Protecting the Boundary (LA Wolves #8)

Chapter 6

SIX

The house is just as imposing as it was the first time I was here, but I know the truth of it now. As daunting as it is on the outside, the inside is warm and inviting and there’s a little girl in there I can’t wait to see again. I grab the coloring book I bought when I saw it at the store and head toward the front door.

I ring the doorbell and hear the thud of shoes before the door swings open and Kaylee stands there with a wide smile on her adorable face. I squat down and smile back just as I hear a voice that’s filled with a mix of panic and frustration. “Kaylee Mae, what have I told you about answering the door without Daddy?”

A man walks around the corner and my smile falls.

No effing way.

This cannot be happening to me.

The hot guy I bumped into at the store—the one who had his large hands on my box of tampons—is the single dad I’ll be nannying for. I silently pray that he won’t recognize me, but my hopes are dashed when he stops in his tracks and recognition fills his dark eyes.

“You. ”

Fuck my life.

I stand and give him an awkward wave. “Uh, hi. I’m Meredith, your new nanny.”

He steps forward, closing the short distance between us and wraps his hand around his daughter’s shoulder, pulling her closer to his body.

“ You’re the nanny?”

“Miss Mere,” Kay says helpfully and bless her because she totally breaks the tension.

“That’s right,” I say, smiling at her. “I brought you something.”

“What?” Romel asks gruffly, a scowl on his face.

Oh boy. A scowl should not be sexy.

I pull out the coloring book with her favorite cartoon printed on the front from where I’ve had it hidden behind my back, and Kaylee lets out a squeal of joy as she reaches for it.

I squat back down. Her dad can be a scowly grump all he wants; I’m not here for him. “Want to color it with me?”

She nods.

“Do you have stuff?” he asks, his voice deep and gruff.

I arch a brow at him and he goes on. “Like boxes or anything. Since you’ll be living here.”

I gesture with my thumb to my car. “I’ve got a few suitcases in my car.”

“Let’s get you moved into the guesthouse before you guys play.”

I stand up. “Actually, we should probably do formal introductions. It’s useful to know someone’s name before you live with them.” I thrust my hand out. “I’m Meredith Gable.”

He stares at my hand like it’s going to bite him, and then with distrust in his gaze, he grasps my hand in his. “Romel Watson.”

My brows furrow. “Romel Watson…why does that name so und familia—oh. Ohhh!” It finally hits me who he is, and my hunch about why Mrs. Brooks was asking if I was really into football gets confirmed. “You play for the Wolves.”

He nods.

“Cool. Well, nice to officially meet you.”

He seems surprised that I’m not fangirling over him, but I wasn’t lying to Mrs. Brooks in my interview. Football isn’t my favorite sport.

“I’ll help you with your suitcases,” he says to me before he addresses Kaylee. “Why don’t you go hang out in the living room while I help Meredith.”

“Miss Mere,” she says, and it definitely comes off like she’s correcting him this time. I bite back a laugh.

Then my heart stutters when I watch this man completely transform as his expression softens and he smiles down at his daughter with so much love.

He brushes his hand over her hair, which is up in pigtails again, except this time one is higher than the other. “Miss Mere,” he acquiesces.

If I thought he was hot in the grocery store, it’s nothing compared to how attractive he is when he turns into a giant softy for his daughter.

“I help too,” she says, her voice soft again.

The struggle on Romel’s expression tells me he hates telling her no, and I can’t blame him. She’s too cute for words with her round cheeks and big, light brown eyes. Her complexion is lighter than his dark brown skin. I wonder how much she looks like her mother, and if that’s hard for him.

Everyone used to tell me how much I looked like a perfect mix of my parents, and I think that often made it easier on my dad that I wasn’t the spitting image of my mom.

“I’ve got a little suitcase with wheels if you want to show off your muscles and push it for me,” I tell Kaylee. It’s hard to deny her when it’s clear how badly she wants to be helpful.

She turns to me, that big smile back on her face, and I swear it’s contagious because I feel my cheeks pull up in an answering grin. When I glance at her dad, he’s staring at me like I’m some kind of witch with magic he doesn’t understand.

“Shall we get started?” I ask him, arching my brow.

I open my hand for Kaylee and she eagerly grabs it, and then I turn without bothering to wait for her dad. The smallest suitcase has 360-degree rolling wheels, so I give her the handle and show her how it works. Then I grab the other two and shut the door.

Romel frowns. “That’s it? That’s all you brought?”

I look down at my three suitcases which I thought was almost too much. “Most of my stuff is still in boxes from when I moved back to my dad’s house after I graduated. I just packed a bunch of clothes and the essentials. I figure I can buy anything else I might need.”

He scratches at his chest, and it draws my gaze to the way his T-shirt fits across his broad, fit body. God, why did the hot guy from the store have to be her dad? I look away, focusing on Kaylee.

“Ready, KayBear?”

She giggles. “KayBear?”

“Yup. You got to give me a nickname, so now I get to give you one.”

She beams up at me and nods her head. “Okay!”

“Lead the way,” I tell her.

She practically bounces as she walks and pushes my small suitcase into her house. Romel steps forward and grabs the handle of my largest suitcase. There’s a moment where our gazes connect, and my heart rate picks up the same way it did when I looked up at him in the store. I thought he was the sexiest man I’d ever seen in person, and I hate the way butterflies flutter in my stomach as his gaze seems to warm me from the inside out. All too quickly, he looks away, focusing on the suitcase in his hand and then to a path that wraps around the house.

“There’s also a way to get to the guesthouse without having to walk through the main house. That path circles around the house and into the backyard. You just have to undo the latch at the top of the gate. It’s high so Kay can’t reach it and get out without supervision.”

