Page 31 of Late Nights & Love Lines
Rowan bends over to pick up the backpacks, and I’m a prick because my gaze is glued to where her running shorts stretch over her perfect ass.
She stands quickly, and I immediately stare at the ceiling. What the hell is wrong with me?
“No problem. It’s probably better if she gets it out on me rather than the permanent nanny.” She smirks and walks out the door.
Why does it feel as though I’m being electrocuted every time she reminds me that she’s temporary?
She’s never hidden the fact that she has an end date, and my kids need stability. Even though my head understands that, myheart isn’t getting the message because every time she’s near, it beats for her—to her song.
Yes, my kids need stability, but they also need someone they can relate to, right? Someone they can tell their secrets and their fears to. And when I think about who that someone could be for them, the only person I see is Rowan.
The wild horses have nothing on the wild contradictions floating around my mind.
8
OBNOXIOUS PROTECTOR
ROWAN
“Pranks would have been a lot easier if I had two-day shipping when I was a kid,” I whisper, catching up to Seren. The trail curves to the right, blocking us from her father’s view for a few steps.
She cringes, and I laugh.
“It wasn’t for you,” she mutters.
Shock must register on my face because she shrugs. “It wasn’t.”
“Who was it for then?” Who the hell is she trying to give the shits?
She glares over her shoulder to where Sebastian is walking with Kade on his shoulders and Miles at his side as they round the bend.
“Promise you won’t tell my dad?”
Ah, crap. Don’t do this to me, kid.
“I promise not to tell your dad as long as you promise not to do anything without running it by me first.”
Seren rolls her eyes and her lashes flutter along her brow line with the movement. I’d forgotten how many times teenagers do that. “Whatever. I’m going to get in trouble either way. I wasgoing to stick it in the coffee of whatever full-time nanny he plans to stick me with.”
I was the kid trying desperately to hide and blend in, but some of the kids I met on the street were always looking for trouble, anything to get their parents’ attention. Is that what she’s doing?
I peek back at Sebastian. He doesn’t seem to be a man who would ignore his children, but he’s had a lot going on.
“Are you trying to get in trouble?”
She stares at the ground and kicks at a rock. “Not like it would matter.”
“Why do you say that?”
“It doesn’t matter. My mom was gone long before she took off, and my dad tries, but his work comes first.”
“Your dad loves you, Seren.” Anyone can see that. “And he’s worried about you.”
She doesn’t answer, but she does pick up her pace.
How do I keep her from sabotaging all the prospective nannies?
“What if we pull some pranks on your dad and Pappy instead?” She stops walking and stares at me with wide eyes full of cautious excitement.
