by D. R. Grady
“These chores won’t take much of your time, and of course we’ll work around your homework and activities. There will be nights when you won’t have a chance to do anything other than track and field and then your homework.”
Savannah nodded, and her shoulders relaxed. Macy grinned. “This isn’t a Cinderella deal here. I just need you guys to pitch in and help. Once the others reach thirteen they’ll start learning how to cook and do laundry as well. But from what your grandmother tells me, Savannah you’re quite adept in the kitchen, and you enjoy it. I thought you might like to take your turn on weekends, when things are a little more relaxed. And I’ll be here to help.”
Savannah looked more relieved. “Bryce can chop things.”
“And I can stir things,” Starla added.
Macy looked at Brandt. “What about...” She didn’t need Savannah’s frantic cut gesture to realize that a knife in this lad’s hands would be a dangerous mistake.
“I’m sure Bryce can help you with chopping. Brandt strikes me as the type who’d do well at tearing and ripping lettuce.” Fortunately, Brandt liked the idea of using his bare hands to mutilate greens and agreed.
Whew. Disaster thwarted.
***
She’d known it was only a matter of time. But why tonight? Macy wanted to stomp her foot, but that of course was childish and the last thing she felt at the moment was childish. Oh no. Instead every feminine hormone she possessed currently hummed to life with a sultry perusal over Nick.
The man must have forgotten she lived in the house. Or he was absentminded. Or didn’t understand he ignited every nerve ending in her body. Or all the above.
Nick Morrison should not be allowed to wander around the house, even though the place was his, in only a pair of track shorts. The other problem she discovered was that he was in sore need of a new pair of shorts. These looked like they were well worn, and the elastic in the waistband was an iffy thing.
That meant there was a high probability of said shorts dipping even lower on his fabulous person. Which was not a good thing for her girls to know. Macy didn’t probe any farther than it took to determine that some of them were actually growling in anticipation rather than humming now.
Didn’t she have enough to contend with? The house required most of her attention, and when she wasn’t busy sweating and laboring over keeping it clean, she had his four children to keep fed, watered, and in clean clothing. Worrying about attacking her employer had never been a problem in the past.
Blast the man for being so sexy she feared her hair might catch on fire.
And all he’d done was saunter into the room in his questionable shorts and run a weary hand over his face. He’s tired, she reminded the frisky girls, who were definitely growling in fierce concentration. Macy tried hard not to stare at his perfect pecs or near washboard stomach.
When did the man find time to work out?
Not that she cared.
Offer him a T-shirt, the rational part of her mind encouraged. Oh, good call, she thought. Thank you!
“Did you forget something?” she asked, and had to swallow the drool that pooled in her mouth. This was not what she’d signed on for.
“Huh?” Nick blinked at her, his dark blue eyes so cute when they stared at her with utter stupefaction. It hadn’t been a hard question.
“Um, do you need a shirt?”
“What?” Nick looked down at himself. “No, I’m going to bed. I just need a glass of water.”
He stepped to the cupboard near the sink and retrieved a glass. He filled it at the sink. Did his arm muscles have to bulge like that in the mere act of filling a glass with water? The man should be declared illegal.
Macy had to swallow more drool and she entertained several scenarios where she shoved Nick’s magnificent person against the counter and kissed him senseless. Of course, he still hadn’t caught up on his sleep, so whenever she talked to him, he appeared to lack sense.
Too bad. But she knew it was only a matter of time before he caught up with himself. When said time came, she wondered if he’d hold her accountable for her actions?
Would he fire her? Nah. He needed her.
Maybe he’d press her against the counter and kiss her senseless.
Macy whimpered and left the kitchen, trying desperately not to picture a dog skulking away with her tail between her legs.
Chapter 5
When Savannah let out another smothered, frustrated sigh, Macy paused in the act of folding laundry.
“What’s wrong?” she asked the girl absently.
Savannah’s cheeks took on a pink hue and she mumbled something.
“What?”
“Nothing,” Savannah repeated, but she blew a piece of hair out her face again and looked like she wanted to hurl her textbook across the room.
“Something’s wrong. Do you need help?”
“No offense, Macy, but this is math.”
“So?” Macy dropped the shirt she was folding in the basket and strolled over to the table where Savannah worked on her homework.
“None of our other nannies could do math,” Savannah said in a tight voice.
“I’m not any of the other nannies, and as it happens I can do math.”
“Algebra?”
“Yep. I have a degree in biology.”
“You do?” Savannah didn’t look convinced.
“Can’t get into vet school without a degree, you know.”
Savannah jerked a shoulder and Macy inched her textbook closer. Peering at the sample problem she read through it and then read the problem that had stumped Savannah.
“Ah, yes. This is a hard problem,” Macy said and helped herself to one of the pencils in Savannah’s case. She went through the problem step by step with the teenager.
“But that’s not hard,” Savannah said when they reached the answer.
“No, it isn’t. I think you’re making this harder than it is.”
“I didn’t know you knew math.”
“I suppose that’s an easy assumption to make, but I’m actually pretty good at math.”
“I don’t know many girls who like math.”
