by Sosie Frost
“Poor thing.” She waddled behind the counter and busied herself at the slushie machine. “Seems like you could use this. It’s on me.”
The Icee drink wouldn’t last five minutes in the heat, but it’d be the first and only meal I’d eat until I got my credit card fixed. I took it with a smile.
“Thanks, Pat.”
“Heading out to Ironfield again? Think you’ll make the county line?”
“How did you…”
“Got me a bet with Julian.”
Of course she did.
“Make me proud, sweetness.” Pat hooted. “No. Make momma some money!”
I was trying. God help me, I was doing my best to get out of town. I seized my drink and filled my tank, but I only made it halfway into my driver’s seat before a bee buzzed the window. The fuzzy little bastard dive bombed my face, collided with my ear, and gave an angry zzzzzz as he charged my lobe.
It took only a second before his stinger created a fashionable—and painful—new earring.
I screamed. Brandished the Icee as a weapon.
And I defeated the insect in a pool of red, sticky slushie that splattered my dashboard, steering wheel, purse, and clothes.
My ear throbbed. I clutched it, peeking into the rear-view mirror. Yep. Swollen. Little asshole stung me, and the shooting pain radiated from my ear into my jaw.
I couldn’t win.
At least, only my phone now buzzed.
Do it as a favor to them?
Rem had posed the girls for the camera—Mellie all smiles, Tabby five minutes too long passed her lunch. Her lip pouted, cheeks puffed, and a tantrum was eminent. Rem probably had no idea. But he’d learn. Slowly, sure, but he’d be able to manage the kids.
All by himself.
With no prior experience.
And no easy way to get a sitter.
And a sick sister doing chemo who would need help too.
I tapped my head against the steering wheel, regretting the sticky decision. An icepack, shower, car wash, new phone, and replaced credit card all waited for me in Ironfield. I was so close.
But was it fair to leave him all alone to manage the girls, his family, and his sister’s health?
No.
Could I trust myself that close to him?
Absolutely not.
Nannying was just not an option.
I flicked the melting slushie off my keys and stuck them in the ignition. Turned.
The car hummed, buzzed, and then died, clicking when I turned the key.
“You’ve gotta be kidding me.”
The phone vibrated again. Another photo, this one a selfie. Both girls on his lap—him and Mellie making goofy faces, Tabby looking inconvenienced.
I needed to get out of town. To forget Rem. To move on with my life.
But now? I needed money—specifically, fifty dollars for my eldest brother.
My fingers tapped an answer over the fractured screen.
When can I start?
Chapter Seven
Remington
Cassi Payne stepped out of my bedroom in a yellow bikini designed to stop my heart, knot my cock, and destroy the pinkie-promise we’d made when she agreed to become the girls’ nanny.
This job was supposed to be purely professional.
I’d made a lot of mistakes in my life. Fires. Drugs. Letting this woman get away.
Agreeing to stay professional while the most beautiful woman in the world strutted around my cabin in a teeny-tiny bikini?
I was a goddamned idiot.
“I’m taking the kids to the lake,” Cassi said. “Why don’t you come with us?”
“Swimming!” Mellie bounced into the living room, proudly displaying her frilly pink bathing suit, yellow flip flops, and a pair of sunglasses shaped like two daisies. “Come on, Uncle Rem!”
Mellie’s excitement riled up Tabby. Cassi had somehow tucked her little toddler rolls into a spandex suit with a mermaid on the front. She bounded around the floor by bouncing on her butt while chasing Mellie and the last graham cracker. Both girls screamed, giggled, and then tussled in the beach towels Cassi dumped over their heads.
“Pass,” I said. “I’ll stay here.”
“Alone?”
She’d been the girls’ full-time nanny for two days. I’d had them for three weeks. That many tantrums, screams, shrieks, cries, and crashes had burrowed a migraine deep into my head. I’d see them graduate before I got rid of the headache.
“I think I’ll survive,” I said.
