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I stepped away from Karly as Alexis moved down the hallway toward the front door. She turned to face me and waited like a puppy that wanted to go for a walk. “Nana’s here. I saw her from the window,” she said with excitement.
The doorbell rang. I opened the door as Alexis jumped up and down. She grabbed hold of my mom’s hand before she’d had a chance to remove her coat.
“Nana, this is my new nanny, Karly-good-girl. She’s cool.”
I looked at my mom and then turned to Karly, who hovered in the kitchen doorway. Mom glanced at me with the look she was famous for. It included a raised eyebrow and judgment, but, thankfully, she usually kept it to herself.
Mom slipped off her coat as Karly introduced herself as politely as possible. “Yes, hi, I’m Karly. It’s lovely to meet you.” She smiled. “Alexis is all ready for bed, and her books are on the side,” she said.
Mom walked into the living room and sat on the couch as Alexis scrambled up beside her and threw her arms around her neck.
“She’s quite taken with Karly, which is very rare,” I told Mom.
Mom turned to Karly and smiled through tightened lips. “She’ll be doing me out of a job soon.”
Karly giggled and said she’d better go home and get ready for her dinner date. Mom turned back to me and furrowed her brow. The front door closed.
“Some business you have to take care of, huh?” she asked. She smiled, knowing the truth.
“It’s nothing like that, Mom.” I headed upstairs to get ready.
When I came back down, Alexis was sitting with Mom on the couch and looking at her storybook. She was busy explaining how Karly read all the pages to her while she showed off the pictures and told her the animal names.
“It seems she’s doing something right,” Mom said, looking up over the rim of her reading spectacles.
“I told you. She gets on great with the little madam, ever since she stepped inside the front door.”
“Go and enjoy yourself,” Mom said without looking up.
After I stopped the car outside Karly’s apartment block, I leaned on the driver’s door as I called her cell.
“Hello.”
“I’m downstairs,” I replied, looking up at the front of the apartment. A face appeared at the window, and Karly waved at me.
“Two minutes,” she replied and ended the call.
I waited for her, feeling good that we were going to spend time together alone.
“Is this okay?” she asked as she walked out and over to me.
I turned and was instantly transported back to my childhood when I first thumbed through the lingerie pages in Mom’s women’s catalog. Wow…whoa.
Karly stood in a figure-hugging red dress, her breasts heaving and her long, gorgeous legs extended by the high heels she wore. “You look stunning.”
I shook my head and mentally pinched myself. There was no way I could look at her the same way when she was working. What a transformation. Thank you, God.
“So, where are we going?” she asked.
I smirked as I held the door open for her. She slid into the car and smelled like absolute heaven. “You’ll see. I don’t want to spoil the surprise.”
The drive wasn’t long, and we approached the far end of the bridge. I pulled into a parking lot and explained we’d arrived.
Karly looked puzzled. “Arrived where?”
I offered her my hand as she stepped from the car and turned her head in all directions. I led her to the steps, and she glanced down onto the roof of the restaurant that was nestled under one end of the bridge.
She smiled. “Now that’s what I call hidden.”
The waiter showed us to our table. It was away from the crowd and by the window. We had the best view of the cityscape that sat on the far side of the river, the building silhouettes highlighted by lights flickering into action.
“You can have anything,” I said.
Karly looked up from the menu. “Anything? Even if it’s not on the menu?”
I coughed and spluttered. Was she flirting?
“Oysters. They’re good for getting the blood pumping,” she said.
Yup. She was definitely flirting.
The waiter took our order and returned with the wine. He poured the glasses and vanished when I cast him a “leave us alone” look.
The entrées came before I set the small talk aside and got to the issue. “The reason I’ve asked you to dinner is—” Karly tilted her oyster and swallowed it in one gulp. “Even before you mentioned you were a vir…”
“Virgin. It’s nothing to be ashamed of,” she said before downing a second oyster.
“I know, but you might have limits. I need to know these because you’ve been driving me absolutely wild. I can’t think of anything at the office apart from you. I guess you’ve also noticed I get home early?”
“Um, I thought you just wanted to see Alexis.”
