Page 28 of Forbidden Hearts
He laughs once. “Liar.”
Called it.
“Okay, let me rephrase, I won’t notice because she’s my daughter’s nanny.”
Rowan leans back in his chair, lifting on the back two legs. “Maaaan, I’d like her to be my nanny. Can you see if she wants to take on a man-child?”
My brother is a fucking idiot. “No, but I’ll see if our old principal, Mrs. Symonds, wants a new job since she retired.”
Rowan makes a gagging noise. “That was mean.”
I shrug. Olivia turns back to us, waving enthusiastically. Rowan and I return the gesture. While Rowan says he doesn’t want a family, he’s full of shit. I see the way he is with Olivia. He loves her with every fiber of his being. There’s nothing this man won’t do for his niece, and he’d be the same with his own kid. He just needs to find the right girl who he wants to have kids with.
Or one he wants more than just to sleep with.
Like I want to with . . . nope. Not finishing that thought.
Rowan leans forward, grabbing us both another beer. “So, you wouldn’t care if I went after her?”
“Went after her?” I take the offered bottle.
“Yeah, you know, Brynlee said I need to grow up and need a woman, so I figure I can test it with Phoebe.”
I smack the back of his head. “You deserve more than that. She’s Livvy’s nanny. Your niece adores her, and if you were to do that, and she decided she’d rather... oh, not want to be around the Whitlocks, then what?”
“From what I heard, she doesn’t exactly like you anyway.”
My hands tighten around the glass bottle. “I don’t care if she likes me, she is great with Liv.”
“Last night, she told me all about how much she adores her. She’s quite chatty when Liv is brought up.”
This is ridiculous. I shouldn’t give two fucks about who Phoebe talks to. I shouldn’t care if she talks to the whole damn town, but something about her talking to Rowan pisses me off.
“Look, do with this what you will, but I need her to continue working for me, so if you run her off, you’re going to be the new nanny. Got it?”
Just then, we hear a car door slam and turn to see Brynlee walking toward us. “Hi, boys.”
“Brynn . . .” I groan. She’s going to start in again with her idea to have a party for Grady when he moves back to Sugarloaf, which is something Grady will not want. He isn’t happy about coming back, but he’s trying to figure out what his next steps are, and sometimes, you need to be around family for support.
“Hey, little sister, is that food?” Rowan asks, patting his stomach.
“It sure is. I have fries and two burgers.”
Rowan stands and backs away. “Ohhh no, that’s bribery food. It either means you want me to do something, or you want to adopt a Shetland pony or some shit.”
“It’s the first. She already tried it with me, and it didn’t work.”
Brynn smiles. “This time, I have a double order!” Then the other door opens and Phoebe slides from the passenger seat. “And I brought a friend who agrees.”
Rowan grins. “That just sweetened the deal.”
And that statement makes me want to punch my brother in the nose.
* * *
“I’m not good at this,”Phoebe signs and speaks as Olivia tries to teach her how to fish.“Please tell me there’s another way to fish?”
Olivia grins and waves me over.
