The Woodsman's Nanny - A Single Daddy Romance

by Emerson Rose

  I’m confused. I thought we had this all cleared up before we started hiding out, but I was wrong. “Sasha, you don’t have to be hiding out to live with me. I love you. We are a couple. You’ll come home, and we will pick up where we left off except you won’t be looking over your shoulder all the time.”

  “I can’t just live there without a job. I’d feel like a freeloader.”

  I guide her backward to the bed and sit her on the edge kneeling between her knees. “Okay, I’m going to try to make this as clear as possible for you. I want you in our lives, not as a nanny, not part-time, not as an employee, but as my wife and a mother to Tori. I was going to wait until I had a ring to do this, but I think it’s the only way I can make you understand how much I love and want you in my life.” Her mouth falls open, and I scoot back still on my knees taking her hands in mine.

  “Sasha Liana Rivers, would you do me the honor of becoming my wife?”

  She releases a breath with a strangled cry of what I hope is joy and slides off the bed into my arms crying. “Yes, yes, yes,” she repeats against my ear.

  My heart expands, and I breathe a sigh of relief that her insecurities didn’t keep her from accepting my proposal. I know she believes we are too different, that we come from different worlds, but the truth is none of that matters at all. What matters is she makes my heart beat faster every time I see her. My spirit soars when I’m with her. She makes me laugh, and she loves my daughter like she’s her own. That’s what life is all about. It’s not about important college degrees, the balance in your bank account, or how perfect your nose is. It’s about love.

  Sometimes all you need is love.

  Epilogue

  Xander

  Five years later.

  I slide my cock in one last time with a powerful thrust that makes my wife grip the countertop so hard her fingers turn white. Her back arches, and she cries out when we climax. I dig my fingers into her hips and feel her walls pulsing around me.

  I lean down over her slick back and whisper in her ear, “If that didn’t do it, I don’t know what will.”

  I feel her smile against my cheek. “I’m feeling especially lucky today.”

  “So, can I call your mother and tell her we’re expecting?” I ask pulling her up off the counter and sliding out so I can turn her around and look into her beautiful silver-blue eyes.

  “Um, I said I’m feeling lucky, not psychic. If you do that, you know she’ll be on the next flight out here to live with us until the baby’s born just like she did with Bellamy.”

  I lift her up onto the counter and settle between her legs. “True, she was pretty excited, wasn’t she?”

  “I think fanatical is more like it, but it’s been three years, maybe she will be more chill this time around.”

  “Maybe. Do you think it’s a boy?”

  “Sure, if we are imagining that I am already pregnant, like one minute along, then why not have it be a boy?”

  “I want a boy. I mean, I’ll be happy with another girl, of course, as long as she’s healthy, but a boy…”

  “Okay now, how about we come back down to earth, Dr. Sullivan? The kids will be home from school soon, and Zion’s check-up only takes a few minutes, so she will be here soon, too.”

  “It’s so nice to have the house to ourselves for a while. I wish we could go skinny dipping.”

  She pats my chest. “Maybe next time,” she says like the mother she is.

  “You have to stop doing that.”

  “What?”

  “Talking to me in your mommy voice after sex.”

  Her body shakes with laughter, and I smile. There is nothing in this world I’ve ever wanted more than to make this woman happy. Over the past five years, I have done little else.

  “I love you, you know?”

  “I do. I love you, too, but…”

  “But, we have to put clothes on and act like adults, right?”

  “Yes. I have to be at the restaurant in an hour, and you’re on Daddy duty tonight so Zion can play cards with her friends.”

  Sasha took some college business courses and opened her own restaurant two years ago, and it’s the talk of the town. Anybody who is anybody wants to be seen at Sasha’s, and food critics regularly hang out and rave about her new dishes. She’s never, not once, had a bad review. Sasha’s has something for everyone, but my favorite is still the chicken tacos.

  “Anything special going on tonight?”

