Shifter Nanny Agency

by Celeste Raye

  Fran asked this because she knew how the Baxters felt about any magical being that was not a witch. She needed to make sure that Laura didn't feel the same animosity that her family did.

  “No, not at all. I am just trying to get away from all of that. I don't need all of the hate around me. That's why I left. We're all the same basically.”

  Fran wouldn't go that far, but she was relieved to hear that Laura did not have the same proclivities as her family. Fran had been short-staffed ever since she started the nanny service. The need was there but finding qualified people to hire and had been difficult.

  At first, Fran had tried to only hire in humans like her. It hadn’t worked out so well. But then again, she had to make sure that they would be ready for whatever they saw in a magical household. It was hard to prepare somebody for it. It was practically impossible to know what would happen.

  It was also impossible to explain all this to humans. To get the reaction, before they had to say something that could not be forgotten. It had been like walking a tightrope, as far as Fran was concerned. Laura was the first magical person that she had hired, and Fran hoped that it would work well. Her last couple of human hires had been disasters. Fran was hoping to make the odds a little bit better this time around.

  She hired Laura, shook her hand, and gave her an address that would be where she needed to report to work tomorrow. Laura thanked her and left the office. Fran hoped that everything would work out. She had faith that it would.

  Fran waited a few minutes until Laura had left, then went downstairs to her regular door. The office was attached to the house, not inside of it, because she wanted to keep life and work separate. That was becoming harder for Fran. The lines were becoming blurred.

  “How did it go?”

  “I think you are right. I should have been hiring magical all along. She already knows what to expect and will handle it a lot better than a screaming human.”

  He smiled at her. “There is nothing wrong with screaming humans. I kind of have grown quite fond of you.”

  Fran slapped his chest. “I am about to have your second baby. You better be quite fond of me by now.”

  “Fran, it's going to be fine. I have a good feeling about this.”

  Fran rolled her eyes at her husband and then gave him a kiss on the lips. They had met when she had gone to work for him a long time ago. Fran was a woman on the run at the time, fleeing from her family's drama. Talking to Laura had brought up unwelcome feelings and thoughts that she didn't want to think about anymore.

  “I hope so. If we don't do something fast, my nanny service isn't going to go very far.”

  “You know that you don't need to work if you don't want to, Fran.”

  Fran waved him off. “I like working. I like helping people. It isn't about the money, but I at least wanted to be successful.”

  He pulled her to him and then started to kiss Fran. She was convinced that he was doing this to help her forget about her problems. Sometimes his tactics would work, especially if she was close enough for him to get his hands on her, but Fran flitted away.

  “I don't have time for that right now. We will talk about that later. I have some paperwork to do, and I need to call John and tell him the good news.”

  Fran heard him growl at her, and it just made her smile. She still couldn't believe how happy she was now that she had found the love of her life.

  Fran only wished that her work life was just as wonderful. The nanny service was certainly a work in progress.

  Chapter Two

  Laura was satisfied with the way that the interview went. She needed the job and liked kids well enough. It made sense that Fran would bring up her family. It was the one thing that she couldn’t get away from, even if she tried hard to.

  Her family had tried to take down not just some shifters, but all of them at one point. It was impossible to keep her head up in some company. Laura worried that whoever hired her was going to know who she was. She tried not to dwell on it. She was nervous, but there weren’t too many alternatives for her. She couldn't go home.

  One of the things she missed the most was going to school. Laura was only a few months away from graduating with her bachelors, and she was ready to move on. That was going to be her ticket out. Laura was convinced that when she left for good, she would finally be able to start fresh. Go where people didn't know her. That sounded like the best-case scenario. She was done trying to fit in, where she obviously never was going to.

  Laura went back to her hotel, waiting for more information to come in from Fran. She was supposed to let her know who she was working for.

  When Fran finally did call, she sounded urgent and Laura asked her what was going on.

  “I know that I said you would start tomorrow, but do you think you could start a little sooner?”

  “How soon?”

  Fran told her that she needed to start immediately if she could.

  “They had an emergency, and John needs to leave out of town for a few days. He will be back on Tuesday and then you two can talk about a normal schedule moving forward.”

  Laura wasn’t given many details, but she was sure that had to do with the fact that the client was a shifter. She didn’t know what type, but they were all notorious for not liking witches.

  “Does he know that I’m a witch?”

  Fran said that he did.

  “And he is fine with it?”

  “Yeah, sure. Why not?”

  Laura was going to ask about what he knew about her family, but she didn’t bother. Truth was, she didn’t want to know. All Laura wanted to know was if she could walk in with a clean slate.

  “Nothing, I was just wondering. You know how some prejudices are.”

  Fran was quiet for a moment. “The whole point of my service is to bring people together. We are all different, so how could we hate all of anything?”

  Laura liked that way of thinking. It was good to know that her boss felt the same way. It put her at ease. The last thing that she wanted to do was get involved with any more drama. That was the reason Laura had taken off to begin with.

