AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Shit.
I couldn’t very well tell him the real reason I’d come to this place. Not only did it not matter at this point anyway, but I’d had a hard enough time telling Jolene and the police about Graham’s video. I intended to share the news with Tabitha, but I wasn’t worried about breaking down in front of her. If there was any chance of me being hired at Harper Security Ops on the off chance a position did open up, I had a feeling that a call wouldn’t come my way if I was a blubbering mess. The likelihood is they wanted to hire people who could be focused on doing their job and not distracted by the things threatening to send them into a tailspin.
So, I shrugged my shoulders. “Life doesn’t always work out the way we hope. I would have preferred being able to remain a homemaker, but that’s no longer an option. Now, I need a job, and I thought it might be a unique change of scenery to work at a place like this. Unfortunately, it seems that’s not an option, either.”
“Would you be interested in something a bit unconventional?”
“Pardon?”
Banks inhaled deeply. “Maybe I should ask another question first. How do you feel about children?”
I didn’t know what I thought Banks was referring to when he asked about me being interested in something unconventional, but the mention of children was nowhere on my radar. I couldn’t begin to understand why he was asking such a question.
That alone was enough to have me remaining silent to consider an appropriate response, but there was more.
I loved children.
From the moment Graham and I talked about me leaving my job and staying home, so he could provide for us and the family we wanted to have, my mind began to runwild. I started having visions of what that family would look like. Would we have a boy and a girl? A set of twins? Maybe we’d think we only want two kids and wind up with four or five.
“I love kids,” I answered honestly, my voice betraying me and coming out as a rasp.
For the first time since he’d made his approach, something changed in Banks’s expression. I wasn’t sure I understood what it meant, but his features had softened considerably, and my eyes were drawn to his slightly pouty lower lip. “Okay. So, back to my original question. Would you be interested in something a bit unconventional?”
I had no idea where this was going, but given the way I was noticing so much about this man, I wasn’t sure doing anything unconventional with him was a good idea. For that reason, it made no sense why I responded the way I did. “I guess that depends on what exactly this is about.”
“I’m looking to hire a nanny.”
“What?”
A small smile formed on Banks’s face, and I instantly wondered why he didn’t smile more often. It changed everything about him. He no longer looked like he was carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders. “For my son, Rhys. He’s six months old. My mom has been watching him, but she needs to have a surgery to have both of her knees replaced.”
Suddenly, the smile made sense.
The mere thought of his son had the power to transform Banks. It was heart melting to witness.
And experiencing that feeling was enough to have me ready to bolt. How could seeing the way this man reacted to the thought of his son have such a profound effect on me? I hadn’t felt any warmth move through me in months.
Unsure I liked what that meant, I said, “I’m terribly sorry about your predicament, but I’m not sure I’m the woman for the job.”
“But you said you love kids,” Banks reasoned, an edge of desperation in his tone.
“I do.”
“So, won’t you consider it?”
My eyes roamed over his handsome face, the tip of his nose and his cheeks slightly pink from the cold.
“He’s six months old?” I asked.
Banks nodded.
Gosh, that was quite possibly the perfect age. Babies started to fill out and develop personalities.
“You aren’t worried that you don’t even know me?” I pressed.
“Well, I’m hoping since you applied for a job at Harper Security Ops, you’d be okay with me needing to do a background check that would have been required if there had been a position available here,” Banks noted.
I had expected as much and didn’t have the slightest concern about being able to pass that check. But this man wanted me to be a nanny. I wasn’t sure I was qualified, and given the range of emotions I’d felt being in this man’s presence, I still didn’t think this was a smart decision for me.
