Page 9 of The Unconventional Nanny
"Glad you see it my way."
I kick out at him just for spite. "You're a jerk, you know that?"
"Yes, but you love this jerk. Otherwise you wouldn't have moved all this way to be closer to me."
If he only knew.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. And you wonder why I want my own place. First the noisy sex, and now the tickling."
Owen's face falls and the faintest hint of a blush tinges his cheeks. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you feel unwanted."
I shove his shoulder. "I'm kidding. The plan was always for me to get my own place. I love you, but I don't actually want to live with you. Even if you were single. Could you imagine how weird that would be if I tried to bring a guy home."
I dance out of the room with laughter falling from my lips when he tries to snatch me up. Annalee helps by grabbing his arm, but we all know if my brother wanted to get away, he could. Annalee joins me in laughing as Owen curses the two of us. I doubt he expected us to get along so well.
I check the rest of the house to make sure I haven't left anything lying around. I know I'll always be welcome in my brother's home, but I need to prove to him this move is a good idea. Sometimes he still sees me as the baby our mother brought home while he was deployed.
When I'm sure there's nothing of mine left, I head back to the guest room and find my brother and Annalee whispering.
"Not interrupting, am I?"
Annalee jumps back, her face bright red, like whatever they were discussing is the most scandalous thing of the season.
My brother, on the other hand, looks worried, which doesn't bode well for me.
"What's that look for?"
"I'm just not sure how I feel about you moving in with a guy you barely know."
I throw my hands in the air in frustration. "Are you kidding me right now?" I glance at my nonexistent watch on my wrist. "I'm supposed to be there in ten minutes, and you choose now to air your objections?"
"I mean . . ." My brother scratches the back of his head and at least has the decency to look ashamed. "You should've known I would have concerns based on my line of work."
"Of course I knew you would have concerns," I screech. "I also figured you or one of your friends would've dug into his background already."
"Of course," he scoffs. "I had Nolen do it."
I freeze, then mentally slap myself upside the head, because of course he asked Nolen. Out of all his friends, it had to be the one person I didn't want digging too close to my life. Nolen and my family have history. More specifically with my sister, and the last thing I need is for him to know all my secrets.
"And what did he discover?" I ask with caution.
"The guy’s clean. A few speeding tickets over the years, but nothing since having kids. His business is on the up-and-up, and from what I can tell, he's a great father and son."
"Perfect." I trudge across the room and scoop up my duffle bag. "Glad we got that cleared up. Now excuse me. I prefer not to be late."
I give Annalee a quick side hug, throw my brother the peace symbol, and walk out of the guest bedroom without glancing back. No amount of love for the two of them could keep me in that house another minute longer.
Throwing my bag into the backseat, I hop into my car and try not to pay attention to the fact that my brother is still wearing the concerned expression as I back out of the driveway.Eventually, he's going to learn I'm no longer hisbabysister. I've grown up. And while I've made a few mistakes, I'm actively trying to fix them.
On my own.
It doesn't take me more than a few minutes to reach Ang's house, and I pull into the driveway next to his SUV. I texted him earlier in the day to let him know what time I would be over. There was nothing illicit about the conversation we had. It was mostly Ang going over the details he forgot to tell me yesterday, like where I could park. And yet, I found myself getting excited each time his name popped up on my notifications.
I don't know how I should feel about that.
Yes, you do!
Okay, Ishouldfeel bad that I'm lusting over my new landlord.
