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“CADEN!” Pike hollers, and suddenly, I see what all the fuss is about.
Under a classic muscle car, a set of jeaned legs sticks out as Lily sits in the driver’s seat, pretending to drive.
“CADEN!” Pike yells again, and the music turns off abruptly.
“Hey!” Lily and Caden cry out in unison, the legs becoming a full form as he slides out from underneath the car. His golden-brown eyes lock on me first, pupils dilating with interest as he slowly rises to his feet, wiping oil-stained hands on his filthy jeans. But I can’t stop looking at his naked, gleaming chest, counting and recounting the abs staring me in the face.
I physically turn away, pretending to be enthralled with the décor of the garage as Flint lectures Caden on the dangers of having a four-year-old in a garage.
“How many goddamn times do I have to tell you, this isn’t the place for her? She just wandered off right under your nose.”
“She’s fine,” Caden insists nonchalantly. “Aren’t you fine, honey?”
“I’m fine,” Lily echoes.
“She’s filthy!” Pike counters furiously. “We told you to be ready for the interview at one.” He gestures vaguely at me. “It’s one fifteen.”
“Whoops.” Caden shrugs, unperturbed by the tongue-lashing, and I have to wonder how often he’s reprimanded by his housemates. “I guess we lost track of time, didn’t we, Lilbug? And you must be the new nanny. I’m Caden Taylor.”
“Nice to meet you,” I squeak.
The other two men roll their eyes.
“Just get dressed and meet us in the front room, will you?” Flint grumbles. “Come on, Lily. Let’s get you a snack.”
He extends his hand toward the little girl, who reluctantly climbs out of the car and heads toward the tallest of the three men as my head spins over this dynamic, trying to make sense of it.
“Come on, Ms. Palco. Let’s get this interview underway,” Flint grunts, leading us back toward the house again, but this time through a side door next to the mansion.
Lily glances over her shoulder at me, blinking her lovely brown eyes. “Are you my new nanny?” she asks hopefully.
“I sure hope to be, sweetheart,” I answer with a warm smile, but even as I speak the words, I’m not sure if I’m telling her the truth. Do I really want any part of what’s going on in here?
CHAPTER 2
Aspen
I don’t know why the interior of the storybook mansion awes me more than the exterior, with its marble floors and shockingly expensive artwork plastered stylishly on the walls. Many of the pieces are undeniably Pike’s own, even though they’ve never sat in any gallery, I’m sure. They’re for private consumption only, his inner circle.
Am I part of that inner circle? Have they already made up their minds about me? I don’t feel like I’ve had the chance to make any kind of impression yet, good or bad.
Flint takes Lily to the kitchen for the snack he promised, and I am led through a huge, modern house toward the entranceway, where a dining room sits to the left of a set of twinning staircases, the living room on the right. I’m almost afraid to enter the sitting area, adorned in its soft creams and gold. The couches are clouds of white, welcoming and daunting as I hesitate at the threshold, but Pike doesn’t think twice about flopping onto an overstuffed cuddle chair.
“Zoe?” he calls out. “You around?”
A mouse-quiet figure pops out of nowhere, her wispy blonde bangs covering the front of her forehead almost to her long eyelashes. She grins mischievously, instantly making her look years younger.
“Right here, Pike,” she answers in a shockingly powerful voice. For all her timid-looking appearance, she’s not afraid to speak aloud, it seems.
“Can you bring us something to drink? It’s a hundred degrees outside.”
“Sure. Iced tea?”
“Whatever,” Pike says dismissively, waving his hand, but he suddenly appears to remember that I’m there. “Is iced tea okay with you, Ms. Palco?”
I blush, still lingering in the doorway.
“Sure,” I agree quickly. I’m also slightly parched, but that has more to do with my uneasiness than the Georgia heat.
