Page 9 of Playing with Fire

I shook my head. “Your mom said one healthy snack and two not-so-healthy snacks. So what fruit or vegetable do you want?”

“Okay.” Alice's lips turned down in a pout. “Grapes, I guess.”

Nikki turned toward the fridge and pulled out a yogurt smoothie. “Mom says these are healthy.”

I nodded. “Yep, that's fine.” Finished packing the lunches for tomorrow, they headed back to the table to resume their coloring. “Ten minutes and then we need to get ready for bed.”

They both looked up with matching pouts. “Do we have to?” Nikki whined.

I raised a brow at them.

They giggled and went back to coloring while I finished cleaning up the kitchen. It didn't take long to go through the routine and get them both in bed once we were upstairs.

“One more, please?” Alice brought her hands up, pressing them together in a prayer pose.

I sighed. It was hard to tell either of them no. For the most part, they were extremely well-behaved. Although I sensed a little bit of orneriness bubbling below the surface at times.

I picked up one more book. “Just one more.”

Alice launched forward, wrapping her arms around me. “You're the bestest nanny ever.”

I chuckled.

“You do all the voices so good.” Nikki smiled from her spot on her bed.

Alice pulled back, looking up at me with a huge smile. I swallowed hard. It'd only been a few days, but I was already loving this. Maybe it had something to do with someone actually needing me. Being able to take care of someone else.

I was the youngest of three siblings. The baby. Jay was six years older than me, Angie three. They never needed me, and my parents always went to one of them if they needed something. At least when Angie lived here, she appreciated my baking. I didn’t even have that anymore.

I glanced back and forth between two identical faces, looking at me like I'd hung the moon, and picked up another book to read.

Chapter Seven

LOGAN

I shookmy head at Zack, bopping his head to music only he could hear while cleaning the dishes. Sometimes his carefree happiness was welcomed, especially after a rough call. Other times, I found him flat-out annoying. But I couldn't deny the slight smile that lifted my lips.

The legs of the chair next to me scraped across the floor as Owen pulled it out and took the empty seat. “So, Izzy, huh?”

“What?” I coughed as I choked on the sip of coffee I'd just taken. I eyed him carefully, trying to figure out where he was going with his question.

“She's your new nanny?”

“Oh.” Thank God. For a minute there, I thought he was going to call me out on being attracted to her. “Yeah.”

His lips turned up into a smirk. “How's that working out for ya?”

“Fine.” My voice came out a tad screechy, and I cleared it before adding, “Great. Girls really like her.”

I couldn’t tell him being so close to her the other morning was a special kind of torture. Between the scent of strawberries that invaded my senses and her large green eyes pulling me in, she was all I could think about after I left the house. I missed my girls when I got home, but the two-day break from all things Izzy was needed. I’d be lying if I said part of me wasn’t looking forward to seeing her again tonight, though. I guess I liked the torture.

He chuckled and cocked a brow. “The guys are starting to take bets on how long it’ll be before the apartment's love curse gets her.”

My body tensed at the reminder. Starting with Owen, everyone who’d rented that apartment had fallen in love. Izzy recently took over the apartment from her sister Angie, so apparently that meant she was up next. Curses weren’t real, I knew that. But that didn’t change the fact that thinking about Izzy with some random guy sat like lead in my gut.

Luckily, Owen and I were interrupted by the alarms, pulling me out of my head and ending the conversation altogether.

Lake calls were some of the hardest we handled. Kids—hell, sometimes even adults—thought they could swim better than they actually could, and would go out farther than was allowed. It was a harsh reminder that there were limits for a reason.

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