Page 30 of Skate the Line

I’ve learned more about Marco this last week than I have Ellie or her father. He’s much more open than either of them. He reminds me of Gramps, with his soft-spoken tone and kind smile.

“Having a nanny stick around for more than a few days.”

I pause. Is he serious?

Silence passes between us.

God, he is serious.

“You’re kidding me,” I say.

Rhodes glances to the ceiling. “Nope.” His gaze shifts back over to me. “By now, they would have tried getting me in bed—or worse.”

I’m afraid to know more, but I can’t help myself. “Worse?”

Rhodes pushes off the cabinets and rests his hands on top of the island counter. He stares at me intensely. “Yes, worse.”

My eyebrow hitches as I wait for him to explain.

He sighs. “Two of them ended up in my bed.”

I tilt my chin. “Well…did you invite them?”

His eyes narrow. “No.”

“Okay, well…that’s?—”

Awkward.

He finishes the sentence for me. “Called desperation.”

I laugh weakly and continue gathering my things. I put my back to him and glance at Ellie again. She tilts her chin while looking up at Marco, who seems to be teaching her all about birds.

“Do you have a boyfriend?”

My heart slips with his question. I freeze with my hand on the zipper of my bag.

Out of my peripheral vision, I see him stand upright and cross his arms again. The stance seems so defensive. There’s an edginess to his tone that I’d usually ignore, but with the question sending the hairs on my arms erect, I can’t help but become wary. It’s too…personal. Too much likehe who must not be named.

And for once, I’m not referencingHarry Potter.

“Wondering why I haven’t tried to seduce you like all the other nannies?” I blurt.

Oh my god. Did I really just say that?

Rhodes’s throat bobs as he eyes me from across the counter. I wait with a held breath to see what he’ll say next. I can see why the other nannies would want to seduce him—his prickly personality is sort of tantalizing. They viewed him as a challenge, just like I was once viewed as one. But there are lines that can’t be crossed, and this is one of them.

“No,” he answers me confidently. “You’re not that type of woman. That’s why you still have a job.”

I laugh out loud, but it’s as sarcastic as it gets. Rhodes tilts his head and observes me.

“Oh? Is that why I haven’t expressed some sort of attraction to you? Because I’m not that type of woman?”

His eye twitches. My heart beats fast, and I know I should shut up, but there’s something pushing me to lengthen my spine and act with confidence. Otherwise, I may find myself in the same position as I was in before.

“What if I told you it’s because I just don’t find you attractive,Mr. Volkova?”

I pride myself on remaining professional, but there is something frustratingly irking with his tone of voice and question over whether or not I have a boyfriend. It stings, because although he’s unaware, I am very much aware as to whyI don’t have a boyfriend or why I haven’t expressed any sort of interest in any male for almost a year.

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