Page 42 of Touch My Shelves

I wait for Alec to make his move, but instead of stepping up to paw Poppy, he’s been observing me with a smirk on his face. Seriously? What the fuck is that look about? With his hands in his pockets, he smiles politely and says, “Hi, Poppy. I’m Alec Sellers. Just ignore these two jackasses.”

Her heart-shaped lips rise at the corners. “Hi. it’s nice to meet you all.”

Like the ass I am, I snap, “Where’s Freeya? You know I do pay you to look after her.”

Her smile fades and I could kick myself for the hurt look that passes across her face. Her chin rises two notches and she turns a cold glare on me. “She went in the side door to change her shoes and is going to meet me in the carriage house.”

She turns her brilliant blue gaze on the three doofuses beside me and gives them one of those smiles where the corners of her lips curl. My fists clench as she politely says, “It was nice to meet you gentlemen.”

Then she turns back to me and I swear the blue rings around her pupils turn dark as she addresses me. “Mr. Sullivan, I’ll get back to work now.”

I can feel everyone’s eyes on me as Poppy walks in the patio doors. I don’t need them to tell me I crashed and burned again.

A total fuck up.

“What’s your problem?” Jack bellows, following up with a smack to the back of my head.

“Nothing,” I bark, frowning at him.

Alec glances at Eli and a look passes between them. “She’s your nanny?” Eli asks, watching me thoughtfully.

“Yeah, she’s Freeya’s nanny.”

“Just the nanny?” Jack inquires, his quizzical brows arching.

Yeah, we’re not going there. These asses know me too well. “Come on. I’ll show you to your rooms.”

“Hold up,” Eli calls out. “You don’t mind if I ask her out while I’m here, do you?”

I grind my teeth and glower at each and every one of my best friends. “She’s not here to entertain you. She has a job to do so, no, none of you will be seeing her while you’re here.”

“You know what I think? I think you’ve already fucked the nanny,” Alec wheedles, ignoring the murderous look in my eyes.

Alec continues, making an asinine observation. “And I think it very inhospitable not to share your toys. We’ve shared before.”

We’ve never shared women. We’ve found ourselves dating some of the same women from time to time but, honestly, it’s never mattered before. This time it does.

Jack crosses his arms. “You want the woman, but why aren’t you with her? I get she’s Freeya’s nanny, but if you’re interested in her, why aren’t you still doing her?”

“That’s enough!” I roar, and sink into the first chair available. These are my friends. They were behind me when I went through all the drama with Scarlet, and they took shifts when I was learning how to take care of a baby so I could get a few hours of sleep. My hand shakes as I pick up my now warm beer bottle and drain half of it. I swallow and wipe my arm across my mouth. “Yes, we had a short few weeks together.”

Eli chuckles and points his finger my way. I want to knock the smug look off his face. “You fucked it up, didn’t you?”

“Why do you assume it was me?” I ask, knowing it’s a stupid question.

Alec shakes his head in teasing despair. “You forget we know you, dude. What did you do?”

I grit my teeth, hating to admit they are correct. Telling them is only going to add fuel to their fire of nosiness. But I trust these men and they are my chosen family. I drain the rest of my beer before I confirm, “You’re right. It was me. I stopped it before things got too complicated.” And I’ve regretted it every moment since then.

They all restrain themselves and give knowing nods instead of high-fiving and snarking it up that they called it. I’m thankful for small concessions.

“Complicated? That’s usually an avoidance word,” Alec, the more theatrical of the group observes.

“I suppose it can be.” I rub the back of my neck. “I realized Freeya was getting too close to Poppy. The nanny gig is up next month and we’ll go back to California. I didn’t want to confuse Freeya.”

“You know that makes no sense, right?”

“It makes perfect sense if I could get her out of my head. Then I try to apologize and she ends up telling me not to worry about it because she’s going to go out with this jerk, Adan Murphy, because he’s looking for something casual, just like she is, and she won’t be a bother to me anymore. I don’t know if she’s just saying that, or if she’s really going to do it… and it’s driving me crazy.”

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