Dark brown mahogany paint covered the walls which almost matched the sofa, desk and chair in the room. She had opened up the space by adding cream colored curtains to the only window in the room. Even the hardwood floors had been covered with a thick, plush carpet that felt wonderful in the winter when he was sitting in front of the fireplace having a drink after putting Samantha to bed.
After Donna had died he didn’t come in here for almost two months, but he got himself together and finally reopened the doors. He had been using the study ever since and it gave him a sense of closeness to his beloved wife.
A knock on the door drew his attention away from his memories. Clayton sat up straighter behind his desk and prepared himself for his second meeting with Leila. He hoped that it went better than the first.
“Come in,” he called.
The door opened and Leila walked in with a determined look on her pretty young face. As much as he didn’t want to, Clayton liked how she looked ready for battle with him. At least he knew he was dealing with a woman with a backbone.
“Ms. Hilson, will you please have a seat?” Clayton waved towards an empty chair in front of him and waited while Leila took a seat. “The first thing I want to do is apologize for the way I acted earlier when you introduced yourself outside.”
A look of surprise passed over Leila’s face before she could stop it. “You’re sorry?”
He could hear the question in her voice and it made him feel even worse. He shouldn’t have jumped down her throat so fast especially since he knew Tony wouldn’t give him a reference for someone who couldn’t do a wonderful job with his daughter.
“Yes. I hope you accept my apology and give Blue Horn ranch a chance. My daughter already likes you; that has to count for something since most of your time will be spent with her.”
“I guess it should,” Leila said nodding her head. “I’m surprised you want me to stay because I thought I was on my way in here to get fired. I even told Tony I would be leaving in the morning.”
Clayton felt more like an asshole now than he had a few minutes ago. “No, you aren’t fired. How about I go over a few rules with you about Sam and then you can ask me any questions you might have afterwards? How does that sound?”
Leila still studied him like she wasn’t quite sure if she wanted to accept the job. It was hard for him to take a backseat while he waited for her answer. He was used to doing things his way and today wasn’t one of those days in his opinion.
“Sounds okay to me,” she answered rubbing her hand down her arm.
“You will get paid five hundred dollars every week because your job here doesn’t get paid hourly. I noticed that you have your own car, but the nanny position does come with its own car which is in the garage. I’ll show it to you later. I would like a daily report on how my daughter is doing.
“Sometimes, I have to attend meetings out of town, so I’ll call you and inquire about Samantha. I want you to understand that my daughter is everything to me. So, you’re responsible for her behavior, safety and well-being when she’s in your company.
“I don’t know if you noticed, but there’s a phone in your room that you can use to make personal calls, but only when you aren’t caring for Sam. In addition, I’ll pay for the long distance calls, but if they get out of hand I’ll start taking it out of your pay.”
“I’ll only be calling Ms. Thurston,” Leila cut in.
“That’s fine. Tony calls his mother all the time and I don’t have a problem with that. You don’t have a boyfriend or any close friends you might want to call?”
“No sir.”
Clayton had a hard time believing that a woman as attractive as Leila was single, but it wasn’t really his concern anyway, because the less distractions that his new nanny had the better when it came to caring for his daughter.
“Do you think you want to eat with us or enjoy an evening meal on your own? I know it has been done different ways with my previous nannies.” He thought Sam liked it better when the nanny ate with them, but he wasn’t going to push the subject.
“I can eat with you and Sam. I like the idea of eating with the family,” Leila said giving him a small smile which caused his heart to skip a beat.
Whoa! What in the hell was going on with him?
He was acting like a woman never smiled at him before. He had to be careful around her. She was making a part of his body work that had been dead for a very long time.
“Now, Sam is home schooled so she does have a teacher that comes every day, but I still expect you to do things with her. My daughter is very active and she loves riding horses. Do you know how to ride?”
“Yes, it was one of the first things Tony taught me how to do when I went to live with him and his mother. I love to ride. I haven’t done it in a while, but I love it.” Leila grinned making her dark brown eyes shine.
“Good. I also want to make sure that you don’t smoke, drink regularly or do drugs. I won’t stand for any of those things around my daughter at anytime.”
Leila shook her head. “No, Mr. Moore. I’ve never been interested in any of those activities. I’d rather spend my free time reading or doing something else.”
So far...so good, he thought. It seemed like Leila might turn out to be the perfect nanny he was looking for, but only time would tell about her.
Reaching into his desk, Clayton pulled out a stapled document and slid it across the table to Leila. “This is the job contract. It’s a written summary of the terms of employment for me. I guess you could call it a work agreement. When you read it you will notice it outlines your terms of employment at Blue Horn ranch. It will address your work days and hours, compensation and overtime if any comes up, plus holiday and vacation schedule.”
“Furthermore, you don’t have to worry about housekeeping duties because I’ve a cleaning lady that comes twice a week. I believe I’ve covered everything on my part. Do you have any questions for me?”
