Page 37 of The Unconventional Nanny
I'm frozen in place as everyone inside the diner stares at us. "How does she even know?" I whisper back.
"Bee knows everything that happens in Willow Creek." He grabs my hand and pulls me to the left toward an open table. "Come, let's take a seat."
I'm too shocked by him taking my hand and basically verifying Bee’s claim in front of everyone to do anything but follow along obediently.
We've barely sat down when Jo comes over to the table. "Sorry about my grandmother."
"How many times a day do you apologize for her?" Ang asks as he gets Everly situated in her seat.
"More times than I care to count,” Jo answers with a chuckle. “What can I get for you to drink today?"
I shake myself out of my stupor long enough to answer. "An iced tea, please."
"I'll have the same,” Ang says before adding, “And the little lady will have an apple juice, please."
"Be right back with those." Jo shoots us another understanding smile before heading back to grab out drinks.
Once Jo is out of earshot, I lower my voice so Everly doesn’t pick up on how guilty I’m feeling. "I know you’re in dad mode right now, but I’d love you to give me space to be in nanny mode during the day when you’d normally be at work. It would be better for all of our routines.” Ang took over as soon as he picked us up, and I'm starting to feel bad about it. I know he's her father, but it's literally what he pays me to do.
"What if I said I don't want you here as the nanny right now, but as my girlfriend?"
My mouth drops open and then closes again. Then it opens again and closes. I’ve gone from a nanny sitting across from her handsome boss to a guppy fish, that's how shocked I am at his words.
Ang merely chuckles at my loss of words. "I haven't used that word since high school. Feels kinda weird, doesn't it?"
And now I’m a bobblehead doll.
Not sure what the hell is wrong with me, and why all of a sudden my vocal cords no longer work, I clear my throat. "I just wasn't expecting you to throw that out there while we're in public."
"I'm pretty sure Bee already outed us, so why not? I could really throw everyone into a tizzy and kiss you right now." Ang waggles his eyebrows and I laugh without a care in the world.
Why the hell not? I enjoy living on the edge, why should this time be any different.
"You won't do it," I challenge him.
And oh boy did I underestimate him. Not only does he accept the challenge, he dives in with a flourish. Wrapping his palm around my neck, he yanks me to him until our lips crash together.
But he doesn't stop there. Nope. This is no plain-Jane, PDA-approved kiss. This is Ang showing the whole town who I suddenly belong to. And I am all for it.
It ends all too soon, and when we pull away from each other and I finally come back from floating on cloud nine, it's to discover the whole diner is clapping.
I open my eyes and find Ang smiling at me. "I told you I could get them in a tizzy."
Dropping my head to his chest, I laugh. "I guess that's what I get for challenging you."
Ang laughs with me. "Just so you know, I've never done anything like that. You have a way of making me feel carefree in a way I never have before."
Hope flutters in my chest, but before I can say anything, Everly starts chanting, "Everly wants kiss, Everly wants kiss, Everly wants kiss."
The diner erupts in laughter, and Ang, being the amazing father he is, plants a big loud kiss on his daughter’s cheek. She promptly breaks out in a fit of giggles, the whole diner claps again, and my heart falls a little more for the most perfect man.
Chapter Eighteen
GRACIE
"Are they asleep?" I ask Ang as he walks back down the stairs and joins me on the couch.
His first response is to plant a chaste kiss on my lips. I must say I much prefer that kind of response any and all times.