“I did. It was my minor in college. I enjoy it.”
“I’m not very good at math,” Savannah whispered.
Macy stared at her. “What?”
“I’m not,” Savannah repeated and her cheeks turned pink again.
“Sure you are. You didn’t have any trouble with this problem, and it looks like it’s the hardest one in this problem set.”
“You had to help me.”
“I guided you.”
Savannah wouldn’t meet her eyes.
“Savannah, if your teacher gave you a quiz tomorrow with a similar problem to this, could you do it?”
Her shoulder jerked again, and she still wouldn’t look Macy in the eyes. “Come on, give me an answer.”
“I think so.”
Hmmm, looked like Savannah suffered from a lack of self-confidence. Macy wanted to kick herself. She should have suspected this. With Savannah’s age, and family history, and the hints Lily had thrown out, this problem should have been glaringly obvious.
“I just watched you work through it. I know so,” Macy said, infusing as much confidence into her voice as she could muster.
Savannah’s eyes widened and she finally met Macy’s eyes. “You think I could pass a quiz on this stuff?”
“Sure, you just worked through the hardest problem in your homework. You needed a little guidance, but you got to the solution on your own.”
“I did, didn’t I?” Her eyes lit with pleasure and Macy smiled at her.
“You sure did. I think you’re probably as good in math as I am. Which makes sense.”
“Why?”
“Well, your father is an architect. He’s got to have math skills and from what I can gather, you inherited his brain. Being skilled at math seems a given for you.”
***
Nick paused in his journey across the k
itchen. He heard Macy ask Savannah if she needed help, but he’d failed to catch his daughter’s reply. A step brought him to within a few feet of the doorway where he stopped and cocked his ear toward the family room but it didn’t help. Instead he realized he’d have to move closer.
How to do so without giving himself away?
With a shrug, he figured it didn’t matter if they saw him. He stopped in the large archway that separated the kitchen from the family room. Savannah and Macy sat hunched over an open textbook at the small table in the corner.
Nick wasn’t exactly surprised at Macy’s expertise at math. He shouldn’t be startled by anything she did. In just over a month’s time, she’d managed to clean, organize, and run his house. The woman made the task look easy, but he shuddered as he remembered the laundry that piled up when one had four kids. The meals four growing kids required. Let alone keeping the place clean.
He didn’t think he’d succeeded very well in the last, but he had tried. On top of the new clients he’d taken on, he already had a busy work load before that. Now that he had nearly caught up on the previous work, he could better appreciate those problems around his house that had been left by the wayside.
Then there was the problem of Macy herself. The woman fired up his libido like no woman, except maybe his dead wife, had ever done. Even during his bout with severe sleep deprivation, he had noticed the way her neck curved so gracefully. He couldn’t take his eyes off her collarbones.
Collarbones.
Who ever heard of a man attracted to a woman’s collarbones? Not that he hadn’t noticed the woman also got around on a very fine set of legs. He was an architect, after all. Part of his training was to observe lines. And Macy possessed some exceptional ones.
Her profile with the delightful way she filled out her T-shirt and the curvature of her backside, which Philippe helped delineate hadn’t escaped his notice, either. Even her nose caused lustful thoughts. And all this was while he hadn’t slept through the night in so long he couldn’t have picked his bed out of a lineup.
Unfortunately, he was slightly turned on now, and all Macy was engaged in doing was helping his daughter with her math homework. But then there was something sexy about a woman who could rattle off Algebra problems. Smart women with curly blonde hair always made him forget his name.
And he happened to have employed one to live here in this very house with him. “Bad move, Morrison,” he berated himself, even as he stared at the picture of the two females, their heads bent over Savannah’s homework.
The lamplight reflected off their hair and arced gold across the room. He swallowed. This was a picture perfect moment, for sure. Except he had no idea where the camera was. Did they even own a camera?
Nick realized he’d been pretty out of touch with reality the last little while. He was pretty certain he hadn’t thought to take pictures in the last several years. Making certain no one went hungry or unbathed had seemed more important.
Savannah looked up and noticed him. “Hi, Dad.” She raised a brow at him.
“Hi, honey. Do we have a camera?” he said the first thing that came to mind. Stupid. Very stupid, Morrison.
Savannah frowned. “Yes.” She stared at him like she expected him to tug his skin off and reveal a Mars heritage.
“Do you know where it is?”
“In the drawer there,” she answered, one brow nearly in her hairline. “It’s at least five years old, but I think it still works.”
He made the mistake of glancing at Macy, and saw her lips twitch. He forgot what they’d been talking about.
She frowned at him and he realized he better get a grip or they’d commit him to an insane asylum. Which would be bad, because then he couldn’t see Macy every day. Or his kids. He was even fond of the animals that ran through the house and created lots of noise.
The camera, right.
To cover up his near blunder, Nick padded across the room to the side table his wife had insisted they buy. The drawer slid open and he groped inside until his hand encountered what felt like a camera. Sure enough, the little digital model did look familiar. Good, that probably meant he knew how to work it. Hopefully.
