by Toni Aleo
I pass the time playing on my phone until I hear footsteps coming down the stairs. I stand up just as all three boys enter the kitchen. While Charlie favors Vera with his dark hair and darker eyes, the twins are lighter, which I assume is from their father. I haven’t met him, nor do I want to from what I’ve heard. How anyone could hurt or cheat on someone like Vera is beyond me.
“Hey, Linc.”
“Hey, guys,” I say, slapping my hands together. “Listen, it’s cereal today. I’ll go shopping after I drop you guys off.”
Elliot makes a face. “French toast tomorrow?”
“Absolutely.”
He sends me a grin as he goes to get the cereal he wants. I lay out three bowls and then the milk, getting acquainted with everything.
“I’m glad Mom hired you,” Charlie says, and I glance over at him from the fridge. “The last nannies were awful.”
I smile. “I heard you guys weren’t too nice to them, though.”
“’Cause they sucked,” Charlie answers, and I hold his gaze.
“Hey, watch your mouth, please.” I can see the challenge in his eyes; he wants to fight me on it, but he just looks away. “You don’t want to sound like a crappy kid. Especially when you’re not.”
I see the twins glance at Charlie, probably waiting for him to say something, but he doesn’t. He goes back to eating. Looking back in the fridge, I write a few more things down before I ask, “How long is practice tonight?”
“Two hours,” Elliot says.
“Will you be there?” Louis asks with cocoa from his Cocoa Puffs on his face.
I smile. “Yeah, I’ll stay the whole time.”
“Our dad usually comes on Wednesdays.”
“He does?”
Looking toward the entryway of the kitchen, I feel like I’m being knocked to my ass. In a pair of black slacks and a white sheer top, Vera puts a pair of earrings in as she eyes the boys. Her hair is halfway up, her makeup done to the nines, but all I can look at is the dip of her blouse, which shows the curve of each of her beautiful breasts.
She’s your boss. Boss. Employer. Look the other way.
But I can’t.
My mouth is dry as Charlie says, “Yeah.”
“Oh,” she says, looking worried as she comes toward me, her red heels sky-high as she moves past me to the coffee pot. “I’ll need to call him today and let him know I hired a new nanny.”
“Manny!” Elliot says.
I wink over at him.
“Yes, manny,” she says dryly. I can see the hesitation on her face. She doesn’t want to call her ex-husband. Can’t say I blame her. “Are you guys ready to go?”
They each agree in their own ways, and I glance at Vera. She meets my gaze, and I smile. She doesn’t smile back. Instead she watches me; her eyes are a bit darker as I ask, “Is there anything you need?”
“Need…” she says, her words a gasp.
I nod. “From the store?”
She blinks. “Oh, no. I’m fine. Thank you.”
“Okay, you have my number, right?”
“I don’t.” She reaches for her phone, and we exchange numbers. “Thank you.”
“Of course. I’ll send you updates.”
“Oh, thank you.” She seems a little surprised by that. I can’t ask why, because then her gaze meets mine, and her eyes are downright sinful. There is a little tilt to them, brought out by her eye makeup. Her lashes are long and full, but it’s the flakes of gold in her eyes that have me breathless. The fact that I am this attracted to her should have me running for the front door. I shouldn’t chance this. I should quit and then ask her out. Though, I’m pretty sure she’d never go out with me.
She’s damaged.
Doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that.
Running my tongue along my lips, I say, “Call me if you need anything.”
I swear I see her take in a quick breath, and I also swear heat is radiating off her, but I’m sure it’s just wishful thinking.
Nothing will ever happen between us.
No matter how much I want it to.
She looks away as she nods. “Okay.”
“Cool,” I say, though I’m pretty sure she won’t be calling me for what I want.
Only about the job I was hired for.
