by Wood, Lauren
The Billionaire’s Nanny
Halstead Billionaire Brothers Series (Book 2)
Lauren Wood
Copyright © 2020 by Lauren Wood
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Contents
1. Jason
2. Tara
3. Jason
4. Tara
5. Jason
6. Tara
7. Jason
8. Tara
9. Jason
10. Tara
11. Jason
12. Tara
13. Jason
14. Tara
15. Jason
16. Tara
17. Jason
18. Tara
19. Jason
20. Tara
21. Jason
22. Tara
23. Jason
24. Tara
25. Jason
26. Tara
27. Jason
28. Tara
29. Jason
30. Tara
Next Door Daddies (Excerpt)
Chapter 1
Also by Lauren Wood
About the Author
Epilogue
1
Jason
I watched my brother Dominic lean back in his chair with a subtle smile. Maybe I was the only one who noticed it, but I knew that smile all too well. It certainly wasn’t because I’d ever seen it on him before. I knew that look because I wore it too once upon a time.
He was the CEO of our family’s multi-billion-dollar business, the benefits of which could have been more than enough to make any man happy. But to top it off, he had recently decided to retire his womanizing ways and rest his sights on just one woman in particular. They were in love, and he was about to whisk her away to Paris.
I could see the happiness and lust welling up inside of him. They were in those early stages of not being able to get enough of each other, and this meeting was the last thing he needed to get out of the way before having two blissful months away with her in the city of love.
Dominic and I had been running this multi-billion-dollar corporation together since our parents were killed. Really, the company fell on all of our shoulders—me and my three brothers. But we had sheltered Jesse too much, turning him into this spoiled naïve man-child. He made more of an appearance than Eric, who was usually off jet-setting around the world on the company’s dime. But both of them were rather useless in day to day operations.
My brothers thought I pried into everything too much, always trying to be everywhere at once, helping with everything. But I was the only one with kids, and really had felt like the father of the bunch for a long time.
“Where are they?” He checked his watch for the tenth time.
“I’ll be surprised if they show up at all,” I frowned. “Jesse still hates you and, well, you know Eric.”
He nodded as his smile slipped away into concern. “Are you sure you’ll be okay without me? Those two certainly aren’t going to be of any help.”
“You just worry about enjoying your time off with Vanna. I’ll be just fine. It’s not like I haven’t run this company on my own plenty of times before.”
“Well, sure, but that was…you know…before everything happened with Anna.”
I flashed an awkward smirk and took a sip of coffee. I didn’t want to think about that now. Thankfully Jesse came bursting in just in time.
“Nice of you to make an appearance, little brother.”
He unbuttoned his suit jacket and shot daggers with his eyes over to Dominic. Jesse had a quite a big secret crush on his friend Vanna before he made the mistake of introducing her to Dominic. I don’t think any of us expected him to give up all of his other girlfriends to chase after the caterer, but I guess love is funny like that.
“It’s not exactly convenient to be rearranging everything around an impulsive two-month-long vacation,” he sneered as he joined us at the table. “But…here I am.”
“Oh please,” Dominic huffed. “Like you ever do anything anyway. Everyone knows Jason and I handle the bulk of things, and we need breaks too, you know?”
“Breaks. Pfft. Well, it’s my turn for a break after you,” he moped.
“Sure thing. Just find yourself a girlfriend and…”
I hissed through my teeth, watching the inevitable unfold as Jesse bolted up from his chair and started walking up to Dominic. I don’t even know if he genuinely cared for Vanna so much as he didn’t want to feel defeated by his older brother. Either way, the wound was too fresh to be tossing salt in it like that.
“Oh good!” Eric beamed from the doorway. “I’m here just in time for the fight!”
Eventually we got the two separated and everyone settled in for this joke of a meeting. Eric kept mumbling about some flight he was off to catch after this. Jesse wouldn’t stop glaring at Dominic like he was going to pounce again at any moment. And Dominic was just trying to fill the seat he was obligated to for the last few moments before losing himself in his lover for a while.
“It’s a good thing I was planning to come back to work anyway,” I scoffed as we ran through the possibilities of who would be in charge while Dominic was gone.
“I can cancel,” he said for the tenth time, throwing his hands up.
“Don’t be ridiculous.” I tried to rub the stress from my eyes, opening them again to find all three of them staring at me with that awful, pitying look I’ve come to hate. I’m so used to it now. It’s all I’ve seen on people’s faces for the past year.
“It’s fine. Really,” I reassured them. “I’m ready to come back anyway. I just need to find a nanny, which from what I hear, is the easiest thing in the world.”
