CHAPTER 11
Sutton
I was already in love with Charlie and Ollie.
I’d recognized the anger in Charlie immediately and, knowing the tiny amount I knew about how she’d ended up with Theo, I wasn’t surprised when she lashed out.
I also wasn’t surprised when the three men watching us stiffened and all stepped forward like they were going to intervene.
I’d probably overstepped my boundaries but if I was going to be their nanny, I needed to be able to resolve problems without their help.
I also didn’t want to see how they handled Charlie’s anger.
I remembered being her age and being so angry at my mom that it extended to Dad when he tried to calm me down.
I held my arms open to Charlie and grinned.
“Wanna hug and celebrate your win over that silly raccoon?”
She was hesitant to agree but when I didn’t immediately drop my arms she stepped into them and gave me the world’s fastest hug. Then she pulled back and crossed her arms. I glanced up to see the move was identical to the way Theo was standing.
“You’ll be our nanny?”
Theo had introduced me that way when she’d first scared the heck out of me.
The question brought my attention back to the men around us and I blushed when I realized they were all three watching me intently.
It was easier for me to forget they were there when I was tuned into the kids but looking at them brought me right back to my shy, awkward self.
“Um…I think I have to talk to these guys first.”
Ollie locked his arms around my neck, squeezing me until I felt like my face was being squished in an unfortunate way.
“You gotta stay, Sullie!”
“Let’s get back to the house. We have to talk to Sutton first, Ollie.” Dominic’s muscles flexed as he moved closer and gently scooped his son up. The gentleness was so at odds with the way he looked.
Charlie insisted on helping me stand, like she wasn’t tiny. I dusted my butt off as well as I could and ducked my head as my embarrassment over falling over caught up with me.
Leon insisted on turning me around and dusting the back of my thighs off, his hands warm and giant through the gauzy material of my skirt.
“How’s the ass?”
I gently eased away from him and licked my lips. Seemed like they were always dry around the three men who’d blown into my life like a summer storm.
“Um, fine?”
He stood over me, his eyes hard as they roamed my face and body.
“If you aren’t sure I could take a look.”
I let out an embarrassing squeak.
“No! No, it’s okay. I’m good. T-thank you, though.”
He grinned and it turned his hard face into something Hollywood would’ve loved for their next biker show. Move over Charlie Hunnam.
“The offer stands. Come on. I’ll walk back with you. Theo and Charlie slipped into the woods together.”
I looked around and sure enough, the two had vanished.
“How do they do that?”
“Not my secrets to tell, Angel.” He rested his hand between my shoulder blades and eased me along. “Thoughts or concerns so far?”
Besides the huge ones I had about working for them?
“Where’s your little girl? Theo said she’s three?”
“Lee. She was with the temp nanny when you screamed. She’s been fighting a cold and has been sleeping in for a change.” He kept his voice light but I could hear an edge of concern.
“Kids are so resilient. I can’t wait to meet her. If I get the job, I mean.”
“You’re fucking with me. You think after that display that you don’t already have the job?”
I looked up at him and shrugged. Not wanting to focus on the details of the job before I had to, I smiled up at him.
“You named your daughter after yourself? Leon and Lee?”
He didn’t smile back. If anything, he looked more sour than ever.
“She’s my sister’s kid. I’ve raised her since she was born but my sister stuck her with my name before she split. It’s technically Leona, though.”
Two out of the three scary tough men were raising kids that weren’t theirs. My heart couldn’t help but swell.
“That’s a really brave and kind thing you did, Leon. I absolutely love kids and want a football team of my own some day, but taking on a child is still intimidating to me.”
He didn’t say anything more and I trudged along, my unease coming back more and more with each step. What if they hated me and didn’t want to hire me? Even if they did want to hire me, what if they hated me? Had I upset him by talking about Lee?
While I worked myself into a tizzy I kept stealing glances at him.
Some of the men my mom would run off with looked similar, with the untamed hair and long beard.
The sides and back of his head were buzzed short but the rest was wild.
He looked like he’d never followed a single rule in his life.
The thing that set him apart from the men I remember being with my mom was his hazel eyes and alarming good looks.
Even through the beard there was no hiding just how attractive he was.
Even with his questionable tattoos, there was no hiding it.
“Breathe, Angel.”
I realized the tightness in my chest was because my lungs were struggling to get oxygen. I sucked in a sharp breath and let out an awkward laugh.
“Sorry.”
“For what?” He stopped walking and looked down at me with a deep frown marring his oddly pretty lips. “What exactly are you sorry for?”
I reached for the collar of my shirt and rubbed it between my fingers.
“Um… Forgetting to breathe?”
He sighed and shook his head.
“I don’t want to hear you apologize again unless you do something that needs apologizing for. Understand?”
My brain lit up, stupidly excited about the way he took charge. I’d read too many dirty books because the things that were turning me on weren’t normal. I needed to clear my eReader and download some Christian romance, or something.
“You don’t want me to apologize?”
“Not for stupid shit. Do you know how many times you’ve said that fucking word since I met you last night?” He stepped closer. “No? A fuck ton. So, stop it. I don’t want you teaching Charlie or Lee they should be apologizing for simply existing.”
Properly scolded and horrified at the idea of influencing the girls that way, I wrapped my arms around myself.
I had to fight the urge to apologize and instead bit my tongue and nodded.
It didn’t mean anything that I wanted to cry.
Some people spoke with less softness than others.
It didn’t mean anything. I could handle someone cursing at me and being harsher with me. I was tough.
“Do not fucking cry.” He glared at me and then stomped ahead, leaving me to trail along behind him like a kicked puppy. If he didn’t want me to cry, he was doing a crappy job of helping me keep my eyes dry.
I gave myself a pep talk about being strong and by the time I got to their house I’d convinced myself I was an emotionally strong woman. I pictured myself squatting and lifting five hundred pounds of grumpy man over my head and it was enough to have me fighting a smile.