The Lawyer's Nanny_A Single Daddy Romance

by Emerson Rose

  “See? Now we swim.”

  “Yay! Swimming!”

  “Wait, hold on, I never asked your daddy, can you swim or do you need help?”

  He scrunches up his face in a you gotta be kidding me look, that is identical to one I’ve seen on his father’s face before. “I can swim, I don’t need no help.”

  “I don’t need any help.”

  “You don’t?”

  I chuckle, “No, I mean, it’s not I don’t need no help, you say I don’t need any help.”

  He thinks for a moment, and I’m not sure if he gets it or not but he bolts through the kitchen on his way to the stairs that lead down to the indoor pool. It’s late April, and the outdoor pool is full, but it’s too chilly to swim out there yet. “Let’s swim!” he hollers taking off down the steps.

  “Wait for me,” I call out, but he’s gone. I hope he wasn’t lying about being able to swim. Maybe I should call Ash and verify that information?

  Ash’s indoor pool feels just like an outdoor pool. Surrounded by an enormous clear structure, it allows you to see everything in the yard like you’re outside, only the difference in the temperature is probably twenty degrees, and the water is as warm as a tub.

  The sun is shining outside. Therefore, it’s shining in here, too, so bright in fact I’m blinded until I hold my hand above my eyes and squint down the stairs. Cannon’s running at top speed toward what I believe is the deep end. “Cannon, wait!” I yell down to him rushing down the steps, but I’m not fast enough. He flies off the edge of the pool yelling, “Cannonball!” which would be pretty damn funny, because of his name, if I was confident in his swimming skills. Seconds later his butt hits the surface and water splashes everywhere when he sinks into the pool followed by a kerplunk sound.

  I reach the edge of the pool at the same time he resurfaces and watch him swim like a fish to the ladder closest to me with my heart in my throat.

  “Did I splash?”

  “Uh, yeah, you did but…”

  “Was it big?” he asks treading water next to the ladder like a pro.

  “It was but…”

  “Daddy showed me how cuz my name is Cannon.”

  “That’s clever, I like it, but you scared me.”

  His little forehead wrinkles and he grabs ahold of the ladder. “Why?”

  “Because I wasn’t down here with you and if something happened to you I’d never forgive myself.”

  “I can swim,” he says to me like I don’t speak English and I can’t help but laugh.

  “Yes, I see that. Do you think from now on you could wait for me to get down to the pool before you do your cannonball? You know, so I can see it better.”

  His eyes light up, and he hoists himself out of the water to give me a repeat performance, and that is how our morning goes. Cannon does his cannonballs and dives off the diving board, and both of us swim around searching for diving rings on the bottom of the pool.

  After searching for a long time for a white diving ring that blends in with the water so much, it’s nearly invisible, I decide to get out and look from the deck. I swim to the ladder, and when I break the surface, Ash is standing over me wearing his swim trunks and looking all kinds of sexy. I stare as his ripped abdominal muscles flexing when he takes ahold of the ladder, and I try not to drool.

  “Hey, has he worn you out yet?”

  I tear my eyes from his perfect body and twist around to look at Cannon who is doing his millionth flip off the diving board and sigh. “Well, I’ve got twenty-five years on him so, yeah, he’s giving me a run for my money. But I’m not complaining, we’ve been having fun.”

  “Let me help you out,” he says offering me his hand. I take it even though I don’t need the help. I’ve been climbing in and out of this pool all morning by myself just fine but I'm dying to feel his touch.

  He turns me around, my back to his front and slides his hands around my waist propping his chin on my shoulder. “I missed you.” He kisses my neck and nibbles on my ear igniting a fire between my legs.

  “You were only gone a couple of hours.”

  “You’re supposed to say I missed you, too, baby.”

  I laugh and turn in his arms, “I did miss you, I’m just giving you shit.”

  “Daddy, watch this!” Cannon yells right before performing a perfect front flip into the water.

  “I should have asked you how well he swims. He almost gave me a heart attack with his first cannonball in the deep end.”

  “Oh yeah, he’s been swimming since he was a baby. I was always afraid of the water when I was little. I didn’t want him to be, so I started him swimming right away.”

