Page 41 of Falling for the Nanny

Lily dropped the small silver square back on the table. “Weird,” she said indifferently, then started hopping around the room again.

I watched her for a few seconds, filled with heady relief and a lingering sense of horror. I felt like I’d just narrowly avoided a car crash. If I’d pulled out just ten seconds earlier, I’d be in that wreck of twisted, tangled metal and everything would be ruined. The feeling didn’t go away until we were in the car, pulling out of the drive. Lily was chattering away about the rides she wanted to go on and the ones she wasn’t tall enough for yet, and there was absolutely no sign of suspicion in her voice.

Guilt about lying to her coupled with my desire to give her the best last days of real summer ever meant that when we got to Busch Gardens two and a half hours later, we stayed the entire day. I called Francesca at two when I realized that there was no way we were going to leave in time to be home for dinner. I could have called David, but I knew Francesca was more likely to tell us not to worry about it, to stay as long as we wanted. I felt a little guilty going around him, but not guilty enough to skip the water park.

We didn’t leave until the park closed down. When we got back in the car, we were exhausted and hungry and filled with the satisfaction you only got when you spent a summer day in the sun, eating overpriced pizza and guzzling back drinks that didn’t have enough ice. The tip of Lily’s nose and cheeks were pink, even though I’d bought her a sun hat and reapplied the sunscreen nearly every hour. I grinned at her as we pulled out of the parking lot. “Was it everything you wanted it to be?”

She nodded enthusiastically. “Can we come back tomorrow with Mackenzie?”

I hated to disappoint her after such a great day, but I had a feeling David was going to be irritated enough about us getting back so late tonight. I didn’t mind pushing him, but bringing home his daughter past her bedtime two nights in a row didn’t seem like a good idea. “Maybe,” I said evasively.

“That means you have to talk to my dad first, right?” Lily pulled a face. “You think he’s going to say no, don’t you?”

“I think he probably likes being able to actually see you in the evening, not just put you to bed.”

Lily was extremely fair for a seven-year-old, but I could tell she was struggling between understanding and disappointment. I silently vowed to do whatever I could to get David to agree.

And I had a few ideas about how to convince him.

CHAPTER 24

DAVID

It was nine-thirty before my security system alerted my phone that someone had just pulled into the drive. It was peak summer, so even though it was late, the bowl of the sky had just darkened and stars dotted the sky above the treetops. A beautiful night–just like it had been a great evening.

A great evening to spend with my kid, if someone hadn’t kept her out all damn day.

I met them in the driveway, approaching as Cat was still turned away, helping Lily out of her booster seat.

“Dad!” Lily said, spotting me over her shoulder.

“I told you I’d ask him,” Cat was saying as she turned back around, then stopped short when she saw me.

“Ask me what?” I asked evenly. “If it’s all right to keep my daughter out past her bedtime?”

“Nooo.” Cat tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. “Not that.” She didn’t sound nervous, exactly, but she looked guarded.

Lily glanced between us. “I’m going in to see Grandma,” she announced.

“Great idea.”

After the front door closed behind Lily, Cat and I were left staring at each other in the driveway. The lamps on either side of the door threw golden light over her, burnishing her hair and skin. She was wearing a skimpy tank top over her swimsuit top and cut off shorts that showed nearly every inch of her long, perfect legs. I liked her like this–casual and disheveled–not that I could take advantage of it now. First, I had to set her straight on a few things.

“I asked your mom about keeping Lily out late,” she said, putting her chin up.

As much as I appreciated the way defiance somehow made her even more alluring, I had to shut it down. “I know, which leads me to believe you think you went over my head.” I took a step forward, closing the distance between us. “But you’re wrong. When it comes to Lily, I am the top of the chain. I make the decisions, and I think you know damn well I wouldn’t have wanted you to drive her across the state and get her back after bedtime.”

“I do know,” she admitted, “but I’m trying to give her the perfect summer in just four days.”

Her words carried the echo of our disagreement this morning. She still thought I should let Lily loaf around for the next six weeks while her peers would be taking these prep classes and edging ahead of her. I wanted to ask if she’d seen how proud Lily was when she got the Top Student medal, but the truth was, it didn’t matter if she had or not. I had, and I was going to make sure Lily always had a fighting chance at those awards.

I struggled between wanting to touch Cat and wanting to shake her. “I appreciate what you’re trying to do, but the fact remains, you can’t do it by going around me.” I heard the steel in my voice and tried to soften it. “I’m not unreasonable, Cat. I want to say yes to you.”

She’d been looking stubbornly past me, but now her gaze found mine again. “I want to say yes to you, too,” she murmured.

My blood stirred, and my groin tightened. There was no mistaking her meaning. For a second, I was relieved. We’d put this behind us. I’d meet her in the pool house tonight, like always, and…

“Lily asked me to take her and Mackenzie back to Busch Gardens tomorrow,” Cat said, catching me off guard. She took a small step forward so that I could smell the chlorine in her hair, the sunscreen on her skin. “What can I do to convince you to say yes?”

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