Chapter 7
I tried desperately to keep my attraction to this fine man to a minimum, but the way my body reacted as he stood next to me in my kitchen had me praying he didn’t sense my attraction to him.
His cologne permeated the air with a woodsy scent that had my hormones in a rage.
While he synced our calendars, I stared at his profile, seeing the outline of his chiseled jawline, neatly manicured beard, the plumpness of his lips, and his beautiful eyes.
Something told me this was going to be a mistake.
This man was too fine to be in the profession he was in, but I also felt he was good with children.
Carsyn had already surprised me when he spoke to him so freely.
I guessed it was easy for him to do since his father rarely, if ever, played the video game with him.
The only thing Leo had ever done with Carsyn was take him to the park to play ball and show him fire safety drills, his way of “playing” with him.
Other than that, Leo rarely ever spent time with Carsyn, none of the kids, honestly, and it made me feel a way because I was never vocal about the time he spent with them.
I was always the one taking care of everything when it came to their care, and I even had to hire a nanny to help with daily tasks.
Children needed their parents, especially their fathers. While both roles played a major part in a child’s upbringing, fathers exuded a certain type of energy that every child needed. It wasn’t about who needed to be there the most. It was about balance.
“I have their meal preferences and daily routines locked in. Is there anything else I need to know?” he asked.
“No, I think that’s it. We do have to go to the market, though.”
“Or you could write me a list, and I’ll handle it.”
“I’m free until noon. We can go together. Besides, the kids love a good road trip to the market.” I giggled lightly.
“Let’s not keep them waiting.”
I led him out of the kitchen and back to the family room. He helped the kids get their jackets and shoes on while he joked with them. Their laughs filled the room, and a warm feeling traveled over me.
I watched how he handled them with care and sang The Ants Go Marching in a super-cool, hip-hop kind of way that made the kids laugh even harder while they stomped along to the door.
All month, I had been feeling down and depressed, trying to come to terms with the fact that my husband was divorcing me. I had to put up a facade at work and in front of the kids, but at night, I’d lie awake in bed, crying and feeling hopeless.
I tried to pray the pain away, but it felt as if God put on earplugs and couldn’t hear a word I said.
I even tried to tell myself that I was okay, and fuck Leo, but that didn’t help either.
I gave that bastard years of my life and three beautiful children, and he turned around and spat in my face through a fucking text.
Nonetheless, today, I felt a little lighter, seeing Basil with my babies.
I didn’t know this man at all, but somehow, he’d managed to ease some of my worries.
We all gathered inside his black-on-black Jeep Wrangler with him securing all three of them in the back after getting their booster seats.
I suggested we take my car to avoid switching the seats, but he told me he was too tall for my Genesis, and his truck was roomier.
Aside from that, he told me men didn’t sit in the passenger seat when a woman was present.
I never thought anything of it because it wasn’t something I was used to.
Leo and I always shared the driving responsibility when we rode together.
Clearly, Basil was showing me something different, and I knew it wasn’t appropriate to like it, but I did.
Hell, I masturbated to his image in my mind, so I had already crossed the line.
After securing the kids, he opened the door for me, and I slid inside. He hurried around to the driver’s side and started the engine.
“A’ight, gang. Y’all ready to raid the grocery store?”
“Yeaahhh!” The kids yelled in excitement as Basil chuckled and pulled away from the curb.
The ride was filled with Chloe and Carsyn talking his ear off.
Every time they asked him a question, he answered without a second thought.
When Chloe asked if his nieces and nephews could come visit, he looked over at me.
“You will have to ask your mom.”
“Mom, can they? Pleeeassee!” Chloe begged.
“Not today, ladybug. Maybe next weekend, before we leave for our trip.”
“Oooh, can they come with us?” she asked.
Basil spoke up. “I don’t think they’ll be available to come, but I promise to bring them over next weekend to play with you.”
“Okay!”
I looked over at Basil as he gripped the steering wheel, his muscles flexing every time he turned a corner.
“I don’t mind them coming over anytime they want. They seem like sweet children.”
Basil chuckled. “Yeah, those are my day ones. They think they own me.”
