Not Just the Nanny

by Christie Ridgway

  Better than the years she’d spent hanging around a grumpy old widower, he supposed.

  “I was thinking she’d go with us to Hawaii this summer,” he muttered. It wasn’t the British Museum or the Louvre, but at their young age, Jane and Lee wouldn’t really appreciate a trip like that.

  Patty nodded. “My kids would rather we were going to learn to surf as well, but this is an opportunity that might not come our way again. The company will pay for a lot of it and I’ve never been anywhere east of Dallas, Texas.”

  He scuffed at the dirt with the toes of his running shoes, unsure what to say. Sure, it would be a great opportunity for everyone…everyone but him and Jane and Lee. “The kids wouldn’t want to lose Kayla,” he said, focusing on them.

  “And you’d miss her, too, I know,” Patty added.

  He didn’t dare look up. “So…”

  “So I was also thinking that your kids are getting older, Mick. Before they get too attached to their nanny, I thought you might be considering making a…a change.”

  Change! There was that poisoned word again. Change was what had messed up his ordered life. The change in how he saw Kayla made him edgy. Frustrated. Damn needy.

  But maybe Patty had something there. To get back to sanity, perhaps another change was required. He closed his eyes for a moment, depressed by the damn thought, then he looked over at his friend. “Could you give me a little time? To broach the idea with the kids and with Kayla? But by next week…by next week I’ll tell her about your offer, okay?”

  Patty smiled. “Okay.” Her expression turned hopeful. “Or sooner?”

  “Sure.” He ignored his tight chest and the urge to glance around and assure himself that Kayla was still, for now at least, in the vicinity. “Or sooner.”

  Mick had half promised sooner, and even considered telling Kayla that very day, but obstacles kept getting in the way. She took off on errands in the afternoon. Then Jane and Lee were home, and he didn’t want to discuss the subject with them in the room.

  As he and Kayla made dinner, the kids got their weekend homework out of the way at the kitchen table. It was like it always had been, the kids fairly diligent, he and the nanny supplying help when necessary. As usual, they bickered with good nature over the best way to remember the spelling of the words on Lee’s test.

  The only difference this evening was that he could hardly stop staring at Kayla’s mouth or finding some excuse to brush against her. His skin felt shrink-wrapped to his bones and inside he burned like a three-alarm fire.

  He had it bad, and depressing thought or no, Patty had provided a prescription for relief.

  “Kayla,” he said, keeping his voice low. “I’d appreciate it if we could have a talk after dinner. Just, uh, just the two of us.”

  She glanced up at him, her face coloring. “Just the two of us?”

  He shifted, embarrassed at how intimate he’d made it sound. “I mean, I want to talk about the kids.”

  “Oh. Right. The kids.” Her head bobbed up and down. “But…Mick, I’m sorry, I have to get ready now for my date. I won’t be here for dinner…or after.”

  “Ah. Yeah. Sure. Some other time.” He felt like an idiot, because he was holding plates in his hands, ready to set the table for four. He’d forgotten about Kayla and her date.

  She hurried out of the kitchen while he just stood there, his mind replaying her words. I won’t be here for dinner…or after. She’d be with some other man for dinner…and after.

  It couldn’t be jealousy, he told himself, but God, the taste of something bitter and green stuck to his tongue. He served up the plates for himself and the kids, hoping that the chicken and rice would dissipate the god-awful taste.

  The food smelled good enough.

  The scent of it lingered in the kitchen as they ate and even as he cleaned up the dishes. But then a new note entered the atmosphere, one that drew him around immediately.

  Kayla’s perfume. And oh, God, there she was, in a silky short black dress, her hair gleaming against her shoulders. Her lashes were darker than usual, her mouth a soft and tender pink, and she was holding toward him a necklace of delicate links and a pearl pendant. “I hate to ask, but could you help me with this? I can’t get it latched.”

  He took it from her, feeling as if the tendons in his joints had tightened to short steel cords. Without a word, he signaled for her to turn around, and she did, then held her fall of hair off her neck.

