Claiming The Nanny

by Dia Cole

  Before leaving, the alluring female turned and looked up at me. “Goodbye, Mr. Steele. Thank you for giving me this opportunity.”

  “Goodbye,” I managed as the endless depths of Vana’s dark eyes imprisoned me.

  She unexpectedly grabbed my hand and squeezed it.

  The feel of her skin against mine sent a surge of lust straight through my body. My thoughts fragmented under the sudden feverish need to pin her to the door and kiss her.

  Thankfully, Mrs. Pierce sniffed loudly, saving me from crossing the line of sanity.

  “Ms. James, you would do well to remember that Mr. Steele does not care to be touched.”

  “Oh.” Vana immediately snatched her hand away. “I’m sorry.” Her forehead wrinkled, and I didn’t need to read her mind to tell she felt bad for violating some unwritten rule.

  I offered a smile to ease her concern. “It’s quite all right.”

  Vana let out a heavy sigh of relief. “Well, I’ll see you on Monday.”

  “Eight a.m. sharp. Don’t be late, Ms. James,” I said before beating a hasty retreat into my study.

  As I rested my head against the closed door, I loosened my tie with shaking hands. “Fuck.”

  “Fuck is right, brother. What were you thinking in hiring her?”

  I started at the sight of my best friend, Tyberius Digoski, stepping out of the shadows near the fireplace. The swarthy male leveled an accusatory look at me.

  I glared back at him. “I forgot you were here.” How the six-foot-seven muscular Alpha male possessed the ability to disappear into the shadows had always been a mystery. However, it made him an excellent spymaster for his treacherous mother, and for me.

  Ty’s eyes lightened to burnished gold as his lips quirked up. “I thought you were going to spread her out over your desk and put on a show for me for a change.”

  “Right. Like that’s going to happen.” Bitterness swept over me. The silver I wore ensured my impotence. I glared down at the silver cuffs on my wrists. There were no chains on the bracelets, but I was shackled just the same.

  Picking up on my thoughts, Ty frowned. “One day you’ll escape those cuffs and my mother. Then you’ll be free to enjoy an exquisite female like that.” He motioned over at the door. “To quote Byron, ‘She walks in beauty, like the night of cloudless climes and starry skies.’”

  I groaned. “Please don’t wax poetic right now, brother.”

  Ty grinned. “I’d be happy to sample Havana’s charms for your viewing enjoymen—”

  “No!” My voice boomed throughout the room. I blinked, more shocked by my reaction than Ty. The idea of the handsome Alpha male touching the female had me gritting my teeth.

  Ty took a step back, his gaze widening. “You can’t be thinking of breaking your vow and taking off the cuffs. You know what my mother will do if—”

  I raised my hand to cut him off. He didn’t need to continue. I knew very well what Tasha, the Alpha female who ruled our faction, would do if she found out I’d broken her shackles to have a romantic liaison with any female other than her. Hell, the bitch had ripped the throat out of the poor Omega who’d served me my last dinner at Winterhaven, because, according to Tasha, “the slut dared smile at my consort.”

  But I wasn’t her consort anymore. Thank the fates. I’d only gotten three things out of the terrible bargain I’d been forced to make with her: my freedom from her bed, this home, and Mira’s life. I’d been forced to give up everything else including my freedom, my seat on the Council, my Lykos nature, and sex. But it’s worth it. I stepped around my desk and peered through the two-way observation mirror into the playroom.

  Inside the room, the light of my life danced around a pile of stuffed animals on the floor. My chest tightened at Mira’s infectious giggle. I wondered what fantastical story she was making up in her adorable little head.

  Moving so silently I didn’t hear him approach, Ty said, “Mira has a wild imagination, doesn’t she?”

  Instead of being pissed he’d read my mind yet again, I nodded. “That she has. Like when we were boys.”

  We both grinned and mentally shared memories of the antics we’d gotten into before… Before Ty’s mother had decided she desired me in her bed. Never mind the fact that I hadn’t celebrated my thirteenth birthday. She’d taken my innocence and ended our childhood games forever.

  Sadness washed Ty’s smile away. “How I wish things had gone differently.” He too had been helpless to fight his mother’s depraved whims.

