by Lexi Aurora
“Good morning, Lauren,” Jack said, putting his hand on Ivy’s head and bringing her forward. “This is Ivy. Ivy, say hi to Lauren.”
“Hello,” said Ivy in the smallest voice, one that was barely audible in the large room.
“Hi, Ivy,” I said to her. “It’s nice to meet you. You look just like your daddy.”
Her nose wrinkled up in disgust. “I don’t look like a boy.”
“No, you’re a very pretty girl. But you have the prettiest colored eyes I’ve ever seen.”
I was relieved when she beamed at me, apparently won over by the compliment. I looked up at the older woman in the room.
“I’m Corina,” she said, putting her hand out to shake mine. “I’m the housekeeper.”
“Lauren,” I said to her. “I’m sorry I’m late coming down—”
“We didn’t expect to have you here this early,” Jack said, waving me off. “You’re fine. Don’t worry about it.”
I met his eye, wanting desperately to apologize for the night before. I didn’t want to do it in front of his daughter and Corina, though, so I only nodded in response.
“Do you want some coffee?” Corina asked me.
“I can get it,” I said, hurrying across the room to the coffee pot. I didn’t know how I was going to deal with there being a housekeeper around—I was used to doing everything for myself, and couldn’t imagine letting Corina do things for me that I could do without any help. I poured a cup of coffee and sipped at it as I turned around. I watched as Jack picked up Ivy and gave her a kiss, then put her back down.
“I’ll be home for dinner,” he said to the three of us. He looked at Corina. “Let me know if there’s anything I need to pick up.”
“Oh, you,” she said, swatting him on the shoulder. “You know you don’t have to do that.”
“I don’t mind,” he said, smiling at her. He turned his gaze to me.
“Think you’ve got this?” he asked, pushing Ivy gently in my direction. I nodded at him, tearing my gaze away from his before he left the room. I sat down with Corina and Ivy then, sipping my coffee and listening as the little girl told me all about what her previous nanny had been teaching her.
I spent the rest of the day with Ivy, exploring the house and getting to know the little girl, who was precocious and polite. She was a strange little thing, with the same intensity in her gaze as her father’s, like she was sizing me up every time she spoke to me. She was charming, though, and by the end of the day we were fast friends, laughing together as her father walked through the door.
“Hi,” he said, taking off his jacket and hanging it up as Ivy ran to him and leapt into his arms. He spun her around, planting kisses on her face before putting her down and looking at me.
“Everything go well today?” he asked.
“She’s perfect,” I said, looking down at Ivy, who was standing next to me and holding my hand.
“Are you hungry?” he asked her. She nodded and started to follow him into the kitchen, but I stayed behind, not knowing whether I was supposed to eat before or after they were finished. I assumed I’d eat with Corina in the kitchen as I had with my last nannying job, so I was surprised when Jack turned around and raised his eyebrows at me.
“You coming?” he asked.
“For dinner?”
“Yes,” he said.
“Oh, yes,” I told him, hurrying after them. I was surprised when I saw Corina sitting down already, and I sat down across from her as we all took our places at the table.
“How are things going at the restaurant, Jack?” Corina asked as we started to eat. I saw Jack’s face light up when she asked the question, something that made him look somehow even more handsome than before.
“Great,” he said. “I’ll have to go back after dinner tonight. The big opening is tomorrow.”
“Are you ready for it?” I asked him. He met my eye, giving me a playful look.
“I think I can handle whatever comes my way,” he said. “I’m a capable man.”
“I’m sure you are,” I said. He gave me a meaningful look, one that reminded me of the way he’d told me where he was sleeping the night before. I wasn’t sure what it meant in this context, but I knew that it couldn’t be good for anyone.
“Why did you come here? To Garner?” I asked him.
