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“I had an ear infection a couple years ago and I was begging for any medication they could give me to make it go away. It was excruciating. I feel so bad for babies when they have to go through that.” Somehow, my earlier nerves had completely dissipated and I smiled as I took in Hayden’s bright, sunny kitchen. “You’ve got an amazing house.”
“Thank you.” He gestured toward the table. “Have a seat. I’ve got coffee or tea ready. Or soda or water.”
“Tea would be great, thanks.” I could choke down coffee, but I preferred tea.
Hayden brought over a steaming mug with the tea bag tag hanging over the side before returning with his own steaming mug and a bowl of sugar and sweetener packets. “I’ve got milk if you need it.”
“I’m good, thank you.” I doctored up my tea with five stevia packets and stirred.
Hayden smirked as he watched me. “Note to self, if Lexie takes the job, keep her supplied with copious amounts of sweetener.”
My cheeks heated. “I like my hot tea sweet. Weirdly enough, I prefer iced tea to be unsweetened.”
“I think Jack’s going to be a sweets type person. He already loves any sweet fruit and you’d think I’d given him the world when I let him have bites of ice cream,” Hayden said, sipping his drink.
“He’s the cutest kid.” I took a drink, grateful it was almost cool enough to sip. “I wanted to let you know, I completely understand if you got home last night and realized you’d offered a job to a complete stranger and need to rescind the offer.”
Hayden’s eyes went wide. “Well, I did think through the whole scenario and realize I was more stressed than I’d first thought. But I don’t regret the offer. Pretty much anyone I’d offer the job to would be a complete stranger at first, right?” He paused. “Oh, but I understand if you’re having second thoughts.”
“No. I mean, yes, but I told myself I’d at least hear you out on the job details before I made my decision.”
Hayden smiled. “Well then, let’s get down to business.”
We chatted for a bit about my schooling and what I was doing now, my experience with children, and Jack’s schedule.
“So, it’s negotiable, but my thinking when deciding to hire a nanny was to have that person as a live-in employee. What are your thoughts on that?”
My eyes nearly bugged out of my head as I glanced around the gorgeous kitchen. “Well, let’s just say I have absolutely no emotional ties my tiny, way-too-expensive apartment.”
“Perfect.” Hayden’s smile lit up his entire face. He still looked tired, but seeing him less stressed out was good. “Now, I’ve been researching salaries for this type of position—and obviously, you’d have times during the day when you aren’t considered on the clock, and days off, we’ll work all of that out—but live-in nannies often make a bit less than others due to housing. I really want to make this work—if you’re interested—so if the amount I’ve written on the draft of this contract isn’t enough, we can totally negotiate.”
My stomach worked itself into knots. Surely the amount would be more than I was currently making, right? Even if it was about the same, room and board was a huge plus. I could totally make my current pay work if I didn’t have monthly rent.
Hayden slid the paper across the table. “Take a look through this and see what you think.”
My eyes scanned until I reached the yearly salary, broken into monthly, weekly, and hourly amounts for reference, and I nearly fell off my chair. Jerking my head up to meet Hayden’s anxious face, I tried not to gape.
“Thoughts?” he asked.
“Um, well…” I searched for words. The man was offering me fifty percent more per hour than I was currently making. “You ever hear a word and wonder when you’d ever use it to pertain to you?”
He cocked his head. “I guess so. Why?”
“Well, my word is gobsmacked. I always wondered what would have to happen in my life for the word to fit.” I glanced back down at the number on the paper. “I am officially gobsmacked.”
“In a good way?” Hayden asked.
“I get to live here, take care of the most precious baby I’ve ever seen, and make this type of money? Yes, definitely in a good way.” In my head, I couldn’t stop thinking that having Hayden around looking sexy-as-fuck was a complete and total bonus.
Now, I knew I had to be professional.
I also knew there was every possibility he’d bring dates over or go out a lot.
My job was to take care of Jack, not pine over my boss.
But having sexy eye candy around wasn’t a bad thing.
Plus, Hayden and I had clicked from the start.
