Page 33 of Balance

She sighs and sniffles, I wince with the sound. I’m terrified for my friend. I don’t remember the last time she’s ever been upset about… anything. “No. I’ll tell you in person… I should be getting in around two PM tomorrow. I’ll grab a rental car.”

I blink up at the ceiling and feel my chest constrict. “In person? M, please tell me something. I’m worried.”

“Please, Lil.” Her voice cracks and I close my eyes. “I’ll call you a little later, okay? I’m packing up and throwing the rest of my shit in storage… I can’t be here anymore. I’m not going to mooch off of you or anything. I’ll find a job and be out of your hair. Maybe Minnesota will be good for me, too.”

“Oh, Mack. Anything you need. Worst case, there’s some great apartments or rentals just down the road. I’ll ask Morgan if any of his friends know of someone hiring.”

“Thanks… I’ll call you later.” She hangs up and I head to the bathroom to wash my face. Holy shit, she wants to leave her glamorous, fun life. I never expected anything like that from her, and now I’m dreading the phone call later and what she will tell me hopefully tomorrow. I’m expecting the worst and am terrified for her.

The rest of the night I’m out of it, but still stay involved in easy conversations with the girls and Morgan. They chose the pizza place that has an arcade again, and we played for hours.

Luckily he called ahead this time and we had a private room with a separate arcade entrance and exit so he could hide if he needed to. I don’t think I’ll ever be used to that, to this life.

The girls all pass out in the car on the way home and I jump when Morgan sets his hand on mine. “Are you okay?”

I slowly nod and blow out a slow breath. “I will be… We’ll talk after we get the girls in bed, okay?”

He nods and focuses on the road, wrapping his fingers through mine. Gosh, his hands feel so warm and big in mine. I breathe in a deep breath and let it out.

Why do I feel like a teenager around him? Is it the age difference? No. Bradley was a little older than him.

Will he still reject me even though the divorce is final? Does he still want me at all? And why me in the first place? Because the girls and I get along? So it could have been any nanny?

I hate how I feel so wishy-washy about this, but I mean, he’s technically my boss and I still freak out about what Bradley put me through. Morgan travels a lot. He’s high profile, in the tabloids, and paparazzi follow him around. Even his best friends are famous.

He’s a multimillionaire and can have any woman he wants, yet he’s holdingmyhand? Tells me he wants to know more about me, he says he wants me. It freaks me out and fills me up with so much excitement that my stomach is on fire.

He squeezes my hand after we park and he sends me a wink. “I’ll pop open the wine once they’re all in bed.” I nod and I grab Tilly and Nessa while Morgan carries Avery. She looks so small in his arms, even at ten years old. Or Morgan is just… big.

I snort to myself as I head to the girls’ room, waking them up so they can use the bathroom and brush their teeth before I help them change. Tilly cries and I cuddle her, carrying her over to the changing table so that I can put her in a new diaper. The one I put her in before dinner is still dry, so she’s getting there. She’s trying.

I rock them for about ten minutes, singing them songs, keeping the room dark instead of reading them a book since they’re already so tired. After I set them down in their beds, I step out and close the door softly before heading over to Avery’s room to make sure she’s settled.

All three girls are asleep and it’s not even eight o'clock yet.

I shuffle down towards the kitchen where I hear Morgan closing cabinets and I take a seat at the island, watching him silently. You would think someone so tall, so toned would be less graceful. Or maybe it still hasn’t clicked that this man skates ona pair of thin blades on ice for a living. I don’t think I’ve ever ice skated in my life.

My first adoptive parents never had me in sports. Betty and Francis let me figure out what I liked on my own, and it was definitelynotsports.

Morgan slides a glass of white wine towards me and takes a long sip from the glass, settling his dark eyes upon me. I smile and nod my thanks as I smell the liquid, groaning under my breath. It smells sweet, not quite as sweet as a Moscato though, thank goodness.

“Let’s head out to the back porch, we won’t have many more warm nights.” I follow him to the sliding glass door and grumble when I move over to the table and chairs. He tsks at me and places a hand at the bottom of my back, barely an inch above my ass, and we walk deeper into the yard. “This… is a fire pit. I’ll set it up and light it.”

I chuckle and glance around, still holding both of our glasses as he grabs firewood that’s all chopped beside one of the nearby trees. He jogs over to the shed that’s beside the house, grabbing better kindling and a lighter. I bite on my lip as I watch him bend over, then squat down. His muscles in his ass, thighs, and back pull and tense with every movement.

Fuck he’s magnificent. With his thick brown hair, his tanned, sunkissed skin… There's no way this man is mortal.

He stands and stalks over to me with a wicked smirk lining his lips. Stepping in close to me, he leans over me, stealing the glasses out of my hands and pulls me up into his arms.

I gasp and freeze, not knowing what to do. Is he helping me up to stand with him closer to the fire? Do I wrap my arms and legs around him? Can he… hold me?

He chuckles and grips me harder under my thighs, his strong fingers digging into my muscles. “Wrap them around me, Lillian.” I let out a slow breath as I tentatively lay my arms onhis shoulders and wrap my legs around his narrow waist. He hums and steps closer to the growing fire, staring straight into my eyes.

He glances between my eyes before burying his face in my neck, humming and breathing me in. “Tell me everything about you, Lillian. I want it all.”

I close my eyes and tense. I always expected professional players to be just that, players. How is he so nice and kind? So attentive?

He was a dick the first day I met him, when he called me young and unqualified. What changed, truly? He barely looked at me the first two weeks I was here.

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