I was a tough girl. It wasn’t that I couldn’t take someone who was angry with me, but I felt like he had started all this. He was the one who had a raging hard on when he caught me in the kitchen. He was the one looking at me like he wanted to devour me all the time. I just couldn’t figure out what was going on. How could I have been so off base with what was happening?
“I’m going to head up to bed,” I said from the hallway. “I’ll see you guys in the morning.”
“Dad, she didn’t even eat dinner,” Faith said in only the way a child could.
But I didn’t care about the dinner. I was humiliated by what had happened. Obviously, I’d thought something totally different was going on, and the way he was so angry just hit me hard. I hurried up to my room and locked the door behind me as I climbed into a nice warm shower.
There was nothing I liked better than a warm bath or shower when I was stressed out. Even if I’d already showered for the day, I just loved letting that water pound down on me and force me to relax.
I stayed in the shower as long as I could before I felt myself getting tired. It had been a really long day, and I knew I needed to get up and make kids their breakfast and get them to school. I wasn’t about to let this thing between Tyler and I throw me off. This was the right job for me, and I was going to make it work.
Before crawling into bed, I pulled out a pair of workout pants and a tank top. I paired it with an oversized cut-off sweatshirt and pulled out a pair of my tennis shoes. I could dress more casually if that were what he wanted. Hell, I would put my hair up and not style it, and it would save me time. I could go without makeup too, that would just save me more time. I had to stick to this job for a month, and that was what I was going to do. No matter what happened, I could last for a month.
Plus, Tyler was going to be working most of the time, and it would just be me and the kids. We got along great, and I wasn’t worried about having the two of them around. I just had to make it through the times that Tyler was home and hope he wasn’t going to scream at me like a maniac again. There was a knock at my door just as I was crawling into bed.
“I left a list of things for tomorrow by the refrigerator,” Tyler said through the door.
“Okay.”
“The keys for the car are down there as well.”
“Okay.”
“Call me if you need anything.”
“Okay,” I said again, just hoping he would leave my door already. “Goodnight.”
“Night,” he finally responded.
I breathed a sigh of relief as I heard him going back downstairs. What was it about Tyler that had me so on edge? It wasn’t just that he was good looking. I’d been around hot guys before and not felt like this. It didn’t matter, though. Obviously, he wanted this to just be a work thing without any other sort of relationship. That was perfectly fine with me.
I closed my eyes and tried not to dwell on the mess of a day we had together. Tomorrow was going to be better. I would make sure of it.
***
My alarm went off at 6 a.m., and I hurried downstairs to get breakfast started. I wasn’t exactly sure what the kids would like, but I knew how to make pancakes, so I went with that. I also made up some scrambled eggs and poured orange juice for the kids before I went into their room to get them up.
“Faith, it’s time to get up,” I said softly, but she didn’t move.
“Thomas, it’s time to get up.”
Neither of them moved at all, but I was determined to do this without the help of Tyler. In fact, I wanted to get the kids fed and out of the house before he got up if that was at all possible.
“I’ll get them up,” I heard Tyler say from behind me.
His body was close to me but not touching me. I felt his breath near my neck, and it sent tingles throughout my body. It took every bit of self-control to take a step away from him.
“Okay,” I said and turned to leave the room.
I waited for Tyler and the kids in the kitchen. The look of surprise on their faces was exciting for me to see. Faith and Thomas dove right into the plates I’d made for them, and I just let Tyler grab his own.
“Did you eat yet?” he asked.
“No, I’m not hungry.”
“Here,” Tyler said and made me up a place, obviously not hearing that I said I wasn’t hungry. “You missed dinner last night.”
“I’m fine,” I said as I pushed the plate away.
Even though I was actually hungry now that I had the food in front of me, I wasn’t about to give him the satisfaction of bossing me around. That wasn’t how this working relationship was going to work. He could tell me what to do when it came to his children – that was fine. But when it came to my body, I was in charge.
I sat quietly and felt he was staring at me while we all ate. But I wasn’t going to let him bully me around. I stood my ground, and when the kids were done eating, I let Tyler go get them dressed and waited for them by the door. I wanted to get to the school early so I had time to figure out the route and get in line the right way.
“Ready?” I said without looking at Tyler and just looking at Faith and Thomas.
“Yep,” Faith replied.
Tyler pulled the car out of the garage and helped get the kids loaded into their seats. I sat calmly waiting in the driver’s seat until everyone was loaded up.
“Have a good day at school guys. I’ll see you when I get home from work.”
“Bye, Dad,” the two kids said in unison.
As soon as Tyler was out of the way, I gently pulled the car out of the driveway and made our way to the school. I was so excited to be ahead of time and couldn’t wait to get the kids dropped off and prove I could do something right.
Chapter 8
Tyler
I messed up. No doubt about it, I’d done exactly what I had to previous nannies. Well not exactly. None of my previous nannies had touched me like Summer had. But I shouldn’t have grabbed her hand like that, and I certainly shouldn’t have scolded her like a child.
