Page 89 of The Au Pair Affair

He wanted so much with her.

These admissions he made to himself were so huge, he almost missed The Beacon. But there it was, along with his reserved parking spot—and his tires screeched as he maneuvered into the space, anticipation clawing at his insides, his hands desperate to undress her slowly and touch every inch of her smooth skin. Kiss it. Bite it. Lick it.

Burgess turned off the ignition, got out, and jogged over to the passenger side, nearly ripping the door off its hinges in order to get her out. She fell into his arms and they stumbled around on the sidewalk, Tallulah on her toes, him leaning down to kiss her like it would be the last time. And—

A horn honked. Twice.

At first, Burgess didn’t pay it any attention, because he was used to being honked at in Boston. Good, let him get caught and photographed kissing his girlfriend. Bring it on. He hoped it ended up on the front page of the fuckingGlobe.

But the honk returned. Blaring. It was... close. Not simply somebody driving past.

“Burgess,” someone called—and his whole body stiffened. He knew that voice.

It was Ashleigh. His ex-wife.

Everything went to utter hell after that. So quickly, he couldn’t do anything to stop it.

Burgess looked back over his shoulder to find the absolute last thing he wanted to see, which was his ex-wife standing at the bumper of her car with an exaggerated wince on her face. And Lissa on the other side of the passenger side window with tears streaking down her cheeks.

A warning shot fired in the back of his head.

Something had gotten past the defense. He’d fucked up somehow, but he was too disoriented to figure it out now. Don’t worry, though, a few minutes later he would recall what he’d neglected to do—and he’d recall it big time.

“I’m sorry to show up like this. I tried calling. Todd had a family emergency, and we have to drive to Vermont tonight. I need Lissa to stay with you.” Ashleigh leaned to the side, waving at a stone-silent Tallulah. “Funny way to meet the new nanny, I guess.”

“Do not call her the nanny,” Burgess barked on instinct, his hackles rising. “Her name is Tallulah.”

Ashleigh crossed her arms. “She’s even younger than I was expecting. Don’t you think it’s a little much to be hooking up with someone under the same roof as your daughter?”

“It’s not hooking up. It’s not like that. And I don’t owe you an explanation.”

“You don’t? We share a kid. Part of co-parenting is—”

“Ashleigh,” Burgess said, seeing how much the argument was upsetting Lissa. “Let’s talk about this another time.”

His former wife followed his line of vision to the passenger side, her shoulders drooping, resigned and clearly concerned. “Yeah. Okay.” She reached the door handle. “Hey, Liss—”

Burgess’s daughter launched herself out onto the sidewalk before her mother had a chance to open the door. And when all her twelve-year-old fury was directed solely at Tallulah, not himor his ex, Burgess remembered what he’d missed with stunning clarity and his heart sank down into his boots.

“You promised me you weren’t going to steal my dad,” Lissa shouted, her voice high-pitched and wobbly. “You are such a liar!”

“Lissa!” Burgess roared out of pure shock. Steal him. Liar? “We’re going to calm down and talk about this, but there isnoreason for you to speak to Tallulah like that. Apologize.”

“No.”

Burgess turned to apologize to Tallulah himself and found her usual glowing skin had paled, her attention locked on Lissa, and his pulse started to pound in his temples. This was bad. This situation was beyond a point where he could stop it from hurting Tallulah or his daughter. How had he failed so hard? “I’m sorry,” Tallulah whispered to Lissa. “When I told you that your father and I weren’t... I... it just happened—”

“I don’t care. They’ll never get back together now. Ihateyou.”

Tallulah blanched.

“Lissa, okay, that’s enough,” Ashleigh said, seeming a little caught off guard herself. “I might have asked about your father’s love life a few too many times and given you the wrong impression. Maybe at first there was some leftover jealousy, but now it’s pure curiosity. That’s all. Lissa, Dad and I are divorced. I’m engaged to Todd.”

“Yeah, but you’re not married yet.” She hit Tallulah with a glare so mean that even Burgess flinched. “If she hadn’t come here, there would still be a chance.”

Burgess didn’t know what else to do; he could only follow his instinct to protect Tallulah from the blow of Lissa’s emotional accusations, so he turned and wrapped her in his arms, whispering apologies into her hair, which was probably the absolute wrong thing to do. Lissa started sobbing and Tallulah, God, she was so stiff, her eyes beginning to water.

“Burgess, I’m sorry to do this, but I really have to go.” Ashleigh’s voice was quiet. “Todd’s mother is in the hospital with a complication from her surgery and I have the car. I can’t bring Lissa with me.”

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