Penelope is hugging her stuffed rabbit to her chest, watching me with those huge serious eyes that see more than they should.
“Yeah, princess?”
“Is Carly at home?”
I huff a breath that I try to make sound effortless. “Yeah, she is. But it’s a little late and she’s not working tonight. I’m sure she’d be happy to say hi, though.”
She hums to herself like she’s content with that. “I like Carly.”
I keep my eyes on the road, trying not to clench my jaw too hard. “Yeah?”
“She’s pretty,” Penelope says matter-of-factly. “And she talked to me like I’m big. Not like I’m a baby. I like that.”
A laugh almost gets out of me despite everything. “Yeah, you’ve always hated it when people baby-talk you.”
Penelope kicks her feet against the seat. “And she smelled nice.”
I tighten my grip on the wheel.
“She’s funny too,” Penelope adds. “Can she stay a long time?”
There’s a worry under the question that guts me.I know what she’s really asking.Is this one leaving too?Is this one another temporary person in the revolving door?
I look at her in the mirror again.
“Yes,” I say, and make my voice as certain as I can. “She’s staying.”
Penelope settles back with an approving nod like that answers everything that matters. Maybe for tonight, it does.
I turn my attention back to the road and stare through the sweep of headlights over dark pavement.
She’s staying. She has to stay. I owe it to Pen to not have someone else disappear, which means I don’t get to act like a man who can afford one more lapse in judgment.
No kissing Carly.
No thinking about fucking Carly.
No remembering the startled little sound she made when she grabbed onto me, the feel of her hands twisted in my sweater, the way her mouth felt under mine for that one brief, catastrophic second.
I exhale slowly and tighten my grip on the steering wheel.
Absolutely no fucking the nanny.Not when Penelope already likes her.Not when Carly needs this job.Not when I need her in two different roles I should never have combined in the first place.
I made this mess.
Now I get to lie in it without touching her again.
Chapter 12
Carly
Avoiding Grayson would be ideal,but unfortunately, ideal is not currently available to me.
We live together now. Weworktogether now. And because the universe enjoys torturing me, I am sitting three seats away from him at a business lunch with a group of NFL executives at one of Boulder’s most popular restaurants, trying not to look like I was kissed by the CEO and then emotionally hit by a bus, because apparently I’m expected to join these things now, too.
Hooray.
The restaurant is all dark wood and low lighting, the kind of place where the water glasses are never less than three-quarters full and every entree costs three times my monthly cell phone bill. I don’t even know what half of them are.
