“Yes to everything. I can start this Monday and I’m free until the last week of August. That’s when I have to go back to work.”
“Sounds good to me.” He flipped her résumé over. “Let’s make it official. You have a pen?”
She dug around in her purse and handed him one. Alex wrote quickly, in neat all capital letters, before sliding it over to her. She read the terms of her employment—dates, times, location (his house), and pay.
“So formal,” she teased.
He crossed his arms. “I find it’s best to have the arrangement all spelled out.”
Of course that immediately made her wonder what had happened with all of those other nannies that hadn’t worked out. Maybe without the formal arrangement things had gone to heck in a basket full of hungry puppies. Everyone snapping and barking at each other.
“Should I sign it?” she asked.
“Sure.”
She took the pen from the table and signed with a flourish. He folded her résumé, now their formal contract, and tucked it into his shorts pocket. Then he offered his hand.
She shook it, enjoying the strength and warmth of it. Only because he was good people and she adored good people. “Can I ask you a question?”
He kept her hand for some reason, staring at it. “What?”
She tugged her hand out of his grip.
He shook his head. “Sorry. I’m really sleep deprived and…what did you want to ask?”
“Why have you had so much trouble keeping a nanny?” He didn’t answer right away, so she rushed on. “I’ve heard you had twelve in twelve months. I only ask so I can avoid that mistake.” She wrapped her long hair around her hand before admitting, “Also, I’m curious.”
“It’s not Viv’s fault.”
“Oh no, I’d never blame a child.”
He frowned. “It’s not my fault either.”
“So you just pick terrible nannies all the time?”
He barked out a laugh. “No. Well, some of them. I took a year off for Viv’s first year. I wanted to give her that after…” He swallowed and took a deep breath. “The next year, after she turned one, I needed to work. Jake had financed the first year and put us in the house we’re in. He took care of the down payment, I pay the mortgage. I didn’t want to mooch off him anymore—”
“It’s not mooching when it’s family who cares about you.” Jake was his older brother, wealthy from his tech company and now married to a wealthy movie star.
“I needed to earn my own keep,” he said evenly. “Anyway, Viv and I bonded. She doesn’t like nannies. She flat out ignores them. I work from home—I’m a graphic designer—so I know what goes down. Some of them quit in a snit.”
“And the others?”
“I fired them for not caring enough to try to reach her. Those nannies just watched TV or played around on their phones while Viv got herself into mischief. They should have tried to connect. She got a bum deal just having me.”
“I doubt she sees it that way. She’s crazy about you.”
He said nothing, seeming lost in thought.
She broke the silence. “So you’ve been through more than a dozen nannies in a year and no one was up to the task?”
“Two of them were okay, but then they hit on me, so I fired them.”
“Oh! Ha!” she blurted, her cheeks burning. Had she given away her lusty feelings for him? Was he warning her off?
He stiffened. “You don’t think anyone would hit on me?”
“No, not that.” She sipped her lemonade, trying to regain her cool. “Sorry. I was just surprised because you don’t give off an ‘I’m available’ vibe.”
He frowned. “That’s because I’m not available. I’m not interested in being with anyone right now. They made it weird. I let them go.”
If that wasn’t a clear signal to remain professional, she didn’t know what was. Still, her mouth kept going. “Were they your age? Hoping for a child?”
“It wasn’t Viv they were after…” He stopped himself. “How old do you think I am?”
She guessed thirty-five, but kept it to herself in case she was too high. No reason to insult him, though she feared she already had.
She shrugged. “Younger than Josh.” She knew Josh and Jake, twins, were the oldest Campbells. She had no idea how old Josh was, though. Thirtysomething.
“I’m thirty,” Alex said tightly.
Good thing I didn’t guess!
He went on. “Anyway one of the nannies that hit on me was eighteen.”
Lauren hissed out a long breath. That was much too young to be making an advance on an older man.
“Yeah,” he said. “That was pretty much my reaction.”
“And the other?”
