I shook my head. “I have a car.”
“Be here at nine, sharp. I’ll have one of the staff give you a tour, and then I’ll introduce you to the children.” He moved around his desk and I got a chance to take in the full stature of him. At probably six and a half feet tall, he was broad, except for his slim waist. His thighs were like tree trunks of muscle, stretching his pants in a way that might’ve been alluring if he didn’t have the disposition of a cactus.
Dressed in dress pants and a button-down shirt, sleeves rolled up, he was probably wearing more money than I’d see that summer. The gold watch on his tan wrist had to be worth more than my car. I ignored the way the veins on his forearms seemed to call out to me and the way his large hands pulled my gaze. None of that was my concern.
I followed him to the library door, my flats lightly tapping against the stone floor. “Nine, it is.”
Griffin opened the door and ushered me out. “You can find your own way out?”
I bit back a laugh at his rudeness and nodded. “Sure.”
He looked over my head and nodded. “Here are my brothers now. They’ll be here all summer, as well. Grace is Conrad’s daughter. On the left. And on the right is Zeke.”
Conrad, oh God not that name.I turned, even though the tingling at the back of my neck told me not to. I would’ve known the man on the left anywhere. I recognized him most from mydreams. Or were they nightmares? My stomach sank to my feet, and I knew that I’d just signed a contract to make my life a living hell for four months.
Chapter 2
***Autumn***
“Honey, I just can’t believe you’d go through this elaborate ruse to avoid moving in with your Granny and me.” Mom shoved my underwear into a bag, stopping to hold up a lacy pair. “Who are these for?”
I snatched them away from her and shook my head. “First of all, it’s not an elaborate ruse. It’s a way to make some really great money. Second of all,thisis why I’m avoiding moving in with you two. These panties are none of your business.”
Granny Lane blew into my soon-to-be ex-bedroom, waving around a bright blue vibrator. “Why the hell was this in one of the kitchen drawers?”
I snatched it away and held it and the panties behind my back. “I was wondering where that had gotten off to.”
“Baby-cakes, if you didn’t remember where your vibrator was, you’re not using it enough.” She looked around the room and then to my mother’s wide eyes. “Oh, relax, Ruthie. It’s a vibrator, not a gun.”
I left them arguing about which would be better, the vibrator or a gun, and walked out on the tiny balcony connected to the bedroom. Sighing, I shielded my eyes against the sun and looked out at the tiny sliver of ocean I could see in the distance. It wasn’t a sweeping ocean view, but it had been mine for five whole years.
A bitter taste still filled my mouth every time I thought about losing my apartment. It wasn’t fair. I’d been a good tenant. I’d always paid early, and I’d even baked cookies for the property manager. Cookies were a sorry substitute for money, I guessed. Rent was going up by almost a thousand dollars. All because the owner could charge that much. Even the small parts of theHamptons, places that had once been full of hardworking blue-collar folks, were being bought up and turned into vacation rentals and beach homes for the rich.
I was just another casualty of the wealthy. I wiped an angry tear away and realized I was still holding my vibrator. Groaning, I carried it back inside and tossed it into the bag with my underwear.
“Are you really sure you want to take this job, Autumn? I hate that I won’t be able to pop by and see you whenever.”
I wasn’t sure I wanted the job. Especially knowing that Con was going to be there. Rubbing my face, I tried to smile like I wasn’t silently panicking. “It’ll be fine, Mom. I’ll get the weekends off once a month. I’ll come see you. Plus, it’s just a couple of months. And you can call me.”
“Don’t think I can’t see the dread in your eyes. What aren’t you telling me?”
Granny Lane sank onto the bed that would be taken to my storage unit by movers later that day. “Your mom’s right. Something’s going on.”
I gestured around at my home. “Besides this?”
“Yes. I know you’re upset about the apartment, but this is something else.” Sitting next to Granny, Mom gave me her serious face. “Talk to us.”
A version of the truth wouldn’t be too bad. “Some things never change. We’ve all been working for rich assholes our whole lives. In the midst of losing my home because of some rich asshole, I now get to go live in one of their houses and take care of their kids. The house is a mansion. It’s ridiculous. I’m getting a tour in the morning, and honestly, I’m going to need a map.”
“Honey, someone’s always got to be downhill, if you know what I mean. Life doesn’t get lived without folks like us. Sucks that we have to be the broke ones always, but someone’s gotta doit.” Mom’s gentle smile was full of warmth. “Your daddy always said that.”
My chest ached as I thought about Dad, always the positive realist. He went to work on his boat for over fifty years, working his body to the bone, and never made a penny more than he needed to survive. It’d never stopped him from being happy, though.
“It’s bull that you’re losing this place. It’s bull that a teacher can’t afford a home in this country. You’re going to come out on top, though.”
“I remember being on top. I always preferred it to looking up into the double chin of whatever schmuck I was screwing.” Granny Lane shrugged when Mom gasped. “What’d I say?”
I laughed and joined them on the bed. “I’m pretty sure that was too much information.”
