by Toni Aleo
I run my hand through my hair and inhale and exhale deeply before my next sip of wine. I haven’t left the island since my fight with Charlie. Looking at the computer screen, I search through each of the nannies on the site. None of them are qualified enough for my kids. They’re either too young and not able to drive or too old and would probably die of a heart attack when my kids do whatever they are gonna do to them. I need someone strong, someone able to handle three rough, tough, hurting boys.
God, I hate that they are hurting.
Leaning back in my chair, I shut my computer and shake my head. I’m going to have to take the day off tomorrow. My boss, Richard, will not appreciate that, but what else can I do?
Damn it.
Just before I dial his number, I hear my name.
“Vera.”
It’s Riana.
I almost cry out in joy. I didn’t want to ask her to come; she’s done enough. But being the great sister she is, she is here. I stand up, throw back the rest of my wine, and put my glass in the sink. “I’m in the kitchen.”
I hear the sounds of the boys running down the stairs and then their chatter as Riana scolds them. “Really? Duct tape?”
“She was awful,” Charlie says simply.
“She didn’t like loud noises,” Elliot adds.
“And we’re loud,” Louis says.
The trill of her laughter mixed with Phillip’s runs down my spine as I head toward the living room. I don’t want them to feed into the boys’ madness, but that’s their right as their aunt and uncle, I guess. Turning the corner, I try to smile, but I’m caught off guard when a pair of light-gray eyes meet mine.
And they do not belong to my sister or brother-in-law.
Holy. Shit. Who the hell is this?
I’m stunned and blinking as I take in the man. I always thought Phillip was tall, but this guy towers over him. His shoulders are broad but not too broad—the perfect size. His waist is trim and his legs so darn long. His dark hair is a mess at the top but nicely shaved up the sides. He wears a simple pair of jeans with a button-down flannel that looks tight at his shoulders. I have never been attracted to someone who wears flannel. Simon normally wore suits, or dress shirts with pressed jeans, yet I am drooling over this guy in flannel.
But that isn’t what has my gut in knots. No. It’s his eyes—such a light gray, they remind me of beautiful storm clouds. I feel lost in them as we look at each other. Blinking, I take in the sweet freckles on his face, which remind me of Elliot’s. Those freckles are the only thing that help me tell the boys apart, but on this man, they aren’t adorable; they are sexy. And holy shit, he has a beard. It’s nicely trimmed, giving him a distinguished look.
A fucking sexy look.
Jesus.
It’s hard to tear my gaze from his. He’s drinking me in. I feel his stare burn all over my skin. As he turns his gaze down my face to my neck, he stops. What the hell? Following where his eyes are aimed, I realize I have a few too many buttons undone. Heat explodes along my chest as I hurriedly fasten up my blouse so there is a lot less of me exposed. Looking up to see if anyone notices, I see him watching me, those light eyes wanting more.
Who the hell is this guy?
And why am I hot?
I look to my sister, my eyes wide. She looks back at me, and I don’t miss the little grin that pulls at her lips.
“I am here to rescue all of you.” The man smiles.
“Hey! Linc! What’s up?” says Charlie.
He holds out his hand to shake Charlie’s.
“Been on the field?” Charlie asks.
Linc—and what kind of name is “Linc”?—laughs. “No, man. I’ve been so busy.”
“That sucks!”
“It’s the life of an adult.” Linc laughs again, and I find myself smiling. His laugh is deep and throaty.
Jesus, he’s pretty. I want to rub myself on him. Ack. What the hell is wrong with me?
Clearing my throat, I ask, “I take it you two know each other?”
Everyone looks at me, but Phillip’s smile grabs my attention. “This is my buddy, Lincoln Scott. We went to school together. The boys have met him a few times.”
“Oh,” I say simply. I don’t miss the way that Lincoln is looking at me. I may have been out of the game for a very long time, but I know when a man likes what he sees. Unfortunately, I know that because I watched my husband look at other women.