  After getting a few more details from Fran, Laura agreed to start immediately. There was no sense in waiting around in her hotel any longer than she had to. The place was rather depressing.

  Fran told her that a car would be there for her in an hour to pick her up. Room and board were part of the equation, and Laura was happy to get out of the hotel.

  There was a knock on her door exactly an hour later. It made her jump a little bit. Laura couldn’t pinpoint why she was so nervous, just that she was.

  The driver told her that his name was Ernest and he would be around if she needed anything. Laura had thought that it was Fran’s driver, but she realized quickly, that it was actually her boss’s driver. Ernest made sure that Laura knew if she wanted to take the kids anywhere, he would be more than happy to escort them. She got the feeling that Ernest was not just a driver, but a protector. The only question, then, was what did they need protection from?

  She thanked Ernest after he took her bags and put them in the trunk for her. Laura certainly liked how the job was starting. She was far more at ease than she thought she would be.

  He closed the car door after she got in and he took her to her next destination. As they traversed the roads, Laura sensed that a major change was coming, and this was the start of it.

  The drive wasn't too long, only about half an hour, and Laura was rather surprised to find that Ernest was taking her into the big city. It was a place that she'd always dreamed of going. Her family like to stick to small communities in woods. It worked better for practicing their witchcraft. Laura just wanted to be normal, like everybody else. Her family had scoffed at her and told her that she was a waste of talent and magic, but Laura, many times over, had told them that she would give it up if there were a way.

  It took Laura a moment to realize that the door was open and it was time for her to get out. They were in front o
f a very tall building she had to crane her neck to look at it.

  “I am supposed to be here to take care of his children. They’re here?”

  Ernest agreed, and Laura was confused for a moment. “Are you sure this is the right address?”

  Ernest nodded again and just kind of smiled. “Trust me, Laura, we’re at the right place.”

  He got her bag out of the trunk and they started towards the front door. The doorman opened it up as he saw Ernest.

  “Hey, good to see you, Ernest. Who do we have here?”

  Laura couldn't meet the man's gaze. She was completely out of her element. She merely needed to look inside of the place to know that her new boss was very different from her. Only time would tell how different he would actually be.

  Ernest told Tony, the doorman, that Laura was the new nanny and would be free to come and go as she pleased. Laura found that a little strange, but it would be no stranger than the rest of her day had been. The only thing familiar was a patch of trees the back of the building that led into the huge park in the middle of the city.

  She felt completely out of sorts.

  Chapter Three

  John was pacing at this point. There was supposed to be a babysitter, nanny, whatever she called herself. But she wasn't there yet, and the deal had to be finalized. His seven-year-old daughter was asleep upstairs. He had to leave before she got up because John knew that she would be upset if he woke her to tell her he was leaving. It was easier for him to run away in the night and for her to ask questions in the morning.

  When he heard the buzzer, he started to feel relief. He was never a very patient man, and today was no different. John knew that he was needed, and he had to go.

  The door opened not too long after, and his driver came in. Ernest asked him where the bags were for his trip, and John motioned to the ones that were in the corner.

  “Take those and I'll be down in a minute, okay?”

  Ernest agreed, and John could imagine that the new nanny had been warned. He was looking around for her, but she was still in the hallway, and when she finally came in, he stopped in his tracks. Two seconds ago, John was worried about what was going to happen if he were late, or later than he was, and now, his heart was pounding in his chest and he was trying to get himself together. He had not expected the nanny to look like that.

  She was short, maybe only about five feet tall. Her hair was down to her waist, and it was long and blonde, flowing around her shoulders and down her back. The woman had a smile on her face that made the whole room a little brighter, a twinkle in her blue eyes that looked more purple than anything else. There was something else about her, too. He had known that she was magical, that she was a witch, but there was something else that he was missing.

  “You must be John. My name is Laura. It's nice to meet you.”

  He took her outstretched hand. An electricity ran between the two of them, and he jerked his hand away quickly. She seemed to feel it as well, because her eyes met his for a moment. It was like she was asking him why he was different, and John was wondering the same thing about her.

  “I feel like I know you.”

  “No, I'm pretty sure you don't.”

  John was trying to figure out the mystery. He didn't understand why she looked and felt so familiar to him. If he didn't know her directly, he had undoubtedly heard about her.

  He looked at the time and cursed. Now he was really going to be late and wished that there was more time for him to be able to give her some pointers. Dana could be hard to deal with. He should have stayed and said more, but he had to go. And even if he did have more time, all he was going to do was sit there and gawk at the girl anyway.

  “If you need anything, just give me a call. My daughter will be up soon, and there is a list of things posted on the refrigerator for the nannies.”

  “So, you've had one before?”

  “Yes, many. My wife passed away many years ago and I have not been able to find a way to manage it myself.”

