by Cassie Cole
“Um. I don’t really know much about art. But it looks nice, I guess? Kind of empty…”
“I’ve only just started,” he clarified. “I’m trying to find a groove but nothing is coming to me easily. Do you like the colors? How do they make you feel?”
I tried to think of something smart to say. “The colors are… striking? They make me happy?”
He sighed heavily. “That’s what I thought. It’s not going in the direction I want.”
“I’m sorry. I don’t know anything about art.”
He took the glass from me and filled it with gin from the bottle. He took another long pull before saying, “I’ve been struggling for a while. I lost my feel. Every brush stroke is a battle.”
“I’m sure it’ll come back,” I said encouragingly. “You haven’t been here long. And with me helping with Ollie you’ll have more time.”
Bryce sat back down on the crate and ran his fingers through his mop of black hair. He cradled the glass of gin in both hands.
“It’s been three years.”
“Oh.”
“I can point to the exact moment I lost it,” he said. “The day Amanda died. It was like part of my soul was carved out.”
I sat next to him on the crate. “I’m so sorry. That must have been terrible watching her go…”
He gave me a pained smile. “That’s the silver lining of pancreatic cancer. It’s quick. I didn’t have to watch her go downhill for years. I have nothing but good memories of her in here.” He tapped his temple.
“My mother died of lung cancer,” I said.
He whipped his head around. “Oh no. Veronica, that’s awful.”
I shrugged. “That was eight years ago. I’ve come to terms with it. But losing a partner… I can’t imagine that pain.”
“This isn’t the sympathy olympics. Cancer sucks regardless.”
I took the glass and took a long pull. “Cancer sucks,” I agreed. “On that note, I have a question about the timing of everything. I’m not great at math, but if Amanda passed away three years ago, and Ollie is almost one year old…”
“We had Amanda’s eggs frozen when we got her diagnosis,” Bryce explained. “I grieved for a year and then went through the process of finding a surrogate to do IVF. And now…” He nodded at the ceiling. “I’ve got a piece of Amanda with me.”
“That’s wonderful you found a way for Amanda to live on,” I said gently. “He’s a special boy.”
“He is.”
I put on a smile. “Liam and Pax are really great friends to be here for you. At dinner they seemed as emotional about Amanda as you did.”
He hesitated. “They’re great friends. They both knew Amanda from college, too.”
That explained why they were emotional about her. But it still felt like Bryce was hiding something about Amanda.
“I’m lucky you’re here,” he said.
I blinked. “You are?”
“Ollie is my world,” he explained. I could hear the truth in his voice. “It felt great to raise him for the past eleven months. Being completely focused on taking care of another human being. Someone with my own blood running through his veins. I have tremendous amount of respect for stay-at-home parents, now. It’s tough work.
“But I’m ready to return to painting. I need huge chunks of time to do that, uninterrupted.” He nodded at me. “I’m lucky we found you before the quarantine began.”
“I feel like the lucky one,” I said. “I snagged a steady job right before everything got crazy. Outside of the city, too. If I had not interviewed for this job this afternoon, I would be in Brooklyn right now. In the thick of things.”
“We’re both lucky, then,” Bryce said.
I sipped the gin. “Hopefully you’ll be able to focus now that I’m here taking care of Ollie.”
“Hopefully,” he said, but he didn’t sound like he believed it.
The gin was making me relax, and I was beginning to feel like I could trust Bryce. That’s what made me blurt out, “Want to know why I was fired from my last job?”
Worry-lines folded on his tan face as he smirked. “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.”
“You shared something deeply personal about your life. It’s only fair I return the favor.” I took a deep breath. “I was fired because the baby’s mother thought I was sleeping with her husband.”
“Oh, shit!”
I hadn’t said the words out loud since being fired. It felt therapeutic. Like a tiny bit of tension was leaving my body.
