Drive Me Wilde

by Shani Greene-Dowdell

  “I’ve got you, Dana,” I said and gulped down the last of my drink.

  Hopefully, I was right. I wanted nothing more than to live up to my word and not make a mess of working for Matthew Wilde. Plus, I needed desperately to make enough money to cover my monthly bills. Sitting with one of Dana’s client’s snotty nose nephews couldn’t be that bad.

  Chapter Two

  Matt

  Boys Night Out

  The noisy diner echoed the sounds of the customers as I glanced at my nephew, Cody, and watched him take a bite of his French fry. I was reminded every time I looked at him of how much he looked like my sister, Marisa. Sure, he had some features of his father, Tony, but mostly it was Marisa I noticed when I stared at him. I remembered the day I got the call that his mother, my sister, had been killed in a car accident. When I arrived at the hospital, the devastation continued. His father also didn’t survive the wreckage. Along with the heart-wringing hurt of losing my only sibling, the huge responsibility of raising her son landed in my lap like a huge boulder, one that I’d never shirked and took on with love and compassion from that day on.

  He looked up at me and his face held a smirk. “What Uncle Matt?” he asked, casting a shady grin that I’d come to recognize.

  I shrugged. “Can’t an uncle look at his favorite nephew?” I asked, grabbing a fry from Cody’s basket and popping it into my mouth.

  Cody rolled his eyes. “Of course, since I’m your only nephew,” Cody sarcastically stated. “Just looked like you had a faraway look in your eyes. That’s all.” Cody nonchalantly took a bite of his sandwich and glanced in my direction.

  At ten years old, he was way too smart for his own good. Of course, it helped that he had to grow up awfully fast…too fast, for my liking. I didn’t want to tell him that I was thinking of his mom. It’d been two years since their car accident and not a day went by where I didn’t think of her. Cody seemed to be the stronger of the two of us, and I hated having that pressure on him.

  “Eat up, so we don’t miss kickoff,” I said, laughing as I politely changed the subject. He didn’t seem to notice it, so we finished our meal at the diner and then I threw some money down on the table and we got up.

  As the sole guardian to Cody, I tried to get times together where we could just hang out and bond. Unfortunately, those times were few and far between. As a celebrity lawyer, I was forced to go where I was needed and that left me with very little time for ball games and fun trips. Business tended to take the forefront of my life and personal obligations seemed to fall by the wayside. I was in dire need to feed my social life, so I looked forward to the times that I could just get away from the daily grind. One day soon, I planned to take Cody to Colorado to ski, like I promised him we’d do this holiday season. With his good grades and even better behavior at school, the little man deserved some time on the slopes and lots of time playing in the snow. If I were being truthful with myself, I’d admit to myself that I needed a real vacation that wasn’t work related, as well.

  We made our way to the door and I opened the door for us. Cody went out, but I spotted a woman heading in. She looked at me, smiled, and I nodded my head in greeting. Her eyes glazed over me and I noticed her face warm up to an even brighter smile. She moved past me and I casually glanced towards her, mentally making note of her ass as it swayed towards the counter.

  I chuckled and shook my head, then left the diner. Cody’s eyes were on me and he, again, held that smirk. “What?” I asked him.

  “She’s mighty fine, don’t you think?” He winked at me and my jaw dropped.

  “Mighty fine? Boy, where do you pick up on these things.” I wrapped my arms around him and he laughed as we went off to my car.

  “I’m not a kid, Uncle Matt and believe me…I know all about women being fine. You need a woman like that in your life,” he said, nodding meaningfully.

  I rolled my eyes and laughed as I got into the driver’s side of the car and Cody slid into his side. “First of all, my man,” I started. “I need no such thing.” I glanced at him before starting the car. “Something you’ll learn soon enough is that women are only trouble,” I said.

  Cody raised an eyebrow. “Well, that’s not what all the older guys at school say. They say that a man and woman need to get together, so they can have babies.”

