Samantha would have been over the moon for $2,000 weekly. That’s twice her monthly rent. But, she knows a man like Connor expects a little pushback in business, and even if she is just a nanny, this is still business. She is still going to lead a major advertising team someday, and she won’t let being a nanny soften her skills.
CHAPTER FOUR
Connor drops his keys onto the table and finds what looks like a mini art show laid out there. Arabella has been very busy in the month he’s been away on business. Margaret told him that Arabella has been getting along especially well with “Ms. Robin”, as she always calls her, but looking at these art pieces, he can see Samantha isn’t simply doing well in her new job, she is bringing out the best in Arabella, in a way no nanny ever has. The two of them seem to get each other. He imagines their two auburn heads twirling to music and making Neapolitan sundaes.
With thoughts of Samantha, Connor feels the front of his slacks tighten with desire for her, just as he’s felt every day for the last month. He’d been called away to Hong Kong two days after Samantha had started work. They’ve not been alone together in a room since her interview, and when Arabella was around Samantha had been the ultimate professional. It was sexy as hell.
Once upstairs, Connor finds his shower is still being retiled, so he goes to a guest bathroom, turns on the shower, and begins to peel off his clothes. He opens the towel closet and jumps back.
“What the!” he startles at finding Samantha standing in the closet.
Samantha too is shocked to see him standing there, completely naked. His chest and arms ripple with strength. His hip muscles cut a deep V all the way down. One of the many things she’s learned about him in the last month is that he used to be a champion swimmer, and it’s obvious now looking at his muscled, lean body. She manages to avoid looking at his manhood, trying to maintain some level of professional respect. None of the guys she’s dated have been even close to this. They were all kind of nerdy weak types. Pushover personalities and computer tans. This man is like a nude Olympian before her.
She regroups quickly and says quietly, “We’re playing hide-and-seek,” and holds a finger to her own lips to keep him quiet.
For a moment, a scene flashes in front of Connor’s eyes: he grips her waist, pushes her against the wall, skirt up, panties down, a fistful of her hair in his hand. But, he quickly pushes this scene aside, leans in and whispers, “I’ve been on an airplane for thirteen hours. I need to take a shower.” His lower lip grazes the edge of her ear, and the hair on her neck stands up. She turns her head to face him, and for a moment their mouths are three inches apart. She looks straight into his eyes.
She whispers, “Sorry, sir,” glances at his mouth, and then slips out of the bathroom.
Connor is throbbing with this unexpected encounter. She’d been bolder than he’d expected. He tries to think about if this dynamic is something he should be engaging in, if he should have a talk with her. But he can only think of her, the feeling of her breath on his lips, the vanilla smell of her hair, how close he came to taking his nanny in a guest bathroom while his daughter played somewhere in the other room. Soon, he is in the shower reliving their shared moment, imagining if they each had made less responsible choices.
***
When he comes downstairs for dinner, Margaret informs Connor that his ex-wife has been calling with the intention of coming to get Arabella for the weekend.
“I haven’t seen Arabella in a month! This isn’t even her fucking weekend.”
Margaret nods, knowing he’s not directing these comments at her, but just venting frustration. “Mr. Clark, there is one more thing.” Margaret discreetly looks around to make sure they’re alone. “Ms. Clark has been enquiring quite a bit about Ms. Robin. They had a few unfortunate encounters when Ms. Clark came to pick up Ms. Arabella for visits.”
“Unfortunate in what way?” Connor crosses his arms and looks at Margaret like he’s about to go fight someone.
“Well, Ms. Clark was quite forceful, even rude, towards Ms. Robin. I heard her say threatening things under her breath.”
Connor’s face darkens.
“Ms. Robin, to her credit, pretended as though she didn’t notice. She seems an honorable employee, thus far.”
Connor almost laughs at the words “honorable employee”. They seem strange applied to Samantha. A warm nervous feeling washes over him.
“DADDY!” A grass-covered Arabella bursts in from the garden.
“Come here, Princess,” and Connor scoops up his little daughter like she is a sack of air, and spins her around a few times before taking her into one of the side rooms to catch up on her month.
CHAPTER FIVE
Marla’s brief visit to gather Arabella for the weekend had gone just as bumpily as the last two encounters. At least this time, Samantha knew it was coming, and so Marla didn’t rattle her as she had before. There was something obviously wrong with this woman, and more than anything Samantha wanted to protect little Arabella from such instability, even if it was her mother. At least, Marla seemed to be sweet with the girl, even if she was completely unhinged with Samantha.
At one point, while Connor was helping Arabella get into the car, Marla had leaned into Samantha and whispered, “You have no idea the hell you’re entering,” and then gave her a big smile. The smile, beyond everything that had happened between them, was what unsettled Samantha the most.