  Cannon’s head pops up out of the water and Ash cups his hand to the side of his mouth and yells “Atta boy, good job!” Cannon smiles a proud smile and swims to the edge of the pool to get out and do it again.

  “I got him for a while. You go rest.”

  “I’m going to take you up on that offer for a few minutes. He’s full of energy, or I guess it could be the sugary waffles we made for breakfast.”

  He shakes his head, “Don’t listen to anything anyone in that house says to you about Cannon. They’ve all got their theories as to why he’s such a handful, and none of them are right.”

  “No one was talking about him. He told me Consuela says he can’t have sugar because he’s bad, and that kinda broke my heart.”

  The corners of his mouth lift in a small sympathetic smile. “You’re good for him, for us. I can’t tell you how glad I am that you agreed to stay. Now go on, rest, and I’ll wear him out some more.”

  “Good luck.” I make my way to the lounge chairs where Cannon and I spread our towels out hours ago and collapse onto mine.

  It’s almost noon before I realize I haven’t had a cigarette all day. Now I wish I hadn’t thought about it because thinking about it made me want one. It’s a nasty habit I picked up from the ranch hands. Maybe I’ll add giving up cigarettes to my list of life changes.

  “Can I get you something to drink?” I hear someone ask me from behind. I turn and find the little blonde housekeeper, whose name escapes me, standing there like a waitress waiting for my order.

  “Oh, no, I’m fine.” She nods and approaches the pool to ask Ash and Cannon the same question. I am thirsty, parched actually, but I don’t feel right asking someone to bring me something I can get on my own. I’ll wait until she’s out of sight and dash up to the kitchen. I know it’s stupid, she’s going to come back with something for them, it wouldn’t be a big deal to have her bring one more drink, but I keep quiet.

  I admire Ash as he pulls himself out of the pool without the ladder, water sluicing over every lean muscle on his body. Then I look around through the glass at the perfectly manicured grounds and the gorgeous blue sky that meets the prairie far in the distance. How the hell did I get here? This place, this life, these people, they’re downright perfect, or at least they are to me. You got lucky, Stella Deardon, really lucky.

  “Stella, hey, you still with us, darlin’?” Ash calls from the diving board snapping me from my thoughts.

  “Yeah, sorry, daydreaming.” I smile, and he cocks his head to the side like he’s trying to read my mind.

  “Whenever you’re ready to go up just give me the word, I think he’s about done.” He points at Cannon who is floating on an inner tube in the middle of the pool.

  “Good work, I’m ready if you are.”

  He cups his hand on the side of his mouth and hollers at Cannon, “We’re going in for lunch, buddy, start making your way out of the pool.”

  Then he raises his hands over his head and arcs his body into a perfect dive slicing through the water with no splash, the opposite of his son’s cannonballs.

  When we are all wrapped up in our towels and trudging up the stairs to the kitchen, Cannon asks to take a nap and Ash stops walking and shakes his head. “You took my son and replaced him with an alien pod person from space, didn’t you?”

  “Who, me? I d
id no such thing.” I play along and gasp lifting my hand to my chest. “My son has never, in his four and a half years on this earth, asked for a nap.”

  “I’m not a pod, Daddy, I’m sleepy.” Cannon pulls his towel tight around him, and I notice that he looks a little pale. I crouch down to look him over. “Do you feel okay, honey?” He shakes his head, and I press the back of my hand on his forehead like I’ve seen my mother do to my brother and sister when she thought they might be sick. She never did this to me because I’ve never been sick a day in my life, healthy as a horse dad always said.

  “He’s hot, fever hot.” I look up at Ash and his playful expression changes to concern.

  “He is?” He checks for himself and scoops him up in his arms to carry him the rest of the way up the stairs.

  “When did you start feeling crummy?” I ask, brushing a dark curl from his forehead as we walk. He shrugs and snuggles into Ash’s chest.

  “I’ll take him upstairs. I have a thermometer and some liquid Ibuprofen in my bathroom, can you grab it for me?”

  “Sure, what do you think it is?”

