Beneath Him

by Kant, Komal

  “What?” He was still studying me intensely, and I think he’d actually forgotten that he was the only obstacle preventing me from leaving.

  “My towel. You’re still holding it.” Some of my confidence returned as I pointed to it. Then I realized which towel I’d decided to bring—my SpongeBob one. So sexy.

  Nick’s eyes dropped to my towel, his smirk growing as he handed it to me. “I like bikini bottoms, too.”

  “Wow, nice pun.” SpongeBob reference duly noted. Mortification imminent. “Now, hand it over. I’m sure someone of your status can afford to buy their own.”

  “Still going to hold this morning against me?” he asked, giving me a teasing smile like it was supposed to win me over.

  “It’s kind of hard to do that now that I know who you are,” I admitted.

  His expression turned serious. “Why? Because I’m Nicholas Ruggarson?”

  “No,” I said with a shake of my head, “because I’m employed by your family. We’re going to be living in the same house and I need to remain professional.”

  “Say, for a second, you didn’t have to be professional.” His voice became smooth, the tone almost like velvet. “How would you act?”

  “I’d do what I wanted to do this morning,” I said, honestly.

  “Which is what, baby?” He cocked a brow.

  Oh, hell no. I was not his baby.

  “Throw my coffee over your perfectly ironed shirt!” I shot back. “And stop calling me baby!”

  His eyes widened at my words as though no one had ever spoken to him like that before. Which they probably hadn’t.

  With that, I pulled my towel around my body tighter and walked away, amazed by my balls. It felt good putting him in his place, but I needed to watch myself because he was technically my boss too, and could fire me.

  If he stayed out of my way, things would be fine, but I had a sinking feeling that Nicholas Ruggarson liked to create trouble. And I was in his sights.

  Chapter Three

  Sky

  I stared at the clothes in my suitcase with disdain, wanting to burn everything in it.

  I was trying to figure out what to wear to the dinner Oscar had invited me to, but really my mind was filled with the smug expression Coffee Shop Jerk—I guess I should call him Nicholas now—had given me.

  It figured that I had the worst luck on the planet. Why else would the douchebag from the coffee shop turn out to be my boss’ son? I’d have to be civil to him if I wanted to keep my job, and I was hoping he wouldn’t be around too much.

  The actual reason I wanted to dress nice was to show him up. He’d criticized my outfit this morning, so I felt like I had to dress up to send him some sort of silent message.

  Yeah, I was losing it. I was seriously standing here thinking about silent messages.

  After mulling over my limited clothing options, I finally settled on a strapless, knee-length, black dress. It was dressy enough without going overboard. I paired it with low, black heels, and brushed out my naturally wavy hair before applying a light layer of makeup.

  I studied myself in the mirror, scrutinizing my appearance. Not too shabby.

  When I finally decided that I looked presentable, I made my way downstairs to the main foyer. Emily stood just at the base of the staircase looking absolutely stunning in a midnight blue, cocktail dress. She wasn’t alone though. A tall, attractive blond guy was beside her, laughing at something she was saying.

  Madeline and Mrs. Potts were standing close by with Oscar and Chloe, speaking to a middle-aged couple that looked too much like blond hottie not to be related to him somehow—my guess was parents.

  Nick was nowhere in sight, and relief seeped into me at the possibility of him not being a dinner. He could just be running late, so I wasn’t going to get my hopes up. If he showed up, his presence was definitely going to distract me from enjoying my night.

  “Hey, Sky!” Emily said, her voice full of excitement when she caught sight of me descending the staircase.

  The blond guy turned his head to see who she was talking to, and I tried my hardest not to stare as I took in his handsome features. Blond guy rated very high on the hotness scale. I wondered if he was Emily’s boyfriend.

  “Hi!” I squeaked as I reached the bottom of the staircase, grateful that I hadn’t tripped and made a fool out of myself.

  Oscar turned in my direction with a smile. “Ah, Sky, so glad you could join us.”

  “She took long enough,” Chloe said with a sniff, looking me up and down in disappointment.

