Page 41 of Nanny for the Mercenaries

And at home, Trish and Jordy kept their word. They were totally respectful, and pretended like nothing was going on when they were around Kaylee. Trish seemed completely devoted to her job of nannying our daughter, and Jordy never made any sly innuendo or gave Trish sexy glances or gropes when he thought nobody was looking. And at night, if they did anything, they were quiet enough that the rest of us couldn’t hear. Overall, everything felt normal.

But I still found myself put off by the entire situation. For a while, I assumed this was because I was mad at Jordy for breaking his promise. He was very good at finding ways to annoy me, and this time he had really outdone himself. Even if the two of them were behaving themselves, the situation was far from ideal.

Yet after a while, I realized it was more than just annoyance at Jordy letting his dick do his thinking for him. I felt especially upset whenever I glanced at Trish.

I’m jealous.

As much as I hated to admit it, Harrison was right. At least, partly so. I was jealous that Jordy had made a move on Trish and I hadn’t. I was jealous she asked him out at the gym instead of me. And whenever I admired the curve of Trish’s figure in her tight blue jeans, I was jealous that Jordy got to feel the smooth skin underneath.

It went deeper than that, too. Trish took incredible care of our daughter, like she was her own. Every action, every word, every gesture she made with the girl was motherly and loving. It came natural to her, and it reassured me that Kaylee truly was in good hands.

And of course, it only made me want Trish more. Because any love interest I might ever have wasn’t just a potential lover to me—she was a potential mother figure for my daughter. Seeing Trish with Kaylee fulfilled that half of the bargain in my mind. Arguably, the more difficult half. Dating was difficult as a single father, and yet this situation just sort ofworked.

Except that Jordy had made the first move.

As the days went on, I wondered if things could have been different. If I had been proactive and asked her out at the gym, rather than keep to my plan of waiting until after we returned from our long trip. What would my life look like? Would I be happy? It was further complicated by the fact that Trish was bright and friendly to me every day, every bit as much as she was to Jordy.

It doesn’t matter now,I thought.Whatever chance I had is gone.

The peace conference ended without much fanfare or excitement. We went through a debriefing with the head of security, signed various documents to end the contract, and then went home to pack everything up. Normally, this routine at the end of a contract would be filled with relief and excitement. But this time we weren’t going home; we were flying to the next mission.

We were checking in at the airport when I got a notification on my phone that the wire transfer for our contract had gone through. That lifted my spirits, as it always did.

A few more jobs like that and maybe we can think about retiring.

“Istanbul,” Trish said when I handed out the boarding passes. “Not Constantinople?”

“That’s nobody’s business but the Turks,” I replied, completing the song lyrics.

Jordy frowned at each of us. “What was that about?”

“It’s an old song by They Might Be Giants.”

“They might be what?” he said. “Is that a band name?”

Trish shared a look at me and laughed. “So, what’s in Istanbul?”

“We will discuss it when we get somewhere private,” I replied.

“Ugh. Fine, fine. I get it.” But while we waited at the gate, I saw Trish do a Google search for peace conferences in Istanbul.

We boarded our flight and took our seats in the economy section. “What, no fancy first class pods this time?” Trish asked.

“It’s only a quick trip across Europe,” I replied. “Like flying from Wilmington to Dallas.”

“I’ve become accustomed to a certain amount of luxury,” she replied with a wink.

Oh, don’t do that,I thought.Don’t make my heart do somersaults.

I helped Kaylee with her seatbelt and avoided looking in Trish’s direction.

17

Archer

The flight to Istanbul was quick. Kaylee and I spent most of the trip playing hangman on a piece of paper. I was constantly amazed to see how much smarter she had gotten within the last year, especially with spelling and writing. That was probably my favorite part of being a father: watching her grow up. Turning into an actual human with thoughts and intelligence and opinions. I couldn’t imagine what she would be like in another year or two, to say nothing of when she became a teenager. I didn’t want to think about that at all.

We landed in Istanbul and breezed through security. Our passports had a special clearance in most of the NATO countries that allowed us to travel without many questions, for which I was grateful. Without that, all it would take was one ornery customs agent to ruin an entire contract.

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