Cassi winked and puffed up a pink beach ball. “Aw, what’s the matter? Can’t brood all alone in your cabin anymore?”
“There’s lots of things I can’t do by myself anymore.” The bikini would kill me. A bright and cheerful yellow caressed her perfect, mouth-wateringly tempting dark skin. Cassi might have been a little thing, but she had curves in all the places that made this world right and good. “There’s plenty I could do with you though. What do you say?”
“I say…I better get out of this cabin quick.”
“Why? Intrigued?”
“Nope. Just suffering a bad case of cabin fever.”
“Sure you’re just not hot for me?”
“I don’t know.” She pitched the beach ball at my head. “Why don’t we get out of this stuffy house and find out.”
And miss the first and only peaceful afternoon I’d had in a month? No stories to read, no diapers to change, no visions of my past waltzing through my kitchen and tempting me with her smile, hips, and vanilla scent?
I had enough to do, starting with a call I’d put off to the project manager of the logging company. He wouldn’t like to hear that my temporary leave of absence would last another couple of weeks. Plus, I had a load of timber piled high in my woodshed, waiting for me to begin work on a custom new dining room set for a family in town. Most importantly, I had a hard log I was waiting to chop, but I couldn’t shout timber without some privacy.
Sometimes, a man needed to be alone.
“Come on, Rem.” Cassi nudged Mellie. “Don’t you want your uncle to come too?”
Mellie was a sociopath in waiting—the world’s cutest master manipulator with golden curls who took no prisoners when inflicting that bottom lip in a pout.
“Please Uncle Rem?” She clapped her hands and nearly tumbled over her sister. “We…can…play…NEMO!”
Pretty sure that was the movie about the fish, not the racecar. “Sorry, kiddo. Uncle Rem doesn’t have a pair of trunks.”
Cassi arched an eyebrow. “When has that ever stopped you?”
“Haven’t done it for a while. Believe it or not, we don’t skinnydip much in the Canadian wilderness.”
Her smile slayed me. “I haven’t either…not since that one time.”
The woman would destroy me from the inside out. If it wasn’t the nostalgia killing me, it’d be the blood pressure surging between my head and cock. The memory blinded me. A night long ago when a beautiful girl slipped beneath the water and cast off a pair of jean shorts and white t-shirt.
It was the night I’d almost had her, when only water and shadow had separated us. Had I known that was my last chance to be with her, I wouldn’t have let her out of the pond.
That night, we’d almost made love. Almost said those words. Almost devoted our lives to each other. That was the night before the barn burned down.
Then everything had changed.
“I’ll go if you’re planning on losing the suit,” I said.
“That wouldn’t be very professional.”
I grinned. “So take the day off.”
“And the kids?” Her eyes drifted to the expectant little girls—Mellie with her beach ball, Tabby gnawing a Barbie leg that hadn’t survived Mellie’s dance party/torture chamber. “You need to think of what’s best for them now.”
Hadn’t I already been thinking of them? All day, every day, for almost a month? Diapers. Baths. Banging my head against the wall at night when they refused to sleep after a di
nner of Skittles and juice.
Still, the kids probably deserved more entertainment than making water balloons out of condoms. Not only did Cassi declare that to be inappropriate, the damn things never burst. At the very least, I thought that particular demonstration would have convinced Cassi to give me a chance.
I grabbed my keys. “Round em up. We’ll take them to the watering hole.”
Cassi grinned, shouldering diaper bags and lunches filled with carrot sticks and grapes. The kids squealed in excitement and rushed to the truck—a truck that was once filled with freshly cut wood and hand-crafted furniture. Now it carried freshly filled diapers and home-grown tantrums.
And a diaper blowout? That was a shittier time than a busted tire.
The watering hole had seemed much bigger when I was young. Either I’d grown up, or it’d shrunk. Then again, everything had seemed bigger when we were kids. The town. The problems. The words we never spoke and the moments we’d missed.
I’d never expected to come back to Butterpond. The people didn’t want me. The Paynes despised me. And the kids—
Mellie tripped over a rock in the shore and stomped her feet. “Sockcucker!”
