Hot Dad Next Door: A Single Dad & Nanny Romance (Temptation Next Door Book 1)

by Nicole Casey

  “How could you not tell me?” I asked, gritting my jaw against the wave of emotions that let loose—anger, sadness, betrayal…and underneath it all grief because I had fallen hopelessly in love with this woman and it was obvious by her omission that she wanted nothing to do with me.

  “You threw me out of your house for no reason, at least none that I can fathom, and you come demanding to know how I could keep something from you?”

  “Damn it, Emma, maybe I was wrong, but you know what I’ve been through with Abby…”

  “I was going to tell you,” she whispered, cutting me off.

  Was I supposed to believe her? Part of me wanted to—desperately. Still, I cocked an eyebrow in disbelief.

  She walked away then, and I thought she was putting an end to the conversation, but she returned a moment later.

  “I was going to tell you as soon as these were finished,” she laid a thin stack of papers in my hands, but I stared at them half-blindly until the title on the first page caught my attention. They were legal documents, and with a quick glance, I realized they were legal documents detailing future custody agreements.

  “I couldn’t keep it from you, but after what happened I figured you didn’t want…you’d prefer not…I came to the conclusion you didn’t want me in your life. But you were right about Michelle. You had a right to know about Abby. But I also wanted you to know you didn’t have to do this; you weren’t obligated in any way.”

  And she was telling the truth; the documents essentially set forth that I could choose to be as much or as little a part in our child’s life, and that no financial obligations would be placed on me for the care of the child.

  She really had intended to tell me about the baby, and more than that, she’d gone to great lengths to make sure this baby wouldn’t be a stranger to me like Abby had been. And after the way I’d acted, how difficult had it been on her to face the prospect of sharing custody, being forced to interact with me on a regular basis?

  And that’s when it hit me—I was an ass. How else could one describe a man who’d gotten angry not once, not twice, but three times, and each time it had been uncalled for? I let out a heavy sigh, preparing to admit the truth. “I’ve been a total ass.”

  “Yes.”

  “You’re not going to let me off the hook easy, are you?”

  “No.”

  For a woman who could converse easily with just about anyone, she sure did seem to be keeping the conversation to a minimum. Maybe I really had blown it. And the worst part was I couldn’t blame her. I’d made mistake after mistake, generally resulting in her being unfairly accused of shit she didn’t do. What kind of woman would want to put up with that on a regular basis?

  “I’m not good at this, Emma, not even a little. I’ve been terrified of winding up just like my folks—divorced so many times I think their lawyers keep an open spot in their calendars just for the next one. And honestly, no other woman has ever done a thing to change my mind. But you did…and it scared me. I was more than willing to jump to find the negative because I was terrified of what would happen if I couldn’t find it.”

  She smiled. “I’m terrified, too,” she confessed, and I felt whatever it was that had been gripping my heart tight loosen its grasp just a little. “What do you say we try being terrified together?” she asked.

  She was actually going to let me off the hook just like that? Damn, she was an amazing woman. And I wasn’t going to forget that ever again. “I want you to come home with me.”

  “Home? You mean back to being your nanny?”

  “No, Emma. I want to be a part of your life, and I want to be a part of this baby’s life,” I told her, touching her stomach gently. There was no difference; her stomach was still just as flat as it had been the first time I’d stripped her naked, and yet our child grew there now.

  “Oh.”

  “Just ‘oh’?”

  “I mean, I want that too. It’s just…if you want me to come home with you so you can be a part of our baby’s life…well, you don’t have to do that. I would never keep her from you.”

  “I know you wouldn’t. So, does that mean you’ve decided we’re having a girl?”

  “Yes, actually. I thought Abby would like a little sister,” she smiled.

  “I think Abby would love that. But I’m sure she’d be thrilled with a little brother, too.”

  “Well, she’s just going to have to wait for the next baby to get one,” she said matter-of-factly. “But Ryan, are you sure about this? About us?”

  “Emma, I am so sure about us that I want to do something I swore I’d never do.”

  “And what’s that?”

  “I want to get married. I want to marry you, Emma McKenna.”

  Her lips parted in surprise, and I couldn’t help but chuckle at the adorably sexy, stunned look on her face. She seemed to recover quickly though.

  “I want that, too.”

  “So, you’ll come home with me?”

  “Well, I don’t know,” she said, and I could tell by the look on her face she was teasing now. “It’s an awfully long way, and I only just got settled back in here.”

  “Perhaps I might be able to come up with a way to make it worth your while.”

  “Oh? What did you have in mind?”

  I leaned in close, my lips just a hair’s breadth from her ear, “I was thinking that I’d take off all your clothes the second we get there, and I’d use my hands…my mouth…my tongue…my cock, to make you come over and over again. And then I’d do the same thing tomorrow night, and the night after that, and every night after.”

  I could feel the heat as it suffused her cheeks, and I saw the sexy blush as she leaned back far enough to look at me. “You’ve got yourself a deal, Ryan Cade.”

  Damn, what a woman!