  “I don’t know, he’s never sick.” He sounds worried, which in turn makes me worry. I don’t know anything about kid’s illnesses, and I’m supposed to be his nanny? Maybe I haven’t thought this through well enough. Ash thinks I’m a natural, but I’m a little panicked, and this is only day one on the job. I’m feeling more like an inexperienced nanny who needs a cigarette.

  Upstairs, Ash turns into Cannon’s bedroom. I continue down the hall to Ash’s room to grab the thermometer and Ibuprofen. Ash’s bathroom has a lot of cabinets, it takes me a few tries to locate the items, but when I do I dash back down the hall to Cannon’s room.

  Ash has him changed into pajamas and tucked into bed. I hand him the thermometer, and he swipes it across his forehead and down behind his ear. “I’ve never seen a thermometer like that, what happened to the ear ones?”

  “It does both. Shit,” he says, showing me the tiny screen. 104˚ F, shit is right, I may not know anything about kids and sickness, but that’s a high temp. Think, think, think, Stella, what did mom do when Jack Jr. or Charlotte got a fever? The tub.

  “I think we should put him in the tub, my mom used to do that, but not cold water just tepid.”

  “Tepid?”

  “Yeah, room temperature or something, I’m not sure, but I know it’s not supposed to be cold.”

  “Stay with him. I’ll run a bath.”

  “Okay.” I sit down on the bed next to a very hot little boy. “I’m sorry you don’t feel good, does your tummy hurt or your head?”

  His eyes are closed, but he nods, “Uh huh, both.”

  “Want me to take off your blanket?” Another nod. I fold back his covers, and he throws his arms over his head. Poor guy looks miserable.

  Ash returns and scoops him up in his arms to carry him to the en suite bathroom leaving me unsure of what to do with myself. He’s not my little boy, but I’m supposed to be his nanny, should I go in and supervise or let his daddy take care of him? I think I’ll wait here, if he asks for help I’ll help.

  I hear the water shut off and Cannon complain about sitting in the water, a total 360º from an hour ago when he was diving into the pool. The bottle of Ibuprofen is still in my hand. I check the directions on the side of the bottle. I estimate that Cannon weighs about forty pounds and measure out the correct dose into a cup on top of the bottle.

  “How long do I leave him in here?” Ash calls out.

  Crap, I don’t know. “Um, let me look it up, I’m not sure.”

  I Google how long but find no results, only that you shouldn’t let a child shiver in the tub.

  “I can’t find anything that says how long, but if he’s shivering take him out.”

  “Okay, five minutes and I’ll get him out then, can you measure him a teaspoon of Ibuprofen?”

  “Already did, do you want me to bring it in?” I have no idea what’s appropriate and what’s not as far as a nanny being in a little boy's bathroom goes.

  “Yeah.”

  In the bathroom, Ash is kneeling at the side of the tub with one arm under Cannon’s neck cradling him in the water. I hand him the medicine cup, and he holds it to Cannon’s lips. He whines and turns his head away. “It’ll make you feel better. You need to take it, buddy.”

  “Should we call a doctor?” I ask.

  “No, I don't think so, not unless we can’t bring his temp down ourselves.”

  Cannon surrenders and lets Ash pour the medicine into his mouth. He hands me the cup, “Can you pass me a towel? I think I’ll get him out. He’s starting to shiver a little bit.”

  I swipe a thick navy blue towel off the top of a stack of towels on a rack by the sink and hand it to him. He wraps him up, and I watch with mounting worry. Shivering isn’t good. Google said that might make his temp go up. God, I hope that medicine works.

  Ash stands Cannon on wobbly legs to dry him off, and out of nowhere, he vomits all over the sexiest man alive. “Oh my gosh.” I cover my mouth and almost laugh at the shocked expression on Ash’s face. He recovers fast though, faster than I would have. “You feel better, buddy?”

  “A little.”

  “I think I’m going to need a towel, too.”

  “Oh, sure, of course.” I grab another towel and hand it to him. Cannon is clean and dry. The vomit was unfortunately for Ash, of the projectile variety. “I’ll take him to bed, you, uh… you get cleaned up.” I bite my lip, his son is sick, and he’s covered in orange Ibuprofen puke, this isn’t funny, but for some reason I’m finding it hard to suppress my laughter.

