Page 72 of Nanny for the Bodyguard

I feel like we need to talk. I feel like I need to know where we stand because the potential to see this through and actually be in a relationship with Hazel is too good to be true.

I need to accept that I want it desperately.

My feet pound against the pavement with each step I take. It's warm, and the crickets are singing around me. As a breeze rushes past, making the grass on either side of the highway sway, I realize that I’m not going to solve anything out here.

You need to talk to her.

Turning around, I hurry back toward the house. It’s quiet this morning, and there are hardly any cars that zoom past me on the road.

It’s also well on its way to being a scorcher. I’m pretty sure the forecast said it was going to be in the upper nineties today.

“Another trip to the pool,” I mumble out as I jog home.

We could always swim in mine, but there's something about taking Hazel and Jade to the big one. There are waterfalls and slides. Stuff that I can’t offer with my Olympic-size pool in the backyard.

You can’t take them there until you talk with Hazel.

The little voice in my head is right, and I push myself harder, my thighs screaming at me, so that I can get back to the house as quickly as possible.

When I sprint up the steps of the house and use my key to get inside, I wander to the kitchen, needing some water.

There, I find Hazel and Jade in the kitchen, bacon sizzling away on the stove.

“Damn, that smells fantastic.” I smile as Hazel turns to me, and Jade sets down the spatula that she’s been using to help flip the bacon.

“Swear jar.” Jade holds out her hand, and I sigh, grumbling under my breath about why I agreed to that damn thing.

“I don’t have money on me right now, Jade.”

She scowls, dropping her hand only to turn on her heel and start running upstairs.

“Where are you going?!” I call out after her.

“To get your wallet! You’ll have a dollar in there! It’s in your room, right?”

I don’t bother answering because Jade is already out of sight and well up the stairs. Rolling my eyes with a sigh, I go over to the cupboard and fetch a glass for water.

Act casual. But you have to talk to her. But don’t be weird.

After last night and my unhelpful run, I still don’t know where I stand with Hazel, and my brain loves reminding me about how I have to talk to her.

Damn, I would so prefer to put this off, but I know I can’t. We can’t stay away from each other, and that’s not about to change.

Conversation necessary.

Jade rushes back downstairs with my wallet in hand just as I fill up my glass. The chat is going to have to wait until after breakfast.

“Here. Put a dollar in the swear jar.”

“A dollar?!” I look between her and Hazel. “I thought it was a quarter?”

Hazel grins, hiding a laugh with a sip of coffee. “It went up because you never have any change, and Jade figured it would be easier for you to remember withpapermoney.”

“Ugh.” I shake my head, pulling out a single from my wallet and stuffing it in the jar on the top of the fridge. “There. Happy?”

Jade smiles. “Yup. Now…”

She walks over to the stove near Hazel, gesturing at the frying pan like Vanna White. “…bacon!”