by Tia Siren
“Hi. I'm home,” Aaron shouted. He put down his briefcase and loosened his tie. He'd just returned from London, and he was anxious to see Matthew. He walked through the hallway and into Matthew's playroom. He wasn't there. He looked in the sitting room and then wandered to the kitchen.
“Have you seen Matthew and Jodie?” he asked Mrs. Robertson, the cook.
“In the backyard, I think,” she answered.
Aaron went through the conservatory at the back of the house and into the yard. They were in the pool together. Matthew was splashing away to his heart’s content, and Jodie was applauding everything he did.
“Welcome home,” she said when she noticed him watching them.
“How on earth have you managed to do that?” he asked.
“What?”
“Get him into the pool. He hates the pool.”
“Not anymore. Look. He's having a great time.”
Aaron tried not to look, but he couldn't help but notice her body. He loved the shape of her legs and the way her breasts rose above her flat stomach.
“Well, how?”
“Slowly. That's the key. I put no pressure on him at all. I let him watch when I went swimming, and he soon saw that it was fun and wanted to join in.”
“Can he swim?” Aaron asked.
“Not yet, but we're working on it.”
“Jeez, that's amazing. Thank you. I would never have thought.”
Jodie watched Aaron return to the house and smiled when she saw him shake his head in disbelief.
That evening after Matthew had gone to bed, Aaron was sitting on the terrace, looking through some documents. Jodie came out in a robe and dived into the pool. She swam seriously for half an hour and then got out.
“That's your workout, is it?” Aaron asked as she walked past him.
“Yes. I try to do some exercise every day.”
“Sit down. I've finished working,” he said.
“Okay.”
“Do you want a glass of wine? I usually have one around now.”
“No. I don't much care for alcohol. Have you got orange juice?”
“Sure.” Aaron returned with the drinks and sat down. “It's been a long day. It's funny to think I was in London this morning,” he said.
“You live in a high-pressure world. I admire you for the business you have built.”
“Thanks. It's a good company, and I'm proud of it.”
“I asked around about you in Brownsville, and did you know people back there are proud of you? Everyone cites you as an example of someone who got out of there and was successful. You're an inspiration to a lot of people.”
Aaron looked at her. It was the first time he'd noticed the color of her eyes. “Have you got colored contacts in your eyes?” he asked.
She laughed. “Everyone asks me that. No. That's their natural color.”
“Amazing. They're turquoise. I've never seen that before.”
“How are you feeling?” she asked.
“You mean after Lindsey?” Jodie nodded. “I'm devastated, and I miss her all the time. Apart from that I'm okay.”
“Where did you meet her?”
“At a dancing class.”
“Really. I wouldn't have thought you were the type to go to dancing classes.”
Aaron laughed. “I'm not, but my mom forced me. I was only sixteen. I can still remember what she said to me. She told me that it was the best place to meet girls, because every girl liked to dance. So I went, reluctantly. Lindsey was there. I asked her out at the end of the first evening.”
“So fast?”
“Yes, but she told me to sod off. It took me five attempts to get her to go out with me, and even then I had to threaten her.”
Jodie sipped her orange juice and imagined Aaron as a spotty sixteen-year-old chasing a girl who didn't want to be chased. “You threatened her?”
“Yes. I told her if she didn't go out with me, I'd put a frog down her panties.”
“Jesus. Did it work?”
“Sure. Threats often do work. I use them all the time to get what I want.”
Jodie flicked her blond hair back over her shoulder and looked at him. She could imagine him threatening people. He was handsome, tall, and well-built and she sensed a slight air of danger about him.
“What about you, Jodie? Have you got anyone special?”
“No. I'm only twenty-three, and I keep telling myself I've got time. I'm too busy anyway.”
“You're very good at what you do. I'm pleased we found you. I love Matthew, and I want the best for him. In you, I think we've found it.”
