Temptation

by Kris Bryant

  I looked at Brook. She shrugged. I rolled my eyes at her.

  “You’re right. We shouldn’t eat that. Come on. Let’s finish baking. That’s why you called me down here.”

  Noah crawled onto a chair by the counter and awkwardly stirred the batter. I pulled out a fresh cookie sheet, greased it for him, and put it within reach. Since he was standing on the chair, Brook supervised from behind him, in case he slipped. We were a great team.

  “How was your trip?” My question was directed toward Brook, but Noah answered.

  “It was fun. And warm. I wore shorts.”

  “What? Look outside. There’s snow here. Shorts?” I saw Brook smile, which ramped up my confidence.

  “We went to Texas,” Noah said.

  “Texas. What’s in Texas?”

  “Mom’s friend, Aubrey. We saw giraffes and goats and so many animals.”

  “It sounds like you had an awesome time. And Texas is warm. Did you have fun flying?”

  “We took Grandpa’s plane.”

  I looked at Brook and rolled my eyes again.

  “My best friend from college lives in San Antonio. We haven’t seen her in a few years. Her son is ten, but the boys still had fun,” she said.

  “Did you go to a zoo? Or does your friend have giraffes living in her backyard?”

  Noah laughed. “Nobody has giraffes as pets. We drove through a park and saw the giraffes in it.”

  “Did you feed them?”

  “No. They wouldn’t let us. We had the top off the Jeep so they leaned into the car, and one tried to eat my hair.”

  “Well, your hair does look like marshmallow fluff.”

  “What’s that?” he asked.

  I looked at Brook and slowly shook my head. “How have you not introduced your son to this deliciousness?”

  “I don’t even know what you’re talking about,” she said.

  “Stop everything right now. Neither of you have had fluffernutters?”

  “Fluffer what?” Noah asked.

  “Let’s put the cookies in the oven, and then I’m going upstairs and coming back with magic.”

  “We already ate dinner,” Brook said.

  “It’s barely real food. Do you have regular bread here?”

  “Regular bread?” Brook raised her eyebrow.

  “Yes, regular bread. Like white bread. Not wheat, or whole grain, or gluten-free. Just bread, bread.”

  Brook asked Noah to sit on the chair, opened the pantry, and held up half a loaf of sourdough. “Will this work?”

  “Absolutely not. Hang on. I’ll be right back.”

  To look as cool as possible, I walked out of the kitchen casually, but once I was out of sight, I raced to my apartment. I found fresh bread, grabbed the jars of peanut butter and marshmallow fluff, and headed back to the house. They were pouring three glasses of milk and had a plate of freshly baked, warm cookies on the counter.

  “Can I help you, too?” Noah asked.

  “No, buddy. This is way messier than baking cookies.”

  I washed my hands and quickly made one sandwich that I cut in quarters. Something told me Brook wasn’t going to like fluffernutters, but this was more about Noah and introducing him to something I thought every child should experience tasting. “It’s a good thing you have milk poured, because you’ll need it after this.”

  Noah took a square, investigated it, smelled it, and finally took a bite. Brook followed suit, and much to my surprise, both Wellingtons smiled and made happy noises. I proudly took a square off the plate and joined in.

  “How have I missed out on this my entire life?” Brook asked.

  She looked so adorable with a tiny bit of fluff smeared on the corner of her mouth. I pointed to my own mouth and stared at hers until she got the hint. She smiled and grabbed a napkin, and in that moment, she wasn’t my boss. She was just a very attractive woman in yoga pants, thick wool socks, and a large Harvard sweatshirt. She’d changed her clothes when Noah cleaned up. Her hair was pulled back in a loose ponytail, and she was breathtaking.

  “What do you think, buddy?” I turned my attention to Noah, who took the last square off the plate. “Well, I guess that means you like it. Can I have a cookie now?”

  We spent the next twenty minutes eating cookies and drinking milk. Noah animatedly recapped their vacation—roaring, barking, and making various other animal noises to emphasize his excitement. Brook jumped in to clear things up or add to the story. It was nice to see her relaxed and playful with Noah. I didn’t have the opportunity to see them interact a lot.

