Page 20

20

MICHAEL

I poured myself a drink and settled onto one of the sofas facing the window. The view of LA from my living room was magnificent. Thousands of lights stretched before me to meet the dark line of the horizon.

The view was breathtaking, and my eyes remained glued to it as I took a slow sip from my glass. Yet I couldn’t really soak in the beauty of the scenery because Mia was on a date. A fucking date ! I shouldn’t care, but dammit, I did.

She had moved in on Monday, and by Friday I learned about the godforsaken date from Amber. Tonight, I saw her leave in a dress that left little to the imagination to go out with some other fucker… I kind of hated myself for being so jealous because that kind of emotion was never a thing for me before her.

After she shut things down between us last month, I’d resigned myself to our awkward moments but was determined to make things work out professionally. Mia was a goddamn super nanny, and I didn’t want to lose her. I’d been doing just fine, lusting over her from afar, until she started to date.

As I heaved a sigh, my phone went off. I picked it up from the coffee table and answered without looking at the screen. I knew it was the guys because we’d planned our meeting. Even though we were scattered in different cities now, we made sure to link up regularly, whether in person or via video. Four faces popped up on my screen. Two were smiling… Lincoln and Spencer. One wore a teasing smirk… the insufferable Alex. The other was as serious as I was… the solemn Jamie.

We exchanged greetings and then the ribbing began.

“The professional scowler,” Alex began. “Would it kill you to smile once in a while, Mike? You too, Jamie. Lighten up, you guys.”

Jamie rolled his eyes but said nothing. I scowled, as my nickname suggested. “Shut up, Tadpole.” As always, he gave me a dirty look for the nickname I’d thrown on him since college. Granted, he wasn’t a scrawny seventeen-year-old anymore, but he was still the youngest of the five of us.

“Why don’t you focus on feeding your kid?” I nodded and gestured to the baby he cradled in one arm. Seeing Alexander Knight with a baby still amazed me. The playboy extraordinaire was the last person I expected to settle into domestic bliss.

“Can’t,” he said with his typical smirk. “I don’t have any milk-filled tits.”

The others chuckled, and I couldn’t smile.

“Alex,” a woman reprimanded in the background. However, there was a hint of amusement in her voice. I imagined that Olivia, Alex’s soon to be wife, called his name like that at least twenty times for the day.

A pair of arms appeared on screen to pluck the precious bundle from Alex. “Seeing as how I’m the one with the tits , I’ll feed the baby.” Olivia said.

We all chuckled again and Olivia sang, “Hi, guys.”

There was a chorus of, “Hi, Liv.” Then she was gone.

“Babe, don’t start without me,” Alex said, craning his neck to follow Olivia’s exit. “You know I like to watch.”

“Oh my God, Alex,” Olivia groaned. “Your friends are on the line.”

He turned back to us with a sheepish expression. “Talk fast guys. I can’t stay long.”

Lincoln snorted. “Yeah, we got that.”

Jamie’s eyeballs rolled around as if he was considering something. “You know, Alex. Once upon a time, I would have called you a weirdo for wanting to watch your woman breastfeed, but now… I get it.”

“I’ll be damned,” Spencer said, leaning closer to peer at the screen. “Jamie, are you trying to tell us something? Is Charlotte…?”

Jamie’s smug little smile said it all.

There was a series of cheers and whistles.

I lifted my glass in salute. “Congratulations. That’s great.”

Jamie gave a quick glance over his shoulder. “When you guys see her at the wedding, do not say a word about the pregnancy,” he hissed. “Just tell her she looks amazing and thin . Got it?”

Lincoln sniggered. “Got it.”

“Why do women get self-conscious about putting on a few extra pounds?” Alex shrugged. “It’s natural. It’s a beautiful thing.”

“Right you are, baby daddy,” Lincoln said.

“I, for one, don’t mind some curves,” Spencer announced. “More to love. And it isn’t about how a woman looks, it’s the beauty of her soul that’s important.”

“Jesus, Shakespeare is about to break out into song,” I joked.

Lincoln chuckled. “Well, Spencer, you and I are the odd men out. We don’t have any little ones running around or any on the way.”

The guys launched into a conversation about how things had changed for us since college. Back then, we all sang the same tune… no steady relationships. Presently, two of us had gotten knocked off the no-commitment wagon. I barely heard a thing they said because my mind kept straying to Mia… and her date. Was she having a good time? Did she like the guy? Would she go home with him? My jaw tightened at the thought.