  Her beautiful neck, the skin looking so sweet and delectable. Tempting. In a flash of lust, he saw himself putting his mouth against the thin flesh at its side and pressing against it a hot, sucking kiss.

  Good God, he groaned silently. Yeah, he had it bad. Really bad.

  So bad that as he breathed in her scent and felt the heat of her just inches from his hard, tense body, his clamoring need had him wondering if there wasn’t another prescription altogether he should be considering for his sexual relief.

  Already nervous about the evening’s date, Kayla nearly jumped out of her skin when Mick’s fingers brushed her neck. A wash of goose bumps paraded from her nape southward and she hoped he wouldn’t notice the reaction. This was silly, right? She was determined to overcome these teenagerish, twitchy nerves.

  But his warmth at her back didn’t make it any less difficult. It was just too easy to imagine leaning against his chest, turning her head to take a kiss….

  “Kayla?”

  She made that turn she’d been picturing, she even found herself staring at his mouth. Heat washed over her as another band of goose bumps marched down her skin.

  “Kayla, I…” He hesitated, his palm coming up to cradle her jaw.

  The goose bumps took another lap. “You can say anything,” she whispered to him, not even sure what she meant by the words. “Anything.”

  “What’s it like going out on a date?”

  At Jane’s loud question, she and Mick jolted back from each other, his callused hand trailing for just a moment along her skin.

  The young girl surveyed Kayla, then sighed. “You look so pretty.”

  “Thank you,” Kayla said, managing a smile.

  “So what’s it like going out on a date?” Jane asked again.

  Mick stepped forward. “Remember our agreement, little girl. Not until you’re thirty-one.”

  His daughter didn’t even pretend to believe him. “Daddy, you’re silly. I’m talking to Kayla. I want to know what happens on a date.”

  “Uh…” Kayla shot Mick a glance.

  He lifted his hands. “Don’t look at me. The last date I had was so long ago I think I was still in the fire academy.”

  She frowned at him. “I seem to remember a certain someone meeting a certain someone else at a coffeehouse a few months back.” Though she’d kicked herself for it, she’d been relieved when he’d freely admitted there’d been zero chemistry between himself and the lady.

  He shrugged it off.

  “So…?” Jane prompted.

  Kayla pushed her hair over her shoulders. “It’s like…like sitting next to someone new in the school lunchroom. You get a chance to listen to them talk, hear what’s important to them—”

  “I always look at what they eat,” Jane put in. “The ones with the good mothers cut their sandwiches in triangles.”

  Kayla’s heart squeezed. While Jane didn’t have a mother in her life any longer, Kayla did cut her sandwich into triangles…it was what she’d wished her mother had done when she was little. She smiled at Jane. “Like that, but remember I cut Lee’s in half.”

  The girl rolled her eyes. “He thinks it makes him macho.”

  “Hey,” Mick said. “I thought we weren’t supposed to judge a book by its cover. Now we’re deciding on the quality of people’s parentage by the contents of their lunchbox and the shape of their PB and Js?”

  His daughter ignored him again. “What do you talk about, though? I think I’d like to go to a movie on a first date so that it would do all the talking for us.”<
br />
  “When you’re older the talking part gets a little easier,” Kayla said. “You can ask a guy about his work, his family, if he has any pets. Some men like to talk about their car.”

  “Stay away from that kind,” Mick said, grimacing. “Deadly dull. Only thing duller is if he wants to expound on his fantasy football team.”

  “Oh,” Kayla groaned, closing her eyes for a moment. “Why do I feel like this is going to be a disaster?”

  “We could come up with a signal,” Mick offered. “You know, you call home to check on things and I’ll claim we need you back immediately.”

  She groaned again. “You really think it’s going to be that bad?”

  His expression softened. “No. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be bringing up worst-case scenarios.” He reached out a hand to brush the hair away from her forehead.