  “It’s almost time for bed. Why don’t you say good night to Cassie and go upstairs and get ready? I’ll be up in a minute to tuck you in.” Brook kissed the top of his head and squeezed his shoulder. Noah slid off the chair and surprised us both by wrapping his hands around my waist and hugging me.

  “Bye, Cassie. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  I reached down and held him against me for a fraction of a second before letting him go. It was the first time he’d hugged me. I tried to hide the surprise, but Brook saw it. We watched him disappear down the hall.

  “He really does like you,” she said.

  “You’ve done a great job with him. He’s adorable.” The silence dragged on. I turned the plate of cookies just to have something to do with my hands. “I should go. Thank you for inviting me over.”

  “Stay for a bit. I want to talk about your holiday plans. Will you excuse me while I tuck Noah in?”

  The look she sent me wasn’t sexual or smoldering, but it had a hint of something I couldn’t identify. Longing? Hope? Whatever it was, I was definitely sticking around.

  Chapter Twelve

  I pretended that it wasn’t a big deal to be alone with her after hitting on her the other night, but my heart was thumping. I sat at the counter and pulled my phone out to check messages, but my hands were shaking so I gave up. My mind raced at all the possibilities of our conversation. I hadn’t asked for anything special over Christmas break. I wanted to go skiing with Lacy, but I didn’t want to ask for vacation time. My job was more important than a ski trip, but I was almost certain I had that week off.

  “I’m sorry it took so long. Noah was amped from all the sugar. He’s allowed to read for fifteen minutes, then lights out.”

  “No worries. I just checked my email and stuff.”

  She slid past me and reached into the cabinet. “Would you like a glass of pinot?”

  “Sure.”

  I wished it were something stronger, but I managed to not make a face when I took the first sip. I’d sworn off wine just three days ago, and here I was drinking it again to impress a girl. The same girl.

  “Let’s go into the living room and get comfortable. My back hurts from sitting on these stools all night.”

  I followed her and tried everything to keep my gaze from drifting over her, but I failed miserably. Brook Wellington was perfect. Even dressed down, she had an aura of confidence I admired. She sat on the couch and motioned for me to sit next to her. I chose a spot far enough away to keep me out of trouble, but close enough to be personable.

  “Tell me your plans for Christmas.” She curled her legs underneath her and spread a blanket over her lap.

  “I’m not sure what time I have off. I wanted to talk to you about it. I don’t know that we ever discussed time off.”

  “A bad oversight on my part,” she said.

  I smiled. “I needed a job, so I didn’t really review the contract well.”

  “I needed a nanny, so I didn’t really review the contract well either.”

  We both laughed.

  “Do you have plans? I mean while you’re on break?”

  Something made me shake my head and tell her I had no plans. Maybe it was wishful thinking. Maybe it was lust. Either way, I was going to listen to what she wanted to say.

  “The family is going to Vermont for four days between Christmas and New Year’s Eve. If you’re not busy, we’d love some help with
the kids. It would be Noah, Griffin, and Frances. And only when we need you. Not seven to seven, but whenever we go skiing during the day. You’ll still have plenty of time if you want to ski or go out during the day. Your nights will be free. And you’ll be compensated. You’ll have your own room and transportation if you want it.”

  My heart sank. I knew she wasn’t going to ask me as a date because I was just the nanny, but sometimes I wished my fantasy life would come true. If I accepted her offer, I could still ski, but Lacy wouldn’t be there. But Brook would be, and it would score me brownie points. I knew I should have said no, because I wanted to go for all the wrong reasons.

  “That sounds like fun. The kids and I can go sledding and build snowpeople,” I said. I wasn’t super excited, but it would be a relaxed environment, and Brook was always different when she wasn’t facing a day of business deals and contracts.

  “Thank you. I wasn’t sure what your plans were. Did you talk to your parents over the weekend?”

  “No. I hung out with Nana Friday, but she highly recommends I try to work things out with my parents for Christmas. Thanksgiving was boring without me.”

