Total pages in book: 82
Estimated words: 78894 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 394(@200wpm)___ 316(@250wpm)___ 263(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78894 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 394(@200wpm)___ 316(@250wpm)___ 263(@300wpm)
I gave her an incredulous look. “Why not?”
She blinked a few times. “I work for you.”
Laughing, I replied, “You’re Charlie’s nanny.”
Pointing at me, she replied, “Exactly, Mason!”
“What does that have to do with you and me?”
I let go of her hand when she dropped back in her seat. “What if things don’t work out? Then what? I really, really adore Charlie, and I honestly wasn’t expecting to love being his nanny as much as I do. I don’t want to jeopardize that.”
It was my turn to sit back and give her a long hard look. “You were fighting this attraction even before you were his nanny. Why?”
She drew in a breath and then slowly exhaled before her eyes met mine. “I won’t lie to either of us—the first time I saw you, I was attracted to you. Then the more I got to know you, the less I could ignore those feelings. I haven’t had much luck when it comes to the men I’ve been with. I’ve always had this idea of what a relationship should look like, and that was modeled after my own parents’ relationship. Then I see your mom and dad and…I want that, but I don’t think I’ll ever get it. I mean it, I have zero luck with guys. Did you meet Deacon? He’s one example of the huge mistakes I’ve made in my past.”
“Um, hello, have you met my ex-wife? She slept with my brother, and I had to wait her entire pregnancy to find out if Charlie was my son. She wouldn’t agree to do the invasive test to find out ahead of time.”
She gave me a soft smile.
“Palmer, we all go through bad relationships, but that shouldn’t scare you off from ever trying again. What happened to us in the past doesn’t mean it will happen again. Maybe this thing between us goes somewhere, maybe it doesn’t. Don’t you think we should at least try and see where it takes us? I know I want to.”
Chewing on her lip, Palmer leaned in closer and lowered her voice. “Mason, I’ve never…I’ve never…” Sighing, she closed her eyes for a moment and cursed. “Damn it. I’ve never felt this way about anyone before. Yes, I’ve felt attraction, lust, desire, longing. I once even thought I was in love. But with you…it’s like I feel you there before I see you. I think about you when you’re not with me and wonder what you’re doing. I look at your son and I see you, and it makes my heart actually flutter.”
“And that’s…bad?” I asked with a bit of hesitation.
“Yes! I’ve never felt like this about any guy, let alone a guy who has a kid. There’s so much more at stake than you and me. Charlie is involved, and that scares me.”
“Charlie scares you, or me being a single dad scares you?”
She swallowed hard. “It’s you, Mason. You scare me. I know in here,” she pointed to her chest, “that if I gave you and Charlie my heart and things didn’t work out, I would be destroyed. That scares me. Because with you it’s…” Her words drifted off.
“Different?”
Her eyes snapped up to meet mine, and she said one word that would forever change my life.
“Yes.”
I cleared my throat to try and dislodge the emotion that was clogged in there. I wasn’t even sure what to say. So, I decided to lay it all out in the open. I was going to take a chance for once, and leap.
“After Ashley, I told myself I wasn’t going to open myself up to anyone. Not when I had Charlie to think of. I was doing pretty damn good until you walked up to that table in your parents’ restaurant. Your smile had my breath catching in my chest, and the way you looked at Charlie and instantly took to him…it made me feel hopeful for the first time in years. I won’t lie either, Palmer. When Addie suggested that you could be Charlie’s nanny, I wanted it to happen for purely selfish reasons.”
She looked amused. “Why?”
“To have you in my life. Our lives. To see you every day, to talk to you about Charlie, and to have a friend. I fought so hard for you to take the job because I didn’t want to ignore what I felt between us. I can honestly say I’ve never felt this way before with anyone, either. Not even Charlie’s mother.”
Palmer blinked rapidly, looking away as her lower lip trembled slightly. She turned back to me, and with the sweetest, most confused expression I’d ever seen, whispered, “I’m still scared.”
I put my hand out for hers, waiting for her to make the next move. When she did, folding her hand around mine, I felt my heart jump in my chest. A bubble of excitement nearly exploded from my body, but I held it back.