by Teri Wilson
But her feet slowed to a stop halfway to the exit as the full implication of the sight of his chiseled back finally dawned on her. Jack had seen her text. He’d probably seen her approaching the coffee shop. Yet, there he stood—actively avoiding her.
Message received. He didn’t want to hire her any more than she wanted to be his nanny. It shouldn’t have bothered her, considering the fact that she was midflight herself. But it did bother her. Very, very much.
She spun around, marched straight over to him and tapped him on his sculpted shoulder. Good grief, how often did someone have to work out to have muscles like that?
She contemplated this question as he slowly turned to face her, mainly so she wouldn’t be forced to think about why she always seemed to be poking him in order to instigate a confrontation. But then there he was—looking down at her from his towering height—and she suddenly couldn’t think at all. Or breathe. Or do much of anything other than gape at the sight of him with two small babies strapped to his chest in some kind of sling contraption.
Her throat went dry. She wasn’t even a baby person, but wow. This was beyond adorable. He couldn’t have looked more attractive if he’d been caught saving an entire family of kittens from a tree.
“Hello,” he said, frowning. As usual.
Madison felt herself smile as she took in the pink bow headbands jauntily placed on each of the babies’ heads. Twin girls—identical, with matching, precious faces, tiny rosebud mouths and their father’s dreamy blue eyes. One of them laughed and kicked her little feet, and it took every bit of self-control Madison possessed not to melt into a gooey puddle at Jack Cole’s arrogant feet.
She forced herself to meet his gaze. “Are you hiding from me?”
“No,” he lied, the twitch in his scowl a dead giveaway.
Madison crossed her arms. “So you normally skulk in corners like this?”
“Always. I’m an expert skulker.” He shrugged one massive shoulder. “It’s kind of my thing.”
She smiled again before she could stop herself. “We keep...um...running into each other, but it seems we haven’t met properly. I’m Madison Jules.”
She stuck out her hand, and he took it. She braced herself for another delicious spark like she’d experienced the other brief moments they’d touched, but this time was different. His grasp was warm, and there was something more honest about it this time. Tender, almost.
It made Madison feel oddly weepy. She aimed her attention back toward one of the twins, blinking at her with impossibly long eyelashes. Were all babies this cute, or just his?
“So.” She swallowed. “You have twins.”
“I do.” He dipped his chin toward one of the girls and then the other. “Emma and Ella.”
Even their names were darling.
Madison nodded. “I met your mom last night at knitting class and she told me you were looking for a night nanny.”
Why was she still talking? She was supposed to chastise him for hiding from her and then walk away with her dignity intact instead of hinting that she might be serious about the job.
He rested a protective hand on each of his daughters’ tiny chests. “Right, but...”
“But you think I’d be terrible at it?” She would, probably. But the fact that he thought so stung for reasons she didn’t care to contemplate.
“I didn’t say that,” he countered.
“You didn’t have to.”
He shook his head. “It’s not...”
Then he stopped, sighed and glanced out the window toward the fire station across the street. The air between them swirled with the heady, homey scents of sweet maple and freshly ground coffee. Madison couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like to rock this man’s beautiful babies in her arms, to feed them and dress them in warm footy pajamas and press tender kisses to their soft little heads while their daddy slept in the next room.
The notion was ridiculously intoxicating. God, what was happening to her?
“Look, I know I haven’t made the best first impression. Maybe we could start over? I’m sorry I’m late for this interview, but I got distracted this morning by...” She glanced down at the copy of the Bee in her hand and tossed it onto a nearby table. Facedown, so she wouldn’t have to see Fired Up’s latest missive in the corner of the front page. “Never mind. It’s dumb.”
So dumb.
Three bullet points totally counted as a list. What could someone who wrote handwritten snail mail possibly know about modern journalism? Absolutely nothing. Readers had the attention span of gnats nowadays. If she didn’t organize her articles into tiny, easily digestible bites, no one would read them. It was just the way thing were.
But why she was wasting her time thinking about Fired Up while she was in the throes of the most awkward job interview of all time was a mystery she couldn’t begin to fathom.
“Anyway. I might not be the worst person in the world to babysit your twins.” Her heart gave a wistful little squeeze. Don’t say it, just don’t. “I grew up without a mom around, too, so...”
His gaze swiveled back toward her, and his icy blue eyes softened, ever so slightly. Madison felt achingly exposed all of a sudden, so she hugged her Louis Vuitton tote to her chest like a child with a security blanket.
“Right. Well,” she stammered. “Good luck finding the perfect nanny.”
“Wait,” he snapped as she turned to go. Then softer, almost under his breath, he said. “Just wait a minute. Please?”
Every logical thought in her head told her to walk away and never look back, but Madison had never been a slave to logic. It was probably the most striking difference between her and her nemesis, Fired Up. So she stopped, took a deep breath and waited for whatever it was that Jack Cole wanted to say.
“Are you at all—” His gaze narrowed and he enunciated the following word with great care “—qualified?”
Not in the slightest. Madison’s only response was a hopeful smile.
He gave it another shot. “Have watched over a little one before? Ever?”
