by Mia Ford
Behind closed door, we didn’t hold back. I kept it respectable with the noise, but we didn’t have to hide it anymore. I could make love with him freely and fall asleep in the very place I felt like I was at home. We went to the movies on Saturday, catching the latest kid’s movie as Nick held my hand. We didn’t want to be all over one another in front of Carmen, but he wanted her to know that it was possible to love after loss. Nick wanted her to remember her parents in love and wasn’t willing to reveal that they weren’t happy at this end, instead letting her move forward with this new relationship the way that we were.
We grabbed an early dinner while we were out and Carmen sat between us as Rebecca looked on.it was later that night over wine that Rebecca asked if we wanted her to stay through Christmas, seeing that Carmen was adjusting well. Nick told her yes, and she blushed if she asked if we minded someone else here, since she’d been dating a hockey player for a couple of months. It wasn’t certain yet when or how long he could stay, but she’d for love us to meet him.
I saw the discomfort on Nick’s face for a moment as I touched his shoulder. He looked at me, and I smiled as I shook my head. “She’s a big girl.”
“He’s more than welcome,” he grudgingly told her as Rebecca laughed. “He’d better not have one of those reputations that I’ve heard about in the sports world.” I chuckled as I shared a glance with his sister.
The weeks passed with time spent with Rebecca, taking day trips, and just having fun during the day. It was as if I was on vacation, though I considered myself part of a family more than a nanny now. Nick still insisted on paying me though I tried to convince him not to every night when we were falling asleep. He told me that he wanted to make it official before he started to use me to care for his child, making me laugh as I kissed him.
Carmen was spoiled rotten on Christmas, with the tree surrounded by brightly wrapped gifts both Christmas Eve as well as Christmas morning. She had a deal with Nick that they were going to donate some of her old belongings to make room for the new since he didn’t have the heart to tell my mom and his sister not to enjoy themselves shopping.
The biggest surprise was the little chocolate lab that Nick decided to adopt for Carmen since she’d been asking for a dog for a couple of years. It really wasn’t Melanie’s cup of tea, but I was more than willing to help with a puppy since I was home all day. Carmen was done opening her gifts when Nick called her to the office, where the puppy was waiting for her. He was just two months old and already set up for classes and training, and Carmen asked Nick what was going on. She was excitedly opening her dolls with Rebecca’s help, but we all headed to the office as I tried to hold in my excitement.
Carmen followed her dad into the room while we stayed behind to hear the squealing when she saw her new pet. I laughed as I hugged Mom, leaning forward to get a peek at what was going on inside of the room. Carmen carried the dog out and announced that his name was Cocoa before she put him down in the living room, where the puppy proceeded to tear through all the wrapping paper. Nick followed us with a giant basket of dog toys that he set up between the couches, hoping to save the furniture from the sharp teeth.
Carmen wanted to take him to the beach within a few hours, but Nick explained that he needed a round of shots before we could take him for walks. It would be a couple more weeks, but we’d have a lot of fun with him inside. She decided that he could go into her bedroom and playroom, with a warning that she needed to keep an eye on him.
Mom cooked a ham for dinner along with several sides with the help of Rebecca and me. I sensed that Nick wanted to spend a lot of time with Carmen, given that this was her first Christmas without her mom. She seemed to be happy, but even I knew that she had to miss Melanie. He was up in her room with the dog setting up toys for Carmen while I heard him telling Cocoa to stay out of something from time to time.
I got some lovely gifts from everyone as well as having a great time shopping for them. Boston seemed like another lifetime as I celebrated the love in my life now even though it was just months ago, that I came back to California. My room on the third floor was still set up for me, and I brought the items up there as I looked around slowly. I had vague ideas for this room now that I was sleeping nightly in Nick’s room, such as a reading room or an office for me. The loft would be great with a TV and some couches just so Carmen would have a place for when she was older, and I walked to the window to look over the ocean for a moment.
This room needed to be enjoyed somehow if I wasn’t living here. It might be a good guest room for Rebecca rather that the second floor one near Carmen’s room. My mind wandered as I thought ahead to having more kids and even Rebecca doing the same. This house was big enough for that and I turned to leave, heading to the lower floor to check in on my loves.
It was the year to the day that I arrived that Nick proposed to me on the beach near our home, with Carmen and Cocoa a few feet away from us. I was divorced and happier than I’d ever been and I dropped to the sand to hug him as I screamed that I would marry him. By this time, Rebecca, and Ryan, the hockey player were living together and headed in the same direction. I adored them together and knew that Nick did too, even when he teased his sister.
We planned the wedding for the upcoming Fall in a beautiful chapel that offered a gorgeous view of the ocean and would protect us from any inclement weather if necessary. Carmen was going to be the flower girl while Rebecca would stand in for me, and Nick selected one of the guys that he worked closely with and respected deeply. We also started talking about my stopping all birth control so we could try for a baby or two in the next year. Nick loved to joke that he was getting older and I just wanted to expand the family.
I knew that Sean was a father now and I was happy for him. I wished him well and knew that I found the man I was supposed to be in a place that I was probably never meant to leave in the first place. I didn’t look back with any regret, though. I had Carmen because of the delay.
