Page 21 of Falling for the Nanny

Mackenzie rolled her eyes, but then she propped herself up on her elbow so she could see the illustrations as I held them up. After the princess lived happily ever after without her prince, I closed the book and turned out the lights.

“Go to sleep,” I warned. “You have swim team in the morning, Lily.”

I heard Mackenzie whisper, “You always have swim team in the morning.”

“No, I don’t,” Lily whispered back. “I have ballet, badminton, Mandarin, tennis, and swim on different days.”

I pulled the door shut, knowing that Mackenzie would try to convince my daughter to stay up all night, but that Lily would still be asleep within the hour. Downstairs, I went straight to my office to catch up on a little work. Despite spending a record amount of time at my desk since Cat moved in, I was still behind. I wasn’t focusing like I used to when Mrs. Barnes was here. I wanted to pretend that it was because I had complete and utter trust in Mrs. Barnes to take care of my daughter, but I knew that wasn’t it. It was because I wasn’t distracted by Mrs. Barnes. I didn’t wonder what was going on behind her narrowed eyes or what she was doing when she wasn’t here.

Which was exactly what I was doing now, making it impossible to get anything done. With a growl of frustration, I gave up and went into the kitchen to open the bottle of wine Melissa had brought. I didn’t bother to look at the label because I knew it would be good. She had the taste of a sommelier, and the budget of a queen. I poured myself a glass and then went out onto the deck. It was where I always went to relax. There was something about the cool blue light of the pool wavering up and the sounds of the forest at night that unwound the knots in my shoulders. I rolled them back as I sipped the wine.

I was almost relaxed when, so quietly I almost didn’t hear it, the sound of the side gate squeaked open. I straightened, my fingers sliding toward my cell phone. I had a gun locked up inside, just in case, but I would prefer to let the police handle it.

But then it turned out to be a slim girl in a black dress that blended in with the night. Only her golden-brown hair and honey skin gave her away.

Irritation leapt up in me as I got to my feet, and I headed down the stairs, determined to remind her of the rules.

Forgetting the one I’d made for myself, which was not to get near Cat alone.

CHAPTER 13

CAT

The heavy tread of David’s footfalls on the wooden stairs sounded like gunshots. I jumped, my heartbeat tripping over itself. It didn’t slow when I realized what the sound was. If anything, it sped up.

“Catherine,” he said, striding around the pool. The watery blue light threw his face into shadow, making his cheekbones sharper, his eyes glitter more dangerously. “I thought I made the rules clear. You don’t come in that side gate at night.”

My back stiffened instantly. It didn’t matter that he was my employer and the most ruthlessly handsome man I’d ever seen. No one spoke to me like I was a child. “I’ll go in and out whatever entrance I want,” I said firmly. “I should be able to stay out late without worrying about waking you and Lily up.”

David was still approaching, his footsteps only slowing when he was a few feet away. “You’ll go in and out of the front door from now on, or I’ll have the door in the fence padlocked so you have no choice.”

I gaped at him. Surely he was kidding, but he looked dead serious. “I think that’s a fire safety violation,” I managed to say.

His smile was sharp. “I’ll pay the fine.”

God, he would too. That was what money did. It made almost everything legal, just at a price the majority of us couldn’t afford. It made me mad and bitter all at once. “I’m not a prisoner, David,” I lashed out, taking a step forward and closing the distance between us. My hands were balled up at my waist, and I could feel lightning bolts shooting out of my eyes. It wasn’t fair, this disparity between him and me. It was one thing to set the terms of my employment, but he shouldn’t be able to tell me which door to use.

“No, you’re my responsibility.” He didn’t back up even though we were practically toe to toe now, not that I expected him to.

“No, I’m your employee, Monday through Saturday afternoon.” I lifted my chin. I should have been nervous, standing this close to him, but I was too aggravated to feel it. “And Saturday afternoon through Sunday night, I’m none of your business.”

David’s face changed as he stared down at me. At first it was hard as granite, but slowly, his expression became bemused, like he didn’t know what to make of me. “You’re my business seven days a week because if someone comes out of those woods and wraps an arm around your throat and drags you back into them…”

To my shock, his hand lifted, and he dragged his forefinger down the column of my throat as if to illustrate how fragile it is. Then he spread his fingers out so that the pads of them were spanning my collar bone. My heart was banging away in my chest, but my breath had stopped completely. He had never touched me before. Now I knew why. His touch was electric. Dangerous. He had to be careful with hands like those. It made a girl want to feel them all over her.

At least, it made this girl want that.

“I have to find a new nanny for Lily.”

My brain was too scrambled to make sense of his words at first, but slowly, the meaning settled in. He wasn’t worried about me–he was worried about my murder being more work for him.

Outraged, I knocked his hand away and tried to shove him back. It didn’t work, he was as strong as he looked. His body was cut from the same granite that his face was.

“Watch it.” David caught my arms before I could try again.

“Why?” I snapped. “Because you’ll have to find a new nanny for Lily if I push you in the pool?”

“No, because I’ll be fucking pissed if you push me in the pool.” David quelled my struggling by pulling me hard against him and giving me absolutely no room to fight. I exhausted myself and barely managed to move an inch. I glared up at him instead, conscious of how inappropriate this was, but unable to care. From the beginning, we hadn’t had a normal employer-employee dynamic. Something volatile was always simmering below the surface. Now it was just out in the open. It didn’t feel wrong so much as it felt overdue.

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