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Whoever this guy is, and whatever his company does, one thing is for sure—he’sloaded.
The mansion itself is tucked behind black wrought iron gates and nestled between thickets of trees on either side. The driveway alone is nearly long enough to be its own racetrack stretched out, and the height of the mansion towers over the trees. I can’t even fathom how many rooms must be inside of it. To think that this entire sprawling place is home to merely a single dad and his one kid. I wonder if he’s the kind of entitled rich asshole that has a spoiled brat for a kid. God, I hope not.
I take in a deep breath, remind myself that I reallyneedthis job and walk up the massive front door to ring the bell. While I listen to the sound of the melodic doorbell playing a lengthy, chiming tune, I play through various scenarios in my head.
If the guy is a dick, there’s still a chance that his kid won’t be so bad. If the kid is a snot, then maybe his dad will be one of those aloof CEOs that doesn’t really care how I handle things as long as I keep his child alive and well. The only real trouble would be if both the fatherandthe kid are unpleasant, then it will definitely come down to how much money he’s willing to pay me.
But just when I think I have prepared myself for every possible scenario, I am met with the one thing I could have never expected.
Standing there, in the middle of the open doorway with a wide smile on his face, isHunter. The very same Hunter that tore my heart from my chest and tossed it in a raging fire. The very man that turned my soul to ash. The man that I had spentyearstrying to forget about and purge out of my system. How in the hell is he here standing in front of me?
A sudden flush of heat warms my cheeks, and I think about all the ways that I am going to kill my brother for knowing about this and still setting up the interview. If this is his idea of the “perfect” job for me, then he has definitely missed the mark this time.
“Hello Tabitha.” My name slides off Hunter’s lips with such ease that it makes me instantly queasy.
How can he even talk to me with a smile on his face? Doesn’t he know how much he destroyed me? How can he not know? He’s the whole reason that I quit my job, ran through all my savings, and threw myself at the mercy of an international voyage just to get over him.
Not only is my first love back in town, but he is apparently now abillionaireand has a kid? I feel like I have entered into an alternate reality. Last I had heard, he and the woman that he dumped me for had moved away to the city and never looked back to this place. Why in the world would he have moved back to Camden? Where is his kid’s mother? And how on earth did he manage to break through to billionaire status?
I have so many questions all steamrolling my brain at once, and yet I can’t seem to form any of them into words to shoot out of my mouth. Instead, I am standing in the arched doorway of his giant mansion, wanting to turn and run back to my car like a scared little girl. I am completely frozen in place as all of the old feelings that I had for Hunter rush back over me like a tsunami in a singular, awkward moment.
Time feels as if it has lurched to a halt before I can finally manage to get his name out of my mouth.
“Hunter?” I ask as if I’m questioning whether he is real or not. “What are you doing here?”
“Well, Ilivehere,” he chuckles as he motions to the inside of the mansion behind him.
I can only see a tiny sampling of it, but from what I can see so far, it’s all polished marble floors that stretch in corridors farther than my eyes can see. “Please, come inside.”
Fight or flight mode kicks in and I panic internally. I can either turn and run to my car, embarrassing myself, disappointing my brother, and likely regretting my severe lack of courage. Or I can step inside this mansion and participate in an interview with my billionaire ex-boyfriend who has suddenly dropped right back into my life.
“I think—I think that this is a bad idea,” I say, the words seem to have a mind of their own because that wasn’t at all what I had been planning to say.
I feel myself start to slowly turn around as if my feet are stuck in quicksand, and then I feel a hand grip my elbow.
I turn my face back around and see Hunter holding onto my arm clumsily as he tries to convince me not to leave.
“I know this is awkward,” he says in the biggest understatement that I haveeverheard. “But please come inside, Tabitha. Jax told me that you really need a job, and I really need a nanny. I think that maybe this could work out for the both of us.”
My skin prickles as I bite my tongue to keep from saying something to the effect of “Yeah, like how things worked out for the both of us when you dumped me and left me for another woman?”
The thing that singularly keeps me from telling him tofuck offand getting out of here is the fact that he is right. Idoneed this job.
He drops my elbow and waits for my reaction. For a moment, his guess is as good as mine.
Chapter Two
Hunter
Unlike Tabitha, I am not atallstuck in a moment of surprise. That’s because I was the one that asked Jax to convince her to come and interview for the nanny position that I had posted.
I pulled the “best friend card” and promised him that I would pay his sister very,verywell. I also promised him that I wouldn’t make her upset by triggering any past harbored feelings.
Ever since I moved back to Camden, and ever since I posted the nanny position, I wrestled with myself about whether this was a good idea or not. I spent several restless nights asking myself why I would try to force fate and pull favors to have Tabitha interview for this position. And even though I tried to deny it, the answer was always the same.
I’ve never gotten over her.
Sure, I was the one that dumped her, but there was a whole hell of a lot more to it than she thinks.
