Chapter 3 #2
I sighed, lacking the energy to argue with that. Stroking my hand down Emily’s soft blonde hair, I glanced at him. “Is she safe?”
He nodded. “As much as we can tell,” he replied.
That was another concern. Hiring help was a risk, and anyone could try to weasel their way to getting close to us.
Enemies, especially. Andre’s wife had gone through a staffing agency to be a maid in Andre’s building all so she could spy for her uncle, the boss of a rival family.
That lie had been an obstacle for them to overcome as a couple, and it was another story for another time, but it served as a reminder that it didn’t hurt to be careful.
Andre offered to be extremely thorough with background checks on all the applicants.
“Boss?” Lorne said, using his “formal” tone as he came in from the elevator. He never called me boss. I’d only started to get him to sometimes stop calling me kid. But he used the boss term and the professional tone when he had to, for appearance’s sake. “The next applicant is here.”
Andre stood, but I stayed put in my chair with Emily sleeping against my chest.
“Amber Desmond?” Andre asked, facing the direction of the woman entering under Lorne’s lead.
“Yes,” she replied in a sweet voice.
Huh.
Not overly formal. Or sassy. It was just one word, but from her tone, I could tell she wasn’t trying to act like something she wasn’t.
The slender redhead who stepped into view in front of me captured me.
She stood tall, not fidgeting. No nerves. No overly charming peppiness.
Amber shook hands with Andre and met my gaze.
Richly dark green eyes shone with a spark of hope.
But I didn’t miss the haunted meekness in them.
Freckles dotted her high cheeks. Long, glossy locks of bright auburn tumbled over her shoulders.
The tips brushed over her generous tits—hidden from my sight with her modest white blouse.
Her skirt wasn’t designer, but it was clean.
And even though I was desperate to find a nanny, not a quick fuck, wires crossed in my mind as I finished the slow once-over of her, ending with a glance at her scuffed shoes.
Hmm.
Maybe Andre had a point. If she seemed halfway decent, I could up the pay and she’d take it. She clearly needed the income, appearing dressed like that.
“Nice to meet you,” Andre said.
She turned fully toward me and extended her hand. But she lowered it quickly, seeing that I had my hands full with my daughter. She lifted her hand in a small wave and gave a quick smile. “Hi.”
Fuck, that voice. Sweet, gentle. Sexy.
“I’m Roman,” I said. “And this is Emily. And that’s Henry.”
“They’re adorable,” she said with a growing smile, glancing at them both.
“Please, sit,” Andre said. “Have you had a chance to go over the job listing? All the requirements and expectations?”
“Yes. I have.”
Regardless, Andre went over them in more detail, taking charge of this interview while I watched on. Henry began to fuss and Andre sighed, reaching for him, but Amber was quicker. “Do you have a bottle on hand?” she asked.
Competent. Calm.
Those two things stuck me the most. “He just ate.”
She nodded, holding him properly and swaying a bit. “But that’s a hungry cry.”
I rubbed my face and groaned.
Andre chuckled as he got up to get one.
“How do you know? How do you just know which cry is which?” I asked, stupefied.
“I’m… not really sure,” she admitted. “It’s intuition?”
“Some random womanly intuition?” I huffed.
“Guess so.” She took the bottle Andre gave her, and sure enough, she calmed Henry as he took the bottle.
“Do you have a lot of experience, then?” Andre asked. “Your references aren’t listed individually.”
“I do. My references are all there. The agency’s form is a little weird and condensed.” She smiled down at Henry. “I have lots of childcare experience, from newborns all the way to middle-school ages.”
Admiring her for calming Henry like a pro, I noticed how young she looked. Fresh. Energetic and not hardened by life yet. She’d be a na?ve one, someone to hide the harshness of my family from if she were to live here.
A fleeting attraction intensified as I watched her hold my son.
She was gorgeous, but it was her calmness, her compassion and competence as she gazed at my child.
As though she knew that he was precious without needing to learn him or be more familiar with him.
Like she could appreciate a real blessing in life.
Maybe she’s this good with a baby because she’s had one of her own?
Andre asked another question about if she understood this was a live-in position. I tuned him out, stuck on appraising her in my mind.
No. She’s too young to have had a child.
While that thought was fresh, though, I couldn’t help but imagine what she’d look like pregnant. Her belly swollen. Her breasts fuller. Her face glowing with happiness.
What. The. Fuck?
I blinked, snapping myself out of it.
I hadn’t been interested in a woman for over half a year, and one look at Amber had my dick waking up. Had me envisioning how gorgeous she’d be knocked up with my—
For fuck’s sake.
Get a grip.
I rubbed my face, certain this had to be a result of sleep deprivation.
Sitting up more, I cut her off mid-sentence. “You’re hired.”
She blinked once, slowly, her plump pink lips parted from whatever she’d been saying. Even though I’d interrupted her, she continued to stroke her hand over Henry’s back, soothing him without seeming to realize it.
“You want the job?” I asked.
She closed her lips and nodded. “I— Yes. I think I would like this job, Roman.”
I ached one brow. “You think you want it? Or do you want it?” I yawned despite the uptick in my pulse that she’d made me feel.
Attraction was a mighty force of nature I was a sucker to obey.
But right now… It was her competence and gentle calm that impressed me more.
Her sweetness. “Because I’m running on fumes.
I need a nanny as soon as possible. The job is yours, Amber, if you’d like it. ”