Page 37 of Redeem Me

‘Fuck,’ I spit.

‘Is it okay if I drink this?’ Ivy calls to me, holding up the plastic flute of bubbles Scarlett handed to her.

‘You don’t need my permission. You said it last night. I’m not your father.’

‘No, but you are my boss.’ She sucks the inside of her cheek.

I empty my lungs in a long, slow exhale. ‘Don’t stop until you get to the bottom of this,’ I tell my brother before turning my back on him to rejoin Ivy. She is possibly the only person capable of distracting me from my rage.

I might have “taken the edge off” for her, but truthfully, something about her takes the edge off me. I feel slightly less irritable when she’s beside me. Her warmth will never be enough to penetrate my frozen heart, but it does take the chill from my skin.

‘I think we’ve already established it’s not as clear cut as that. Last time I checked, we were trying to be friends.’

I should have suggested friends with benefits. That way there’s no promise of a future, no pretending I’ll ever be able to give her anything more than my fingers, mouth and cock. But I could give her orgasms. Lots of them. ‘Drink, relax, I’m driving anyway.’

In fairness, she’s worked damned hard with my kids since she started. Chasing them round the garden. Taking them to the park and the pool. The yoga in the garden. Some nannies do the bare minimum, but Ivy goes above and beyond, her enthusiasm for her job obvious. She deserves a bit of down time. Just not on a Friday night in a bar where there are men out to prey on vulnerable, sexy-ass women like her.

‘Cheers to that.’ Ivy raises her glass and takes a mouthful.

‘Can we go in the sea now, Dad?’ Owen comes running across the sand with his armbands and goggles already on. Traces of pizza sauce line the corners of his mouth.

‘Come here, sweetheart.’ Ivy beckons him over and swipes the sauce away with her fingers. He doesn’t even flinch. ‘Were you saving that tomato sauce for later?’ she teases, pressing his nose playfully.

He laughs.Laughs.My serious little son is smiling.

It appears Ivy has us all under her sunny, sassy spell.

Fuck.

Another reason why I can’t fuck things up, no matter how badly I want to sink my cock into her.

‘Mary Poppins has got nothing on you,’ Scarlett says wistfully. ‘How much is Caelon paying you? We’ll double it if you come and work for us.’

Ivy laughs, but Owen’s face falls.

Thankfully, Ivy spots the change immediately. ‘Don’t worry, buddy, Scarlett’s only joking. I’m not going anywhere.’

‘I’m not,’ Scarlett mutters, low enough that I can hear, butOwen can’t. ‘She’s a keeper,’ she says, and I’m pretty sure my future sister-in-law isn’t referring to Ivy’s employment status.

‘Come on then, let’s go wave jumping,’ Ivy says, handing her a glass of champagne. ‘Will you look after this for me?’

‘Sure.’ Scarlett puts it on top of the pizza boxes beside her.

Ivy beams at me. ‘Are you coming, Daddy?’

I’d like to. All over your tits if you keep calling me Daddy.

‘Sure.’ I kick off my Nikes, pull my t-shirt over my head and toss it on Ivy’s towel.

Her mouth opens, but words don’t come. She’s staring at my torso like she’s never seen a shirtless man before. Her tongue dips over her lower lip in a feline gesture. ‘What a gene pool,’ she finally mutters.

‘What’s a gene pool?’ Owen asks. ‘Is it like a rock pool?’

‘Not exactly, buddy.’ I bite back the grin that’s threatening my lips. I don’t grin. Not anymore. Well, apart from last night with Ivy, when I thanked her for the lingerie, but that was a slip up.

I extend a hand to Ivy to help her up. The second she takes it, a fizzing warmth sears my skin. She kicks off her flip-flops, her fingers reaching for the hem of her top.

The polite thing would be to look away.

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