3. Cassidy
Chapter 3
Cassidy
I grab my backpack and push out of the car.
The house is more than intimidating. My parents live in a 1970s ranch-style home with half the bedrooms we actually need to house all the children that live there.
But this house might be too big for its occupants.
“You’re early,” a deep voice breaks into my thoughts and stops me in my tracks.
Hand to chest, I gulp. “Oh my god, I didn’t see you.”
He pushes himself up from the ground where he seemed to be working on his car and walks over to me. He’s shirtless and has a cap turned backwards. He pulls a bandana from his back pocket and wipes his hands and brow, leaving a small smudge on his forehead that just makes him look even more endearing.
I still.
His beautiful teal eyes sparkle under the sun. A color like the ocean–dark, cool, and deep. My eyes trail down to his lips and they move but I don’t catch what he says. It’s like my brain is wading through mud, trying to process everything and nothing all at once.
“I-I’m sorry, did you say something?”
He grins, cocking his head to the side. “Were you just staring at my lips?”
I feel the color drain from my face. “No!”
He pouts. And it might be more dangerous than his freakin’ smile by what it does to my heart rate.
“That’s a shame.”
Wait… what? Is he seriously flirting with me? Is my new boss… flirting with me?
“Joshua Hicks,” he extends his hand and I stare at it, dumbfounded. “In case you forgot.”
How could anyone possibly forget that face? I just stare at his hand, unable to make a move because I’m annoyingly fan-girling at the moment. Despite wrongfully convincing myself that I wouldn’t.
He lets his hand fall to the side and then brings up the other to rub the back of his neck.
"Look, Fergie told me you're not my biggest fan. And that's okay. I hope to convince you otherwise, but I'm really glad you're here."
It did take a lot of convincing me to be here.
Not because I don't like Joshua Hicks, though I could see why they would think that. But more because I wasn't sure if I could trust myself to be around him and not do stupid things. Something that I'm proving to myself I was right to assume as I stare at him for what feels like way too long to be socially acceptable before I look finally away.
Again, he’s shirtless, and I’m shameless in letting my eyes do what they want at the moment.
"All that to say, thanks for coming, Cassie," he continues, when I don't say anything."Can I call you Cassie?"
"Most people call me Sid," I admit, words finally come out of my mouth, and I try to look anywhere but his eyes.
"Sid?" He cocks his head again, inspecting me. I feel my body heat under his assessing gaze. "Why?"
"We have a Cassie." I finally look at him. "My sister Cassandra. We also have a Casey. My mom had a thing with C names. Kind of like the Kardashians."
"But with Cs," he says, nodding as if he understands. "So what's your mom's name then? Claire?"
"Donna,” I say. “Claire's my younger sister."
He pauses before chuckling to himself. "How many siblings do you have?"
"Enough to have to claim a nickname," I say.
"My condolences," he says with a sly grin.
"Uh… thanks?"
He watches me squirm, and I feel my cheeks flush.
“Well, shall we?” he motions toward the massive black double doors.
“Yeah… sure.” I tug on the straps to my backpack and he clocks the motion.
“You a student?” he asks, leading me up the steps to the mansion.
“Uh… yes. I'm attending community college right now, but I’m transferring to U of H in the fall.”
He smiles. “What’s your degree in?”
I nearly forget. Why does he have to look so good doing something so mundane as smiling?
“Um… I… uh,” I shake my head to come back to my senses. Get it together, Sid. “Teaching. I’m working towards getting a Masters of Science in Education.”
He pushes the door open and looks back at me. “So you’re not only ridiculously cute, you’re also a nerd.”
He says it like there’s no arguing with him, and now I know for sure that he’s flirting with me.
He sends me a wink before moving to the side so I can step in after him.
“Welcome to our home, Sid.”
I know he doesn’t mean it to sound like he's welcoming me to our home, but my stupid brain sends signals to my stomach to give me butterflies at this moment, as if that's exactly what he meant.
The inside of the house is even more ridiculous than the outside. A giant winding staircase. Beautiful floor to ceiling windows that are twice as big as anything I've ever seen in a private home. It even smells expensive.
There’s a woman that looks like a maid dusting the area near the entrance. She’s older, probably in her sixties. I decide she must be nice when she turns and shoots me a welcoming smile. But then she immediately looks at Joshua behind me with eyes that look like she'd rather him not be here. And I wonder if I'm wrong about her.
“Julia,” he says, surprised. “I didn’t think you were going to be in until tomorrow.”
“I’m here every Friday, Mr. Hicks. Never changes,” she says with a hint of a Cajun accent. “Is that the new nanny?” she motions to me.
I extend a hand. “Hi, I’m Cassidy.”
She hesitates a moment but decides to return the gesture. “I hope you last longer than the last one, Ms. Cassidy.”
She drops my hand and gives Joshua another stern look. Something in my stomach drops.
Joshua laughs nervously, “Oh, Julia. Always a pleasure.” He puts his hand on the small of my back to lead me further into the house.
“I’m serious. Don’t let him get to you,” she warns me as we walk away.
“Anyways,” Joshua says, ignoring the woman. “This is the kitchen. Help yourself to anything you want. Our chef will be in around noon to prep meals for the weekend.”
“Chef?” I ask.
He looks at me. “Yeah, so if you have any allergies or preferences, let him know. He’ll cook whatever you want.”
“Oh,” I breathe out.
“Do you have more bags in the car?” he says, eyeing my backpack again.
I shake my head and tug it closer. “Nope. This is everything.”
“Seriously?”
I laugh. “Yeah… I’m not loaded like you guys.”
