Page 18 of Nanny for the Cowboy

“I know, Clover. I…it’s kind of hard being a kid. You know? There’s like this unspoken code and rules that you have to figure out and then obey. Or you’ll be some social freak or something.”

I look up into the clouds soaring overhead, offering a bit of shade that’ll last at max two minutes before the wind pushes them away.

“You’re not wrong, kiddo. You’re not.”

I feel the blanket next to me adjust as Darby lays down next to me, and we both let out long breaths as the warm weather tranquility smooths over us. The park is packed with othersenjoying the same thing, and I only wish that Brooks could have come too.

“You’re really easy to talk to, Clover.”

Chuckling, I nudge my elbow into Darby’s arm. “Thanks. You’re not bad yourself.”

“I wish Dad could’ve come.”

“Me too, kiddo. Me too.”

We slip into easy silence, but I can’t stop my mind from churning. Ever since I ran into Brooks working in the shed, all shirtless and sweaty, I’ve been having…fantasies.

And that just has to stop.

He’s my dad’s best friend and out of my age range.

Brooks also happens to be one of the most stubborn assholes I’ve ever met. He is so uptight about what he thinks I can and can’t handle, and he’s been as approachable as a rattlesnake.

All we do when we’re around each other is bicker. Still, there’s something to that bickering. It’s playful and flirty. There’s a tension behind each encounter that’s just getting more intense with every interaction.

If it wasn’t like talking to a pole, he might actually be a hell of a prospect for some local country girl. A girl who is decidedly not me, but I’m just some city girl, and his mind is never going to change about that.

“So, what did you do when you were a kid?” Darby’s voice rocks me out of my thoughts. “I don’t think there were like video games, right?”

I shoot up onto my elbow. “Jeez! How old do you think I am?!”

He laughs, shrugging through his guilty expression. “Sorry! I don’t know!”

“There were plenty of video games twenty years ago, kid. So enough of that. Still…” I think about past me, that little girl whowas in choir and plays and loved to perform so much that it was basically my entire personality. “…I liked to sing.”

“Really?” he says excitedly, popping up onto his elbow just like I did. “My mom used to sing to me before bed. At least that’s what Dad said. Also that he like sucks at singing and can’t do it because ‘he’d explode my eardrums.’”

I laugh, but the words leading up to that little nugget of insight into Brooks were less than cheery. I can’t help but wonder about Darby’s mom, and I want to ask about it, but how can I?

Darby is still just a kid, and it sounds like Brooks’s ex was gone long before he could remember her. That sounds a bit too painful to make the kid think about.

I also care about not overstepping my boundaries. I know that part of the reason I want to ask is to understand Brooks more and get some leverage on him, and I won’t use Darby that way.

Even if I am dying to know what she was like and if his dad is interested in dating now. Something I have to remind myself is a bad idea.

“Oh, well, umm…”I struggle to think about something to fill the conversation after that, and I panic, going with the first thing that jumps into my head. “I guess I could sing for you.”

“Oh, totally! Do it, do it!” He’s practically bouncing up and down, and my stomach twists.

“Right now?” My brows are at my hairline, and I can hear my pulse booming in my ears.

“Umm, duh. Yeah! I want to hear!”

“Darby, I meant like before bed or something. There are people around, and I?—”

“Come on, Clover.” He puts his hands up, pleading with me to sing, complete with puppy dog eyes. “Please.”

The look on Darby’s face makes my entire body ache. He’s damn good at pulling a guilt trip.

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