Page 46 of Falling for the Nanny

“No, but I don’t usually get to come back to my hotel room and find you wearing that.” He loosened the knot of his tie and sauntered over to where I was sitting on the bed, my laptop balanced on my legs.

I put my laptop aside and glanced down at my sleep shorts and camisole top. Silky blue with pink rosettes on them. Nothing particularly sexy. “These old things?” I asked, only half joking.

David skimmed his hand down my cheek and throat, coming to rest at the lace-trimmed neckline of the camisole. “Those old things.”

Even though he claimed to like them, David made quick work of them. Within minutes, they were lying on the floor beside the bed and I was underneath David. I could taste the expensive champagne from dinner on his tongue. It was intoxicating. Everything about being here with him was intoxicating.

He was busy all day, but I was used to that. He made sure I had a rental car, and I spent the day exploring Denver. It was fantastic. That day, I drove half an hour and hit a glacier, then drove an hour in the opposite direction and went hiking in the baking hot Red Rocks Mountain Park. And that night, after he was finally done with meetings and dinner and schmoozing, I got him for the rest of the night.

. We made love, of course, but we also talked. He told me about his meetings, and I told him about the things I’d seen and done.

“I wish I could go with you,” he said one night while we were lying in the dark, my head on his chest. Both of us were naked underneath the comforter, spent.

“You will,” I reminded him. “We still have tomorrow and part of Sunday before we have to go back.”

I couldn’t wait for our time together either. I already had a list of things that we could do. Our next thirty-six hours would put Lily’s schedule to shame.

I shifted in the dark so that I was facing him, even though I could only make out the contours of his face in the dim light and not his expression. “Have you called your mom?”

He nodded. “Every day. She and Lily are having a blast.”

I smiled in the darkness. “I’m glad. I hope she has a great last–”

David had been stroking my hair, but as my words skipped to a stop, he stopped too. I felt his chest tighten beneath my head.

“It’s not the end of her summer, Cat,” he said, a thread of annoyance running through his voice, tying his words together with short, tight stitches.

“I know, I know.” I bit my lip, willing the rest of my words to stay in my mouth, but I had no such restraint. Not when it came to Lily. “But it is like the end of her summer,” I burst out. “She’s going to be taking two classes and two activities. She’ll go back to being too scheduled to enjoy relaxing around the pool and going to Busch Gardens and–”

“You say scheduled like it’s a bad thing.” David pushed up on the pillows, and I sat up, too. Even though it was dark, I pulled the comforter up around my shoulders. I needed armor for this conversation.

“Obviously there’s nothing wrong with a schedule, but I think she’s overscheduled.” I tried to keep my tone neutral, non-judgmental.

But even in the muted, twilight of the room, I saw David’s frown. His voice was colder than the glacier I’d seen when he said, “What you think is irrelevant, Cat. She’s my daughter.”

He’d said things to that effect before, but it was starting to sting more and more.

I tightened my grip on the comforter and ground my back teeth, again trying to find that restraint I should have exercised from the beginning. “You know, it feels really lousy when you say things like that.”

His sigh was short and exasperated. He fumbled for the lamp, and a second later, golden light spilled out from underneath the lampshade, and I could see the furrows in his brow. “Then stop making me say things like that, Cat. Leave the decisions about Lily to me so I don’t have to.”

I sat up straighter and secured the comforter underneath my arms. “All the decisions are yours, but I should be allowed to give you my opinion. I mean, you did hire me to take care of her. Surely that means you trust my judgment.”

“I trust you implicitly with her. I know you love her. I know you take care of her and keep her safe. And I have no illusions that I can stop you from giving your opinion.” David leaned forward, his gaze intent. “But when I tell you that I’ve made a decision, I need you to back off. You’re not–”

My spine had been straight before, trying to convey the impression of dignity though I was naked underneath the comforter. Now the bones stiffened from the base of my skull all the way down to my tailbone. I had trouble swallowing. His sentence fragment hung in the air, completing itself in my head.

You’re not her mother.

“That’s true,” I said, my voice terribly cold and remote. I desperately wanted to get up and put some distance between us, but I couldn’t face being naked in front of him. Not now when I was so vulnerable and needed dignity so badly.

This was always going to be an issue, a small voice in my head reminded me. He has the power, and you have what he gives you. My heart cracked painfully. Though I had been meeting David’s hard stare with my icy one, I had to look away.

It wasn’t just about Lily.

It was about not feeling like his equal.

“Cat.” David caught hold of my arm like he knew how badly I wanted to flee. His grip was gentle, and his voice was surprisingly imploring. “I’m not trying to be an asshole.”

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