Page 48 of Nanny for the Bossy Billionaire

That’s the problem all this boils down to; either I help her get what she wants and Ethan and I lose, or I do what’s best for my son and I and keep her where she is, in essence clipping her wings.

Either way, someone I care about is going to get hurt.

I turn the whole situation in my hand until the answer is clear. It’ll be a bit of a struggle and an adjustment having Naomi out of our lives, but at the end of the day, Ethan and I will survive.

Naomi has worked really hard to get what she wants and has made no headway. From what she’s told me, she has had such poor luck. I know people who have done a quarter of the work she has and have gotten 10 times as far. All she needs is for someone to open a door for her and I know she’ll take care of the rest.

And I am not comfortable with being one of the hands that have slapped her down.

It’s decided. I will introduce her to Gabriel and let the chips fall where they may.

Of course, I hope I am panicking for nothing about what this means for our future. Even if it’s hard, even if it means she disappears from my life altogether, I’ll find a way to be okay with that.

I go in search of Naomi to tell her what I’ve decided. It’s been three days since the dinner party. I had intended to speak to her the following morning, but I was too embarrassed. I’ve been avoiding her and I think she’s been doing the same. We’ve barely seen each other, so finding her may be a challenge.

It’s the middle of the day. Ethan is taking a nap, so she could be anywhere. I look everywhere she could be until I eventually find her outside, sitting under a tree on the grounds reading a book.

When she hears my footsteps approaching, she looks up and takes a deep breath.

I stop when I’m in front of her and we both stare at each other for a bit. I sit next to her and lean on the tree as well.

“I’ve been an asshole.” I expect her to agree in some way, but when she doesn’t respond I continue. “I will introduced you to Gabriel. I can’t make any promises, but I’ll make the introduction. The rest will be up to you.”

“I don’t want you to do that.”

“What?”

“I don’t want you to introduce me to your friend if you don’t want to.”

I turn to her, but she doesn’t look at me. Instead, she stares at the book in her lap. “But I do want to.”

“No, you don’t. You’ve made it abundantly clear multiple times how undesirable that would be for you.”

“Didn’t you hear when I admitted to being an asshole?” I run a hand through my hair. “Listen, you are right. It’s no skin off my back to introduce you to Gabriel. I was just scared to.”

She looks at me. “Scared of what?”

“That I would introduce you to Gabriel and… that that would be the end of us.” I can’t look at her when I say what I say next. “I’m starting to have real feelings for you.”

There’s a long pause, and I realize I can feel my heart beating in my chest.

“I’m starting to have real feelings for you too, Reid. But why would introducing me to Chef Aranda mean the end of us?”

“Like I once told you, Gabriel is intense. If he decides to take you on, you will have no kind of a social life for the foreseeable future. I’ve seen it before, and this thing between us is still new. I’m not sure it can survive that amount of pressure.”

“Look…” She turns to me. Her hand goes to my cheek and she caresses me. “If two people want something bad enough, they’ll be able to make it work. If Chef Aranda decides to take me on, we can still make things work.”

“Okay… But what about Ethan?”

She sighs. “Yeah, that’s the only part of all this that I feel guilty about…but children are resilient. At least that’s what I have been telling myself. You’ll just need to get him another nanny. This time, make sure she’s an actual nanny.” She chuckles.

I laugh too. “I’ve missed you.”

“I missed you too.”

I can’t wait another moment. I lower my head and take her lips in a kiss. When I pull back I look into her eyes and say, this time more pointedly, “I havereallymissed you...”

She gets my meaning immediately and shoots to her feet.

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