Page 11 of The Strawberry Patch Pancake House

He was looking at her again, but now there was something just a little bit softer in his gaze. In fact, his eyes, now that they weren’t glaring, were actually a quite lovely, warm brown. And when he wasn’t tugging his hair back, it flopped gently over his forehead. And she could just imagine that mouth softening even more, smiling and lighting up his face. And then it hit her.

Archer Baer, her potential new boss, was hot.

And that was very bad news.

She couldn’t have the hots for her boss! That was bad. Very bad, Iris.

His lips tipped up in the corner, giving her just the tiniest glimpse of a smile, but it was enough. It was enough to show the slight indent of a dimple high on his left cheek.

NO! Why? She’d just agreed to move in with this man and now he had a dimple?! And kind eyes. And touchable hair. And any number of hidden tattoos just waiting to be uncovered.

Iris had clearly made a grave error.

She sat back abruptly on her stool.

‘Everything okay?’ Archer asked, straightening again.

‘Yes. Okay. Totally A-Okay.’

He was back to looking at her like she was a little nutty, which helped cool her feelings a bit, but then his gaze slipped past her again and his eyes widened in alarm.

Iris turned to see what was causing him such concern.

The couch was empty and the front door was wide open.

Olive was gone.

ChapterFive

Somehow, Archer’s shitty day had gone from bad to worse in the blink of an eye. One minute he was trying desperately not to find the new nanny charming, and the next his daughter was missing. Again. One week in, and he couldn’t even keep track of the damn kid.

‘Oh my God! Where did she go?’ Iris’s worried voice cut through his thoughts. He would have been more panicked if this hadn’t already happened three times since they’d moved in.

‘I have a pretty good idea.’ He stormed past Iris and out the open door, but he could sense her following behind him. Hopefully she still wanted the job after this little demonstration of what she’d be dealing with.

When Gladys told him she would help find him the perfect nanny, he’d assumed she’d meant someone like herself. Someone older and sweet, someone grandmotherly. Not someone like Iris Fraser. Someone young and beautiful, who showed up to a job interview in leggings and a wet tank top and flip-flops. Someone who’d already had her hands all over him after dousing him in smoothies. Someone who smelled like strawberries.

He didn’t know if he should be angry or turned on. No, that wasn’t true. He knew he was one hundred percent not supposed to be turned on by the nanny. In fact, he was pretty sure that was the number-one rule of having a nanny. But that rule would have been a lot easier to follow if Iris looked more like Mrs. Doubtfire and less like, well, less like herself.

He raked his hand through his hair as he crossed the lawn to the neighbor’s house with the inconveniently attractive nanny hot on his heels. He probably shouldn’t hire her. He should find someone else. Someone more suitable. But he was desperate. The diner had been operating on autopilot without him, but he needed to actually start working there full-time if he was going to transform it.

The kitchen was the one place he felt even remotely competent anymore. He needed to get back at it and he needed help with this kid.

He stopped dead in his tracks.

Iris crashed into his back.

‘Oh!’ she cried. ‘Sorry.’

He glanced over his shoulder and found her smiling weakly.

‘I wasn’t expecting you to stop so suddenly. What’s the matter?’

Archer just shook his head, listening. It was a sound he’d only heard from a distance since he moved here. The sound of his daughter’s laughter.

It was coming from the neighbor’s backyard, so he cut down the driveway and knocked on their wood fence.

‘Oh. Hey, Archer. I was just about to escort Miss Olive home.’ Noah, his new neighbor, smiled at him. Olive sat perched on his shoulders, the smile Archer was sure she had on her face a moment ago was long gone.