Page 24 of Nanny for the SEALs

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Stan

I’d been sittinglike a jilted groom waiting for Katie to show up. She said she’d went to pick up her things from her ex. I wanted to know if it went well, and if we were still on track with our agreement, but nothing. She didn’t even text me to say she had gone out or ask if it was okay to stray from our original plan. Rick was officially her boss, but she answered to me if she wanted me to keep her secret quiet.

I didn’t even have an impact on her. No one took me seriously. I’d kissed her, and she had been ignoring me since that day as if I’d crossed the line. I wondered if she’d done the same with Pete, and this was the reason she was out with him. I grabbed a vase and smashed it against the rug in a rage.

“What the fuck?” Rick asked as he walked into the living room, knowing my face was red, as my heart started to pound out of control. Throwing the vase didn’t help, instead, it made me feel even worse knowing it had been witnessed by Rick.

“Nothing!” I granted. “I’ll get Lourdes to clean it up.”

I brushed past him and he grabbed my arm. “If you’re going to trash the place, then it’s something. What happened?”

I shouted, feeling a rage coming on, one I couldn’t control, “Ask Pete.”

“Pete?” Aunt Elizabeth asked as she came into the room. Shit, so not only did Rick see what I’d done, but she did, too. She was Mom’s younger sister, and they had the same blond hair and light blue eyes. They even dressed the same and people often mistake them for twins, even if there was a six year age gap between them.

“Did he do this?”

“No,” Rick answered, as no more did I feel the anger that I did a few minutes ago, but embarrassment at not only being caught by my brother, but by my aunt, too.

“Is Pete okay?” she asked, I could see concern written all over her face, as well as confusion.

I shook my head. “No. He’s fine.”

Rick sighed. “He’s out with Katie.”

“Who?”

“The nanny,” Rick and I said in unison and are ours eyes fixed on each other. Aunt Elizabeth was still unclear as to what was going on, but it was all clear by the way Rick looked at me. The same way he did when we were young, and our dog got run over. He hesitated in telling me, knowing I would be more affected by the news than anyone else in the family. I was the sensitive one.

“So, if he’s out, then why… Oh, I’m so confused.” She slumped onto the sofa, and I walked by her side. Rick was eyeing me as if he was challenging me to leave the room, and I put my hand on Aunt Elizabeth’s shoulder and she smiled.

“Stan has a thing for the nanny…” He had a smirk on his face, as if he was mocking me. I didn’t wait for him to humiliate me further.

“Well, technically, she’s not the fucking nanny. She’s one I got to replace the one you had hired. Remember, I’m the one who did that.”

He looked at me as if he could read my mind. He sensed something was wrong, but I didn’t tell him exactly why I’d gone on a rage. I didn’t tell him what was exactly on my mind.

“Where are the twins?” I asked, knowing that if he was concerned about them, then he would leave me alone.

He shook the baby monitor in his hand—the one he carried around religiously. I should have known he’d taken care of the babies before sitting down and talking to me.

He sat opposite, his eyes glued on me, waiting for me to speak.

“Okay. So, I may have a little thing for the nanny,” I confessed, taking my hand away from Aunt Elizabeth, and getting ready to do what I wanted to do from the time I saw them, and that was take my cue to leave.

“I’m glad to see you’re taking an interest in girls,” Aunt Elizabeth said as she cupped my face.

“Gee, Auntie, I’m nearly thirty not three.”

She chuckled. “I know, but you never talk about girls, not like your brothers. They never stop talking about girls.”

Rick quizzed his face, probably thinking about the last time he mentioned a girl, especially to Aunt Elizabeth. He never spoke about them, because he only fucked, which was the reason he’d become a father. I didn’t think Rick had been ever been in a relationship, just like Pete. Which is why I was upset that Pete was out with Katie. He was probably taking advantage of her, especially if he knew she was suffering from a broken heart.

Whereas I was…

Fuck, who knows what I was doing. Rick was right, I had a crush. Aunt Elizabeth was right too; I had no idea how to handle a girl because I’d never been with one.

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