Page 36 of Crush
In the photograph, I was around her age, and I smiled for the camera in my bedroom. It wasn't a particularly embarrassing photo. I wasn't sure what she was looking for or what had caught her attention.
There was half-a-knock on the bedroom door before Shea pushed it open and stepped into his daughter's bedroom.
Chloe scrambled to shut my phone off and tossed it back to me.
Chapter 12
Shea
Chloe folded her arms and gave me a dirty scowl. “Dad! Once again, you didn't knock!”
I raised my arms. “What? Yes, Idid. I told you, I always knock.”
“Yeah—one wholemillisecondbefore you burst right in here anyway! What if I wasn't dressed or something?”
“It's hard to 'burst' in when your door isn't even closed all the way, Chloe.”
“It was closedenough.”
Living with a teenager was sort of like living with a tyrant. You weren't sure how they ever came to power, but now they had rules, and worse yet, their rules seemed to change on any given day. You had to pick your battles—and this one wasn't worth fighting.
“Alright, alright. Next time, after I knock, I'll try to give you more time to answer.”
“Thank you,” Chloe said sarcastically.
The two of them were sitting on the carpet, with their backs against Chloe's bed. I loved that Chloe had opened up to Brynn so much—you could really look at her and see how much confidence Chloe had gained in two short months. Although I'll admit that sometimes, I wished my daughter would tellmewhatever it was that she was always sharing with Brynn.
I stepped between the two girls and gestured for Chloe to scoot aside. “Make room for Dad.”
“Da~ad!” Chloe grumbled as she begrudgingly scooted aside. Pickles leaped out of her lap and zipped right out of the room. “Now you scared Pickles off.”
I lowered myself onto the floor. It was a snug, comfy fit between the two girls—which couldn't have repulsed Chloe more. Her body, no, her entireexistenceseemed to turn and lean away from me with disgust.
But Brynn didn't move an inch when our thighs touched.
I was breaking my own rules, and it never felt better.
See, that first night Brynn worked for us two months ago, I realized I needed to put a barrier in place. If I wanted to keep Brynn as a nanny, the last thing I could do was think that way about her, let alone actually touch her or try to kiss her. And seeing what a miracle worker she's been with my kids tells me that I was absolutely right.
I was sure whatever infatuation I had with Brynn would fade with time. But it hasn't. And now it's too late. My kids need her more than ever. All you have to do is watch them interact with her, and it's obvious.
Which is why it's so troubling to me that, over the past two months, I've found all sorts of reasons to get close to Brynn. Without being unprofessional, of course—or at least, that's what I tell myself. I just can't help it. I'll take a seat on the couch and find myself sitting a half-dozen inches or so closer to Brynn than I'd ever sit next to anyone else. When we're talking to each other, I'll find myself touching her—her arm, her shoulder, her knee.
God, what a thrill those small moments of physical touch are. My heart starts beating fast and I wish I could touch her more—I know, I know. I'm a sad, lonely old man. You don't have to tell me.
A touch here, a touch there. That'sit.I can't go any further than that. I know if I ever touched her, she'd leave us.
“So what are you two being so secretive about in here?” I asked the girls with a grin. “Are you talking aboutboys?”
“What are you even talking about, Dad?” Chloe countered.
“When I 'burst'in here, you juggled your phone”—I pulled out my own phone and bobbled it from hand to hand like a hot potato—“before you stashed it back with Brynn.”
“That wasn'tmyphone, that was Brynn's,” Chloe said curtly. “And I was only giving it back to her.”
Brynn laughed softly and explained. “I was showing Chloe some pictures from my teenage days.”
My face lit up. “You were? Hey, I want to see.”