“Fifty-five.”
How odd to attract women on both ends of the age spectrum. Of course, she didn’t know their history. Perhaps the women saw, as she did, that Alex was extremely attractive, which completely obscured his emotional unavailability. Or maybe they just wanted him for baser needs. She was above that. She was on a mission.
He seemed to be waiting for her to say something.
She quickly put his mind at ease. “You certainly don’t have to worry about any untoward advances from me.”
“Untoward,” he echoed, a small smile playing over his lips. He took off his shades and his eyes were warm on hers. Thank goodness. It was extremely difficult for her to feel his pain and not do anything about it. Like hug him.
She twirled a lock of hair. “Mmm-hmm. I’m officially off the untoward advance market.”
Alex leaned across the table toward her, still smiling a little. “So you have a serious boyfriend?”
“Oh!” She waved airily. “Ha! Sounded like that, huh? But no. I mean, not yet.”
He gazed at her steadily, so she kept explaining.
“I mean, probably soon I will.” She laughed a little. “That’s the plan.”
He arched a brow. “You have a plan?”
Her cheeks burned. Why did she say she had a plan? She did not want to explain Hailey’s plan for Lauren’s summer. “It’s not my plan.”
He smiled, big and bright and white against the dark whiskers on his jaw. It made him look younger and seriously hot. “Whose plan is it?”
“Oh, gosh.” Look away, look away. She couldn’t look away. She had to soak in the hotness even as she tried not to talk about dating other men. She swallowed. “I’m not supposed to be talking about this.”
He chuckled. “I’m guessing Hailey has something to do with your plan?”
“How did you know?”
“Because she was all over Mad, trying to help her and Park get together. And she herded all of you to a romance quiz night with the guys.” That night was Hailey’s attempt at understanding romance and the bachelor man while also mingling single people. Alex had been there with the guys, but had refused to comment on romance. No one disturbed him, knowing he was grieving.
She lowered her voice and leaned close to whisper, “Hailey has an end-of-summer guarantee. I’m letting her handle my love life.”
He leaned in to huskily whisper his next question, their faces inches from each other. “And how does she do that?” His voice was deep velvet that brought a rush of warmth to her cheeks and neck and several points further south. It was like warm chocolate melting on her tongue while her body was surrounded by a soft blanket. Deliciously sensual.
She straightened abruptly. “Oh, it’s very complicated. She’s extremely thorough. I filled out a bunch of questions on personality, romantic expectations, stuff like that. She signed me up for an online dating service that she screens for me and I’m also going to some group functions with single men. But it’s not awkward at all. That’s the important thing.” She frowned, thinking on that. Hailey had promised it would be comfortable and easy, but Lauren didn’t know for sure since she hadn’t gone on any dates yet. “All I have to do is show up and then report to Hailey if there’s a spark.” She flashed a smile and
concluded, “It’s all very simple and civilized. It takes the angst out of dating and for that I’m grateful.”
He seemed to be smirking. Not quite a smile. Just one corner of his lip curled up. She squirmed a little, hoping that hadn’t sounded too weird. She truly was happy not to have to worry about all that awkward messy dating stuff anymore.
“What?” she finally asked.
He shook his head, still half smirking, half smiling. “How’s it going so far?”
“My first date from the online service is tonight. Next Saturday night is the group event.”
“Uh-huh. And what does Hailey get out of it? Are you paying her?”
“Oh, no. It’s completely free. All I have to do is give a testimonial for her Make Love Bloom service—” She stopped and narrowed her eyes. Was he laughing? He held a napkin in front of his mouth, but his shoulders were shaking suspiciously. “She’s applied for a trademark,” she huffed. “It’s a real thing.”
He dropped the napkin and pressed his lips together for a long moment. “Please continue.” He wasn’t smiling, but his eyes held a hint of amusement.
“And I agreed to appear in all of her marketing materials as a happy bride,” she finished, a little miffed at his barely restrained humor at her expense. This was serious stuff.
