Page 57 of Curvy Nanny for the Cougar
The fact that she saw Uncle Uzzi’s literal floating head in my office and hasn’t bolted like I just told her I harvest toenails for a living?
Yeah, that’s all the encouragement I need to stop screwing around.
So when I say, “We need to talk, Pretty Girl. About a lot of things,” I damn well mean it.
Tamare doesn’t respond right away.
She just stares at me, and her big hazel eyes—rimmed in gold and shimmering with uncertainty and fragile trust—steal every last ounce of breath from my lungs.
She’s here. She’s listening.
And God help me, I want to press her down into this couch and tell her with my mouth, my hands, my body just how much she matters.
But first, she deserves everything.
The truth.
The whole damn truth.
I lean in, slow and careful. “Okay, I’ll start. You jump in with questions when you need to, alright?”
She nods, biting her lower lip, and that small movement nearly kills me.
“First off, Alex is perfectly healthy,” I begin. “You see, for people like us, appetite is a sign of the change?—”
“The what?” she interrupts, eyes narrowing, body tensing just a little.
Protective. Curious. Brave.
I raise a hand gently. “Hang on. Let me finish this.”
Deep breath. No turning back now.
“See, the world’s a hell of a lot bigger and weirder than most people think, Baby. There are more mystical beings, more magic, than most normals—humans—ever realize.”
Her brows furrow, but she doesn’t bolt. She doesn’t scoff. She just waits.
“Like I said, Alex isn’t sick, but his body is changing. He is getting ready. He’s close to what we call his first shift. And all that extra eating and activity? That’s his body fueling up for the change.”
Her jaw drops just slightly, but she’s still listening. I push forward.
“Originally, I had hoped to find a supernatural nanny. Someone who wouldn’t freak out if my kid suddenly decided to sharpen his claws on the curtains.”
That gets her to snort, just a little, and the sound is a balm to my raw nerves.
“But I didn’t find a supernatural nanny. I found you. And Tamare, I am so fucking glad you answered my ad. I’m so glad you swiped right on me, because, well, you’re the answer to every single hope and prayer I’ve whispered since the day I first held my son in my arms.”
She looks stunned.
Shell-shocked.
Gorgeous.
“What are you saying?” she whispers.
I meet her eyes and let the truth roll off me like a vow.
“I’m a Shifter. Dual-natured. So is my son. We’re Cougar Shifters, actually—not common, but real. There are others like us. Wolves, Bears, Dragons, but you?”
