Chapter 6
“ H e asked if I’d consider being a nanny?” I hissed the accusation and turned on my great-aunt once I was sure all the overly intimidating people were out of hearing distance. At the subtle lift of Aunt Ada’s lips, I demanded, “What did he mean you forcefully hired me?”
She shrugged. “Would you have come if I’d said there was a screaming baby and a man locked away in his office?” she challenged, then hurriedly added, “You needed to be saved from your guilt, and he was too lost in his grief to realize he needed help. You’re both welcome.”
A response about my guilt had been on the tip of my tongue, ready to fall, but only a soft breath left me by the end as I thought over her words that gave me little pieces to this puzzle I’d just walked into.
A puzzle so much more unbelievable than I could’ve ever imagined because my great-aunt’s boss—the man I’d heard her complain about for years—was the same man I’d been thinking of for the past nine months.
With a glance at the doorway where he’d been just a minute before, I turned to where the baby was sleeping in the crib and hesitantly asked, “What happened for your boss to have custody?”
A saddened sound left Aunt Ada as she shuffled through the room to join me. “Asher’s brother...he struggled for a long time. Fought an addiction to hard drugs the same as their momma had, and Asher did everything to pull him out of it and keep him clean. But sometimes...” Ada wavered, her chin trembling slightly. “Well, there’s only so much you can do sometimes.”
“He died?” The confirmation posed as a question left me on a whisper on the chance her boss was still in the apartment and decided to come down the hall again.
“Him, his wife, and one of their friends, all on the same night—a lot of drugs and a bad mix of them.” Aunt Ada nodded at my horrified stare. “Asher’s destroying himself over it, sure he could’ve prevented it.”
“That’s awful,” I murmured as I looked back at the sleeping baby, wondering if there was a way to shield her from the depth of the tragedy as she got older. “Now I feel bad.” A sigh pushed from my lungs as I turned to face my aunt. “I can’t remember all of what I said to your boss, but I don’t think I was nice to him.”
Aunt Ada scoffed in that way she liked to and waved off my worries. “You were perfectly fine—much nicer than any of us are with him. And don’t forget, he’s your boss now too.”
“Right,” I whispered as heat swept up my neck and into my cheeks at the thought of seeing that man on a near-daily basis. A heat I desperately tried to ignore, even as flashes tore through my mind of dark, piercing eyes and an angrily clenched jaw covered by what looked like a few days of stubble.
Every time I’d talked with Aunt Ada about the job she loved and her grouchy boss, I’d always pictured someone so opposite of the man who had just filled the room with all his imposing intensity. It’d never even occurred to me that when he’d left me sitting in the coffee shop, he would’ve then been the reason my great-aunt got held up, talking to her boss.
“That is...unless you’re reconsidering,” Aunt Ada began, drawing my attention to where one of her eyebrows was raised in expectation and worry. “If you were intimidated by Asher’s brusque tone and way of talking just then, I should warn you, he’s usually much worse.”
“No,” I hurried to assure her, head shaking. “No, of course I wasn’t. It’s just...” I quickly looked at the doorway one more time before admitting, “Aunt Ada, he’s the guy I told you about last summer when I was heading back to school. The one who kissed me to ‘save me.’”
“Is that so?” she asked in a tone that lacked all surprise. From the mischief glinting in her eyes, I had a feeling she’d known all along.
“You knew?” The demand left me on a hiss, but I quickly reared back and asked, “Wait, did he know? I mean, he recognized me—I think. Maybe. I’m not sure now...”
Laughter poured from my aunt as she grabbed one of my hands in both of hers and patted the top of it. “I told him none of my realizations.”
“But you knew,” I unnecessarily confirmed.
“Well, not all that hard to figure when he came storming out of the shop, ranting about having to take care of something because of girls with zero awareness who are fixin’ to get themselves kidnapped. Then as soon as I sat down, you started telling me about a man who kissed you to save you.”
An embarrassed sound caught in my throat. “I can’t work for him. Right? I never even told Jackson because it was?—”
Unbelievable. Exhilarating. Disorienting. All I could think about for so long...
“Nothing,” I lied. “I was never supposed to see him again. But I have to tell Jackson now, and he’ll flip. Even if he was okay with me working somewhere other than the farm—which, he isn’t—he wouldn’t let me work here.”
Aunt Ada hummed dismissively and gave my hand a tight squeeze. “If I’d told you who my boss was, would you have taken the job?”
My lips parted, but whatever immediate response I’d been about to give faded away.
Because of course I would’ve. This job had nothing to do with Asher Briggs and everything to do with the baby I’d found screaming as five intimidating people had crowded around her, failing in their attempts to calm her.