  I took a deep breath knowing it was a waste of time to think about what could’ve been. “There’s no fighting Tasha. The best we can hope for is ensuring Mira’s safety by sticking to the bargain and not pissing off your she-bitch of a mother.”

  Ty frowned. “A life lived in fear is no life, brother.”

  “That’s where you’re wrong. Where there’s life there’s hope.” And from the moment I held Mira’s tiny, squirmy body in my hands, I knew the sole purpose of my existence was to protect that life. At all costs.

  The lingering trace of Vana’s sultry scent in the air taunted me. She can’t be mine, I reminded myself. But she can still help me. “The important thing is that we’ve finally found someone to care for Mira.” I glanced back through the glass only to find Mrs. Pierce handing Mira more cookies. “Damn it. I told Mira to stop compelling Mrs. Pierce.”

  Ty chuckled. “A few treats won’t cause any harm. Mira’s just exploring her power.”

  Her power. I fought the tremor that crept down my spine. Mira was an Alpha female, one of the rarest and most powerful of our kind. As such, she possessed the power to control the minds of humans and Lykos around her. And if she turned out anything like her mother…

  Ty gently laid his hand on my shoulder. “Stop. She won’t turn out like the Beast. She’s got you and me to look out for her, and now a new nanny who’s immune to her compulsion.”

  “Thank the fates,” I said, shaking my head. “The last nanny filled the entire house with puppies and kittens at Mira’s command.”

  “Puppies and kittens, oh my!” mocked the Alpha male.

  This was no joking matter. I gave him a hard look. “The nanny before that nearly died because Mira told her to fly off the staircase like a superhero.”

  His smile faded. “Well, Havana is an Atavus so Mira’s antics are over.”

  I grunted in agreement. Vana’s scent carried traces of Lykos pheromones that initially made me suspect her of being from a rival faction. However, her guileless responses to my probing questions under a heavy dose of compulsion proved she wasn’t full Lykos.

  “Do you want me to check into her background?” Ty asked.

  I nodded. “She seemed entirely in the dark about our species, but if she has ties to one of the rival factions, we need to know.” There was no question she had a Lykos ancestor. Years of inbreeding between Lykos and humans had resulted in the Atavus, distant generations that carried Lykos genes in their DNA. Although Atavus didn’t shift into wolves like we did, their dormant genes made them stronger than normal humans and more resistant to compulsion. It also increased their attractiveness to our kind.

  My gaze was drawn back to the desk and the memory of how sexy Vana had looked leaning up against it. Once I’d smelled her desire for me, it’d taken all my self-control not to cup those beautiful breasts straining to escape her tight white shirt and—

  Ty cleared his throat. “Havana’s a stunning female, brother. I too desired her the moment I saw her.”

  A low rumbling growl escaped my lips. “Stay away from her.” Although over the years, Ty had seduced females at my request, I couldn’t stand the thought of him with Vana. She’s mine, my inner wolf howled.

  A troubled expression crossed Ty’s face. “I’ve known you our entire lives and I’ve never seen you react to a female like this. Hell, I don’t think you even bothered to stay in the room when I took that blonde last night.”

  I rubbed the silver cuff on my right wrist. “I wasn’t
interested in the blonde.” Truth be told, golden-haired women repelled me. They reminded me of Tasha. I shuddered. Curvaceous females with hair as dark as a raven’s wing on the other hand…

  Ty called my name to get my attention. “You’ve essentially invited temptation into your home, brother. What are you going to do about your attraction to Havana?”

  “Nothing.” If I broke free of the cuffs and acted on my feelings, Tasha would find out. She always found out. Then she’d kill Vana and torture me. I didn’t mind the torturing part. It wasn’t as if I was a stranger to Tasha’s whips and knives, but I couldn’t live with myself if I caused the death of that beautiful, innocent female. Even worse, Tasha could decide to void our deal altogether. My heart pounded as I considered what that would mean for Mira.

  “I’ll stay away from her,” I announced. It was simple. If I wasn’t around the nanny, she couldn’t possibly tempt me. Right?