****
Leila went over in her head everything that Mr. Moore had just told her and he had already hit a lot of her questions already but she did have a few more to ask him, but she couldn’t get over the change in him since meeting him outside earlier. He wasn’t acting like the sight of her was such a shock to him anymore and she was a little taken back by it.
She was ready to deal with the arrogant man she had disliked on sight, but the calmer man sitting in front of her was throwing her off. So she was going to try being somewhat nicer and seeing how things turned out.
“Yes, I do have some questions for you,” she answered. Moving back in her seat, she crossed her legs and then folded her hands in her lap wondering which question she should ask first.
“Is Samantha the only child that you have?”
“Yes, she is,” Clayton answered.
Good, she was glad to hear that. Leila didn’t know she was ready to handle more than one kid on her first nanny position.
“Do you work from home or out of the home more?”
“I work from home mostly, but sometimes I do have to travel for my job. I seldom go into the office and if I do it’s only for a couple of hours.”
“Does Samantha have a typical daily and weekly schedule that I need to know about?”
“Samantha’s teacher is here from eight o’clock until two o’clock. After that Sam’s day is usually pretty free to do what she wants to do. Sometimes she goes riding or stays in her room and plays. I spend as much time with her as I can but sometimes I get busy with work and can’t talk to her until dinner time.”
What a sad way to live, Leila thought after hearing about how much time Samantha spent alone without her father’s attention. Well, she was going to make sure that Samantha had more things to do with her time while she was here.
“Do you care if I do extra things with Samantha like taking her out on walks or into town? I don’t want to do something you aren’t fond of with your daughter.” They had already started off on the wrong foot and Leila was trying
her best to make sure it didn’t happen again with Mr. Moore.
“No, Sam loves to go into town and visit some of the museums and parks. I just stay so busy with work here that I don’t have time to take my daughter. Are you really interested in doing those things with her? None of the other nannies I hired wanted to leave the ranch and drive into town because the ride was so long.”
“Yes, I am. I love getting out and doing things anytime I can. I think children need to get out and explore new ideas and places as much as they can. My parents taught me the love of expanding my brain at a very young age.”
“If you’re up to doing it then it’s fine with me. Just make sure you tell me ahead of time where the two of you are going so I won’t be worried.”
Leila could see how much Mr. Moore loved his daughter, but she did wonder where his wife was. She had forgotten to ask Tony and Ms. Thurston about Samantha’s mother. His daughter already told her that he had a girlfriend, so she needed to know about this woman.
“Does Samantha’s mother ever come to take her?”
The instant the words left Leila’s mouth she knew that she had said the wrong thing because the look on Mr. Moore’s face changed from almost pleasant to anguish mixed with a little anger in seconds.
“Sam’s mother died years ago,” he replied. “The only other family that comes to see Sam are her grandparents, but they have gone on a cruise so they won’t be around for a while. “ Clayton ran his hands down his face and sighed like her questions were beginning to get on his nerves. “Do you have anything else to ask me, Ms. Hilson?”
“Yes, I do. Samantha mentioned you’ve a girlfriend. Does Annie ever come and take Samantha out?”
“HELL NO!” Clayton shouted and then lowered his voice when she jumped in her seat. “Annie is no longer in my life and if she shows up here I want you to come and get me. Do you understand?”
Leila nodded and then quickly answered. “Yes, sir, I understand.”
Pushing his chair away from the desk, Clayton stood up and extended his hand. “Welcome to Blue Horn ranch, Ms. Hilson.”
Leila grabbed the paper off of the desk then got up and shook Clayton’s hand. An electric shot raced through her body at the first touch of her skin against her new boss’s. She looked at Mr. Moore to see if he felt it too, but the expression on his handsome face hadn’t changed, so she guessed she was the only one. “Thank you so much. I’ll read over this contract and get it back to you later on today.”
“Good,” he answered and the let go of her hand. “I’m headed into town to check on some supplies I ordered. After you’ve freshened up from your trip why don’t you find Sam and let her show you around the ranch. She’s very proud of it so be prepared to hear a lot of bragging.” Picking up his hat off the desk, Clayton walked away from her and out the door without another word.
Chapter Twelve
“Man, I’m hungry. We need to stop and find a place to eat or something. I’m not driving all the way to that dumb ass ranch without any food in my stomach.” Jeff glanced over at his brother who was counting the money they had stolen out of that couples’ room.
“Stop your damn complaining.” Matt shoved the five hundred dollars back into the pocket of his jeans. “We’re going to get something as soon as we find a restaurant. You’re acting like we haven’t gone without food before. Don’t you remember the times we didn’t see mother for days because she was out getting high? Didn’t I take care of you then?”
“Yeah, but I liked my valet job and now I don’t have it anymore. I told you we shouldn’t have gone into that room. They didn’t have a lot of money in there like you thought. We both could still have our jobs.” Jeff made a left turn and continued driving down the long highway .
