Page 16 of Doctor Grump

It was the first time I had used those words in a while, and it was as shocking to me to say them as it probably was for her to hear them. Her eyes widened, and she stared at me for a few seconds.

But then, without saying anything, she shook her head, pulled her hand away, and walked off.

I sat in the coffee shop for a few more minutes, wondering what I was going to do. I would need to find another nanny now, but how did I get Kendy to agree with it? Did I need to go out of town to get one?

As I pondered this, I didn’t see Piper return until she was right in front of me with a determined look on her face.

“Alright,” she said through gritted teeth. “I’ll do it, but under some conditions.

7

PIPER

Icouldn’t understand exactly why I said yes to being Ian’s daughter’s nanny.

No reason other than sheer temporary insanity made sense.

I had walked out of the coffee shop satisfied and somewhat proud that I had finally given the doctor a piece of my mind. It had been incredibly vindicating to see the look of surprise on his face when I hadn’t immediately thrown myself at his proposal. I did not doubt that Ian was very used to people just caving under his force of personality, and perhaps he thought I would be the same, especially with that little bid of sympathy he pulled.

“I need you.”

I might be soft-hearted, but I wasn’t an idiot. I knew the only reason he said it was to tug at my heart strings, to manipulate me into feeling some sort of responsibility for the task.

And it was not my problem.

Although I couldn’t shake the vague sense of regret as I walked away.

I told myself it was because of the salary he was offering. The number kept replaying in my head like a temptation. It was a lot of money, and it would go a long way to putting a dent in my parents’ debt, at least for the time being. It would also give me a way to get out from under my family’s roof and give me more independence in that sense.

Plus, there was a significant part of me that was worried about the little girl, Ian’s daughter. Despite her initial attitude, she seemed like a lost puppy looking for her mother, and it was an image that pricked my heart. If me being her nanny would truly keep her out of trouble, then wouldn’t that be a worthy use of my time, even if I had to put up with her father to do it?

Please. I need you.

The image of his green eyes as he pleaded with me pulled up in my head. His gaze had been unflinching as usual, but there was a hint of grudging vulnerability in them when he said it, something I had never seen on him before. What if he hadn’t said it simply to manipulate me? What if he had been sincere that he really needed me?

God, I was pathetic. And that was the danger in it, wasn’t it? Santiago always said I simply insisted on seeing the good in people even when there was barely anything there. And for some reason, this character flaw was never so prominent as when I thought about Dr. Ian Graham.

Ian turned me into a pathetic little girl who saw the good in the bully, and if I were smart, I would do what Santiago suggested and stay far away from him.

Yet, apparently, it seemed that I needed him as much as he admittedly needed me.

As if to punctuate my thoughts, my phone started to blast a loud shrieking ringtone, one that I assigned to my mother. I gulped as I looked down at the phone without answering. I knew what she wanted. I was out of time.

That pretty much sealed the deal.

I jogged back into the coffee shop and accepted his offer on the spot, laying out my conditions.

Ian gave me a curious look but didn’t say anything about my change of heart. He only asked if I was okay to start the next day, and I said I was.

I assumed I knew what I was signing up for.

I only packed enough clothes for a week’s stay in case this didn’t work out. With that, I drove over to his home bright and early the next morning. Ian lived in Oxford, a suburb full of Creole townhouses that were spaced apart with shrubbery between them.

I rang his doorbell once, and the door swung open to reveal Ian standing there, dressed in a suit, next to Kendy, who seemed less thrilled now that I was here.

She immediately turned to her father and pouted. “I told you that I didn’t need a nanny.”

“And I told you that you do,” he countered. Kendy crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him, to which he rolled his eyes.

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