  What a piece of work. I’d been five minutes late tops.

  Ignoring his wife, Oscar gestured his hand at the couple standing with them. “This is William and Mary De Voir, and their son, Matthew. And this Madeline’s new nanny, Sky Hudson.”

  “Nice to meet you, Sky,” Mary said, looking over me with interest in her eyes.

  I really wasn’t that interesting. I liked reading romance novels and watching romance movies that made me bawl. That was about it.

  I didn’t tell her that though. “You too, Mrs. De Voir,” I said in my politest tone of voice, already liking her a lot more than Chloe, the Evil Queen of Beverly Hills.

  As we all exchanged pleasantries, I couldn’t help noticing that Matthew’s gaze lingered on me as we shook hands. Maybe he wasn’t Emily’s boyfriend after all. Hey, he was cute. A girl could hope.

  He was still staring at me. Oh, crap. Maybe I was the one staring. Maybe I should say something to break the awkward staring.

  “Uh,” I spluttered, as my brain cells turned into fuzz.

  He cocked a brow at me expectantly, and I wanted to shrivel up and disappear through the floor. I didn’t know how to talk to cute boys. Ever. Story of my life.

  Before I could get my bumbling thoughts in order, Madeline slipped her tiny hand into Matthew’s. “Ucky, will you finish telling me the story about the princess and the troll that kidnapped her?” she asked with wide eyes. “Pleeeease.”

  “Yes, Nessie.” Becoming distracted, Matthew chuckled, letting Madeline lead him after Oscar who I assumed was heading to the dining room.

  I silently thanked Madeline for the interruption. I had been about to make a fool out of myself. Naturally, I had already done so with the staring.

  “Ucky?” I asked Emily as I tried to regain my composure.

  “Oh.” Emily’s eyes widened and she gave a nervous laugh. “Madeline mispronounces ‘Yucky’. It’s a joke between them. And Matt calls her ‘Nessie’ because she’s his little monster.”

  “Ah, got it,” I said, catching the reference to the Loch Ness Monster.

  “And don’t worry,” Emily said, patting me on the back as we walked after them. “The best of us get tongue tied around Matt.”

  My face flushed as I met Emily’s smile with a meek one of my own. Fool made. Check. “I thought I had it under control, but obviously I was wrong.”

  “He’s a nice guy,” she told me as we entered the large dining room. “He won’t think anything of it.”

  Before we could continue the conversation about Matt, I became distracted by the grand dining room.

  There was a long, wooden table in the center of the room that looked like it could seat about twenty people. A beautiful, floral arrangement was the centerpiece, while plates, glasses, and silverware had been placed identically at each seat.

  I followed Emily, feeling like a lost puppy, and took the seat beside her which also happened to be directly across from Matt.

  His eyes flickered to me briefly before returning to Madeline who was talking 100 miles a second. The way she was looking up at him enraptured, her eyes wide, as she listened to whatever he was saying, made it clear she was very comfortable with him.

  “Are the De Voirs close to your family?” I asked Emily, as a server came around and offered us drinks.

  After the interesting day I’d had, a glass of wine would’ve gone down nicely, but I was trying to make a good impression on everyone, so I sett
led for soda instead.

  “Oh, yes,” she said with a nod, asking for a soda as well. “They have been for many years. William and Dad have been best friends since college, so naturally we kids became close, too.”

  It made sense why Mary was currently engaged in a deep conversation with Mrs. Potts, who I’d discovered had also been Nick and Emily’s nanny, too. The De Voirs seemed like a pretty laid back family, even though they appeared to be quite wealthy judging from the diamond bracelet around Mary’s wrist.

  As the servers came back out and placed bowls of soup and a sourdough roll in front of us, I glanced around the table and noticed that Nick still hadn’t shown up.

  “Where’s your brother?” I asked casually, drinking a spoonful of the delicious smelling soup and recognizing the flavor as onion.

  My words seemed to have affected Emily because she placed her spoon down and began fiddling with her napkin. “He doesn’t like to come to these things,” she said simply.

