Page 18 of Nanny for My Billionaire

“What the hell isshedoing here?”

“God only knows,” says Sara with a sneer of disgust as she heads for the door to open it.

Gena breezes right past my sister and glances around until she spots me. “Hey, Adam, that whole Italian deal didn’t work out, so I’ve come to pick up the boys,” she says, just as if she was discussing the weather.

Anger erupts inside me like nothing I’ve ever felt before. It sure doesn’t help that I was already pissed off before she even got there.

“Like hell you are,” I growl. “You abandoned those boys. I’m not going to let you hurt them again, you heartless bitch. I don’t even want you anywhere near them. Do you even have a clue how much you hurt them when you said, right in front of them, that you didn’t ever expect to come back here again? You need to leave, right now.”

“Oh, come on, Adam, you know you can’t really take care of two boys all on your own,” she scoffs. “Why don’t you just save us some court expenses and hand them over.”

Sara steps up between us. “For your information, Adam won’t be raising the boys alone. He’s engaged to my friend Melissa, and as a matter of fact she’s just outside getting some of her things from my car because she’s planning to move in with Adam right this very moment. And you know as well as I do the court loves to favor couples over single parents. Especially one who abandoned her children. So, it sounds to me like you’re the one who should just back off and save some court costs.”

Two things happen in the moment when I hear what my sister is saying. First, I want to strangle her, and second, I see that what she’s just said is pure genius—but only if Missy’s streak of making split second decisions of a crazy nature continues unabated.

“That’s right, I am getting married,” I say. “As a matter of fact, I’m being very rude right this moment by making her go get her things by herself. I’m going to step outside and offer her some help. Sara? See if you can help Gena right back out the door so we don’t have to call the cops.”

“There’s no way I’m leaving here without meeting your future bride,” Gena tells me. “I mean, she’s going to be taking care of my boys whenever they’re in your custody, right? I have a right to meet the woman.”

I’m literally feeling nauseated at this point. “Sure, just—just let me go and get her, all right?”

I totally appreciate the irony of the ask I’m about to make of Melissa. There I am, pissed off because she’d lied to me, mostly because she wanted to help me, and I’d even thrown her out of my house for it, and not five minutes later I am going to beg her to at least pretend she is about to become my wife.

Hell, I haven’t even worked through just how mad I am about her little impersonation trick yet, and I’m about to jump out of the frying pan and into the fire. My feet are carrying me right out the back door, but my brain has no idea how the hell I am even supposed to tell her what is going on.

This whole situation is crazy enough from my own side of it. I can only imagine just how crazy the last few weeks must have been for her.

How does a guy fall in love with the same girl twice and still wind up somehow on the outside looking in rather than finally having her for himself? It’s obvious that I should not be thinking about actually marrying her, right? Still, I can’t quite separate what I want and what I need from Melissa as I step outside and wave her over.

She looks sullen—or maybe heartbroken—but she still steps away from the car, hands on her hips. “Come to yell at me some more? I mean, I know I deserve it, but you didn’t even let me explain the whole story, did you? I knew I should expect that sort of temper from you since it’s the same thing you did before, but I was hoping maybe you’d grown up a little by now.”

“I didn’t come out here to fight,” I say, though my face has gone red. “There’s a problem. A really big one. I think it trumps anything we’ve dealt with, now or three years ago.”

Her face pales. “What’s wrong? Are the kids, okay?”

“They’re fine,” I say. “Still wrapped up in their movie, with no idea what’s happening in the other room right now.”

“Adam, will you just tell me already?”

I suck in a breath. “Okay then. Gena just showed up trying to take the kids, and Sara just told her the two of us are engaged and you’re moving your stuff in rather than out, and I know this is a really big ask, but would you please just play along with this so we can get rid of her?”

“You—what?” she gasps, her jaw slack as she stares at me like I’m some kind of raving lunatic.

“Come on, Miss, I thought you liked crazy,” I cajole her, even leaning in to kiss her cheek, fully aware that the two women in the house can see me do it, but have no idea what we were talking about.

“This is beyond crazy, Adam,” she scoffs. “This is—impossible. How is this even supposed to work? I mean, does this mean we’ll be even afterwards? We can forget all about what you did to piss me off three years ago, and what I did just now to piss you off too? Because right now, I am so ready to throw you to the wolves if it weren’t for those two little boys.”

“Hey, I realize you really did take the job because you wanted to help,” I say, stunned, as it dawns on me that her heart has been in the right place, and once again I am simply being a jerk. “I’m so sorry, Miss, it’s just that a guy is never going to be happy about being lied to.”

She sighs. “We can call a truce for now, I suppose. It’s the least I can do, since I really don’t want to see the kids suffer, and going back to their heartless mother is not in their best interests, even a little.”

“Great, then,” I say, relief flooding through me. “Sara told her you were moving in right now and you’d brought a few bags along. Supposedly I’ve just come out here to help you carry them upstairs.”

She nods. “We should take them to your room. It would look weird if you moved me into one of the other ones, and if we’re going to try to convince her we’re a couple it needs to look believable. She just might watch where we take them.”

I shake my head. “You’re really good at this stuff, aren’t you? Maybe you missed your calling. You’d probably make a better actress than Gena.”

“Hey Adam. Fuck you.” she scolds.

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