VERA
Richard’s office is right next to mine, so I don’t have to go far before shutting my door and heading toward my desk. I sit down and let my head fall to the desk, inhaling deeply and squeezing my eyes tightly. That meeting was awful. The look of pure disappointment in his eyes and my feelings of failure are not how I wanted to start my morning. Jesus, is he considering asking me to step down? Damn it. I work so hard for him, and yes, I’ve been dropping the ball. But I’ve been going through a lot.
But I guess in this business, personal lives don’t matter.
Swallowing back my tears, I sit up and look around my posh office. I used to have a desk outside Richard’s office, but now, this is all mine. The room is lined with windows, giving me an amazing view since we’re on the sixty-seventh floor. But I can’t even enjoy the view after the meeting. Not with the weight of the world on my chest.
I have to call Simon.
And I really don’t want to.
So I won’t. Not yet at least. The boys don’t have to be at practice until four, so I have plenty of time before I have to call him. The anxiety of dealing with Simon is choking me at the moment. I haven’t talked to him since he told the boys that Kaia is pregnant. Ugh. The thought has my stomach in knots. How he’s moved on so drastically and is starting a new family just guts me. It is one thing when he was sleeping with women to get off, but this time, it isn’t some meaningless fuck; it is serious.
He is starting a new family.
Swallowing hard, I wake my computer from its sleep, but before I can even open my first of a billion emails, my assistant Ronda comes over my line. “Ms. Woods, your sister is on line one.”
“Thank you.”
I don’t have time to talk to her, but she is my sister. I would make time. Her voice rings over the line. “Hey, you.”
“Hey, what are you up to?”
“I just had my doctor appointment, and baby girl is doing great!”
I smile as I click through my emails, jotting down the things I have to take care of as soon as possible. “That’s wonderful. Can I call you later? I’m swamped.”
“Yeah, but how’d it go this morning? Was Lincoln on time?”
“Yes, right on time,” I say, and then I’m flooded by thoughts of my new “manny’s” gray eyes. Lord, they are intoxicating. “He gets along with the boys well.”
“Oh yeah, he’s great with kids.”
“Well, I know that, but he told Charlie to watch his mouth this morning, and with how he’s been lately, I thought he’d pop off, but Charlie didn’t say anything.”
“Told you. He’s gonna be great for you guys.”
“Yeah, I guess,” I say, though I’m not convinced. Or rather, I don’t want to accept that, since all I can do is picture the man naked and on top of me. All night long I thought of him and those eyes. I swear I could feel his beard along my skin and between my legs. His eyes meeting mine as he moved his tongue along my clit, squeezing my hips in his hands.
It all seemed so real.
But it was just a dream that had me tossing and turning all night.
Shaking my head, I groan. “I just wish he wasn’t so good-looking.”
Her laughter fills my office. “You’re insane.”
“No really. Every time he looks at me, I think he’s undressing me with his eyes, and then when he says certain things, they’re all sexual and shit.”
Her laughter continues. “They are not!”
“They are! This morning, he goes ‘Do you need anything?’”
“How is that sexual?” She laughs, and I smile.
“It is as if he is saying, ‘Do you need me to go between your legs?’”
“You’re insane!” she says a
gain. “You know what that means.”
I roll my eyes. “What?”
“That you need to get laid, ASAP.”
I scoff. “Well, he’s off the table,” I say quickly, and I mean it. “Not that I want to sleep with him.” Now she’s laughing so hard, I swear she isn’t breathing. “Stop laughing!”
“You know I can see through you, right? You wouldn’t talk about him so much if you didn’t want to sleep with him.”
“Jesus, Riana, be real! I’ve slept with one man my whole life. I don’t just get the urge to sleep with someone after meeting them once.”
“Which says a lot, big sis. You want him, and I don’t blame you.”
“No, I don’t.”
“Yes, you do,” she argues. “You know it’s okay to be attracted to someone.”
“I know that, but not the guy who is caring for my children.”
“Hey, a man is a man, and if you want him, don’t deny it.”
“I don’t want him,” I say, though I don’t even believe my words. “He is just good-looking. I don’t want anyone.”
“Well, let me just say, you need to want someone.”
