by Sam Crescent
Within the space of a few hours, she’d turned Timothy’s room into his own personal space.
“It’s amazing,” he said. He glanced toward the bed, and saw the young boy sleeping soundly. His thumb was in his mouth, and there wasn’t a single care in the world.
Temperance closed the door, and as she did, Wayne did an internal shake to get the wonder out of his eyes. He’d never seen or had anything like it in his life.
His parents had always been cold, and didn’t give a shit about him.
Pushing the thoughts of his parents aside, he focused on the woman before him.
“We had a really good day. I’ve also bought him some clothes as well.” She was whispering as she walked down the corridor toward the kitchen.
He didn’t say a word, instead watching her as she worked. She was such a beautiful woman.
Wayne had gotten all the details of Temperance before he left work. He’d been reading through the small file. She was an only child. Her parents were both deceased, and from the time she was eighteen, she’d been working as a nanny.
Nothing stood out, or said anything of the woman that stood before him today.
She was the first woman who hadn’t tried to impress him. Her voice was always calm, even as her hair seemed wild no matter how much she tried to contain it in a ponytail. Within a matter of hours of knowing this woman, she’d already gotten under his skin, and he didn’t like that.
“I made some baked spaghetti. It’s a little cold now. I don’t know if you’ve eaten or not.” She took a plate out of the fridge.
The food looked enjoyable.
It was nothing like the restaurant quality he was used to.
“Timothy helped to make it. Spaghetti is his favorite, so expect more concoctions.”
He took the fork she offered, and tasted a bite of the food. The flavor was there even if it was cold.
“I’ll grab you those files.”
She left the kitchen, and he watched her go, feeling somewhat dumbfounded by the woman.
Seconds later she returned with the documents that Frances had prepared for her.
“The contract and the non-disclosure agreement. Both of them signed.”
Seeing the two files reminded him of another element about her life he didn’t like. “There’s something I want to talk to you about.”
“Okay.” She filled the kettle, and he watched as she made herself at home inside his apartment. He felt no panic or rage.
Wayne enjoyed watching her, especially as she got two cups and began to make them both coffee.
“Your roommate,” he said, and he watched her tense. “She’s in adult films. Porn. How does she fit into your life? I don’t want her around Timothy, and I certainly don’t want to see lies she makes up to have some money.”
Temperance didn’t say anything for a long time. She walked toward him and placed the coffee cup in front of him. “Lilah is not a concern of yours. I don’t go back to my apartment when I’m working. I talk to her on the phone, and I never divulge the people I’m working for. She’s got her own life. I’ve got mine. We’re friends that happen to share an apartment.”
“You pay half the rent on a place you don’t even sleep in.”
“You’ve paid for houses that you’ve never slept in. I don’t judge.”
“Touché.”
“Lilah has fallen on hard times. I don’t like that fact that she’s doing what she does, but I’m not going to cut her out of my life. I’m not that kind of person. I’m a nanny. She’s a porn star hoping to one day be an actress. Her life doesn’t interfere with mine.”
“You’re aware that it will put scrutiny on you?”
She shrugged. “I’m good at what I do. I don’t judge anyone else by others’ actions. I don’t see why others would do the same to me. Lilah’s a good person. Like I’ve just said, she’s fallen on hard times and found a way to stay above water. Her life doesn’t affect my own.”
All he wanted to do was kiss her, to slam his lips against hers, and to know how good it would feel having her pressed against his body.
She was beautiful. He couldn’t deny that. Her beauty took his breath away. “You’re a good person, Temperance.” He glanced at the two documents and saw there weren’t any amendments. “You don’t have any questions?”
“It’s pretty straightforward what you want. I’m here to take care of Timothy. While I’m here I cannot put his life in any danger, nor can I talk about you to anyone else. Simple.”
Wayne wanted to keep up the conversation.
Instead, he nodded and watched as she yawned.
“I’m going to head to bed. Goodnight, Wayne.”
He watched her walk away from him, his gaze going straight to her ass.
His cock thickened as he wondered what it would be like to watch her walk away without a stitch of clothing on and he got a glimpse of those delicious curves.
The things he could do to her body would drive her insane with pleasure.
Wayne didn’t call her back. He waited until she was out of sight and finished off his meal.
For the first time in his apartment he felt real loneliness. Timothy was settled and asleep. The nanny wasn’t trying to impress him or get him into bed.
In fact, he wanted to get Temperance into bed.
He wanted to drive his cock so deep inside her, hold onto those luscious hips and fuck her hard.
No woman had ever made him feel like this, especially a woman who didn’t even show the barest hint of any kind of reaction to him.
She always looked so calm, so collected.
His wealth didn’t impress her, nor did his status of being the owner of multiple companies. She’d even defended her damn friend.
Finishing his food, he cleaned the dishes and grabbed the contract on the way down to his room.
Temperance’s room was closed, and out of the corner of his eye he saw Timothy’s room.