*****
Six months passed and Aaron began to find it easier to think of Lindsey without getting too emotional. He'd put her things in boxes and sent them to a charitable institution, but he kept one article that was dear to him: a pink shawl he'd bought Lindsey the day they got engaged.
“I need a vacation,” he said to Jodie one evening. “Do you think it will harm Matthew to go away?”
“I don't think so. Not if we make a tight schedule and stick to it. If we tell him well in advance and do what we say, he'll be fine.”
“Okay. Then I'll book something. I'll have to work on vacation as well, but I'll try to keep it to the mornings and save time for Matthew in the afternoons.”
“Great. Where do you propose to go?”
“I've thought about Grand Cayman. I've been there before, and it's safe for kids. The beach is great, and now that he likes swimming, he can go in the sea. That's safe too.”
“The Caribbean. It sounds great.”
“Yes, it is.”
Three weeks later they landed on the small Caribbean island and were driven to their hotel. The Caribbean Club Hotel was located on the beach along a strip called Seven-Mile Beach.
“Pure luxury,” Jodie exclaimed when they arrived. She took Matthew and carried him to the foyer while Aaron paid the taxi driver and got a concierge to take their bags.
Aaron had arranged for a family suite that was large enough to house them all. Jodie got a separate room. When she went into her room, she gasped when she saw the view. Her balcony looked out over the sea. The sea looked clear and was almost the same color as her eyes. She'd heard of Grand Cayman as some kind of tax haven. She’d had no idea it was such a beautiful place for tourists.
Jodie ate a meal with Matthew at 5 p.m. and put him to bed at seven. Then she went to her room and plugged in the intercom system. She sat on the balcony and watched the people walking along the beach and the boats full of divers coming and going.
Aaron had gone for a walk along the beach and was enjoying the feel of the sand on his bare feet. It was a popular time for joggers, and a few of them nodded at him as they passed. When he'd walked a kilometer, he stopped at a beach bar and ordered a beer. He sat down at a table and looked out over the bay. The sun was getting lower in the sky, and there was a soft feeling to the evening. He watched as couples walked past hand in hand on their way back to their hotels or to a restaurant. His thoughts drifted to Lindsey and how she would have loved it there. He'd had a busy few months, and his company was thriving like never before. The only thing he didn't have was someone to share his success with. He wondered what Lindsey would considered a reasonable amount of time to wait before he dipped his toe into the world of dating again. Until now he hadn't felt like it, but sitting in the evening sun and watching beautiful women walk by, he couldn't help but think about the future.
*****
“Wow, look at that one,” Jodie exclaimed as she held Matthew up so that he could see over the wall and watch the turtles. They'd arrived at Turtle Farm, a conservation facility for turtles. While Aaron was busy making phone calls about some deal in Los Angeles, Jodie was showing Matthew the pools where the turtles were kept. There was one small pool where children could paddle among the turtles and pick them up while under adult supervision. Jodie put Matthew next to the pool and watched what he did. His eyes expanded, and she noticed him connect with
something for the first time. His eyes followed the turtles, and he seemed fascinated by them. As they were walking past one of the enclosures that housed some of the large adult turtles, one of them jumped from a wall into the water, sending a torrent of water over them.
Matthew screamed and Jodie gasped. Jodie was wet through, Matthew less so because he'd been protected by Jodie.
Aaron was waiting for them outside on the sidewalk, and when they arrived, he laughed. “What happened to you two? You're soaked.”
“A turtle decided to do some diving and splashed us. Apparently there's a warning that they do that sometimes.”
Aaron looked at her. She noticed his eyes fix on her chest, and when she looked down to see what he was looking at, she froze. Her nipples were sticking out like bullets and pointing right at him.
“Oops,” she said. She smiled at him and, despite her embarrassment, remained calm. “Maybe we out to go and sit in the sun of a bit so I can dry out. I can't go back to town like this,” she said.
“Well, you can, but you'd have to put up with men gawping at you.”
“Like you were, you mean?” she said. “Sorry. That was rude of me.”