  At the touch, she couldn’t stop the little jerk of her body. He froze, his fingers still wrapped by strands of her hair, his eyes narrowing. His thumb drew a short stroke at her hairline and then another.

  A shiver jittered across her scalp and then down her spine. She didn’t even try to hide it from him. Mick let out a breath. “Kayla,” he said softly.

  The tenderness in his voice and the sudden raw tension in the air between them made Kayla’s belly tighten. Desperate to break the invisible cord, she jerked her head around, looking for his daughter.

  “Jane…” she said, her voice too breathless.

  “Didn’t you hear Lee’s bellow?” Mick asked. “Their favorite TV show came on. She scampered out.”

  Meaning they had relative privacy in the kitchen, and he was warm and strong and touching her still…Another shiver jittered over her.

  “Are you okay?” His fingers trailed over her hair and then his arm dropped.

  She shook her head, looking away from him. It didn’t help. He hadn’t moved, meaning she could still feel his body heat and the weight of his gaze. Both scrambled her thinking and made her heart pound too fast.

  “Kayla.” He curled his forefinger under her chin, lifting her head so their eyes met. “What is it?”

  She swallowed, then shrugged a shoulder in a nonchalant gesture. “I’m nervous, that’s all.”

  His head cocked. “Of me?”

  “No!” Of course it wasn’t him. She made herself nervous, anxious to ensure she didn’t give away her unwanted, unwarranted desire for this attractive, sexy, ineligible man. “You know, it’s that first date thing.”

  He was still holding her chin, now pinched between his thumb and forefinger. “What specifically is bothering you?”

  She watched his mouth move as he said the words. His lips looked soft, the slight edge of whiskers around them only serving to outline their manly shape. “It’s…it’s the kiss,” she heard herself blurt. “Maybe I’ve forgotten how.”

  Heat washed up her cheeks. Great. She really wasn’t thinking about kissing some man she’d never met, of course. It was Mick who was making her say silly, senseless things. It was thinking of him, his mouth, his tongue, his taste that was rattling her brain and tripping up her pulse. With a little shuffle of her feet, she tried moving out of his grasp.

  His grip tightened, just those two fingers making her immobile, keeping her captured as he bent close. “Then let me remind you,” he whispered, his breath warm against her face, “of exactly how two pairs of lips are supposed to meet.”

  Chapter Four

  Kayla let herself into the quiet house at the end of her date. It was barely eleven, but the family was obviously already upstairs for the night. It was past the kids’ bedtime.

  She clicked off the lamp left burning for her in the living room and crossed toward the kitchen. On the threshold, she hesitated.

  Don’t think about what happened in there, she instructed herself. Put it straight from your mind.

  Her heels tip-tapped on the wooden floorboards. Just a few hours ago she’d been standing right beside the sink, her skin heating up beneath the cool chain Mick had just fastened around her neck and then—

  Don’t think about it!

  In her bedroom, she quickly slipped off her dress. Her cell phone rang as she pulled her sleeveless, thigh-length nightshirt over her head. The fire alarm–styled ring tone signaled that her boss had dialed her number. She froze, instincts warring. On the one hand, a purely feminine impulse urged she ignore the call. On the other, the nanny in her itched to answer. Was something wrong with Jane or Lee? Had the evening included a domestic disaster she should know about?

  Yet another thought galvanized her: If you don’t pick up, he might come downstairs. Right into this room!

  Her leap for the phone was worthy of the elementary school’s track-and-field Friday. “Hello?” The sudden broad jump had made her breathless.

  “Kayla.” Mick sounded concerned. “Are you okay? Is something wrong?”

  She swallowed, trying to calm her galloping heart with the palm of her free hand. His deep voice, however familiar, had flustered her. “I’m good. Fine. Is there something wrong with you?”

  There was a long pause. He muttered something she didn’t catch. “Mick?”

  “No. Nothing’s wrong,” he said. “I wanted to warn you…”

  Had the kids seen something? Asked him about the— Don’t think about that!