I glanced at my watch. It was almost midnight, and she wasn’t home yet… I then thought about how Mia would tease me for looking at my watch and for being such a stickler for time. God help me. Why couldn’t I get the woman out of my head?

“Hey, Mike, did you hear what I said?”

I blinked as Alex’s voice penetrated my Mia-haze, and I zoned back into the conversation. “Huh?”

Alex’s eyes narrowed on me. “I said, I have to go and I can’t wait to see you assholes in a few months.” He pointed at the screen. “Spence, with the exception of yours truly, you’re the funnest of the group. I expect a hell of a bachelor party. Don’t disappoint me.”

The three of us snorted while Spencer grinned. “Not to worry, I’ve got you, mate.”

“Later,” Alex said before he disappeared.

“It was great to catch up, but I’ve got to go too guys,” Jamie said.

“I’m out too,” Spencer said. “I’ll see you guys at the wedding. Later gents.”

Lincoln and I were the only ones left. The longer he stared at me, the more uneasy I got.

“What?” I asked.

He lifted an eyebrow. “What’s up with you?”

“I don’t know what you mean.”

“You zoned out earlier. You don’t usually do that.”

“I’m fine,” I insisted and then took a sip of my drink.

Lincoln’s eyes narrowed to slits. “I call bullshit. You’re scowlier than usual.”

I looked skyward and sighed. “Maybe because I want to get off the damn phone, Linc. Goodbye.”

“You know I’ll just come over, right? In fact, I’ll leave right now.”

“Jesus,” I grumbled. “Alright, fine. I have a lot on my mind.”

Lincoln settled back down and grinned. “What’s up?”

My jaw tightened with reluctance to share, but maybe talking about it would help me to get some perspective on what the hell had gotten into me. Maybe I was going through some kind of strange life crisis at thirty-five…

“Uh… Do you remember that blind date I went on months ago?” I asked.

Lincoln snorted. “Of course, I do. You refused to tell me about it, which only piqued my curiosity.”

“Well, it was a complete disaster,” I murmured. “Actually, not completely. I had a great time…”

His eyebrows shot up. “Oh. That’s great.” He assessed me closer and then frowned. “Isn’t it…?”

“She was twenty-one, Lincoln.”

He went quiet and stared at me. “Huh. So… what’s the problem?”

I scoffed. “Seriously? She wasn’t even born when I started high school.”

Lincoln shrugged and rubbed the back of his neck. “The age difference isn’t so bad.”

“I run a company. I’m on airplanes more than I am on land. I’m a father. I don’t have time in my schedule to entertain a frivolous twenty-one-year-old… At least that’s what I told myself three months ago.”

Lincoln’s eyebrows snapped together. “So you’ve changed your mind about her?”

I nodded. Mia was far from frivolous. She was a sweet, funny, and amazing woman and the perfect balance for me. I cleared my throat as I shifted uncomfortably. “There’s more. I slept with her after the date.”

Lincoln let out a low-whistle. “I’ll be damned, Mike. You don’t do shit like that.”

“I don’t… normally.”

“I’m not seeing the problem.” Lincoln shrugged. “Call her up—hopefully, she’s still available—and date the woman. Simple.”

“Not so simple. She’s now Poppy’s nanny.”

Lincoln blinked. His mouth opened, then closed as if he was processing the information, but nothing came out. I watched his expression shift from confusion to pure shock. I’d barely seen Lincoln in person lately with the many business trips between the two of us, so he hadn’t met the new nanny yet.

”Your nanny ?" His voice rang with disbelief. “Well… that’s… Jesus, Mike. You weren’t supposed to use the dating site as a source to find employees.”

I gave him a withering look. “I didn’t, you jackass.”

He laughed, and I scowled.

“I was out of town when Amber hired her,” I explained. “I didn’t expect to ever see her again. It was a major coincidence. The problem now is that Poppy adores her. She’s the best damn nanny I’ve ever had, but with our history, things were a little weird. It’s worse now that I’ve mucked things up further…”

“How did you do that?” Lincoln asked. When my eyes darted around guilty, he shook his head. “No… You didn’t…”

I tucked my chin into my chest and sighed.

“It happened when we visited Aunt Neddy. She then insisted it couldn’t happen again.”

“And you disagreed?”

“Hell no!” I gave him a look of disbelief. “If my kid’s nanny no longer wants to cross the professional line, I can do nothing other than respect her wishes. I told her it was fine, and we’ve moved on.”