  3

  Havana

  Lost in the memory of my interview with Nathan, I parked my car in the nearly empty club parking lot and walked toward the door. Nathan had been… Intimidating. Fearsome. And sexy as hell. In my limited time on this earth, I’d never felt that kind of volcanic desire for any man. And that included more one-night stands than I was comfortable admitting to. If Nathan hadn’t seemed disinterested, I probably would’ve bounded onto his lap and given him the ride of his life.

  And then I could’ve kissed the job goodbye. My heart sank at the realization that Nathan was completely off-limits. I sighed heavily. It figured the first man who really got my engines roaring would be the one man I couldn’t touch.

  “Mistress Robin!” A large figure jumped out from behind a parked car and sent my heart racing around the lot.

  Choking on my scream, I stared at the morbidly obese man standing in front of me. “Jeremy, what are you doing?”

  Jeremy, whose ruddy face matched the red flowers of the sweat-stained Hawaiian shirt he was wearing, grinned. “I wanted to catch you before you went in.” His beady dark eyes traveled up and down my body, then glinted with hunger. “You look fantastic today. I like the professional look. Is it for a new set?”

  “N-no. Look, I really need to get to work.” I looked around his shoulder at the club door. So close, but so far away.

  “Just a second. I wanted to be sure you got my invitation. Did you get my messages?” He let out a giggling laugh like the kind a creepy clown would make. Ugh. I hated clowns.

  “Yes,” I admitted with a sigh. All fourteen of them.

  Jeremy reached out and grabbed my arm. “You’ll come to my party, won’t you?”

  The slightly unhinged look in his eye kicked on my inner warning light. It was twilight and the dimly lit parking lot was deserted. It was just Jeremy and me. I glanced down at his sausage-like fingers clamped around my forearm. Shit. Why hadn’t I called Max to walk me in? Stupid mistake, Vana. Summoning my bravado, I said, “Jeremy, you know the club rules. You don’t touch the dancers.”

  A sly look crossed his corpulent face. “We aren’t in the club, are we?” He tightened his grip on my arm.

  Motherfucker. A mixture of nervousness and indignation had me straightening to my full height. “Get your hands off me.” With my free hand, I reached into my bag where I kept my folding knife.

  “Are you going to punish me, Mistress Robin?” Jeremy said, his grin widening.

  The sicko is enjoying this. A sliver of fear crept down my spine.

  “Step away from the female,” a deep baritone voice ordered.

  Jeremy and I looked up as a tall, dark-skinned man stepped from the shadows.

  The unfamiliar male was huge, at least half a foot taller than Jeremy, with close-cropped dark hair and bulging muscles that strained against the black-on-black suit he wore.

  Holy hotness. My jaw dropped as I saw the man’s face. His cheekbones were sharp enough to cut glass, and they were framed by a strong brow and sensual lips that would’ve put any male cover model to shame.

  Jeremy’s fleshy mouth opened and closed in indignation. “Who the hell are you?”

  “The male who’ll rip your head off if you don’t leave this female alone,” the tall guy growled. When Jeremy didn’t immediately back off, the man whipped off his sunglasses and glared down at him. “You will leave the premises and never return. Do you understand?”

  “Y-yes,” gulped the fat man who quickly waddled toward his beat-up Honda and peeled out of the parking lot.

  I let out a relieved sigh and then turned to the stranger “Thank you. I was just starting to freak out about that creep.”

  My savior turned his stunning amber eyes on me. “Don’t worry about him. Males like him are harmless. He’s harmless.”

  His deep voice washed over me like melted chocolate, soothing my frayed nerves.

  “It’s males like me you need to worry about.” His grin made the butterflies in my stomach take flight.

  “Oh, really?” I said, returning his flirtatious smile.

  “I’m Tyberius,” he said, holding his hand out to me.

  “Havana,” I replied, noting how small my hand looked in his. “Are you the new bouncer?” Max had recently mentioned hiring additional muscle. Damn. I almost regretted my decision to put in my notice. Work would be a hell of a lot more fun with Tyberius around to drool over.

  Tyberius shook his head. “No, I’m actually Mira’s uncle. I’m here to do a reference check on you for Nathan.”