“My wife—my ex-wife—I just needed to get away,” he said. I nodded. If there was one thing I understood better than anything right now, it was the need to get far away. I was curious to know more about his ex-wife but I didn’t press him—it would have been impolite to do so. I had to remind myself that he was my boss and not some man I was getting to know. I had to keep things distant and professional, so I didn’t comment any further on the matter.
“Daddy,” said Ivy, who had been quiet up until now. “Can I have a job at your restaurant?”
“Of course you can,” he said, looking down at her. “You can be the hostess. Do you know what a hostess is?”
“A cupcake?” Ivy asked.
“Yes, but it’s also the person who greets people when they walk into a restaurant.”
“Like the old people at Walmart,” she said.
“Yes,” he said, covering his mouth as he laughed. “And you remember what I told you about them? Why they have the most important job?”
“Because they make people smile!” said Ivy, obviously pleased that she knew the answer.
“That’s right,” he said. “And I don’t know anybody who’s better at making people smile than you are.”
“Because I’m cute?”
He leaned over to kiss her forehead. “Because you’re the cutest, baby.”
I watched them as she nuzzled his cheek, kissing it and smiling at him sweetly. He was so good with her, a natural, and I could tell just by the way he looked at her that Ivy was Jack’s whole world.
When we were finished with dinner, Jack stood up and excused himself so that he could go back to the restaurant. I glanced over my shoulder to see that Corina was leading Ivy up the stairs, and took the opportunity to catch up with Jack just as he was about to get in his car.
“Lauren,” he said as I approached him. “Hi.”
“Hi,” I said, looking at him. I felt almost shy speaking to him then, knowing that I’d have to address what I’d done the night before. “I just wanted to say that I’m so sorry about last night. It was late and I don’t know what I was thinking. I hope you don’t think—”
“Don’t worry about it,” he said softly, that playful smile back on his face. “It was charming.”
“I’m glad you think so,” I said, looking away from him. Whenever he looked at me like that, it was hard to keep my thoughts from wandering to a place they shouldn’t go under any circumstances. “I’m pretty embarrassed.”
He put his finger under my chin, gently tilting my face to look at his own.
“Don’t be,” he said, holding my eye for a moment before he dropped his hand. “Goodnight, Lauren.”
“Goodnight,” I said, and went back to the house, listening as he pulled away behind me. I went upstairs and tucked Ivy in after Corina was done reading her a story, then went to my room and laid down in the bed. I tried to close my eyes, but every time I did I pictured Jack, and in the end I decided to give up on sleep and go explore the house some more on my own. I didn’t know where I was going, but I hoped that looking around would take my mind off of my hot boss before my thoughts went in a direction I wouldn’t be able to pull them back from.
Chapter 5: Jack
I noticed when I pulled up to the house that all the lights were off except one. The library was lit up, and through the sheer curtain I could see the outline of a woman inside. I knew it was Lauren by the shadow of her lovely dark hair tumbling down her back, and I smiled to myself as I went inside and made my way up the stairs to the third-floor library. I opened the door and she jumped when I entered, her hand fluttering to her chest as she stared at me in surprise.
“I’m so sorr
y,” she said. “I shouldn’t be in here, I—”
“This whole house is yours, Lauren,” I said to her. “You’re welcome in any room.”
“Oh,” she said softly. “Thank you.”
“Of course,” I said. I walked up to her and stood next to her, gazing at the shelf she had been browsing.
“Has anything caught your interest?” I asked, looking at her face. She looked at me, her lips parted to speak.
“Yes,” she said, holding my eye. I couldn’t look away from her. I felt compelled to touch her like I had earlier out by the car. All I had done was touch her face briefly but it had been enough to make the feeling on my skin linger long after I had left her behind. I’d gone to the restaurant but had been distracted the entire time thinking of Lauren, her eyes over dinner, that smile.
“Tell me,” I said to her. She didn’t look away, but brushed her fingers over the spines of the books on the shelf.
