Page 44 of Nanny for the SEALs

I nearly choked, and he rushed beside me, gently patting my back as I tried to get the glass of water, thinking I really needed to stop being so nervous.

As I took a bit gulp and held my head back, he asked, “Do I make you nervous?”

“A little.”

“I was cold and wanting to keep an eye because Stan told us the truth. He told us about Bianca and what he did. I didn’t know what to think when I heard.”

“Oh,” I muttered, not quite knowing what to say.

“But you can understand why I was anxious about allowing you to stay in our home.”

We sat in silence, I’d been living here three months and he’d never said a word about this. Was I now supposed to get up and pack my bags or what?

He broke the silence as he said, “Then again, some say that I’m a little intense, but that’s just me. I’m more of a gentle giant.”

“Funny, Pete called you that.”

He shrugged as he sat back down. “Everyone calls me that.”

Somehow in the midst of it all, once again, I’d managed to bring us back to where we were before, silence. As we ate, I struggled to bring up some kind of conversation, anything to break the ice.

“Did she say that they slept fine?”

“Well, you know Rachel, she’s the fussy one. She said it took her time to settle, but then she got there in the end. As for Steven, as soon as she put him down, he was out like a light. I think he takes after me.”

“Well, he looks like you and I suppose Rachel looks like her mom.”

Crap!

Whenever I’d brought up the topic of their mom, he would give me a look, which said it wasn’t any of my business. But this time, he smiled and said, “Yeah, she looks like Maite.”

“Maite…”

Their mom’s name. I wondered why he had a change of heart and was willing to talk about her. He’d never been like this before, and I didn’t want to rock the boat and go back to the silence, especially seeing as my plate was empty and I was dying for more.

“Here. You need to eat. I just don’t want you to feel as if you have to hide in your room if the twins are not here. I want you to feel this is your home. You can go out, do things with your friend. You don’t need to ask for permission.”

I sat there blankly, wondering if Pete had told him about our argument the other day. Silly me! Of course he did; they were brothers.

Then he muttered, “It’s not healthy staying in like that. Sure, you’re here to look after the twins, but we want you to feel that this is your home too. If they’re not here, you don’t need to lock yourself in your room.”

Now he sounded like my dad scolding me as if I’d been a bad girl.

I took the plate from him, annoyed about the way he was talking to me.

“Sorry, I shouldn’t have said that. You’re a grown woman. It’s just that I noticed you keep doing it. If the twins are not here, you shut yourself in your room. More so, since Stan left. Also, judging by the speed in which you ate, I could tell you was really hungry.”

My eyes darted to his plate, he was still half-way through, and he was right; he had more food on his plate, but I’d not only managed to eat it, but more swallow it, because I didn’t even remember chewing that much.

“Yeah, I’m such a big baby.”

He choked, “Not a baby. Just more of a case that you don’t feel comfortable. I don’t suppose it’s something which you’re used to, living with three hot sexy men.”

I tilted my head to the side. “Two men.”

“Not sexy?”

It was a joke. We needed to feel relaxed, both of us stopped being tense, and I felt more relaxed to ask all the questions which were on my mind.

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