  “Oh, why is that?”

  “Because Nick likes to be difficult.”

  Startled by the sound of Matt’s voice, I glanced across the table to find him watching me as he took a sip of his red wine. Madeline’s attention had been drawn away from Matt by William, who was saying something to her that was making her giggle uncontrollably.

  “No kidding,” I muttered under my breath.

  Emily’s ears perked up, and she stared at me in interest, dropping the creased napkin onto the table. “Wait a second. That unimpressed tone of voice can only mean one thing; you’ve met my darling brother.”

  From the way she said “darling”, I knew she wasn’t being serious.

  “Yeah, I have,” I admitted, now the one fidgeting with my napkin.

  “And what did you think?” Matt asked, a laugh in his voice.

  Talking about Nick was extremely uncomfortable for me, especially since I’d disliked him intensely during our first encounter. No one had to know about that though. I was sure it would hurt Emily’s feelings if I voiced what I actually thought of her brother.

  Forcing a neutral expression onto my face, I put the napkin aside and picked up my spoon again. “We didn’t talk for very long,” I said with a shrug. “I’m sure he’s a nice guy.”

  As I ate another mouthful of soup, I raised my eyes long enough to see Matt give me a knowing wink, like he knew exactly what I thought of Nick.

  ***

  Since I had to be up early the next morning, I didn’t hang around after dinner and said my good nights to everyone before retreating to my room.

  This had been the longest day ever, seeming to drag on and on after I’d arrived here. I was looking forward to getting cozy in bed and reading until I fell asleep.

  As I neared my room, the sound of loud dance music came drifting down the corridor. It became almost unbearable as I stopped outside my door.

  Hoping it would be quieter in my room, I went inside and slipped off my shoes before collapsing onto the bed. The stupid music was even louder in here; it was actually vibrating against my wall. There was no way I was going to get any sleep if they didn’t turn it down a little. Or a lot.

  Seriously, who the hell listened to music that loud?

  Considering there had only been one person missing at tonight’s dinner, I was pretty sure I knew who the nuisance was. Out of all the rooms in this huge mansion it would be just my luck if I had been placed in the one right next to Nick’s.

  It seemed like Nicholas Ruggarson and I were destined to butt heads again.

  With a sigh, I hopped off the bed and headed back out into the corridor, taking the few short steps to what I assumed was his door. After a few seconds of standing outside the door like a creeper, I finally raised my fist and knocked on it as loudly as I could.

  Nobody answered. He probably couldn’t even hear me over all that noise.

  I banged on the door even louder this time with both fists as though I was about to break it down. All of a sudden, the volume of the music dropped I heard voices from inside the room.

  So someone was alive in there. Hallelujah.

  Everything about the guy rubbed me the wrong way. His rudeness, his stupid smirk, the way he spoke to me, and-

  The door opened.

  I froze. My thoughts died in my brain.

  Nick was standing in the doorway shirtless.

  My eyes were met with a combination of tan abs—like an actual six-pack that Channing Tatum had—and muscular arms that every woman dreamed of digging her fingers into. I was one of those women.

  Top that off with his perfectly handsome face and piercing eyes, and this man was trouble.

  I didn’t like this at all. I mean, I liked it. That’s why I didn’t like it.

  I didn’t like that I was liking what I was seeing.

  Judging from the smirk spreading across Nick’s mouth, he knew exactly what was running through my mind.

  Nick

  I was surprised to find the new nanny standing on the other side of the door.

  And she looked hot.

  She was dressed in a little, black dress that hugged all the curves in her body. I fucking loved curves. Her hair hung loose around her shoulders and she had pink lipstick on that reminded me of bubblegum.

  It took me a good few seconds to get a hold of myself as my thoughts wandered to kissing those pink bubblegum lips.

  “You look nice,” I commented, keeping my tone light, “but you look better naked.”

  Her face immediately turned pink, and my comment seemed to have caught her off guard. Good. That was how I wanted her to be around me—unsure.