Their pathetic pitying smiles washed over their faces again, followed by silence and awkward coughs. I was the only one among my brothers with kids. They didn’t know anything about raising kids. Hell, all I really knew about raising kids was what I had to learn on the fly over the last year of doing it on my own.
“I do have someone I could recommend,” Dominic leaned forward with an almost mischievous look in his eyes. “You’ve actually met her, I think.”
“Oh? Is she with a service? Give me the number.” I poised my pen to jot the info down, but he didn’t answer right away.
“Uh…she’s not exactly with a service…She’s a friend of Vanna’s.”
Jesse’s eyes glinted with a renewed rage, and I wondered how long he’d carry that chip around on his shoulder. But that thought vanished as I studied Dominic and realized who he was talking about.
“You mean her catering partner!? No. No way. You’ve got to be kidding me. Has she ever even worked with kids before!?”
“I don’t know, but she’s really funny. I’m sure she’s great with kids.”
“Have you lost your mind!?” I felt more anger than I should have at the suggestion. This was just the sort of thing that made me feel so isolated from my brothers. They didn’t know what it felt like to lose Anna, and they couldn’t possibly understand what it was like to be left alone with three kids.
“This isn’t house-sitting or watering the plants or dog walking, Dominic! These are my kids. The twins are only four. They’re practically still babies! And you want me to leave them with some girl we barely know just because she’s friends with your girlfriend…who you also barely know, might I add.”
“Okay, calm down,” he lifted his hands from the table to silence me. “They’re not total strangers. We do know a little about them…at least, I do. And anyway, I’m not saying hire her right off the bat. Just interview her and see how it goes. What could it hurt?”
My blood was boiling by then. “Oh, I don’t know…what could it hurt…let’s see…She could murder another one of her boyfriends in front of my kids!”
Dominic rolled his eyes. “She didn’t murder that guy, and you know it. She’s just a nice girl who got mixed up with an asshole. It’s not her fault.”
“I’m not so sure I want to trust someone who would make poor decisions like that with my children.”
He straightened with determination. “Look, Jason. I get it. None of this is easy.”
I shook my head, thinking there’s no way he got it. Not really. He couldn’t understand how hard any of this was.
“But…” he persisted. “Just interview her. See how it goes. If the kids like her, hire her for the next couple of months. You can have more time to find someone more permanent when I get back.”
I looked around the table just long enough to remind myself that our two younger brothers were useless, at least for now. They were fumbling with their phones and couldn’t have looked any less interested.
Dominic’s hand reached for mine with an affirming squeeze. “Give her a chance. You know better than anyone how rumors and reputations can’t always be trusted.”
I hated to consider it, but there wasn’t much time to spend looking for someone. I should have started looking a long time ago, but I wasn’t ready to try and go back to normal yet. That’s the funny part. Nothing would ever feel normal again. We’d have to make some kind of new normal, whether we liked it or not.
2
Tara
I sprawled out across the bed in Vanna’s room, watching her hold old dresses from the back of her closet across her body, studying them in the mirror. I imagined it wouldn’t be long before she was packing up all of her belongings and moving into Dominic’s mansion.
“He’s rich and he’s taking you to Paris,” I grinned. “You don’t need to take much. He’s probably going to buy you a whole new wardrobe while you’re there.”
Her eyes grew wide, as if she’d only just now realized that was a possibility. That’s what was so sweet about the whole thing. Vanna had landed herself every girl’s dream boat of a man—gorgeous, rich, and just waiting to spoil her to no end. And she didn’t even care about the money.
Half the time I think she forgot just how wealthy and powerful the Halstead brothers were. But the fact that we were in her bedroom while she packed for vacation instead of sitting behind bars should have been enough of a reminder.
“Do you really think so?” she asked nervously, looking almost frightened.
“You act like it’s so daunting,” I laughed, peeling myself up to go over and help her select a couple to throw in her suitcase. “You’re going to have the time of your life, Vanna. Just relax and enjoy it.”
“This is just all happening so fast. One minute I was making hors d'oeuvres to serve at their lavish parties, and now I have Dominic and…”
“And you deserve it,” I reminded her, cutting her off before she could spiral off on another one of her panic attacks over the whole thing. “Good things happen to good people…sometimes, anyway. You’ve been working your ass off for years, and now you can finally just be in love and take it easy for a little bit. It’s a dream, really.”
She turned around and looked at me with her big anxious eyes that were practically on the verge of tears. “But what about you? I don’t feel right leaving you like this…after everything.”
“I’ll be fine,” I scoffed. “Don’t worry about me.”
I hurried her along in her packing and slowly ushered her closer and closer to the door. I was ready for some alone time, even if I was half-dreading it. Once Vanna was gone and there were no more catering gigs to keep me busy, I didn’t know how I’d handle being hit with the flood of processing everything I’d just been through.
