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I set the table for two for the first time with her. In LA, Peyton is much more at ease with Lila, but with me, she keeps things professional. More so than me, that is for damn sure.
Oliver no doubt warned her about men like me. Rock stars aren’t known for treating women well. Most have a string of baby-mamas. But having a baby with my ex cured me of that.
Being rich and famous, a lot of women approach me, seeing dollar signs. After Lila’s birth, I wanted to be married and have a family outside this business. That means no more industry types which rules out actresses, models, and musicians. Or most of Los Angeles. Naturally, these are the kinds of women I most often meet, so that has brought some serious challenges to my social life.
That’s what I love about being back on Smuggler's Bay. I can just be me for a while and not the lead singer ofCrush. Here I can shop in the small town market or take a walk without being under siege for selfies or the random panties being shoved in my hand.
My week of refuge has taken a change of direction with Peyton here though.
When Peyton drops her gaze or bites her lip, I want to take her away with me and lock out the rest of the world and keep her all to myself.
And fuck me if that isn’t in direct conflict with what I promised her brother.
Chapter Two
Peyton
Jude Hawkins makes me tremble when it’s one hundred degrees out and not a wisp of the hot California air blowing.
I’m not fairing any better here.
I didn’t set out to be a nanny. I was in between jobs when my brother Oliver called me about filling in as a nanny for Lila. This job is easily the luckiest break I’ve had in a life remarkably known for shitty circumstances and unfortunate events.
I hit it off with six-year-old Lila immediately. Around me, she’s a bubbly, energetic soul who makes me feel like anything is possible in life. From what I was told, before I arrived, the poor thing hardly cracked a smile. Her unhappiness stemmed from a string of ‘the best’ nannies who excelled in French and Judo. I roll my eyes every time I think about it. Every one of those nannies failed to understand that a lonely six-year-old girl needs someone to listen to their version of life, play Barbies, and be a reliable source of comfort.
I was pretty surprised to discover I could actually provide all three of those things when I can’t even figure out my own life. I love Lila like she’s my own. I lost my mother at eight and was raised by a large loving extended family but that emptiness for your mother never really went away.
Lila’s mother isn’t dead, but being a mother isn’t Amber’s top priority and trust me, it shows like a Las Vegas neon sign. I’m not trying to be bitchy; it’s the simple truth. She’s an in-demand model and her schedule keeps her at advertising photo shoots, red carpet events, and runway shows. Her time with Lila is rare, which isn’t what a six-year-old needs, especially when her father is away most of the time too.
But I’m not complaining. In addition to an excellent salary, I have my room in the Los Angeles family home.
There is just one little problem.
My boss. One utterly gorgeous Jude Hawkins ofCrush.
Hmm. Make that two problems.
While I might have an embarrassing reaction to my boss every time he looks my way, I also have a past. One he doesn’t know about. One I’ve never told a soul about.
I mean, it’s not like I can walk up to him and say, ‘Hey, baby, I want you to spread me out on the table and make love to me and by the way, I side hustle as a jewel thief slash smuggler.’
I know for a fact none of that would look pretty on a resume. My brother has no idea either. A few years back, I was flat broke. Living in LA is crazy-expensive. I needed money and smuggling paid ridiculously well. It helped that I had no prior record and a sweet face.
But trying to put a few smuggling jobs behind me is no easy feat. I thought I’d been hidden well enough from the man who got me into that mess—my abusive dickface ex, Conner. But he found me two weeks before I left LA for this trip. Then again, he always did.
Fear grips my heart just thinking about it. When I first arrived in LA, I met Conner at a small party. He seemed nice enough. After a couple of months of dating, he found out just how broke I was and offered to help. Oliver was helping me, but he always sent money back to our Ohio family. I was desperate to prove I could make it on my own and at the time, Conner made everything sound so adventurous. In other words, I was an inexperienced little girl and walked right into Conner’s well-laid trap.
Unless I do this one final job, he’ll expose my criminal past to my new boss and then where will I be left? On the street most likely, and I will probably drag my brother down with me by pure association. No way in hell anyone would let me care for their children if my dark past is ever exposed.
“Cute kid. She mine?” Conner sat down next to me at the park playground where I take Lila three times a week to play on the swings.
I close my eyes and shiver.
His dark hair was slicked back with an ungodly amount of gel. If you ever watched a movie where the small-time criminal always lurked in the shadows wearing a leather jacket and a snide smile you’d have Conner. Which is what he was—a small-time criminal. What everyone missed right off, including me, was how vicious he could be.
He wore a black silk shirt, white pants and that ugly leather jacket in ninety-degree weather. I swear the man looked like an extra from the set of Miami Vice.
Ice filled my veins when the stench of his aftershave clogged my nostrils. My eyes immediately went to Lila. She was playing with another young child while her nanny was distracted on the phone.