Samantha is at a sprawling country estate but this time with no child to care for. Samantha knocks on the door of Connor’s library where he’d gone to return some emails.
“Come in!”
Samantha walks in and sits in the chair next to Connor’s. He looks at her with a little surprise at her ease and ownership of the space, and smiles while closing his laptop.
“Yes, Samantha.”
“I’m sorry Marla stole your weekend,” she starts.
Connor lets out a big sigh. “Thanks. I’m pretty used to it. The reason she chose this weekend is exactly because I haven’t seen Arabella in a month.”
“Why didn’t you say no?”
Connor’s face turns serious. “I try to pick my battles with Marla. She’s been more and more difficult since we divorced. Well, I guess since we met, really.”
“She seems…” Samantha pauses to choose her words carefully.
“Speak openly, Samantha. Don’t hold back with me. Ever,” he commands in a way that makes Samantha’s heartbeat pickup up the pace.
The corner of Samantha’s mouth pulls up with the turn-on. She wants to say, All I do is hold back with you! but instead says, “She seems crazy.”
Connor exhales hard, and after a moment he says, “She is. I’m sorry for that.”
“Why are you apologizing to me?”
“Margaret told me that she’s been notably rude to you. I didn’t see anything this afternoon, but I definitely know how awful she can be. She feels threatened by you.”
“Why? I’ve been Arabella’s nanny for a month. Arabella loves her very much!”
Connor leans back in his chair and eyes Samantha like a delicious dessert waiting to be eaten. “It’s not because of Arabella.”
Samantha’s cheeks and chest blossom red, and she turns her eyes towards the floor with a shy smile.
“Well, luckily I’m pretty familiar with crazy. She acts a lot like my dad. He is both charming and an unstable asshole.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.” Connor scoots forward in his chair a little, and their knees are only an inch apart now.
“It is what it is. I’m a stronger person because of it. But, this isn’t actually why I came in to talk to you.”
“Oh?”
“Traffic back to the city is going to be a nightmare. Would you be OK with me staying the night and heading back in the morning?”
“Why do you need to head back at all?”
Samantha smiles.
Connor continues, “Of course, you’re f
ree to go, but this estate is also a great getaway. You could go riding, walk along the river, spend some time in the hot tub. I keep a massage therapist on-call who you’re welcome to use.”
“I wouldn’t want to be in your way,” Samantha offers.
“You could never be in my way,” Connor says more earnestly than he expected. “Anyway, I blocked off the whole weekend to be with Arabella. I could use this time to do more work, or…” he looks at her suggestively and continues, “Or, you could save me from myself.”
“All work and no play makes Connor a dull boy,” she says as she crosses her legs, leans back in her seat, and places her hands slowly on the arms of the chair.
Connor looks at her with delighted surprise. “Oh really? And we wouldn’t want that.”
Samantha shakes her head slowly in agreement, and then stands up, her body stretching out close to Connor’s face. She hears him take a long inhale of her scent.
He asks, “And where are you off to now?”
“I think we should take a ride, don’t you?”
At this, Connor looks mildly shocked.
“A horse ride,” she winks at him. “Meet you down at the stables in half an hour?”
He agrees and Samantha heads for the door.
“And, Samantha,” he says more in his employer voice.
“Yes, sir,” she says with a twirl back towards him.
“Wear a skirt.”
“For horseback riding?”
“Yes.”
Samantha is puzzled, but she nods her head and curtseys playfully.
At 5 PM they are standing in front of a large stable, with the stable boy handing them reigns to two beasts made of pure muscle.
Samantha takes hold of the saddle, left foot into the stirrup, and swings her body up onto the horse, her little black skirt fluttering up in the breeze, red panties flashing just long enough for Connor to get a good look.
Samantha can feel the heat of Connor’s gaze on her. She finally turns to look at him, and he’s on his own horse, broad shoulders looking more powerful than ever. Her thighs instinctively tighten around the horse a bit. She waits for him to lead them out into the trees.
“Do you want to go the easy way or the fun way?”
Samantha thinks for a moment, “Is the fun way the hard way?”
“It might get a little hard,” he says laying the innuendo out in plain daylight.
Samantha raises one eyebrow, and before she can answer, Connor rides off in front of her. “Hey! I didn’t answer,” she calls after him.
“No need. You obviously like it a little rough.”
Her heartbeat picks up.
CHAPTER SIX
Connor leads them in a loop around the property, and they talk the whole time. Her childhood alone with her mom, what it was like to watch her mom struggle to keep a roof over their heads, how hard she’d worked to go to college, the heartbreak of losing her mother two years ago. Many of these details are things they have in common, and it feels so easy understanding each other like this.