She was reacting to whatever it was going on between us, and I knew I should have just pulled her aside and said we were going to keep things professional. I could have taken ownership of the way I’d reacted to her when she fell into me. Or at least I could have been a little kinder to her about the whole thing.
I felt absolutely horrible when she didn’t return to dinner and then later wouldn’t come out of her room to talk to me. Sleeping with the nanny was just too cliché of a thing for me even to imagine. But I put all the sexual attraction onto Summer as if I didn’t have a part in it when I really did.
The truth was I wanted to grab her, take her to my bedroom and throw her down on my bed the second I felt her hand on my thigh. I’d overreacted because my own temptation was so great that I couldn’t control it or thought I might not be able to control it.
“Nice to see you here,” Rob said as I walked into his office.
“I know, it’s nice to be here.”
“How is the new nanny?”
“She’s good,” I said without elaborating on the issues I was having.
“Good? Wow, that’s a step up from the last one. You were already telling me all of the things she was doing wrong by now.”
“I’m trying to be a little nicer. It’s a lot harder than I thought.”
“Well, let’s get going on this work. I’m excited to pound out some of these decisions so we can get the printers working on some of our supplies for the big bid.”
“Do we seriously have any chance? I mean, be honest with me, Rob. We are the underdog here, aren’t we?”
“Yep, we are, but we are going to work our asses off and make sure things come together.”
That was exactly what we did for the first hour of the morning. We went over our list of decisions that had to be made and just started hammering away at them. It was the start to what I hoped would be a day of enormous progress up until I saw the kids’ school calling me.
“This
is Tyler.”
“Hello, Mister English. We were just checking to see if Faith and Thomas had a doctor’s appointment or were sick today since they haven’t arrived at school yet.”
My heart sunk so fast I started to get light headed.
“What do you mean? The nanny left early with them.”
“Oh, well the kids have not arrived. Maybe she got lost? That happens on the first day of drop off sometimes.”
“I’ll get in touch with her, and the kids will be there shortly.”
“What’s going on?” Rob asked as he saw the obvious concern on my face.
“Apparently, the new nanny got lost on the way to school, and the kids haven’t arrived yet. I swear to God, I showed her twice how to get there. What the hell, is she really this incompetent?”
“Okay, so this is how you piss them off and make them quit. Nice to get to see it up close and personal,” Rob said as he looked up at me from his desk. “You only have a few weeks until our trip. I would highly advise you not to talk to her like this if you actually want to keep her around.”
“She couldn’t even get the kids to school.”
“I don’t care. You need her to stay, and this attitude won’t work. You have to suck it up and be nice to this girl.”
I knew he was right. I’d been thinking the same thing after my little blow out with Summer the night before. I had to reel in my attitude and try a little better. I couldn’t afford to lose Summer with only a couple weeks left.
“I know. We need this deal. It could skyrocket us into another stratosphere.”
“Okay then, focus. Go find the kids. Help the girl out, and don’t be an ass about it. I know you’re capable of being a cool guy. I’ve seen you work really well under pressure. I’m just not sure why you have such a hard time with it when it comes to the kids.”
“I don’t know. Claire was so perfect with everything, and I feel like I suck at it all. I at least want the nanny to be good at taking care of them.”
I started to dial Summer’s number and hoped she answered. Although, if she was driving, I knew she wouldn’t answer her phone. After three tries and all of them going to voicemail, I knew I was going to have to head over to the school and see if I could find them. She was probably just on the wrong street or something like that.
“Go ahead, I’ll see you later,” Rob said as I started to leave his office. “Be nice to her.”
“I will, I will.”
On the way over to the school, I used my Bluetooth to try and call Summer again. She still wasn’t answering. There was a growing pit in my stomach as we approached nearly ten o’clock and the kids still hadn’t arrived at the school.
What could have just been Summer getting lost was now actually worrying me more and more. What if they had been in a car accident? What if something horrible had happened to them, and I just didn’t know it yet? I couldn’t imagine anything happening to my kids. It had taken me years to even think about moving on after losing Claire. I wouldn’t be able to go on if I lost my kids.
I drove to the school and then progressively started driving around further and further away. If they had gotten lost, I certainly would find them. Then, as I came up and over a hill, I saw the three of them walking.
Summer was holding both of the kids’ hands as they walked up the hill toward the school. They were only about a half of a mile away, but the car wasn’t anywhere in sight.
“Need a ride?” I said with a smile as I pulled up next to them.
“Oh, my gosh, my feet are falling off,” Faith said as she climbed in with Thomas.
Summer didn’t say anything and just got into the front seat. I noticed she had on tennis shoes and wasn’t wearing her makeup. I hadn’t realized that when she was at home. She smiled at me and then looked out the window as we drove to the school.
“I’ve got to run inside and sign them in because we are late; it will be just a second,” I said as I took the kids inside. “Did you guys get lost?” I asked them.
“Yeah, but then the car ran out of gas. We would have made it if we hadn’t run out of gas. I think Summer knew where we were going, finally,” Faith said as she gave me a hug and went to her room.
