The lights flickered.
And then they were on.
Penny jerked away from me, chest heaving.
I had trouble catching my breath.
I wasn’t sure how long we stared at each other. What I was sure of? That I had made those cheeks pink, I had made those lips swell. And I wanted to do it again.
“Daddy?” Bella’s voice sounded at the door. “Is it a storm?”
“Yeah, baby,” I said in a raspy voice. “It’s a good one though.”
“How do you know?” She padded over to me, then reached up. I pulled her into my arms and smiled while Penny still seemed frozen in shock.
“Well…” I grinned at her then looked over at Penny as I whispered, “Sometimes the dark makes us brave, and that makes the storm good, not bad.”
Penny bit down on the lip I’d just tasted and then grabbed the flashlight with a shaky hand and placed it on my bed. “I’ll just… be heading to bed.”
“You’re staying!” Bella squealed, “Please sleep in my room! Please! I have princess bunk beds.”
I opened my mouth to say no.
Instead Penny beamed. “Actually, I’d love that, let’s go!”
“Follow me!” Bella scrambled from my embrace and bolted out the door.
“Using my daughter as a human shield?” I whispered under my breath.
Penny crossed her arms and stared me down. “Maybe.”
“Are you still going out with Drew later?”
“Does it matter?” she fired back.
“Yes. No. Maybe.” I gulped and ran my hands through my hair. “He’s just…”
“The kind of guy that kisses the nanny?” she whispered, her cheeks going pink again.
“Penny, no, that’s not…”
She just shrugged and left me alone in that room.
Wondering how the hell I was going to fix it.
Because the reality was, I had all the power in the situation. I was paying her to watch my kids, to keep them alive; I was paying her as an employee. I’d basically just kissed my employee and had been seconds away from lifting her shirt over her head or just ripping it from her body.
And she was going to be on a date with Drew.
Drew, the same guy who had slept his way through Austin, Texas.
Twice.
What could go wrong?
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Penelope