Our kiss and Asher’s attractiveness were nothing more than something to note and move on from the way he’d seemed to.
But the way his eyes had—no! No.
There was nothing in his eyes. There was nothing about him, period.
Still, I found myself asking, “Did you only offer me the job because you knew he was the man from last summer?”
“I take offense to that question, Lainey Ray,” she chided playfully. “You should know I’m much more creative than using a man’s hurt and the needs of a baby to fulfill my agendas.”
My eyes narrowed skeptically, but I eventually said, “Yes, I still would’ve taken the job.”
“Then it’s settled,” she said with a soft clap as she started toward the bedroom door. “Let me show you around this shack of a place so you’ll know where everything is.”
“About that,” I began as I let her lead the way. “When you said you’d let the front desk know I was coming, I didn’t think it was so a doorman could let me up to a penthouse apartment with a special keycard. I also wasn’t expecting the address you sent to lead me to a high-rise in the City Center District.”
She lifted a shoulder at the teasing accusation. “Again, would you have come?”
My eyes rolled because she knew it wouldn’t have changed my decision, but I still said, “I would’ve gone home to change first.”
A snort left her. “You’re going to be with an infant all day. No sense in dressing any way other than comfortable. Besides, I don’t think Asher understands the meaning of the words formal attire .”
A hum that I hoped sounded like amusement rolled up my throat as I followed Ada through the apartment and once again tried forcing away thoughts of that man.
But by the time she’d finished giving me a tour of the most beautiful and coldest place I’d ever seen, I found I couldn’t stop thinking about Asher Briggs as I wondered if he really enjoyed living the way he did.
Other than the blankets and toys left forgotten in the living area, everything was tidy in a way that screamed it shouldn’t be touched. There wasn’t anything that hinted at the man who lived there. Everything was all hard lines and dark, dark colors, offsetting the two stories of open windows, and giving the massive apartment an even more unwelcoming feel.
It looked like an overly modern, luxury hotel suite that some baby things had been left behind in.
“Thoughts?” Aunt Ada said as she shut the large refrigerator doors.
“I’m afraid to touch anything.” The confession left my lips on a whisper and had my great-aunt huffing out one of her scoffs.
“You’ll be fine, sweet girl,” she assured me. “There’s nothing in here that can’t be replaced.”
I started to tell her that hadn’t been what I was worried about, but a hesitant sound left me as I considered her words. “Well, that too, but I meant how everything is so organized.”
Understanding touched her expression as she turned for the large, dark granite island. “That’s how he likes it. But, please, mess up the place.” She gave me a mischievous look. “He needs to be pushed out of his comfort zone every now and then. It’ll be nice to have someone else helping me push him.”
My eyes rolled playfully. “Only you would intentionally irritate someone already so irritable.”
She lifted a hand as if she were innocent. “Now, if you think you and Kaia will be good here, I need to get to the office.”
“Of course. Go,” I urged her, even though my heart was racing at the thought of being left in this large, gloomy place with an eight-month-old I didn’t know how to take care of.
“The employment forms are on the computer,” Aunt Ada reminded me as she headed for the front of the apartment. As if sensing my hesitation, she turned and pointed at me. “Use the computer.”
“But—”
“You heard Asher before he left,” she said over me, “and he wouldn’t give me access to his computers if he didn’t want me on them.”
“ You , Aunt Ada. Not me.”
“Lainey Ray.”
I pressed my lips tightly together at her tone that held no room for argument. Drawing in a large breath, I released it slowly and nodded. “Yes, ma’am. I’ll start them as soon as you leave.”
She waved her jeweled index finger in the air. “Knew I still had it,” she mumbled as she turned for the elevator again. “These kids I work with had me thinking I’d lost my touch.”
“And what exactly is it ?” I asked, a whispered tease weaving into the words.
“The ability to scare you younger folk into remembering exactly who you’re dealing with.”
A sharp laugh left me. “I’m sure they’re plenty scared of you.” At the disbelieving look she sent me once she reached the elevator, I added, “Maybe they just haven’t seen you with a shotgun.”
“Unfortunately, they have.”
Amusement tugged at the corners of my mouth.
I could only imagine what had led to an encounter with my great-aunt threatening them with an unloaded shotgun.
“You could always try dragging them by the ear,” I offered just as the elevator arrived, then shrugged when her eyebrows furrowed. “The threat of that was what got Jackson to come with you last week.”
Surprise lit in her eyes at the news. “Is that so?” she asked, the quiet words seeming to be more for herself than me. With a dip of her head and a twitch of her lips, she stepped onto the elevator, calling out, “Thanks for the tip, my sweet Ray.”
