Don't get ahead of yourself, I reminded myself silently. He's just Ben's nanny. Nothing more. That's all he'll ever be, so don't go thinking they look like family.
Ben didn’t stop grinning during the entire meal. They were already fast friends, and I knew that Ben would be happy and safe with Cee. My decision, it seemed, was made up for me. Cee would just have to stay on.
After two more cups of coffee and a finished plate of crepes, I finally had to drag the boys away from the table or they would have kept talking for hours. It was cute, and normally I would have encouraged it, but we had errands to run.
When we got back to the house, Cee brought in all of the equipment for me before I even had a chance to lift it. Handsome and nice. A winning combination.
“This was awesome, Cee. Thank you so much.” Ben grinned one last time before turning to head up to take his shower. “I can't wait to see you on Monday.”
“I guess that decision was made for me,” I said with a chuckle. Cee leaned gracefully against the kitchen doorway, watching Ben sprint up the stairs before turning to look at me. A shiver ran through me as his violet eyes caught mine.
“So, I got the job?” Cee asked with a smile, giving me a wink.
“Yes, you were wonderful. I can’t believe how quickly Ben has taken to you.” I shook my head and started to unload Ben’s equipment to air out. “It's so good to see him connecting with a man. With his dad staying out of the picture, it's been really rough on him.”
“Ben's such a great kid. I couldn’t think of anyone not wanting to hang out with him,” he said, shaking his head in disbelief. He started to sort through the green file that was left on the counter and pulled out a piece of paper.
“I think you'll be a good influence on him,” I said softly. I looked up to find his violet eyes on mine, my heart started to pound. I knew I shouldn't have that kind of reaction to a man at least ten younger than me. It just wasn't appropriate.
He was in high school when you were getting married. That thought calmed my racing heart real quick.
“Jes, it has been a pleasure to talk with you today. Here is the copy of the resume I was talking about. I look forward to working and spending time with your son.” He smiled professionally placing the paper in my hand, and I knew the increase in heart rate had to be entirely on my end. I was just an old woman to him. “If you need anything please feel free to call me at this number.” He wrote down his number on the pad I used for grocery lists. “I'll see you Monday before you leave for work. “
I walked him to the door and watched as he walked to his car. Man, that guy really has a glorious ass. I shook my head to clear the stupor it left me in and shut the door. Staring at his ass was so wrong, and yet so right.
My pocket started to vibrate. With a sigh, I pushed the image of Cee's butt out of my mind and answered my phone.
“Hi, This is Megan from the Seasonal Service. How are you doing today?”
“Good, thanks. How are you?”
“Wonderful. We just wanted to follow up with how the interview went. We just received a text from Cee notifying us that the interview ended and you would like to bring him on.”
“Yes, he was fantastic,” I agreed. “I would definitely be interested in having him as my full time nanny.”
“Perfect, Ms. Hochs, I will mark him down as being hired in the system,” she replied. I could hear the tap of keys on the other end.
“Thank you so much.” I clicked my phone shut and peeked one last time out the window, but Cee was already gone. I couldn't wait for him to come back.
Chapter Six
The rest of the weekend flew by and I couldn’t do anything without hearing something from Ben about Cee. He couldn't stop talking about how great he was, how strong he was, and how much he knew about lacrosse. I was fairly sure Ben made some of it up, because there was no way he could know that Cee could lift 500 pounds or could make a shot on a goalie completely blindfolded from just a couple of hours together. Still, I loved his enthusiasm.
I was almost thankful for Monday morning to come so that I could get away from him constantly talking about his nanny. As I got ready for my morning, there was a tap at the door downstairs. I had just finished putting eyeliner on my right eye and placed it on the sink. I closed my ratty purple robe as I walked down the stairs, hurrying to get to the door in time.
I opened the door and instantly regretted not thinking about what I looked like. Cee was standing there in a pair of board shorts and a V neck T-shirt that showed off his smooth chest. He had two cups of coffee in his large hands. My mouth hung open slightly as I took him all in with the morning light. I really needed to learn to start putting myself together before he arrived. He made me aware of how disheveled I looked.