“The baby was just a few months old when I started,” I explained. “The mother, Emily, was in her twenties, a bathing suit model for an online company. Things were fine at first, but over time she became terribly jealous. I hardly ever interacted with the father because he was always traveling for work, but when I did talk to him Emily freaked out. I would make small talk with him about the weather, or the Yankees, and after he left Emily would corner me and interrogate me. Demanding to know what we talked about, if I was flirting with him. Eventually he went out of town on a business trip and she came right out and accused me of sleeping with him. She thought it was this big, secret affair happening right under her nose. I tried to deny it but my protests only fueled her paranoia. Then she fired me.”
“Damn, that’s rough,” Bryce said. Then he added, “Did you?”
“Did I what?”
“Did you have an affair with him?” he punctuated it with a smile to let me know he was joking.
I laughed and said, “No!”
Bryce shook his head. “That really sucks. If you’re going to get fired for sleeping with someone, you might as well get to do it.”
“First of all, I don’t sleep with married men,” I said. “Second, he was in his sixties. It’s not as if he looked like you.”
“Like me?”
Shit. I had let that slip. The gin was loosening my lips.
“You know what I mean,” I said. “This guy was old enough to be my grandfather. He wasn’t the kind of guy I would sleep with.”
Bryce’s eyebrow raised even higher. “And I am?”
I winced. I was totally screwing this up. I considered changing the subject, then stopped myself. We were sharing a glass of gin at the end of a very long day, while a global pandemic raged outside this lake house. What did a little embarrassment matter compared to that?
I leaned into it by saying, “You’re not unattractive. You’re young.” I gestured at him. “You’ve got this hot painter thing going on, walking around with paint splotches on your clothes.”
To my immense surprise, a tinge of red crept up Bryce’s tan cheeks. He was blushing. He took the gin glass from me and knocked the rest back. The ice that remained clinked around in the glass as he put it down.
“Thanks,” he said. “You’re not too shabby yourself. I can see why the mom would be jealous around you.”
“Now you’re just being nice,” I said with a chuckle. “Did I mention this woman was a swimsuit model?”
“Yeah, but…” He stopped himself and studied the floor.
“Come on,” I said. “You made me compliment you. You’re not allowed to be embarrassed now.”
A playful grin appeared on his face. “An employer shouldn’t flirt with his employee.”
Is that what we’re doing? I wondered. Flirting?
“I give you permission.” I raised my chin high. “You can compliment me to your heart’s content without fear of creating a hostile workplace.”
He squinted at me suspiciously, then shrugged. “You’re hot.”
I waited for more.
“That’s it?”
“What else is there to say?” he replied. “You’re hot. She would be jealous.”
“Fine. Be that way.” I stretched my arms out. “I’m going to hit the hay and see just how comfortable those pillows are. Thanks for the nightcap.”
“Thanks for your opinion on my shitty art.”
I laughed and stood, taking
a step…
The painting sheet underneath my foot slid out from under me. Suddenly I was flying backwards, the ceiling coming into view as I lost my balance and prepared to hit the floor…
Bryce jumped to his feat and caught me before I slammed into the ground. He held me up, his strong arms wrapped around me protectively. “Are you okay?”
Being in his arms instantly made me feel safe. His hazel eyes were wide and concerned, and I could smell his scent again. A manly musk mixed with the smell of fresh paint. He held my shoulders tight, refusing to let go until he knew I was okay.
Before I knew what I was doing, I kissed him.
KEEP READING
NANNY WITH BENEFITS
Bonus Scene
Want to learn what happens to Jessica and her three strapping lovers a few years after Finn and Zack graduate? Click the link below to read a special bonus chapter that was cut from the book! (Note: the link is case sensitive)
https://bit.ly/3fhtLHh
Cassie Cole is a Reverse Harem Romance writer living in Norfolk, Virginia. A sappy lover at heart, she thinks romance is best with a kick-butt plot!
Books by Cassie Cole
Broken In
Drilled
Five Alarm Christmas
All In
Triple Team
Shared by her Bodyguards
Saved by the SEALs
The Proposition
Full Contact
Sealed With A Kiss
Smolder
The Naughty List
Christmas Package
Trained At The Gym
Undercover Action
The Study Group
Tiger Queen
Triple Play
Nanny With Benefits
Extra Credit
