Confessions from a Naughty Nanny

by Rayne, Piper

  “And Tyler Vaughn wins for Bombshell.”

  Griffin inhales a deep breath and I laugh, grabbing the remote and turning off the television.

  “You didn’t win?” Maverick says, his frown growing deeper.

  I bend down and pick him up, falling down to Griffin’s lap where he tickles Maverick as he begs for mercy.

  “Oh Mav, I won. I won big.”

  Griffin looks down at me and his fingers stop tormenting his son.

  “We all did,” Griffin says.

  Maverick slides out from between us and runs out of the room. Griffin bends down and gives me a very PG kiss with the promise of an X-rated one later.

  Then the doorbell rings…

  “I’m going to disarm it.” Griffin nudges me up and stands before Maverick can answer the door.

  “Remember, we live in Lake Starlight.”

  He laughs and barely beats Maverick to the door where my entire family is waiting outside with balloons and cake.

  “You should have won.” Holly comes in with a huge bouquet of congratulations balloons.

  “Tyler Vaughn. Ugh.” Brooklyn sticks her finger in her mouth.

  “It was totally rigged.” Harley lets Dion down and he runs over to Maverick.

  “Watch out, he’s sick.”

  Harley waves me off. “Oh pity if Dion is too tired to run around non-stop.”

  Everyone laughs because the kid is kind of a terror. High energy as Rome says.

  “Next year it’s going to be yours.” Savannah comes over and kisses me on the cheek. “Your voice was amazing.”

  “And I say group vacay to LA next year,” Cleo says.

  “Hell ya.” Denver joins her with the cake in his hands.

  “Sorry girl.” Juno hugs me but there’s something majorly off with her.

  “Kingston sends his apology, he was sent to a fire this morning.” Just as Austin says that, my phone dings with a sad emoji from Kingston.

  Kingston: Should have been yours. Sorry sis.

  “I’m really okay, guys. I mean it’s been a whirlwind of six months.”

  Griffin comes over and puts his arm around me, kissing my temple. “There’s a lot of years to come, everyone.”

  Griffin’s words get them all to agree loudly and say of course, definitely, she’s a star.

  Sedona’s text comes a second later.

  Sedona: Love you. I’ll kick Tyler in the balls if I ever see him in NYC.

  I laugh and everyone stares at me.

  “Sedona?” Rome asks.

  I nod and catch him looking at Denver. Sometimes twins just get one another more. Sedona doesn’t have to apologize, I already know she’s sorry and wishes I’d won. She’d rather me laugh.

  The next text surprises me and it’s from a number not programmed into my phone.

  UNKNOWN: Who wants a video music award? Hold out for the Grammy - Jamison

  I smile down at it. Maybe I do like that guy now.

  “Let’s cut the cake and pop the champagne,” Grandma Dori says.

  Griffin digs out the knife and the plates. Maverick plays with Calista and Dion, Phoebe standing and falling but trying to keep up with them.

  Rome’s busy ensuring everything is child-friendly, shutting doors and telling Phoebe ‘no.’ The girl should be in one of those blow-up sumo wrestling outfits.

  Harley is telling Rome to relax and finally gives up, enjoying her own adult time.

  Austin can’t stop touching Holly and they’re sharing so many smiles and kisses, it’s obvious something is going on.

  Juno is busying herself with cutting the cake under Grandma Dori’s direction.

  Brooklyn and Wyatt are busy looking out Griffin’s window to the lake discussing if they should have bought property here. I love my sister, but I don’t really want her five chickens.

  Liam opens the box for the shelving that was just delivered. “You want me to put this together?”

  Griffin almost runs over there, and everyone screams. “NO! He’ll do it himself.”

  Liam holds up his hands and drops the box.

  Oh they already know my boyfriend so well.

  Savannah hands a champagne glass to Liam. Their wedding is set for next month in the gazebo, much like Austin and Holly’s.

  They share a weird smile too and then Harley hands a glass to Savannah. Savannah discreetly passes hers to Liam, and he quickly swallows it and returns the empty glass back to her.

  “UH!” I cover my mouth. The only person who saw me is Brooklyn. She turns beet red and a soft smile comes to her lips. I look down to find her glass is empty as well, and Wyatt is swallowing a mouth full although his glass is full.

  You’ve got to be kidding me.

  Grandma Dori takes a knife and stabs one of the congratulations balloons. Okay then, she’s letting her feelings be known.

  Austin stops her before she kills another one. “Hey, everyone.” He stands up. “We have some news.”

  I swear even Phoebe grows quiet as we all give them one hundred percent attention. I catch Harley’s fingers crossed under the breakfast bar. She might be the most hopeful of all of us.

  “Holly can’t have the champagne.”

  “Why?” Harley asks.

  “She’s three months pregnant!” Austin kisses his wife’s temple.

  We swarm them, hugs and kisses, suffocating them to the point Austin pushes people back. Oh this is going to be a long pregnancy for her.