He steps toward me, and I find I’m holding my breath. He holds out his hand, his eyes dancing with mine. “Hi. I’m Lincoln.”
“Oh.” I take his hand with every intention to shake it quickly and be done with it, but apparently he has a different plan. Within seconds, his hand swallows mine and holds it tightly as his eyes burn into mine. Heat runs up my arms, my breath catches, and I swear I feel like I am the one who ran into duct tape and fell to my death.
I blink. He grins.
Riana claps her hands together. “So, I found your replacement for a nanny.”
The spell broken, I pull my hand from his quickly, begging my body to behave. I try to ignore Hotty McHot and pull my brows up. “What? How?”
She just grins, and even with the shit day I’ve had, I can’t help but smile. She is glowing and beautiful with her dark-blond bob and thick yellow glasses. I’ve always admired her style. I’m just plain, but she’s always been intriguing. When I was pregnant, I looked like a cow, but she is stunning. I can’t wait to meet my little niece. I envy Riana, and while I know it’s wrong, I hope I always envy her. Because that would mean she’d always be happy. I want that for her. Always.
“The family this person was with just moved three months ago,” she says. “He comes with great credentials, and we know him really well.”
My brows come together in confusion. “Excuse me. Him?”
“Yeah. Lincoln,” she says, hooking her thumb to him. “The manny.”
My furrow digs deeper into my forehead, but I don’t miss the pure excitement on my children’s faces.
“No way!” Charlie exclaims.
I point to the guy I was just ogling ten seconds ago and almost had a coronary touching. “Him?”
Lincoln’s grin pulls at his lips. “Me.”
I fumble on my words. “But, but…you’re a man.”
Everyone laughs except me.
“Good observation. I am.”
Oh, a smartass. Wonderful.
Elliot is hopping on his heels. “Mom, this would be so cool. Lincoln is so much fun.”
I don’t want fun. I want someone who can throw the hammer down! Someone to keep them alive and get them from point A to point B. Fun is the last thing I need. And a man to take care of my children? That just isn’t what I want. I want someone nurturing—nice but hard—and someone who doesn’t awaken my wild loins.
My wild loins! Wow.
Leaning toward me, Phillip whispers, “Change your face before Riana starts yelling.”
I didn’t even realize I was making a face until I glance back at Riana. She is, of course, glaring and very annoyed. I clear my throat and ask, “Can I talk to you in the kitchen?”
She squints before leaning down to kiss Louis’s head. “Yeah, come on.”
I turn and notice Lincoln watching me. His eyes are intent on mine, his gray gaze so deep I swear it’s as if he is challenging me. As if he is daring me not to hire him! I don’t know this man from Adam, so why the hell would I hire him? He doesn’t know what I want to talk to my sister about. Why do I care about what he thinks of me? Why do I like the way his lips quirk?
Oh, yeah, he’s trouble.
My annoyance runs deep as we reach the kitchen. I shake my head as I move around the island, and I look up to see Riana crossing her arms across her chest, gently resting them on her growing stomach.
“Riana—”
“What? He’s great,” she says, cutting me off. “Honestly, Vera, he is amazing. He was with his last family for six years, and they love him. I had him forward all his credent
ials and letters of recommendation to you. You won’t find anyone else like him.”
“Well, no, ’cause he’s a man!”
“Just open your computer and read through his stuff. I don’t know why the fact that he has a cock swinging between his legs matters, but for real, drop it.”
It matters because I wouldn’t mind seeing said cock.
Unable to say that to my baby sister, I open my computer. Like she said, there are emails from Lincoln. I open each one as she comes around, reading them along with me.
Riana leans in. “He was a pillar in the Ellentons’ lives. He homeschooled them, he drove them all over the place, and he was basically family. The family before that he didn’t homeschool, but he did ten-hour days with them, and again, they adored him. He is a hard worker, he loves kids, and he is amazing. I mean, he’s been best friends with Phillip for years.”
Every file I open reveals the love and admiration the families had for Lincoln. Even some of the kids wrote letters. It is a lot to take in, but still, I am hung up on the fact that he is a man. “Riana, I don’t know how I feel about a man caring for my children.”
