Page 59 of Nothing to This

“Disrespect is not when I feel when I look at you, Miss…”

“Hampton,” she said.Her cellphone rang.Shifting the files, she retrieved it from her pocket.The daycare number?A surge of panic hit her.“Excuse me.”She answered the phone, fighting to subdue her worry.“Is everything okay?”

“Yes, Rylee, don’t panic, but…”

Dumping the files back on the desk, she turned away.“But…?”she said.“Oh my God, Marie.What happened?”

“The kids are fine.There’s nothing to worry about,” Marie said.“But, uh, Kye is… he’s giving us some trouble.”

Edging closer, her hand sought JD’s shoulder, but she couldn’t look at him.“Trouble?”she asked.“What kind of trouble?”

“This is…” The more awkward the daycare nanny got, the more she worried.“He says he owns the building; that Sky is everyone’s boss and… we have to do what we’re told.”

Her panic faded to an irritation that she landed on JD.“You’re kidding me.”

“No, I… I think you should come down here.”

“Absolutely,” she said.“And I’ll bring his father with me.”

Hanging up the phone, she shoved JD’s shoulder.

“Kye?”he asked.

Spinning around, she widened her false smile again.“I apologize, gentlemen.Mr.Savoy, Greg will have to see you out.Mr.Dawes and I have a family issue to deal with.”

“Family?”Savoy asked.

Sidestepping, she gave JD space to get up.“Our son’s gotten too big for his boots.”

JD swept his jacket from the back of his chair to put it on.“I’ll call you with those numbers later in the week,” he said and took her hand.Savoy seemed too surprised to respond.“Excuse us.”

Eager to get downstairs, she tugged JD along, through the bullpen and into the elevator.Alone in there, the doors closed, and she straightened his tie.

“I can’t believe this,” she muttered.“My beautiful baby, my sweet little angel… Just a few weeks living with you, and he’s become an arrogant jerk.”

Adjusting his tie, she busied herself smoothing his lapels.“I’m not clear on what he did.”

Planting both hands on his chest, she wasn’t shy about glaring.“He told the daycare Sky was the boss and everyone had to do what she said.”His grin wasn’t shy, but she wasn’t amused and held up a chastising finger.“No, this is not funny, JD.Our children are not going to be spoiled brats.”

He tried to relax his face but didn’t do a great job of it.“Right, no, of course.It’s not funny.”His smile twitched again and he bent a little lower.“I love that he gave his sister the top chair.How do you think they decided?Drew straws?Rock, paper, scissors?Maybe she leveraged some bacon in the negotiation.”

“I think you should stop enjoying this,” she said.“You should consider this your first official daddy assignment.If you think I’m explaining this one to the daycare people who take excellent care of our children every day and have been nothing but kind—”

“We’ll give them a raise.”

“Money is not the answer to everything.”

Resting his hands on her shoulders, he skimmed them down her upper arms.“Trust me, babe, when it comes to underpaid, underappreciated employees, they never say no to a raise.”

She breathed out.“I suppose since we’re there, we should add your name to the approved list… If this is as mortifying as I imagine it will be, I may never show my face there ever again and you’ll be picking them up every day.”

“Our children are spectacular, aren’t they?”he asked, taking her hands in his, holding them to his chest.

“I told you not to enjoy this.”

“It’s tough,” he said, raising her hands to kiss each one.“I like playing Daddy.”

“Yeah, well, you can play Daddy with your kids’ teachers,” she said.His hold loosened to let his arms snake around her, pulling her against him.“Parenting shouldn’t turn you on, JD.”