  Holly beams. “Where’s Dori?”

  I catch her in the hallway, and she is wiping tears from her eyes.

  When Holly finds her, she pulls Dori into her arms, nodding her head that it really is true. As they move apart, I see how worried Grandma was. Austin seeks them out and the three of them hug in the hallway.

  “Um… Everyone.” Brooklyn looks to Wyatt, and he shakes his head. She looks harder and he shrugs. “Wyatt drank my champagne.”

  “What?” Juno says. “Both of you!”

  Brooklyn nods and we all swarm her. Grandma Dori, Austin, and Holly coming out from the hallway.

  “We’re going to be pregnant together?” Holly asks and Brooklyn nods, tears falling down her cheek.

  “You’re not the only two,” Savannah says and all of our heads whip in her direction.

  “NO,” I say.

  “All three of you?” Grandma Dori looks pale.

  “Someone watch her, she might pass out.” I point to Grandma.

  Austin takes responsibility for her and we all wish our congratulations to them all.

  “I can’t believe this. The one time I’m not pregnant and you three are all pregnant. ROME!”

  “No. Absolutely not,” he says.

  Denver looks to Cleo. “No jealousy here.”

  Griffin approaches me, putting his arms around my stomach and resting his chin on my shoulder.

  “What about you? Jealous?”

  Maverick definitely makes me want a child, but I’m far from ready, so I answer honestly.

  “Not yet.”

  He squeezes me. “Good, because I want just us for a little bit longer. Only a little longer though.”

  I laugh, understanding what he’s really saying.

  “Well, aren’t I just the loser sister.” Juno shocks us all out of the cake and champagne.

  “You’re not a loser, Juno.” Harley puts her arm around her.

  “I don’t have anyone.”

  We all stare at her. “Maybe it’s time to start matchmaking yourself.” Brooklyn pats her hand across the island.

  “I think I know the perfect guy,” Grandma Dori says.

  “We all know who the perfect guy is.” Rome sighs.

  “The question is, does Juno?” Denver adds in his two cents.

  Juno breaks down into tears and we all swarm her now.

  “What’s wrong?” I ask.

  “I’m the world’s worst matchmaker.” Her head falls into her hands.

  “No, you’re not. Why would you say that?” Sa
vannah comes up on the other side of her.

  “I matched Colton up.”

  “Uh…” everyone groans in unison.

  She lifts her head. “And now he’s engaged.”

  Another round of tears and sobs escape and she disappears into her hands again.

  We all look around but most of us look to Grandma Dori. Even she can’t fix this one.

  * * *

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  Blanca

  You know the saying… when one door closes another door opens?

  I’m assuming that applies even if you choose to close the door yourself, right? Don’t answer that. I’m gonna go with it because I prefer to live in fantasy land. Especially lately.

  After quitting my finance job—the one I spent four years in college earning a degree to get—I kyboshed my future in banking.

  I wasn’t all that stellar at it anyway. I wasn’t horrible, but I wasn’t the shiny new graduate who followed my boss’s loafers like he was my master either. News flash. Numbers are boring. Sure my brother Dom gets a hard on for them and so did most of my co-workers which should’ve been my first clue that I was the round peg forcing myself into a square hole.

  That’s why I thought that the day I reconnected with Sierra was a sign even though I don’t usually believe in them.

  I hadn’t seen Sierra Sanders for years. Sure we were friends on Instagram and Snapchat. A heart here and a comment there. ‘You haven’t changed at all!’ Promises of future get-togethers that never happened.

  But after my two weeks’ notice was up, I headed out the doors of the building into the financial district of Manhattan carrying my big box of personal items. I’m Italian and I like to be homey at the office, don’t judge. And BAM. There was Sierra Sanders, my childhood best friend from the neighborhood just sitting there under a tree with the sun shining down on her like she was waiting for me.

  Okay, disclaimer. She wasn’t waiting for me. She was actually talking with someone and she wasn’t exactly sitting under the tree, she was standing by it with a camera aimed at her. I should mention, she’s a reporter for a small station outside the city.

  I hovered and waited for her to finish talking to the arborist about the trees while the same picketers from last month corralled behind him, fighting to fit their faces within the small camera frame to show their opposition to removing the original trees that had succumbed to some beetle invasion or another.

  I thought maybe we could catch up over a cup of coffee or dinner. Or if she was heading to her dad’s house, I could tag along with her on the train. Ma’s never upset over a surprise visit.

  “Sierra!” I waved from the top of the stairs once she finished.

  She looked around, finding me standing there and squinted. Yeah, that’s how long it’d been for us. We were the usual story of separate colleges that tore us apart after we swore they never would.

  “Blanca?” She handed the mic to the camera guy and headed in my direction.

  We met at the bottom of the concrete steps and she went in for a hug, but my box made it awkward, so she stopped trying after five attempts at different angles. Her eyes dipped to the contents of my box and her shoulders slumped.

