Page 32 of The Bossy One

Olivia took an instinctive step toward me, her hand reaching out, then falling to her side. “Oh Declan.”

I shrugged. “It doesn’t matter. I was practically an adult. And once we got through the first year, it got easier. I’m fine.” I flashed her a crooked smile, but she wasn’t fooled, and I felt my smile fade away. “The point is, I know what it’s like to have something horrible happen to your parent, and wish that you had the option to hide, and distract yourself, and just be a kid a little longer. And Catie…she’s soyoung.”

Olivia reached out and touched my arm. “I know.”

“I may have over-corrected,” I admitted. “A bit.”

“A bit.” Olivia’s smile was wry but gentle.

I cleared my throat. “Anyway. I’ll try to get my demons under control. And Iwilllisten to you when you bring up a concern. I can’t promise I’ll always agree, but I’ll hear you out. So if you’re ready to come home—” I broke off as Olivia rose up on her tiptoes and wrapped her arms around me. I inhaled, startled, my hands settling tentatively on her lower back. She felt warm and feminine in my arms, and I tried not to notice her lavender scent, or soft curves, or… Fuck, it was no use. It was impossible not to notice Olivia. It always had been.

“You shouldn’t have had to go through that alone,” Olivia said firmly. “There should have been someone there to shield you, like you’re shielding Catie.”

My throat tightened. “It’s really not a big deal,” I said, my voice gruff. “I didn’t say any of that to get your pity.”

“It’s not pity,” Olivia said. “It’s understanding.” She fell silent, then said, “My parents died when I was in high school too. Boating accident. They went out on the ocean with a friend and got caught in storm. The Coast Guard never found them.”

“Oh,a ghrá.” My arms tightened involuntarily around Olivia. “I’m sorry.”

She kept her head tucked into my chest. “What’s that one mean?”

“Hmm?”

“A ghrá.You haven’t used that one before.”

I froze. I’d used the term for “love” without thinking. It was a slip of the tongue, but Olivia might read too much into it if I gave her the literal translation.

Down the road, a bus lumbered toward us.

I released her. “It means friend,” I lied.

She tilted her head up, and Christ, she was pretty.

“You saida charawas friend,” Olivia pointed out.

“I did. So will you come back?”

Olivia smiled. This time her smile felt relaxed, settled. “Yes. As long as you keep your promise to communicate.”

I grabbed her suitcase and tossed it in my car. “I don’t think you’ll let me do anything else.”

The bus came to a halt in front of the stop, but I waved it on.

Olivia was coming home with me.

10

OLIVIA

“So what do you think we should do for your weekly treat?” I asked Catie. I’d decided it would be good to instate a weekly routine Catie could look forward to. And this week, I definitely felt like I’d earned a treat myself.

After all, it was a mere two days since the great Declan Byrne followed me to a bus stop and begged me to come back because he finally realized I was the best nanny in the whole wide world.

At least that was the joke I’d made to Molly when we went out to the pub last night. I’d glossed over the whole thing until it sounded like a funny misunderstanding. I’d done it partly because it would feel like a betrayal of Declan’s trust to repeat any of what he’d actually said. But I’d also kept silent because if I thought about the whole thing too long, I found myself getting emotional.

It was hard to think about Declan going from being a kid who just wanted to be told that everything was going to be all right to a man determined to protect a little girl he loved from ever experiencing half of what he had.

I couldn’t think about how in all the families who had fired me, Declan was the only one who had realized he was in the wrong and chased after me. I was used to seeing value in my work, even if no one else did, but with Declan, for the first time in years, it felt like someone else saw my value. And it was the grumbly, emotionally constipated, lethally gorgeous Irishman who slept down the hall from me.

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