by Ivy Wonders
I couldn’t wait to try it out and went straight to my bedroom to plug in the box with the hot curlers in it to heat them up. Following the directions to make my hair have big, bouncy curls, I put them all in, then looked at my reflection. “Hideous.” The curlers in my hair looked like something out of the eighties. But the look they gave the models I’d seen on the internet was what I was after.
I wanted to make a whole new me and that started with my new look. I wanted a softer look, something more down to Earth. With big curls and flowing fabrics, I felt like I’d feel different. Leaving the tight-fitting clothing behind, I’d rid my closet of most things I’d accumulated over the years.
When the doorbell rang again, I looked in the mirror with a horror-stricken expression. “No!”
With no one else around to answer the door, I had no choice but to go see who it was. That didn’t mean I’d let them in though. When I got to door and looked out the peephole, I saw a man standing there.
Not just any man, a hot man who wore an Armani suit. “No,” I hissed. Leaning my back against the door, I tried to figure out what I could do to fix myself before answering the door.
Then a knock came. “Hello?” the voice deep and smooth. “Anyone home?”
I had no idea what to do. I couldn’t let this guy see me like this. Not that I was looking to date at the time, but I still could not allow it. Pulling the curlers out was my only option, but I’d need a moment to do that. “Hold on,” I called out as I took off toward the nearest bathroom.
He said something I couldn’t understand as I hauled ass, then just before I got to the sanctuary of the bathroom to fix myself up a bit, the front door opened and his handsome faced looked right at me. “Tara Hunter?”
“Shit!” I ducked into the bathroom, slamming the door behind me. Quickly, I yanked out the curlers, leaving my auburn hair a mess. They hadn’t set long enough, and I was left with a frizzy mess.
“You okay?” the stranger who’d entered my home asked me.
“No.” I had no idea who he was or what he was doing there. But I wasn’t in the right state of mind to ask. Panic had taken over as I tried to figure out what to do with my hair.
Going through every drawer and nook and cranny in the small guest bathroom, I tried to find anything, a scrunchy, a bobby pin, anything at all to tidy the mess my hair was left in.
“What’s wrong?” he asked from just the other side of the door.
“Go away!” I shrieked. Then I saw a small rubber band in the back of one of the drawers and pulled it out.
“You asked me to come over,” he said.
I didn’t know who the guy was, but I hadn’t asked him to come over. “Liar!” Gathering my hair in one hand, I tried to smooth it out, but it was hard to do.
“I’m not lying,” he said, still standing right there at the door. “You ordered a jacuzzi tub this morning.”
Stopping my frantic actions, I looked in the mirror as I thought about what he’d said. “You don’t look like a plumber.” What kind of plumber shows up for work in an Armani suit?
“I had a meeting before this,” he explained.
Pulling the rubber band around my hair, I made a messy—a very messy—pony, then finally opened the door to face the man. “I see.” I walked out of that bathroom as if I was perfectly confident in my appearance—which I was not. “So, let me take you to the lavatory you’ll be installing the device in.”
He followed behind me. “Nice place you’ve got here, Tara.”
I spun around, my mouth hanging open. “Have I told you to call me by my first name?”
He smiled, a smile so devastating it made my heart stop beating it. “You told the secretary that you’d rather be called that than Mrs. Hunter, so that’s why I called you by it. My name’s Mark.” He extended his hand for a shake.
I took it and nearly gasped as sparks shot through my body. “Oh!” I gasped. Then I got a hold of myself. “It’s nice to meet you, Mark. Sorry for my odd behavior.”
“Not a problem.” He reached up to touch my ponytail. “If you leave those curlers in longer, they make pretty curls. My mom used to use them a lot back in the nineties.”
His hand on my hair felt a bit intimate. I stepped back, his hand slipping away from my hair. “Yeah, your sudden visit startled me.”
“No one called you?” he asked, then jerked his head in the direction we’d been heading. “The bathroom is this way?”
“It is.” I started moving again. “No one called to say you were on the way. You caught me by surprise.”
“Sorry about that,” he said in low tones. I stopped at the bathroom door and shivered as he slipped by me, our bodies brushing for just a moment. The action made my knees week.
I leaned against the doorframe, trying hard not to stare as he took out his measuring tape, his back to me as he started using it, stretching out his muscular body to reach places. “It’s not really a problem.”
When he turned around, he caught me gazing at him. “Good. I didn’t mean to catch you off guard like that.”
But he had caught me completely off guard, and I felt the oddest things going through my body with his presence—the best things I’d ever felt in my life.
Mark
“I’ve got my laptop in the car,” I told Tara as she followed me out of the bathroom. “I think you’ll like this other model we carry better than the one you’ve chosen. It’s a bit larger, but I’ll give you the company discount.”
“You will?” she asked with surprise, then quickly regained herself, looking stoic. “No need. I’ve got plenty of money.”
“Well, I’m going to give it to you anyway.” I nodded at the sofa. “Take a seat. I’ll be right back with the computer.”
She looked to one side. “You want something to drink, Mark?”
