Page 9 of Worst Nanny Ever (Babes of Brewing #2)

“You can put it on mine, if you want to keep tabs on me .” I didn’t mean it to come out like that, a little sultry, or…

you know what? Maybe I did. There’s something about Travis that makes me want to tap-dance all over his buttons.

Maybe because I want to see what it takes to unleash that other side of him, the one that takes over when he’s sitting at the drums. I know I can’t go there—not only is he my potential boss, but also his best friend is dating my best friend—but that just makes me want to more.

He laughs. “Maybe. But no strip clubs until he’s eighteen.”

“Damn it.” I snap my fingers. “There go my plans for Monday afternoon. I’ll have to think of something else that’s educational.”

“We could maybe put together a list of approved places. If we do this.”

“Like with the little old ladies?”

“Like with the little old ladies,” he agrees. “I’d have to install a car seat in your car.”

“I could do it.”

“I’d want to do it,” he insists, which makes me bristle. He might as well have said he wouldn’t trust me to water a cactus without supervision, let alone his son.

I consider this for a moment. “Fine. I don’t like following instructions anyway.”

He gives me a wry look that prompts me to roll my eyes.

“I’d nanny for you for a little while, if you want, especially if you’re going to keep overpaying me. It’s not like I have any super important career plans to run back to.”

He size me up for a long moment and then frowns. “Why’d you really quit Big Catch?”

“I was sick of working with my brother,” I say, leaving it at that. It’s true, at least. “I love him like crazy, but it was too much. ”

He nods. “I get it. I’d never work with my sister.

But you might want to check on your old staff.

They seemed seconds away from mutiny. The new floor manager accused you of encouraging public fornication in one breath, and in the next, he said he wants to give you a call for the official passing of the torch. So you can look forward to that.”

“What’s his name?”

“Eugene,” he says with a smile, as if he somehow knows this will delight me.

“An elderly man named Eugene replaced me?” I ask.

“How do you know he’s elderly?”

“Can you be named Eugene without being elderly?”

He inclines his head as if to concede the point, then adds, “He wears corduroy pants.”

“You do want to make my day,” I say, grinning back at him. “Where did they even find him?”

“I’m sure you can use your delightful charm to get the whole story out of him,” he says, his arm pressing against mine with the slightest pressure.

“Oh, you just bet I will. That old geezer won’t know what hit him.”

He shakes his head as he laughs, revealing his birthmark for a half second before his hair slides back into place, hiding it from me again. I want to find it with my finger, trace it, but I’m grateful to report that I have some self-control left.

“Your brother seemed pretty nice, though. He helped us move our equipment.”

My scowl deepens. “Of course he did.”

“I know, that bastard, right?”

I shove his arm again, feeling the delicious muscle he’s honed by banging rhythmically against those drums.

I whistle and slide my hand up and down his bicep.

I do it to tease him, I think. Or maybe to tease myself.

I had a few one- night stands after the whole Jonah mess, but I haven’t slept with anyone for months—a near record for me.

Haven’t really wanted to. “Will you look at that? All that banging pays off.”

He gives me another headshake, but the corners of his mouth lift. “You’re pretty good at evading questions.”

“So is Ollie, and I’m guessing he gets it from you. The three of us could spend a cozy evening evading questions.”

“That sounds kind of nice actually,” he says. “Would you like a drink?”

“Hoping it’ll loosen my tongue?”

“Maybe,” he replies with a smile.

“It probably would, so no. I’m not staying here tonight.”

“I wouldn’t mind if you did,” he says, his dark eyes on me. I feel a quake of awareness. Is he asking what I think he’s asking? Or is he just offering me his couch?

Either way, I know what the answer needs to be.

“ I’d mind,” I say.

He gives me a solemn nod, his gaze still hot on my flesh.

“So, what’s the deal?” I ask. “Am I working for you? Are we doing this thing?” I feel almost excited. Bopping around from one odd job to the next has been fun, but I suddenly realize I’ve been missing a sense of purpose. The satisfying feeling of helping someone. Human connection.

Travis’s gaze catches on something on the floor, and he gets up, his leg brushing mine. He stoops, gifting me a view of his very toned butt, and rises with one of the paper airplanes in hand.

Lifting his eyebrows, he unfolds it, then immediately rolls his eyes when he realizes what it is.

“I just aced this interview, didn’t I?” I ask, kind of enjoying myself. But also a little on edge. I need him to say yes. It was the way Ollie looked at me earlier, like his happiness was on the line…I don’t want to disappoint him .

I’ve definitely already disappointed Travis.

He rubs circles between his eyebrows. “I don’t know, Hannah. I set up a couple of interviews for tomorrow. They’re with people who have a lot of childcare experience.”

“And I’m guessing they wouldn’t make paper airplanes out of your instructions?”

He has the grace to smile. “Yeah, something like that.”

I get up and make finger guns at him. “You didn’t say no, drummer boy.”

One corner of his mouth twitches upward. “That’s because you’re a hard woman to say no to.”