The girls both watched him before turning to stare at one another. He didn’t miss the shrug they shared before returning to Savannah’s homework. Ah, well, better to have them distracted while he figured out how to figure out his camera.
Why couldn’t he have hired an ugly nanny? Or at least one he wasn’t attracted to.
Why did life have to be so complicated?
Chapter 6
Macy watched as Savannah stumbled into the kitchen. Her forehead was pleated and her hand hovered in the vicinity of her abdomen. She looked like she hadn’t slept most of the night, and her face was pale, her eyes huge and pained.
“What time is it?” she asked. Her voice was husky with sleep deprivation.
“It’s seven thirty. I just finished putting the other kids on the bus.”
“I’m late. Why didn’t you wake me?” Savannah’s voice rose along with the panic Macy heard.
“I called the school and told them you wouldn’t be in today.”
“Why?” The panic fled to make room for confusion as Savannah stared at her with uncomprehending eyes.
“Isn’t it obvious? I heard you throwing up last night. You’ve got cramps bad enough to make you sick, so I know you didn’t sleep. That means you’re going to be useless at school today. Did you take some of those pills I got for you?”
Savannah nodded, and her cheeks flushed with telltale pink. Macy commiserated with her. “Being a female isn’t easy, but I can tell you that being a female of your age is probably the hardest time you’ll have.”
“What does that mean?”
“Your body knows what it’s supposed to do, but this is all new. It’ll take some time before things settle into a pattern and you won’t be quite so sick.”
Hope leapt into Savannah’s weary eyes. “You mean I won’t always throw up or have such bad cramps?”
“That’s right.”
“How do you know?”
“I asked your dad about your mom. He said your mom never got sick with her period that he knew. So, I called her mother. She said your mom never got sick, either. It doesn’t run on their side of the family.”
Savannah’s eyes darkened with an emotion Macy didn’t recognize. “Then why do I get so sick?”
“I don’t know, but I can tell you I used to get as sick as you do. I remember not sleeping some nights either.”
“But you don’t get sick anymore?”
“Not usually. Every once in a while I’m surprised, but for the most part, I just suffer through the first day with some cramps. Then it’s life as usual.” Macy made it sound like she still got her period, because she couldn’t handle the alternative. This had all been true before her accident.
Savannah smothered her yawn with a hasty hand and Macy smiled. “You need sleep, chickie.”
“Thanks, Macy.” Macy liked the sincerity she heard in the girl’s voice.
“You’re welcome. It helps that I understand.”
Macy looked around the kitchen as she planned out the day.
“I didn’t know how I’d get through school today,” Savannah admitted.
“You wouldn’t have. I’d have needed to halt rearranging the kitchen to come and get you and I saw no point in that.”
“You’re going to rearrange the kitchen?”
“Yeah. Is it just me or does this room not make any sense?” She fisted her hands on her hips and surveyed the large space.
Savannah beetled her eyebrows at Macy. “Why not?”
“How many nannies have you had? Fourteen or some such ridiculous number?”
The teenager nodded.
“Seems like each one moved things to suit her, right?”
This time Savannah shrugged. Her eyebrows practically touched.
“You and I are the ladies in charge of this kitchen now, right?�
�� Macy quirked a brow.
“Right,” Savannah said, with decisiveness in her voice.
“I’m thinking this area should be set up in a way that makes our time spent here easier.”
“How so?”
“We’re going to rearrange it so that we know where everything is.”
“Oh.” Savannah yawned again.
“You go back to bed. I’ll take everything out of the cupboards and drawers and clean. When you come back downstairs and eat, we’ll tackle this. Deal?”
“Deal.” Savannah covered yet another yawn.
***
Macy used the time Savannah slept exactly as she promised. She’d tackled the laundry room earlier in the week and now that room was organized in a way that made sense to her. She could put her hands on everything in the room, and wasn’t stumped when she needed supplies now.
A trip or two to a home improvement store had rendered several organizational items that enhanced the laundry/mud room usefulness. While there, Macy had trailed into the area sporting kitchen organizational items. And she experienced an epiphany.
Whatever she and Savannah didn’t end up using, she planned to return. But right there in the middle of the store, she realized this newest task was a must. The cupboards and drawers were in sore need of help. With the use of her purchases they could increase their productivity. Plus, it didn’t hurt to know what the house contained and which tools she’d need to purchase.
Several hours after she began removing items from the cupboards, Macy dusted off her hands and stood back to gaze at the heaps of things piling every available inch of the counters and island. They had a lot to do.
Savannah trailed into the room soon after and blinked when she reached the doorway. “Wow,” she said in a sleep roughened voice.
“Yeah, we’ve got a lot to do in here,” Macy said. “But let’s eat first.”
“Hopefully we can find some food in this mess.”
Macy didn’t miss that the girl didn’t sound hopeful at all. “Never fear, I thought of that halfway through,” and she tugged out a platter of sandwiches and fruit.
“Food.” Savannah sounded appeased and Macy directed her to the table. There was just enough room for the two of them to eat their lunch. Nick was lunching with a client, which was another reason why she decided to undertake this project today.