“There’s a three-year-old named Toby who positively adores me,” she said proudly.
It wasn’t a lie. Not entirely. He’d said little one, and Toby was definitely little, albeit not exactly human.
“Okay, then. I suppose you’re hired.” Jack Cole nodded, and an irrational surge of joy flowed through Madison until her hands started to shake. “Can you start tonight?”
Tonight? As in, just a few hours from now?
“Absolutely.” She nodded with far too much enthusiasm for a person who didn’t actually want the job in question.
And it was then that Madison realized she wasn’t entirely sure what—or more accurately, who—she wanted anymore.
* * *
Madison arrived at Jack’s house promptly at six, anxious to show that yes, she was an actual, responsible adult who could get places on time when she wasn’t feeling hopelessly distracted by a letter-writing troll with no sense of humor or whimsy whatsoever. Unfortunately, this stunning show of punctuality meant that she’d had to go straight to her new night nanny gig from her job at the paper, so she was still dressed in her best Chanel blouse and Marc Jacobs skirt with the twirly hem, along with her go-to pair of Louboutin heels. Not exactly prime nanny attire, but she’d have to make it work. They were babies. How much harm could they do?
She knocked on the door, reminding herself not to go all breathless when Jack answered. He was her boss now. Not her real boss, technically, since this was more of an undercover situation than her actual career. But still, boundaries and all that.
Not to mention the fact that she still found him wholly annoying. Why shouldn’t she? He thought she’d be such a terrible nanny that he’d actively hid from her at the Bean. Never mind that his instincts had probably been spot-on, hiding from her was just mean and, truth be told, par f
or the course for the cranky fireman.
There was nothing annoying about his appearance when the door swung open, though. He was wearing a T-shirt that perfectly hugged his firefighting biceps and a pair of faded jeans that looked as soft and comfy as something straight out of a dryer sheet commercial. They were the exact same shade of blue as his eyes, which yes, could have been construed as mildly annoying if Madison had been in any way attracted to his cozy, single-dad vibe. But she wasn’t.
Not much, anyway.
“Hi,” she said. “Night nanny reporting for duty.”
He looked up her and down, and a slight frown tugged at the corner of his mouth as his gaze lingered on her shimmery pink blouse. “Um, is that what you’re wearing?”
She arched a brow. “Do you have something against French fashion?”
“No. It’s just...” His frown deepened. Honestly, she’d never met such a frowny man in her life. “Never mind.”
Good. She didn’t want to get into another argument with him before she even managed to breach the perimeter of his home. “Shall I come inside now?”
“Oh.” He cleared his throat. “Of course. Sure.”
Madison stepped inside as he swung the door open wide with about as much enthusiasm as someone welcoming the plague into his home. Things were going great so far. Just peachy.
She looked around and was surprised to find his cottage warm and inviting—in direct opposition to Lieutenant Cole’s general mood pretty much every time she’d been around him—and she couldn’t help but wonder if he was usually a kinder, gentler version of himself and for some reason saved his grumpier moments just for her. She was beginning to suspect the latter, which intrigued her more than she wanted to admit.
Focus.
Babies. Column. Professionalism.
She squared her shoulders and did her best to give off a Mary Poppins vibe. “Where are the twins?”
“Their room is right down the hall.” Jack led the way, and she walked alongside him, doing her best to ignore the way his heroic muscles flexed as he moved.
For about the thousandth time, Madison wished he was an accountant or an engineer instead of a fireman. Honestly, anything that didn’t involve saving innocent people from burning buildings or spending an ounce of time in the gym.
“Here we are.” He pushed a door open, revealing a cotton-candy-hued nursery that made her melt right there on the spot.
It was as pink and girly as a cupcake. She loved every inch of it.
“Please tell me you painted these walls yourself,” she said before she could stop the flow of nonsense from her mouth.
“I did, why?”
“No reason,” she said, biting down hard on her lip to keep herself from smiling at the thought of Jack with baby-pink paint spatters in his hair. Adorable.
A squealing sound came from one of the pretty white cribs that sat side by side against the far wall. Baby sounds—right, the whole reason she was here.
She walked over to the crib and peered down at the sweet infant lying on her back and playing with her feet, much like the happy baby pose Madison had done about a thousand times in yoga. She’d had no idea how on the nose those pose names could be.
“Why, hello there, Emma,” she said in her gentlest tone.
“That’s Ella,” Jack corrected.
“Totally.” Madison nodded. “Ella is what I meant to say.”
Good grief, she couldn’t even tell them apart.
Her grip on the edge of the crib tightened as the first wave of panic washed over her. What was she doing here? Was Jack really going to just stand there and watch her do her job? He was supposed to be sleeping.
She smiled at him. Go to bed. Please, please just go to sleep.
He didn’t budge. He just stood there as if he was waiting for something, and that something probably had to do with her actually interacting with one of his children.
Okay, then. She was going to have to pick Ella up. No problem. She could totally do that. She’d never actually held a baby before, but how hard could it be? It was probably no different than holding Toby, especially since Toby didn’t even have fur.
“Here we go,” she murmured, reaching into the crib. “Come here, Emma sweetheart.”
“Ella,” Jack said.