  “Oh, you know, Anthony Bourdain is stopping by for dinner, no big deal,” she says flipping her hair over her shoulder.”

  “What? Wow, seriously? I’m surprised you’re not upstairs trying on every dress you own.”

  “Why would I be doing that when I have the opportunity to be home alone with my sexy husband?”

  I lift one side of my mouth with a smirk. “Good answer, Mrs. Sullivan, good answer.” I push my cock against her, and she wags her finger in my face.

  “No time. I’ll take care of that again later,” she says looking at my growing cock between us. “Although, I think I’m pregnant so if you’re tired of trying…”

  “No! Never. I will never get tired of trying, even when you’re nine months pregnant and ready to pop.”

  “Yes, I remember that well. Pregnancy doesn’t turn you off at all.” She kisses my nose and slides down to the floor. “Could you grab some Clorox wipes? I don’t want Zion to find an ass mark on the counter.”

  “Your wish is my command, my love.” I slap her beautiful ebony ass when she turns to leave, and I watch her all the way up the stairs until she disappears down the hall.

  Sometimes you get the best happily ever after imaginable.

  This is one of those times.

  The End

  Page ahead to begin Bonus Book Two – The Lawyer’s Nanny. Book Two in The Nanny Series by Emerson Rose.

  The Lawyer’s Nanny — Bonus Book Two

  The Lawyer’s Nanny

  The Nanny Series Book Two

  By

  Emerson Rose

  Description

  Alex Wolfe is laser focused on keeping his life in order. No long-term relationships. No room for mistakes. No desire to get close to anyone. But despite his best efforts to protect his heart, he finds himself face-to-face with the most beautiful woman he’s ever seen, and he knows he’ll do anything to keep her in his life.

  Olivia Johnson is so close to making the deal of a lifetime. After years of sleepless nights and back-breaking work, she’s ready to finally see her dreams come to fruition. The last thing she needs is a distraction, but when a handsome millionaire attorney walks into her shop, she finds herself drawn to him like no one she’s ever met before.

  Soon, they find themselves giving into their desires and wanting to pursue a relationship, but that’s easier said than done when a woman from Alex’s past makes an unexpected appearance with shocking news that will change everything forever.

  Will startling revelations and unplanned chaos ruin their opportunity for a future together?

  1

  I don’t make reckless decisions. I am an organized, self-sufficient woman—well, usually. Last night was a rare exception.

  Jacob and I went out on the town. I don’t go out drinking. Ever. I’m too busy building my future and running a business to party and waste time recovering, but Jacob wasn’t taking no for an answer this time.

  We had a great time club hopping. We were responsible taking Ubers instead of driving while intoxicated. We drank water occasionally so as not to get fall-down drunk. In fact, that night wasn’t the problem at all. It was the next night that has me thinking I need to have my head examined.

  Now, I’m standing in front of the Bark Avenue Bone Bakery unlocking the door in the bone-chilling cold, thirty minutes late. The little silver bell on the door rings when I push it open, and I cringe. It sounds like a giant church bell gonging in my head instead of a tiny tinkling doorbell. Damn tequila.

  I’m late opening, but there’s
no line of customers waiting at the door, quite the contrary. My shop is located on a street lined with small businesses that have been teaming with activity the weeks before Christmas, but today it looks like a ghost town.

  I’m grateful for the quiet, my head is still throbbing, and I can’t imagine dealing with the public until I’ve at least finished my first cup of coffee. I could use a few more ibuprofen, too.

  Sketchy memories of last night flash in my mind like a slide show with the occasional missing slide. Jacob and I went for breakfast yesterday to soak up some of the alcohol we consumed the night before with bacon and eggs. That’s where I bumped into Trevon. Trevon was a friend from back home in Stockton, California, where we both grew up. We went to the same school and hung with the same crowd. It wasn’t long before we were making plans to have dinner later, which turned into dinner and drinks and more drinks.