  He started again. “Now, don’t be mad—”

  “I’m not mad,” she said. “Why would I be mad? I mean, what’s there to be mad about?”

  The silence on the other end of the line was puzzled. “Uh, I haven’t gotten to the part you might be mad about yet.”

  “Oh.” He wasn’t talking about the…thing she shouldn’t think about in the kitchen. She’d thought he thought she might be mad about that thing. Her hand massaged her forehead. “What are you talking about?”

  “I wanted to warn you…and apologize. The kids and I built a metropolis in Lee’s room and I didn’t make them pick it up before bed.”

  “Oh.” He’d been so unimpressed with the thing she didn’t want to think about in the kitchen that he’d spent the evening—unlike her—not worrying about it, and instead building one of the extensive wooden blocks-and-LEGO worlds that used up acres of floor space and a ton of primary-colored toys. “That sounds like fun.”

  “But now we’re all just one misplaced footstep away from agony. So, fair warning.”

  “Ah.” Yes, more than once the bottom of her bare soles had found the sharp edge of a plastic brick. Agony described it well. “I understand.”

  “The kids and I’ll take care of the cleanup in the morning.”

  “Okay. Thanks.” Good. Really good. With that little exchange it was as if the thing in the kitchen had not happened at all and they were back to their stable boss-employee relationship. Discussing toys, kids and cleanup. See, nothing had changed.

  “Was your evening, uh, enjoyable?” Mick asked now.

  She swallowed. “Sure. Betsy and I and our dates had dinner, then we saw a movie,” she said, adding the name of the latest action-adventure blockbuster.

  “Did you like it? I saw a trailer for it and the plot sounds kind of far-fetched.”

  It had a plot? She didn’t remember the sequence of events or even the faces of the actors in the movie. Her mind had been on another reel altogether, and it had kept playing and replaying in her head, a loop of—

  “Kayla?”

  “It was pretty spectacular,” she admitted.

  “There were explosions?” Mick asked.

  “I thought the top of my head might come off.”

  “Wow. That intense, huh?”

  “Intense doesn’t—” She stopped herself. He was discussing the movie, she suddenly realized, while she…she was not. “I think you’ll have to see it for yourself.”

  “I just might do that.”

  An awkward pause ensued. Kayla shivered a little, and pulled back the covers so she could get under the sheets and comforter. “Anything else to report?”

  “Like w
hat?”

  She could wrap this up, she supposed. Say good-night. But as she settled back against the pillows, she found herself reluctant to end the call. Maybe because it took her mind off places it shouldn’t be wandering, she told herself. “I never asked you how your part of track-and-field day went. Impossible Football Catch another success? It’s always popular.”

  “Because I dish out Life Savers candies on the sly. Don’t tell.”

  “Mick Hanson!” She pretended to scold. “You know as well as I do there’s a rule against providing sugary treats during the school day.”

  His voice lowered until it was almost like a whisper in her ear. “What’ll I have to give you to keep my secret?”

  Her secret made itself known then, as a rash of goose bumps broke out over her skin. He didn’t have to do that thing she didn’t want to think about. He didn’t have to touch her in any way at all. The forbidden attraction she had for him made itself known anyway. “I…I…” She felt tongue-tied and awkward and worried he’d suspect everything she was trying to hide from just the squeaky tone in her voice.

  He saved her by clearing his. “So,” he said, dropping the subject of secrets. “Back to your date. Are you planning on seeing this gentleman again?”

  She couldn’t even picture what the “gentleman” looked like. His appearance had made that little of an impression due to the fact that ninety percent of her brain had been occupied with different visuals altogether. Guilt gave her a little pinch. “He’s very nice.”

  Mick winced. “Ouch.”

  “What?” Guilt pinched her again because she knew she’d barely given the nice guy the time of day. “He represents a national window supplier and he’s successful, hardworking—”

  “Transparent,” Mick put in.

  It took her a moment to catch on. “Hah. Window, glass, transparent, I get the joke.”

  He laughed, low. “No flies on you, sweetheart.”