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Knight put one large hand on my shoulder and cut his eyes at me. “This isn’t going to work if she can outsmart you at every turn.”
“Uncle Knight! Do you want to swim with me?” Gracie was unbothered by the vibe in the air. I guess murder was hard to pick up on as a kid.
I squeezed the water out of my shirt, watching as his eyes predictably moved to my breasts. Despite knowing it was a bad plan and knowing that I was playing with my career, I put instant gratification first. I shifted and planted my hands on his chest, giving him one firm shove before stepping back. Watching his arms windmill as he tried to avoid falling into the pool soothed my ruffled feathers at him insinuating I was dumb.
Gracie grabbed my hand and giggled. “You’re going to be in so much trouble, Miss Aggie.”
The look on Knight’s face when he came up told me that Gracie’s assertion was right. I just didn’t know what kind of trouble I was going to be in with Knight. I wanted to kick myself, but I refused to back down in front of the man. There was something about the brothers that set my teeth on edge and pushed every single one of my buttons. I lost almost all self-control over my temper with them.
“I think we should run.” Gracie tugged me backwards as Knight planted his hands on the pool edge. “Now!”
A real nanny would’ve known that running through the house soaking wet was a bad idea. A real nanny wouldn’t have been caught dead sliding across the entrance of the house with her young charge by another of her bosses. Most of all, a real nanny would have known that wet feet on marble floors create disasters.
Gracie slipped and landed on her butt, instantly screaming and crying. I wiped out and took down a table with my knee. I felt like crying, the pain instant and intense, but I crawled over to Gracie instead. She saw my knee and I watched her face go green before she leaned forward and threw up all over my lap.
I gagged and leaned as far away from the vomit as I could. “Oh, god. Oh, god. I mean, it’s fine. This is fine. Everything’s fine.”
“Never in my life have I witnessed someone create chaos by just existing!” Kyrin grabbed my upper arm and dragged me to my feet. “Jesus Christ, woman. It’s been less than six hours and there’s already blood and vomit all over the place. This has to be a record!”
I twisted in his grip until he wrapped an arm around my waist to hold me up, but I tipped forward and grabbed Gracie, pulling her up with us. “It’s okay, Gracie. Just a little fall. Just a little…throw up. Nothing we can’t handle. Right?”
Gracie sobbed, her little body shaking. She latched onto me, clinging with her arms around my neck. “I’m sorry!”
I didn’t understand why she was apologizing, but I did what I always did when someone needed comforting. I just talked. “Oh, Gracie. Don’t apologize. We girls are always apologizing too much. You didn’t do anything. It’s not your fault you wanted me as a nanny and I’m better equipped in a basement full of computers. You didn’t know. You’re okay, butterfly. You’re probably going to have a bruise on that butt, though. This floor is too hard. Think we should sue your silly uncles? Who puts such a hard floor in a place where people are going to be falling? What kind of dorks do that?”
She giggled through her tears, but didn’t loosen her grip on me. I was very aware of the vomit on me, the throbbing pain in my knee, and the furious man still holding me up. I felt like crying along with Gracie, honestly.
“You have got to be the worst nanny in the world.” Kyrin groaned. “And of course, the kid took to you. Just our luck.”
I twisted my head to glare at him. “I’mnota nanny.”
Knight chose that moment to show up, his shoessquishing as he walked closer. When I met his angry gaze, he all but bared his teeth at me. “You’re a menace. If you’re not working for Blake, he’s getting free labor, because you’re doing more damage than any of his previous failed attempts.”
I couldn’t help lashing back out at him. “You were saying something about being outsmarted?”
As if two brothers weren’t enough, Zander showed up, his nose scrunched. “Good God. What in the hell happened?”
“I’m starting to feel bad for Blake. He dated this disaster for years.” Knight kicked his wet shoes off. “No wonder he could never touch our sales. He was probably on fire half the time.”
I seethed and tried to shake free of Kyrin. “You want to go back in the pool?”
Gracie lifted her head. “Yeah!”
8
***Aggie***
Inoddedoffwhileputting Gracie to bed. It’d been the most aggravating day I’d ever had and I was exhausted from not losing my mind. When I woke up, I saw only a few minutes had passed, but Gracie had fallen asleep with me. She was curled around an impressive collection of teddy bears and had her thumb planted firmly in her mouth. I quietly and slowly stood up and walked out of her room, leaving the door cracked the way the guys had so helpfully lectured me about.
The power nap had recharged my batteries and I was going through the day in my head, getting angrier by the moment. I slowly made my way downstairs, planning on getting ice for my knee before finding the guys. Something had to change. The day had been hell. It’d been bad before the fall, but after? I wanted to actually murder them. I’d never been so angry in my life. Not even Monroe had managed to invoke a reaction like the one the Graves brothers raised in me.
They’d hovered the rest of the day. They’d watched every moment of my interactions with Gracie, commenting and critiquing them the entire time. I didn’t tell her to sit to eat her lunch in the right place. I didn’t make her nap fast enough. I was too nice when she didn’t want to nap. I was too this, too that, not enough this or that. It was like they’d glued themselves to my back to try to make me quit.
I felt like my blood pressure had reached record highs throughout the day and my ego had taken a beating like no other. I was thoroughly convinced that I wasn’t made for dealing with children, and it pissed me off even more that they’d managed to cut me down so far. They were reinforcing my stance to not have children with each remark they made. It was clear that we didn’t like each other, but if they were going to continue being assholes, I’d have to do something drastic. Like drown them all in the pool.
I grabbed a premade bag of ice that Mary had left for me. She’d been disgusted and disgruntled by my bloody mess, but she’d still made sure to leave supplies for me before going home for the night. I grabbed a popsicle and opened it over the sink. The house was huge and I figured a snack for the trip to find the guys would be nice.
Limping through the first floor, I ate the popsicle and looked around, running through calming techniques in my head. When I heard muffled voices coming from behind a closed door at the far side of the house, I was almost calm from my long walk and the delicious pineapple popsicle. Rich people’s popsicles were made differently, I realized while biting off another chunk.