“You’re sure you don’t want to handle a few jobs while I’m gone?” she asked yet again. “It might be good for you to practice doing it on your own. And I can give you some numbers to follow up on. Those events I did for the Halsteads gave me all sorts of contacts. Lots of rich people with their charity events and parties and business meetings.”
“No offense, Vanna. I love catering with you, but let’s face it…You’re the cook. Not me. And it’s your dream, not mine.”
“I know,” she sighed. “I’m just worried about you, is all.” She cut her eyes down to the bags, now lined up near the front door. I could tell she was still teetering on the edge of not going at all. “Have you thought about what you’ll do? For work, I mean.”
It was an exhausting thing to think about. A couple of weeks ago I thought my job prospects might be limited to prison work. I had spent countless hours in the holding cell wondering if I’d be better off working in laundry, or maybe I could land one of the nice library jobs…as if I knew anything about what serving time was like beyond what I’d seen in movies and TV shows.
“I do have an idea for you,” Vanna added casually, but it was obvious she’d been trying to build up to this moment all afternoon, which meant it was something I wasn’t going to like.
“No, no ideas for me! Really, girl…I’ll be okay! You don’t have to take care of me.”
“You remember Jason? Dominic’s brother?” she continued anyway. “We did that catering gig for him. The birthday party for his late wife.”
“Yeah, it was morbid. The things rich people think of. Pfft.”
“Well, he’s taking over for Dominic while we’re gone, and…he needs a nanny.”
“I wish him all the luck in finding one,” I played dumb, but she kept staring back at me expectantly. “Vanna, no. I am not a nanny. I don’t know the first thing about kids beyond my brief stint at a sitter when I was thirteen.”
“I got you an interview for the position.”
“You’re out of your mind,” I huffed, breezing past her to the kitchen. She followed behind me as I began digging through the cabinets for something to make for lunch.
I’d miss her cooking while she was gone for sure, but I’d also miss her always taking care of the grocery shopping. The nearly bare pantry and fridge were a harsh reminder that I’d need to go to the store…which would dwindle down my already diminishing stash of money. I had gathered up a little when I thought I’d need to leave the country to avoid being arrested. It might have been a long shot, but a girl’s got to be prepared.
“Jason seems sweet, right? I bet his kids are really nice too.”
“I bet they’re spoiled rich brats.”
“It’s a live-in position. Soooo you’d get to stay in a maaaansioooon,” she sang out, like taunting a kid with candy. “And Jason is pretty hot. I know how you love your eye candy while you work.”
“Oh yeah. It’d be a dream come true to be covered in spit-up and dirty diapers while I slaved away in front of a gorgeous guy I could never have.”
“His kids aren’t in diapers…I don’t think.” She scribbled something down on a post-it note and slapped it to the fridge. “The interview is all set up. It’s tomorrow morning. Here’s the time and address. Just go and see how it is. You don’t have to take the job if you don’t like it.”
I nodded and waved her off, trying to refocus her on getting out the door before she missed her flight. After a few teary goodbyes, she was off.
I had no interest in being anyone’s nanny, especially not for one of the Halstead brothers. I imagined the note Vanna left for the interview would “accidentally” fall into the garbage.
“A nanny,” I mocked, staring the note down.
After climbing into a hot bath, I tried not to notice how quiet the house seemed now. By the time I was bundled up in my robe, sitting on the edge of my bed, I started to feel like s
omeone in a horror movie being watched over their shoulder. I didn’t know what was wrong with me. I had always been independent and never afraid of being alone.
But when I laid down to sleep that night, all I could see were flashes of Clinton’s angry face glaring back at me. Many hours of tossing and turning later, I decided I would just go to the interview and see what happened. Staying in a mansion with a top-notch security system and the comfort of other people sleeping nearby sounded way better than being here all alone, worrying about how secure jail cells really were. What if he got out? What if he came after me again?
Just considering the possibility gave me enough peace to get a few hours of sleep before it was time to get up and get ready. As I dug through my closet, I realized I didn’t even know what nannies were supposed to wear. But there was no time to sit around and mope. The bills wouldn’t pay themselves, and maybe this gig was just what I needed for a fresh start.
3
Jason
I waited nervously by the front door, pacing, and adjusting my sleeves and tie yet again. I always knew the day would come when we would need to hire a nanny. It was standard in our family, with our high-profile social standing that kept the wives busy with organizing events and being active in various clubs and charities. The men’s days were stacked with meetings, business lunches, dinners, and endless conference calls. My brothers and I still remembered our nannies fondly.