  “Thanks.” He takes the towel and starts to clean up the mess, and I take the clean boy, not a fair trade, but I’m okay with it.

  “I frew up, Tella.” Cannon murmurs against my neck.

  “I know, honey. Now maybe you’ll feel better.”

  I lay him in his bed on his side and slip in spooning behind him and pull the sheet over us. His little body is shivering, and he’s moving his feet around under the sheet like my sister used to do when she had the stomach flu. She said it helped keep her from vomiting. If that’s why he’s doing it, I hope it works.

  The shower switches on and after a short time off. Ash appears in the doorway with a towel wrapped around his waist and nothing else. He stops and stares at us in bed, and for a second I feel like I’ve done something wrong.

  Maybe snuggling with Cannon when he has a fever is a bad idea? Then he walks toward us and switches out the light and slides in behind me making me the center of a Pride family sandwich, and I decide I like being in a Pride family sandwich, I like it a lot.

  12

  Around forever

  Ash

  “Mr. Pride, excuse me, Mr. Pride, you have a phone call.” I roll back and see Olivia, one of my maids, standing next to Cannon’s bed holding out my cell phone.

  “Thank you, Olivia.”

  She hands it to me, and whispers, “Is he okay?” She nods her head in Cannon’s direction. I cover the mouthpiece of the phone to answer her. “I think so, he had a fever and vomited, but he’s been okay for a while. What time is it?”

  “Seven-thirty.”

  “P.M.?”

  “No, sir, A.M.”

  Shit, we slept all afternoon and night? “Who is this?” I ask, tipping my head toward the phone in my hands.

  “I don’t know. He didn’t say.”

  “Okay, thanks.”

  I hold the phone to my ear and speak quietly, “Pride here.”

  “Is this the man who allowed my daughter to abandon her family for two weeks?”

  “Mr. Deardon?”

  “Yep, I’m Stella’s daddy, and I need her to come home.”

  Shit, she hasn’t had time to tell them yet, and from the sound of this man’s tone, I am not the person to do it.

  “Is everything okay?”

  “No, everything is not okay. I need you to tell my girl to get on home now. She won’t liste
n to me cuz you got some sort of spell on her or something. She’s not acting herself, but her family needs her.”

  A spell, ha, if he only knew. It was Stella who cast a spell on my son and me the second she laid eyes on us.

  “She's not here right now, but I’ll pass that along, anything specific I should tell her?”

  “No, I need to talk her myself, have her call me.”

  “Will do, sir, nice to meet…” the line goes dead. Stella’s dad called me up, bitched me out and hung up. Nice.

  I roll back into Stella and prop up on my elbow to check on Cannon who is sleeping like a baby with a smile on his face. A smile. That little shit scared me to death last night, puked all over me and got my girlfriend to spoon with him all night.

  He may not be the hell-raiser he used to be before Stella, but he knows what he likes, and he takes it just like his daddy.

  I lie back down and slide my hand over Stella’s hip to pull her closer to me. If we were in my bed alone, I’d slide inside her and give her a proper good morning greeting. But, we’re in the chrome king’s castle nursing him back to health, and that’s not going to happen today.

  I wonder why her father wants her to come home all of a sudden. She’s due back in two days, as far as he knows, why call and demand she come home now? I should tell her, I should wake her up and tell her right now, but she’s so soft and warm and… warm. She’s more than warm; she’s hot, too, hot like Cannon was last night.

  “Stella, darlin’, you’re burning up.”

  She moans, and I gently shake her shoulder. “Ash?”

  “Yeah, come on, I’m taking you to my bed, you’re sick.”

  “I’m hot.”

  “You got that right, baby.”

  “Stop, I mean I don’t feel good.”

  “You have what Cannon had, darlin’.” I slide my arms under her knees and around her shoulders to lift her limp body out of bed. “You need to rest.”

  “But, Cannon, I have to take care of him.”

  “All you have to do today is rest. I’ll take care of you both. He’s smiling in his sleep, I think he’s doin better.”