Page 48 of The Baby-whisperer and the Brute
Strolling through the dining room, I came across several belts and ties strewn across the tabletop and floor. The girls had played pirate earlier. They must have borrowed these from their dad’s closet thinking they’d make good costumes.
I gathered the masculine accessories and walked upstairs to return them to his room.
In the past whenever I’d returned his “borrowed” possessions, I’d left them just outside the doors of his suite on a console table in the hallway. But this was such a large, unwieldy pile, some of it was bound to slip off the narrow table and end up on the floor.
Besides, I’d been in Sully’s room just a couple hours earlier, and the floor hadn’t opened up and swallowed me.
It was no big deal if I just went in and put these things away in his closet for him. He’d told me before that housecleaning wasn’t my job, but a little tidying up certainly was, and after all the thoughtful things he’d done for me, I didn’t mind doing him this small favor.
Opening the door, I crossed the large room to the attached bathroom where I assumed his closet was located. Ah, I was right.
There it was—a huge walk-in closet with upper and lower rods on three sides and a center-island sort of shoe rack. Only a few pairs occupied the slots. The rest of the openings were filled with... books.
Wow.I had no idea he was such a reader.
There were dozens of paperbacks, stacked neatly in the cubbies. Unable to help myself, I picked one up. And did a double-take.
It was a romance novel.
I hadn’t read any myself, of course. That sort of reading material was frowned upon at Mother’s house—but I recognized it instantly. A beautiful couple embraced on the cover looking happily-in-love. I even recognized the author’s name—I’d heard some of the other nannies discussing her books.
Intrigued, I reached for another book from the stack, then another, then another. They wereallromance novels.
Could these really be Sully’s? Maybe they belonged to his ex-wife. But no, he said she’d never lived here, so unless he got them in the divorce, these were all his.
My question was answered when I left the closet and was about to leave Sully’s room.
Off to one side near an ocean-facing window sat a comfortable chair and a small table. On the table was a lamp—and a book.
With a bookmark in it.
I stood with my hand on the doorknob waging a battle with myself.
I shouldn’t invade his privacy.
But itisright there in the open—on a table.
A table inhisroom. Not the living room, not the kitchen. His private space.
Right. Privacy. That was important. How would I feel if he was snooping around my room?
Ultimately, to my shame, my better nature lost out to my curiosity. I tiptoed across the room and picked up the book, feeling like a cat burglar. It was definitely a romance—this one had an even sexier cover than the others I’d found in the closet.
Opening the book to the bookmark, I began to read. My jaw dropped as I reached a paragraph in the middle of the page.
The chapter was told from a man’s point of view. He’d apparently been trying to find a way to get the main female character close. I didn’t know the whole backstory, but it seemed she was a skittish sort, and nothing had been working out for the guy.
So he asked the woman for help with his tie.
My heart began pounding so hard I could hear it in my eardrums. Wasthatwhy Sully had asked for help with his tie tonight? I couldn’t have stopped reading if my life literally depended on it.
Breathing like I’d just climbed several flights of stairs, I read further, my eyes racing over the words on the page. Several times I had to go back and read a passage again—particularly the one where the man was so turned on by the woman’s nearness, he’d had to drag a pillow over his lap to hide his... I swallowed hard... erection.
I should not—shouldnot—have read what came next.
As the book’s heroine stood between the hero’s thighs, tying his tie, he placed his hands on her hips then ran them down and around to grip her bottom, caressing it.
When she responded...favorably, gasping his name, he began unbuttoning her shirt, pushing it open and touching her over her bra, then pulling that aside and kissing her on the—oh my God.