“I don’t even know where to start,” she said, finally breaking my gaze as she looked at the cases. It was an impressive room, beautiful—I’d had it built to imitate the one that I’d had in my house back in the city, a place that had been well over two centuries old. I didn’t like newer houses as a general rule but the one I’d had built here in Garner suited me perfectly, and by the look on her face I knew that it suited Lauren as well.
“Who’s your favorite author?”
“God, there are so many,” she said. “I’m a sucker for those old mysteries. Raymond Chandler.”
“Dashiell Hammett?” I asked her. “The Maltese Falcon ?”
“Yes,” she gushed, looking surprised. “I love that one. I used to make my grandpa read them to me as a kid.”
I grinned. “You were kind of a weird kid, weren’t you?”
She covered her mouth as she laughed and I wished she wouldn’t. I wanted to see her smile, but part of her seemed to feel shy with me. I wanted to open her up and get to know every single facet of her.
“I guess I was,” she said.
“All the best kids were,” I told her.
“Were you?” she asked. I nodded.
“I was a morbid child,” I said to her. “Really interested in horror movies and unsolved mysteries. My parents thought there was something wrong with me.”
“And was there something wrong with you?” she asked, her eyes playful.
“Probably,” I said. That look on her face was only making me crave her more. We were close to each other, standing shoulder-to-shoulder looking at the shelves. She pulled a book off and opened it up, an old volume with a cover that was too worn to read.
“Where did you get all of these books?” she asked, gazing up in wonder at the floor-to-ceiling shelves, the hundreds of volumes that I’d had brought over.
“I brought them from my old place. I collect them.”
“I can see that,” she said, looking up at my face. “Why?”
“It gets me time alone with pretty girls,” I said, daring to flirt with her. She gave me a small smile, a look of chiding in her eye. She gave a small shake of her head that told me to step back and so I did, shooting her a look of apology for the compliment. She didn’t look put-off, but was chewing on her lip as she looked at me, something obviously on her mind.
“Why did you come back to Garner?” I asked her. I wanted to keep her talking and would have kept her up all night if I could, just to be in her presence.
“I lived in New York before. It didn’t end well. I came back here because I needed to get away.”
“I know the feeling,” I said, briefly thinking about my ex-wife. I had just gotten the divorce papers from her saying that she only wanted to see Ivy on holidays, and just thinking about how cold and cruel she was made my jaw tense. “Can I ask you something else?”
“Sure,” she said, though there was a hesitant look on her face.
“What happened to you in New York?”
She sighed. “I um, got dumped. And things just weren’t going well. I was nannying and waitressing at the same time, plus teaching music lessons, and I just couldn’t keep up with everything. I guess I couldn’t cut it in the city.”
“Neither could I,” I said to her. She snorted, covering her mouth with her hand.
“You’re one of the most successful people in the world, Mr. Stephens.”
“Jack,” I corrected her. “And you’re right. But that doesn’t mean I was cut out for the city. I had to run away just like you did.”
“At least you didn’t get dumped,” she said. I gave a short laugh.
“Oh, I definitely got dumped,” I said to her. “Divorced. But I’m better off.”
“I think I am, too,” she said, looking down at her hands.
“You are,” I told her. She looked up at me again, meeting my eye.
“Have you met any other interesting people in town?” she asked.
“Just you. And the clown,” I said. “I met this jackass the other day at the gas station.”
“Who?” she asked curiously.
“His name was Josh, I think,” I said, remembering the way the man had yelled at the girl behind the counter.
“Oh, Josh,” she said, her voice dry. “Yeah.”
“You know him?”
“The first person to dump me for another girl,” she said, rolling her eyes. A look of embarrassment passed over her face then. “I’m sorry, that’s not—”
“Stupid,” I said, the first word that came to mind when I thought about anybody passing up on a chance to spend their life with someone like Lauren. “What an idiot.”
“I like to think so,” she said, that small, sweet smile back on her face. “I ran into him when I first got to town and it almost sent me packing again.”
