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“You’re right,” I agree. “We wouldn’t want to keep King Flint waiting. I can show you her other favorite spots another day.”
“I’m more concerned about Princess Lily,” Aspen replies dryly, and I cast her a bemused grin.
As we remount the motorcycle, she leans into me and whispers in my ear, her hot breath sending gooseflesh I’m sure she can feel rushing down my entire body.
“Can you take it a little slower on the way back, please?”
I snicker under my helmet and shake my head. “Sorry, darling,” I answer, gunning the engine. “Fast is the only way I know how to do things.”
And before Aspen can protest, I zoom out of town and back to the house for her to start her first day.
CHAPTER 4
Flint
When I hear the back door open, I rise to greet Aspen, noting the time on my diamond-studded Rolex.
“Stay here and play a minute, okay, lovey?” I tell Lily, but I doubt she even heard me, her mind fully involved in the shape puzzle in front of her on the table.
She’s early, I think, pleased that Aspen was ready to go, even though I’d sent Ryan to pick her up almost an hour earlier than she needed to be here.
But when I turn the corner into the kitchen, I find myself alone. Frowning, I retreat outside to look for the nanny, but to my dismay, I realize what happened. Caden swept her away on his motorcycle. His bike isn’t in the open garage, and neither is my long-time friend.
That guy and his stupid stunts, I grumble silently, retracing my steps back into the house where I now encounter my driver and Zoe’s husband.
“Where’s the nanny?”
“Oh… Caden was just with her,” Ryan explains, appearing contrite. “He asked me to bring her bags up.”
“Any idea where they went?”
He offers me a blank look. “Went?”
I roll my eyes heavenward and stifle a sigh. “Never mind, Ryan.”
“Did I do something wrong?”
“You didn’t,” I reassure him, again checking the time.
I have half a mind to call Caden and order him to bring Aspen back to the house, but I know full well that if I do, he’ll just keep her out until the last feasible moment out of spite.
“Papa Flint…”
I turn to look into the solemn brown eyes of my small charge, my initial irritation immediately dissolving. “Yes, lovey?”
“Can I have a popsicle?”
“Lily Ann Marie Parker, you may not have a popsicle at eight-thirty in the morning.”
A small pout forms on her rosebud mouth, but she brightens again like she didn’t even ask. “Is my new nanny coming today?”
“You already know she is,” I reply, scooping her up to sit her on one barstool at the kitchen island. “Haven’t you been asking me every day since you met her?”
“I like her. She’s pretty.”
Something stirs inside me as Lily mentions Aspen’s attractiveness. It didn’t escape my attention, either.
“Is she?” I say vaguely.