“No, I don’t. My divorce is just final, and he’s having a baby now with her. I’m good.”
“My point exactly. Get out there, meet some people. Hey! Go out with that dude from accounting! You said he hit on you that one time.”
I roll my eyes. “No way. I don’t want to date.”
“Who said date? I said fuck.”
“Lord, Riana!”
She giggles. “Seriously. You need to get out there, bang out a few.”
“No, I’m fine,” I say. I try to suppress that the only person I want to bang at the moment is the manny. He came in with those eyes and looking scrumptious in a pair of nicely broken-in jeans and a thin tee, so eager to help me, and it felt so damn good. I’ve never had someone who just wants to make things right for me. Especially when Simon never did anything. “I don’t have time anyway. Richard suggested I step down.”
Riana takes in a deep breath. “Oh no.”
“Yeah, so I really need to focus on getting back to where I was before everything happened.”
She pauses, her voice grim as she agrees. “Yeah, but still, I think if you got back on the horse, it’d be easier. And you wouldn’t have cob webs hanging in your pussy.”
“Ah, fuck you,” I snap at her.
She laughs. “I’m going to buy you a vibrator.”
“Riana!”
“What! You need one, or three.”
“Goodbye,” I say before hanging up on her chortling. She is such a pain. When my phone rings again, I roll my eyes as I pick it up. “You’re a pain in my ass.”
“Well, hello to you too.” It is Simon. Shit. I really need to have my direct-line number changed.
Closing my eyes, I cover my face. “Simon. Sorry, I thought it was Riana.”
“Sure,” he says, his voice making my skin crawl. “We need to discuss a few things.”
“We do?”
“Yeah. Listen, can I get the boys tomorrow?”
“No,” I say simply. “We’ve talked about this, and the judge agreed they need to be home for school.”
“Then Kaia will have to pick them up.”
“Why?”
“I’m leaving town tomorrow night and coming home early Saturday morning.”
My blood starts to boil. “Then come get them Saturday.”
“No, it’s my time and Kaia wants to spend time with them.”
It’s his time. It’s his time. Let it be.
Inhaling hard, I say, “Then I guess I’ll have the boys ready for her on Friday at five.”
He groans. “Fine. Listen, I want the boys for spring break. Kaia and I want to take them to Universal.”
Universal. We were supposed to take them to Universal. “Oh, well, I don’t know how I feel about that, since I wanted to take them.”
He lets out a long breath. “Are we going to fight about this?”
“Am I supposed to just allow you the chance to take our children somewhere I want to take them?”
“You had plenty of time to take them; you just never stopped working.”
“You didn’t complain when I was bringing home money.”
“Whatever. None of that matters. It’s supposed to be your spring break, but we want to go before Kaia gets too big from the pregnancy.”
My heart is slamming in my chest. “I’m not comfortable with that. Can we plan a trip for maybe this summer?”
“No, Kaia is due this summer.”
Which means she was probably pregnant when he left me. Ignoring that sting, I shake my head. “The answer is no.”
“Are you serious?”
“Yes, I want to be there when they go for the first time.”
“So when will that be?”
“I don’t know, but we can plan something for the future, or you can take them next spring break, since it will be yours.”
“I can’t believe you. You’re being selfish.”
“I don’t feel I am. I want to experience that with my boys too.”
“Whatever,” he growls, but I don’t care. “I’ll just ask them.”
“Well that’s unfair,” I say, leaning on my hand. “Of course they’ll want to go, and I can’t go right now. We can try for another time.”
“Not our fault you can’t get off work.”
“Um, I’ve been getting off work left and right, trying to replace nannies with no help from you.”
“Hey, I told you Kaia can keep working for you.”
I laugh at that. “So you want me to have the whore you left me for nanny my children.”
“Excuse me. She’s their stepmother and my wife.”
I bite my lip. “No.”
“No what? She is.”
“No, I won’t give you my spring break.”
“Fine. I’ll take you to court over it.”
“Fine. See you there.”
