Page 10 of Desiring Boss Daddy (Cascade Mountain)

“I don’t know what you’re doing here, but I don’t like it.” I snapped my laptop shut and stood. My hackles? They were raised. Heather got to her feet on the other side of the room. “I think you should leave.”

“Fine.” Heather held her hand out for a handshake. “I’ll leave, but you can’t contact my mom again. Find someone else. I mean it.”

I didn’t shake her hand in return. Instead, I let her leave the room without a word.

She hadn’t even made it downstairs before I called her back. “Stay.”

“For now.” Heather leveled a look at me that I wasn’t sure how to interpret. “And for Collins.”

“Fine.” It wasn’t fine. I wanted her for more, much more than I was willing or able to articulate. I was becoming addicted to her blue eyes, the sweep of her brown hair over them, and wondering what went on behind them to make them flash and narrow and shine. The way she laughed—not that I had seen it personally, but what I overheard from her time with my daughter—and the promise I felt she held for my life, even if we agreed she wouldn’t be here for long.

I would make it my mission—no, my calling—to do everything within my power to get Heather to stay here forever, no new nannies needed.

5

Heather

“You don’t have to do this,” my mom said, catching my arm as soon as I returned home that evening. “This isn’t what you came out here for.”

“I came out here to help you,” I said, brushing past her to go to the kitchen. I needed some coffee if I was going to get some more sorting, organizing, and packing done tonight. Suddenly, my month here didn’t feel like it was going to be enough. By adding Collins and Graham to my list of responsibilities, it had condensed my availability. Thankfully, many of my teleconference clients were scheduled for after business hours—mostly after the kids were through with school and extracurricular activities.

It just meant I needed to cram helping my mom before I started my day with Collins—and after my last appointment.

There was no way this was going to be the relaxing break from my life in New York that I thought it was going to be.

However, it did have an unexpected benefit. Being so busy meant I wouldn’t have to spend any time thinking about Charlie and what had gone wrong, whereI’dgone wrong.

Maybe this whole situation would be good for me. Better, even, than a vacation, where I would have plenty of leisure time and entire afternoons to think, pick apart, and overanalyze.

My mom, however, wasn’t thrilled with the whole nanny replacement situation.

“You’re going to get attached to that little girl,” she said. “I guarantee it.”

“I’m going to do whatever it takes to care for her responsibly while I’m in town,” I said. “But that’s it. It’s what I agreed to, and you know it.”

“And I know Graham Hilborne,” my mom said, standing her ground. “He’s going to do whatever it takes to make sure you continue to do whatever he says he needs.”

“Oh, like he convinced you to stay on even after your medical retirement?” I countered. “I’m not like that, Mom. I’m not going to get roped into doing anything I don’t want to do.”

“Haven’t you already been roped in?” she asked, exasperated. “This is how he works, Heather. He’s a businessman. Cutthroat. And you can’t just step in and then leave whenever you want. It’s much more complicated than that.”

It was certainly beginning to sound like it was more complicated than I believed. “Hey, retiree,” I said. “Tomorrow, we’re going to the beach. It’s Saturday. We’re going to relax and have fun because you don’t have anything you need to do.”

“I would often go in to care for Collins on Saturdays,” my mom protested. “You might need to do the same, especially if Graham’s had a late night or a business trip out of town.”

“He didn’t warn me of either happening this weekend, so I’m not planning on showing up,” I said. “Beach. Tomorrow. Pack your bathing suit. That’s final.”

My mom deserved to relax and do whatever she wanted in her retirement. I just wanted to make sure her rest and relaxation were protected from outside influences. Thankfully, we had a lovely afternoon at the beach, both of us getting sunkissed, which then made our Sunday even more luxuriously lazy, the two of us lounging in chairs in the sitting room, ignoring the half-packed boxes around us.

“It’s nice to have you here, Heather,” my mom said, marking the place in her book with a finger. “I just wish it was under different circumstances.”

“Why?” I paused in typing up some case notes on my laptop to look at her. “Retirement is just a stage of life. You didn’t think you were going to work until you dropped dead, did you?”

“I kind of did,” she admitted, gazing over at the emptied-out built-in cabinets before looking away again. “I just don’t feel like I have a purpose anymore.”

“It’s going to be jarring at first,” I coached her. “But once you realize every minute of every day belongs to you, and you can do whatever you like with it, you’re going to love it. Endless weekends, Mom. And trips to the beach whenever you want.”

“Sure, with you in New York. I don’t think I’ll go to the beach alone.”

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