Chapter 6 Hat Tricking #2
The team celebration continued, parents and kids mingling about, when someone called for a celebration at a local ice cream parlor. Jessa caught my eye, and I gravitated toward her like I couldn’t help it.
Clare interrupted my path, stepping between us.
“Hello, Griffin. Please thank that driver of yours for giving Mitch a ride to the game. It was such a relief in my schedule today. And by the way…” she dropped her voice and leaned in.
“Jessa is great. She fits right in here. Better keep her. I know how hard it has been for you to find good help.”
“Thanks for your opinion.” I wouldn’t dare tell her Brock was waiting for me right outside. He deserved to find a good woman, of course. But I already knew a little about Clare and her gold-digging ways, and didn’t see this working out for either of them.
I stepped around her. I’d come here ready to give Jessa the “thanks for your help today but…” speech, hoping Theo would care less only one day into the arrangement. But this was beyond anything I expected.
Watching them interacting like this—her hand on his shoulder like she claimed him as hers, his face glowing with pride up at her—I knew I was lying to myself.
Jessa Cole was more than a distraction. She was the warmth I didn’t know I’d—we’d—been missing.
Damn it all. I had no idea how to let her go now. How to release my mind from tracing her curves in my deepest sleep. How to tell Theo that Jessa couldn’t work for us—wait.
What if…?
Sam’s entire plan for creating a pretend marriage of convenience situation slammed into my thoughts.
No way. I couldn’t have Jessa for all the wrong reasons. I wouldn’t do that to her. She wasn’t some stranger that I could force in and out of my life so easily.
I finally stepped close enough, and her face glowed, grinning at me. A breath caught in my throat in a moment of indecision, yes or no, keep her or let her go, weighing all the options, looking several steps ahead…
If I were to have a pretend wife, I couldn’t see it being with a stranger.
But I could see Jessa taking the role. And if it included some intimate times in my bedroom, all the fucking better for me.
Our one night at the lake on repeat for the next few months or more?
I could handle that. Atlas could be jealous of my sex life for once.
Maybe I’d be less cranky at the office then.
Yes, this could work well in my favor. As long as I didn’t catch any genuine feelings for her. I’d been married once before. And divorced. I didn’t need to go there again.
Only… at the end, when we’d part ways, what would that do to Theo? He already had one mother MIA. Could he handle losing Jessa, too?
He jumped into my arms. “Did you see my hat trick, Dad?”
“You bet I did, buddy. You must be so proud.” I held him close, still able to lift him with his hockey gear on and all, thanks to my trainer. A year from now, he would be too heavy and too grown up for me to do this. Over his shoulder, I mouthed to Jessa, “Thank you.”
She winked and nodded as if she knew what she was doing. Like her entire mission for being here was more than taking up a nanny role, but finding a way for me to get closer to my boy.
Fuck. One day and she was already digging into our hearts.
I shouldn’t make such a quick decision about Sam’s scheme for marriage. This wasn’t a game, but real lives I was toying with, and I needed more time to think. But with her around us tonight, I wouldn’t be able to.
After getting Theo and his gear inside the car, I hesitated, standing there with her on the curb. Her eyes gleamed up at me invitingly.
“Jessa… Thanks for today. The photos were unexpected. I liked them,” I started, voice moderated, keeping things in control.
“I hated for you to miss the game, so I sent them. Sometimes a picture says more, don’t you think? ”
“Yes, well, words in text are good too. Especially the check-ins I require. Did you even bother to read the rules?”
“I skimmed them.” She shrugged. “I’ll do my best.”
I scoffed. “You must think I’m the worst father in the world for almost missing his game.”
“No, but a busy one. I see why you need a nanny.”
I needed more than that. A fake wife. Her in my bed. I cleared my throat. “About that. We should talk.”
“Yes, I need to speak with you—”
“But not tonight. I need to spend time with him. I’ll take him to get ice cream with the team. You can go for now. How about tomorrow night? Stay for dinner. After Theo goes to bed, can talk more then?”
“Oh, sure.”
“I called a car service to give you a ride wherever you’re staying.”
I’d arranged it while we waited for Theo after the game, when she’d been preoccupied with Clare discussing Mitch’s upcoming birthday party at a trampoline park. The car pulled up right on cue. I held the door open for her.
“Right. In the morning then.” She got in and buckled up.
“By the way, thanks for jumping in so fast to take on the nanny position. I know this has all happened rather suddenly. I promise tomorrow won’t be so hectic.”
I shut the car door. It took every ounce of willpower not to gather her into my arms, not to bring her with us to celebrate or to spend time with her tonight.
I needed to think. To remember who was in control here. And I couldn’t do that with her smile and her body anywhere near me tonight.