  “I honestly believe that. Hopefully you had a good time with us.”

  She took another sip of wine and looked at me over the rim of her glass. It wasn’t the look so much as it was the gracefulness of it. Brook was suave. She didn’t glance away or try to avoid eye contact. That confidence was sexy as hell.

  “I did. I’m just sorry I got a little carried away.” I covered my face with my hand out of revisited embarrassment. Then I felt her hand on my knee and barely stopped myself from jumping under her touch.

  “You were fine. Erica really had fun with you. She’ll be excited to know you’re coming on the trip.” She moved her hand from my knee, and I relaxed.

  “She’s really cool. Laid-back and a lot of fun.”

  Brook poured herself another glass of wine, but I waved off the offer to top mine off. I couldn’t go through another night like Thursday, especially at Brook’s.

  “We’re taking the family plane, so we’ll have some fun on the ride. We’ll leave for the airport about noon on the twenty-sixth. I have to wait until Noah gets home from Christmas with Lauren.” An expression of sadness washed over her, and she took another sip to cover it up.

  “Why does Lauren get him over the holidays? If you don’t mind me asking.” I didn’t want to pry, but she looked so sad I thought maybe she wanted to talk about it.

  “We switch every year. When I get Noah over Thanksgiving, she gets him over Christmas. Next year it’ll be opposite.”

  “When does she get him over his break?” I didn’t even think about days I might have off when Noah was with Lauren.

  “Break starts on the nineteenth. She’ll get him the twentieth until the twenty-sixth. Then I’ll have him.”

  “Do you think she’ll keep him the whole time? I’m just curious because we both know her track record.” In the three months I’d been watching Noah, Lauren had showed up only three out of the nine Wednesdays.

  “Who knows? She’ll probably only want him Christmas Eve and part of Christmas Day. Her twins are almost two, and Noah’s great with them, but she doesn’t like to take Noah to her husband’s family events. Like Noah is an embarrassment. He hates it, and I try to make him understand that his other mother loves him, but it’s hard when she doesn’t follow through with anything.”

  I heard bitterness in her voice and could feel my own blood starting to boil. “Why does she do this to him?”

  Brook finished off her second glass of wine and poured a third. “You really want to know?”

  I nodded, both scared and intrigued.

  “Money. It’s all about money. She knows that if she doesn’t at least try, I’ll take her back to court. She gets a lot of child support with very little responsibility. It pisses me off no end, but Noah loves her, and we made the decision to have him together.”

  “I don’t like her. I hope that’s okay to say. I would never say anything disparaging in Noah’s presence. Nor would I be rude to her, even though she was rude to me.”

  Brook leaned forward. “I’m sorry. She used to be nice a long time ago.”

  “How did you meet her?” This was new territory for us—a casual night drinking wine and getting to know one another.

  “At a fund-raiser. Well, because of a fund-raiser for Hasbro Children’s Hospital. Lauren was responsible for reaching out to companies who had previously donated, and I took her call. We met several times before the event. She was charming and confident, and I fell for her. That was twelve years ago. We were married two years after that and divorced a year and a half ago.” I tried working the math in my head without being obvious but failed. “Doesn’t add up, does it? One day she came home, informed me she’d met somebody else, was pregnant, and wanted a divorce.”

  “Holy fuck.” I didn’t even try to hide my disgust. “Well, now I hate her.”

  She waved me off like it was no big deal. My blood was boiling over something that had happened years ago to somebody I didn’t know that well. It was a shitty thing to do to anybody.

  “I take a lot of the blame. My father gave me a lot more responsibilities when I returned to work after having Noah. I hit the ground running. I wasn’t home a lot. Lauren was home with him, and I didn’t give her enough time.”

  Brook raised the empty wine bottle and held it up to the light. “Did I really drink all this?”

  “No. I had a glass.”

  “You’re still working on it.”

  I laughed. “After Thursday, I hesitate to drink wine.”

  Brook stood and apologized. “You should have told me. I could have poured you anything. The bar’s stocked.” She was wobbly on her feet, so she plopped back down.