He must’ve realized that because he got serious, staring at her hair, then her eyes, nose, mouth, and neck, his gaze drifting to her bare shoulder, where it stayed. His voice was deep and smooth again. “But you’re not a bride.”
“Not yet,” she said. Her voice sounded strangely foreign to her ears like another person was sitting here babbling about her future as a bride while she was lost in the deep velvet of his voice. “It’ll happen soon,” she added, though he hadn’t challenged her on it. “The bride thing, I mean.”
“I still don’t get why you’d let her pick for you.” His voice turned hard. “Have you had a bad experience? Someone hurt you?”
She rushed to reassure him. “I wouldn’t say that.” She knew all of the Campbell brothers could be protective. Mad was the baby sister and complained about it plenty. “Just a lot of the usual guy stuff. You know, they’re not that into me, but they don’t come out and say that, so I’m left hanging, trying to understand what the heck just happened with weird texts or late night phone calls that go nowhere.”
“You mean like a booty call?”
She felt a flutter low in her belly that meant straight-up lust because “booty call” and Alex together was all it took for her mind to go there. Two years of celibacy. He’d be ravenous. All of her boyfriends were of the nonravenous variety. Step by plodding step to completion. Which was fine. Who would want to feel out of control, overwhelmed by a ravenous man?
Could she handle ravenous?
Omigod, calm down. He’s given you zero indication he wants to change that situation.
He was smirk-smiling at her again. Why was that so sexy?
She looked at the table. “It’s not very flattering when a guy calls just for that.” Especially after standing you up for a date. For real. These were the kind of losers she was meeting in the dating pool.
His lips curled up in a slow sexy smile. “Guess it depends.”
“On what?”
His voice dropped low and smooth. “What the guy can do for you.”
Her stomach took another dip. Was he flirting?
“And if that’s the arrangement,” he added with a shrug, “works for some people.”
“Not me.”
He dipped his head, drank some iced coffee, then leaned back in his seat, staring at her for reasons unknown. This was why she needed Hailey. Men were so confusing.
Back to the mission.
She worked for a casual breezy tone. “Anyway, it won’t interfere with Viv’s care. Make Love Bloom (TM) is a strictly weekend endeavor.”
He was smirk-smiling again, which would’ve put her on edge, but his eyes were tender, and his velvet voice flowed over her in a warm sensual rush. “Sounds like a plan.”
Chapter Four
That night Lauren met her date at Lombardi’s, a nice Italian restaurant in nearby Eastman. She’d taken the time to make a good first impression, wearing her prettiest green embroidered sundress that matched her eyes, full makeup, and deep conditioned her long light brown hair, which had some nice highlights in it from the summer sun. She’d even sprung for a rare treat—new shoes—sexy strappy black heels. She had high hopes for her summer Make Love Bloom (TM) venture. Nothing had ever been so easy with Hailey on her side. She’d been instructed to look for a man in his thirties with black hair, wearing a pink shirt.
She spotted him right away, sitting in the outdoor seating area. She also spotted a huge yellow snake draped around his neck. An involuntary squeak escaped her lips. She stopped dead in her tracks, her heart racing. It wasn’t that she was afraid of snakes, but, okay, yes, she was afraid of snakes. And psycho men who showed up on first dates with them.
He stood. “Lauren?”
She moved toward him on wooden legs, forcing herself to get close enough to politely bail. Her heart slowed as she realized it was a stuffed animal snake. Not real. Still, what the heck?
“Patrick?”
He smiled what appeared to be a genuine smile. “That’s me.” He had dimples. Also thick, jet-black hair with piercing blue eyes that were definitely not old soul. They reflected nothing. A complete blank. Definitely handsome, as Hailey had promised, but everything else was wrong, wrong, wrong. No spark for sure. She wouldn’t even wish snake man on Hailey, though the woman would be getting a serious talking to. Clearly they needed a tougher screening process.
“I’m Lauren,” she said as she tried to think of the fastest way to bail with no hard feelings.
