Page 136 of The Nanny and the Heartthrob

Her boyfriend and her biggest mistake.

She swallowed past the lump in her throat. She could feel Landon’s gaze.

Just play it cool.

“He was. But he wasn’t a nice guy. He took something from me.”

“Was he a…?” the child asked and tapped her foot three times.

“Yep,” she replied, keeping her response short.

The last thing she wanted to do was discuss Vance.

Aria’s gaze bounced between the photo and Landon. “Now you have Uncle Landy, and he’s not a douche nozzle.”

“Aria,” Landon chided.

“I mean…” the kid said, then tapped her foot. “That’s how it works, isn’t it, Harper? I just have to tap it?”

She manufactured a grin. “Right, again.”

Aria handed her the photo, then returned to the pile.

Her hand shook as she studied the image, hating how one photograph could usher in a flood of crushing emotions.

You’re not that girl anymore. You’re smarter. You keep your guard up. And you’ve sworn off musicians—except for the current marriage of convenience situation.

“I can take care of that for you,” Landon said in a husky rasp.

Without thinking, she handed him the picture.

Why had she done that?

Did she want his help when it came to Vance?

Then again, there was no love lost between her pop star and the pop douche nozzle.

He’d probably just throw it out.

For the love of Christ! He simply offered to throw something away. Stop making a mountain out of a molehill.

She might be married to Landon, but she couldn’t let the guy into her heart.

This was a business arrangement. She couldn’t blur the lines with this man.

But she still had to be mindful of the promise she’d made to Mitzi.

And she would be.

She could help Landon and Aria transition into living together. Hell, she already had them under the same roof—her roof, well, Babs’ roof, but it was a roof they were under and not yelling at each other.

But there was more, and it was the kind of more that made her want to look at that line and blur and blur and blur until she couldn’t blur anymore.

She couldn’t forget Mitzi’s face when the woman said she hadn’t seen Landon smile like he had in their wedding video.

As a Landon Paige fan on the down-low since she was a tween, she’d perused hundreds, possibly thousands of pictures of the man. She’d seen him smile in print and on TV. But she’d never seen the smile he flashed when he’d caught the bouquet and stared into her eyes. That dazzler of a grin was all for her.

At least, that’s how it had felt.

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