Nanny

22

Kate

From the edge of the hallway, I watched Mathias go into the elevator and press the button. He stared off at nothing, like he was completely lost in thought.

The door closed, and another soft cry came from the twins' room. I hurried in there to reassure Allie after her nightmare.

While smoothing her hair and shushing her softly, I thought about how much fun I'd had with Mathias tonight. From the very start, I had screwed up. I had forgotten to tell him that we needed to reschedule our date. He had clearly planned something fun for us to do, and I had ruined it by not giving him the courtesy of a phone call.

But instead of getting upset, Mathias grinned and declared that we were still going to have fun together. And as simple as it was, I had more fun with him on our balcony date than I'd had on any date I could remember. Mathias was cheerful and positive, a man who was impossible not to like. He was a good listener. He had even opened up to me about his job as the personal trainer for Nash Capital.

And the way he looked in nicer clothes? The memory of him walking out of the elevator at the beginning of the night made me shiver. Grey dress pants that were perfectly tailored for his tree-trunk thighs. A button-down shirt that matched his baby-blue eyes and framed his chiseled torso in a way that made my insides quiver. He'd even combed his blond hair to perfection.

He cleaned up very nicely.

I finished calming down Allie and closed the door. It was a shame Mathias didn't want to stick around. His kiss left me wanting more. A lot more. As far as first dates went, this was one of the best.

Yet as I got in bed, my giddiness morphed into confusion. Mathias wasn't the only man I had kissed recently. I'd had just as much fun yesterday in the limo with Adam. I had wanted to go all the way with him in the backseat, like horny teenagers who couldn't keep their hands off each other.

Not only that, but I still couldn't get Braxton out of my head. I was excited for his return tomorrow night, not just because it would calm the kids but, also because I wanted to see him again.

Three men. Three different budding relationships. And I hadn't even been on the job for a week.

What was I going to do?

Allie slept through the remainder of the night, and was in a better mood on Sunday. Barry had just discovered the existence of airplanes, so he spent the entire day trying to build them out of Legos. I used the time while they were occupied to finish up the outline of my language plan. Creating it was a fun challenge that exercised parts of my brain I hadn't used in years. I felt like I had a good handle on how to start with the kids tomorrow.

Whether it would actually work in practice, though...

Sunday evening, after putting the twins down for bed, I called Miranda.

"There's my billionaire best friend!" she answered.

"I only work for a billionaire," I replied. "How was your trip? You're home now, right?"

"Just got back ten minutes ago. Surprised you're not here to help me drink this bottle of wine."

"Braxton had to fly to Tokyo at the last minute," I explained. "So I had to watch the twins. But I don't mind, especially for the first week while I'm still getting settled in. Besides, for what I'm getting paid, I feel like I shouldn't take any days off. You got that text, right?"

Miranda laughed. "Yeah, but I'm refusing to believe that's a real number. I should get a cut of that for referring you. I'm just saying, the next time we have a girl's night you're buying. And the time after that!"