“Hi, Jes, how are you today?” He smiled, exposing his perfect grin and cute dimples on both of his cheeks. He had somehow become more attractive in the last few days.
“I'm good, come on in. How about you?” I stepped back so he could make his way inside. I swallowed hard, regaining my composure, and tightening the threadbare robe around me as best I could.
“Good. Here, I brought this for you. Americano right?” He handed me one of the coffee cups.
“Yes, thanks.” I took the coffee cup and had a long sip. Perfection. I couldn’t believe he remembered the way I took my coffee after just one day. If he wasn't so much younger than me and not my son's nanny, I would have married him on the spot.
“Is Ben up yet?” Cee asked looking around.
“Yeah, he’s getting dressed now.” I raised my eyes to the ceiling as I heard Ben moving and stomping upstairs.
“Okay.” Cee raised his eyebrows as a loud crash that sounded like a pile of lacrosse sticks falling came from the ceiling. He chuckled. “Would you mind if I make breakfast for you guys?”
I nearly spit my coffee out. Not only did he bring coffee, but he made breakfast too? “If you want. We normally just have some cereal or I grab a bar. You really don’t have to.”
“Hey, it's what I'm here for. And it's always good to make a great impression on the first day. Never know what the boss is thinking.” He flashed his smile again, crinkling his violet eyes as he made his way to the kitchen. For a moment, I thought there might be something more to his words about impressing the boss, but I knew that couldn't be right. There was no way I was even on his radar.
Still, tripping over the step on the way back up to my room to finish getting ready, I thought about other ways he could make a good impression on the boss. I pushed the thought away. There would be time to fantasize later.
“Hey, Ben! Cee is here,” I called, knocking on Ben's door as I passed.
“Yes!” Ben yipped in excitement, and darted past me on the landing, nearly knocking me over. I went back to my bathroom and finished getting my hair done and putting my makeup on. I put extra attention on trying to pick out my outfit. I didn’t want Cee to think I was a total slob after seeing me in only a robe or a giant jersey.
I grabbed a pair of black trousers and a silk top that was a bit more formal than what I would normally wear to a regular a day at the office, but what the heck. A girl didn't need a reason to look nice.
The pants were a little tight, but they still looked good. I smoothed my hair, suddenly anxious of what Cee would think. I knew it shouldn't matter, but somehow it did. I wanted to look good for him. I glanced one last time in the mirror and flashed myself a grin. I looked good. I headed back downstairs and the heavenly scent of bacon and eggs hit me.
“I didn’t even know I had bacon left,” I said looking at the plate waiting for me on the kitchen table. It looked amazing.
“Yup. Found it under the squash- well, what was left of squash anyway. It kind of looked a bit more liquid then what I'm used to.” Cee poured me a glass of orange juice as I took a bite of scrambled eggs. The eggs were perfectly cooked, with a hint of salt and pepper.
“Yeah, I probably should clean that out. We have been eating out a lot
more then what we are used to.” I looked at the clock and nearly choked on my eggs. Oh, no. I was late for work. Again. I quickly stuffed a couple more bites of eggs in my mouth and grabbed the slices of bacon.
“I've got to go. I'm running late. I'll see you when I'm done with work at about 5. If you need anything please give me a call.” I started to look around for a pen and paper, feeling jumbled. “I'll leave you my number.”
“It's okay Ms. Hochs, I already have it. Remember that questionnaire you filled out when you first started looking for a Nanny? They gave me all the information. We can discuss what your plans look like for the rest of this week and month later tonight.”
“Thank you,” I said appreciatively. I was glad I had someone who was organized to help me out. “I'll see you tonight and I'll text you when I can at work, just to check how things are going.”
I ran out the door after kissing Ben on his head and jumped into my car, feeling like I had a weight taken off my shoulders. It was so nice to have a pair of hands who could cook, help with chores and, most importantly, spend time with my son.
