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“Wha—?” Now it was Briar’s turn to blink at me. Finally, she shook her head. “That’s not how I remember it.”
I couldn’t fight the smile tugging at my lips. “So you’re attracted to me?”
“I-I, uh…”
“And you think I’m sweet? And what was the other thing you called me? Ridiculously attractive, was it?” My smile had turned into a bit of a smirk. Briar liked me. I’d thought the attraction had only been on my side. She’d never even hinted before at being into me.
Briar groaned and rested her head on the doorjamb. “Can we just forget my whole word vomit thing and go back to the part in our history before we kissed? Forget the rest of the night even happened?”
I tilted my head and took in her cute little booty shorts and tank top. How did she manage to look so sexy without all the lace and silk my ex had loved to flaunt? Briar was just simply herself.
And I found that so goddamn sexy.
“I don’t think I’ll be able to do that,” I answered honestly.
Briar groaned again and closed her eyes. “I understand. I’ll keep watching Zoe as long as it takes you to find a suitable replacement. If you want me to, that is.”
“Oh, I think it’s safe to say I want you.” My pants were tenting like a freaking teenager’s. I’d been picturing her lithe legs wrapped around my waist, so it took a moment for her words to penetrate my lust fogged brain.Find a suitable replacement?“Wait. What?”
“Aren’t you firing me? For coming onto you? Kinda why you fired the last however many nannies?”
“I fired the last nanny after I came home to her naked in my bed. While Zoe cried in her room. She seriously thought I’d find her attractive despite her neglect of my daughter. I fired the nanny before her after I caught her going through my dirty clothes hamper. Turned out she’d had a collection going.” I shuddered. “And I fired the nanny before her after I found out she was inviting people over to ‘play.’”
“Oh.”
“And she made a pass at me on her way out the door.”
“Wow. That’s, uh…wow.”
“Yeah.” I shoved my hands into my front pockets and rocked back on my heels. “None of those incidents were consensual. But I take it tonight was?”
Briar nodded tightly even though she couldn’t look at me.
I cleared my throat. “So what are we going to do about it?”
She jerked her head up, her eyes wide. “What do you mean?”
“Well, the way I see it we have three options. One, we could do like you said, pretend nothing happened. Or two, you couldquit and leave, which would break Zoe’s heart. Or three, we see where this goes.”
“Oh. Um…”
“We don’t have to decide tonight. We could sleep on it and talk tomorrow.”
“Okay. I, uh, I think I want to do that. Talk tomorrow, I mean.”
“Sounds good.” I smiled and turned to leave, then I paused. I turned back before she closed her door. “Just so you know, I’m interested in option three, but I’ll settle for option one. You are by far the best nanny we’ve ever had, and I really don’t want Zoe to lose you.”
Briar smiled softly. “This is by far the best job I’ve ever had. I thought teaching was what I was meant to do, but now… I don’t know. Maybe I was meant for something else.”
And with those cryptic words, she closed her door, leaving me staring at the painted wood with a frown.
What did that mean?
Probably that she didn’t want to compromise our working relationship with messy feelings and awkward line-crossing. Could we even be a couple? What would that do to my reputation? I’d literally built my career on being the boy scout, do-no-wrong, family man. Sleeping with my nanny was the opposite of that.
I sighed.
And resigned myself to option one. It was definitely the safe option. I shouldn’t begrudge her decision.