“And I’d bet you let them think that too.” I watched as his lips curved into a smirk. To avoid staring at those beautiful lips, I turned to look out of the front window. “I read your bio online, but I wanted to ask you in person. What made you want to get into the nanny business?”
“Simple. I love children. My moms always told me that the children are our future, and I solely believe that. I want to teach children how to be stand-up, smart individuals who show humility, strength, and resilience. I want them to give grace to those that are deserving and stand up for their rights. Train up a child in the way they should go, and when they’re older, they won’t depart from it. ”
“Proverbs 22:6,” I acknowledged.
He looked over at me and smiled. “That’s right.”
“Are you religious?”
“I wouldn’t say that, but I do believe in a Higher Power. My mother would always give us scriptures to read whenever our emotions would get the best of us. She also told us that faith without works is dead. If we don’t believe in what we pray for, it’d never come to us.”
I nodded to agree with him. Maybe I wasn’t being intentional with my prayers to release this pain from my heart.
“How many siblings do you have?” I asked, pulling myself from going down the hurt road.
“Just my older brother, Bilal, and his wife, who acts like my blood sister. We don’t have a big family.
It’s just always been me and my brother, so he vowed that once he got married, he was going to have eight kids.
He got through half the battle already.” We both chuckled.
“I also have a best friend who’s like another brother to me, but he’s doing five up in the bricks.
He has a couple of months left before he’s released. ”
“Oh. I know this is a silly question, but do you want children of your own?”
“Of course. I only want two though. A boy and a girl. If not, I’ll take whatever the Big Homie sends my way.”
“Can I ask how old you are?”
“You can ask me anything you’d like, Ms. Alicia. Although all of my info is on the background check I gave you.” He smiled at me. “But I’ll be thirty-five in October.”
“I didn’t get a chance to read over it, but thank you for telling me.” He was a year younger than me, but somehow, he seemed older than he was.
“No problem at all.”
He pulled into the parking lot of Meijer and found a parking space. “A’ight, gang. We made it. Y’all ready to go crazy?”
The kids yelled in excitement again, and all I could do was smile at them. They had never been this excited to go grocery shopping, but I saw Basil brought a different energy that even I felt good about.
“A’ight. Let’s get it. But let’s remember to be on our best behavior when we get inside so we can get everything we want. Cool?”
“Okay!” Chloe exclaimed.
“Gotcha, Mr. B!” Carsyn followed up.
“And I know you’re going to be good, right, little mama?” he said, reaching back and shaking Carlee’s foot. She giggled and smiled shyly. Right then, I knew my children had already taken a liking to this fine stranger with the killer smile.
And so had I.
After I took a few calls and meetings that afternoon, I decided to go down to my gym to burn off this sexual energy that had built inside of me.
I was partially conflicted because I wasn’t expecting Basil to be the one who took the job.
Now that he was here, my hormones had taken over me, and I didn’t know if I could continue to allow him to be here.
He was so good with the kids, which made things much harder for me to decide whether I should let him go or let him stay.
This was the most they had ever been this well-behaved.
When I’d take them anywhere, they were curious and touching everything, but with Basil, they were like little angels.
They listened to him when he told them not to touch things, and if it was something they wanted, they would ask for it instead of grabbing it off the shelf and throwing it in the basket.
Where each day felt like a McDonald’s play place in my home, it was now much calmer since Basil had them doing activities to keep them occupied.
Ms. Shelly and I would usually seclude them to one place and allow them to play freely, but Basil had them focusing on one activity at a time.
In just a matter of five hours, this man had come into my home and given me peace where there was usually chaos.
While running my five miles on the treadmill and watching the video footage of them on the TV in the corner, my phone rang, interrupting the music that played on the Bluetooth. I slowed it down to a slow walk as I looked at the caller ID and saw it was my mother FaceTiming me.
I answered the call with a smile. “Hey, Mom.”
“Hey. You never called me to tell me how the new nanny is working out. Are you getting good vibes from her?”
I stopped the treadmill, took my phone out of the cupholder, and walked over to the bench to take a seat. “Him.”
“Pardon?”
“She is a he. I have a male nanny instead.”