“Simon cared for them.”
“He’s their father.”
“Phillip cares for them.”
“Family,” I say simply. “I don’t know. It doesn’t feel right.”
“Well, it’s gonna have to feel right. You’re out of options. No one else wants to come here, and I can’t do it, Vera.”
I look away, biting the inside of my cheek. I know she can’t, despite the fact that I would rather that happen than anything. “I am aware of that—”
“He would honestly be the best thing for them. Someone they can look up to when Simon isn’t with them. They can talk to him. He’d be a buddy who doesn’t take shit from them. They know him already. They get along great. Really, you need him.”
“I don’t need anyone but my children.”
She glares. “You know what I mean. You need someone good. He is great, honestly.” I look away once more, shaking my head as she goes on. “He was about to get a teaching job, but he wants to help us out.”
My pride comes rearing its ugly head. “Oh, so we’re a charity case?”
“No, dumbass. You’re gonna pay him, and he costs more than the regular nannies you’ve had.”
“Riana, I can’t afford more.”
“Which is why Phillip and I will pay the difference.”
I hold her gaze. “Jesus, are we that bad you don’t want to be here?”
She shakes her head. “No, not at all. But I want to be with my husband and our child when she comes. I can’t raise your kids and mine.”
“I wouldn’t expect you to,” I say softly.
“I know, but I would want to, and then I’d have to take care of you.”
I scoff at that. “I don’t need caring for.”
She holds my gaze. “You do, but you’d never admit it.” Silence falls over us, and I take her hand in mine, swallowing hard.
“Charlie said I never loved Simon,” I whisper before meeting her gaze. “We got into a huge fight, and he said that I was just going through the motions, basically.”
“You were,” she says simply. “But if my husband cheated on me as much as yours cheated on you, I would do the same.”
I scoff. “You’d have left him.”
“I would have, but I don’t know what it’s like to have three kids with someone while just getting my feet wet at a new job. He’s gone now, though.”
I nod. “And this is my fresh start.”
“It is,” she says, squeezing my hand before our fingers lock together. “And seriously, Lincoln would be a great fit here. I wouldn’t say that unless I believed it.”
I swallow hard. I trust my sister with my life and my children’s lives. She is all I have. All I need. But still I’m hesitant. Leaning toward her, I drop my voice to a whisper. “Does he have to look like that hot firefighter on Chicago Fire?”
Her face breaks into a wide smile. “You think he’s hot?” she gushes, and I smack her.
“Shut it!”
She giggles before leaning back a bit to look into the living room. With a shrug, she says, “I guess I never noticed. He’s always been Phillip’s bestie, not the dude I wanted to do.”
How the hell she hasn’t noticed he is beyond hot is beyond me. I inhale hard as she giggles.
“He does have a nice ass.”
“Riana!”
She laughs. “When was the last time you got laid?”
“Riana, enough!”
“He’s my age, so that’s not robbing the cradle. You could totally do him.”
“Oh, my God, kill me now.”
“Hmmm, I love this.”
“You’re a bitch.”
“Love you too.” She giggles and kisses my cheek.
I want to smack her, but I won’t.
Shaking my head, I let it drop as I close my eyes. “I need help, and you’re right, I can’t get anyone in here by tomorrow.”
“No, and he’s ready to start now.”
It is almost too easy, but then…is it?
“I’m pretty sure I can ask him to be ugly. He’d do it for me.”
I squeeze my eyes shut. “Riana.”
“Or you can just jump his bones and bang it out. He wouldn’t turn you down. You’re way too hot.”
“For the love of God,” I mutter, covering my face. “Why in the hell did I say anything?”
“Because at this point, that is the only reason you wouldn’t hire him,” she says, smacking my butt playfully. “Too bad that excuse won’t work for me, because he’s hired.”
“You can’t hire him. This is my home.”
