Page 4 of A Merry Penthouse Christmas
“Or something.” The man holds out an empty hand after I pass the pen back to him. “Ariel Anders, but I go by Arik.”
“You’reAnders?” I gasp, even as I accept the firm handshake. “You’re, like, a millionaire.”
“With a ‘B’, actually.” He grins wider. “And you are…?”
“B. I mean Beau! Sorry. I’m a mess on a good day, and you’re, like, huge deal high society, while I’m trying to finish grad school, totally broke and jobless, and… divorced,” I finish sourly, turning back to look at that pink bundle again. “Just what I wanted on my resume before thirty.”
Arik snorts again. “If it makes you feel any better, I didn’t just walk into my life. I worked hard to get where I am, and the sacrifices I made along the way weren’t always worth it. While I can more than provide for this child, money and possessions don’t make up for the time I don’t have to spare or how I am doomed to be terrible at this.” He looks handsome even wearing a grimace, because his eyes say he doesn’t want that to be true.
“Sounds like you need to allow yourself some leeway. Take the time you need away from being a busy billionaire to also be a dad. You can do both. Though maybe get a nanny.” I snicker. I’m sure he can afford one.
“Is that an offer?”
“Huh?” I figure he must be joking, but Arik turns to me, looking very serious.
“You said you were broke, jobless, and love kids, right?”
“Y-yeah but—”
“Any experience?”
“You just met me!”
“I run a multi-billion-dollar corporation, Beau. Anyone I’d hire I’d have only just met. And the last thing I need right now is to subject myself to a string of interviews. Experience?” he asks again.
“With kids? I mean, sure, my degree is in childhood education, but—”
“You’re hired.” He stands abruptly, completely at ease offering a stranger to come into his home to take care of his infant son. “There is a coffee shop one floor down. I have some paperwork to get through, and you have some to mail.” He points at the divorce papers still clasped in my hands. “Afterward, meet me down there and let me buy you a cup. We’ll talk terms. Agreed?”
This is not how I planned for my day to end.
Of course, several months ago, this was not how I planned for my marriage to end, or where I thought my life would lead.Working as a nanny for a billionaire wouldn’t be the worst detour.
“Okay.” I follow Arik down the hallway. “But I am half-convinced you’re crazy.”
Arik flashes me his dazzling movie star smile, and my knees go weak.
Definitely not a good idea to get a crush on my future employer.
“Perfect,” he says. “Then you already know me better than you think.”
ARIK
“Areyougoingtojust stand there all day?”
I startle, not having realized Clara noticed me enter.
I’m in her hospital room now, and the baby has been brought back in so he can eat. I didn’t expect to find her breastfeeding. After all, it won’t be the norm. He’ll be straight to formula once I get him home.
“Come on, you coward,” Clara teases me. “Come meet your son.”
That is another cold dose of reality—my son—and it at least marginally helps that I have someone lined up to aid me in caring for this child. I’d meant to consider a nanny earlier but hadn’t had time, and it was one thing I didn’t want Skylar to do for me.
Anyone else might think I jumped the gun hiring Beau—or that his unruly curls, smooth chestnut skin, and tall toned body influenced my decision. It did. It’ll be nice to have some eye candy around amid the diaper genie and spit rags. But I am excellent at reading people. It’s part of the job when you deal in billions.
“So Beau,” I’d begun when we met for coffee a few minutes ago. “I caught the surname from those papers of yours. de León? Spanish or French?”
“Um… both, I think?” He blinks his warm brown eyes that are giving off a golden glow from the fluorescents above us. His curls are just long enough to fall past his eyebrows and dance against his eyelashes, forcing him to expel a puff of air now and again to get said curls to cooperate.