  I chuckled, and looked at my impressionable nephew. The last thing I wanted was for him to be carrying the weight of needing to procreate on his tiny shoulders. “First off…men and women don’t need to get together to have babies, until they’re at least forty or fifty, so you have plenty time to think about that, buddy,” I said, and Cody leaned back in his seat and shook his head.

  “Whatever you say, Uncle Matt.” The sly smirk on his face read that he was way beyond his years. It was only a matter of time that I’d have to have that talk with him, if not sooner than I thought. I turned around and started the car, thinking about what Cody said.

  I wanted to believe that ever since Cody started living with me full-time, I’d been a role model that Marisa and Tony hoped I’d be. I was always one that was careful to bring any woman into my bed, even though I was perceived as being a ladies’ man. Since Cody had moved in, I had only had sex with three women. To me, that’s saying something, because it’d been two years and men had needs. I just didn’t want Cody to think that sleeping with different women was okay. I also wanted to build a bond with him, and didn’t want him to feel he wasn’t good enough for me, and that I had to crowd our space with different women. Little did I know that he would already think that it was a necessity to have a woman in my life.

  We drove the rest of the way to the stadium and the parking lot was already jammed pack full of football fanatics ready to take in the high school football game. It was the Bulldogs vs. Ravens game. We had our money on the Ravens. Okay, so we weren’t really betting men, but we were rooting for them. It was my alma mater after all and where Cody would one day attend high school.

  We got out of the car and Cody immediately started asking questions. “You went here, right?” he asked.

  “That is correct, my man,” I said. “For four years I was a dedicated Raven. In fact, I was on this very football field many a Fridays.”

  “Whoa…” Cody murmured. “Were you the quarterback?” he asked, obvious excitement in his voice.

  I chuckled. I didn’t want to disappoint him, but I had to be honest. “Well, no…not exactly. I was a wide receiver.” There was a long pause and I waited for his response, before he shrugged and commented.

  “Oh…well…that’s an important position too.”

  I nearly laughed at the way his disappointment rang through. We entered the gate and paid for two tickets, then went to the bleachers. “Want something to eat?” I asked. “Popcorn…cotton candy?”

  Cody held his stomach. “Way too early to discuss food, Uncle Matt.”

  I laughed, and we went to the home side to find seats. As we looked around, Cody pointed in the general vicinity. I followed him to wherever he was pointing, and we went up the bleachers to take a seat next to two women. The moment I sat down, I could smell the strong fragrance of the perfume on the lady next to me. She smiled at me, quirking her lips up, and I politely smiled back, then glanced at Cody. He was laughing, which only meant one thing. He conveniently placed us next to the women.

  We sat back to enjoy the game and the kickoff happened right on time. I watched Cody and smiled as the mini-me sat beside me. I wasn’t doing bad when it came to raising him, but the last two years had been a struggle for me, a self-proclaimed bachelor. I just never saw myself as the family man type, but Cody made me see myself in ways that I couldn’t.

  We cheered for the home team and our enthusiasm never died. At half-time we were up by fourteen. I turned to him and asked, “Want something to eat yet?”

  “I’ll take nachos, but can I stay here and keep our seats?” he asked.

  I still couldn’t get over the fact that he was in double digits. The
stadium was packed, but I wanted him to know I could trust him. I nervously looked around and slowly turned back to him. “Don’t move from this spot,” I said.

  He nodded. “I won’t…I promise.”

  I got up and left him there and hurriedly made my way to the concession stand. “What can I get you, Hon?” the worker asked as she twirled her finger in her hair.

  I was used to the flattering names and passive flirting. “Two nachos and a medium Coke,” I answered and flashed her a warm smile.

  I dug my wallet from my pocket and then heard my phone buzz with a calendar update. I took my phone out of my pocket, as I tossed some money down. I looked at it and found that it was Dana letting me know of another potential nanny interview for the next day at eleven o’clock in the morning.