  - END -

  The Billionaire’s Conquest

  Mercury Billionaires Book 1

  Book Description

  I need to save Mercury Wild, but who would save my heart?

  I'm Trevor Wild, Billionaire and Entrepreneur of Mercury Wild, a club that I inherited from my father.

  Men admire me for the fortune that came with my name. Women flock to me for the man of their dreams, but along the way, I lose sight of who I am, and my business is at stake.

  So desperate to save the club, I have to put pride behind me and seek out help, and help comes in the form of Jasmine Washington.

  Her skin is smooth as silk. Her eyes are piercing green that would burn holes into my soul.

  But it’s her steadfast attitude, her honest business sense, and her genuine heart, that pull me in.

  Yet, it doesn’t hurt that she has a rockin’ body that makes me want to beg for her every chance I get, and learning that she’s a virgin only intensifies those desires.

  Will I be able to have both my club and Jasmine, or will going after her cause everything to crumble around me?

  1

  Jasmine

  The sound of Aerosmith played in the background as I walked into the club. I looked around to see if Sydney was there yet. We had been best friends since Elementary school. It was Mrs. Harper’s third-grade class when Sydney asked if she could sit next to me. I didn’t know anyone then; I was the new student in a big place and Sydney was there. She always remained there and we vowed to be best friends for life.

  I waved to her from across the bar, then hurried over to her. We hugged and made small talk, how’ve you been, what’s new, how are you enjoying the humid weather, things like that, until others started to join us. I hadn’t seen Sydney in nearly three months.

  She had taken a trip to New York to visit her grandmother, who didn’t have long to live. Unfortunately, her grandmother didn’t make it much past the timeline the doctor provided, and now Sydney was back home.

  She immediately reached out to her friends and asked them to go out to the bar and that brought them there this night.

  “You look good, Syd,” I said, taking a drink of the b
eer that the waitress had brought me.

  She smiled. “Thank you! I’m doing well, actually.”

  I was relieved to hear that. I didn’t know how she was handling the passing of her grandmother, but she did seem to be doing better than expected.

  “Have your parents come back from New York, yet?” Tracey, another friend posed the question.

  Sydney shook her head.

  “When grandma passed, they decided to stay back there and help to facilitate the sale of her property. But I didn’t want to stay behind. I needed to get back into work and it just was easier to make the escape back to Montana. How are you guys doing?” she asked.

  Everyone eagerly chatted away about what they’d been up to, but I stayed mostly quietly. I didn’t have much to add. How could you when your job consisted of filing papers and phone calls and your life in itself was mostly struggling with not fighting with your boyfriend? Things were tough and the last thing Sydney needed was my problems piled on top of everything she had going on.

  The waitress came back to the table and I ordered another beer, while everyone went on about their glorious lives. I just listened intently, drank my beer, and tried not to be jealous…too much. Sydney kept saying things like, that’s amazing, good for you, I’m so proud of you, sounds great, and I just indulged in my self-pity.

  Yeah, jealousy was certainly prevalent.

  After everyone else had gone about getting another drink, Sydney spoke up. “So, I do have some news and thought now would be as good of a time as any to let you in on it.”

  I sipped on my beer, then swallowed it down and tried to be enthusiastic to hear about what she needed to say.

  “What is it, Syd?” I asked.

  That was when I noticed it. I’m not sure if I was the only one, but my eyes were directed to her left hand. She was playing with a ring that was on her finger. I don’t know if she was playing with that throughout the course of the night, but it was clear that she was extremely nervous.

  My mouth hung open as the realization hit me. I didn’t want to blurt it out, but I was anxious to hear her spread the news. She then held up her left hand and sighed. “I’m getting married!”

  A round of squeals came around the table, as she showed off her engagement ring. I couldn’t believe the news. The last I’d known, she wasn’t even dating anyone. “Who?” I suddenly asked.

  She looked at me and there was a smile in her eyes. “You don’t know him. I met him in New York.” She paused, before continuing. “He’s a lawyer.”

  I wondered if that meant she was leaving. She had made this big mention of getting back to her job and to her hometown, but if she was just going to turn around and leave again, I wondered what the point was. I was being a bit selfish, I’d admit that, but I didn’t want to see her go again. Luckily, I didn’t need to ask the question, because Mary had it on her mind.

  “So, you’re moving to New York?” Mary asked.

  Sydney looked at each of us, before shaking her head. “I’m not. Michael is getting a job in Maine. He stayed back home to finish up a couple different cases, but he’s moving here right before the wedding.” She glanced at me and it was like we had that inner connection where she would know exactly what I was thinking before I had a chance to say it. She smiled and nodded and I gave her a slight smile response back.

  I wasn’t surprised to hear she was marrying a lawyer. After all, Sydney came from wealth and prestige, with her mother being a doctor and her father a chemist. It was like Sydney had gold in her blood. Great things came to her and I was always supportive of that, but it made sense that she would ultimately meet and marry a lawyer to continue her road to wealth.

  We all congratulated her and I got up and walked around to where she was sitting. “Congratulations, Syd!” We hugged. “I’m so happy for you!”