  “And you don't think that she will be bothered, waking up to a stranger?”

  “Not at all. I am sure that you and Dana will get together and be fine. You will see that she is a pretty easy kid, for the most part. She just needs to have an outlet to get whatever energy out of her, and it'll be fine.”

  Laura wasn't really sure what that meant. She told him so and he just kind of chuckled.

  “Once you meet her, you'll understand.”

  “Okay, well, have a good trip, John. I will keep her safe, and we will be here when you get back.”

  John left about as quickly as he could. He was still in a bit of a daze from meeting the sexy babysitter. That was definitely not something that he had seen coming. How could he?

  When he got downstairs, Tony made a comment about the new nanny, and John just gave him a look. It was bad enough that he was thinking about it, but he certainly didn't like the idea that everybody else was thinking about Laura as well. Why did he immediately feel possession of her? She wasn’t his to have. He knew that much.

  Shaking his head and trying to dispel the leftover feelings from his encounter with the new nanny, Ernest’s voice pulled him out of his thoughts.

  “Where to, boss?”

  “I need to get to the airstrip. We’re going for a ride, Ernest.”

  “We, Sir?”

  “Yes, well, you are going to come with me and take something back for me.

  “Do I want to know what this is about?”

  John agreed that he probably didn’t. “Just know that you're going to be doing me a solid by going with me.”

  That was all that Ernest needed to hear. John had saved his life many years before, and Ernest was not the type of person to forget. John knew that he could count on him, and he had many times over.

  The two rode in silence for a while, and then Ernest brought up the new nanny.

  “Don't tell me you're going to be like Tony.”

  “And what is it that Tony is being?”

  “Talking about the nanny like that. She is watching my kid. That’s all. I don’t see her any other way.”

  Ernest laughed and told him that he was talking bullshit. “Every man thinks about that woman in that way.”

  “I don’t. She’s the nanny.”

  “Of course, John, but what does that have to do with it? She can't be watching your kid all of the time. Don't you wonder what she will do on her time off?”

  What John had wondered about Laura in the short time that he had known her, was many things. He certainly wasn't worried about what she did on her time off though. He was wondering more practical things. Like why he was drawn to her in the way that he was. It just didn't make any sense and once John got back from his trip, he was going to make sure that he found out exactly what it was that was different about her.

  “Not at all. I just care about what she does on my time.

  “So, you didn't even notice how hot she is then?”

  John ignored Ernest and waved him off. “I don't have time to think about things like that. My father has called a meeting, and that means that this is not going to be good. Especially if he called me to the meeting. You know that I don't come for anything except the important stuff.”

  “I'm going to ignore the fact that you are trying to get out of the conversation. And I'm just going to leave it at that.”

  John was thankful, and it reminded him, once again, while he’d kept Ernest for so long. Loyalty was worth a lot, but discretion sometimes was worth more.

  Chapter Four

  Laura was a bit nervous about being thrown into the mix so quickly. She knew that it was a good job, well-paying, and she was going to need that money when she went out on her own. It was in the city that she’d been trying to get to since she was a kid, and now it was all in her grasp. All she had to do was take it.

  But something was holding her back. She was still envisioning her new boss John. He wasn’t at all what she had expected. He was kind and genero
us, though. He was also hot as hell. Laura had known that he was going to be a bit older, that was natural, but she hadn’t thought that he would look the way he did.

  He was tall, handsome, and very buff. She wondered what kind of shifter he was. It was rude to ask, so she didn’t, but she wanted to know. He was huge, muscular and a little hairier than normal, but that could be many things. Laura had noticed the dark hair on his arms, as well as the dark eyes that had checked her out when she first got there. He wasn’t expecting her, and that made her feel a little better, that she wasn’t the only one caught off guard.

  She stayed up for a little while, until she could finally settle her mind enough to get some sleep. It had been a long couple of days for Laura, and she was out before she knew it.

  “Are you my new nanny?”

  Laura’s eyes popped open, and she was trying to figure out who the little kid was that was looking at her. She saw blonde hair like her own, in pigtails and bows. The face was too sweet and kind because the smile was turned up in just a way.

  “I am. Are you Dana?”

  “I am. You are supposed to be up and making breakfast right now.”

  Laura sat up and rubbed her eyes. The little girl was really close, and she was now picking her hair up. Laura felt like she was on display. She didn't have time to talk to her father about anything, so Laura was going in blind. She had plenty of nieces, and Laura was expecting a sweet helpful girl. But there was something in and Dana's eyes. Something that told her that she was going to have to hold her assumptions for a while.

  “Why am I supposed to be up right now?”

  “Because that's what the schedule says. Haven't you looked at the schedule?”

  Dana was acting like it was very important, and Laura was still trying to get her mind to work right. She had woken up and forgotten that she was now working in a stranger’s house and this was his kid. Laura felt like she didn’t know enough, but that was the least of our worries right now.