For the briefest second, I felt bad for whatever followed my confession. But then I remembered Asher’s hardened glare and the five intimidating people I’d had to bowl through to get to Kaia, and I knew if Ada got a chance to drag any one of them, they’d probably deserve it.
Turning around, I drew in a few steeling breaths as I took in the apartment from where I stood. The shadowy beauty of it. The view from the windows on the side opposite where I stood. That unshakeable feeling like I had to be careful of where I even stepped...
When I’d first come in, I hadn’t been able to fully appreciate the magnitude or understand the solitude screaming from the walls. I’d been too focused on Ada filling me in over Kaia’s shrill cries.
Once I checked on her to make sure she was okay and still fast asleep, I wove through the apartment to the office that was easily three times the size of my bedroom.
And hesitated just inside.
Even setting foot in there felt wrong, and I realized by the time I finally forced myself to sit in the large desk chair that my lungs were straining from the short, shallow breaths I was taking. As if too large a breath might destroy the way everything was so perfectly in its place.
“Just get through these forms, then get out of here,” I murmured to myself, my head slanting as I lifted my hands to the keyboard. “And don’t touch anything else in the apartment.”
But halfway through the second form, my phone started ringing from where I’d dropped my bag in the living room, and I nearly screamed after being submersed in silence for so long.
Wavering for only a second, I pushed out of the chair and hurried through the opened glass doors. Grabbing my bag, I dug through it until I found my phone just as the call went to voicemail. I let my bag fall to the floor as I started for the office again, looking at the unfamiliar number that had called and dismissing it just as quickly. But as I set foot inside, another call came through from the same number.
I slowed to a stop just before the chair as I tapped the screen to answer. “Hello?”
“What about me gave you the impression that you could be in my office, let alone use my computer?”
A chill swept up my spine and forced a shuddering breath from my lungs at the harsh demand, and I hated to admit that my reaction was from hearing his voice again rather than out of fear of what his next words would be.
I glanced at the screen of my phone again before quickly looking around me as a soft “Mr. Briggs” left me, sounding more like a question than it should’ve, considering he owned the place I was standing in.
“Asher,” he corrected coldly. “Answer the question.”
“I, uh—” I wet my lips as I continued looking for the source of his information. “I was told to fill out the employment forms.”
“Not on my computer,” he grated. “Not in my office.”
“Then how?—”
“You are allowed in the main areas of the apartment and Kaia’s room, nowhere else. Do you understand, Miss Pearson?”
I locked onto the small camera in the top corner of the room, embarrassment flooding my veins and mixing with guilt I wasn’t sure I should be feeling. “Lainey,” I corrected the same way he had. “How many of these do you have around the apartment?”
“Enough.” His response was abrupt and told me that he was currently watching me through whatever feed that camera gave.
“It’s a little intrusive.”
“It’s for security,” he informed me. “Which, if you somehow weren’t aware by now, I’m involved in. I also don’t like having to repeat questions.”
I took a steadying breath before saying, “You didn’t answer mine, and I have another.”
“We’re not talking about last year.”
Wings took flight in my stomach at the confirmation he did, in fact, remember me, but I forced my outward appearance to remain neutral. “Understood,” I said as last year swirled through my mind as if the encounter had just happened. “Now that I know what you’re thinking about, I hate to inform you that wasn’t what my question was about.”
Silence filled the call before he rasped, “You could’ve asked it by now,” but I could’ve sworn there was a hint of amusement behind the irritated words.
“How did you get my number?”
“You just submitted it to me,” he said as if that should’ve been obvious.
My lips parted to let him know I hadn’t before realization set in, and I glanced over my shoulder at where the computer sat on the large, immaculate desk.
Right.
“Now, walk out of my office, close the doors, and don’t go in there again. Do you understand?”
“So, you don’t want me to finish the employment forms you demanded I fill out?” I asked as I looked back at the camera.
“I want you to respect what’s mine, Miss Pearson,” he softly seethed. “If not, feel free to stay home tomorrow, or at whatever other job you maybe, maybe don’t have.”
The call ended before I could respond.
I pressed my lips tightly together to keep from saying anything, since I wasn’t sure if the camera had sound too, and turned to leave the office, feeling lighter than I had in days.
As I shut the doors, a small smile tugged at the edge of my lips when I saw the little pieces of me left behind. The keyboard and mouse were out of place and the chair was rolled away from the desk, making the lonely office look slightly less forgotten.
I also had a feeling it would irritate my new boss. And after only a few short interactions with him, I perfectly understood why Ada enjoyed pushing him.
Lifting my phone again, I saved Asher’s contact as The Jerk , then got to work since Kaia was still sleeping.
First things first: I needed to know everything about eight-month-olds.