Connor feels his heart wanting to tug closer and closer to Samantha. Her drive, her ambition yet humility, her easy sense of humor are all things he had looked for in a woman before he’d casually gotten involved with Marla. Marla had somehow gotten pregnant within the first few weeks of their relationship, and he’d decided to make it work because, as always, he wanted to do the right thing. He’d almost forgotten about what he’d been looking for before having to manage so much unpredictable behavior. At moments in their conversation, Connor is so absorbed in what she is saying that he almost forgets how lovely she looks astride her horse. Her thick hair glowing red and gold in the sun, and her bare thighs looking smooth as silk. He longs to run his fingers over all of her.
He chose this route for one reason: the hills. The last part of the journey before returning to the stable takes them up and down several small hills. As they approach the first one, they both lean forward to stay more comfortable on the horses. Within a minute, Samantha has a small smirk growing on her face. He feels a growing excitement. Connor wants to watch every little detail of her face now.
“How’s the ride?” he asks playfully.
Samantha bites her lip a little and turns to look at him directly. “This is why you brought us this way, isn’t it? This is why--” her breath catches in her chest for a moment and she then exhales through her open mouth with a little laugh.
“This is why I told you to wear a skirt? Yes, yes it is,” he says slowly as if teasing her. “You have to lean forward to ride up hills, which means the saddle rubs in just the right place. Every step the horse takes is just a little bit more—“
“Torture,” she completes his sentence, then draws in another deep breath.
He smiles and holds her gaze for a long moment before answering, “Indeed.”
On the second hill, Samantha’s breathing starts to speed up a little. He imagines her in his bed, holding her head in his hands, looking down into her eyes, never wanting to look away. He loves the sounds of her arousal. His body feels on fire, the throbbing in his own groin is only encouraged by the motions of riding.
“I only discovered this little trick last month, you know.”
“Oh yeah?”
“It was the day after the SpaceMark party,” he says with a satisfied look. “I ride out here pretty often, but this time my mind had wandered to a beautiful little thing I’d helped with a stained dress the night before.”
Samantha smiles playfully at him but lets out a little moan when the horse stumbles slightly. Connor sees her thighs tighten with the moan, and it takes his heartbeat from a brisk jog to a run.
“Shall I continue?”
Samantha takes a deep breath and says, “Yes...please.”
That please, small and eager, makes him a mix of naughty desire and daddy wanting to protect his little girl. He remembers his thoughts on the plane home from Hong Kong, how he’d resolved himself to keep things professional with Samantha, who is his daughter’s nanny after all. But, the moment he’d laid eyes on her, swinging Arabella around on the back lawn, golden grass stuck in her hair, the sun behind her, revealing the shape of her body through her thin dress, he’d lost the battle with himself.
He wants her, desperately, but it is more than that. She isn’t just beautiful or intriguing. Being in her presence makes him feel at peace with the world; like nothing could truly go wrong as long as he is with her. Something about her, from that first moment at the party when he ran off that asshole who mocked the mess he’d made of her dress--he’s never felt this way before. Samantha has made it through so much hardship, and it’s made her strong, but somehow all this just makes him, even more, want to be her protector, her shining knight.
As the horses see the stable over the final hill, they pick up their pace. Connor’s focus comes back to Samantha, to the fact that they’re almost home, to the reality that she is spending the night three doors down from his bedroom. He can hear her trying to control her breathing. She is teetering on the edge of bliss but then the landscape levels out. The hills are gone, and she is sitting up straight again. Beautifully frustrated and slowing her breath back to normal.
At the stable, he dismounts and then takes her by the waist to help her down. She is so small between his hands. Back on solid ground, they stand face to face for a minute, breathing in the sunset air in unison. He never wants to let her go. He thinks he sees in her face that for her, too, everything has changed.
CHAPTER SEVEN
After dinner, they sip brandy in the library, and Samantha’s cheeks glow rosy with the alcohol. She relaxes enough to talk for a long time about all sorts of things, eventually ending up on the topic of career and how she came to be Arabella’s nanny.
“I’ve had the same goals for four years. I went to university knowing what I wanted: to lead the advertising department of a major brand. Everything I did in the school built towards that. I worked so h
ard, and I’m good. It may not seem that way since I’m here, being a nanny, but I really am good!”
“Oh, I’m sure you are,” Connor says with full sincerity.
“But, when I got out of school and moved out here to finally make it happen, well...” she takes a sip of her drink, “well, nothing happened. If it hadn’t been for Cheri, I’d be back in my tiny town, probably following in my mother’s footsteps.”
“That could never happen,” Connor says with total confidence.
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