Page 60 of The Baby-whisperer and the Brute
She was so fucking beautiful, and it felt wrong that she was sitting so far away. I wanted her right next to me, close enough to touch, close enough to draw those pretty legs over my lap where I could run my hands over that silky looking skin, and sink them into her hair, and—
Whoa boy. Simmer down.
“I did like your gift,” she said, her tone sincere and a little sad. “I love all those clothes. I know you were only being generous like you always are. It just… it made me feel kind of funny.”
“Why?”
“Well, for one thing, I’m not used to getting gifts—definitely nothing big and overwhelming like that. And, well…”
She seemed reluctant to go on. “And?” I prodded, dying to hear what she was so hesitant to say.
“Well, sometimes it feels like there’s something…happeningbetween us, and I didn’t know if maybe the gift meant something or if it might change things.”
She shook her head in tiny rapid jerks. “Never mind. Forget I said that. I mean, you went out on adatetonight, and I’m just—”
Throwing her hands up in the air, she made a strangled sound. “I am so stupid. Forget it. Please just forget it.”
She shot up off the couch, grabbed her teacup, and scurried to the kitchen, leaving me sitting in dumbfounded silence.
So shehadbeen jealous. She’d also been feeling the same tension around me that I’d felt around her these past few weeks.
And apparently, she had no idea how to talk about it.
I was filled with a strange mixture of excitement and sympathy. I’d always suspected from her demeanor that Angelina was inexperienced with men. But now, I wondered if it went further than that.
Slowly, I got up and walked to the kitchen, trying to decide how to approach her without scaring her away.
Angelina stood at the sink, washing the cup. I came up behind her and stopped, leaning back against the kitchen’s large center island.
“You’re right,” I said. “There is something happening—at least on my part. As I was starting to tell you earlier, I only went out with Bree because a friend set us up… but mostly it was because I was trying to distract myself—fromyou.”
Angelina turned around to face me, her eyes wide, her breathing shallow. “You were?”
I nodded. “Yep. But it didn’t work. It’s been getting harder and harder to ignore, this…” I gestured back and forth between us. “...attraction I feel for you. ‘Attraction’ isn’t even the right word. It’s a lot stronger than that. I mean, yes, I think you’re gorgeous—everything about you is beautiful—your eyes, your skin, your lips, your hair, your body, your voice. Your little toes.”
Angelina looked down at them, attempting to hide a deep blush.
“But it’s all of you. Your laugh. The things you say, the way you see the world… the way you love my baby girls.”
Taking a breath, I continued my true confessions. “But I didn’t think I should do anything about it. I mean, you’re thinking about being anunfor Chrissakes. Also, you work for me. I didn’t want to make things awkward for you—especially if you didn’t feel the same way. And until tonight when I came home to find you waiting up for me in that sexy red dress, I didn’t think there was any chance of that. I thought I was just some old dude creeping on the young nanny.”
“You’re not that much older than me—only three years.”
“Yeah, but as they say, it’s not the years but the mileage. I haven’t exactly led a chaste life. I mean, lately, yes—I might as well be a monk. But before I got married, I... danced with a lot of girls. You seem, I don’t know… untouched by the world. Pure.”
Her smile disappeared. “I don’t like that word. My mother uses that word.”
“Okay, well, innocent then, whatever. I didn’t want to put any pressure on you or make any assumptions, especially since you live here.”
She nodded. “Itiscomplicated.” After a moment’s pause, she gave me a quizzical look. “You really couldn’t tell I was attracted to you, too?”
My soul soared. “You are? I didn’t know. Ihoped, and then I was mad at myself for hoping. But I really had no idea.”
“Even when I put on that bikini?”
“All I knew about that bikini was how much I liked youinit. Honestly, I thought you wore it to punish me for what I said. Believe me, it was averyeffective punishment.”
Angelina covered her giggle with one hand but then she got serious. “I kind ofdidwant to punish you. But more than that, I think I wanted you to see me as a woman—nota frumpy old one.”
