her. She keeps those pretty dark eyes on me as I close the distance between us. When I graze my knuckles against her cheekbone, she shivers with her whole body.

“You’re the sunshine in my life, Emma,” I say. “Everything lights up when you walk into a room.”

I pull her into my embrace.

I hold her close, letting her listen to the sound of my heartbeat. It beats for her now. Only for her.

Our hearts have pledged loyalty to one another from the moment our eyes met.

It feels like destiny, but we also chose each other.Even when things got hard, we released our egos and insecurities.

And because of that, we gained everything.

“There are still things I need to tell you, Emma,” I say. “Things about my family. Things about Sinclair mansion.”

“Just hold me for now, Klaus,” she says. “Everything else can wait.”

49

EMMA

Ican’t believe that the fire was just yesterday.

It feels like I lived throughseveral lifetimes between yesterday and today.

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