He wasn’t as cold and unfeeling as everyone seemed to want to paint him. He didn’t want Timothy in his life because he wasn’t the boy’s father. Not only that, but he didn’t have the first clue how to take care of a child. Look at what he’d done to him so far. Dumped him in a room that had absolutely no character, and he couldn’t even get the boy to talk to him. Temperance knew kids. She understood them, and already this little boy thrived in her care.
Wayne stared at the sleeping boy, and something twisted in his gut. To be a good businessman he’d learned the art of being cold, of being a beast so no one could get beneath the ice inside him.
Women had tried to trade secrets between the sheets, and he wouldn’t do it.
It was why he kept them blocked firmly in the pleasure zone, and business and pleasure never mixed in his world.
Closing Timothy’s door slowly, he made his way to his room.
The boy had complicated his life in more ways than he liked to think about.
****
For five nights in a row the same routine happened. Wayne came home late, they’d talk a little, she’d hand him his meal, and when the silence became a little too uncomfortable for her, or his stare began to heat her up, Temperance would go to bed. Attraction wasn’t something she’d ever experienced in her working environment, and she didn’t want Wayne.
He was a cold man, and a harder businessman from what all the news reports said.
The tale of his child had magically disappeared from the internet, but it still lingered. She found herself careful whenever she took Timothy out just in case someone watched them.
She wasn’t used to the media following her or the children out. Whenever their parents went, she was used to that, but the media always left her alone.
Timothy was a dream to take care of. Such a beautiful, trusting kid, and he really made her laugh at times. Their days were spent making breakfast, cleaning his room, then trashing his room as they played. She’d also implemented some pre-school work for him to do. When his work was finished, she took him out to t
he local park for him to have a run around. She never spoke to anyone unless she knew it was a parent.
Rules were made for a reason, and even though Wayne came across as a completely cold person, she had no intention of breaking any of his rules.
As she lay in bed, her thoughts drifted to Wayne.
She hadn’t liked the man to begin with.
His coldness she’d hated more than anything. Still, she didn’t like how he seemed to be gone before Timothy woke up, and always home after he was asleep.
She wondered if he didn’t want to get too close to him because they weren’t related. She believed him when he said there was no way Timothy belonged to him, or that he was Timothy’s father.
Something had gotten seriously messed up. At least Wayne had cared enough to find a nanny for him. Timothy had told her what some of the nannies had said to him, and been mean because he couldn’t do everything.
It broke her heart to see children think they were failures just because an adult hadn’t thought about what they were saying.
She was supposed to be looking for a new job, yet all she was doing was getting closer to little Timothy. It didn’t take much to win her over, and with his drawings and his kind heart, he’d done it.
Catherine Thompson had sent her a text that day, asking if she would consider returning to work.
All it had taken was a week with Robert’s kids, and their stepmom wanted to admit defeat.
Temperance hadn’t responded to the message.
Rolling over, she tucked her hands beneath her head, and for the first time she did feel lost.
The feeling wasn’t something she’d ever recalled experiencing, even when her parents passed away when she was younger. They’d guided her and told her to follow her heart.
Her mother and father had both been amazing people. They’d helped her to flourish in ways she didn’t think possible.
They’d not been wealthy people. Growing up, she had been spoiled as she’d been their only child, but still. They had taught her that people mattered, not material or status. People and what they thought of you.
A loud scream filled the air.
Timothy was having his first nightmare since she’d been there. She didn’t take time to glance at the clock. Leaving her bed, she left her room and went to his room. Timothy sat up in the bed and she spoke his name, calmly, gently.
She went to his side, and as she began talking to him, he calmed down.
Suddenly, he flung himself into her arms, crying. “She’s gone. She’s not coming back.”
Wrapping her arms around Timothy, she closed her eyes and felt so much emotion welling up inside her. He didn’t have his mother anymore, and he didn’t have a father. He’d never know what it felt like to grow up in a family filled with love, like she had.
He had a nanny who would leave the moment the proof came that Timothy wasn’t Wayne’s son.
She held him as he cried. A creaking noise alerted her, and she glanced toward the doorway. Wayne stood there. He didn’t wear a shirt, and only a pair of boxer briefs.
“Is he okay?”
She stared at him and realized it was the first real emotion she’d ever seen on him.
Temperance nodded. “Yes. He’s fine.” She kissed the top of his head, rocking him in her arms.
She expected him to leave. Wayne didn’t. He moved closer and sat down on the edge of the bed.
“I thought the nightmares had finally gone. He had them with the other nannies every night, and none of them came to comfort him.”
“You did?”
“Yes. Shocking, I know.” He reached out, stroking back his hair. “Are you okay?”
She smiled and lowered Timothy back to the bed. The little boy nodded his head and rolled a little closer to Wayne. “Just a bad dream.”
“The same one?” Wayne asked.
“Yes.”
Wayne looked at her. “He’s left alone out in the cold, and no one comes and gets him.”
