AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Me… Summer Bradley… was on the way to the Alps to nanny for Billionaires.
My father called me a failure and a disgrace up until the day I had run away. For years, I had blamed him for my collapse into abusing all the drugs and alcohol I could handle. I blamed him for sending me into the arms of Felix, the bad-boy man of my dreams who had quickly morphed into a tyrant of pain and terror. After theaccidentwhen Felix was sent to prison, and I started to turn my life around, I stopped blaming my father and began to pity him. He’d been given a terrible hand in life, and he had done the worst with it. Grief did horrible things to people.
Sometimes the hand we get dealt in life paves a road we can’t get off, and it was sheer luck and determination that I had managed to drag myself out of the streets and into a decent job with clean living. Even with all of my efforts, I had very little to show for it. No friends to turn to, no family to call when the ball dropped on New Year’s, and no partner could get close enough to the damage Felix had left behind in my soul.
How did I end up here?
“Drink.” Suddenly a glass filled with something orange, topped with cherries and a mint leaf, was placed in front of my nose. I followed the arm—now bare and displaying the full beauty of the floral arrangement tattoo—up to Theo, who was standing over me, the same drink in his other hand. “You’ve been glaring at the screen for nearly half an hour, so either you’rereallyagainst festive romances or you have something very intense on your mind.”
“Oh.” I chuckled softly and took the drink as warmth filled my cheeks. “Sorry, I was just… thinking.”
“Care to share?” Theo dropped into the chair next to me, his muscular bulk filling the chair. Behind him, the laptop was closed and the curtains drawn.
“Um… thinking about life?” I mused softly.
“Life makes you frown like that?” Theo suddenly frowned deeply, his dark brows pulling low as he scrunched up his entire face. Unable to contain my laughter, I balanced the glass on the armrest and a sigh escaped.
“Sometimes. I guess… I don’t know if this is appropriate to tell your employer,” I chuckled, “but I guess this doesn’t feel real.”
“The plane? Or the job?”
“Everything. Our worlds are so different, and it’s just a bit of a struggle to connect the two in my head. This past week or so has been a whirlwind, and I think it’s left me feeling breathless deep down.” I lifted the glass to my lips and sipped the fruity drink. “Sorry.”
“Don’t apologize for being honest,” Theo replied quietly. “I understand. Maybe not to the same degree, but I didn’t grow up with a lot. I was an instant noodle kind of guy in college so when Helix took off, it was like a rocket. It just kept going, and Luke and I often felt like we were along for the ride.”
“You created this company in college?” I asked softly, taking the time to truly map out the features of Theo’s face. He was incredibly handsome, dashingly so, like out of an old movie. And the way he spoke was so warm and calm that I half wished I could capture it just to fall asleep to his soothing tones.
“Yes. It started as just a simple internet security thing, but like the idiot teenagers we were, we kept pushing it. It got bigger and better, then we expanded into building security, personnel, and more. Suddenly we were in the top one thousand of security companies, then the top one hundred, and then the top ten. All the while, I was trying to figure out how the hell it even happened.” His entire face lit up when he laughed, and a shared warmth bloomed deep within my chest.
“It must have been incredible,” I said.
“It was. But… sometimes, I still feel out of my depth. I’m just pretending to know what I’m doing, pretending I fit in here with all the other golden spoon boys. Kane keeps me pretty grounded most days, but even then, I feel like I’m justactinglike his father rather than being one. So I understand the surreal disconnect you’re talking about. Sorry if that sounded like I was bragging.” Theo’s head dipped, and how he looked away reminded me of Bonnie and her shyness.
“It was a little braggy,” I teased, “but… thank you. My life has never been anything like this.” Sweeping an arm around the cabin, I took another drink. “Only in my dreams. And I still can’t believe I got the job.”
“Do you want to know why?” Theo fixed me with an even stare, and I nodded as nerves knotted suddenly in my gut.
“Jax is good at reading people. He said you were the first candidate that didn’t try to impress him with company knowledge or even ask questions about myself or Luke. He wanted to hire you because you seemed interested in the children rather than the billionaires behind them.”
My heart skittered in my chest as Theo spoke.
“Luke’s thoughts finalized it. He said you looked like a normal human, ready to get mucky with kids. You didn’t dress to impress, and the kidslovedthe games you played. Ava hasn’t stopped talking about you since you readThe Princess and the Frogand did all the voices. So, you got the job just by being you.”
I hadn’t expected such an honest answer, and the warmth in my cheeks increased tenfold.
“Here I thought it was my glowing references and mypeakhumor,” I replied with a grin, my voice slightly strained.
“That too,” Theo chuckled deeply. “But… I hope that helps ease your fear enough for you to enjoy yourself while you’re with us.”
“I appreciate it.” His honesty, his kindness, his sincerity. All of it. He was an incredibly charming man.
“Anytime.” His eyes twinkled over the edge of his glass, still studying me as I drained my own glass, and then nature called.
“Sorry, excuse me.” Unclipping the belt, I stood up and began to ease myself past Theo, but just as I was about to step into the aisle, the plane suddenly lurched violently to one side. I was thrown into Theo’s lap with a cry of fright. His thick arms immediately circled around me, holding me tight to his broad chest as the plane lurched again, and my stomach backflipped in fright. I clutched at Theo, my hands turning to claws as I desperately gripped on and buried my face into his strong neck. The scents of ginger and cotton tickled my nose when the plane lurched once more and then finally settled.
“My sincerest apologies,” crackled the pilot’s voice over the intercom. “We hit an unexpected air pocket but are all good now. It’ll be smooth sailing. My apologies again.”
“Oh myGod,” I gasped softly. I slowly lifted my head. Theo pressed a warm hand to my cheek, and I would have melted had every nerve not been pounding with alarm.