“I don’t care! You need him, so get on board! And if you find yourself naked with him, don’t ruin it.” She wiggles her brows at me before she yells, “Hey, Linc! Come in here, please.”
“As if, Riana.”
She snorts. “Hey, like I said, you need someone to care for the boys, and if he can care for you, he’s worth every penny in my book. I’ll even send him a bigger fruit basket than I already send for Christmas.”
“You’re impossible!”
Her laughter continues as Lincoln enters the room, and I swear the air rushes out of me. He’s so damn big, so thick, and Jesus, he’s my new nanny.
Oh, wait, I’m sorry…my new manny.
Chapter Three
Lincoln
“How old is she?”
Phillip looks over at me as he jerks to the left with a controller in his hand. He has always been awful at video games, but I don’t think the boys mind. “Who?”
“Riana’s sister.”
“Vera? Oh, she’s three years older than us.”
That would only make her thirty-one.
I lean back on the couch, trying to catch a glance of her. She doesn’t look like a mom that should have a kid Charlie’s age. I probably shouldn’t say this about my new boss, but fuck, she’s hot. I mean, not kind of hot either. Full-blown naughty-kitten sexy. I don’t know many moms who wear slacks and a nice blouse at six o’clock in the evening and look that damn good. Her long dark hair hangs to her breasts…which I might add are mouthwatering. Heavy and round on her curvy body. She isn’t fat by far, but she isn’t skinny either. Her hips are wide, and that ass is of another world. She is rocking that hourglass frame like a pro, and I want nothing more than to run my hands up and over those curves. How in the hell am I supposed to work for her?
“But Charlie is like—”
“Fourteen, almost fifteen,” he says, leaning the other way. “She had him when she was sixteen.”
That is surprising to me for some reason, but I don’t know why. Sage, my oldest sister, had her first kid when she was sixteen, so it isn’t as though I’ve never met a young mom. I’m intrigued. I want to know more.
“So what happened to the husband?” I ask in a low voice since the boys are sitting with us.
“Left her for the n
anny,” Phillip whispers back, shaking his head.
“Yeah, I guessed that,” I say with a nod.
“Yup, he is a douche. Vera deserves better.”
“Yeah.”
“But the boys are great, when they aren’t pranking nannies.”
Elliot heard that and grins back at us. “They were awful.”
“Really, they were,” Louis says then.
Charlie sits up straighter and shrugs. “We don’t need anyone to care for us. We have a mom and a dad.”
“Well, buddy, I don’t know if you forgot, but you’ve also always had a nanny,” Phillip reminds him.
Charlie shrugs. “To help. Mom wants to replace Dad.”
“That’s not true,” Phillip says, letting his controller fall after he pauses the game.
Charlie looks back at him, his brows pulled together.
“Your mom needs help, just like the nannies helped before,” says Phillip. “Don’t put that blame on your mom. She has too much going on as it is.”
“I’m not.”
“With what you just said, it sounds like you are.”
He shrugs. “I just want my dad back.”
“Yeah, I wanted mine, buddy, but it doesn’t matter what we want. That’s the hand we’re dealt. Be thankful you have a mom who loves you and actually cares. Plus one super-cool uncle and an all-right aunt,” Phillip says, squeezing Charlie’s shoulder.
I didn’t think the boys knew Phillip’s upbringing, but by the dark looks on their faces, I guess I am wrong. Phillip didn’t have it easy growing up. When his dad left, his mom couldn’t get her shit together, and it was three months before his dad found out Phillip was going without food—so he filed for custody.
Charlie sends him a strained smile. “You’re right, I’m sorry.”
“Don’t apologize to me. Be easy on your mom.”
Charlie turns to leave, and Phillip looks to me, shaking his head. “He’s a good kid, but this divorce has fucked him up,” he whispers.
I nod. “Understandable.”
“I hate that dude,” he mutters as he leans back. “I just want Vera to be happy.”
“Is she not?”
Phillip scoffs. “No. She’s going through the motions, but then she’s always been like that. I don’t think that girl has ever lived.”