“I thought we would have more time to sneak into other rooms and take money. You should’ve seen how much money those rich people tossed around. How do they expect someone not to want to take it? It’s like tempting a kid with a piece of candy and you know how much of a sweet tooth I have.” Matt grinned.
“Money isn’t the only thing that you’ve a sweet tooth for,” Jeff snickered.
“Are you talking about the sexy woman I’m going to see? Yeah, Leila was a hot piece of ass. I can’t wait until the two of us meet again and I’ll make sure she doesn’t forget me this time. I wish she’d opened her door that night we knocked on it. I was positive that she would, but she didn’t.”
“I’m glad you’re into her, so you won’t get in my way while I’m dealing with that smug bastard Clayton Moore. I despise assholes like him. After I get to Blue Horn ranch, I’m going to show him how to treat a person.”
“Jeff, you don’t want to go back to jail,” Matt warned.
“Me? What about you and your plan to be with the woman of your dreams?” Jeff looked at his younger brother from the corner of his eye. “Do you think that Leila chick is just going to jump into your arms? You don’t want another stint in jail either, so don’t give me any advice you should be taking yourself.”
Matt glared at him and then turned away. “How about we just wait until we get there and then we’ll worry about the consequences, but I know that I’m not going to give up on Leila. I want her and I will have her.”
****
Exiting the hotel on the outskirts of town, Annie brushed her hair out of her eyes and fixed her clothing. She’d made sure to bring the sexy hitchhiker she’d picked up way out here, so nobody would recognize her. She couldn’t make the mistake of Clayton finding out that she was sleeping around on him.
She hated to do it, but a woman had needs and right at the moment Clayton wasn’t interested in fulfilling hers. However, she was patient and could wait until he got over his anger at her and then the two of them could get back together.
Heading for her car parked at the side of the building, Annie stopped in her tracks as she noticed two hot young men getting out of an old blue pickup truck. Both of them had to be at least ten to fifteen years younger than her and that fired up her libido. She loved younger men. Moving to the side, she watched them as they stood by the end of the truck and had a heated argument with each other.
The tallest one was the better looking of the two with his long, sandy brown hair pulled back into a ponytail that stopped between his shoulder blades. She bet he would be the better lover of the two because he looked like he knew how to work that body.
After getting her fill of him, Annie gave her attention to the shorter male and smiled. He might not have the height, but she bet his cock was thicker and bigger than his sidekick’s. He looked like once he got a woman into bed he wouldn’t let her leave until he was good and ready.
God, if she still wasn’t sore, worn out and high from the joint she shared with her hitchhiker friend, Scotty, she’d go over there and see if those two handsome young men wanted to spend time with an experienced older woman, but she had to get home. She’d been gone way too long and someone was probably looking for her at it was.
Annie took one last hungry look at the two guys then walked over to her car, got in and drove off, secretly hoping that she might get to see them again.
Chapter Thirteen
The next morning Leila stood outside the closed study door with the signed nanny contract in her hand. She had just checked on Samantha and she was getting ready for the tutor to come for her daily school work. So she decided this would be as good a time as any to get this over with. She knew from yesterday’s experience that Clayton Moore wasn’t that fond of her but she was going to make the best of the situation.
It wasn’t like she hadn’t been around people before who she hadn’t been the best of friends with, but she worked with them all the same. She was going to prove to Mr. Moore that she was the best person for the job. She was already beginning to like his little girl despite the hint of sadness that she saw in her young eyes.
Didn’t Mr. Moore notice that his little girl wasn’t as happy as she pretended to be? It would be such a shame if he hadn’t. Well
, she was going to try her best to put a genuine smile on Samantha’s face. That was another thing she wasn’t too fond of either. She’d rather call Sam by her full name instead of the nickname. She wondered what would happen if she did it. Well, she would never know unless she tried.
Raising her hand, she knocked on the door and waited for an answer. A few minutes passed before she heard a masculine voice holler, “Come in.”
Leila opened the door and walked in closing it behind her. She had expected to find Mr. Moore sitting behind his desk like yesterday. However, when she looked around the room she spotted him standing over a table near a window with several sheets of paper spread out in front of him. When she walked closer to him, she saw that they were similar to blue prints an architect would do for a house.
“Mr. Moore, I’ve the contract you wanted me to sign and bring back to you,” Leila said standing a few feet away from him.
She couldn’t help but notice how the checkered shirt stretched across the bulging muscles in his arms as he wrote something down on a piece of paper to his left. For some reason, ever since she could remember, she had always found left-handed men extremely sexy.
Wait a second!
She wasn’t going to think of her boss that way. Okay, she needed to stop this train before it even left the station.
Clayton tossed the pen down on the table and then gave her his full attention. “Thank you for being so prompt and bringing this back to me so soon.” He held out his hand.
As Leila handed Clayton the sheet of paper her fingers accidentally brushed against his. She felt a quick shock of current again, but her new boss acted like nothing had occurred so she left it alone.
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