I signed the kids in and didn’t make eye contact with any of the women in the office. This whole mess was my fault. I’d given Summer the car from the garage without even checking to see if there was gas in it. I felt absolutely terrible.
“I’m so sorry,” Summer said as she broke down in full blown tears the second I climbed into the car. “I didn’t check the gas, and I didn’t have that credit card you left me. I’m really sorry. I understand if you want to fire me.”
“Summer, it’s okay,” I said calmly.
I wanted to reach out and comfort her but figured that would send the wrong signal after the way I yelled at her the night before. She was shaking, though, and I couldn’t stop myself as I gently touched her upper arm to try and calm her.
“I’m horrible at this job. I’m sorry. You should just find someone else. I can’t do any of it right. I thought I was going to be able to. I thought if I tried really hard, I wouldn’t ruin this, but I did,” she went on as the tears continued.
Emotions weren’t my favorite thing, and emotional women were probably one of my least favorite things in the world. I didn’t know what to say or how to calm them down. I always felt like I was doing the wrong thing and never like I was being of any use at all.
“It takes a little bit to learn it all. You aren’t horrible, though, the kids love you. And this was my fault. I should have checked the gas gage before I gave you the car. I’m sorry.”
“You’re sorry?”
“Yes, and I’m sorry about last night as well. I overreacted, and I shouldn’t have talked to you like that.”
“I shouldn’t have touched you,” she said as her face flushed a little. “I misread what was going on between the two of us. Or whatever, I’m sorry.”
“It’s not true,” I admitted as I closed my eyes and took ownership of what had happened. “You didn’t misread it. I just overreacted when you put your hand on my leg. There’s an attraction here. I feel it, and I know you felt it, and I was an ass about it,” I said honestly.
It was the first time in a very long time that I could remember actually admitting to being wrong. My late wife had even told me I would never admit it, and it drove her crazy that even when I knew I was wrong, I couldn’t just admit it. But here I was, learning from my past and making an honest effort to change, even if just a little bit.
“Okay,” Summer said without saying anything else as we drove back to my work.
“I need to go into the office for a little bit, and then we can get some gas for the car. Would that be alright? You can have my office to yourself, as I’ll be in some meetings.”
“Okay, I’ll probably just take a nap, I’m exhausted.”
Summer looked exhausted, and when we arrived to my work and walked upstairs, she could barely keep her eyes open. I gave Rob a quick wave and then ushered Summer into my office so she could rest.
“There’s a blanket in that cabinet. Come get me if you’d really like to leave; otherwise, I’ll probably just let you sleep.”
“Thanks, I think it’s the adrenaline or something. I’m so tired.”
“There are snacks in the mini-fridge and a bathroom right there in the corner. I’ll check on you in a bit.”
“Okay,” Summer said as I closed the door to my office.
Just as the door closed, I turned around, and Rob was standing right there. He looked into my office through the window and was nearly falling over himself as he tried to get a glimpse of Summer.
“Alright big boy, let’s go to your office,” I said as I pulled him away.
“That’s Summer,” he said.
“What? How did you know her name? Did I tell you her name?”
“No, that’s the amazing girl I met at the club who blew me off because of my yellow tooth. Holy friggin hell,
she’s your nanny? You dog. You dirty dog!” Rob was patting me on the back and was pretty damn excited that I had Summer as my nanny.
“You met Summer?”
“Yeah, remember, I told you. But she dogged me,” Rob said as we walked back to his office.
“Yeah, I could see that.” I laughed at the thought of Rob trying to hit on Summer. He definitely didn’t seem like the kind of guy she would go for.
“So she’s just living with you. Just like that you’ve got this amazingly hot woman living in the same house as you? Shit, I need to hire a nanny,” Rob continued.
“Are we going to get some work done?”
Rob could hardly pay attention at all for at least fifteen minutes as he kept asking me questions about Summer. I felt a little bad that she had turned him down and was now my nanny, but there was no use in him thinking she ever would have run off with him. He clearly wasn’t thinking straight when he ran after her.
When we were finally able to get back to work, it was a productive afternoon. We finalized our paperwork and got everything to the printer. It was only six weeks until our big pitch, and everything had to be absolutely perfect. Landing a big hotel chain wasn’t as easy as it used to be. There were going to be hundreds of teams vying for this company, and ours had to stand out.
By three o’clock, I realized we had worked right past lunch, and I was going to have to go get the kids from school. Summer was easy to wake up but still looked really tired when I went into my office.
“Are you sure you’re feeling okay?” I asked.
“Yeah, I’m just a little dizzy. Is it time to go?”
“Yep,” I said as she started to stand up and then nearly fainted. “Did you eat anything today?”
“What? she asked looking up at me a little confused. No, I don’t think so.”
“Dang Summer, you can’t just go two days without eating. Look at you, you’ve got zero reserves, and your body needs the energy. I’m getting you a sandwich before we go pick the kids up.”
After hurrying to our break room to grab a sandwich, I returned, and Summer was looking a little bit better. She had overworked herself and then refused to eat because I had pissed her off. It would have been funny if she didn’t look so darn sick.
Bedroom Rodeo: A Billionaire Romance Page 9