Page 31 of Billionaire Babysitter

That’s what makes it so weird. Lucas Adler has never, ever seemed like a human being to me before. But now my eyes have been opened, I don't know how to take it back.

“How’s Dave, anyway?” I say, trying to deflect the subject back onto to Katie.

“He’s good, yeah,” Katie says, clasping her hands together and leaning back against the tree. “He’s busy. We both are. Two kids and two full-time jobs do not make for an easy life.”

“I’m sure,” I say. “It’s been bad enough for me with these kids, and they’re not even mine.”

“Maybe one day.” Katie nudges me.

“Hopefully,” I correct her. “I haven't been put off yet.”

“You could do worse,” she says, looking over at Lucas again. I shake my head, but there’s a tiny part of me that agrees with her, especially seeing him like this.

We watch Chloe stomp up to Lucas and tap him on the back. He jumps, and it looks like he snaps something at her, though I can't hear what they’re saying at all. They have an animated conversation — it doesn’t look quite like a full-blown argument, but Chloe is definitely making her point, and Lucas is definitely about to lose to it.

He visibly slumps and throws up his hands in surrender before gesturing over to us. Chloe sticks her nose up at him, glares, and turns on her heel to stomp her way over to Katie and me, her face set with the angry certainty of the demands that she’s about to make. “Uncle Lucas is no good at the swings,” she says, frowning and glaring back over her shoulder at him.

Katie lets out a snort of laughter and I elbow her, shaking my head. It’s one thing to make fun of Lucas, but it’s another to make fun of the little girl. Lucas might be no good at a lot of things, but Chloe doesn’t deserve to be laughed at over his failings.

“Will you come and show him?” she asks, her frown breaking as she does her famous saccharine smile at me.

I crouch down a little. “Why don't we ask Katie if it’s okay if we leave all our stuff with her? Yeah?”

Chloe nods and turns to look up at Katie. “Hello,” she says. Please can we have Sophie to come and push us on the swings, because Uncle Lucas is rubbish?”

Katie giggles in pure delight. “Sure thing,” she says. “I'll sit with the stroller over there on that bench. I'll watch you all having fun. Make sure my Mandy doesn’t get the better of you!”

“She's only six,” says Chloe, disgusted at the idea that a six-year-old could get the better of her.

Katie grins again, and as Chloe turns to run back to the swings, she says, “Don’t get too excited, will you?”

“Shut up.” I shake my head and set off with Chloe, feeling Katie’s grin following me.

She’s being stupid. And yet I can see the nugget of truth behind her words, one I’m sure she’s fully aware of. It feels like she knows something that I’m only just beginning to realize.

I don’t think I like not fully knowing my own mind. It’s unsettling. It’s just as unsettling as seeing Lucas sitting here grinning away at the kids.

Chloe plops herself back down on a swing and stares at me expectantly. Mandy and Joey have always been big swing lovers too, so I've got an absolutely flawless technique. I lift her up and push her away, and she squeals in delight, kicking her feet in the same way that Noah is.

“Higher, Uncle Lucas. Higher!” he shouts, glancing over his shoulder to do his best imitation of a glare.

“Careful!” cries Lucas, placing both hands on Noah’s shoulders like he's afraid the boy is about to fall off.

“I know what I’m doing,” says Noah, wiggling even more. “I'm holding on tight. You need to push harder.”

“All right,” says Lucas, obeying.

A laugh bubbles out from me at seeing Lucas getting bested by a small child. He rolls his eyes at me, but doesn’t stop smiling. I smile back and we enter into a competition to see who can swing the highest. Chloe obviously has the advantage of age and my expertise, but once Lucas gets the hang of it, Noah is swinging nearly as high as his sister.

Although we can't really have been here for that long, it feels like hours and hours go by, like the whole world is just me and Lucas and Noah and Chloe, and Ava clinging to my leg, dribbling into the light fabric of my pants as she gnaws at my leg like a tiny beaver. I don’t stop her. It’s not like she’s hurting me. And at least this way I can keep an eye on her, even if I am going to have to put my pants in the wash when we get home.

The whole world shrinks down to just the five of us, and it’s with a disturbing sense of clarity that I realize this is the happiest I've ever been with Lucas. In fact, this is a pretty happy moment all round. I wouldn't go so far as to say one of the happiest moments of my life, but it will rank as a really good day.

Eventually, Chloe gets bored of beating her brother and jumps off to go and run some rings around Mandy and Joey who are doing some sort of intricate synchronized dance. They’re not twins, but they might as well be. Their bond is really amazing towatch. It reminds me of me and Katie, except Katie’s insistent that she's not having any more children. Two, she says, is more than enough.

“We should get ice cream on the way home,” announces Lucas. “It's the perfect day for ice cream.”

“Agreed,” I say, nodding without a second thought.

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