Page 30 of Grump's Nanny

Was she flirting with me? Had I finally lost my mind and started hallucinating?

“How about we get you that drink. I assume you like cocktails?” I asked.

Haley nodded and opened her mouth as if she was going to say something snarky back, then stopped. “Yeah… a cocktail wouldbe great. I don’t suppose you know how to make a Long Island Iced Tea, do you?”

“Do I know how to make a Long Island? Do I know how to make a Long Island?” I chuckled, remembering my days in college where that was my go-to cocktail at parties. But it took no more than a minute to remember exactly how long ago that was. “Actually,doI remember how to make a Long Island?”

Haley laughed and took my hand, leading me to the bar where she stepped behind it.

“In addition to nannying in LA, I worked—very briefly—as a bartender.” She grabbed the supplies for her requested drink and began to make it for me. “Vodka, rum, triple sec, tequila, gin, and lemon.”

“Ah yes, now I remember,” I said, nodding. She was insanely sexy like this, and I wondered where someone like her had been the last few years.

In college, you creep,I thought to myself.

Haley poured two highball glasses full and walked around the bar to hand me one. “There you go, sir.”

I took the drink, which had been expertly poured, and held up the glass in Haley’s direction.

“To your health,” I said with a gentle smile.

“To your health,” she said back. “I can only imagine a party like this will cost enough that you will suffer from a heart attack before the week is out. Should I arrange for a caregiver?”

I couldn’t help but laugh at the dry humor of it all. She was funny.

“That’s all right,” I said. “I’ll have you around, right?”

It might have just been my imagination, but I was pretty sure Haley blushed.

“Of course,” she said with a shy smile.

Suddenly the room was empty and it was just her and me. Time seemed to move in slow motion as her long eyelashesobscured her soft blue eyes and I felt my heart beat in double time. Was this all really happening? The first woman I have feelings for after becoming a widower is my nanny?

“James!”

I snapped out of my daydream and returned to the reality of the situation. Dozens of my closest “friends” were around me and Haley was now talking to Anna once more as Kevin clapped his hand on the back of my shoulder.

“Please tell me you’re not eye-fucking your sitter,” Kev said with a tipsy chuckle.

“Certainly not,” I said in a purposely less than convincing tone, taking a long drink from the cocktail Haley had made me.

“She’s cute,” Kevin replied. “A bit too much of a mouth on her for my taste, but Anna loves her.”

I nodded, not really taking in what Kevin was talking about and wholly focused on the fact that Haley kept looking at me while talking to her best friend. She even gestured to me at one point and the two girls laughed in unison.

“That can’t be good, right?” I asked my fellow resort owner.

“Not sure,” he replied. “But Anna looks way too sexy to be clothed. I think we’re gonna head out.”

“Great,” I replied with a flat affect. “Leave me with my whiskey and thirteen-year-old-worthy crush.”

Then Kevin rounded on me rather seriously and I stopped grinning or swooning.

“This is not a situation for the lighthearted, James. I almost lost my best friend in the whole world because I couldn’t keep my hands off his daughter—a woman young enough to be mine. Just make sure you know what you’re doing.”

“Kevin,” I said calmly, “she’s sleeping with your nephew. They’re an official thing if I’m understanding correctly. You don’t have to worry about—”

“Just be sure this is what you want before you move in.”

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