Knot The Nanny We Planned (Scent Matched #1)

1. Chapter 1

Chapter one

Willow

The elevator rises so fast my stomach drops, and I clutch my duffel bag tighter against my chest like it can shield me from what's waiting at the top.

Sixty-eight floors.

I've never been higher than the third story of the Millbrook Public Library, and now I'm shooting toward a penthouse that costs more per month than my mama's house.

The private elevator smells like leather and money, and the mirrored walls show me every angle of my panic.

Pink cheeks. Wide eyes. A wrinkled thrift-store blouse that suddenly feels like a joke.

You don't belong here, the voice in my head whispers. You never belonged anywhere.

I shove it down.

The Omega Nanny matching service said I was chosen.

Selected. Out of thousands of applicants, three billionaire clients requested me by name, or at least by profile.

I still don't understand why. My references are decent but unremarkable.

My experience is a few years of babysitting and a semester of early childhood education before the money ran out.

I'm not polished. I'm not experienced. I'm just a twenty-three-year-old omega from a town with one traffic light, hoping this job might finally be the thing that keeps me from drowning.

The elevator chimes and the doors slide open.

The scent hits me before anything else. Pine.

Smoke. Cedar. A wall of Alpha pheromones so thick and immediate that my legs go liquid beneath me.

My inner omega, the instinct I've spent my whole life trying to suppress, surges forward with a desperate, keening need that makes my thighs clench and heat pool low in my belly.

No. No, no, no.

I grip the elevator door frame, my knuckles white.

My body is doing something it has never done before…

producing slick. I can feel it, warm and unmistakable, soaking through my cotton panties.

My scent, honey and vanilla, I've been told, must be flooding the entire floor by now.

There's no hiding it. Omegas can't fake arousal, and they can't suppress it when their biology decides to betray them.

And my biology has decided to betray me spectacularly.

Three men stand in the open foyer of the penthouse, and every single one of them is staring at me like I'm something to devour.

The one closest to me is the tallest, easily six-four, with broad shoulders that strain the seams of his black button-down.

His jaw is sharp enough to cut, dark hair pushed back from his forehead, and his eyes...

God, his eyes are pitch-black. Fully blown pupils, the Alpha in him already surging to the surface.

His nostrils flare as he breathes me in, and a low, rumbling growl rolls through his chest.

JD. The name surfaces from the profile I memorized. JD Blaine. Alpha. Billionaire. CEO of Blaine Capital. Thirty-four years old and dangerous in every way a man can be dangerous.

To his right, a slightly shorter man leans against the wall with his arms crossed, but there's nothing casual about the tension coiled in his body.

Golden hair, slightly long, falling over his forehead.

A grin curves his mouth, but it's not friendly, it's predatory.

His green eyes track me like a wolf watches a rabbit wander too close.

Another Alpha. I can feel it in the pheromones rolling off him, lighter than JD's but no less potent.

Smoky, with a hint of something sweet and wicked.

Knox Dixon. Venture capitalist. Thirty-two. The profile said he was "charismatic." That word doesn't begin to cover the way he's looking at me right now, like he already knows what I sound like when I fall apart.

And behind them both, leaning against a far wall with his arms crossed and a scowl carved into his face, is the third.

Dark hair, darker eyes, wire-rimmed glasses perched on a nose that's probably been broken at least once.

He's leaner than the other two, less obviously imposing, but something about the sharp intelligence in his gaze makes my spine straighten. His scent is subtler, cedar and rain.

Deklan Kros. The only Beta. Thirty-three. Also, according to my file, the one whose sister died six months ago, leaving her child in the hands of three men who never planned on being parents.

"You're early." Deklan's voice is flat, clipped.

His jaw tightens, and I watch his fingers curl into fists at his sides. He doesn't move from the wall, but his eyes rake over me, head to toe and back again, with a thoroughness that makes my skin prickle.

"I, yes, sir." My voice comes out breathless. I clear my throat. "The train got in early, and I didn't want to be late, so I..."

"Sir." Knox pushes off the wall, and suddenly he's moving toward me, his gait loose and prowling. "I like that. Say it again."

"Knox." JD's voice is a warning, low and rough.

