Chapter 10
chapter
ten
Official Rules for Wind from the East Nanny Service
Winnie’s take away: Holy shit! It’s what time???
Winnie
When I wake the next morning, I’m half convinced everything that happened last night was a dream. I’m alone in my bed, and I don’t remember the last time I slept that well. That hard.
I grab my phone from the nightstand and realize that I’ve slept in. Panic floods my system with adrenaline and I jump out of bed.
I get ready as quickly as possible, throwing on a pair of shorts and a graphic tee. Brush my teeth, wad my hair into a messy bun and I’m ready. I creep downstairs hoping that by some miracle, I’m still up earlier than Brody.
That hope dies in my chest when I hear his masculine voice along with the higher sounds of Clementine’s coming from the kitchen.
I step into the room ready to make some excuse for my sleeping in that morning, but the words dissolve on my tongue when I see them. Clementine is standing on a chair next to her father. And they’re making pancakes.
For reasons I’d rather not explore, tears spring to my eyes.
“Winnie!” Clementine chirps when she sees me. “We’re making you breakfast.”
“Me?” Another burst of panic floods my system. I sneak a glance at Brody and he’s looking right at me. He turns off the stove and says something low to his daughter that I can’t hear.
“I’m so sorry for sleeping in,” I say. “I’m not really sure?—”
“Don’t worry about it, Killer, you needed your rest.” His voice is intimate, close to my ear as he steers me via his hands on my shoulders to the kitchen table. He squeezes said shoulders, then returns to the kitchen to help Clementine finish the plates.
They get to the table with plates piled with pancakes, a bowl of fresh berries, a bottle of syrup and a can of whipped cream.
“Do it, Daddy, show Winnie,” Clementine pleads.
Brody chuckles and the noise hits me right in the nipples. Shit. What have I done? Broken several of those clauses, right? I mean technically I didn’t crawl into his bed. But I goaded him last night. Flirted. Practically dared him to touch me.
Brodie holds the can of whipped cream up to Clementine and she opens her mouth. He squirts a puff of the white stuff between her teeth. She licks her lips and swallows it down. Then he does the same to himself.
My eyes lock onto his tongue as he swipes the cream off his lips and licks it into his mouth. The movement of his Adam’s apple when he swallows is nothing short of mesmerizing.
Then he’s right there, standing next to me, holding up that can of whipped cream. He raises his eyebrows in a clear challenge. I open my mouth and he shoots some inside. Then it’s his turn to stare as I lick up the sweet foam and swallow it.
Clementine claps, breaking the spell between me and her father.
What exactly is happening this morning? The knots in my stomach tell me it can’t possibly be anything good. Brody helps Clementine make her plate, then eyes me.
I stab one of the pancakes with my fork and bring it to my plate.
It has a smiley face cooked into it and that’s just too damn adorable for words.
My heart is in so much trouble. This man, which unbelievably sexy man, is the kind of dad every little girl needs.
I’m pretty sure I ovulate in that moment.
He makes his plate and then sits across from me as Clementine chatters about her chickens and how they still haven’t figured out how to lay eggs properly.
Brody’s hot-chocolate eyes watch my every move and I’m wilting under the weight of his attention. Did everything that happened last night happen on purpose? Had it been all intentional on his part? And to what end?
Was he trying to create a scenario in which I would quit or he would have terms to fire me? Is that what this was all about?
But my guts says he’s not that kind of man.
Sure, he tried to fire me when I first started working here, but lately he’s been friendlier. Flirty even. But if he doesn’t want to fire me, then why did what happened last night … happen?
And more to the point, why didn’t more happen?
After he ate me out like I was his last meal, he didn’t seemed to expect anything in return. He just curled me onto my side, with his front to my back, his arm wrapped around my waist. He murmured that I should go to sleep. And somehow I did!
And this morning, he’s acting like nothing has changed between us. Yes, he’s even more flirty than he was last night, but why? And what does that mean?
I’m the one who climaxed. He didn’t. Shouldn’t he be grumpy or moody or something?
And also, why did no one ever tell me that man-induced orgasms are better than vibrator induced ones?
Why am I so inexperience? If I had just lost my virginity in college, I would know how to handle this!
I should have been an engineering major!
I bet female engineering majors get laid all the time!
Pursuing a career I have zero interest in would be totally worth it if it meant avoiding all this post sex anxiety!
Abruptly, I stand up, my chair clattering loudly as I push it back with my legs. “I have to go,” I blurt.
Clementine just shoves another bite of pancake into her mouth. “Okay.”
“Don’t talk with your mouth full,” both Brody and I say at the same time.
His gaze catches mine and his lips curve into a knowing smile. A taunting smile. An I-made-you-come-last-night smile.
My belly flip flops like a pancake and my heart flutters, when it hits me. I’ve been worried about the wrong person’s emotions.
I spent all of breakfast worried about what he was thinking about when I should have been worrying about myself. For the first time, I see clearly what I should have noticed before now. I adore this little girl, but I might just love her dad even more.
How can I not love a man who reads with his daughter every evening and who makes her pancakes?
A man who loves his daughter so much he lets her keep a rambunctious dog, a grumpy-ass cat, and a dozen fat roosters?
A man who walked away from a career as a football god so that he would raise his daughter?
Yep. This is it. The kiss of death for my entire career. Because I will never love another kid as much as I love Clementine and won’t ever be able to nanny for another family.
Damn it. I really should have been an engineering major. I bet they never have to deal with this shit!
I take a nervous step backwards. “I need to …”
What?
Go cry into my pillow?
Work on my resume?
Enroll in therapy?
Apply for engineering school?
“Take a shower,” I end up blurting. “Is that okay? Can you two…”
Once again I trail off, at a total loss for words.
Clementine flashes me a bright, but syrupy smile. “Don’t worry. I’ll watch over Daddy while you’re gone.”
Brody gives a huff of laughter and rubs his hand over her curls. “Yeah. We’ve got this.”
I’m most of the way out the door when he says, “Hey, Winnie.”
I turn around to see him looking at me with a smirk on those perfect full lips. “Yeah?”
“Don’t forget about tonight.”
My stomach drops. Tonight? What’s happening tonight?
Is that a innuendo? Or a come on or whatever?
I can feel the heat flooding my cheeks as I imagine all this things that we didn’t do last night that he seems to be implying will happen tonight.
“Wh-what’s tonight?”
“It’s poker night!” Clementine yells throwing her arms up in the air.
“Oh. Right.”
Brody’s poker buddies are coming over for poker night.
And here I thought he was hinting an entirely different kind of poking.
Is that why he’s in such a good mood? Probably.
Dear Lord above, I wish I had just an ounce of chill.
Just enough to at least pretend to know how to act during a morning after.
Instead, I’m just awkward and horrible at this.
Leave it to me to mess things up this badly. Only I could be a dumb virgin nanny who love falls in love with her boss.
Oh, god. I’m in so much trouble here.