Page 5 of Reluctantly Yours

“I can’t imagine how they could,” I mused.His eyes narrowed a little, and I guessed what he was thinking.He was pretty easy to see through.“I mean it.I’m earnest, but I don’t go overboard with compliments.”

“Ow!”

Our heads snapped around in unison at the high-pitched cry.Sofia was on her hands and knees like she’d just fallen.Her face was starting to crumple, and her shoulders heaved.An epic meltdown was brewing.

I was out of my chair before Travis could react.I didn’t run to her, though.“Uh-oh,” I said with a sigh as I approached.“What happened here?”

“I fell!”Sofia rolled to the side to plop down on her butt and show off her lightly skinned knees and palms.

I slid out of my backpack, examining the damage.“How does it feel?”I asked as I pulled out my travel first-aid kit.

“It hurts.”She sniffled and her little chin quivered.

“I’m sure it does.I used to fall down all the time when I was a kid.”As I spoke, I dug out a packet of antiseptic wipes.“Sometimes I still do.I’m a little clumsy.But when I was a kid, we used to go camping a lot, and I was always falling and scraping myself or cutting myself.I used to have scabs all over my knees.”

“You don’t anymore.”She sniffled again, then pointed to what I was opening.“What’s that?”

“Just something to make sure you’re nice and clean and safe.”Instead of warning her it would hurt, I touched the wipe to her knee.She sucked in a quick breath but didn’t freak out, most likely because she wasn’t conditioned to freak out before I ever touched her.

I cleaned her up, put a little antiseptic ointment on her knees, then helped her to her feet.She was already feeling better, though she did warn Travis not to hold her scraped hand too tight when they walked.“I have injuries,” she informed him, extremely serious.

Travis and I exchanged a look as he confirmed, “You’ve got the job.I made plans to work from home tomorrow.Can you be moved in by tomorrow evening?”

“Absolutely.”Would it be crazy?Yes.Would I end up throwing everything I owned into bags at random?Sure.Did I know a good thing when I saw it?Absolutely.

I was not about to give up this chance.

Even if I had to ask myself how long it would be before Travis Knight got used to the idea of me being around.

Even when the sizzle of current running up my arm when we shook hands made me wonder if I could ignore his effect on me for six whole months.

3

TRAVIS

For the second time in two days, I was using a service recommended to me by Spencer.First, the agency where I’d found Penny.I’d have to find a way to thank him for the mixed blessing Penny turned out to be so far.

Now, this Bruce guy.Spencer mostly used him for background checks, but I had the feeling he did a lot of other work.Maybe things I didn’t need to know any details about.He seemed like a pretty intimidating sort, and I wasn’t easily intimidated.

I stepped into my home office when he called in the middle of Penny arranging her bedroom a little more than thirty hours after I offered her the job.She was already talking about using one of the spare rooms as a so-called art studio.I wasn’t sure I wanted to know what that was about.

“What do you have for me?”I asked with one ear trained on the noise upstairs.I knew the agency would have run a background check on her the way they would with all of their potential nannies, but that wasn’t enough for me.I wanted to know everything there was to know about this girl.

“Honestly, not much,” he said in that strange, almost angry way he had.Like he was barking the words.“Parents, Donna and Michael.Five kids.They’ve lived in Sacramento for twenty-five years.Solidly middle-class all the way.”

“No history of anything I need to know about?”

“They are the poster children for boring, average, everyday working people.Though there is one thing I found, but I don’t think it would make a difference here.”He released a deep breath.“Eight years ago, there was a death in the family.One of the kids.”

And this wasn’t something I needed to know about?For all I knew, that chipper personality was masking a psychopath.“What happened?”

“A ten-year-old boy drowned on a camping trip with the family.”

Shit.“Any other details?”

“There were a couple articles floating around at the time.One of those tragic stories that scares the shit out of parents.”I ground my molars.I was a parent who, sure as shit, felt a chill run down my spine.He continued, “The best I could piece together, the whole family was there and the river was high.”

She was there.Did she see it happen?Even if she didn’t, that was heavy shit for a sixteen-year-old to carry.

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