He hasn't moved from his position directly in front of me, blocking my path into the penthouse. His massive frame is a wall of heat and Alpha pheromones, and being this close to him makes my head swim. "Let her breathe."

"I'm not doing anything," Knox says, but he stops three feet away, close enough that I can see the gold flecks in his green eyes.

Close enough to see his nostrils flare as he scents the air between us.

His grin sharpens. "She's already soaking, JD.

I can smell her from here. I'm not the one who needs to back off. "

Heat floods my face, my chest, my everything… and I want nothing more than to disappear. I want the polished marble floor to open up and swallow me whole. My body is broadcasting my arousal to three strangers, and there is absolutely nothing I can do to stop it.

"I'm sorry." The words tumble out of me, shaky and mortified. "I don't know why… I've never… this doesn't usually…"

"Willow," JD says my name like it's a prayer and a curse wrapped together. His black eyes lock onto mine, and I feel the weight of his attention like a physical thing, heavy, inescapable, consuming. "Don't apologize for your biology."

"Easy for you to say," I whisper. "You're not the one who just… " I gesture vaguely at myself, at the evidence of my body's betrayal that every person in this room can scent. "You're not the one who…"

"Who what?" Knox takes another step closer, and now he's close enough to touch.

He tilts his head, his nose brushing the curve of my neck, and inhales deeply.

A shudder runs through his entire body. "Who got wet for three men she just met?

Who's dripping right now, wondering what it would feel like if we bent her over the nearest surface and took turns? "

"Knox." This time it's Deklan who speaks, and his voice is a blade. He's still against the far wall, but his scowl has deepened into something dark and dangerous. "She's here for a job. Not for your games."

"Who says they're games?" Knox murmurs, but he pulls back. His green eyes find mine, and there's something in them that's not just hunger, there's curiosity. There's want. Real want. The kind that goes deeper than biology. "She feels it too, Deklan. Don't pretend you don't."

Deklan says nothing, but his jaw tightens, and his dark eyes flick to me, just for a second, before looking away. But in that second, I see it. The flash of hunger, raw and unguarded, before he locks it down behind that wall of grumpy indifference.

He feels it too.

The realization crashes over me like a wave.

All three of them. Whatever this is, this electric, impossible pull, it's not one-sided.

They're drawn to me the same way I'm drawn to them.

The honey-vanilla of my scent is calling to them, and their pine-smoke-cedar is calling to me, and the air between us is so charged with pheromones that I can barely think straight.

But I have to think straight. I have to.

"I need to understand what's happening," I say, and I'm surprised by how steady my voice sounds when my entire body is trembling.

"The agency, they said this was a nanny position.

They said you needed someone to care for a child.

They didn't say anything about…" I gesture between the four of us. "About this."

JD's expression doesn't change, but something shifts behind his eyes. Something almost vulnerable.

"There is no 'this,'" he says, his voice carefully controlled. "Not intentionally. The agency matches based on compatibility, temperament, and skills. Whatever you're feeling right now, it wasn't something we requested or expected."

"But you're feeling it," I say. It's not a question.

JD is quiet for a beat. Then two. His black eyes hold mine, and I watch the muscle in his jaw tick as he grinds his teeth.

"Yes," he finally says. The word is dragged out of him like it costs him something. "I'm feeling it."

"Good God," Knox breathes, and when I glance at him, his grin has softened into something almost awed.

"It's real. The scent-match, it's actually real.

All three of us." He runs a hand through his golden hair, and for the first time, the cocky Alpha facade cracks.

Underneath it, he looks stunned. "I only agreed to this because JD wouldn't shut up about it. "

"The child needs a nanny," JD says firmly, as if trying to anchor the conversation back to reality. "That's why we used the service. That's why you're here. Everything else, " His gaze drops to my mouth, lingers, then forces its way back to my eyes. "Everything else can be managed."

Managed. The word lands like a stone in my chest. Of course. Manage it. Suppress it. Pretend that the air isn't thick with want, that my thighs aren't slick, that every instinct in my body isn't screaming at me to let them take me, claim me, make me theirs.

You're a nanny, I remind myself. You're here to do a job. You're not here to fall into bed with your employers.

But my omega biology doesn't care about job descriptions.

