Page 100 of Worst Nanny Ever
“And you’re going home with Sophie,” Rob tells Dottie. “She’s waiting in her car for you.”
“Oh, what a delight!” Dottie grins at him, then turns to the others. “Have a wonderful sleep, my dears. I’ll see you soon.”
Before she gets out of the car, she reaches into her purse, which must truly be bottomless, and emerges with a couple of thumb-sized crystals. She tucks one into Eugene’s balled hand, getting no response from him other than a twitch of his mustache, and hands the other to Liam.
“You hold onto that,” she says, tapping Liam’s hand. “It’ll all become clear to you in time.”
“That’s good to know,” he says dryly, but I can tell he’s fond of her. It would be pretty impossible not to be.
Dottie climbs out of the car, and I’m about to follow her when my brother calls my name. I glance back at him, lifting my eyebrows.
“Be careful,” he says.
He’s talking about my situation with Travis. I wouldn’t have called in that favor for just anyone, and he knows it.
I salute him and exit the car.
“Thanks for bringing Liam home,” I tell Rob in an undertone after shutting the car door behind me.
“No problem.”
Before getting into Sophie’s car, Dottie waves to us so energetically she almost topples over. Sophie waits for Dottie to settle into the passenger seat, and then she blows us a kiss and then drives off.
Once they’re out of sight, Rob hugs me and nods toward the house. “Go easy on him. I don’t really know what’s going on between you two, but he’s going through some heavy shit, and he had a hard day. I’m sure he’ll tell you the rest in the morning.”
“Thanks, Rob. You’re a good guy to have around.”
“I wouldn’t leave him with anyone else when he’s like this,” he tells me seriously.
I nod, feeling a little choked up—because if that’s not a sign of trust, what is?—and go inside.
I head into Travis’s room, expecting to find him passed out on the bed, but he’s standing at his dresser, taking his shirt off with one hand held against the furniture for balance.
I come to standstill, as if someone just paused me.
His back is to me, and oh what a back…
It’s toned and still tan from the summer, and the muscles bunch as he tugs the shirt up over his head and throws it. I should probably leave, or maybe help him get another shirt. But I stay motionless as he stands bowed over the dresser, his hair tumbling down in the front where it’s longer. His hand is white-knuckling the edge of the wooden dresser.
This is one of those times when he needs music, but right now he’s in no condition to wield his sticks.
I move toward him, one step after another, the need to go to him overwhelming every other doubt.
I place my palm on his lower back, feeling his taut muscles and the delicious heat of him. “Whatever you’re doing to yourself, you need to stop.Now. Hannah’s orders.”
He turns toward me, but there’s no sign of surprise when hesees me there. Even though I’d never do anything with him when he’s like this, I feel a rush of awareness. There’s something primal about him tonight, just like there was last night. All of the gentlemanly nuances have been stripped away.
“Please don’t be nice to me right now,” he says. “I couldn’t take it.”
I almost laugh, but I can’t, because there’s a dark, haunted look in his eyes. He stumbles a few steps toward the bed, then sits down hard at the foot of it and bows his head, his hands spearing into his dark hair. He’s wearing nothing but a pair of dark jeans, belted at the waist, and those loafers I’ve teased him about.
He looks like a fallen god.
I sit on the floor in front of him and remove his loafers one at a time. When I look up, he’s staring at me with that same fevered intensity.
“I asked you not to be nice,” he says.
“God forbid I help a drunk person take their shoes off. You know I spent years working at Big Catch. Helping drunk people with their shoes is basically second nature. Would you like me to take your pants off too? I know from experience that I’ll appreciate the view.”
