8. Dante
Chapter 8
Dante
I needed to apologize to the nanny.
That was my first thought as I came to a stop in the driveway behind the Escalade. Though why I even cared so much was a mystery to me. Lucy worked for me, not the other way around, and despite her snarky yet also chipper attitude, I couldn’t stop thinking about her. Three days had passed since she twirled away from my attempt to apologize, and every day since she had been mysteriously absent unless Lena was also around as our unofficial chaperone.
The more I thought about it though, I thought maybe not apologizing was the way to go. As long as she was a little annoyed with me, we could keep a professional distance between us that would prevent us both from doing something stupid, like give in to temptation. Like strip every stitch of clothing from her luscious body and make her mine. Only for a night though, because I didn’t do long-term, not anymore. No more marriages and no more babies for me. One night, or maybe a few weeks of carnal bliss was all I needed to keep me going.
In the end though, for the sake of keeping the peace, I decided to apologize. I found Lucy and Lena in the backyard. But instead of skipping around the grass or having a tea party, they were laid out on a pink blanket with their heads together facing the sky.
“I see a bunny rabbit!” Lena’s excited words stopped my progress across the lawn, and I watched the two females as I rolled up my sleeves and popped the top buttons on my shirt. Lena giggled and pointed at the sky.
“I can’t quite see it,” Lucy said in a gentle, guiding voice. “How many clouds is this bunny rabbit?”
Without missing a beat, Lena pointed as she counted them out carefully. “See?”
Lucy gasped and nodded. “Oh yeah, now I see it perfectly. Very good, Lena.” She was so good at this, finding ways to encourage Lena while infusing even fun activities with learning. “Okay, my turn. I see a pig!” She pointed and did a terrible impression of a pig’s oink.
Lena giggled wildly and pointed to the sky once again. “I see it too!” She counted once again, this time without being prompted. “You’re good at this game Lucy.”
She huffed a laugh and shrugged. “I played this game a lot when I was a little girl, and even during study breaks when I was in college.” There was a wistfulness in her voice that sent a multitude of questions firing off inside my head.
Lena gasped. “You played this as a grownup?”
“Yup, I did.” There was laughter in Lucy’s voice when she answered.
“Not with a little kid like me?”
“Nope. Just with myself. It’s soothing, which means calming. You’ll see when you start school, sometimes you just need a break, and this was mine.”
“I’m always gonna look at the cloud animals!”
Lucy laughed. “You should. You’re never too old to take a few moments for yourself.”
Damn if there wasn’t something totally appealing about the way she spoke to my little girl. Lucy had a knack for talking to kids on their level without it sounding like she was talking down to them. It was clear why she was a sought after nanny, which meant I really, really needed to apologize. I crossed the yard and stood beside them, my body cast a shadow over their smiling faces.
“Excuse me, ladies.”
“Hi Daddy!”
I couldn’t help but smile at Lena. Every single day, without fail, she greeted me with the kind of excitement only a kid could produce. “Hey sweetheart. Having a good day?”
“The best day, Daddy. You wanna look at cloud animals with us?”
My lips quirked and I ran a hand through my hair. “Maybe. I was hoping to have a word with Lucy, first.”
“We’re not done yet Daddy.”
“She’s right,” Lucy smirked and shielded her eyes. “If you want to talk, get down here and find a cloud animal.” There was so much laughter in those blue slits, challenging me, that I had no choice but to lie down.
I found a spot right between them, but my body faced the opposite direction because there wasn’t enough room the other way. I turned my gaze to the clouds and frowned. “What am I supposed to see exactly?”
Lucy chuckled as her gaze swung to mine. “Use your imagination,” she whispered, and that’s when I realized what a big mistake I’d made. I should have taken the spot on the other side of Lena because we were so close, her minty breath fanned across my face.
“I save my imagination for more important things.” The innuendo in my words made her smile even broader.
A single blond brow arched and she leaned just a little closer. “Try harder.”
And now I was thinking about her plump lips tackling something else hard. Shit. “How?”