"If you want to leave," Deklan says from his wall, his voice still flat and cold, "no one will stop you. The elevator is right there." He nods toward the doors still open behind me. "We'll find someone else."

Something sharp twists in my chest at his words. ‘Find someone else’. The thought of another omega in this space, breathing their air, catching their scent- it makes something primal and ugly rear up inside me. Possessiveness. Jealousy. Over men I met three minutes ago.

This is insane.

But I don't step back into the elevator.

I look at JD, steady, controlled, his massive frame practically vibrating with the effort of holding himself back.

I look at Knox, golden and wicked, his green eyes burning with a heat that makes my toes curl inside my worn sneakers.

I look at Deklan, dark and distant, his scowl hiding something that flickers in his eyes every time he lets himself look at me.

Three men. Three scents. One impossible match.

"I'm not leaving," I say, and I watch all three of them react, JD's sharp inhale, Knox's slow smile, and Deklan's barely perceptible nod. "I'm here for the job. I'm here for, " I swallow hard. "What's the child's name?"

For a moment, no one speaks. Then Deklan pushes off the wall, and something in his expression cracks, just barely, just enough.

"Lily," he says quietly. "She's two. She's… " His voice catches, and he clears his throat roughly. "She was my sister's. Mara's."

Was. The past tense hangs in the air like smoke.

"I'm sorry," I say softly. "About your sister."

Deklan's jaw works. He doesn't respond, but he doesn't need to. The grief is written in every line of his body, in the hunch of his shoulders, the tightness of his fists, the way his eyes go distant for just a moment before snapping back.

"We all raised her," Knox says, his voice uncharacteristically gentle.

"Mara was Deklan's blood, but she was family to all of us.

We grew up in the system, foster care. No blood ties between the three of us, but Mara was the closest thing any of us had to a real sibling.

" His smile fades. "When she died, Lily came to us.

None of us know what the hell we're doing. "

"We need help," JD says, and the admission clearly costs him.

An Alpha, admitting weakness, admitting need, is extremely rare.

"Lily needs stability. Consistency. Someone who can be there during the day while we work, and someone who...

" He pauses, his throat working. "Someone who can give her what we can't. Softness. Warmth."

An omega's touch. He doesn't say it, but I hear it. Lily lost her mother, and these three hard, broken men are trying to fill the gap with hired help. With me.

"I can do that," I say, and for the first time since the elevator doors opened, my voice doesn't shake. "I can be that for her."

JD nods slowly. "Then welcome to our penthouse, Willow." His dark eyes hold mine, and the heat in them makes my breath catch all over again. "Your room is down the hall. First door on the left. We'll discuss the terms of your contract in the morning."

He steps aside, finally giving me a path into the penthouse. As I move past him, my arm brushes his, and the contact sends a jolt of electricity through my entire body. My slick surges again, fresh and hot, and I hear him inhale sharply behind me.

"Fuck," he breathes, so quiet I almost miss it.

I keep walking.

Knox falls into step beside me, leaning close enough that his lips brush my ear. "You're going to be the death of us, little omega," he murmurs, and his voice is pure silk and sin. "But what a way to go."

I shiver and say nothing.

Deklan is already gone, disappeared down a hallway without a word.

But as I pass a doorway, I catch sight of him standing in a dim room, looking down at a crib where a small shape sleeps.

His hand rests on the railing, and his head bows.

In the quiet, I hear him whisper something to the sleeping child, something soft and broken and full of love.

And despite the heat, despite the want, despite the slick soaking through my clothes and the three scents wrapping around me like chains, that's the moment that decides it for me.

I'm staying. Not because of the scent match. Not because of the impossible pull. But because there's a little girl in that room who needs an omega's warmth, and three men who have no idea how to give it to her.

I can do this.

I can be professional.

I can ignore the way my body screams for theirs.

I step into my assigned room and close the door behind me, leaning back against it. The sheets smell faintly of cedar, Deklan must have been the one to prepare it. My thighs are trembling, my core is aching, and every nerve ending is alight with a need I've never felt before.

You can do this, I tell myself again.

But as I press my thighs together and feel the evidence of my body's betrayal, I know the truth.

I'm in serious trouble.