Page 7 of The Forbidden Sitter
“Leave your little sister alone.” That would be more than easy. “Gotit!”
“As long as you understand me, repeat these words, and we’ll have us a deal. Oh, and you have to pay her pretty well too. That’s a given, dude.” He thumped my chest oncemore.
“Chill on that shit, Brad. I can only take so much, bro. Tell me these magic words you want me to say to make you believe that I will never lay a finger on your littlesister.”
“I, Gannon Forester, do solemnly swear never to flirt with, fondle, or otherwise sexually harass my best friend’s baby sister, the apple of his eye, and the sweetest and most innocent girl on theplanet.”
Who is thischick?
All I could do was nod as I recited his words, sealing our deal and getting me the babysitter I needed. “And can she move in with us too? I’ll need her twenty-four-seven.”
“I’ll check with her, but I’m guessing that’ll be fine. Fewer bills for her topay.”
I almost sagged with relief. I now had a kid and a babysitter to go with said kid. Things might just turn out okay afterall.
Chapter4
Brooke
Only three days before,I’d told my big brother I was looking for a babysitting job and here he was with a huge one. “So, you’ll be a live-in. It’ll be a full-time job, Brooke. The little boy is two, and his father has no clue what to do with a kid. This whole thing just fell in his lap. You’ll have to go in and take complete charge of the little boy. Is this something you think you canhandle?”
Sitting on the bed in my dorm room, I chewed on my lower lip. “What aboutschool?”
“You said most of your classes this semester will be online,” he reminded me. “And living-in will save you money on room and board, since you won’t let me pay for those. He’ll pay you well enough that you’ll graduate debt-free,Brooke.”
“Wow.” I nodded slowly. This was not a gift horse whose mouth I was going to look too deeplyinto.
The father will hardly ever be there,” he went on. “He’s hardly ever home now. It’ll be you, the kid, some servants, and that’s it most of the time.” He looked back at my absent roomie’s bed and took a seat on it after pulling the blanket up to cover the mess ofsheets.
“And which one of your friends is this,Brad?”
One hand stroked his beard as he looked off to one side, trying to look nonchalant. “Gannon Forester, the man who gave me my firstjob.”
My eyes must’ve been bugging out. Not only was Gannon the worst of the bad boys my older brother hung with, but he was a billionaire to boot. And I knew that meant he got whatever he wanted. “Him?”
Brad just nodded as he cut his eyes to look around the small room. “You’d be able to say goodbye to this little rat hole. That would be a blessing in and ofitself.”
I’d never actually met Mr. Forester. But I’d overheard Brad telling stories about how much of a womanizer he was. Could I handle a man like that? “Um, he’s kind of known for being a major ladies’ man,right?”
Brad’s blue eyes leveled on mine. “Not to worry, Brooke. I told the man you are not to be messed with. He made me a solemn vow he’d never do a thing to you. Not so much as one word of flirtation. If he does, you let me know, and I’ll properly beat his ass forit.”
It wasn’t that I was anti-flirtation. I was just … shy. And totally inexperienced. And if I was going to live-in, I needed to know I’d be safe, obviously. “And this poor kid, his mother was just going to turn him over to social services? That’s so terrible.” My heart hurt with thethought.
“Yeah,” Brad got up and went to look in my closet. “Is this all the stuff you havehere?”
“That’s it. So, this job would start today, then?” I shoved my feet into my sneakers and leaned over to tiethem.
“Yes, it would. I think you should come with me to meet him and his kid before you make the decision.” He turned around to face me. “If you think it’s something you’d like to do, then we can come back for your things. You can even leave them here, and I’ll pay the room and board for the remainder of the semester, in case you ever decide you want to backout.”
I never let my brother pay for anything, but he had a good point for once. And I was definitely struggling to make ends meet. “He’s around your age, right?” I got up off the bed and followed my brother out of my dormroom.
“Yeah, he’s thirty. He’s a decade older than you are. Surely you won’t find him attractive in the least.” He stopped and took me by the arm, looking me in the eyes. “Right?”
“Pish …yeah, right. I’m not into old dudes, Brad.” Call me old-fashioned, but in my twenties, I was still a virgin. My sum total of experience was a few kisses and a little basic groping. I was waiting for the right guy to comealong.
About an hour later, we pulled up to the sprawling mansion Mr. Forester livedin.
“Wow, Brad. This is bigger than your place in Malibu.” I couldn’t believe how beautiful the place was. I adored the rustic look. The home looked like a huge log cabin with a covered front porch that spanned only one part of the humongous home. Tall pine trees lined the asphalt drive. The lush green grass was well kept, making the whole place look almostfake.
