Page 28 of Under One Roof

I eye her, and she smiles brighter. Faker.

I’m sure whatever the problem is, I’ll find out eventually, but first, I have to take care of the problem stirring to life in my sweats. I tip my chin toward her mat and laptop, playing a yoga video. “Are you going to be long?”

“About thirty more minutes.”

“I’m gonna grab a shower.” I already took one at the firehouse, but another won’t hurt when I’ve got this new image of Andi to yank it to.

I move to the steps, her voice trailing behind me. “Okay, have fun!” Halfway up, I hear say to herself, “Have fun? What is that?”

It’s cute how she’s tied up. Because even though I promised to keep my hands off her, there’s no way I’m not thinking of her while I take care of myself.

Every fucking day with her being here is Hell Week.

And it’s no fun at all.

Especially when I’m underneath the spray of water, washing the ropes of my come down the drain.

Chapter10

Andi

Griffin was home for forty-eight hours. The longest forty-eight hours of my life. But as soon as he drove away, I started setting up Logan and Grace’s payback. I only spent half of that time thinking about their dad and how he had a hard time keeping his focus above my neck when he walked into the house while I was doing yoga. As I filled the water balloons, I thought about how he doesn’t shave at home, growing two days’ worth of stubble on his jaw that I imagine would feel good to run my palms over. While I placed the bucket of colored powder up on the board, I thought about how capable and hot he looked grilling dinner of salmon, vegetables, and potatoes. I was astounded to learn the kids ate salmon, but then again, Griffin would never deviate from his schedule or menu. Making sure everyone eats the appropriate amount of protein is super important to him.

Never would have guessed Captain America has Thanos’s spawn for children.

I stand at the corner now, rocking back and forth on my heels, impatiently waiting for the school bus to arrive. I don’t know what Griffin would think of my battle plan, but I highly doubt he’d sanction my revenge. Let alone what he would say if he ever found out about the kinds of tricks the kids play. I’m sure he knows some of it, but maybe not the extent. He doesn’t seem like the type to ship them off to military school, yet I don’t want to test that theory.

I need to figure out why these little criminals want to run off every nanny they’ve ever had. And to do that, I need to show them they won’t be doing the same to me.

When the yellow bus rumbles to a stop, the twins stroll out at different paces, as usual. Grace is first off, her backpack high on her shoulders. Logan is last, yelling something to a buddy as he gets off, his smile immediately falling when he spots me.

“How’s it going?” I ask the twins once they’re together, studiously avoiding me. “Learn all kinds of stuff? I can’t remember much about fifth grade besides a field trip we took to this museum in Odessa, and this kid wouldn’t stop bullying my friend, so I punched him.”

The twins gaze up at me with wide eyes.

“That’s right,” I say. “Popped him right in the mouth. Sometimes, you have to stand up to bullies. Not just ignore them.”

My two underage nemeses put their heads down and take off down the sidewalk to get away from me, so I have a perfect view of when they walk into the garage, setting off a volley of water balloons. They sail through the air, hitting both Logan and Grace in the face.

“What the…” Logan splutters, wiping water from his eyes with his forearm.

Grace steps back, fixing her glasses, and pivots her shocked face to me.

That’s when I tug on the rope pull I set up, flipping the 2x4 above them upside down so the bucket I nailed to it upends all the colored chalk powder I dumped inside it. The evil twins stand there frozen, covered from head to toe in a rainbow.

For a moment, they stare at each other in disbelief. Then they both look to me. I shrug with a smile. “Gotcha.”

It’s quiet for another moment, and then, to my surprise, a grin slowly spreads across Logan’s face. “That was epic!”

Grace starts to giggle, and before I know it, all three of us are doubled over with laughter at the rainbow mess I have made of them. I pull out my phone and snap a quick photo to memorialize my victory over them.

“I can’t believe you did this,” Grace says when I hand her a towel.

“I can’t believe you two booby-trapped my room.”

“That was nothing,” Logan admits, rubbing purple and pink off his face. “Grace blew up the last nanny.”

“Youwhat?”

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