Page 37 of The Nanny and the Beefcake
Raz surveyed the room, working to get his bearings.
All these damned rules!
He wanted to whisk Libby off her feet, throw her over his shoulder like a caveman, and bust out of this room.
“Libby, Erasmus, here’s what it boils down to,” Augie began. “Best-case scenario. You run the race. You train together and present a united front. Otherwise, you know what happens, Raz. You become fodder for the tabloids. It’s not a lot of time to commit. The fight will be here before you know it. It’s in—”
“Sixty days,” Madelyn interjected. “The same amount of time as the nanny match trial period. You know how it works, don’t you, Libby?”
Libby nodded. “At the end of the trial period, the agreement can be voided by either party. No questions asked.”
“That is correct,” Madelyn purred.
“Then, Lion, you regain your title of heavyweight champion and return to the UK, a beloved national treasure,” Briggs added, finding his voice.
Could it be that easy?
“You’re not staying in Colorado, Raz?” Libby asked, watching him closely.
He shoved his hands into his pockets. “I don’t know, plum.”
“I saw you visiting Mitch and Rowen’s kids’ school a few months ago. I thought…”
He glanced away. “I was just taking a look.”
“I see,” she answered.
He returned his attention to her face, to those eyes that saw everything. “Is that a problem?”
Did he want it to be a problem? Did he want her to want him to stay? A bloody ludicrous notion. They barely knew each other.
She twisted the bracelet around her wrist. “No, it’s not a problem.”
“The race is in seven weeks. The fight is a little over a week after that. There’s one choice that makes sense—one path forward for you both,” Augie offered.
“One path where you aren’t charged with lewd behavior,” the chief added.
He almost forgot about the bloody vibrator incident.
“Libby,” he began, but she waved him off.
“Briggs, did you mean what you said about your company covering my brothers’ tuition?”
“Every word. I’ve got the contract right here. We’ll pay half now and the other half just before the fight,” Briggs answered, holding up his mobile.
This was insanity!
He paced the length of the office. Off-kilter and damn near ready to fall arse over elbow, he tried to regain his balance. One minute, Libby’s lobbing cocks at him. The next, she’s his spiritual advisor.
It was too much.
He needed to give her some time to process this.
He needed time to process himself.
Standing in the Denver police chief’s office, staring at a donkey T-shirt and his bloody agent, it was safe to say time wasn’t on their side. His son would be here in two days. He had to keep training. Still, he hated to see Libby cornered like this.
“Plum,” he began, but she cut him off.
