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I heard Griff clanking around in the kitchen while I showered, which was a bad sign. He knew he wasn’t supposed to get his own breakfast, but the little bastard liked to wait until he heard the shower running to pull stunts. I had a feeling I’d come out to find a massive mess, but my mind was still stuck on the men from last night.
I wondered what they’d talked about with so much interest after Jack and I’s encounter. I wondered why they had called my boss over and what they’d said, because Tony wouldn’t even give me a clue when I grilled him later.
I was toweling off to the background sounds of something breaking in the kitchen—Griff—when I realized I’d missed a call during my shower. I picked up the phone and played the voicemail. Maybe Tony just hadn’t had the balls to fire me in person, and this was the end of my employment.
With a sinking in my stomach, I played the message.
The deep, rich voice was not Tony’s, though. “This is Damon Rose. You were our waitress last night, and I have an interesting opportunity to talk to you about. Meet me at Rose Athletic Tower in Manhattan this evening if you’re interested. Seven P.M.” The phone clicked.
Oh, no. I’d seen this movie. Rich guy so gorgeous it’s almost scary. Suits and ties. Clandestine meeting at a fancy building in New York at night? This was totally going to end up with me wearing a white mask, a black robe, and nothing underneath while some electronic music played in the background, wasn’t it?
“Griff!” I yelled through the door. “I’m getting a babysitter for tonight, and if you scare this one off, the only one left will be Miss Nancy from down the hall.”
“Not her!” Griff shouted back his voice muffled by the thin walls of our apartment.
“Then try behaving for once!”
I took his silence as grudging acceptance and looked at my phone again.
Damon had a wedding ring on. And the whole world knew Chris Rose was a newlywed, too. So maybe I was just being optomisitc. Maybe it was something else. I chewed the nail of my index finger, bouncing a little on my feet.
Fuuuck. I was going to do this, wasn’t I?4NolaI’d hoped to have time to change out of my uniform and put something nice on for my meeting at Rose Athletic. Thanks to Griff, the little monster who had “made one of those science experiment volcanos on the kitchen counter” within an hour of his babysitter showing, I had to swing by home first. So I was still feeling gross, underdressed, and completely confused when I took a seat at a long conference table on the top floor of Rose Athletic.
Damon Rose himself was directly across from me with Chris and Jack on either side. The men had looked intimidating in my restaurant but seeing them more in their element just amplified the effect.
I felt like a child, and I tried to sit up a little straighter just to avoid coming off as one, too.
“So…” I said. “Please tell me this isn’t like some kind of interview for a porn video.”
Chris raised an eyebrow and looked to Jack, who was watching me with a strange intensity.
“Actually,” Damon said. “We want to hire you to be Jack’s nanny. For his son.”
“Oh,” I said. “A nanny?”
Jack cut in. “I saw that you take care of your own kid and—”
“Griff is my little brother. My parents they—” a lump rose in my throat and I decided to just look down and shake my head instead of explaining.
There was a brief pause. “All the same,” Jack continued. “I was planning to step away from baseball as long as I needed to help my son, Ben. He’s been withdrawing. I thought maybe more time with him would help, but then I saw him with your brother last night. I want you to watch him for me, but I also want you to bring your brother along when you can.”
Now it was my eyebrows that climbed my forehead. “There’s really no way I could get the time off work.”
Chris made a dismissive sound. “Name your price. If Jack walks away from baseball, my dear brother here is going to lose millions. And right now, you’re the only ledge he has to grab. I’m pretty sure he’ll pay you enough to get you out of waiting tables.”
Damon gave him an annoyed look. “Thanks for convincing her she can squeeze as much money out of me as she wants.”
Chris shrugged. “Consider it a consultant’s fee for bringing me into this mess.”
“Well,” I said. “I make minimum wage for servers plus tips right now. My rent is…” I quietly did the math, trying to figure out how much I’d need to replace my income. “I’d need at least, I don’t know, a thousand a month?”
