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His voice drops into that low, teasing register that does unfair things to my heartbeat. “Drive safe, Carter.Try not to assault anyone else tonight.”

Julian lifts his fork. “I’ll knock next time, Warrior Princess.”

“Wise decision, Pretty-Boy.”

I stoop down to give Rosie one more kiss before heading toward the front door.

As I step onto the porch, I catch Wes’s voice drifting out. “I know I don’t have to tell you, but I’m going to say it anyway. She’s off limits.”

My heart is about to beat out of my chest.

Julian tries to say something in his defense, but Wes cuts him off. “Off. Limits.”

“Yeah, I kind of guessed that by the circle you pissed around her.”

“Fuck off, Julian.”

“You messed up. Didn’t I specifically warn you not to hire a hot nanny?”

I stumble slightly, my face instantly heating.

Walk away, Lena. Walk away.

Taking my own advice, I walk away before they find me out here eavesdropping.

Hot nanny, huh?

Well, I suppose there are worse things in life.

I close the door behind me, breathing deeply as laughter bubbles up my chest.

Twenty-Two

Wes

“Iknow I don’t have to tell you, but I’m going to say it anyway. She’s off limits,” I tell Julian, trying to shake the misplaced possessiveness from my bones. It’s fucking pathetic. I have no claim over Lena.

So why the hell does it feel that way? Why is something in me waging a war and screaming at me that she’s in my house, looking after my kid, and she’s mine?

Julian tries to say something, but my mouth is running away from me today.

I glare at him, cutting the words from his tongue. “Off. Limits.”

“Yeah, I kind of guessed that by the circle you pissed around her.”

I have no reply to that because he’s right.

He finishes off the last bite of Lena’s apology pasta with a self-satisfied smirk. He watched her walk out the door like he had just witnessed something particularly entertaining. Which, knowing Julian, he did.

“You messed up. Didn’t I specifically warn you not to hire a hot nanny?”

I pinch the bridge of my nose to soothe the headache threatening to bloom behind my eyes.

He did tell me that.

And I fucking ignored his advice.

“Just wait until Nathan hears about this,” he says, setting down his plate and crossing his arms. “I mean, a hot nanny? Really?”