Page 51 of Arianna

Then anger takes over me again when I think about how that bitch was here with the little girl and didn’t change her diaper because she was too busy with herself. I reach forward, look inside the girl’s diaper, and find that she shitted herself. It smells awful.

“What are these people feeding you, girl?” I scrunch my nose, trying hard not to gag, but it is proving to be a challenge since the smell coming from that diaper is nauseating. Ellaiza throws her little head back, causing those gorgeous curls to bounce. She giggles, finding me amusing.

Huh.

This is also new.

Nobody finds my special brand of sarcastic and condescending sense of humor amusing, but apparently, she does.

“Come on, let’s get rid of that horrendous smell before I lose my sense of smell and will to live.” I lift Ellaiza and keep her at an arm’s length.

“Poopy,” She offers me a smile and claps her chubby hands twice, reminding me of my youngest sister, Mila. My chest feels tight, and I must remind myself that this is not her, and there is no point in reliving painful memories.

“You are funny, stink,” I tell her while moving around the ridiculously huge nursery in search of her changing table. “That mean bit—” I catch myself before I curse around someone else’s child. “Excuse me. I meant witch. She will not be around anymore, Ellaiza. You needn’t worry.” I converse with the child as if she is a grown-up and has any idea what I am saying.

Finding the changing table right next to the little white bookshelf with dozens of baby books, I walk towards it. “My name is Arianna,” I tell the little girl.

She looks at me with a grin on her face that is melting me from the inside and out. God, how perfect this child is. She had to be that Neanderthal’s kid. “Ana?”

I am stunned for a moment, not expecting the sudden rush of sadness taking over me the second the little girl calls me the name my little sister used to call me.

“Would you mind telling me why I had to escort out a hysterical nanny screaming and threatening to sue the boss?” Benjamin says as he enters the nursery. I turn his way and find him looking at me with an amused expression.

I place Ellaiza on the changing table and hold her chubby leg to keep her in place. “The jerk was taking photos of herself with a crying baby in the background. I let her off easy.” I did. Assholes like her should not get away with asshole behaviors. How else will they learn not to be assholes?

Benjamin goes farther inside the room and joins me next to the table, looking down at the little girl with adoration in his eyes. I see Ellaiza has him wrapped around her little chubby finger. “Bastian won’t find it as amusing as we do.”

“Who said I find the situation amusing?” I look down at Ellaiza and offer her a small smile when I see her poking her belly button. “Besides, I could care less what your boss thinks. The ass—” I stop myself before I call this kid’s father an asshole. “He left his child with a moron.” It is true. He was the one who hired an opportunistic idiot to look after his baby girl. I did his ass a favor by running her out of here.

That woman should not be looking after babies. Hell, I would not trust her with animals, either.

Benjamin shakes his head at me. “You let me do the—” He cannot finish his thought because he is interrupted by a dark and menacing voice coming from behind us.

“Step aside, Banning.” I look over Benjamin's massive shoulder and find Sebastian standing at the door’s threshold, looking amused and annoyed simultaneously. How is that even possible? I don’t know.

How is it that the man looks even more handsome than the last time I saw him? My breath gets caught in my lungs as I watch in silence as he passes me by without even a glance.

On the contrary, I can’t seem to look away.

His raw and intense masculinity. The way he carries himself is as if he is larger than life, and he knows it.

The suit makes him look intimidating and regal, and his smell…

God, he smells like a million dollars, if that is even possible.

Manly, fresh, and clean.

Expensive.

Benjamin steps aside when his boss moves closer to his daughter, a look of pure adoration takes over his face when he hears the child mumble incoherently, then it quickly disappears when he turns his head my way. He narrows his eyes and clenches his jaw before he dismisses me completely.

Then both Benjamin and I stand rooted in silence as Sebastian rolls up his sleeves and begins to change his daughter's diaper without uttering a word. A few minutes pass while he gently and carefully tends to his kid, and something about a powerful man dressed head to toe in designer rolling up his sleeves to wipe a little girl’s dirty behind does something to me. I lose brain cells every second I am in this man’s proximity. There is no other explanation for this bizarre behavior. That must be it.

I watch Sebastian hand Ellaiza off to Benjamin without looking away from me. “Banning, leave us.”

When I take a step to follow Benjamin and Ellaiza out the door, a firm hand wraps around my arm, stopping me.

A shock of electricity courses through me at the contact, making me look at the incredibly rude man right in those blue eyes of his. The moment our eyes meet, something happens. I see it in the way his nostrils flare and his entire body language changes, becoming more rigid.

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