“Have you really, though?” Lincoln asked with raised eyebrows.

I suspected he knew the answer. There were few in my life who really knew me, and he was one of them.

“No,” I grumbled.

“But she has?”

“She’s on a fucking date,” I spat.

Lincoln rubbed his jaw as he studied me. “You gave her a warning before, didn't you? Because of the so-called nanny curse.”

See? He knew me well. I nodded.

“And the tables turned because you’re the one who fell in love with her.”

The word love hit me so hard, I nearly dropped my phone and my drink. “I am not in love with her. Are you insane? I’ve known the woman for a few months. Love is the furthest thing from my mind.”

“The gentleman doth protest too much.”

“Fuck you, Lincoln.”

He chuckled at that. “Come on, a few months is enough time to fall for someone. As I recall, Alex fell for Olivia at first sight.”

I snorted derisively. “He was an eighteen-year-old kid… He was confused…”

“You’re such a cynical bastard.”

I didn’t deny it.

He shook his head. “I remember how you used to lecture us for being irresponsible back then, hell, even now. How the mighty have fallen. Look at you Mr. Uber-responsible, making mistakes and showing human emotion like the rest of us. Alex would find this incredibly amusing.”

I clenched my jaw. “If you tell him about this, I’ll murder you.”

Lincoln bellowed, and all I could do was listen to his amusement with my typical scowl. How the mighty had fallen indeed.

“I’m sorry, man,” he said between chuckles. “It’s just that the woman who you walked away from because you deemed her too young for you had to remind you to be professional. That’s just…”

“Hilarious?” I said dryly.

I guess I got it right because he dissolved into laughter again. Letting out a deep sigh, I shook my head. I wasn’t offended by my friend’s amusement. He had every right to be shocked and amused. As he said, none of this was my usual behavior. Mia had to have cast some kind of spell over me. Her bubbly charm was fucking magical. The more time I spent around her, the more I found myself… loosening up as everyone had been telling me to do almost my entire life.

“Since you’re of no help to me,” I said, interrupting Lincoln’s chortling. “I’m going to hang up. Goodbye, Lincoln.”

“Hey, Mike, wait.”

My finger paused over the end call icon.

“You seem to really like this woman. I’ve never seen you so conflicted about anything. I know she’s working for you and that complicates things, but maybe it’s worth the risk…”

When I just stared at him without a word, he shrugged and said, “Think about it. Later.”

Long after he hung up, I sat there, thinking about it . Even if I was willing to jump into a hot affair with the nanny and risk losing her in the end, she seemed to have moved on. I scowled at my watch. She must have been having a hell of a time on that date…

As if thinking about her conjured her, I heard heels clicking on the tiles in the foyer. The footsteps sounded closer and closer, and I twisted on the sofa to watch Mia as she appeared around the corner.

She didn’t see me, and I hadn’t planned on letting her know I was there, but as if my mouth took on a life of its own, I blurted, “It seems you had a good time.”

Mia gasped and spun around. Her wide eyes landed on me in the dimly lit living room. “Michael…” She took hesitant steps toward me. “Why are you still up?”

“Work.” I snorted inwardly at my lie. I’d turned into the very thing I disliked, a fucking liar. However, I couldn’t tell her I was up torturing myself with thoughts of her going home with some other guy, could I? The relief I felt when I heard her arrive was ridiculous.

Mia swept the room and frowned. I suppose because she saw no evidence of the work I was supposedly doing. “Um… okay.”

“Well, did you?” I asked a little too darkly.

“Did I what?”

“Have a good time.”

Her mouth opened and closed as she watched me warily. “Well, I…” She let out a laugh that resonated with nervousness, and it hit me that I was making her uncomfortable. “This is weird…”

Giving myself a mental kick in the ass, I said, “Yeah… I’m sorry. That was an inappropriate question. It’s none of my business.”

She shuffled from one foot to the other as she stared at me. I did a slow sweep of her, taking in the way her dress molded her full breasts and clung to her flared hips. When I made my way back up to her face, her cheeks were crimson, and her teeth punished her lower lip. She looked ready to bolt, and I couldn’t blame her because, as she had said, my behavior was beyond weird.

“Good night, Mia,” I said.

“Night,” she mumbled and then took off.

Flopping back onto the sofa, I blew out a long breath and rubbed my forehead. When did I become this person? The jealous, creepy guy who made his nanny uneasy? I really needed to get a hold of myself.