“Sure. Water’s fine.” I walked out the door, then stopped to finally catch my breath.
Even the slightest touch had sent electricity shooting through me in a way it never had before. Even though I hadn’t had time to get to know much about the woman, she’d come close to surpassing my ideas about her.
When I came back inside, the sight of her sitting on the sofa took my breath—even with the mess of a ponytail she had going on. Her emerald eyes glistened as she looked at me. “I’ve got the water.”
I held up my laptop. “I’ve got the computer. Let’s make a bathroom you can be proud of, shall we?”
Intentionally, I sat so close to her that our outer thighs touched. My heart sped up and I hoped she couldn’t hear the pounding it made. “So, I think the Spa Two Thousand is what would make that space pop.”
“I want it to look great,” she said. “But mostly I want it to be a great thing for my son.”
“It will be.” I could see she really wanted to please her kid and that sent adoration for her swimming through me. “You kind of light up when you talk about him.”
She put her hands to her cheeks. “Do I?”
I nodded. “Yeah. It’s really sweet.”
She looked down. “Hmm. I didn’t know that happened.” Then her eyes met mine. “Thanks for telling me about that.”
“You didn’t realize you did that?” I found that kind of odd.
“No.” She shook her head. “I’ve spent most of my son’s years blaming him for my life—or lack of one. It’s just been recently that I’ve been seeing a therapist to help me stop blaming him and his father for the loss of my young adulthood. Years that should’ve had me living life loose and free were spent being a mother and wife, things I hadn’t even thought of before.”
“How old were you when you got pregnant?” I asked her.
“Eighteen. I’d just graduated from high school. I didn’t know the man well at all who got me that way.” She looked away. “And I blamed him, but it was really my doing. I was the aggressor.” Her cheeks went red, then she looked at the floor. “I don’t know why I just told you that.” Picking up the water bottle, she gulped some of it do
wn.
“Maybe you feel comfortable with me.” I wanted to put my arm around her so badly, it hurt. But I knew it was way too soon to do such a thing as that.
“Why is that?” she asked as her eyes moved up to meet mine once more.
“Who knows?” I looked away, so I could finally breathe again. Her sweet face did things to me that I didn’t know would happen, seeing her up close like this. “So, about this tub.” I pulled it up.
Ignoring the picture I’d pulled up, Tara asked, “Have you ever been married, Mark?”
“No.” I’d never even come close. “I suppose you don’t want to get married again after something like that.”
She nodded. “Not to just anyone, anyway.” Picking the water bottle up, she took another drink. “My ex has found love—a thing we never shared. I kind of think I might not be capable of it or something like that. So, I won’t do so much as even get involved with a man again. At least not for a very long time and much more therapy.”
“Therapy is great.” But it wasn’t living life. “I don’t think that’s all you should do though.”
“I’ve got my son in my life.” She smiled, but it came off weak. “That’s the only guy I need for now.”
Somehow I had to get her to agree to go out with me without her knowing we were on a date. “If you’d care to come back to the office with me, I can show you the options I can give you for the tub. You know, like the tile we can use around it, the faucets, those sorts of things.”
“Can you give me a minute or two to do something with my hair?” she asked as she got up.
“I can do that.” That went a lot easier than I thought it would.
“K. I’ll follow you in my car.” She left the room, with me watching her every move.
I didn’t want her taking her car. I wanted her to ride with me. Because I wanted things to keep going. Dinner, perhaps a movie, a nightcap before she headed to bed. And one, long, sweet goodnight kiss.
When she came back into the living room, I’d come up with an idea. “Do you think you could just ride with me, Tara? I’ve gotta a couple of stops to make and it would be easier if you rode with me. I’ll bring you back. Promise.”
She looked at the floor as her lips formed one line. “I don’t know.”
I held up two fingers on my left hand. “Scout’s honor.”
The smile that moved over her face made my heart stop. “Okay, then.”
Tara
One day turned into two, then three, then before I’d realized it, three weeks had gone by with Mark coming over every single day. He said it was to oversee the plumber that worked for him, but he didn’t pay much attention to that man. No, his attention was centered on me.
Sitting at the kitchen table, I nibbled on a cinnamon bun as I watched him eat the eggs and bacon I’d made him. I’d never been much of a cook. But there was something about Mark that made me want to be more of a homemaker. “You like?”
“I love.” He scooped up the rest of the runny yellow egg yolk with the last bit of toast, then ate it up.
“Good.” I had no idea why it made me feel so good to cook for him and have him love it, but it did. “You know, I’ve figured you out.”
His eyes went wide. “You have?”
“I have.” I nodded as I held up three fingers. “It doesn’t take three weeks to install a jacuzzi, Mark. Even if you are the owner of the company, it’s not protocol for you to spend every day and night with me. We’re dating.”
Looking sheepish, he ducked his head. “When did you figure me out, Tara?”
“When you almost kissed me last night as you walked me to my door after that wonderful dinner at one of Seattle’s most sought-after restaurants.” I tapped my chin as I thought about how romantic that night had been. “And the roses I got this morning before you arrived had a card that told me how much you loved last night with the dancing and holding me in your arms.”