“You’re such a bitch.”
The line goes dead, and my skin burns with anger. That son of a bitch. Slamming the phone down, I cover my face as I swallow back the sob that is trying to escape. I refuse to cry over that man. I’ve wasted too many tears on him, and I won’t do it any longer. He makes me so mad I could spit. I don’t know who he thinks he is, but damn it, I won’t back down from him. We were planning to take the boys, but it isn’t my fault he decided to leave me around that time. I am more than willing to go with him, but I won’t allow him to go without me.
Asshole.
Turning to my computer, I click through emails, but I can’t get Riana’s words out of my head.
Seriously. You need to get out there, bang out a few.
When a knock comes at my door, I glance up and let out a heavy sigh. I just want to work and forget about my poor excuse of a love life. I don’t want to talk to anyone, and I sure as hell don’t want to keep thinking about Lincoln, but apparently, I won’t get what I want.
“Come in.”
“Hey, Vera, sorry to bother you.” Dennis, the guy from accounting, enters my office. He is tall, a bit lanky, but has a nice face. He is everything that Simon is not. That alone appeals to me.
But Lincoln is the total opposite too…
Nope, get him out of your head.
“Dennis, no bother at all,” I say with a small smile. “What can I do for you?”
He returns my smile and folds his arms across his chest like he’s feeling awkward. “Richard told me to see if you need help with those RFIs.”
I try not to cringe as I click to the requests for information for the quarter. I hate doing these, and now I see I am behind. “Damn RFIs.” I turn my attention back to him and give a little chuckle to play it off.
He laughs, his eyes sparkling as they hold mine. He has such a nice smile. “I’m happy to help…take some of the load off.”
I nod. “Thank you.”
“Anytime. Just send some over,” he s
ays and then tucks his hands in his pockets. He has sweet blue eyes and no hair on his face.
Of course I notice that, since apparently beards turn me on lately. I smile, and he smiles back awkwardly.
“Yeah, so I’ll go.”
He turns, heading for the door, but I stop him. “Hey, Dennis, is that offer for dinner still on the table?”
When he turns, his lips part. He then stutters, “Um, yes, absolutely.”
Holy crap, that was easy! I bite into my lip, uncertain whether I’m doing the right thing, but I can’t shake Riana’s suggestion. Plus, the boys will be gone this weekend, and it gives me time to myself. I can’t work all weekend. That would be pathetic. Maybe a roll in the sheets would be nice.
Problem is, I don’t really want to roll in the sheets with Dennis.
Since it isn’t like I have a long line of guys asking me out, I try to beam over to him. “How about Saturday?”
He eagerly agrees and asks for my number as I try to push aside thoughts of my manny.
Gah, what a silly thing to call him.
And shit, I didn’t tell Simon about him.
Chapter Five
Lincoln
“You didn’t have to come check on me. I know how to do my job.”
From his lawn chair, Phillip laughs as he glances over at me. “I don’t care about you. I came to watch my nephews.”
I smile, knowing he’s full of shit. “Do you do this often?”
“When I have time, thank you,” he says simply.
I can’t help but scoff at his lie. I know Riana wants to make sure she was right when she asked me to help. She was. I know how to care for kids, and the Woods boys are no different. After dropping them off at school, I went shopping. It was almost as if Vera hadn’t been to the market in six months. They had nothing but the bare minimum. After filling the cabinets and cleaning up, I went to work out and then back to my place to clean. I had been neglecting my own place, so it was nice to tidy up before heading back out to get the boys.
I really don’t understand why the previous nannies had issues. The boys are quick, playful, maybe a bit loud—well, the twins are—but I think they’re great. When we got home, they rushed to get ready, eating the snack I had ready for them before getting their gear and heading back out the door. The twins had a lot to say about school and even asked for some help with homework, but Charlie didn’t talk much. He sat in the front seat, playing on his phone. I tried to get him to talk, but he is pretty tight-lipped. He dragged his ass getting ready, but thankfully, we made it on time.
