Page 47

“Ellie, can I stay with you?” she asks as she rests her cheek on my arm and while I usually hate when a kid tries to use me to get out of doing what a parent tells them, I’m tempted to say yes before Rowan interrupts.
“No,” Rowan says and I frown at him, wishing he wasn’t being so tough on her just because he’s irritated that she interrupted us.
“But—” she starts.
“Isla Jude,” he says and she looks up at him. “I’ll take you back to bed. You’re not going to rope Elianna into letting you stay up.”
Her warm chocolate eyes flit up to mine and she crooks a finger at me so I’ll lean closer. Then she covers her mouth, presses her hand against my cheek, and whispers in my ear, “Will you take me?”
An unfamiliar feeling washes over me that she’d rather me take her back to bed instead of her father because I’m not used to that. Usually the kids that I nanny for are dying for more attention from their parents, especially the little girls when it comes to their fathers. I look up at Rowan and then down at Isla. “I can take her.”
Realizing that’s more than likely what she whispered, he nods and I get off the couch, Isla’s hand already encased in mine as we make our way to the stairs. “G’night, Daddy!”
“Night, honey,” he says, and when I turn to look over my shoulder, I meet his hungry eyes as they practically undress me.
I’m standing outside of Isla’s room with my hand hovering over the handle as I prepare to go inside. It’s been almost thirty minutes since Ellie brought Isla upstairs and I’ve almost worn a hole in the living room floor pacing back and forth while I wait for her to come back. I’ve never known Isla to want anyone to take her back to bed besides me. There were even a few times their mother called me in the middle of the night because Isla was inconsolable and kept asking for me. She is growing out of the fear of monsters under her bed thanks to Sawyer telling her that basically nothing is real.
The only good thing to come out of him spilling the beans about Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, and the Easter Bunny, I guess.
But she still felt more settled when I was the one to take her over anyone else, so asking Ellie sent an unfamiliar feeling through me. It felt like a combination of happiness that she is connecting with someone and concern that she is connecting with her in a way that will make it extremely difficult for her when Ellie inevitably leaves.
And now I’m thinking about her leaving.
Fuck. She can’t leave. Not after…
“Can I?”I hear her soft voice in my head asking if she could touch my dick while she was sitting in my lap. I’m fairly certain that’s a scene that’s going to play on a loop in my head for the rest of my fucking life. Her face, her voice, the softness of her curves under my hands while she ground herself against me.
A feeling of pride shoots through me when I remember that I’m the first man she’s ever done that with. The only man she’s ever rubbed her sexy little body against and I’m instantly curious if I can make her come that way.
I finally push through Isla’s door quietly, hoping that Isla is asleep and Ellie is on her way out of the room. What I do not expect when I enter Isla’s room is both of them asleep on Isla’s full-sized princess bed. Isla is pressed against Ellie’s side but what strikes me the most is that her hand is still encased in Ellie’s. I stare at them for a moment before I move closer and press a kiss to Isla’s forehead and then to Elianna’s. She stirs slightly but doesn’t wake up, and despite the fact that I want her to so she’s not sleeping in here for the rest of the night, I know it’s mostly because I want to pick up where we left off before Isla interrupted. Before I can talk myself into waking her up, I’m out of Isla’s room.
The next day is Saturday,thank God,because it took me at least another hour—half of which I spent with my hand wrapped around my dick while I pictured Elianna’s cunt wrapped around it—to fall asleep which meant it was almost five in the morning before my eyes closed for the night. Now, it’s ten in the morning and the only reason I’m awake is because I hear Isla screaming Sawyer’s name followed by, “Look what you did!!”And, “Shhhh! Dad’s still sleeping,” from Margot.
Definitely one of the cons of having my room on the main floor instead of upstairs.
I briefly wonder if Ellie ever came back downstairs or if she slept the whole night in Isla’s room. I reach for my phone and I’m pleasantly surprised to see a text from her.
Surprised and fucking giddy like a teenage boy getting a message from the girl he likes.
Elianna Riley (Nanny): Did not mean to fall asleep on you. Isla’s bed is surprisingly comfortable.
A smile finds my lips and before I can tell myself that she may not be under the same carnal haze that we were in last night or that she may be freaking out about what we did, I type out a response.
Me: Not as comfortable as mine.
My heart momentarily stops knowing that she’s probably in the kitchen with my kids cooking and if Margot or SJ happen to see her phone light up with a message from me, they may question it, or worse, open it.
And what if she has text message previews enabled?
Shit. Does she have a passcode on her phone?
Of course, everyone has a passcode on their phone.
But they still may be curious as to why I’m texting her instead of just coming out and saying whatever I need to tell her.
I’m out of bed and moving into the bathroom quickly before I let myself spiral any further and convince myself that my kids are currently interrogating her about why I’m telling her how comfortable my bed is.
A few moments later, I’m walking through the kitchen to find all of my kids fully dressed and eating French toast. Ellie’s eyes meet mine from her seat at the table over her cup of coffee and I don’t see her phone anywhere in sight. She gives me a shy smile before her eyes move to Isla.