Page 20 of Nanny for the Bossy Billionaire

Ethan looks pleased with himself and then runs off again.

Once we are alone again, I sigh. “This situation is absolutely ridiculous. And I no longer trust you. But…”

She looks up at me, hopefully.

“…I really do not have the emotional fortitude to look for another nanny right now. You seem to be doing a good enough job, and Ethan seems to like you. I don’t want to keep rotating people in and out my son’s life. So you can stay on.”

Possibly the biggest smile I’ve ever seen in my life stretches itself across Naomi’s face. “Thank you. Thank you for giving me another chance. You won’t regret this!”

“This has nothing to do with you. You should know, I don’t take kindly to being used. You should also know that I will not be introducing you to Gabriel. In fact, I will go out of my way to keep the both of you apart.”

Her face falls, but I don’t have too much time to take it in because I spin on my heels and retreat to my home office upstairs.

Once there, I take out my phone and call Gabriel.

“Hello?” he answers.

“You won’t believe what just happened to me.”

“What?”

“I just found out that my nanny only applied to work for me because she wants to be a chef. So she took the job hoping that with time she would cross paths with you and get you to take her on as a mentee.”

Gabriel bursts out laughing on the other end of the phone. Once he has satisfied his humor, he says, “It’s just like high school all over again.”

“How is this like high school?”

“All the girls making friends with you just to get to me.”

“That never happened. Not even once.”

“It was a tough time for you. So I understand why you would block it out.”

“You’re such a jackass. Why are we even friends?”

Gabriel laughs and we catch up a little before we get off the phone.

Once we’re off, I sit in my leather office chair, alone and in silence.

I can’t believe Naomi would do this.

What surprises me even more is how betrayed I feel.

I’ve only ever been cheated on once in my life as far as I know. My first college girlfriend slept with my roommate. I’m more devastated about this now than I was about that then.

Am I okay?

Naomi does not belong to me, and I have no right to expect any kind of loyalty from her. However, I can’t lie to myself. Knowing that she weaseled her way into my life in order to get closer to Gabriel fucking hurts.

I don’t want to examine those feelings too closely. I’m not too keen on where they might lead. So I put them in a tiny box and push them into the corner of my mind.

Then I find some busywork to distract myself.

Hopefully with time I can get over all of this.

7

NAOMI

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