He cocks his head.
“Not that being loaded is a bad thing. Obviously… I just… I don’t have a lot of things, that’s all.”
Ok, Sid. Time to shut up.
“Okay,” he says with a smile. “Well, come on. I’ll show you to your room.”
He goes up the stairs just outside the kitchen, and I shake my head. I’m sure at some point over the next six weeks, this will stop feeling weird, and being in the presence of a celebrity sports star will wear off… but clearly, right now is not that moment.
My palms are clammy. I’m pretty sure I’m breathing erratically. And now I can smell the cologne he has on in full force. It's doing something to me that I don't need to feel for the man giving me a life-changing opportunity.
I watch as his muscles coil as he moves. He’s every bit the athlete I know him to be. And I’m paying so much attention to his back muscles that I trip on the last step and stumble right into him.
We both come crashing down onto the floor, with me right on top of those rock-hard muscles.
I scramble. “Oh my god, I-I am so–”
“Don’t,” he puts a hand up. “It’s okay. I trip all the time.”
Somehow I doubt that, given that he’s super coordinated going at high speeds balanced on blades and chasing pucks for a living.
He pushes himself up and reaches down to help me up, too. His hand is so warm in mine. I almost forget to let it go. The moment is only broken by the sound of kids coming in through the front door.
“Shoes in the closet,” Julia instructs them.
Joshua and I pull away from each other just as little footsteps are bounding up the stairs.
“We’re home!” Another male voice calls from downstairs.
“And that’s the last of the peace and quiet,” Joshua mutters.
A little girl with brown hair and teal eyes stops at the top of the steps to assess us.
“Who’s that? One of your girlfriends?” she sneers, crossing her arms.
I look at Joshua, confused. Girlfriends? As in multiple ones?
“This is your new nanny, brat.”
“Stop calling me that!”
“I’ll stop calling you that when you stop acting like one. Cassidy, Maddie. Maddie, Cassidy.”
He motions to each of us when he says our names.
“Hi, Maddie,” I give her a small wave.
She steps up to me. And looks up.
“Oh,” I breathe out at her sudden approach.
“Are you going to kiss my brother too?”
“Uh… what?” I look at Joshua.
He pinches the bridge of his nose. “No, she’s not,” he answers for me.
And I feel conflicted about the way he so quickly answered that.
“No, I’m just here to watch you and your siblings,” I say.
She drops the hands from her hips and softens her stance. “Oh, good. Because every time he kisses a nanny, she leaves.”
“Oh my god, Maddie, please stop talking. That’s not… that’s not true,” he says, turning to me with pleading eyes.
I try to smile, but I can tell it doesn’t reach my eyes. I’ve heard the rumors of the Heatwave’s resident playboy. I’d hoped they weren’t all true. But it seems like everyone around him has done nothing but confirm the rumors.
A man makes it up the stairs with a toddler on his shoulders. “Hey! You must be the new nanny.”
I recognize the Heatwave team captain right away. Dark hair, tan skin, deep brown eyes that resonate warmth.
“Hi.” I give him a smile.
“This is Cassidy,” Joshua says.
Keelan sets the little boy down to join his sister. “Landry,” he says, like I don’t already know who he is. “That’s Parker.”
The little boy barely acknowledges me before disappearing into one of the rooms with his older sister.
“Has Hicks shown you you’re room yet?”
“I was… just getting to that part,” Joshua says.
Keelan smiles, assessing me. And as he does, I really wish I would’ve dressed a little better now that I’m here. Jeans and a t-shirt just tend to be my normal everyday attire–especially since I work with kids.
My teen sister Courtney told me I looked like a hobo when I left the house this morning. She tends to say the first thing that pops into her head, so I've been second guessing my choice ever since.
“Great! Just this way,” Keelan motions further down the hall.
“Are all these rooms occupied?” I ask.
“Nah. The two youngest share that room you saw. This is the teenager,” Keelan says, pointing to a door with a makeshift keep out sign. “This is Hicks, and this is you. I’m on the other side of the house if you ever need anything.”
I cough on my own saliva because why in the world would I ever need anything from Keelan that I couldn’t just ask Joshua for?
Joshua seems to pick up on it, too.”Keelan likes to make sure everyone feels at home,” he says, answering my puzzled look.
“Mi casa, es su casa,” Keelan says, opening the door to my room. He steps aside to let me through.
I take in the big bed with the fluffy white comforter and big bright windows with a backyard view. There’s a beautiful abstract painting of an astronaut with splashes of colors. An homage to the Space city, no doubt.
“You’ve got your own bathroom and walk-in closet,” Keelan steps in and turns on the lights.
Joshua hesitates at the door.
“I’m sure you met Julia, the housekeeper. Sean will be in later to cook. And if you need anything, we have a house manager, Indira.”
“A house manager?” I ask, turning to him.
“Yeah, she takes care of all staff and anything estate related. She’s married to Sean, so they sometimes ride together.”
“Wow, you’ve got quite the crew here.”
Keelan shrugs. “We travel a lot so… kinda need the extra hands.”
“Welp,” Joshua gives the door frame two knocks. “We’ll let you get settled. Feel free to join us for lunch and I’ll give you a rundown of all the expectations.” He flashes Keelan a look that I can't quite read.
I nod and wave at them.
“It’s nice to meet you, Cassidy,” Keelan shoots me a wink. The same way that Joshua had earlier, and I flush.
Why are Heatwave guys such massive flirts?
Joshua gives him a light shove when he exits and shuts the door behind him.
I lay back on my bed and stare up at the ceiling fan that’s lazily whirling.
This is going to be great.