  I regret everything that happened after drink number five or six, mostly because I can’t remember any of it. I was in a weakened state trying to recover from my first night out in over a year. Drinking more and having what I can only imagine was sloppy sex has left me feeling hungover and embarrassed beyond words.

  Inside, I shiver and flip on the lights wishing that I’d chosen bulbs with a lesser wattage at Costco last week. Squinting, I weave through the shelves of doggie sweaters, chew toys, and homemade treats to the counter where I stash my purse and turn up the heat.

  I turned it down before I left two days ago knowing the store was going to be closed for a while. The week between Christmas and New Year’s is notoriously slow for the specialty shops in the junction, so most owners close down for a day or two and others close for the entire week. No sense in heating an empty business to seventy degrees. I’m a frugal businesswoman—it took too long to get where I am, and I’ve made too many sacrifices. I have to pinch my pennies if I want to keep on being successful.

  I slip into the kitchen and grab my puppy-paw apron before preheating the ovens. I’ll be turning down the heat within the hour as soon as the ovens start heating up the building. I poke my head out into the store to make sure there are no customers yet. I prop the door open, so I can keep an eye on the place while I bake.

  During the Christmas season, I had an extra part-time employee who ran the front while I baked the dog treats in the mornings, but now that business will be slowing down, it’s all me until noon. That’s fine with me today. I wouldn’t be good company with my pulsing headache and churning stomach.

  I step into the shop to put the cash into the register when the bell on the door rings again. I close my eyes for a moment and let the sound bounce off the walls of my brain. When I open them, I prepare myself to greet my first customer of the day, but nothing could have prepared me for him.

  I blink and wonder for a moment if hallucinations are a side effect of alcohol poisoning because this man is too beautiful to be real. He’s around six-foot-five with thick, black wavy hair that I find myself wanting to run my fingers through. Dressed in a dark charcoal suit with a gold tie, he looks like a million bucks—nothing like my usual customers.

  Don’t get me wrong, I love my regulars in their flannel lumberjack shirts and Timberland boots or my customers dressed in their workout clothes because they’ve been running with their pet or working out next door at the gym, but this guy is a breath of fresh, rich, well-connected air.

  I plaster my best fake yet charming smile on my face and approach him.

  “Good morning. Is there anything in particular I can help you find?” I ask.

  He’s scanning the shelves of treats and doesn’t look up when he speaks. “Peanut butter and banana grain-free wafers.”

  A man who knows what he wants, I like that. I come out from behind the counter and walk down the aisle passing him as I go. I can feel him behind me following as I lead him to his peanut butter and banana grain-free treats. “Here you go, they come in different sizes. What kind of dog do you have?” I ask turning around to face him. Big mistake.

  His light cornflower-blue eyes are startling. They don’t go with his bronze complexion and dark hair. I would have guessed him to have dark brown or black eyes, not blue.

  His gaze travels down my body slowly and back up to my face. Every second that passes feels like he’s turning up his animal magnetism another notch. By the time his eyes reach my face, I feel like a kaleidoscope of butterflies has gathered in my belly, and it’s not from my hangover.

  The corner of his mouth twitches as if he were suppressing a smile right before he answers. “Medium. Siberian Huskies, three of them.”

  I hear him, but my brain is lagging from the alcohol and the intoxicating effect his presence is having on me. I want to say something intelligent or clever about Siberian Huskies, but I’m having a hot-man moment.

  After a beat, he tilts his head to the side and narrows his eyes at me. “Are you okay?” he asks snapping me from my near-drooling state.

  I stand up straight and look at the shelf behind him where the dog treats he’s inquiring about are located. “Medium, yes, we have those right here. How many do you need?” I ask gathering my wits and pointing at the row of boxes.

  “I’m not sure. My housekeeper usually takes care of things like this. How many do you recommend?” He moves closer to the shelf which brings him closer to me causing my heart to accelerate. If my poor heart beats much harder, I may pass out or, even worse, vomit.