I wasn’t the best influence.
The longer the kids stayed with me, the more likely they’d learn their ABCs in the back of a patrol car and do their first multiplication tables to help calculate bail. Mellie was swearing. I didn’t need to be Doctor Seuss to know Tabby was probably behind other girls her age. They had to go home to Emma, but…
No kid deserved to see their mother like that.
At least they had Cassi—someone to play with them, watch them, sing songs with them…
And unleash a hellish scream that curdled my blood.
I sprang over the tailgate and hit the dirt running. So much for a mid-afternoon nap in the sun. I ripped my shirt off as I ran, fearing that a woman’s screaming like that could only mean one of the girls was trapped in the turbulent, dark part of the lake with no floaties…
Her second yelp stopped me in my tracks.
No little girl thrashing in the water.
Just a nanny trapped in the tire swing.
Booty first.
Cassi flailed her arms and legs, struggling against the black rubber. The tire swing held her firm, the series of ropes along the sides positioning the tire flat, so a would-be swimmer had a platform to sit, pump their legs, and then jump into the water.
Instead of a gentle swing, the tire engulfed her. Her ass stuck deep enough into the middle of the tire to pin her arms and hips. Her dignity might have dropped onto the dirt below if she hadn’t been trapped inside the rubber like an upside down, humpbacked turtle.
“Mellie!” Cassi shouted as the devious munchkin slapped the tire round and round, giggling as her nanny spun in frantic circles. Half-naked, those bikini bottoms wedged firmly between those lovely cheeks, Cassi panicked each time the ground bumped that beautiful ass. “Mellie, stop!”
I grinned, admiring the view. “Any chance I can get a refund on this nanny service?”
Cassi spun. And spun. And spun some more. “Rem, help!”
“What the hell did you do?”
Cassi managed to grab the rope and stop her spinning, but she could do nothing to slow the crawl of the bikini turned thong encroaching on secret regions where I was never permitted access.
She spoke through gritted teeth. “My booty’s stuck in the tire swing.”
And I had almost stayed home and missed this fun. “Excuse me?”
“I said…my booty…is stuck…in this tire swing.”
“And how did that happen?”
Cassi sucked in a breath and attempted to push up on the tire. It did nothing. Her hips and ass were firmly wedged in the luckiest goddamned tire I’d ever seen.
“Well, one day, I was born. Twenty-two years later, the world exacted its revenge.” She smacked the rubber. The motion shimmied her deeper into the tire and accidentally pinned her shoulders. “Can you help me?”
I could. I wouldn’t, but I could. “What can I do?”
“Maybe if I lose more self-esteem, I can slide out of here.”
She wiggled her wobbler and wedged herself in an awkward position against the inner rim of the tire. Her ass was exposed to the dirt. If the bikini bottoms slipped up any further, she’d choke on them.
Cassi groaned.
“Now what would you have to be embarrassed about?” I asked.
“Let’s start with the booty.”
“Like hell. There’s nothing wrong with that booty. That’s a perfect booty.”
“You’re the expert.”
“You’re goddamned right. And, if anything, that tire swing wants to keep that ass snug for itself.”
Mellie gave the swing a push. Cassi grunted as she bounced against the dirt. “Looks like the ground wants it more.”
“Can you blame it?”
“Can you help me?”
“Can I get a picture?”
“You can get fu—”
I interrupted with a smile. “The children are listening.”
Listening. Laughing. Same difference. Cassi awkwardly humped, pumping her hips and getting nowhere but lodged into my memory. Tabby toddled over to me and pointed.
“Uh-oh,” she babbled.
“That’s right,” I said. “Can you say this would make good blackmail.”
“Abababa.”
“Close enough.”
Cassi scowled. “Know what? Forget it. I don’t need your help. I’ll be fine right here.”
“You’re gonna sit there all night with your butt in the hole?”
“If that’s what it takes.”
“Come on, Cas. A booty like that belongs in the world, not attached to a ten-year-old tire swing. Let me help you.”