  “The wine’s fine. I have a hard day tomorrow at school, so I need to be sharp.”

  “Ugh. Tomorrow’s a tough day for me, too. It’s always hard to get into the swing of things when I’ve been out of the office for a few days.” She leaned back against the couch and closed her eyes. She was quiet for so long, I thought she’d fallen asleep and quietly put my glass on a coaster.

  “Are you leaving already?”

  I looked at the time. “It’s almost ten. I have this Kraken of a boss who wants me in the office at seven in the morning.” I did air quotes around the word office and stood to make my exit.

  In a surprising move, she grabbed my hand and pulled me down onto the couch. She didn’t let go of my hand, and I sat frozen with her fingers interlocked with mine.

  “Am I that bad a boss? I never thought I was. I always considered myself professional.” She held up our hands and stared at them. “Well, maybe not completely professional. You have such nice hands, Cassandra. Strong yet feminine. I’ve always admired them.”

  “I was teasing. You’re not a bad boss at all.” I hated that my nails weren’t painted or nicely filed. I chewed the skin around my thumbnails to help harness my stress levels while studying.

  “I wish everybody was like you. Sweet, adorable, willing to give me a chance.” This was a side of Brook I wasn’t prepared for. I’d fantasized about thawing her ice walls, but for them to come down without any work on my part derailed me.

  “You’re fine. I was scared of you at first, but only because being Noah’s nanny is a huge responsibility and you’re a Wellington. I have to be careful. I’m just thankful Noah hasn’t broken any bones.”

  “He’s a very cautious kid, never does anything to rock the boat. I kind of wish he would do kid things, but I think he’s shy and worried he’s going to upset me or Lauren.”

  “Oh, give him time. One day he’ll be a teenager, and then you’ll wish he was six again.”

  “Wait a minute. Back up. You were scared of me? I hate that.” She frowned and gazed at me. A jolt of lust blasted in my veins when she looked down at my lips and then back up to my eyes.

  I sat up straighter and moved slightly away. “But I
think you’re a nice person with a good heart.”

  She groaned. “You’re just saying that.”

  “Seriously, if you and Noah were flying a kite at a park and I was there reading a book, I would totally approach you. I would try to say something charming or funny.” We were still holding hands, and I could feel my palm growing sweaty with my confession. I needed to turn it down because I couldn’t afford to lose my job over a crush.

  “I’m so much older than you. You’d probably ask to play with Noah.”

  I couldn’t help but laugh. Totally something I would do, but only to get to her. “Not true. I’m almost twenty-five. And you look like you’re twenty-eight, so it would have worked out. I would have asked if Noah was your kid brother.”

  She tweaked my side and made me laugh. “And I would have called bullshit. Ah, it’s too bad life is the way it is.”

  My heart bobbed, riding each wave up and down with every word she said. I was more confused now than when I first met her. Was she interested? This entire exchange was all over the place. Alcohol. As much as it loosened us up, it really fucked with my head.

  “Okay, it’s getting late. I need to go finish studying.” Why was I jeopardizing any shot with Brook?

  “I can’t feel my face,” Brook said.

  I watched as she rubbed her hands over her face. That’s right. Because she was drunk. I was doing the right thing like she did with me. “Come on. I’ll escort you upstairs, and I’ll set the alarm when I leave. Deal?”

  She was so close to me. And that smile. And those eyes. It took all my strength to not kiss her.

  “You know where my bedroom is? Have you been in my room without me?” She poked me again, teasingly, as if I’d just gotten caught doing something naughty.

  “You gave me a tour when I first started. I know where your bedroom is, but I’ve never been inside it. I promise.”

  Grabbing my hand again, she walked me to the stairs. I put her free hand on the railing. Getting her upstairs was more of a chore than I realized. It took a few minutes to steer her to her bedroom.

  “We’re here.” I opened the door for her.

  She leaned against the frame and put her palm on my chest, her fingers stroking my neck. “Thank you, Cassie. I’ll see you tomorrow.” She turned and started taking off her sweatshirt.