  Good. I heaved a sigh and put my phone back in my pocket. I hoped this would prove to be a positive interview, because I was running out of chances to find someone. I thanked the woman behind the counter and grabbed the nachos and drink and headed back to Cody. I didn’t breathe a sigh of relief, until I spotted Cody still sitting where I left him. He was a good kid and I just needed to have a little bit of help with taking care of him.

  I handed Cody his nachos and we watched the rest of the game, which the Ravens pulled off with a 32-21 win. When we left to go home, I looked at my little man. I just wanted to do right by him. Hopefully, I would soon find the right person to help with him that could provide for him the kind of loving care he deserved whenever I wasn’t home.

  Chapter Three

  Tasha

  First Day on the Job

  The next morning, I pulled into the winding driveway at the address Dana gave me. I got out my car and looked up at the big modern brick home that looked big enough to call a mansion, but was just small enough to fit into the neighborhood of upper scale houses. I walked past a silver toned street model Harley that was parked in the walkway and smiled. I’d always wanted to know what it felt like to ride a motorcycle but never had the chance. I knocked on the door and a tall, brown-haired man was standing at the front door holding it open for me to enter.

  It should be against the law for any one human to be that good looking. Though I wanted to keep it professional, that was my first thought when I saw him. Matthew Wilde was a better-looking version of Clark Kent and damn him for making me feel warm and fuzzy inside. His eyes were deep brown and masculine, yet friendly. There was a slight stubble on his chin making a gorgeous five o’clock shadow. My mind immediately went to imagining how it would feel if we were to kiss and that stubble rubbed against my softer face. He also had a dimple in his right cheek as he smiled, and it made me go a bit weak in the knees. The man in front of me was giving me mental retribution for all the months of writing from sun up until sundown, while neglecting my personal life. But I wasn’t there for pleasure, and definitely nothing personal, so I swallowed the lump in my throat to say something, instead of standing there looking like a complete lunatic.

  “Hi, I’m the Tasha, I mean the sitter. No, what I meant to say is that I’m here to interview for the babysitting job.” I tried to calm my nerves, after the collage of words seemed to rush out clumsily.

  He cleared his throat and stepped back for me to enter. “Glad you made it on time. That’s a plus, since I have to leave in about an hour. You can come with me,” he said and turned around.

  My eyes dipped down and I inwardly groaned. The man had a nice ass too. Tasha control yourself. You’re here for a job, not to get laid. I guess I’d found a reason to lose job number five in record time…sleeping with the boss.

  I internally slapped myself to knock some sense back into my unemployed mind and body. I had bills to pay. I couldn’t afford to fall for Matt. Lord, I’m calling him Matt in my thoughts…I meant, Mr. Wilde.

  I followed him into his study internally panting to cool down and to calm my nerves. He motioned for me to take a seat in the chair across from him. I did so, all the while thinking that I needed to check my emotions, because they were all over the place, mainly lustful ones. This was a nice hunk of a man, but I did need to focus on answering all the questions right.

  “Do you have a resume for me?” he asked, quirking up an eyebrow.

  “Of course,” I choke out. I let out a slow breath and handed him over the resume that was still clutched in my hand.

  He nodded and took it from me.

  I looked around the study. It was nicely decorated and bigger than my bedroom, hell probably bigger than my whole apartment. As a matter of fact, the hallway that we walked down to get to this study is probably bigger than my apartment.

  I heard him clear his throat. I quickly snapped my attention back to him. His eyes were looking me over and my resume was on his desk. I felt oddly awkward and comfortable at the same time. I crossed my legs, which caused my skirt to inch up a little more on my thigh. I saw his eyes widen a tad, and I smiled to myself. I had his attention.

  But you don’t want his attention. You want his job.

  He cleared his throat again and looked over at the resume. Then, without barely looking at the page, he looked back at me. “Tell me Tasha, what qualifies you for this job?” he asked.

  Well, that certainly threw me. I didn’t plan on such a strong question right out the gate. My mind went blank, for at least ten seconds flat. Then, I realized that really the only thing I could do was speak from the heart and, if he didn’t like it, then he wouldn’t like me.

  That’s a lousy outlook on it. Don’t blow it.