  Oh crap. I felt the blood leave my face. I may have fudged a little on the résumé I’d submitted with my nanny application. Okay, I’d fudged a lot. My stomach churned as I frantically tried to figure out a way of saving my ass. “You know in-person reference checks aren’t necessary. You can always just call.” I’d left Sydney’s number as my most recent place of employment. She was set to cover for me.

  “I prefer to do business the old-fashioned way,” Tyberius said with a slight turn of his lips that left me wondering if he was already on to my ruse. “Let me walk you in.”

  Shit. What do I do? The minute he walks in he’ll know I was lying. Unable to think of a Hail Mary solution, I walked stiffly through the door he held open for me.

  The eighties hair metal song blaring from the DJ booth nearly blasted us both back into the parking lot.

  Covering my ears, I choked on the oh so familiar aroma of whiskey, cigarette smoke, and sweat that seemed to be baked into the purple carpet tiles and faux Roman pillars scattered around the club. God, I’m so over this place. The unsettling interaction with Jeremy in the parking lot was just icing on an already moldy cake. I needed to get out of this place and the only thing standing in the way was Tyberius.

  I looked over at the gorgeous man only to find his attention glued to the nearly naked dark-haired woman spinning around the pole in the center of the stage.

  He blinked in surprise and then looked down at me. “This isn’t a steak restaurant, is it?”

  I chewed my lip. “Not exactly.”

  He lifted a brow. “And you’re not exactly working here as a waitress, are you?”

  My face heated as I shook my head. “Not exactly.” A pit grew in my stomach as I sensed my chance at a fresh start evaporating.

  “I see,” he said, his impassive expression telling me nothing.

  Impulsively, I grabbed his arm. “I’m sorry I fibbed, it’s just that people don’t give dancers a chance. Is there any way you could not tell Nathan about this? I promise that I’ll be an incredible nanny to your niece.”

  Tyberius frowned. He started to say something when a bleach-blond cocktail waitress interrupted him.

  “There you are,” Donna exclaimed. “Don’t you look like money, honey?” She reached over and gave me a one-armed hug, balancing her tray of empty drinks in her other hand. She’d been my mom’s best friend and always acted like an aunt — a distant aunt who’d never lend you money but was always asking favors. “I was hoping to see you before your set. Could you watch Gavin for me tomorr
ow afternoon? Max and I have lunch plans and our sitter fell through.” She gave me an expectant look.

  It was the third time this month she’d asked me to watch her young son, but Donna was like family so… “Sure.”

  “You’re a lifesaver.” She kissed my cheek leaving behind a sticky trail of her hot pink lipstick.

  Scrubbing off my cheek, I glanced over at Tyberius, but he’d vanished. Where did he go? I twisted around and nearly crashed into my boss.

  “Hey, doll. Thanks for coming in early.” Max, a beefy middle-aged man, reached around me and grabbed a napkin from Donna’s tray. As he wiped a sheen of sweat off his bald head, he said, “One of the new girls called in sick. Says she has that new flu going around.”

  “What flu?” Other than following the news of the Strip Club Killer I hadn’t exactly been staying up on current events.

  “The canine flu, honey. It’s all anyone’s been talking about,” Donna interjected. “Apparently, it’s killing a lot of people in Asia and Europe.” She shuddered and the glasses on her tray clinked together.

  Great. One more thing to keep me up at night.

  Max gave me a penetrating look. “I’m going to need you to work the early sets all next week.”

  “That won’t be possible. Havana is taking a new position,” Tyberius said, seeming to materialize out of the shadows.

  Donna and Max let out startled gasps while I gazed up at the gorgeous man.

  He winked at me.

  Oh, thank God. Tyberius was going to keep my secret.

  “Havana, what’s this guy talking about?” Max demanded.

  Here goes nothing. I sucked in a steadying breath. “I’m sorry for the short notice, but tonight is my last night.”

  Max and Donna looked at me with matching expressions of shock on their face.

  “What do you mean?”

  “I got that nannying job I was telling you guys about.”

  Max stared at me as if I was speaking another language.

  I sighed, realizing that neither he nor his wife had been listening when I’d told them about the interview. The sad truth was that if I wasn’t doing them a favor, they didn’t have much time for me.