CHAPTER 14
Sutton
I met Lee early the next morning when Naomi, the night nanny, left.
I didn’t mention the fact she didn’t live in their house.
She hopped in her car and drove away without a single oversized man stalking after her.
I wasn’t even acknowledging the fact it made me feel special.
Stupid. So stupid. Naomi handed the little girl off with barely a glance at me and then she was gone, leaving me standing in the kitchen with a toddler who had no idea who I was.
“Well, good morning, Lee. I’m Sutton. I’m going to be your new nanny. How does that sound?”
“Button! I got buttons.” She reached up and pulled my glasses off my face before tossing them across the room. “I want Daddy. I want Daddy now!”
It wasn’t surprising she was screeching at me. I was a stranger who’d just scooped her up.
“We’ll find your Daddy but I can’t find anyone without my glasses. Want to see how blind I am?”
She scowled at me in the cutest way but nodded.
I bumped into the kitchen counter and then the fridge, pretending I couldn’t see where I was going at all.
By the sixth thing I’d bumped into she was giggling.
I held one hand out in front of me and started feeling around.
When she giggled harder, I reached up and felt her face.
“What’s this? Is there a small, adorable monkey in my arms? A small, adorable monkey with the giggles?” I teased my fingers over her neck and laughed with her as she squealed and laughed even louder. “I’ve heard of these. Screaming monkeys who giggle like cute little girls!”
“This doesn’t seem like a good place to leave your glasses.” Leon stood on the other side of the kitchen, probably frowning. I couldn’t tell without my glasses, but I was assuming since that seemed to be his normal around me.
Lee struggled to get free and took off for Leon. I followed to get my glasses, but when I got to them, he held my glasses back from me. I reached for them anyway.
“Say please, Angel.”
Lee, in his arms, slapped his face and giggled.
“Daddy, that’s Button.”
I waited for him to tell her not to hit him but he didn’t.
I had to bite back the reprimand on the tip of my tongue.
It wasn’t my place to parent the little girl, not when her father was right there.
It made it impossible for me to say please to him.
He wanted manners from me but wasn’t going to tell Lee that hitting was wrong? I just couldn’t do it.
Theo walked in, thankfully, and plucked my glasses out of Leon’s hands. He positioned them on my face and smiled before turning back to Leon.
“Lee ripped those off and threw them across the room.”
Charlie showed up at Theo’s side and scowled at Lee.
“Someone’s going to smack you back, LeeLee.”
Leon held Lee out in front of him and stared at her while she wiggled around, giggling at him.
“Did you throw Sutton’s glasses, Lee? That’s not nice.”
There was something so funny about hearing the mountain of a man who looked like a dangerous criminal telling a child that something wasn’t nice.
I had to turn away and tried to hide the fact that I was so amused.
I tuned them out while they spoke quietly about right and wrong and stuck my head in the fridge to see what all there was for me to cook.
A whole lot of nothing, I quickly realized.
When I shut the door Leon was behind it and I jumped and clutched my chest.
He leaned in and whispered so I’d be the only one to hear him.
“Keep laughing at me, Angel, and I’ll have to think you want to be spanked.”
I gasped and looked down to hide how red my face was.
“You can’t—”
His lips brushed the shell of my ear.
“I can. I’d fucking enjoy every second of it, too.”
Trying to regain some sense of control, I scooted away from him and moved to the other side of the island.
“How do y’all eat? There’s nothing for me to cook.”
Dominic walked into the kitchen with Ollie running behind him to keep up with his long strides.
“You’re the nanny, Angel. Not the cook.”
I waited for him to answer my question and when he didn’t seem bothered to do more than pour himself a giant cup of black coffee I had to clear my throat.
“Okay. I’m still wondering how the kids eat.”
Theo moved over to stand beside me and handed me his phone. I could see another kitchen with two men cooking away.
“There’s another kitchen in the south wing of the house. None of us can cook worth a shit but we still wanted the kitchen to be an area we could be without strangers trampling through.”
“Did Theo just show Angel his phone?” Leon elbowed Dominic. “He never ever lets us see it.”
“She’s special.” Theo said it while looking at me with those intense blue eyes and I sagged against the counter. He looked across the kitchen at Dominic and Leon. “Right?”
Dominic planted his fists on the counter across from me and leaned in.
“She is special.”
I was so busy looking at the three men who seemed to have lost their minds that I didn’t notice Ollie sneaking up on me.
Before I knew what he was up to he had lifted my skirt and crawled inside.
I squeaked and jerked backwards into Theo.
He wrapped an arm around me and planted his hand over my stomach, unknowingly sending my blood pressure through the roof.
The last place I wanted him touching was my stomach. I was too soft, too pillowy.
“Ollie.” Theo held me tighter. “You do not crawl under a woman’s skirt without permission.”
“Oh.” Ollie’s gray eyes watered. “Can I crawl under your skirt, Sullie?”
“Oh, great.” Dominic circled the counter and scooped his son up. “Ollie, what’s the deal??”
Ollie was still looking at me with those pretty eyes filled with tears and it broke my heart.
“Ollie, if you want cuddles, I’d be happy to give them to you. All the cuddles you could ever want. Just as long as we keep the cuddles over my skirt.”
I watched Dominic mouth the word cuddles but he had to react fast when Ollie stretched his arms out to me and just sort of launched himself away from his father. I caught him and wrapped my arms around him as he latched himself to me.
Even as I reveled in the feeling of his warm little body clinging to mine, I felt the familiar tinge of worry most teachers experienced more than a few times each year, with each new class.
While it was beautiful to see a kid so open and loving, there was often a concern about why they might be that way.
I’d had to report more parents than I wanted to think about in my short career because their kids hadn’t just been open and loving for no reason.
I held Ollie a little tighter and looked up at Dominic.
No matter what all he did for me, or Dad, if I got the first inkling he was doing anything to the little boy to make him desperate for the affection of strangers, I’d crawl to the closest police station if I had to.
He was staring down at Ollie with a mix of love and concern in his own eyes that gave me comfort.
It felt like we were both wondering about Ollie’s eagerness to hang on to me.
I was still thinking about it all when breakfast was delivered.