Page 6 of Touch My Shelves

Her plump lips looked so soft and those curves of hers fit nicely against me. I touched nothing except her arms, but she pressed against me when she stumbled and her wandering fingers made my cock twitch in my running shorts.

“Brax… Brax, are you even listening to me?”

The noise in my ear finally registers as my irate sister calling my name. How long had I spaced out? “Sorry, what were you saying?”

She pauses, her Spidey sister senses at full alert. “What’s going on? You don’t usually ignore me completely.”

I wasn’t going to tell her I was thinking about Paulina. My sister would surely grab that piece of intel and run with it. “Nanny number six just quit.”

Lena snickers and asks, “Snakes in her bed?”

I can’t help but grin, recalling the look on the nanny’s face as she retold the story. “No. Not this time. Decapitation was the culprit.”

Lena giggled. “Ahhh, I suppose she used catsup to make it more authentic.”

Lena gets Freeya. Why couldn’t any of the half-dozen people I hired do the same? “Of course. I’ll call the agency and get someone out here tomorrow.”

“Didn’t the nanny agency say this last one was all they had?” she reminds me.

Oh, shit. That’s right. Mrs. Coleman warned me I’ve gone through all available nannies for the foreseeable future. She’d even been snippy about it. I sigh heavily. What am I going to do now? “Yeah, she did.”

“I can—” Lena starts to offer but I stop her.

I won’t allow her to disrupt her life for me or for Freeya. “No. You are not leaving Italy and your husband to come babysit. I can handle this on my own.”

“Why don’t you ask Mrs. Murphy to suggest someone on the island?”

“That’s a pretty good idea.”

Blake and Hannah Murphy befriended me years ago. I never go to their Thursday night cookouts, but I have been the recipient of some of the leftovers.

We talk a bit more about wineries she’s visited in Italy and about missing each other over the holidays. We’ve always celebrated them together. This will be the first year we’re on different sides of the world. If I can make it happen, Freeya and I will make a surprise Christmas visit.

When we hang up, I call Hannah Murphy. After a lengthy conversation of pleasantries and the latest island news, she doesn’t know of anyone but says she’ll discreetly ask around. Then she invites me to this Thursday’s cookout and reminds me about Buccaneer Days in October. As if I could forget. It’s our favorite week of the year. We get to dress up as pirates and walk around the town with nobody the wiser as to my identity. Even if we’re in California at the time, we fly in for the event week.

“Daddy!”

I glance at my computer screen, which lies dark and depressing, and admit there will be no writing today. “Coming, sweetie.”

CHAPTER 3

POPPY

“Then Jean Paul demanded to know where the original sketches were. He said the designs we’ve been sending him are subpar work done by amateurs.”

My best friend Naudi giggles as she retells the events that took place at a meeting between the fashion house she works at and one of its predominant clients.

Jean Paul is a very nice man and client Naudi has worked closely with for the past four years. I hate that he’s having problems. “I thought Chelsea was working with him now.”

Naudi huffs out a laugh. “Chelsea only lasted two weeks. Then Erin took over and, within three weeks, she came running out of Dane’s office crying and packed her things and left.”

Dane is an ass. I don’t see how Naudi can work with the man.

“Oh, no. Chelsea just got married and now she’s looking for a job?”

“She went over to Dilarid’s and was hired the next day. She loves it over there.”

Good for her. “Then who’s working with Jean Paul?”

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