  “Well, I have a lot of passion and heart,” I started. That sounded pretty shady and similar to what everyone says at interviews, but I couldn’t retract my comments, when they were already said. He crossed his legs and sat back in his oversized chair. “What I mean is when I want something I go for it, and I put everything I have into it. It will be the same with your son,” I said sincerely.

  “Nephew,” he said, quickly interrupting me. My face had to have turned a thousand shades of brown.

  “Oh yeah…I’m sorry,” I mumbled.

  “No need to be sorry, go on,” he said.

  This wasn’t starting off well for me. “Mr. Wilde, I will treat your nephew as my own. That you can be certain of,” I said. I frowned and hoped that didn’t sound cliché. “I would never want to let you down.” When he widened his eyes, I quickly fixed that. “I mean, I wouldn’t want to let anyone down and especially not a child entrusted in my care.”

  He smiled and even let out a small chuckle. He hadn’t looked much at my resume, as he asked another question. “Do you have any experience?” he asked.

  I had a feeling he already knew the answer to that. “I have experience working,” I said, laughing slightly. He kept the smile on his face, but he didn’t laugh.

  “With children?”

  “I don’t have really any experience babysitting, but I’m confident that I can handle the job and I would love the opportunity.”

  His eyes scrutinized my reply, boring holes into me, causing me to twitch in my seat. I felt warmth spreading through my inner core. With the heat I felt searing through me, I could have bedded him already, but that would so defeat the purpose of me being there. He looked at me like he was searching out my soul and it made me hot. He was sexy beyond words and each glance captivated me, causing me to tremble with a need I didn’t even realize I had. I bit on my lower lip, so I wouldn’t utter something I shouldn’t be uttering.

  “It’s like this,” he started, shifting slightly in his chair. I waited patiently to hear his remaining words. He looked me over again; this time with a lasting and longing gaze. “Please don’t take this the wrong way, but you really don’t look like a babysitter,” he concluded.

  My cheeks puffed up into a blush, and I took that as a compliment, but I shouldn’t have, because it was a nail in my babysitting coffin. I needed him to instantly feel I could do this job.

  “You won’t find someone that will work harder than me.”

  Your past job
s would say otherwise.

  I had to mentally remove that voice from my head.

  “I won’t let you down. That I promise you. Just give me the chance to show and prove it,” I said, keeping my confidence up.

  “Alright,” he finally said. He nodded at me and I knew what that nod meant. “The chance is yours. Since I trust that Dana wouldn’t give her word unless she trusted you, and I like the way you answered my questions, I will start you out on a two-week probation and we’ll see how it goes. Once I’m sure that Cody is comfortable with you and that you’re the right person for the job, I’ll offer you the official position with benefits and everything.”

  Oh, my gosh! I got the job! I internally gushed.

  After giving me a quick tour of his house and introducing me to a bubbly young Cody, Mr. Wilde gave me his cell number and left his ten-year old nephew in my care. I honestly couldn’t believe it happened that fast. For the first fifteen minutes after he left the house, I just stood there in his foyer. It was a surreal moment. I was officially a babysitter. What a difference a day makes. I quickly texted Dana to tell her the news, then knew I had work to do.

  After quickly Googling fun babysitter games, I chose the safest and most fun one. When Cody came downstairs from cleaning his room, seemingly bored, I opted to go right into it. “Hey, let’s have a pillow fight.”

  Cody’s eyes lit up with surprised at my offer, but he then smiled brightly and ran into a downstairs’ bedroom. He came back with a handful of pillows, which after thirty minutes of abuse became undone spilling their guts around the living room. We had tons of fun, and everything went well the rest of the day, except for a few ‘minor’ hiccups.

  I found lots more fun activities for us to do, just like the pillow fight. I ordered pizza with the petty cash Mr. Wilde left for us, and we were sprawled out on the floor coloring when a deep, angry voice startled the two of us.

  “What the hell happened in here?” Mr. Wilde asked, as a wild look of confusion covered his handsome features with doom.