Page 16 of The Billionaire's One-Night Stand Nanny
I nodded.
“Mom, Flora wants to know about trend forecasting. She thought it was about theweather, isn’t that funny?” My cheeks heated. I hadn’treallythought that it was about the weather. I hoped that Ms. Talford–Tally–knew that I had just been humoring her daughter. Not that I had a real grasp on what it actually was, but still. “I told her you could explain better than I could.”
Tally glanced over at me with a droll expression. “Yes, well, if Flora ever wants to chat about switching careers, she has my number, alright, darling? Now, are you ready to go? Flora, you can lock up here, right?”
I nodded. I had the security system code and a key now, on an old keychain that must have belonged to some former nanny. It had a tiny charm of a four-leaf clover and a penny with a hole punched in it.Good luck.
“Thanks. Say goodbye, Maddie. See you–Monday morning, I guess.”
“Bye, Flora!” the girl sang out, and then the two of them were gone, leaving me standing alone in the high-ceilinged foyer. I let out a deep breath, my shoulders releasing tension I hadn’t known they’d been carrying.
I made my way back to the kitchen, retrieved my bag, and was digging through it for the key on the good luck keychain when I heard the door open again. Had Maddie forgotten something? I had just closed my hand around the house key when I heard a distinctly non-Maddie voice behind me say, “Oh.”
I whirled around.
“Ryan,” I said, then shook my head. “I mean, Mr. Walker. I was just on my way out.” I held up the key, jingling it softly. My heart rate picked up–because he startled me, I told myself.
I had briefly entertained the thought that Ryan might be avoiding me: he’d been ready to walk out the door as soon as I arrived each morning, and I’d been leaving as soon as he got home in the evenings, wanting to leave him and his daughter to spend time together.
Now I was sure of it: he looked distinctly uncomfortable to be standing in his kitchen with me. I really couldn’t blame him.
“I’m going out, I just needed to stop by and drop off–” He gestured with his work bag, holding it up as I had done with the keys.
“Oh, right, you’re part of the Friday night Bankworth thing.”
His lips quirked. “The Friday night Bankworth thing.” He nodded, chuckling wryly as he said, “Yes, that’s it. I almost forgot you know James.”
“They’re back from their little getaway,” I said as he dropped his bag in a chair at the kitchen table and got a glass from the cabinet. I’d been getting used to using the kitchen myself, and it was almost strange to see Ryan back in the space once again. “Edie and James. I’m going over to his–their–place tonight, actually.” The Friday night Bankworth thing was how Edie had known she’d be free: James and his friends–Ryan included–had a standing reservation at the Bankworth, a members-only club for New York’s wealthiest and most influential businessmen. While James was out eating steak and playing poker or pool with his friends, the two of us would be getting Thai delivery and gossiping, just as we always had–except that now, it was delivered to the penthouse she shared with James, and not my cramped studio.
“Oh?” he asked, and leaned against the counter with a glass of water he’d dispensed from the fridge. He tipped his head back and I watched his throat move as he swallowed. “Let me drive you.” He was wearing a tie–a dark blue one, nearly the same shade as his dark jacket–but he’d loosened it. I wanted to wrap my hands around it, tug his lips down to meet mine…
I shook my head. “I can walk. It’s not far, and it’s nice outside.” It was–the sweltering heat of mid-summer in the city hadn’t rolled in yet, and I’d been planning on walking the dozen or so blocks from here to James and Edie’s building. I thought for a moment he might insist, so I continued. “And I haven’t told Edie yet. I’m telling her tonight. Not about… aboutthat,” I added as his head snapped up to mine, “but that I’m nannying. She’s been out of town and I didn’t want to bother her on her vacation. It would be weird for you to drop me off.”
“Weird,” Ryan said with a grimace. “Right.”
“Notweird, but–” I said, but then realized I didn’t want to say what I really thought:suspicious. There was nothing to be suspicious of. Nothing was happening between Ryan and I, not with the way he was carefully avoiding me, and I him. But still…
“No, I understand,” Ryan said, putting his empty glass beside the sink.
I smiled uncomfortably as he looked over at me.
“You should go,” he said. “You have a walk ahead of you. I’ll lock up here.”
“Okay.” I picked up my tote bag, slinging it over my shoulder. “Thanks.”
“Don’t worry about it,” he said. “Have fun with Edie.”
“Have fun with James,” I replied and he nodded, and then I left, cringing as I closed the door to the brownstone behind me and leaned back against it for a moment to collect myself.
Have fun with James? My cringe deepened. Men like James and Ryan–suited men with careers and penthouse apartments and private gardens on the Upper East Side–didn’t havefun.They… I didn’t know what they did. Played poker. Picked up women at clubs.Or bookshops, I thought, my stomach twisting. Was that what Ryan was going out to do tonight? The thought made jealousy flare under my skin, but I forced myself to breathe and lifted myself away from the door. The last thing I needed was to have the man open it and fall on my ass in front of him.
No, what Ryan did tonight was his own business, I reminded myself. I was his daughter’s nanny, and nothing more. Hisemployee: I checked my bank statement this morning, relieved to see it held enough money to pay for my rentandgroceries.
Rent and grocery money, and work that was enjoyable. That was all this job promised, and that was all I could ask from it.
Even if I wanted more.
Even if he, Ryan, my boss–grew more and more tempting with every passing day.