Not helping! Madison slid her hands beneath Ella’s tiny back, but trying to actually lift her felt strangely similar to trying to scoop up a wet, floppy noodle.
Not that Madison knew much about noodles, either, since apparently, she was a complete failure in the domestic realm. Gosh, why hadn’t she ever taken home ec or child development in high school?
Because you were too busy perfecting your staystitching and hemming techniques in sewing class and writing about Fashion Week for the school paper.
She’d nailed her final senior sewing project—a white faux fur swing coat. She’d actually worn it last winter to the Vogue offices and gotten loads of compliments.
The baby in her hands kicked, drawing her back to the present...to Vermont, where she was an utter failure at everything that mattered.
“It’s okay, baby. I’ve got you.” Time was ticking away, and she’d yet to heave the sweet little tot into her arms. She was going to have to just do it and hope for the best before Jack realized what a mistake he’d made and told her to leave.
As carefully as possible, she picked Ella up, being especially mindful of her soft baby head, because she remembered reading something about that once in a magazine. It was awkward at first, because Ella insisted on squirming instead of just peering up at her and waiting patiently to be lifted, like Toby always did. But nor did she try to lick Madison’s face—Toby’s favorite thing—and that seemed like a definite bonus.
Finally, she managed to get Ella snuggled against her chest and was rewarded with a breathy little coo that gave her heartstrings a wholly unexpected tug. I did it! She breathed a sigh of relief. Hanging out with these two cuties wouldn’t be so hard. Five minutes down, seven hours and fifty-five minutes to go.
She snuck a glance at Jack, who seemed to be watching her with far less open hostility than he normally did. In fact, there was an aching quality to the way he was looking at her. It made her heart beat hard, and she almost forgot that at some point she’d have to pick up both of his daughters at the same time. Was that even possible? She wasn’t an octopus.
“There, there,” she whispered when the baby in her arms whimpered. “I’ve got you, Emma.”
“Ella.” Jack sighed and the tender expression on his face faded away.
Madison breathed the tiniest bit easier. She could handle a distant Jack Cole. The gentle, scruffy, single-dad version of him was shockingly appealing all of a sudden.
“I knew that,” she lied. “I was just testing you.”
What had she gotten herself into?
* * *
What have I done?
Jack stared at his bedroom ceiling, wide awake at three in the morning. Madison’s presence in his home was impossible to ignore. Somewhere beyond his closed bedroom door, he could hear the lilting softness of her voice as she talked to Emma and Ella in hushed tones. He pictured her delicate feet tiptoeing from one end of the house to the other every time one of his cedar floorboards creaked. Every move she made seemed to echo with sound that vibrated through him, setting his senses on fire.
He knew it was only his imagination. To Madison’s credit, she wasn’t actually making much noise. The twins were having a good night. Every time Ella or Emma starting crying, the tears seemed to stop within seconds. That was when the rhythmic sound of the rocking chair would start, lulling him to sleep right along with his daughters.
But inevitably, he’d dream about Madison and wake up minutes later in a tangle of bedsheets, gasping for air.
This was never going to work. The whole reason for hiring a night nanny
was so he could get some rest, and simply breathing the same air as Madison made him feel distinctly restless.
He hadn’t had a choice in the matter, though. He’d promised Wade he would hire the next qualified applicant. Madison had been pretty vague about her experience, and Jack hadn’t asked a single question about the child she’d mentioned—Toby—who “positively adored” her. Why wouldn’t he? She seemed perfectly worthy of adoration.
Besides, Jack had already made up his mind to hire her at that point. Not at first, obviously. At first, he’d been more than a little skeptical. And yeah, he’d actually been hiding from her in hopes of avoiding ending up with a nanny who seemed to court chaos wherever she went.
It was the comment about growing up without a mother that had done him in. Not just the words, but the way she’d said them—so matter-of-factly, even though he could see how vulnerable and open they’d made her feel. Madison was a mystery he couldn’t begin to unravel, but in that moment of truth, he’d wondered if maybe his mother had been right. Maybe she really was just what he was looking for—not for him, but for Ella and Emma. Maybe she could care for his girls and understand them in a way that no one else could.
He hoped so. God, how he hoped. They deserved more than just a single father who worried every damn day that he’d never be enough for them. He wanted to be the rock his daughters needed more than anything else in the world, but he was just one person. What if something happened to him at work one day? He was a firefighter. He put his life on the line on the regular without thinking twice about it. It was his duty.
He squeezed his eyes shut tight and pressed the heels of his hands against his eyelids until he saw spots. One day at a time, he reminded himself. He just had to do his best, take each day as it came and have faith it would all work out. Hiring Madison didn’t make much sense on the surface, but it felt right. For an honest, aching moment in the coffee shop, it had even felt like destiny.
Now, here in the dark, it felt like a mistake. Had he lost his mind? Just days ago, Madison had almost burned down a barn with a hairstyling tool and now he’d given her free rein over his oven, his stove, his microwave and probably a dozen or so highly flammable household goods. She didn’t even seem to know how to dress appropriately for taking care of infants. The thought of her dry-cleaning bill was enough to give him a migraine.