“I know. You look just like your picture. That doesn’t happen often.”
She hadn’t seen his picture, merely trusted Hailey to screen men for her. Massive error in judgment.
She cleared her throat. “Yes, well, I knew it was you from your, um, pink shirt.” Should I ask about the snake? She stared at it. It was long, wrapped once around his neck and the ends hung down his chest. She glanced around the busy outdoor seating area to see if anyone else noticed the odd sight in front of her. They did.
“Please have a seat,” Patrick said. “I thought we could talk over drinks outside before going in for dinner.”
She immediately felt like she was getting the brush-off. He didn’t want to spring for dinner if they didn’t hit it off, though she was not unhappy about it. She sat, feeling the need to politely explain she had somewhere else to be.
“Do you like snakes, Lauren?” he asked right away.
“Not especially.”
“Ah.”
“Is that why you have a snake around your neck? Was this a test?”
He inclined his head and then rubbed his cheek against the snake. “Very astute. Yes. Your profile said you loved animals.”
She focused on his empty cold blue eyes. Like a snake. “I love animals with fur like cats and dogs.”
He brightened. “Oh, I do have some animals with fur—rats. To feed Jeffrey. That’s my Burmese python. He’s ten feet, but could grow as large as twenty. Obviously whoever might work as a partner for me would have to be comfortable having Jeffrey as part of the family.”
Her stomach rolled. Rats. Python. No, no, no. Case closed! Strangely, she was glad he’d gotten right to the point with his weird snake obsession. If she’d met him sans stuffed snake, she might’ve been taken in by his good looks and then, if she ever went to his place, been absolutely terrified to find a python eying her. Zero chance of that now.
She stood and decided to be as honest and forthright as he’d been. “It was nice to meet you, Patrick. Sorry, I don’t do snakes or rats.” She suppressed a shudder.
He dipped his head. “It’s good to know this right away.”
“Yes.” She backed away. “Enjoy your snake, I mean, dinner.”
“I cer
tainly will.” He gestured to the waiter.
She took off, speedwalking toward the parking lot behind the restaurant. She got into her ancient red Toyota, turned it on, and yanked out her cell phone. She had to call Hailey right away. That was a freaky date by any measure. Not just to someone sensitive like herself. As soon as Hailey picked up, Lauren barked, “No spark! He has a pet snake and rats!”
“Lauren?”
“Who else?” She turned the air-conditioning vent toward her, belatedly upset and overheated by the bizarre experience.
“Why aren’t you at dinner?”
“Patrick showed up with a stuffed-animal snake around his neck. It was huge and yellow and he cuddled with it! I failed the test, Hailey! I’m not Patrick girlfriend material. He told me so, but believe me, nothing was ever more clear from the moment I spotted him.”
“Was he cute?”
“Yes, he was cute! He was also psycho! If this is going to work, we need much stricter screening standards. Did you talk to him at all or just look at his profile?”
“Err…”
“Never mind!” She gestured wildly though Hailey couldn’t see her. “I know you didn’t or he wouldn’t have brought up Jeffrey. That’s his python, by the way!”
“Now, Lauren, please calm down.”
“Part of his family!”
“I don’t want you to be put off by this one date. You have to kiss a lot of frogs to find your prince.”
“Did I mention the rats?” Her voice cracked in her freak-out. “He feeds them to the snake!”
Hailey went on in a soothing tone. “With my help the numbers are on your side.”
“I don’t want numbers! I want someone that doesn’t make me go eww the very first time I meet him.”
“Next Saturday will be a big improvement. A group function with eligible single guys at Marcus’s bar in the city. You’ll have me there to back you up and we’ll do a sort of speed round for sparks, okay? And if no one sparks, you’ll still have me.”
“Anyone else?” Oops. She hadn’t meant to let the snark out. It was just…snake and rats. She shuddered thinking of how many rats he kept. Probably the house was swarming with them. And the snake swallowing them whole.
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