“Where?” I asked her.
“At the coffee shop where my friend works,” she said. “I went in to find Sam, and Josh was sitting there with the girl he left me for.”
I shook my head. “I’m assuming that didn’t go well.”
“I pretty much ran out of the building,” she said. “It was embarrassing.”
“I’m sure nobody noticed.”
She laughed. “Maybe you’re right.”
It went quiet for a moment. She had stepped closer to me after I’d moved away from her, her body moving instinctively toward mine. I was close enough to touch her, and I met her eye with a questioning look as I reached forward and took her hand with mine. I turned it over, traced her fingers with mine as we stood there, the air growing thick and heavy around us.
“I’d better go to bed,” she said, but remained in place while I brought her hand up to my lips to kiss the backs of her fingers.
“Okay, Lauren,” I said to her, though I wanted to ask her to stay, talk to me a bit longer or let me take her to my own bed. “Goodnight.”
“Goodnight, Jack,” she said, and slipped out of the room with one last glance at me. I sank down in one of the reading chairs, taking a deep breath while I closed my eyes. Images of Lauren were on the back of my lids, her face, her smile mingling with my fantasies of what her body would look like bare and naked in my bed.
Chapter 6: Lauren
I spent the days with Ivy while Jack was busy at the restaurant, trying not to think about him throughout the day while I was taking care of his daughter. I was growing to love Ivy more and more—she was a sweet kid, and so smart that sometimes it surprised me the words that came out of her mouth. I had never met a more precocious or lovable child, and I had fun with her during the day even as I found myself looking forward to seeing Jack come home for dinner.
Ivy and I were sitting at the table coloring after lunch one afternoon when I looked out the window to see Jack’s car pulling up into the drive. I felt my heart flutter in my chest just knowing that I was about to see him. Since the night in the library, I had tried not to spend any time with him alone. We had been dangerously close to touching during the entire conversation, and I knew that if I had stayed in that room with him alone for another m
inute, I would have made a decision that I would have regretted in the morning.
Jack came inside, taking off his jacket and coming toward us in the kitchen. Ivy hopped off of her chair and rushed to hug her daddy, wrapping her arms around his legs and looking up at his face with an adoring smile.
“You’re early,” I said to him. “What’s up?”
“I wanted to spend the afternoon with Ivy. Want to go to the park, baby?” he asked her. She nodded vigorously. He looked up at me then. “Will you come with us?”
“Oh, sure,” I said, caught off-guard by the request. It would be nice to get out but at the same time, it felt strange being around both Jack and his daughter at the same time. It almost felt like we were a family, though I knew that was a silly thought. Jack was just my boss, that was all, nothing more or less.
“Good,” he said, smiling at me before he left to go help Ivy get ready to leave. I went upstairs and got dressed in a t-shirt and jeans, then met them by the front door before we left. I couldn’t help but notice that Jack looked over my outfit appreciatively in a brief, lingering gaze that made me feel hot all over.
“Are we going to Watson Park?” I asked him. He nodded.
“Is it any good?”
“It’s beautiful,” I said. Watson Park was the treasure of our town—a large national park with walking trails and beautiful, natural scenery. There was also a lot to do there for kids and adults alike. “Ivy is going to love it.”
“Good,” he said, buckling her into the car before we headed off.
“How’s the restaurant going?” I asked him as we made our way to the park.
“It’s good,” he said. “It’s perfect.”
“Why did you want to open a restaurant?” I asked. “You could have done anything.”
He shrugged. “It’s just something I’ve always wanted to do.”
“Why Garner?” I asked him. He glanced over at me as he drove.
“I don’t know. But it was a good choice.”
I blushed, looking away and out the window as we drove. The look on his face was too much for me to handle. We got to the park within a few minutes and Ivy bounced out of the car before either one of us had a chance to get out. Jack called out to her and she froze, turning around to give him a bashful look.