  I don’t like being this affected by a man’s presence. It’s unsettling and unnerving, to say the least. I like control, and he has taken that from me leaving me feeling exposed and silly. Get it together, Olivia, he’s just a rich man and nothing else, I tell myself and swallow hard.

  “Well, uh, three full-grown dogs, one or two treats a day, you should be okay with two boxes for the week.”

  “Perfect, I’ll take two then, and I need to make an appointment for them to be groomed.”

  I grab two boxes off the shelf and walk away from the hot and handsome Husky owner. Behind the counter with a few feet between us, I feel much more like myself aside from the exhaustion and nausea from last night’s antics.

  “Let me check Marisa’s schedule. Did you want to get in soon?” I take the appointment book from under the counter and open it before looking up into those eyes of his again. He has his hands on the counter leaning forward ever so slightly, his eyes full of playfulness.

  “I’d love to get in as soon as possible,” he says, his voice dripping with suggestion. Oh good God, he’s trying to kill me. An ache forms between my legs when a vision of Mr. Husky and me naked between expensive sheets starts to play in my head.

  He’s playing with me sprinkling his words with a desire to lure me in or humiliate me, I’m not sure which. He’s just a rich guy I chant silently to myself and muster up the nerve to answer him.

  “She has a ten o’clock tomorrow morning where she can get all three of them in if you’re interested,” I say and lower my eyes to the appointment book flipping through its pages. “Otherwise, you’ll have to wait until the end of next week.”

  “Tomorrow morning is perfect, put them down.”

  The way he says put them down is commanding and full of authority, it turns me on. I hate being bossed, that’s why I am the boss in all aspects of my life, but I can see him changing that.

  “Name?” I ask realizing I’ll have to ask for his phone number next. How convenient, like asking for date information with a perfectly good cover.

  “Alex Wolfe.”

  My pen pauses, and I look up at him. “Wolfe?”

  His eyebrows rise, and he appears amused. “Yes.”

  “Sorry,” I say feeling like a total idiot. “Okay, ten o’clock tomorrow morning. Have your dogs been groomed with us before?”

  “Yes, since they were puppies. You have all of their vaccination records on file.”

  “Great, thanks, that’s what I was going to ask for next. I’ll need your phone number in case we need to reschedule or if there were to
be an emergency.”

  “Of course, it’s 555-458-8968. If you can’t reach me, call my office, 555-321-4444. It’s Wolfe, Arnault, and Ellison Law Offices.”

  I roll my eyes still looking at the appointment book. That last bit wasn’t necessary. He’s being pretentious. What a dick. I don’t like rich people as a rule. Alex Wolfe just happens to be incredibly magnetic and handsome. It would be impossible for any red-blooded heterosexual woman not to be affected, though, but I’m hungover, so I cut myself some slack.

  “See you tomorrow,” I say praying he will leave without saying anything else. He looks down at the counter between us, and I realize I haven’t finished my job. The boxes of dog treats are still sitting there waiting to be rung up. He smiles at me knowing he’s succeeded at flustering me, and that irritates the hell out of me.

  “Sorry, I almost forgot.” I ring up the treats, and he hands me a black Amex card.

  “We don’t accept American Express. Would you happen to have another card or cash?” I ask sweetly.

  “Of course.” He fishes out a less impressive Capitol One MasterCard, and I run the payment. I hand him a pen to sign for the purchase, and he purposely brushes his fingers against mine instead of simply accepting it.

  Electricity zips up my arm, and I pull away and rub my hands together trying to make the sensation go away. God, what is wrong with me? I’ve never had the simultaneous urge to pounce on and run away from a man before. He has me all off balance, and I need him to leave, now.

  He signs the receipt with a flourish and pushes it across the counter as if he senses I can’t tolerate any more physical contact. “I’ll see you tomorrow…” he pauses looking for a nametag. I’m not wearing one yet, so I stupidly give him my name.