Page 30 of Sweet Thing

Okay. “Thing is, I’m not sure any of these candidates are right. Maybe we should interview more.”

She bit her lip. “This is your call, Lars. Of course you want the right person for Mabel. But in the meantime, you have a dilemma. The team needs you, so taking time away from your job isn’t really the answer. This is likely my dad’s final season, so you know he wants to go out with a bang. In fact, your time on ice could be better and if you’re distracted with your home life, then how is that going to improve?”

“My TOI? How’d you make that out?”

She waved that off. “Oh, I just watch the stats. It’s kind of a hobby of mine. Listen, maybe I could help with the childcare aspect for longer. Only I don’t want to shoehorn my way in if that’s not what?—”

I held up a hand. “Yes! Of course I need your help. I’m not going to look that gift horse in the mouth.”

At which point my gaze dipped to her mouth in anticipation of the gift it would truly be. I dragged my eyes away to find her staring at me. Busted. This was so not the complication I needed, yet rush-importing a stranger into my house to look after my daughter sounded worse. I didn’t want to look back on these days and regret that I handled her childcare in a half-assed manner, even if Mabel turned out not to be mine.

She’s yours. Just accept it.

“I could stay for a few days to tide you over for the next couple of games and more nanny interviews? How does that sound?”

Absolutely perfect. The weird sexual awareness I felt around her was something I could control. I had no choice. Still, I needed to be sure I wasn’t pressuring her.

“Adeline, are you sure you want to do this?”

ChapterEight

Adeline

Surely this was a mistake.But I wondered if it might help me, too. Helping someone while helping myself to heal.

I couldn’t avoid my future forever. At the same time, I wasn’t quite ready for the navel-gazing therapizing necessary to truly get over what had happened to me in Greece. A couple of weeks looking after someone weaker than myself would be a good way to ease back into the routine of life.

“Adeline?”

The way he said my name sent a shiver through me, which was absurd because I had thoroughly convinced myself that he did nothing for me.

“Hmm?”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, it’s just?—”

He cut me off. “No, you’re right, it’s a terrible idea. You’ve already helped so much and here I am, asking for more. That’s just greedy.”

Never mind that I was the one who had offered. “No, it’s not. Not at all. Only …” Rosie was worried about me accepting this gig for a few days—how the hell would she react when I said I might be stepping in for a longer period?

She would think I had it bad for Lars Nyquist.

I didn’t. If anything, I felt sympathy for him, maybe even pity, and pity generally crushed lady boners to dust. A clueless Lars wasn’t all that sexy, which was great for me, and allowed me to see this assignment for what it was: a chance to be a good Rebel citizen.

But first things first.

“There’s the crush thing.”

The words slipped out, crashing off the walls like discombobulated bats looking for an escape.

“Okay,” he said slowly.

“I just wanted to be clear that it’s in the past. I’m not here so I can get closer to you or go all stalker on your ass.”

I closed my mouth, waiting for him to respond, hopefully in a way that would minimize the flush of my skin and patter of my heart.

His brows drew together. “Never thought you were.”

---