“I couldn't really help it. Anyhow, you look very beautiful like that. There isn't a single person who would object.”
“Men,” she said. “All the same.”
That evening Aaron sat at the same bar he'd gone to the previous evening, and he was surprised to find himself thinking about Jodie and the incident that afternoon. She was a hell of a beautiful woman, he thought. Just the sight of her legs gave him ideas he probably shouldn't be having. The sight of her breasts highlighted so beautifully by the water the kind turtle had splashed over them that afternoon took his lurid thought process to another level altogether.
“Jesus, no,” he muttered under his breath. “Not Matthew's nanny for Christ’s sake. What kind of perv are you?”
The following day Jodie took Matthew into the kids’ pool and splashed around with him. Aaron pretended to be looking at his laptop, but his eyes weren't on the screen most of the time. Try as he may, he was unable to take his eyes from her long, sensual body. When he imagined her shapely legs wrapped around his back as he made love to her, he took off his T-shirt and jumped into the cold pool. It helped, but only for a while.
As the vacation passed, Aaron found that his feelings toward Jodie were developing in a way he had neither expected nor wanted. But he was powerless to stop them. She was beautiful, and kind, and he wanted her. He'd seen countless beautiful women on the island, but none had come up to her standard.
*****
More weeks went by, and Aaron began to hate himself. He hated himself for being totally and utterly in love with Jodie. He couldn't think about anything or anybody else. When he was at home in the evening, he always hoped she would come and sit with him, and when she didn't he sulked. He likened himself to a teenager. In fact, he felt just like he had when he'd met Lindsey as a sixteen-year-old.
“You've got to do something,” he said to himself. “You can't go on like this.”
The next evening he had too much to drink in a vain attempt to summon up the courage to speak to her about his feelings. He was the owner of a multimillion-dollar enterprise, but he was scared to death of talking to a young woman he liked.
“Are you okay? You look a little tipsy,” Jodie said when she appeared to go swimming.
“Sit down. I want to talk to you,” he said. The way he said it, she thought she was in trouble.
“Sorry, have I done something wrong?”
“No. Sit down. I want to talk to you.” She sat down and waited for him to speak. “I'm in love with you,” he said directly, “totally and utterly in love with you.” He would never have dared say it if he'd been sober. He was able to say it in an inebriated state, but he sounded like some sleazy guy chatting up a young girl at the end of a drunken night in a disco.
“I can't, Aaron, not with you. You're Matthew's dad. I like you, but I can't.”
“Why not? You would never have to worry about money ever again. You could have anything you wanted.”
“That's not the point. You are talking about material things. What's important is Matthew's welfare.”
“What would it matter? You would still be here for him. You just wouldn't be his nanny; you'd be his stepmom.”
“Jesus, you're drunk. Stop talking to me like that. I don't want it.”
“But I can't help the way I feel. I want you, Jodie.”
“No,” she said as she stood up and walked to the pool.
“I could make you.”
“What? What do you mean make me? Do you mean threaten me? Put a frog in my panties?” Her tone was taking on an angry slant.
“I always get what I want in the end.”
“I tell you what, I quit. You can find another nanny to molest. I'm sorry for Matthew, but he's your responsibility. You're a predator.”
The next morning Aaron woke with a thumping head and Matthew jumping up and down on his bed.
“Jodie,” he said. “Where Jodie?”
“Jodie's gone away for a while,” Aaron said. Matthew began to squeal as loudly as he could.
Aaron took Matthew to Kayla's and went to the office. When Megan saw him, she made him coffee and gave him two aspirin. After taking them, he picked up the phone.
“Jodie, it's me.”
“Yes,” she said harshly.
“I'm sorry. I was really out of order. It wasn't right of me.”
“No, it wasn't. You were drunk and saying things you didn't mean.”
“I was drunk. You are right. But what I said, I meant.”
When the line went dead, he looked at his phone and tried to call again. This time, she didn't answer.
