Nanny for the Bodyguard (Off-Limits Bosses #1)

1. Easton

ONE

Easton

I’ve just caught up with Jade, who’d rushed for the door, when I hear the tell-tale sound of a collision of bodies.

“Oof!”

A wet plopping sound echoes from the doorway, and I see half of Jade’s ice cream cone is now on the floor. My best guess says the rest is plastered to the front of the woman she ran into.

“Oops, sorry.” Jade sounds apologetic, but this is the last thing I need. It’s already been a day with her, and I thought this treat would ease the tension.

So much for that plan.

Hurrying over toward them, I suck in a stressed breath, my eyes on the floor as I try to come up with some reason my niece just ran into the unsuspecting woman.

One day. I needed one day to go smoothly. Ugh, I’m so not cut out for this.

“Jade,” I groan, eyeing the chocolate puddle that’s melting on the floor before deciding I have to say something to the victim of this confectionary crime. “I’m so sorry, miss. She wasn’t looking where?—”

The words die in my throat as I realize who’s standing in front of me. What the—no way. How is she…

“Hazel?”

She looks up from holding her freezing cold shirt away from her skin, meeting my eyes. As soon as they connect, everything stops.

It’s fucking Hazel Dowd, the last person in the universe I expected to see pop up in Red Lodge. Am I in some Twilight Zone episode? What is actually happening right now?

“Easton?”

Her eyes flare wide, that hazel color a reflection of her name, which is a total coincidence from what she’s told me.

She looks exactly the same as the last time I saw her, and it’s like a kick in the nuts.

Hazel’s wavy, caramel-colored hair is hanging loose around her shoulders, just dusting the tops. Her warm skin is spotted with faint freckles that I could probably map by memory alone, and the sweet, soft look about her is everything I remember.

Except somehow, now it’s even more beautiful.

You’ve got to be kidding me. Hazel? Of all the people. Of all the ways to literally bump into her.

I can hardly breathe right now, and speaking is entirely out of the question.

“Uncle Easton?” Jade pipes up, and I’m pulled back into the mess that’s still coated all over Hazel’s white shirt. “Are you okay?”

Jade is trying and failing to hide the laugh in her voice, and I’m ready to ground that girl for a week. But that’s an empty threat. I haven’t been able to scold her at all because of everything that happened.

Clenching my jaw, I force myself to find the words. “We’re very sorry, Hazel. Aren’t we , Jade?”

My niece blanches slightly, ducking her head as she nods. “Sorry. I wasn’t looking.”

It’s a grumble of an apology, but at least it’s something. Too bad the ice cream is done for. I just know Jade will beg me for a new one.

“Oh,” Hazel offers a tight smile and even forced, it lights up her entire face, “that’s okay. Accidents happen. I’m just…wow, I’ll admit I assumed I had a while before I ran into you.”

“Literally.” I can’t stop myself from joking, if only to diffuse some of the tension.

Seeing her again does something to me. And I’m not surprised. I’ve been dreaming of this woman every night since we split.

I never thought I’d see her again.

“So, Uncle Easton?” Hazel raises her brows, and something about her expression makes it seem like she’s relieved.

But I’m sure I’m imagining things.

“Oh, yes. This is my niece, Jade. I’m, uh…”

“He’s taking care of me because my parents died.” Jesus, leave it to Jade to be so damn blunt.

“Oh no,” Hazel claps a hand to her chest. “I’m so sorry, Jade. That has to be so rough.”

“Ha, you’re telling me.” I didn’t mean to say it out loud, but it sliped out. “Sorry, it’s just been quite the adjustment. Jade’s been with me for two weeks, and we’re still trying to figure everything out.”

Nodding, Hazel gives Jade and me a sympathetic look. “I’m truly sorry for your loss.”

The air is heavy and stagnant now, and while we’ve stepped to the side to allow other patrons through, I’m trying to block off the spilled ice cream with my feet.

“Why…umm, Jade,” I turn to my niece, “would you please go get some napkins to clean this all up?”

She sags a bit but then nods and hurries off toward the back counter to grab copious handfuls of napkins.

I stand there with Hazel, so many questions lingering on the tip of my tongue, but I don’t know where to begin, and being around her is wild.

I’m torn between the desire to yank her into my arms and kiss the ever-loving hell out of her or run in the other direction.

“You’re living here now?” It’s all I can manage.

“I am. It’s only been about a week.”

She’s fidgeting with the ring on her thumb, and I remember the habit as a sign of Hazel’s nerves.

“It’s kind of why I figured I’d have a bit longer before, umm, running into you.”

Hazel lets out a nervous chuckle, and I give it right back. Misery does love company, after all.

“Right. Sorry.”

If someone could yell “fire” right about now, that’d be great.

“And you, though. Your sister passed? That’s awful.”

I shrug, not sure what to do with the roiling waves of conflicting emotions. “Yeah, it’s been a hell of a change. I’m used to structure and discipline. From the military to private security, under my own management, my rules, my routine, all the time. Now? It’s…it’s a lot.”

Unsure why I’m still talking like this, the words just continue to spill out, and even though my thoughts are begging me to stop with the verbal diarrhea, I can’t seem to clam up.