“Pretend this is important to you,” she said with a smile, but the fire in her eyes told me she thought I was falling down on the job, and I hated that she was right.
I couldn’t resist the challenge she presented, both in physical terms as well as her challenging my parenting. I turned back to the sky and stared at the clouds while they cantered over me.
“I got it! Right there I see a giraffe.” I hoped like hell it was a giraffe anyway. I pointed at it as Lena and Lucy leaned closer to follow the path of my fingers.
Lena patted my arm excitedly. “I see it Daddy! One, two,” she started to count the clouds that made up the giraffe.
I turned to Lucy with a fortifying sigh. “I’m sorry that I hurt your feelings, Lucy. Truly. That wasn’t my attention, it’s just that Alex is an old friend and he knows how to get under my skin.”
She said nothing for a few seconds and finally gave me her blue gaze. “I don’t care that you don’t find me attractive, Mr. Rush, but that doesn’t mean that your words didn’t hurt. I accept your apology, but I don’t appreciate you talking badly about me behind my back.”
I nodded, but the relief I expected didn’t come. Her words were right and sincere, but it didn’t feel as if she truly forgave me. She never said she did, I realized. She accepted my apology, which I learned throughout the three years in my torturous marriage, was not the same thing. “Thank you, Lucy.”
She shrugged.
“Join us for dinner?”
“I can’t,” she said quickly and looked away.
“Hot date?” I don’t know why I asked that question. It wasn’t my business, it was inappropriate, and worse, it made it seem like I cared about the answer. And I didn’t. Not really.
Lucy snorted and a bitter laugh rushed out of her. “You don’t believe that,” she answered and rolled her eyes. “It’s an incredibly hot date, going to Toni’s apartment to pack up some things so I don’t have to go back and forth as often.”
“The woman with you the day you ripped me a new one?”
She smiled and didn’t bother denying my phrasing. “Yeah, that’s her.”
Toni was a girl, not a boyfriend. “How is it that you don’t have a place of your own?”
She shrugged. “My last assignment ended abruptly when the mom received a promotion that required them to move. It was also live-in, so Toni let me crash at her place until I found a place of my own, or a new live-in assignment came along.”
“So basically I saved you?”
She laughed, and it was throaty and sexy. “If that’s what you need to believe, have at it.”
I found myself smiling at her constant need to put me in my place. Never met a woman who did that, not even Bethany had done that, unless she really meant it and wanted to hurt me.
“You’re free to use the Escalade. It has a lot more room than your sedan.”
“Thank you, but the Escalade is my work car, and I am officially,” she glanced down at the sleek black band on her left wrist and smiled as she got to her feet, “off the clock.”
“I’m your boss, and I’m telling you it’s okay to use it.” Why was she so stubborn? I got up too, feeling more confident now that I was back on my feet, on equal footing with Lucy.
Her gaze inched up my body, and I took a step back realizing how close I was, and how big our height difference was. I didn’t want her to think I was intimidating her on purpose. “I’ve been doing this for a long time Mr. Rush and I have a system for keeping things professional, but thanks again for the offer.” She flashed that smile that made it feel as if she had a secret that only she knew.
“Dante.” Why I felt the need to keep reminding her to use my first name I had no idea, though I was sure Alex would have plenty.
“Right. Dante.” She took a few steps back, but not before I caught a flare of desire in her eyes.
Interesting. No, it wasn’t interesting. It was unfortunate, because neither of us could act on it. “Was that so hard?”
She rolled her eyes. “You have no idea.” Her gaze swung to Lena who still counted clouds. “Do you want a progress report now?”
I shook my head and waved her off. “Monday is soon enough. Enjoy your night Lucy.”
“Oh yeah, big night of packing and loading up my car.” She laughed nervously. “You too…Dante. Bye Lena, see you later.”
“Buh bye Lucy!”
She turned and walked across the backyard.
I mentally patted myself on the back for only staring at her ass for a few seconds when I actually really wanted to stare until she disappeared from my view.