Page 16 of Choosing Their Omega

I have to admit, I’m shocked to hear a ‘please’ come out of the man’s mouth. “I…”

“Ben is everything to me, and I want to make sure you’re a safe choice,” Knox continues. “I’d like to know more about you. That’s all. I don’t want us to make a rash decision.”

“Run a background check on me,” I offer. “I can tell you everything you want to know, but that way you’ll know I’m telling the truth. My dad didn’t want to raise a kid, and Mom struggled as a single parent, so she dumped me on my grandmother’s doorstep. I took on a lot of babysitting jobs because we were in a lower-income neighborhood and both parents needed to work, but they couldn’t afford fancy childcare.”

Knox looks thoughtful, his thick brows drawing together a little as he listens to me speak, so I keep going, laying out the reasons I’m qualified for a position like this—even if I never expected to be a nanny.

“I was never certified, never did anything official, but I learned CPR and a lot of health stuff for babies and toddlers, and everyone knew they could rely on me. When my grandmother got cancer, I took care of her myself out of her home so she wouldn’t have to stay in a hospital. I learned a lot about caring for special needs.”

He nods. “I’ll check all of this out.”

“Of course. Knox, I understand. You want to protect Ben from harm.”

His hand is still on my shoulder. It slides down a little, and I swallow hard as my arm tingles with warmth. “I do. It’s… I just want to do right by him. Thank you for understanding.”

His tone is a bit gruff, but not unkind. His gray eyes are piercing as they look me up and down, his gaze never wavering for a moment. I get it. I wonder if my grandmother was this protective over me in her own way, when I was first with her. When I was too young to see all the ways that she took care of me.

“Of course,” I repeat, my mouth dry in the face of his wholehearted, intense attention. I don’t know if I’m blushing, I can’t really feel my face, but I just hope I’m not as flushed as I fear I am.

Being at the center of Knox’s attention is a lot.

“I’ll let you know how it goes, then,” he says, breaking the silence.

I nod, and a smile stretches helplessly over my face before I can stop myself. “Thank you.”

I know it won’t be easy to gain Knox’s trust, but I know my background check will turn out fine. And I’m ready to give this job—and winning over the grumpy goalie—my all.

Chapter 5

Lily

To my surprise, Cruz insists on moving me in already, even though Knox is still working on the background check.

“It’ll all turn out fine,” Cruz tells me. “So why wait? You shouldn’t be on the street for a second longer than you have to be.”

He’s so confident, I can’t help but be swept away by his casual leadership. When Cruz tells me that all will be well… I believe him. Maybe it’s the kind, soft look in his eyes when he looks at me, or maybe it’s his confidence, but I feel safe with him.

I can’t remember the last time I felt that way.

Miles and Lawson elect to get me back to my car so I can get all of my things. “We’d like to get to know you,” Miles says, his tone soft like he’s trying to set me at ease. “But if you’d be more comfortable with just one of us…”

“No, it’s all right. It might be easier and faster with two people.”

Lawson grins and snatches the car keys from Cruz. “Great!”

We get back to my car, and I wince as we turn onto the road. “My baby was having problems for a while but… it stopped running completely a couple of days ago.”

I don’t want to abandon my car, even though I know it’s an old one and I probably should let it go. It’s stuck with me through a lot.

“We can call for a tow truck and get it to a repair shop,” Lawson says. He parks the car and hops out, and I scramble to follow. He’s so full of energy, it makes me smile. “This is a dependable car. It’s probably just had a lot of stuff that needed upkeep and it never happened.”

“I know,” I sigh. “I’m a terrible car owner. I just never had the money to fix anything.”

“I get it. A car’s expensive.” Lawson pops open the hood and looks inside for a moment, then closes it again. “I’ll call someone. We’ll get it taken care of, don’t worry.”

He sounds so certain that it makes me relax. I wish I could have the confidence that these men do, the knowledge that everything will get fixed and be okay.

“Only if it’s not too much,” I add, quickly. “You guys might not end up hiring me, if Knox doesn’t want me. And even if you do I don’t want to ask for too much.”

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