***
I excitedly got back into the car and drove home after a long day at work. I couldn’t wait to hear about what Ben and Cee did today. After setting the parking brake on the car, I grabbed my purse and noticed my phone buzzing. It was Richard. Melissa had helpfully renamed him “The DICK” on my phone. I took a big breath in, it was not often that he called me.
“Hi, Richard,” I answered flatly. I knew he was about to yell at the request I had made a few weeks ago for him to pay for half of Ben’s lacrosse camps over the summer. I'd been waiting for this call for a week.
“Jes, what the hell is this? You want four hundred dollars for him to do what?” Richard screamed over the phone.
I felt my heart beat start to quicken, I always hated getting in fights with him.
“I just thought you wanted to help out. You said you would support him in sports he wanted to play.” I thought I managed to sound calm and reasonable and was rather proud of myself.
“Yeah, a real sport like football. What are they going to teach him, how to run without tripping over his own two feet?” He gave a slight chuckle at his own joke. I was glad he couldn't see me rolling my eyes at him.
“Richard, we've talked about this. Ben really likes lacrosse. I want to support him in the sport he likes, not the one you pick for him.” I tried to make my voice firm, but I felt it quaver. The thought that Richard didn’t want to support Ben because it wasn't football made me realize how juvenile my ex-husband could be.
“There is no way in hell that I am going to help pay for this. They’re all trying to scam people out of all their money for a crap sport that no one cares about.” His voice rose to the tone that always made me feel weak and unimportant. “I pay the child support, and I wont pay a penny more for ridiculous shit like this.”
“Richard, please-” But all I heard was a dead tone on the other end. The bastard had hung up on me.
I felt my blood boil, and it wasn't about the money. He hadn't asked about Ben at all. All he cared about was the money. My breath caught in my throat as I kept back burning tears. I yanked my hair up in a tight bun and took a few deep breaths. I was not going to let this ruin my day, and I did not want to have anyone see me upset. Especially not Cee.
With one last wipe under my eyes I walked through the door to the smell of rolls and baked chicken. Cee and Ben were sitting on the living room floor with lacrosse sticks in hand.
“Now take this string and loop it around here, and attach it to your basket. Nice, and knot it here. See, that is the first step of learning to tie your stick. We’ll have to continue later because your mom is home. I don’t know about you, but I'm starving,” Cee said, standing up.
He stretched his long legs from the crossed position he was sitting in. His shorts rose up and showed his toned legs. My face flushed slightly as I caught myself staring at him.
“Now go say hello to your mom and tell her all about your day. I'm going to finish getting dinner ready,” Cee instructed Ben. He looked over and smiled. “Hi, Jes. I hope chicken and rice with baked rolls sounds good to you. Ben said it's his favorite.”
“Oh, my gosh, yes. That sounds amazing.” I plopped my bag down and tossed my shoes in the corner. It felt good to be home. Having Cee here already felt natural and right. The fight with Richard was becoming the furthest thing from my mind.
“Mom, look what Cee taught me today!” Ben ran over to show me a half-strung lacrosse head. “He says it'll take a lot of practice, but I can do it myself one day, and then I can switch out different colors.”
“That sounds awesome, Ben,” I told him with an eager smile as I admired his handy work. It was so nice to see him excited and glad. “Now go sit down at the table so we can eat.”
Cee dished up the plates with steaming chicken smothered in a mushroom rice sauce and put the warm rolls into a bowl in the center of the table. I nearly cried with joy. From a bad phone call to this. I had died and gone to heaven. It was silly and simple, but for the first time in weeks, both Ben and I were happy. All because of Cee.
“Ben, can you put the jam and butter out? Then we can get dinner started,” Cee told Ben. I sat at the table in awe as Ben got up and grabbed the items willingly.
“Who are you and what did you do with my son?” I said jokingly at Cee. “It’s usually like pulling teeth to get him to do anything.”