I kept the wedding small and intimate, only inviting close friends and our little family to watch as we exchanged our vows. My dress was cream colored and hung over my curves in a straight line, with sweet cap sleeves and a sweetheart neckline. It dragged behind me in a silky train, and Nick looked like he wanted to eat me alive as I walked towards him. He was equally edible in a tuxedo, and his tousled hair arranged messily on his head as I stared into his beautiful eyes.
He spoke to me in a hushed voice as his written words moved through my heart and soul, making the tears slide down my cheeks as my mother cried in the front row. I had some of my own, telling Nick that he was everything that I ever wanted in a partner before we kissed for the first time as husband and wife.
I wore the wedding set that Mom had gotten at her own wedding, cleaned, and sparkling on my left hand. We left the chapel to go to a nearby restaurant that was closed for our party, dancing the night away in between a delicious meal and a lot of drinks. The people in town were initially surprised by Nick and I being together, but they all loved Carmen and wanted her happy. She looked beautiful today in a sage green dress with a constant smile on her face as she moved from person to person to talk to them. Her teachers had seen an impressive jump in her grades in the last year and Nick and I encouraged her growth.
The days were busy with a dog and a daughter and a house to take care of, but I had an incredible chef and maid to help me. Once the new year started, Nick told me that he knew I wasn’t a nanny anymore. We were a family.
I announced my first pregnancy with Nick three months after the wedding and gave birth to a son six months later. Cameron got a sister a year and a half later named Alyssa, and we were a big and busy family by that time.
Rebecca got married shortly after us, staying in Chicago to raise her twin boy and girl that were just a bit younger than Cam. Ryan played there though there was always the possibility of a trade. She didn’t work for the paper any longer, choosing instead to write as a freelancer and raise Nolan and Nellie. They often visit
ed, though, and Mom loved to be with all the kids at once. Holidays were loud but amazingly fun with the two dogs that we now had as well as a lot of little legs running down the beach.
Every once in a while, when it was quiet, Nick and I would make love and just rest together in the silence that followed. He still traveled for work though a bit less with the three kids, and I enjoyed the time that we got together. We went on regular dates while Mom came to watch the kids and started watching Carmen flirt with boys all too soon, which was about the time that Nick’s hair began to go gray.
Still, he powered through it, and I assured him at night when we were alone that she had a fantastic role model for a father. The real dad never came forward, not wanting to be a part of her life and that was fine with us. We loved her more than anything else in the world along with our other kids. We loved our small, close family and our life.
Nick retired when he was fifty-five, handing the control to someone else in the company to stay home with us. He was financially set and still energetic and fit, making me still go down to work out with him before we rushed to the bedroom.
Mom passed away when Alyssa was twelve, and we all grieved the loss as she was buried beside my father. She was one of the people that I was closest to as well as Carmen since Mom was so local to her. Carmen grew up with her, and as an eighteen-year-old, she still sobbed when I told her that Mom finally succumbed to cancer. It had been a yearlong fight for her, hard for all of us to see.
I knew that she lived in my heart and the souls of my kids, something I saw every day. It helped that Ryan came to play in the bay area around that time before retiring, bringing Rebecca close to all of us. I sometimes thought that life worked out a certain way sometimes, with events occurring as needed.
I watched the kids grow up, enjoying every moment of their lives as well as my own. I was blessed having Nick as a husband, and we had so much fun showing the kids the world along with different cultures. Along the way, we bought a few vacation homes in some of our favorite places, such as the mountains as well as Belize.
Seeing Carmen become a mom at twenty-three with her loving husband Liam felt like life coming full circle to me, making Nick and I cry as we watched her cuddle her daughter. I felt like I did everything right and looked forward to stepping into a new role as a grandma, much like my own mom did when life called for that.
Fate has a plan for all of us, and you just need to let it happen. It was worth it in the end.
The End.
I hope you enjoyed reading “Billionaire Daddy & Nanny”.
Hey, don’t go away yet as I have included several bonus stories in this book including my HOT SELLER’s in Older Man Younger Woman Romance category - DAD’s BEST FRIEND” & “BREAKING RULES”. Also included in this book is the sneak preview of the cover and blurb of my next title - “BETRYAED”, which will be soon LIVE on Amazon!!!
Simply go ahead and refer to the Table of Contents (TOC) to choose which one you want to read next!
They are all full of hot and steamy action!!!
Cowboy Romance Series
BOOK 1 : BILLIONAIRE COWBOY
Celia shielded her eyes against the glaring Texan sun with the palm of her hand, this sun was going nowhere. She had just stepped off the train that had carried her from the Austin airport, and after a two-hour journey in a small cramped seat, she could feel her bones aching and her legs needing a stretch. How long would she have to wait here in the heat?
Two stuffed-to the brim suitcases lay at her feet. She had packed everything she could, everything she would need, although she wasn’t quite sure what she might actually require. She had never been to Texas before, and definitely never to such a small town.
Celia took in a deep breath and sighed. She had been standing there for over fifteen minutes now, and there was no sign of her ride.
