Page 50 of Worst Nanny Ever
“Not before she’s been gone sixty days,” he says, glancing back to make sure Ollie’s not listening in. His gaze has taken on an intensity, a depth of purpose, that makes his eyes look likeblack holes. “My lawyer says we’ll have a good case for child abandonment if I can prove she left him here that long.”
“You have a lawyer?”
“I hired one to get emergency temporary custody as soon as she left him here. He’s a hard-ass, and he’s got a kid of his own, so he gets it.”
My heart swells. Travis might think he doesn’t know how to be a father, but he’s already making important moves to take care of Ollie. I reach for his hand, and he gives it to me. Instead of holding it, I trace his fingers, letting my touch linger on his calluses. “I understand why you hate Lilah. It must drive you crazy to know Ollie was in Nashville all that time, and you had no idea.”
“I’ll never get that time back,” he says darkly. “I’ll never see him as a baby. I don’t even know what his first words were.”
My fingers tighten around his hand as he speaks, and for a moment the heaviness of his loss is a weight in my own chest.
He releases a tired sigh. “And he thinks I abandoned him. He’ll never forgive me for not knowing about him.”
“We’ll see about that.”
He smiles at me, and suddenly I’m hyperaware that I’m still holding his hand, cradled in my lap like a promise. “Are you going to defend me, Hannah?”
“No, but I might want to hold your hand to guide you through single fatherhood.”
“Like this?” he asks, weaving his fingers through mine.
“What strong, rough hands you have, Travis,” I say, rubbing my thumb across his palm. “They don’t fit this whole gentleman-about-town air you usually have going for you. Neither does the way you play.”
“I’m glad you think I have something going for me.”
“Youknowyou do,” I say. “And even though it’s probablyinappropriate to say so, you kiss like a man who wants to make it his life’s greatest achievement.”
He leans in closer, and I’m sure he’s going to vault across that line and kiss me again. Right now, there’s nothing I want more than to feel his lips and hands on me. But then I think about that scared little boy I just sung to sleep, and I’m the one who pulls back.
Even though I know it would be good with Travis—mind-blowingly good—I don’t know what would come next. What I do know is that Ollie doesn’t need any more complications in his life. None of us do, really.
Clearing my throat, I say, “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“You’re leaving?”
“Yeah.” I nudge him with my arm. “I don’t have the best self-control tonight either, so I think I’d better go home and get out my little silicone friend.”
“Come on,” he groans. “This is hard enough.”
I reach over and trace his birthmark with my finger. “It canalwaysget harder, Travis.”
Then I kiss him on the cheek and make my exit, stepping over the glitter mess.
“I actually don’t think it could get any harder,” he calls after me.
I smile, but I don’t let myself look back.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
TRAVIS
After Hannah leaves, I sit on the couch for a long time, watching the door. Remembering how good she felt against me—how right.
I’d take a cold shower to forget it, but the knowledge of what she feels like isn’t something a cold shower can cure. It’s in my bones. In the flesh that’s aching for her.
I grab one of the beers she left in the fridge last week and sit back down, sighing. Trying to decide if I want to jerk off or if that would only make me feel worse.
Worse.