“Oh.” She felt tears well up but forced them down. Together they stayed with Timothy as he fell back to sleep. She was sure to place the bunny that he’d gotten attached to. They left his room, and she partially closed the door. “I’m sorry he woke you.”
“I’m not. I was already awake.” Wayne ran a hand down his face, and she was aware of how close to being naked he was.
She was his nanny, but that didn’t mean she was dead. Her traitorous body decided to wake up, and she didn’t want it to. Wayne was her boss, and that line would never be crossed.
“I’m going to bed.”
Turning her back on him, she went toward her door when his voice stopped him.
“I’m not that completely cold and unfeeling, you know.”
She looked over her shoulder. His hands were clenched into tight fists.
“I care,” he said, when she’d not spoken up.
“You’re never home to at least know him.”
“He’s not mine to get to know. I shouldn’t be taking another father’s rights away.”
“What if he has no father? What if there’s no one there and they take him anyway?”
Wayne shook his head. “There has to be someone.”
“There’s not always someone, Wayne. There’s sometimes no one. Believe me.” She tucked some hair behind her ear, aware that she wasn’t even dressed right for this conversation.
Within seconds he was standing before her. His finger was beneath her chin, tilting her head back. She didn’t like how her body reacted to his closeness. She shouldn’t be reacting to him at all, and yet she was. Her nipples hardened, and her pussy went slick.
Why couldn’t she remember her place right now?
No man had ever made her react like this. She didn’t need it, nor did she welcome it. Wayne was a cold man. He was also a player.
She’d heard of his long list of conquests.
Not that she’d ever join it.
Still, his touch awakened a need inside her so great it startled her with the intensity of it.
As she bit her lips, his gaze dropped to them, and she saw the hunger in his eyes.
No, it’s not hunger. It will never be that.
She had to remind herself that she wasn’t the kind of woman men like Wayne went for. He didn’t want homey, or loving, or curvy. He liked them supermodel size, and with a big name.
“What do you want from me?” he asked.
Think of Timothy.
You’re not talking about sex.
“Give him a chance. See him in the morning. Get to know him. You may find that he brings something to you that you didn’t know you’d been missing out on.”
He smiled. “You really think I’d make a good parent?”
“Tonight, you cared enough to get out of bed, and to stay. You didn’t have to do that. The moment you saw me, you could have left.”
Wayne leaned in close, and she held her breath. “Maybe I didn’t stay because of him.” His lips brushed against her cheek.
As fast as they were there, he pulled away, making her wonder if she’d imagined that close contact.
Chapter Five
Wayne scrolled through the internet as he looked through toys to buy for young boys. There was so much that he didn’t have the first clue what to pick. Action figures, stuff from recently released movies, cards, games, guns, little bricks, all kinds of stuff.
Timothy played with cars and trucks. He’d watched him doing it.
Tapping his pen on the desk, he began to put several items into the online shopping basket. The contract on his desk needed his undivided attention, but right now he couldn’t seem to stop. In fact, over the past couple of days since watching Temperance with the little boy, he’d found it harder and harder to pretend to forget about him.
He hadn’t.
There had been so many times where he’d been sitting in a meeting and he’d wondered if the boy was all right. If he’d cried that day, or if he was afraid.
I want to get hom
e earlier.
Now that thought scared him more than anything else. He’d never gone home early on the job. He’d always worked eighteen-hour days, survived on little sleep, and rarely had time for a social life.
Within the past week and a half, he’d enjoyed more home-cooked food and looked forward to his few minutes with Temperance. In fact, during the day he’d even began to make a list of possible topics he could begin where she’d stick around longer for them to talk.
Pitiful.
Most women were happy for him to smile in their direction.
Temperance didn’t give anything away other than to smile his way. No flirtatious looks, nothing.
Frances stood at the doorway. “Have you signed the contract? I’ve got everything ready to get it sent off today.”
Wayne shook his head.
“Is there something wrong with it? You’ve had it on your desk for three hours.” She entered his office, notepad and pen already poised to make notes on revisions.
“I’ve not even taken a look at the contract.” He pointed at his screen and groaned, leaning back.
Frances frowned and moved closer. “Kids’ toys.”
“He’s not even mine, and already I can’t think straight.” For the first time in years, he began to chew on his thumbnail. He’d not done it since he’d sat for his exams when he was a boy and all he wanted to do was get the best grades, back when no one gave a fuck about him.
Timothy had no one right now.
No parents.
No uncle.
No aunt.
Just him and Temperance.
“Is Miss Michaels not doing her job properly?” Frances asked.
He shook his head. “She’s doing an amazing job. Honestly, anyone who got rid of her was a fucking idiot. She knows how to communicate with kids, and Timothy’s thriving with her. You know the first day she was hired, she took him out shopping. Made his entire room this adventure land. Got him new clothes and stuff. I never felt more like a monster in my life.”
“Like you said, he’s not yours.”
“But that wasn’t right for me to react the way I did, was it? Let’s face it, I was a complete and total asshole. He’s just a boy.”