Page 90 of Forbidden Kisses

I shook my head. "No, we’re keeping this under wraps."

"How on earth did you manage that?" Wyatt asked.

"It's not easy," I admitted.

"But do you plan on telling him?" That came from Chase.

"Riley and I haven't discussed it yet. And I don't want to pressure her in any way. I also don't want to confuse Jeremy."

"What do you mean, confuse?" Griffin asked. There was an edge in his voice. My brother was protective of Jeremy. All of them were.

"I don't want him to get his hopes up. After all, he's never met a woman I went out with, and she's his nanny."

"Not for long, though, right? So problem solved," Knox said breezily.

I cocked a brow. "How do you know that? You only talked to her for a few minutes at the condo.”

"Oh, I got that from Mom. Riley's only there until she starts her job as an associate."

I was already searching for a new nanny. Ms. Williams had informed me that she wanted to permanently retire, and that was for the best. It also meant I didn’t have to deal with firing her after the things she’d said to Jeremy.

"See, you're going to be off the hook then," Finn said. "Jeremy will have another nanny.”

“And you can continue to date Riley without worrying that it might impact him," Griffin said.

I realized at that moment that no matter how helpful my brothers wanted to be, there were so many nuances they missed.It wasn't all black-and-white with a kid. Just because Riley wouldn't be his nanny, it didn't mean that he wouldn't care about her. I could already tell that the bond he had with Riley was far closer than what he'd had with any of his previous nannies. That wasn't just something kids forgot.

"You know, this is a good thing. Jeremy’s given hints ever since Chase and Hannah got together that he’d like you to meet someone.”

Wyatt was more logical than the rest of my younger brothers, but he didn’t understand kids either. Sure, Jeremy might say that to anyone who wanted to hear him, but what he imagined happened when two adults got together was entirely different from the reality of a relationship. Things didn't always end up with the couple riding off into the sunset, as in Chase’s case. In my personal experience, relationships were messy and could potentially end up in disaster, or at least a lot of heartbreak and collateral damage.

And honestly, Riley was young—not that I noticed it so much when we were together, but whenever I saw her roommates, it hit me like a ton of bricks. Would she even want an exclusive ongoing relationship with me?

"I appreciate you all looking out for me and Jeremy, but I wasn't asking for advice," I said in an even tone.

"We weren't giving any," Chase said.

"Just our straightforward, obviously unwanted opinions," Wyatt continued, bouncing off him.

I usually liked hearing them. Chase had more experience than the rest of us with relationships. But none of them could understand my particular case.

"How about we get back to business?" I suggested.

Griffin groaned.

Wyatt nodded. "Yeah, you're right. That's why we meet every week. This isn’t gossip hour."

“No, we can gossip next week after our water polo match,” Finn said with a shit-eating grin.

“Excellent,” Wyatt exclaimed with an uncharacteristic grin of his own.

I just shook my head.

Even though we continued to talk shop, my mind was on my surprise for Riley. I was going to enlist her sister's help. Paula had been only too happy to give me details, and she was a wealth of information. I still had to figure out all the logistics. Most of all, I had to figure out Jeremy. But one thing at a time.

After our meeting, I noticed I had a missed call from Shona. She rarely called me; we usually spoke after she and Jeremy had their nightly conversation. She’d also had sent me a text.

Shona: Hey, call me when you can without Jeremy around. I'm making some arrangements for the vacation and want to prep some surprises for him.