Page 48 of Protecting the Boundary
I don’t know about that. I’d buy the hell out of a magazine watching this man dote on his daughter. He’s hot, and watching him be such an amazing dad with Kay is panty-melting levels of sexy. Clearly the media doesn’t know what women want because every woman I know would be drooling over those types of pictures.
“Being out with my nanny might raise a few eyebrows,” he adds before he takes another bite of his taco.
I glance around us, expecting to find cameras or cellphones pointed our direction, but there’s only one other couple eating at a table across from us and they’re deep in conversation.
“Maybe we shouldn’t be out in public.”
He frowns. “How am I supposed to take you on dates if we can’t do it in public?” He leans forward. “Mere, I’m not putting my life on hold because of the potential that we become media fodder for a week. I have a strong enough reputation and I know we aren’t doing anything wrong. The only person I’m worried about is Kaylee, which is the only reason we’re keeping this mostly under wraps.”
We both take another bite and then he asks, “What did you go to school for?”
“Kinesiology. I wanted to be a physical therapist.”
“Wanted? As in, you don’t anymore?”
I shrug and pick at the meat that fell out of my taco. “I do. I think I just got too in my head about things and lost sight of why I loved it in the first place. My last year of college, I was hit with this horrible apathy. Nothing seemed to have any point, and I questioned my entire future. It’s why I didn’t apply to grad schools and instead looked into becoming a nanny. I needed to dosomething. I’m not very good at sitting and doing nothing.”
He smiles. “I’ve noticed that about you.”
“I miss it,” I confess. It’s probably stupid to tell him that when he’s still technically my boss, but it also feels nice to tell someone. It wasn’t as noticeable when I first started being a nanny for Kay, but that desire to learn, that interest in how the human body works and how to help it heal has come back slowly. It’s gotten even stronger since Kaylee got sick. I may not want to be an ER doctor, but I do still have the desire to help people heal from injuries or find renewed strength in their body.
“I loved learning about the human body and was excited about going into physical therapy and helping people. I’d forgotten how much I loved that feeling because it was completely gone during most of my senior year.”
“You could go to grad school next year, couldn’t you?”
“Yeah, but that would mean leaving Kay now and I’m not sure I can do that. Your daughter is entirely too easy to love.”
He smiles wide. “Agreed.” Then his face gets more serious. “She’d understand, though. And it’s not like we wouldn’t still see you.”
It’s the first time he’s implied there’s a long-term future here, and it’s giving me a stupid amount of hope. “Really?”
He must hear the underlying question because he’s veryserious when he responds. “I’m not a casual dating kind of guy, Meredith.”
“Good to know.”
“And you?” he asks, and he actually looks nervous for my answer. Does he really not see how hard I’ve already fallen for him? I suppose that might be a good thing because it might be embarrassing if he realized.
“I’m not a casual kind of girl either. I’ve only had three serious relationships, one in high school and two in college. The longest one was almost two years, although I knew after a year that we probably weren’t right for each other. But it was during senior year and I think I stayed with him because I knew what to expect from him. It didn’t shake anything up.”
“When did you guys break up?”
“A few months ago. Shortly before I started nannying for you.”
He nods and then frowns. “Does that make me a rebound?”
I nearly choke on my soda. “No. But shouldn’t I be askingyouthat question?”
Based on the look he gets on his face, I suspect his cheeks would be a deep pink if his skin wasn’t dark enough to hide his blush.
But then he speaks, and once again he makes my heart race with possibilities. “You’re not a rebound.”
“Good to know.”
Our conversation gets lighter as we talk about our childhoods, mine here in LA and his up in Washington. He grew up in Tacoma, a city south of Seattle, and his parents still live there. I learn more about him on this date than I have in the several months I’ve been working for him.
And everything I learn only makes my feelings for him grow deeper.
But one doubt still remains, and I don’t think about it untilwe get back to the house later that night after Kaylee goes to bed. We walk in the front door, and like he does every day, he puts down his keys and then looks at the picture of Sydney he has hanging on the wall.
