Chapter 4
AMBER
Did I want the job?
Yes!
I’d wanted any job. With my fake name, false references, and zero job experience, I’d been terrified no one would want to hire me for anything. The employment agency told me not to expect much, but then they’d tossed me this vacancy with a what the hell attitude.
Of course, I wanted the nanny job. I needed it. A live-in position was a solid move forward, a layer of security between me and my past, a buffer that would hide me from William.
I needed this job to start my new life. Not the nightmarish existence I had to run from, but a future. An income so I could start being independent and free. And safe! It sounded too good to be true.
I stared at Roman after his offer to hire me on the spot.
If I weren’t holding Henry, I would’ve tried to pinch myself.
It felt like a dream, and I dared to believe this was real and that I wasn’t foolishly getting my hopes up too high.
Just like I did when a sponsor would come to the foster home, or when families would visit at the orphanage.
That bright, blossoming excitement would spread through my chest, lighting me up with the pure hope that my life would change.
But then it never did. Other children were adopted. I was shuffled around again.
Until William.
I sat up straighter, determined to push my adoptive father out of my mind. Roman and Andre were still looking at me, expecting an answer.
No. Until Roman. And Emily and Henry. I could work here and belong for as long as I could. I was not getting my hopes up too high with this opportunity. I refused to think about it.
“Yes.” I nodded once.
The relief in Roman’s blue eyes had me guessing he wanted me to take the job more than anything else. Desperation shone from his deep gaze. All those lean lines of his rugged face suggested that he was a fit man who could work hard and play hard. But there was no masking the fatigue on his face.
“Good. You’re hired.” He yawned again. “Starting now.”
Andre chuckled and reached over to get Emily off his chest. “Then go take a damn nap or something, Cuz. Lorne and I can show her the place and get her adjusted.”
“No, no.” Roman rubbed his face. “I can do that. It’s better that I…” He yawned again. “Fuck. You’ve got a point. Lorne?”
The old man with gray-white hair reappeared. “Yeah, Kid?”
Roman huffed.
“I mean Boss.” Lorne gave me a quick smile. Then he brightened. “Oh, look at that. You’ve got the magic touch. You got that fussy boy sleeping like a—”
Henry shifted and scrunched his little face.
“Lorne…” Roman groaned. “You jinxed it.”
“He has not,” I argued lightly, standing and moving to hold Henry lower with him on his belly over my arm, but securely. Swaying and bouncing gently, something I’d learned from my days of helping in the foster homes, I calmed him right back down.
“I’m going to remember that little… trick or whatever that dark magic is,” Andre said. “My wife’s expecting soon.”
I smiled. “Congrats.” Then I smiled. “Another baby in the family. That’ll be busy.”
Andre laughed with Lorne.
“That’s not all of it,” Lorne said. He went on to detail that Andre’s father—Roman’s uncle and boss—was expecting a baby on the way and had a young son already. Then Roman’s brother had two daughters and another due next year as well.
While the assistant gave me a condensed summary of the family, Roman dozed off.
“I can show you around, Amber,” Lorne said kindly. “Let the man sleep for once.”
Andre offered to watch Emily, but Lorne said he could step in for a while. The old man carried Emily while I held Henry, and that was how I was given a tour of the next “home” of my life.
I quickly realized it wasn’t a home. It was a palace. So enormous and full of high-end things I’d never dream of having. It was a prison, so guarded with men positioned at doors and security cameras all over the place.
As Lorne gave me a tour—of Roman’s building, which was adjacent to three other buildings on the block that his family members owned—I came to see it as a sanctuary too.
No threats could come to me up here in Roman’s penthouse. William couldn’t send someone past the guards to retrieve me.
High up above the city, I felt protected.
In a massive guest suite of my own, I felt pampered.
And among all the staff in the building, I didn’t feel alone.
“Now that building over there,” Lorne said, pointing out through a window, “is where Mikhail and Claire live. Wait ’til you meet Anya. She’s sweet. Studying to be a nurse. That’s Roman’s other cousin.”
I smiled. “Such a big family.”
He huffed a little laugh. “You can say that again.”
“And it’s growing bigger every day,” Roman said.
I spun to find him behind us in the lounge area. “Oh, I’m so sorry. Did we wake you up?”
He shook his head and stretched his arms over his head. It took more effort than I thought it might to not stare at how his shirt lifted up. That reveal of his chiseled abs was not what I needed in my mind.
He was my boss. Besides, he had to be too old for me. I was only twenty-one. He was at least… thirty?
