Page 48 of Nanny for the Damaged Ex-SEAL

"I thought you were asleep."

He laughs. "I was. But your body is calling to me."

I look at the clock. "Uh-huh. It's almost 5 a.m. Ethan will be up soon."

"It's Saturday. He'll be sleeping in."

"Ethan doesn't sleep in. He’s up with the sun. You know that."

He raises his head up and cocks an eyebrow. "I’m good with a quickie."

I struggle out of his grasp and clamber out of bed before he catches me. I'm naked. I take my nightgown off a chair and slip it on.

"He isn't awake yet. Where are you hurrying to? If we start now, we’ll be done in five minutes. Come back to bed."

“Five minutes is too long,” I joke.

“Two minutes, okay?”

I stand in front of the mirror and pull my hair into a ponytail. "I want to go lay out what I'll be wearing to dinner tonight." It's our first dinner ever, and I want to look nice.

"Ugh," he says and falls back into bed. He stares at me with longing in his eyes. "Why are you so goddamn beautiful?"

I reach for the door. "To torture you." I stick my tongue out at him and he laughs.

Before I can open the door, I hear a knock.

"Aria. Aria. I waked up."

Connor bursts into a laugh, and I spread my arms to say, "You see?"

“Daddy!" Ethan screams from downstairs.

As usual, we’re waiting for Connor. Sometimes I wonder how he was ever in the military, where punctuality is required. I asked him once, and his answer was, "I’d start getting ready three hours early."

Ethan is in a little black suit with a tiny bowtie. He insisted on wearing a red bowtie, the little fashionista.

After about ten minutes of waiting, Conner comes out looking insanely handsome. I've never seen him in a suit before. Holy shit. He looks like a sweet piece of man candy, and I want to lick him all over. The suit sits on him like it was custom-made. Ethan starts to jump around the living room.

"You look incredible. You should wear suits more often."

He looks over at Ethan. "I learned a thing or two from this young man over here," he says, pulling Ethan closer.

"Yes," Ethan says, and holds onto Connor's leg.

"And you, my dear, you look super sexy." He leans forward to kiss me.

Ethan releases his arms from Connor's legs and throws them in front of his face, squeezing his eyes shut.

We both laugh.

"Let's go," Ethan urges, pulling on my dress. He runs out of the front door.

We arrive at the restaurant tucked in the other side of town. It's a huge restaurant, and from what I've heard, expensive, too.

"Isn't this too much? We can go somewhere else. Somewhere affordable."

"I made reservations already. Don't worry, I’ve got it."

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