“Oh no.” She wagged a finger at me. Her shoulder was stuck, but she got a decent wiggle from her elbow. “You’re gonna make fun of me.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“And then you’re going to hit on me.”
“Once I’m done taking pictures.”
“My prince charming.”
I scooted the kids out of the way and surveyed the ropes holding the tire up. They tugged easily, but so did Cassi. She shrieked as I pulled the tire back and gave the ropes a yank. Her booty didn’t unwedge, even as she teetered nearly vertical. I dragged the tire to the water’s edge and grinned.
“We’re gonna dump you out,” I said.
“No, no, no. No dumping!”
Cassi stared into the deepest part of the lake. Her suit was wet, but not her hair. It’d be a declaration of war, but the temptation was as real as sneaking a glance at the most perfect, roundest, absolutely bounciest booty on God’s green earth.
Right there. Exposed by the miraculous slippage of a very generous pair of bikini bottoms.
I pulled the ropes until the tire swung perpendicular to my hips. Oh, the wicked things I could do.
“Why isn’t this a standard feature in every bedroom?” I asked.
“Oh, you cannot be trusted.” Cassi attempted to spin. She couldn’t see me behind her rubber shell, but I had the best view anywhere in the woods. “Okay. I can get out from here.”
“All you need is a good bump.”
“No. No bumps.”
I hummed to myself. “Now how could I give you a good bump out of this swing?”
“You could be a gentleman.”
“Aren’t I helping a damsel in distress?” I grinned. “All you need is one good whack, and you’ll be out of there. A solid spank oughtta do it. Get you out of the tire and onto your knees.”
“Heaven help you, Remington Marshall, if you do what I think you’re gonna do—”
I held the tire firm. Didn’t get as good a warm up as I would’ve liked, but I’d known my entire life that my hand was made for spanking Cassi Payne’s gorgeous ass.
It was a solid, joyous whack heard across the pond. The clap struck the fleshiest part of that booty, and t
he clap that echoed was as if the trees offered a round of glorious applause.
Cassi crashed forward, out of the tire. She face-planted into the dirt. Her language was not appropriate for children.
“You are such a fu—” She swallowed her words and rubbed her behind. “Bad influence on these kids!”
Well, yeah. Thought everyone knew that. Cassi marched towards me—as if a little twig like her could push me into the water. I defended myself with the tire swing, pulling it back.
She raced for me.
I let go of the tire.
The swing smacked her in the chest. Momentum did the rest. Her splash into the pond was impressive, though I once again credited for her booty for the show.
Cassi emerged from the water, hair drenched and covering her face. Her shriek entertained the kids, but she grabbed a plastic bucket from Mellie that I wasn’t entirely sure hadn’t been filled with rocks instead of water.
So I did what any brave, honorable man would do. I hauled Mellie into my arms and faced Cassi with a grin.
“Is that any way to show your gratitude?” I asked.
The bucket reared back. “Don’t use that child as a human shield.”
“Tabby!” I scooped the kiddo into my arms too. “Tell Cassi to say thank you.”
Tabby waved a pudgy finger at her nanny. “Dank Boo.”
“Thank you, Remington…” Cassi spoke through gritted teeth. “Put the kids down.”
“Now, Sassy…be reasonable. You’ve been wetter than this before.”
“It’s like you want to get dunked.”
“Just say the word—I’ll splash you all you want.”
The kids wiggled. My luck ran out. Mellie split first, racing to her own bucket on the shore. Tabby followed, plunking down in the grass and attempted to eat a pebble. Both girls threatened me with the buckets.
“Ladies…” I grinned. “I’m sure we can come to an amiable resolution—”
“Get him, Mellie!”
Cassi led the charge, pitching water—and the bucket—at my head. I dodged the attack, caught the bucket, and promptly fit it over my niece’s head. Cassi panicked as I stole Mellie’s weapon, filled halfway with chilly water.
“Don’t!” She pointed at me. “Don’t you even dare—”