Billionaire's naughty nanny

9

Cassie

"Why are you here?"

The little voice woke me with a start, and I looked up to see Lucy staring at me.

She wasn't very tall, so she wasn't looking too far down toward me, but I still felt embarrassed over the fact she had woken up before me and found me asleep on the couch.

"It was late when the movie was over last night," I said. "So, I fell asleep on the couch."

"Don't you have a house to go home to? Is your mommy worried?" she asked, her voice innocent and her eyes wide.

I felt a brief pang in my chest at the mention of my own mother. But I simply smiled and shook my head.

"I don't live with my mommy anymore," I told her. "I go home and live by myself so there wasn't anyone worried about me when I didn't go home."

"Do you get lonely?" Lucy asked.

"Sometimes," I said. "But you know what? When I get to wake up to a little girl like you, I'm not lonely at all."

Lucy smiled wide at my words, and she put her hands on her hips. "Well, you better get up. It's already daytime."

"I see that," I said. I picked up my phone as I sat up on the couch. The blanket had fallen off me and onto the floor, but it was another warm, Georgia morning so I hadn't been cold.

"Are you hungry?" I asked. "What do you like to eat for breakfast?"

"Pancakes!" she clamored, and I smiled. I'd thought she was going to say something simple like cereal or toast, but I figured I could make her some pancakes. I had a basic idea of where everything in the pantry was, and while I hadn't specifically gone out of my way to see if there was pancake mix, I had a feeling I'd find some.

And if not, pancakes couldn't be that hard to make from scratch. Gigi made them a lot for my sisters and me when we were younger, and I never remembered them being that difficult. In fact, I seemed to remember she'd made them often because of the fact they were easy.

Lucy followed me into the kitchen and sat at the table while I pulled the things out of the pantry. I was glad there was a box of premade mix, and I quickly pulled out the rest of the things I'd need. I preheated a pan while I mixed up the batter, all the while making small talk with Lucy.

"I'm glad you came for breakfast," Lucy said. "Can you come for breakfast all the time? Daddy doesn't make me pancakes all the time, but you do."

"I'm sure your dad is busy in the mornings," I told her. "So cereal is easy."

"But pancakes taste better," she said.

"You know what tastes even better?" I asked her.

"What?"

"Pancakes that are shaped like teddy bears," I told her with a sly smile.

"You can do that?" she asked with wide eyes.

"I sure can," I said.

I honestly wasn't sure whether I could, but I would try. I could see in my mind how I wanted them to look, but it quickly became evident that it was a lot harder than I thought it would be.

I wasn't sure what went wrong, but they certainly weren't turning out the way I had envisioned. Each time I tried to flip one of them, something wasn't right. An ear would stick to the pan, or the face would smear. By the time I had the pancakes on the plates, they didn't look anything like teddy bears.

What are those?" Lucy asked when I put the plate in front of her.

"Pancakes," I said cheerfully. "How do you like yours?"