  When she pulled away, there were tears in her eyes. She had to wipe them away and I saw her hand shaking. “You’ll really like him,” she said.

  I smiled. “All that matters is that you’re in love and if you are, then that’s good enough for me.” We hugged again and she nodded, I felt her shaking slightly. I knew that this was love for her, because Sydney wasn’t one to settle down easily. She’d never had a long-term boyfriend, let alone a man I could see that she would want to marry. I was truly happy for her and couldn’t wait to meet the man that stole my friend’s heart.

  2

  Trevor

  The smell of bourbon penetrated through me as I lifted the glass to my lips and drank. I heaved a sigh and let the cool liquid slide down my throat.

  It’d been a crazy busy day and I was glad to get out of the bar I owned, into a place that wouldn’t recognize me for my name or knowledge of the bar scene. Sometimes it was just good to get away. I took another drink and closed my eyes. Sometimes I wondered how I got to where I was.

  I was twenty-eight and an owner of the bar and restaurant, Mercury Wild. It’d been sort of an inheritance passed down to me since my father’s passing five years earlier. Men admired me for the fortune that came with my name. Women flocked to me for the man of their dreams, or at least they liked the fact that I was wealthy, but along the way I lost sight of who I was.

  I never saw that in my father, so I wondered again how I got to where I was. I took another drink, then ordered up another one. I was only two when my grandfather passed away, so I also questioned if maybe we were cut from the same cloth. Was I more like him?

  “This seat taken?” I looked up into the eyes of a tall blonde woman. She had waves of curls that cascaded over her shoulders and the bluest eyes I’d ever seen. In every man’s fantasy, she would be the ideal catch. I just smiled and shook my head.

  “Have a seat!” I then took another drink and looked away, literally ignoring the woman and probably offending her with my cavalier attitude.

  She did make small talk, but I didn’t even acknowledge her talking and I was sure I had offended her, because about fifteen minutes later she was getting down from the bar stool. She mumbled something about having a nice life and then she was gone.

  The truth was the blonde-haired woman was the typical woman that I would gravitate towards and that was exactly why I didn’t indulge in any thoughts of communication with her. I was tired of going the typical route. I needed to change things up or I was bound to go crazy.

  After a couple more drinks, finishing off my bourbon, I left behind the glass and turned around to leave. I spotted Dylan coming closer to me. Dylan was one of my good friends and not one I could easily ignore. I put on a smile and waved to him, just as he got closer.

  “Hey, buddy, thought that was you over here. Wanna come to my table and hang?” he asked.

  “Just heading out,” I responded.

  “Oh!” Dylan said, looking disappointed. “I have two of the hottest babes that are going to be sitting at my table and I thought you could help me entertain them.” He winked at me. “If you know what I mean.”

  I laughed and looked away from him. “Yeah, I know what you mean, but I have a busy day tomorrow and I just had my two drinks, so really should be going. I’m sure you can handle them though.” I chuckled as I patted him on the shoulder.

  Dylan laughed. “Yeah…maybe.” He then gave me a curious look. “What are you doing here anyway?” Dylan asked. “Isn’t Mercury Wild enough bar for you?” he asked, giving me a teasing grin.

  I snickered and shrugged. “Guess sometimes I need to get away from the office and really think things through. But hey…you best be getting back to your table. Don’t want the women to send out the cops looking for you.”

  Dylan looked away from me and glanced back towards where he came from. “Gotta keep them guessing, right?” Again he winked at me and then backed up. “Suit yourself if you don’t want in on it. They are a couple of real babes.”

  “I’m sure they are,” I said. “But you have fun!” I grabbed my keys out of my pocket and watched him as he headed back towards his table. I shook my head, not the
least bit surprised by Dylan’s attitude for the women. Dylan was someone that would never shy away from getting what he wanted. It came with the territory of his job. He was a real estate broker and one of the finest in the county.

  I turned away from the direction he walked away in and headed towards the front door of the club. I was so driven on getting out of there that I hadn’t noticed a woman stand up from her table and I bumped right into her, nearly knocking her to the ground.

  “Oh…I’m sorry!” I said.

  She turned around and our eyes met. For me, it was an instant physical attraction. She had piercing green eyes that seemed to look right into my soul. Yet, the thing about her that seemed different than the rest, was that she wasn’t this obvious beauty. It looked more like she didn’t try. She had only light makeup on and her hair was pulled back in a ponytail, but she just had this look that was captivating.

  “It’s alright,” she mumbled. “Excuse me!” She then turned back around and raced towards the front door, as if she was in a hurry to get somewhere. I watched her for a moment, then noticed that the table she came from had their eyes on me. I smiled, then looked away and headed back out of the bar. I looked around, but the woman was gone.

  Feeling like I had just had a glimpse of someone I wanted to get to know, yet didn’t feel I’d ever see again, I headed to my black Aston Martin. I got in the driver’s seat and just sat there for a moment, a smile playing on my lips. Somehow, someway, I wanted to believe if our paths crossed once…then they could cross again. Even if it was only a dream that might never be realized.