“I did love that.” Mark ran the napkin across his mouth then leaned in close to me. “And even though I’ve got eggs on my breath and you’ve got coffee on yours, I want nothing more than to kiss you right now, Tara.”
“Will this mean that Eli’s tub will get finished today?” I had wondered if Mark had directed the plumber to do very little work, using that as a reason to get to come to my home every day.
“It will. If you agree to officially start seeing me, that is.” He smiled, and my heart fluttered in my chest.
“You kind of took me by surprise, you know,” I told him as I looked into his deep brown eyes. “You caught me off guard.”
“Did I?” His smile turned into a sexy grin as he trailed his fingers along my jawline. “Is that such a bad thing?”
Maybe it hadn’t been. If he’d been open with me from the beginning, I wouldn’t have given him the time of day. “Maybe it’s not such a bad thing.”
“So that kiss?” he asked as his eyes sparkled.
“Is a thing I’ve been waiting for.” I leaned in to meet him halfway and when our lips met, actual fireworks exploded inside my head, and I felt them burn all over my body.
Heat dripped off my skin, as his kiss turned my insides into molten lava. When he pulled his mouth off mine, his eyes bore into mine. “You’re it.”
“I’m what?” I panted as desire took me over, and I ran my hands along his muscular arms.
“The girl who makes my heart melt with just her kiss alone.” He shook his head. “I’ve always known there was one girl out there who’d do that for me. I thought it might be you. And now I know it is.”
I’d had no idea anyone could make me feel that way with a kiss. “Well, aren’t you a smart one?” Pulling him to me, I kissed him this time, letting his tongue take mine over easily.
His hands moved over my shoulder, then around me, and he got up, taking me with him. “How about we go to your bedroom and see how other things feel since kissing feels this right?”
I’d never been so glad that I’d kept taking my birth control pills even though I’d sworn off men. “I say that I’ve got the contraception covered and am good to go, Mark.”
Carrying me to my bedroom, he couldn’t take the smile off his face. And as we passed by Eli’s bedroom, he shouted, “Hey, Jeff, you can finish now and get the hell out of here.”
“Good, boss,” the plumber called out. “Congrats.”
“Thank you,” I said as I looked at Mark and thought for the very first time in my life that I loved a man.
Once he had me in bed, our clothes in a pile on the floor, I searched his eyes before he moved his body over mine. “Mark, I think I should say this before we go any further.” I cradled his face in my hands as I built the courage to tell him the words I’d never told anyone but my son. “Mark Cofield, I love you. So run if you’re going to. But do it before you steal my heart forever.”
“I ain’t running nowhere, Tara.” He kissed me deeply, then pulled his head back. “For the record, I was going to tell you the same thing before we actually made love. I love you.”
“I’m about to make love,” I whispered. “I’ve never made love.”
He shook his head. “Neither have I. This will be the first for us both.”
Although neither of us were virgins, we’d never made love to anyone. When he entered me, I felt plugged into him. I’d never felt anything like it. I was his and I felt as if he was mine.
And it finally made sense to me. Now I knew why Rebel wouldn’t give up on Harman, no matter what the cost. Her heart had been filled, and she wasn’t about to lose that.
And now my heart was filled, and I never wanted it to stop feeling that way. Mark and I had finally found our happily ever after.
The End
The Doctor’s Nanny Book Five
A Single Dad & Nanny Romance
Saved by the Doctor Book 3
By Ivy Wonders
Megan Lee
Premise:
When the father of a three-year-old daughter loses his wife to cance
r, he takes a year off work to grieve. As a neurosurgeon, he’s ready to get back to work and accepts a job at Saint Christopher’s General Hospital in Seattle, Washington.
After hiring a nanny who’s fresh out of college, he finds her innocence bewitching. She’s a virgin who’s never had an orgasm and the two share the attraction. But nannies are not supposed to get involved with their bosses.
When the doctor is hit by a car one day, she fears she might lose him. When his old in-laws come to take his daughter away, thinking it’s the best thing for the little girl, the nanny is left alone in the big house she’s begun to think of as home for her and the man and child she loves.
Will he survive, and if so, can their love go on? Or will she lose him and the child she’s come to think of as her own, for good?
She was there for me, but she wasn’t supposed to make me feel the way she did…
When my wife died, it left a hole the size of Texas in my heart.
Alone with our young daughter, I needed assistance.
That’s when I found her.
Or did she find me? Young, beautiful, and insightful beyond her years, she saved me from making a terrible mistake.
Did I make one anyway when I hired her and brought her into my home?
It didn’t feel like a mistake when I took her into my arms and showed her what it’s like to be a woman.
In my lifetime I’d learned when things are going great, something happens to make it disappear.
Would it happen to me again?
Lusting after the boss wasn’t what I was supposed to do…
Hired to care for his young daughter, I shouldn’t have looked at him the way I did.
Everything about the man fascinated me.
When he touched me, unimaginable things happened to my young and innocent body.
He taught me things I’d never knew existed.