Page 6 of Forbidden Kisses
"No, this person will look after my son. I want to get a good feel for them."
"All right, just wanted to make things easier for you."
"And I appreciate that, but some things I can't delegate."
I got up from my chair, taking my laptop with me. Magda had sent me everything electronically. I’d scheduled the interviews in a coffee shop a block from the office. I had five today, and I was determined for one of them to work. I’d met candidates on two other days this week, and they were abysmal. That's why I'd asked my HR manager to sort through all of the other résumés and only schedule the top five. Magda had more experience with hiring than me, though it was usually for financial experts, not nannies—but experience was experience.
Sterling Investments was one of the biggest financial service companies in the country. Our offices were on several floors ofa building on the corner of Market Street and 4th Avenue. I was proud of what I'd built from the ground up with my brothers, but now some of them were focusing on other ventures. We all met at least once a week for a strategy session, discussing all of the businesses, but Chase and I were the two who focused mostly on Sterling Investments.
Speak of the devil.Chase caught up with me just as I was leaving.
"Done already for today?" he asked.
I nodded. "Yeah. I'm going to interview some candidates to be Jeremy's nanny."
Chase nodded. "I wouldn't want to be in your shoes. I can hire someone for Sterling Investments in a heartbeat, but a nanny? That’s more complex." He was absolutely right. "Let me know if I can help with anything."
"Will do."
I knew he meant it. I was closest to Chase, and even though we didn’t always see eye to eye on things, I’d never doubted that he had my back—all of my brothers did.
I walked at a brisk pace to the coffee shop while reading through the résumés again on my phone. Magda had attached notes about the background check for each one, but I didn't really care about them. If she'd vetted them, it meant everything was good. She’d alert me if anything was amiss.
Three candidates were in their sixties—retired kindergarten teachers. They sounded perfect. The fourth was a fifty-year-old teacher who retired early because of health problems, which already made me wonder if she could keep up with Jeremy.
It was the last candidate who I was least optimistic about: a twenty-four-year-old graduate from law school with zero experience in babysitting. At first glance, she wasn’t at all qualified. I should have asked Magda why she kept her résumé.
Entering the coffee shop, I sat down at one of the tables by the window. I had to wrap this up today. My parents were doing a great job, but they had their hands full with the store. This was really not a good time for them to watch Jeremy.
And no matter how much I shifted things around at the office, I couldn't take off every day at two o’clock. He had school for another month, and then he was starting summer school, which was also only until two o’clock. The last thing I wanted was to have my son at work with me. That was the worst of both worlds—I couldn't focus enough on work, and I definitely couldn't focus on him. I didn't want him to feel ignored.
Four interviews later, my optimism completely faded. How was it possible that not one of the candidates was good enough?
The first one flat-out admitted she was happy she was retired because she never really liked kids. Hello? This was a nannying job! Why would she even apply? The second one told me she didn’t understand why youngsters these days were so obsessed with not letting kids watch TV, considering back in her time, the TV had basically been their nanny and they turned out fine. Obviously, she went into thenopile. Jeremy’s screen time was minimal no matter if it was the iPad or TV.
The third one said she could only do mornings, which infuriated me because the job posting specifically asked for nannying in the afternoon. The fourth one… well, it turned out my fears were not unfounded. She'd admitted that since her knee surgery, she couldn't move around a lot. She was hoping that she and Jeremy could mostly stay at home. That was definitely not okay.
After she left, I nearly threw in the towel, but I had one interview left, so what the hell? It couldn't be any worse than the ones before.
I went to the counter to order a coffee, surveying the place. The café was surprisingly empty. Some customers werewearing headphones, speaking in low voices, probably working. Otherwise, the place was pretty nondescript and depressing. Or maybe that was just me because I hadn’t found a nanny for Jeremy.
Once it was my turn, I asked for a black drip coffee. The barista rang it up with a smile and turned to start making my drink.
The second I grabbed it from the counter, a bombshell beauty walked through the front door. She had dark brown hair that she’d pulled into a ponytail. Her eyes were green, her lips were perfectly shaped, she had high cheekbones—and I couldn't stop watching her. She scanned the crowd as she came in, so I checked the rest of her out. Her yellow dress was snug around her waist. Damn it, I couldn't look away from her.
When I headed to my table, the realization hit me. She was still looking around, as if she wassearchingfor someone. Changing my path, I walked over to her, mentally whipping myself into shape.
"Riley?" I asked.
She blinked, looking at me with a smile. "Yes. Are you Duncan Sterling?"
"Yes. Do you want something to drink?" I asked her.
"Oh no, no, I can’t drink anything caffeinated now or I won’t be able to sleep. Sorry, I'm rambling," she said. "I'm a bit nervous."
"There’s no reason to be," I told her.Don't check her out, Duncan, for fuck's sake. Once she sat down, I lowered myself into the chair opposite her. "So, you took the bar recently?"
"Not exactly. In February.”
