AllFreeNovel
Share Us
A big rule of mine was for Paige not to have snacks before dinner. If she had snacks, she went on a bit of a sugar rush and would stay up longer than she needed to. She wouldn’t eat dinner and then would wake up halfway through the night, whining and complaining about her hunger.
It seemed like Quinn was about to forsake that rule.
“Quinn,” I said her name in return. “What did I tell you about…?”
She cut me off before I could finish. “I know, I know, I’m not supposed to give her anything before dinner.”
“If you would have let me finish…” My voice was hardly louder than a snap. “You would know that’s not what I was going to say.” I hated being interrupted. Call it a pet peeve of mine.
“I’m sorry,” she apologized with wide eyes. I could practically hear her heart rate accelerating. I knew that she was afraid of me. That was easy enough to tell. But I also had a sneaking suspicion that there was more to it than that met the eye. She didn’t just fear me. If I was right, there was a part of her that found me attractive as well.
“No need for an apology,” I told her, calming my tone a bit. “I was going to say that you don’t have to keep calling me by my last name. Ezra is more than fine.”
Her expression was filled with a shock that I didn’t understand. I was strict, yes, and I didn’t entertain anything unprofessional. In the past, I’d never let any of my nannies call me anything other than Mr. Ledger. Quinn was different. And that should have been a bad thing. I knew it was a bad thing.
But I couldn’t stop myself. I hated to admit it.
“Are you sure?” she asked me, her voice low, and she turned around, looking at me, with the spatula in her hand. Her green eyes looked so unsure, and I wondered if I’d done that, if I had made her so unconfident in herself.
“I wouldn’t have said so if I wasn’t sure.” I made it a habit not to think twice after I’d made a decision. Regret was an emotion I preferred not to feel.
“Daddy.”
Coming in, I’d completely forgotten about Paige, which was unusual for me. My world revolved around her. My attention immediately turned to her, and my face turned into a grin. I could tell by her smile that she’d had a good day, and I was sure that I would hear all about it. Preferably not at that moment, but I’d be the first to admit that I would drop anything for my daughter.
She was sitting down, at the table, seemingly doing homework. That was exactly what I wanted to see.
“Paige!” I walked over to her and wrapped my arms around her. Nothing felt better than hugging her after a long day of work. Her little arms wrapped around my neck as she hugged me back as hard and as tight as she possibly could.
I picked her up, in my arms, and threw her in the air, the way that I knew she liked. The giggles that she let out were like music to my ears. There was nothing that I wanted to hear more. After throwing her a few times, I brought her down, and she pouted, not wanting to be put down.
Not many got to see this side of me because I kept it hidden. It was a weakness, almost, the amount that I truly cared and could care about someone. Everyone saw the side that I wanted them to see, the cold, heartless business man I made myself out to be. I wouldn’t let them see anything else, any other side of me, because I didn’t want them to think of me any other way.
It was important that they didn’t make me out to be anything else in newspapers and magazines. It was already hard enough to keep them out of my life, and they were less incessant when they thought I wouldn’t tolerate all of their pestering and questionings. I had more important things to do than constantly being interrogated.
I remembered a time when I didn’t care about what people thought. I didn’t mind that everyone knew about the soft side of me because it was reserved for the two best women in my life: Paige, and my past wife, Gabriella. Her name alone made me sad.
My past wife was everything that I could have wanted and more. I hadn’t doubted once that she was the love of my life, and we’d built this perfect life, planned it out, and then she’d died. Everything, all of our plans, had been completely destroyed. I hadn’t just lost her, I’d lost a part of myself, a piece of me. I nearly crumbled and broke down. The only thing that stopped me, that saved me, was Paige.
She was the last thing that I had from my wife, and I cherished her more with every second.
“I’m almost done with homework,” Paige told me, which made me chuckle. It was her way of dismissing me so she could finish what she’d been doing. If the looks alone didn’t sell someone, her personality made it obvious that she was my daughter. She was the kind of person who wanted to finish a task once she’d started it.
“Okay,” I commented. “I’ll leave you to it then.” She nodded and settled back in the kitchen chair, putting all of her little focus on the pieces of paper in front of her. I couldn’t contain my laughter, as I moved back towards Quinn.
She turned around to look at me. “Are you hungry?”
I raised an eyebrow at her. Was this her way of making conversation? I wasn’t impressed. I wasn’t usually interested in spending time with or bonding with my nannies, but I couldn’t make myself stick to that rule when it came to Quinn. Why did I feel like she was so different? I needed to stop thinking of her in that way, or I was sure that those thoughts would soon become reality.
“What do you think?” I asked her. “I just got home from working a twelve-hour day. Would you be hungry?” I knew what my sarcasm was. It was a defense mechanism to keep space between the two of us. I’d been using that, and my coldness, to keep Quinn from getting too close to me. I had to admit that I felt something for her, but that didn’t mean I had to indulge in it.
I didn’t need a relationship, nor did I want one, even if it was with Quinn herself.
“Sorry,” she apologized again, her green eyes fixed on me as her teeth bit into that luscious pink bottom lip. One thing I’d come to notice about Quinn was the sheer amount that she apologized, something I found rather annoying. I was unsure if this was her personality or if she did it just because I was her employer. Regardless of the reason, it was a habit that she needed to grow out of.
“Stop with all of the apologies,” I told her.
She stared at me and nodded. “Sorry.” Then she sighed. “Sorry. Ahhh.”