Her grandfather had written a letter to her a month ago. Initially she had smiled when she found the letter slipped under the door of her tenth-floor apartment in New York, by the postman. Who hand wrote letters anymore? Clearly her grandfather did. But when she eventually read the letter, the smile on her face had disappeared. He was sick, very sick, and he was her only remaining family. She had to be there for him in his hour of need, there was no other choice but that.
So, Celia quit her job, not that it was much of a job. It was an internship at a fashion magazine, but it was also a stepping stone towards the actual job that she wanted. Sure, it would have taken time, a few months, maybe even a few years…but it would all be worth it. Now, quitting her job, moving to a small town in Texas to care for her grandfather was going to be a major setback. But what other choice did she have? She couldn’t simply allow her grandfather to wither away by himself.
She had written back to him, probably her first handwritten letter in several years, telling him her plan. She would quit her job and move in with him to care for him, for as long as he needed. He was her only family, she had to do this for him and for the memory of her parents who had brought her up to care for those in need.
The roar of an engine nearby distracted Celia from her thoughts and she whipped around to find a red battered truck making its way towards her, sending dust clouds up in the air in its trail. Her grandfather had mentioned a ride, but this wasn’t what she was expecting.
The truck came to a sudden halt, right in front of her feet and Celia took a few steps back in surprise. It looked like an old dusty thing, with the red paint chipped in several places, the rearview mirror broken and dangling on the side. The engine made such a great sound that it was clear that it needed major maintenance.
Celia still had her face shielded with her hand when the driver’s door creaked open and she saw the back of a man who jumped off the truck. She still didn’t know what to expect, was this definitely her ride?
“Celia Ferro?” The man banged the door shut behind him and turned to look at her, placing his hands on the burning hot hood of the car engine. There was steam rising from it, it was so hot. But he didn’t seem to notice, he kept his hands on it.
“Yes.” She replied, in a meek voice. She had obviously expected a stranger to pick her up, but not such a handsome one. This man was a cowboy through and through, the likes of which she had only ever seen in films or on TV. She hadn’t thought that people like him actually existed in real life.
He was in a dark plaid shirt, with the sleeves rolled up. His jeans were dark too, with a wide boot cut at the bottoms. For shoes, he had ruddy dusty boots and a cowboy hat to shield his face against the sun. But the sun had definitely got to him, because his skin was darkened, and it glowed like bronze in the midday heat. His eyes were piercingly blue, and Celia dropped her gaze from his face when he looked at her, because his eyes nearly frightened her. He looked muscular and lean, like he worked outdoors all day. As hard as she tried to stop herself, she couldn’t help her mind from wandering and imagining what his bare torso would look like, underneath those clothes.
“Do you have bags?” The man asked and she nodded her head.
“They’re right here.” She said and pointed to her feet.
He walked around the front of the truck silently, taking quick long steps and was by her side within seconds. She felt her muscles freeze from his closeness. She couldn’t remember the last time her body had reacted this way to the physical presence of someone else. Without a word, he picked up both the suitcases and tossed them into the open back of the van.
Celia winced when she heard the thump of the bags as they fell. She didn’t want to imagine what the state of her perfume bottles and makeup cases were going to be inside them.
“Get in.” She heard him say, and he walked back around to the driver’s side without waiting for a response from her. Celia gulped. How was she supposed to get in?
She tried pulling at the passenger door, but it wouldn’t give. The man had already climbed back into his seat. He had his hands loosely placed on the steering wheel and was watching Celia struggling to get the
door open. It was like he was enjoying her trying and failing and then trying again.
She yanked and pulled, but the door wouldn’t budge; and the man wasn’t helping. She turned a sour face to him through the windshield, her lips quivering as she glared at him. What was wrong with him? She thought, but didn’t say anything. After she had glared at him for a good few moments, he leaned over and pushed the door open from his side. It slid open as smoothly as a knife through warm butter.
Celia tried to haul herself up into the seat, as best she could. She wasn’t dressed for the occasion, she realized as she did this. Her pencil skirt clung tightly to her thighs as she tried to wriggle into the seat, her cheeks flushed and her neck burning red from embarrassment.
He was following her every movement with keen watchful eyes, and when she turned to look at him, she realized that she hadn’t once seen him smile yet.
“Thank you.” Celia said, as politely as she could, even though she didn’t exactly want to be polite to him, when he had been nothing other than rude to her.
The man said nothing, but simply started the engine and the truck roared and came to life.
Despite the fact that she was a little offended by this man’s coldness, she still couldn’t stop herself from admiring him. She couldn’t help but imagine what a big hit this man might be in the fashion industry; with his muscular physique and sharp jaw lines, he would look good in anything, and especially delicious in nothing.
“So, you know my grandfather?” She said, trying to make conversation. He had been driving in silence for a few moments now and she was beginning to grow uncomfortable in his presence. She didn’t want to simply stare at him the whole way.
“Yes.” He replied, keeping his eyes on the road. Celia realized that he had barely even looked at her. The hat remained on his head as he drove, and she noticed the clenching of the muscles on his long arms as he clutched the steering wheel.