  “I was not naked!” she spluttered. “You’ve never seen me naked!”

  “You might as well have been.” I shrugged. “White bikinis leave nothing to the imagination.”

  She stared at me like she wasn’t sure what to say, so I raised a brow at her in question. “Is there something I can help you with or did you just come here to bask in my overwhelming good looks?”

  That was how I liked to be; always in control. This girl might think she was the one in charge, but I was the one affecting her, whereas she did nothing to me.

  Well, maybe that wasn’t entirely true.

  Appearing to come to her senses, she frowned at me like she wasn’t impressed with what I’d said. “Your music is really loud and I’m going to bed soon. Do you think you could turn it down?”

  I cocked my head to the side, ignoring her question. “Are you going to bed with someone?”

  “W-what?” Her eyes grew large. “No! I’m going to bed alone.”

  I loved watching her react to the things I said. It was incredibly entertaining. I also wouldn’t have minded getting her into bed with me. Sure, I already had a girl in my room ready to go, but it wasn’t a big deal getting rid of her.

  It was this girl I wanted in my bed. This firecracker. The one who glared at me like she wanted to push me off a cliff. After the encounter at the coffee shop, she’d raced through my mind the entire day. She was defiant, and that’s what was drawing me to her.

  One quick fuck just to get her out of my system. That’s what I needed.

  “Well,” I said slowly, taking a step closer and reaching out to touch the necklace around her neck, “we could change that right now.”

  She jerked away from me as though I’d proposed we go on a puppy kicking spree. “Are you insane? I work for your family!”

  “You think I haven’t slept with the help before?” I looked her up and down, itching to get my hands underneath that dress. “Sometimes there are other ways to help me.”

  “Ugh! You’re disgusting!” Her dark eyes blazed as she retreated from me. “You couldn’t pay me to sleep with you!”

  “I’ve never had to pay a woman before. I find that most are willing to share my bed with me.” I shrugged again, like it didn’t bother me either way. “The offer’s there if you want to take it or leave it, but leaving it would be a stupid thing to do.”

  “I�
��d rather be stupid than be one of your easy conquests,” she said, shooting me a look of disapproval. “Look, just turn your music down, okay?”

  “Okay, baby.”

  “Urgh!” she fumed, making a sound that sounded like a growl.

  With that she turned and started walking away, but she didn’t go very far. Her room was right next door. Interesting.

  As I watched her go, I tried to dismiss her rejection, but there was a rotten feeling in my chest, like a bad seed had been planted there. Women rarely rejected me. In the last four years, I had slept with every woman I’d wanted.

  Who the fuck was this girl?

  “Hey,” I called out after her, “what’s your name?”

  She didn’t look back as she opened up her door, but I heard the word distinctly. “Sky!”

  Chapter Four

  Sky

  “I hate to break it to you, but you are going to die alone with twenty-three cats, arthritis, and a ridiculously large Tupperware collection,” my best friend informed me on the other end of the line.

  You know when you were at your lowest and you wanted your best friend to be there for you? Erin Campbell was the last person I wanted to be there for me. She was highly critical, so gorgeous that I felt like washed up seaweed in comparison, and just brutally stab-you-in-the-face-with-a-butter-knife honest.

  “Is this supposed to make me feel better?” I asked, wondering how I didn’t suffer from low self-esteem with a best friend like Erin.

  My eyes wandered over to Madeline who was snuggled into a pink bean bag with her eyes glued to the TV, watching Frozen.

  She was a strange kid. On one hand she was obsessed with The Walking Dead; on the other she loved princesses.

  “Sky, are you on drugs? Why the hell would it make you feel better? It’s supposed to make you feel like you’re the lowest of the lowest. It’s supposed to make you feel like you’re lower than a piece of crap on a shoe. It’s-”

  This was Erin’s idea of a pep talk. This was her way of trying to convince me that I needed to get laid. This was her way of telling me that she thought it was ridiculous I’d turned down Nick’s offer to basically sleep with him.