He sent her a text: Please come back. I'll double your wages.
He got a reply: No way.
So, that was it. He'd blown it, and not only for himself but for Matthew, and he felt guilty about that. He could see that Matthew adored her. Jodie had put so much effort into him, and he'd made real progress. Aaron doubted whether he would have made as much progress with anybody else.
“What's the matter?” Megan asked.
“I've made a fool of myself with the nanny,” he said.
“You didn't...you know...”
“No. Not that. I've fallen for her, and I told her. Only I needed some Dutch courage first, and it all came out a bit wrong.”
“What did you say?”
“I told her I was in love with her.”
Megan scowled and sat down. “You are my boss, but I'm going to call you a fool.”
“Why?” he asked, a hurt look on his face.
“Because you are a billionaire. You're thirty-two, and you've got everything. What is she, twenty-two? And she's a nanny. She was probably intimidated by you. You should have done it gradually, played her like a fish and reeled her in.”
“Shit.”
“What do you feel for her?”
“I can't stop thinking about her. I love her, and don't tell me I have no idea what love is, because I do.”
“Then leave her alone. Either she'll think about what you said and come around, or she'll hate you and stay away from you.”
Aaron picked up a letter opener from his desk and pressed the pointed end into his palm. “I want her. That's all there is to it.”
“But she's not one of your business deals. She’s a person with feelings.”
“All right. I'll do as you say. Matthew is going bonkers without her, though.”
“Then get another nanny.”
“There isn't anyone as good as she is.” It was a sweeping statement, but for him and Matthew, it was true. There was no way Matthew would ever bond that way with someone else. As for his own feelings, he would try and do what Megan had suggested, although it wouldn't be easy. He knew how he felt, and that someone else could snap Jodie up was a thought he didn't want to entertain.
*****
“If
you hear this message, Jodie, please call me. You may think I'm trying it on again. I'm not. Matthew is in the hospital, and we really need you.”
Aaron looked at his son in bed with some wire trailing from his brain to a machine he didn't understand. It had been weeks since he'd spoken to Jodie. She hadn't ever bothered to call and ask how Matthew was, but now Aaron had nobody with her experience to turn to. The doctor had mentioned something about seizures, but he hadn't taken it all in. He needed Jodie to explain it to him.
Nurses came and went, and a doctor checked Matthew. After a while, Matthew woke up and stared at the ceiling.
“Hello,” Aaron said.
“Jodie,” Matthew said.
“I know. I called her. I hope she will call me back.” Matthew had driven Aaron wild with his constant nagging about Jodie. Every waking hour he repeated her name over and over until Aaron could hardly stand it anymore. When Aaron had asked a new nanny to come and look after Matthew, Matthew had gone mad and the woman had left. Now Aaron had to manage with a schedule, which meant Matthew spent some days with Kayla and some days with Jean. But it wasn't good for Matthew. Aaron had no idea how he was ever going to get Matthew to accept another nanny. Aaron hadn't been able to go to any of the important meetings he needed to go to. Instead, he had to rely on his number two, something he didn't like doing. If only he'd either kept his big mouth shut or been much more gentle with Jodie and done as Megan had suggested, played her slowly.
When his cell rang, Aaron woke up. He'd been asleep in a chair next to Matthew's bed.
“Where is he?” she asked.
“St. Edward's.”
“And what happened?”
“He just went mad, rolling around on the floor, totally out of control. The doctor said something about seizures.”
“Okay. Just wait. I'll be there as soon as I can.”
When Jodie walked into the room, Aaron's heart lifted. “Hi. Thanks for coming,” he said.
“Poor little thing,” she said. She put her hand on Matthew's forehead and stroked his hair. Matthew opened his eyes and sat up.
“Whoa, steady tiger,” Aaron said. He tried to push him back down, but he sprang up again.
“Jodie, Jodie,” Matthew shouted. He was smiling and appeared to be his old self.