Page 66 of Grump's Nanny

“About you,” Anna said, confirming what I said.

“Yeah,” I said, “and if I hadn’t been sure at first, his reaction confirmed it when he told me he couldn’t stop thinking about how beautiful I looked.”

“Wow,” Anna said. “Direct.”

“No shit,” I laughed. Well, after he comforted me when he found me crying, later that night I asked him for a private conversation, and… I kissed him. To thank him.”

“Why were you crying?” she asked.

“I. uh… I fell down while skiing,” I explained. “And I had a bad flashback.”

“Oh, Haley…” Anna said, her grin disappearing for a moment.

“It’s fine,” I told her. “James was there and managed to get me into one of the ski lift towers and we started making out, and then… we touched ourselves to completion with me in his lap.”

Anna clapped a hand over her mouth to keep from crying out again, and when she moved her hand, she hissed, “You didwhat?”

“I know,” I said, bowing my head. “I’m totallythatcliché nanny who sleeps with the dad of the kids she watches.”

“And youdidsleep together?” she asked, confirming.

“Yeah,” I said. “About a week ago. And last night we had this super-hot, steamy, make out session, and I may have given him a blow job.”

“I cannot even,” Anna said, as quietly as I’m sure she was able to. “God, Haley… So, what do you think you’re going to do about it?”

“I… don’t know,” I said honestly. “I really like him, and I think he likes me. He’s said as much, and he told me going to this benefit was the social equivalent of being engaged or married. I just don’t know if this is what I want. I still want to go to the Olympics. I want to be a competitive skier.”

“Who says you can’t be if you’re in a relationship with him?”

I thought hard about her question. “No one, really.”

“Then why does it matter?” she asked. “If you can have your cake and eat it too, why not?”

She had a good point. But it felt like there felt like something more to consider,.

“I don’t know,” I said. “It just feels really big. Like, I thought Max was the one, and it didn’t come close to feeling this big.”

It was true. Despite the newness and the surprise of this particular potentially budding relationship, it felt like there was something I couldn’t ignore about it. Like I would be an idiot to walk away before I knew what it could be.

“Speaking of big…” Anna said with an exaggerated wink. “What are we talking?”

I tossed a dress I’d just taken off at her. “Do what I brought you for and hang up those clothes andmaybeI’ll tell you.”

Chapter Twenty-Six

James

I sent the kids to my dad’s house for the night because I had a distinct feeling that Haley and I would want some alone time. They were all too happy to pack up and go see the man who handed out hundred-dollar bills like they were ones.

“Do not bring them back with a shit ton of stuff, Dad,” I said to him. He simply smiled at me and shook his head. We both knew how this was going to go, but I liked to pretend he cared what I said.

Haley came out of her room the minute the kids were gone and ran up to me, jumping on my back.

“It’s time to get ready,” she said with the biggest smile I’d ever seen on her.

I spun in a circle, eliciting a loud shriek from her, and darted toward my bedroom.

Haley kicked open my bedroom door with her foot and I turned and released, dropping her onto my bed. I watched as she bounced in more places than one, and I realized she wasn’t wearing a bra.

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