  “I’m sorry.” She ran a hand down my arm.

  “Don’t be. I quit.”

  Her eyes lit up and her back straightened. “Where are you off to next?”

  I waved her off. “I don’t know yet, but that place was sucking the life out of me.”

  “Then we need to celebrate. Come on.”

  Before I could process what was happening, she told the camera guy to hop on the next train, and they’d go over the tape tomorrow. We walked over to a corner restaurant that was preparing for their dinner rush of traders and wannabe high rollers on Wall Street.

  By the end of the conversation that was mostly about me, Sierra had opened the proverbial door for me.

  “Move to Clifton Heights. It’s so beautiful and you’d only be an hour and a half train ride out of the city. You’d be close to your heartthrob brothers and parents. It’s perfect really because we just had a roommate leave.” The more she talked the more excited we both became about the idea of us rekindling our friendship. “Oh my God, it’d be just like we always planned before you decided on switching colleges at the last minute.”

  Oh shit, that’s why we had kind of fell out of touch. I had forgotten. We had been all set to room together right before we graduated, and then I had switched course. That pissed her off because she had to room with a stranger. Can’t say I blamed her, but that decision was out of my hands at the time.

  “My other roommate, Rian is awesome. Bakes all the time. She writes math textbooks for a living so it’s not like we party all the time. But we have fun too, and oh, come on! I’ve missed you so much.”

  She’d begged and pleaded. I’d always considered myself a New York City girl. But at that point in my life, watching my brothers’ fairy tales grow sweeter while I had no one and nothing, a fresh start sounded perfect. A change of scenery. A place to reinvent myself. And I missed her too.

  “I’d love to,” I had said without even having a job to pay the rent. I knew some people commuted to the city, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to ride the train for three hours a day. But that was a problem for another day. The first of many.

  Let me tell you, hindsight really is twenty-twenty and it comes back to bite you in the ass, because now, months later, I wish I would’ve pried her for more information. I should’ve asked more questions because it wasn’t just Sierra and a new beginning on the other side of that proverbial door—he was standing there too. And he was already a part of Sierra’s life. Sure, her past life, but hers all the same.

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  Cockamamie Unicorn Ramblings

  The obstacle of plotting nine books out at one time means that you might think something sounds good initially and then when it comes time to write the book you realize your initial idea won’t work. Especially when you title the stories more than a year before you’re going to write them. LOL Back when we first came up with Phoenix’s book her hero wasn’t going to be Griffin Thorne. At one point it was just some construction company owner who had a kid and she was going to be his nanny because her singing career wasn’t panning out.

  Funny thing is when Griffin Thorne emerged on the page in Advice of a Jilted Bride we still didn’t have him in mind for Phoenix. Denver’s plane going down with Griffin was strictly for Rome and Harley’s (Birth of a Baby Daddy) storyline. We weren’t even thinking of how it might fit in with Phoenix’s book at that point.

  In the end, the decision that Griffin was made for Phoenix was final when we were plotting Falling for my Brother’s Best Friend. Phoenix returned back to town and had to make some tough decisions about pursuing her dreams. We love when it all comes together in the end! Who would have thought that the seventeen-year-old girl who gave Austin so much trouble in his book would be a natural step-mother to Maverick? Now we look back at our original storyline and think how boring anyone other than an older, hot music producer who’s at his own career crossroads would’ve been.

  We hope you’re enjoying watching the Bailey clan grow like we are. Ther
e are so many more fun surprises in store!

  SUPER HUGE THANKS to our team who if not for them, we’d never be able to finish these books!

  Danielle Sanchez and the entire Wildfire Marketing Solutions!

  Cassie from Joy Editing for line edits.

  Ellie from My Brother’s Editor for line edits.

  Shawna from Behind the Writer for proofreading.

  Sarah from Okay Creations for the cover and branding for the entire series.

  Sara from Sara Eirew Photography for the super sexy picture of Griffin and Phoenix.

  Bloggers who consistently carve out time to read, review and/or promote us.

  Piper Rayne Unicorns who shout from the rooftops about our new releases and love our characters like we do.

  Readers who took a chance on our book with so many choices out there.

  And for what’s next… we know, we know. And we wish we could apologize for leaving you with that massive cliffhanger with Juno and Colton. At least you’ll get a little more information in the novella, Operation Babies (releasing on April 21, 2020). It’s going to be raining Bailey babies!!

  XO,

  Piper & Rayne

  About Piper & Rayne

  Piper Rayne, or Piper and Rayne, whichever you prefer because we’re not one author, we’re two. Yep, you get two USA Today Bestselling authors for the price of one. Our goal is to bring you romance stories that have "Heartwarming Humor With a Side of Sizzle" (okay...you caught us, that's our tagline). A little about us... We both have kindle’s full of one-clickable books. We're both married to husbands who drive us to drink. We're both chauffeurs to our kids. Most of all, we love hot heroes and quirky heroines that make us laugh, and we hope you do, too.