“No. That short power nap was all I needed.” He shoved his hands in the pockets of his pants and approached, glancing at Henry, then Emily. The tender smile in his eyes was too sweet. Then he raised his gaze to me and I felt… caught. “Thank you,” he said.
Oh, boy. That husky tone was making it warm in here.
“I’ve shown her the basics, Kid.” Lorne explained all that he’d shown me, which was a lot.
“It’s a lot to remember,” I admitted, “but I’m a quick learner,” I promised. “I know where your bedroom is.” I cringed. “I mean— I remember which room is yours because I’ll avoid it.”
He raised his brows.
“Unless you don’t want me to.”
Cue my cheeks flaming. Why couldn’t one of the twins wake up and fuss right now and save me?
“I meant, I paid attention to which room is yours so I know not to bother you there.” I cleared my throat.
He smiled slowly, and I hated the hint of teasing humor in his blue eyes. He knew I was fumbling over my words. He knew I knew it too. And it was awkward all around.
“Well, it’s been easier keeping the twins’ bassinets in the room with him all night,” Lorne said. “So maybe you’ll need to bother him in there.”
Roman sighed and shot him a look.
“I— That’s not— If you—” I couldn’t speak. Just the idea of being in that masculine room, near that enormous bed, with this tall, muscled blond-haired man…
I heaved out a deep breath. “I am ready to assist you with the twins however I need to,” I stated, hoping that I was saving face with that proper and professional claim.
Roman chuckled and softened his expression. “Do you have any questions, though? About the job? Anything?”
Um, yes? Only about a million.
Lorne grunted. “She has to,” he said. “But how about you handle them over dinner, huh?”
I glanced at the time, surprised how late it was. Lorne had been thorough with his tour.
“Sounds like a plan.”
We moved out into the main great room again, and I was stunned when Roman headed to the kitchen. A man who could cook? I had to wonder if I’d stumbled into a dreamscape again.
Lorne assisted, and I helped settle Emily and Henry in the portable crib. They were both sleeping, and it freed me to try to make myself useful.
“Can I help?”
He tipped his chin at the ingredients for a salad that he’d laid out. “Sure.” Lorne was busy prepping a rub for chicken breasts.
“Ask away, Amber,” Roman prompted. “Any questions about the job?”
“Um. Will the twins’ mother be part of the job?” I asked.
“No.” Roman shook his head and explained that she’d passed away after childbirth. When I expressed my condolences for his loss, he corrected me, explaining that the twins were the result of a one-night stand and he’d only just found out about the babies a week ago.
“You were on your own with them for a week? No wonder you looked so…” I waved a hand at him.
He smirked at me playfully. “So what?”
Lorne chuckled.
“So tired,” I replied.
“Brace yourself,” Roman warned darkly. “Next week, you’ll be looking just as tired.”
“I’m ready to help,” I promised, hoping that I didn’t sound like a broken record.
While we prepared dinner and then sat down to eat it, we talked some more. He asked if I had more things to move in. I didn’t. I asked what his work schedule was like. He hedged and said it was to be determined.
More details were provided. I shared what I could, sticking with my false identity and not mentioning my past. He told me more too, but he shied away from specifics, like saying he was in the business of investing and consultation. Which could mean many different things.
“So, it’s just the three of us here?” I asked once we were done with dinner and collecting the dishes. “Or are there other staff members who help?”
“No. Just you and me,” Roman corrected. “While I’m doing this paternity leave phase, Lorne’s going to be checking on everything I oversee.”
“Oh.” I frowned, unsure if I was getting used to Lorne and not wanting to lose his company or if I was intimidated to be alone with Roman when something about his looks made my stomach flip a little.
“I have a cleaning service, but I’ll need to adjust that with the twins’ sleep schedule,” Roman said.
“I can help with whatever—” I cut myself off. I knew I was saying it too much.
He didn’t call me out on it, this stupid over-eager need to be a people-pleaser.
“What I need your help with is that.” He pointed at Emily. “And this.” He pointed at Henry.
I nodded, lifting my gaze to him. Surprised that he already didn’t seem like a stranger, I hoped I could pull it off.
“I can do that,” I said.
He slid his gaze from his children and studied me.
“But there’s no rush, all right? It’s a big adjustment, having two babies show up unexpectedly and throw my life out of balance.
I can’t promise it won’t be chaos at times, but we’ll figure out a system that works best. Please feel free to make yourself at home, too. ”
Home?
Don’t tease me like that…
I gave him a small smile. This was a big adjustment for me, too, but in so many ways he wouldn’t begin to understand.
Already, I was lured to convince myself that I was safer here than I ever had been when I lived with William, and that was a life-changing sense of optimism I wanted to cling to for as long as I could.