“Just one of my many secrets, I guess.” Cee replied with a smile. I could have kissed him I was so happy.
We sat down to dinner and it was one of the most delicious meals I had eaten in years. After so many bad frozen dinners, and my many failed attempts at cooking, it was an amazing change. It reminded me of my mom’s cooking. I felt warm and safe, a feeling that I hadn’t had in ages.
“This is incredible. How did you learn to cook like this?” I shoveled another bite into my mouth, hoping I didn't look too greedy.
“I've always liked to cook, and at one of my previous gigs, the kids were getting sick of PB&J, so I pulled out a few of my mom’s old recipes from when I was a kid.” Cee played with his spoon and didn't look up from his bowl, despite the compliment. He seemed to be almost ashamed. “It kind of stuck after that.”
“Tell your mom she is amazing. I'll have to steal the recipe from her sometime.” I smiled warmly, wondering what kind of a woman raised someone as charming as Cee.
“Yeah, she was,” Cee said, staring into his plate uncomfortably. The easy charm disappeared for a moment, obviously grieving the loss of his mother. After a moment, he cleared his throat and looked over at Ben. “Hey, how 'bout you tell your mom what we did today?”
I listened to Ben, but my attention was on Cee. He played with his food, pushing the chicken around in the sauce as if he were trying to make it disappear without eating it. A low ache in my chest started at his obvious grief.
“We went outside and played lacrosse for awhile,” Ben babbled, barely pausing to breathe in between his sentences he was so excited. “Cee taught me some sweet new moves to use for my next game. Then we had lunch. And then we went outside and just throw the ball around. And then we came back inside and started on dinner. Cee was showing me how to string the lacrosse stick.” He had a grin on his face, but his eyes were starting to droop.
Chapter Seven
Before long, Ben looked like the toothpicks holding his eyelids open were breaking.
Cee obviously noticed as well. “Ben, you should go get ready for bed. Your mom and I have to talk about business, which is super boring,” he said to Ben.
“You don’t have to tell me twice,” Ben said sliding out of his chair. He paused, his big green eyes going to Cee and looking worried. “You'll be back tomorrow, right?”
“Of course I will,” Cee promised. “I have to finish teaching you how to do those laces.”
The worry vanished from Ben's face and the light that I loved so much shone out from them again. Even
though we'd only known Cee for a couple of days, I knew that Cee could see it too- and that he would fight just as hard as I did to keep it there.
“I'll be up in a bit to tuck you in after Cee leaves,” I called up to him as he dragged himself up the stairs.
Cee went to his bag and brought over a file that had both mine and Ben’s name on it. He handed it to me and our hands touched. A flash of heat went through me, but Cee moved nonchalantly. Apparently, he didn't feel the same spark.
“Here is the contract agreement that the agency will want you to sign. I'd also like to talk about how you would like things to be run with Ben. I know when you are at work I'm in charge, but I want to make sure that I try to mirror what you normally do so that Ben is the most happy,” he said, clearing the table of the dirty dishes as I looked over the paperwork.
“Wow, this is so official. I didn’t have any idea it was this in-depth,” I said, thumbing through the stack of papers.
“Some of it's mine as well. It's just schedules that I like to keep for my personal time and some of it is legal documents, in case I can’t get in touch with you or Ben gets hurt,” Cee explained, putting the dishes in the dishwasher.
“The first page is the basic information about me, my references, cell number, certifications as well as my home address just in case you need to drop off Ben at my place. I would prefer not to have that, but I know with errands or work schedules things might get a bit hectic.” He walked over to the table and was standing behind me, leaning over my shoulder so he could point to something on the page. He didn't touch me, but I could feel the heat of his body on my back and my own trembled in response.
I could smell his cologne. He smelled of warmth and grass. It was intoxicating. I inhaled deeply etching the smell into my memory. I didn't know it was possible for a man to smell this good. It didn't seem fair.
Walking on Sunshine: A Sweet Love Story (Seasons of Love Book 1) Page 4
