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Kennedy appeared flustered with her sister, so I explained, “Kennedy and I were about to work out the details of when she would start as my son’s live-in nanny.”
“Live-in nanny?” Taylor repeated, and Dean’s hand curled around her shoulder, as if holding her back.
I dipped my gaze to Kennedy, saying, “Dependent on references and a background check, I was hoping you could start as soon as possible.”
She opened her mouth, but Dean cut her off. “Have you discussed salary?”
Kennedy started, “I can handle?—”
“Let Dean hash out the details with him.” Taylor tugged on Kennedy’s arm. “I need to talk to you.”
Before Kennedy could answer, her sister yanked her off the stool, and Dean swiftly took her seat, opening up his notes app on his phone, asking for all of my information.
Jude and Dylan lost interest now that the entertainment of Kennedy was gone, and they started some conversation about baseball while Nate headed back to the kitchen, leaving me to “hash out the details” with some guy I’d only met in passing.
“I’d really rather do this with Kennedy,” I said, and Dean leaned back, brushing his hand over his short beard.
“I’m a contracts guy, and I know you’d like to make sure you have all your Ts crossed and Is dotted when it comes to this position since it’s for your child, right?” He didn’t give me time to respond. “I’m happy to outline the parameters and send it to both of you, so everyone is clear on the terms.” When I didn’t respond, he glanced over to where Kennedy and Taylor were in the corner, apparently arguing. “Kenny’s like a sister to me, and while Nate says you’re a good guy, I want to make sure this transaction is on the up-and-up. I assume you were planning on using some kind of service to hire someone?”
“Yeah, I was.” Until Kennedy sauntered up with her eyes and smile, promising me she was my girl.
Dean kept his attention on his phone as he typed on it. “If there’s one thing I can say for Kenny, it’s that she has the biggest heart of anyone I know. She loves hard, and it’s impossible not to fall in love with her right back.”
That sounded a lot like a warning, but I wasn’t going to be falling in love with her. She was going to be my employee, my son’s nanny, and, for all intents and purposes, my roommate. Not to mention that she was twenty-four and most likely had a boyfriend or something. I was twelve years older than her and a single dad. We had nothing in common.
I wasnotgoing to be falling in love with her.
But then Dean lifted his gaze to me and said, “Your kid’s going to love her.”
And yeah,thatmade a lot more sense.
“Hopefully,” I agreed, and we spoke another few minutes about payments and length of term and days off, but I wasn’t paying a whole lot of attention because my eyes were on Kennedy as she argued with her sister. Kennedy, who was a few inches shorter but a lot more animated, seemed to be holding her ground, even if something about the way Taylor was speaking to Kennedy bothered me.
I could tell she was the younger sibling from the way she was both defiant yet still compliant. I was the third in a line of four boys and knew what it felt like to be unhappy about being told what to do, while still giving in because they were in charge.
At some point, Kennedy rolled her eyes and tucked her arms underneath her ample breasts, and I forced my gaze to Dean, who was saying, “All right, I’ll write this all up and email you and Kenny, and you two can take it from there.”
He stood and nodded to Taylor, who eyed me then said one last thing to her sister before stalking off toward the front of the bar, where Dean gathered up his guitar. Kennedy’s shoulders rose and fell on a deep breath, her gaze slow to meet mine.
She strode to me, smile back in place. “Sorry about that.”
I stood, which meant I was looking down at her because she was almost a foot shorter than me. And I could basically see down the dark valley between her breasts.
Son of a bitch. I was going to have to be careful to keep my eyes up above her neck.
“It’s all good,” I told her. “They were looking out for you. As they should.” I held my cell phone out to her. “Why don’t you add your number in here? Dean’s going to be emailing us the contract, but until we get everything sorted, we can at least have each other’s contact information.”
She took my phone in her hands, tapping in her name and number with fingernails that were painted a soft orange. Once she finished, she called her own cell phone, which she pulled from her back pocket. I watched as she programmed it with my first name while laughing.
“What?” I asked.
“Nothing. I…” She bit into her lip as she slipped her phone back into her pocket. “The internet’s calling you Hot Professor. I kinda wanted to put that as your name.”
“Yeah. That whole…thing. It’s been…terrible.”
She briefly touched my arm, bending forward with a giggle. “What an absolutetragedy. The world thinking you’re hot.”
I refused to laugh with her. Even if I wanted to. It was easy to do around her. Be a little looser than I was normally.