It’s like now that the dam has opened, everything I’ve been holding in is flooding out.

Worse, it’s Hazel. I know it’s her. She always made me feel comfortable in a way that meant I couldn’t keep anything from her.

And apparently, that hasn’t changed.

“I barely spoke to my sister before she died, and now I have her kid. I have no idea what I’m doing, and I’m pretty damn sure everyone can tell.

Especially Jade. And she’s so hot and cold.

One minute, she’s smiling; the next, she’s screaming at me about something I did wrong.

And I’m terrible at knowing what to say.

The military doesn’t teach you how to empathize, you know? ”

“But you came here with Jade as a treat, right? That’s nice.” Casting a glance past me, she smiles as my niece walks up with a metric shit-ton of napkins. “I come here a lot, too.”

I want to apologize or say something to make up for the fact that Hazel had to sit through all that, but Jade is walking up behind me. The moment’s gone.

“You do?” Jade asks, handing Hazel some of the napkins before crouching down to wipe up the floor. “Why? Don’t you have to work?”

“Jade!” I groan, pinching the bridge of my nose. “You don’t have to answer that.”

“It’s fine.” Hazel’s little chuckle might actually kill me. “I stare at a computer screen all day, so sometimes I need to take a break and snag a coffee. Or maybe a treat. Like today.”

She speaks to Jade so easily, and for a moment, my brain is consumed with jealousy. I never have it that easy with Jade.

In fact, it’s been a fucking disaster since she moved in with me two weeks ago.

My throat tightens at the thought of my sister. Both she and her husband died in freak accident, and now I’m the guardian of Jade. A fate I never thought would actually arrive.

And doing a real bang-up job at it, too.

“Are you in security like Uncle Easton?” Jade stands with her mound of napkins, now all stained and dripping with melted ice cream.

Again, I look at Hazel’s shirt, which she’s still holding away from her chest and stomach because I’m sure it’s cold.

The curves of her body are outlined by the taut fabric, and the little jean shorts she’s wearing leave little to the imagination.

An imagination I don’t have to use because I’ve seen Hazel before. I’ve been with Hazel before.

Ugh, come on, Easton. Pull your head out of your ass.

“Oh, no. I’m a writer. I write thrillers.” Jade cocks her head, and again, Hazel does that adorable fucking laugh and smiles. “They’re like scary books for adults. Though not as scary as some.”

“You’re still writing?”

My chest pinches, remembering how much Hazel loved to write, how she even went to school for it.

“I am, and it sounds like you’re a security guard or something?” I can hear the apprehension in Hazel’s voice, like she doesn’t really want to be asking.

I don’t blame her. The last thing she knew, I was going back into active duty. Everything that came after is a mystery to her because…because I didn’t come back home right away.

Like you promised.

“Oh, umm, I run a private security business. Being a bodyguard seemed like a natural fit after…well, you know, everything.”

“Sure.” Hazel’s head bobs in a nod that is more just finding something to do with herself than genuine understanding. “I can see that.”

“But, umm,” I run my hand through my hair, using the feeling of those short locks to try and ground myself, “you’re back in town now.”

“Yeah. I moved from LA. It was…it was nice, but it was very fast-paced. And I wanted to get some space from there. Why not head back to the old hometown, right?”

I can think of a million reasons Hazel wouldn’t want to come back here, the largest of which is me.

“I’m sure that’s something to get used to.”

Hazel nods, very much agreeing with me now. “It is. I’m still getting used to living in a small town again. It’s easy to be invisible in such a big city. Not so much here.”

Yeah, and a lot easier to run into ex-boyfriends.

There’s a tense silence now, and Jade sees fit to smash it to smithereens.

“I have no ice cream now.” She wears a pout that’s turned up to eleven, and I sigh, wiping a hand down my face.

“Ugh, I’m aware, Jade.” Casting a glance back at Hazel, I squint, the awkwardness of staring at her chocolate-stained shirt nearly too much to take. “And your shirt’s ruined. I’ll pay for another one.”

“Oh, it’s alright.” Hazel waves me off. “It’s just a Hanes tee. It’s not a big deal. Nothing a little bleach can’t fix.”

I don’t know how she seems so relaxed. It’s wild to see and makes me feel even more like an incompetent asshole who can’t manage a ten-year-old while Hazel seems utterly unphased by the accident.

Tension ratchets up my spine, and I’m clenching my jaw so fucking hard it cracks. I hate this. I hate being put in this situation that I was so clearly not cut out for.

And that includes both of the women standing in front of me. I’m not cut out to raise Jade, and I wasn’t the man Hazel needed.

I just left Hazel, and now I’m staring at the consequences of my actions and unable to just get the hell out of here.

Why am I even here? How did I think a fucking ice cream was going to fix all this. I knew I was never meant to be a father. Hell, I’ve been adamant about not having children since I was eighteen.

And now all this? I can’t just give in to Jade every time. It’s her fault that she dropped the ice cream.

Shit, that sounds terrible. Fucking hell, what’s wrong with me.

“Hold on.”

And then Hazel leaves us, walking up to the counter at the back of the shop.