“Okay,” I say.

He won’t look at me now, and I nibble my lip, wondering if he might feel the little bit of spark that I just felt. Then I remember how gruff he’s been and shake off the thought. Of course he doesn’t feel anything. It doesn’t seem like he wants me here at all.

The rest of the short walk to the guesthouse is silent, but I’m hyperaware of his presence behind me as we make our way there. The backyard is just as gorgeous as the front yard, but also has a pool with a thick netting over it. Romel catches me looking at it.

“It’s a safety net. If Kay were to fall in, she wouldn’t go underwater. She knows how to swim, but I keep this net over the pool whenever I’m not out here to watch her.”

“Okay, I’ll keep that in mind so I always remember to put it back if we go swimming.”

“I appreciate it.”

“Of course. Her safety’s important to me.”

It’s the truth, and not just because it’s my job to watch her. Kaylee has already made a place for herself in my heart, and I’d be devastated if she got hurt, especially if I was watching her when it happened.

A hand wrapping around my upper arm stops me in my tracks, and I watch Kaylee open the door to the guesthouse and run inside before I spin around to face Romel.

His expression is serious, but there’s fear in the depths of his eyes. “My daughter is my whole world. Her safety is paramount, do you understand?”

I swallow thickly. “I promise I wasn’t being flippant. I know I haven’t known her for long, but I can assure you her safety is of the utmost importance to me as well. I will never put her in harm’s way.”

His grip relaxes and then he rips his hand away as if he just now noticed he was touching me. My arm is warm where he touched me, but I try to ignore the sensation.

“Miss Mere! Come here!” Kaylee’s voice breaks the weird, intense stare off we’re having and I take advantage of it, grabbing my suitcase from him and going straight into the guesthouse. Romel doesn’t follow. He stands frozen like a statue on the walkway just outside the guesthouse front door, and I’m grateful for the reprieve of having him in my space, even if it’s only temporary. As thrilling as it is to finally feel something, it is so, so, so bad that it has to be for my new boss.

Kaylee is sitting on the bed when I roll my suitcases in the bedroom. “You like it?” she asks, her voice quiet. I’m used to loud kids who seem like they have so much energy it’s practically exploding out of them. Kaylee is much more restrained.

I sit down on the bed next to her and bump her shoulder with mine. “It’s great. But how about I unpack later, and we go color for a while, or we could do something else if you want.”

She turns her cute little face to me, her lips pinched and her brows furrowed. I bite back a smile at such a small child wearing such a serious expression. “But Daddy’s home.”

I part my lips to reply, but she jumps off the bed and screams. “Daddy! ”

Shoving off the bed, I run after her. “Kaylee?”

Romel’s already through the front door and holding her, her little arms wrapped so tight around his neck, I wonder if he can even breathe. He turns a stern glare to me.

“What did you say to her?” he practically growls.

I shake my head, completely at a loss. “I asked her if she wanted to color or play and she just jumped off the bed screaming for you.”

Muffled sobs come from her and my heart breaks. “I don’t know what happened,” I say hoarsely, unable to look away from Kaylee.

Romel’s eyes close with a slight wince, and the muscles of his arms bunch as he hugs Kaylee tighter. “It’s not your fault,” he says with a heavy sigh.

“What did I say?”

When he opens his eyes, there’s that pain again. “She thought I was leaving.” But that’s all the attention he gives me before he brushes past me to sit on the small love seat in the living room that’s about as big as the one I had in the apartment I shared with my roommate in college.

He rubs Kaylee’s back in gentle circles, murmuring so softly to her, I can’t pick up any of the words, but they must be soothing to her because she stops crying and sits back to stare at him. Tears fill my eyes at the depth of sadness in her gaze when she looks at her dad. “You’re not leaving?”

“Not today. I’m here all day, okay? You know I always tell you when I’m going to leave.”

She looks down, her little brain processing that information before she nods.

“Do you want to color with Miss Mere?” he asks, his tone soft and gentle.

She looks up at him, her mouth in a pout. “You color too?”

Oh boy. I don’t know how he could possibly say no to her when she looks at him like that, so I’m not at all surprised when he nods.

Her face breaks out in a giant smile—bigger than any she’s ever given me—and she wipes her eyes before she slides off his lap and runs past me toward the main house. “Be right back!”

I laugh and try to wrap my head around the whiplash I just got. How is it that little kids can bounce back from such big emotions so quickly?

Romel stands, gripping his neck. “Sorry about that. She’s got a lot of separation anxiety when it comes to me. It’s gotten worse as she’s gotten older.”

I shake my head. “The apology isn’t necessary. I get it. My dad said I was the same way when I was little. I don’t remember it as much.”

He stares at me like he’s seeing me for the first time. “Larissa said you lost your mom when you were a baby?”

“Yeah, she died from complications with her delivery.”

His gaze moves to where his daughter went. “Did you miss her?”

I chew my lip and lean back against the wall. “It’s hard to miss someone you’ve never met. I missed the idea of her, if that makes sense. My dad showed me pictures and videos of her all the time growing up. It felt a lot like she was a relative I knew about but had never seen in person. So I cared about her, but not in the same way I cared about people I saw regularly.”

“That makes sense.”

Since I’m so close with my dad, I know what he’s really worried about—it’s the same fear my dad voiced more than once when I was growing up. “You’re a great dad, Romel. I’ve only spent a little time with you and yet that’s clear as day. She’s not lacking for love just because she doesn’t have a mom.”

He looks down at the floor and I know I was right. How can he even doubt what a great dad he is when his daughter so clearly loves him? When he’s the one person she seeks for comfort?

It seems my duties—whether he knows it or not—are to not only take care of Kaylee, but to help Romel see that he’s not failing her.