"You seem well qualified.”
"Yes,” was all she could come up with to say. Her collar felt so tight that it was strangling her. But she was wearing a v-neck T-shirt.
"Maybe a little overqualified for a nanny position," he said.
"It's a bit of a long story. But I had to relocate to Fate Rock, and I haven't been able to find employment.”
"I'm sorry to hear that," he said, looking back down at the resume. "And why did you leave your former employer?”
"It was a family emergency."
He nodded, seeming to not want to pry.
"If you don't mind, I'd like to do a quick reference check."
"I don't mind," Megan said, her heart sinking. She had already checked out of the hotel. She didn't have time for him to send away for a background check.
"I'll be right back," he said. “Would you mind watching Jimmy?"
"Not at all.” She looked down at the boy and smiled.
He disappeared into the next room and Jimmy toddled over to her and slapped her knee.
"Up, up," the little boy said.
She did as he asked, taking him into her lap. To her absolute surprise, Sampson returned just a few minutes later.
"All of your references check out. I should mention that your previous employer expressed their disappointment in you leaving.”
"It couldn't be helped," she said. "I'm in Fate Rock now."
"You understand that this is a live-in position, correct?"
"That's exactly what I need."
"Well, everything seems to check out. And I'm not one to pry into other people's personal affairs, so I would like to offer you the job, starting today. You seem good with Jimmy, so I'm good with you."
Megan felt a warm wash of relief and then a cold wash of panic. She could see a wildfire in his deep brown eyes when he looked at her. Did he know that she was the woman from mate.com? She considered getting up and leaving that very moment. Having her boss turn out to be her fated mate certainly complicated things. But what then? Go back to Denver and try to start her life over? She no longer had a life there now that Amber was gone. The only thing in front of her was exacting revenge for the death of her twin. There was no other way.
"Let me show you to your room," he said.
She followed Sampson downstairs to the basement while holding little Jimmy in her arms.
There was a family room downstairs that had been baby proofed and prepared with toys and everything else one would need to watch a child. Through one of the doors, she found what Sampson explained was his second guestroom.
"I had to turn the guestroom upstairs into a nursery. I hope that this is acceptable for you," he said.
The room had a high narrow window that let sunlight in, a large walk-in closet, a private bathroom that included a tub, and a queen-size bed. It was nicely furnished with a rocking chair in the corner and a writing desk.
"It's perfect," she said. It was nicer than her bedroom in the apartment she had shared with her sister. And she honestly hadn’t been expecting anything so nice after living in a cheap hotel for the past week and a half.
"How would you feel about meal prep?" he asked reluctantly.
The look in his eyes spoke volumes, but he didn't voice them with his lips. Underneath his formality and politeness, Megan had the sinking suspicion that he knew.
"I wouldn't mind at all. In fact, cooking is my favorite hobby," she said.
"Oh, that's fantastic," he said, letting out a long sigh. “I have important work, and I've been very distracted since Jimmy arrived.”
"Since he arrived?" she asked.
"He’s my sister's son. And she recently passed away. I didn't even know I had a nephew until two days ago. It's been quite the surprise and challenge. But he is a good boy, and I want to take care of him to the best of my ability. I'm just glad that you showed up when you did, because I really wasn't sure what I was going to do. I've never taken care of a child in my life.”
"Well I'm here now," Megan said, feeling as if her life had purpose for the first time in months.
Maybe by helping Sampson with Jimmy, she could achieve some kind of peace that had eluded her since her sister's death. Maybe she could start her life over and put all of the torment behind her.
"I'm going to my office on the second floor. I will be locking the door while I work, to prevent distraction. It's very sensitive work, so unless there is an emergency, I would greatly appreciate if you did not disturb me. There's a roast in the fridge. And some vegetables. I should take a break for dinner at about 6:30, if that's all right with you," he said.
There was a kind of desperation in his face that made Megan wonder if it was right for her to not admit that she knew she was his mate. He seemed like a good man who was willing to love and care for a child he had never even known existed. And here she was, already lying to him. A wave of guilt ran through her and she was tempted to tell him the truth. He sniffed the air and the look in his eyes grew even more desperate. But then he turned away, thanking her as he hurried out of the room.
She held Jimmy on her hip and looked down at him. "I guess it's just you and me, kid.”
She took Jimmy upstairs and put him in his playpen while she went out to the car to retrieve her duffle bag and brought it inside. Back down in her room, she put Jimmy in a bouncy chair while she unpacked her things.
Later, she prepared the roast, put it in the pressure cooker, and set it to be done at exactly 6:30 like Sampson had asked. She fed Jimmy some applesauce and rice cakes while cooking, and then took him to the living room to play games of pattycake, hide and seek, and peekaboo. Jimmy squealed with delight at the attention.
When she took Jimmy back to the kitchen to finish up dinner, she pulled the roast out of the pressure cooker and put it on a serving tray with roasted carrots and potatoes. She fed Jimmy and sat at the table, patiently waiting for Sampson to arrive. Soon, he walked through the door and took a deep inhalation, smelling the scent of her dinner. He sat down at the table and pulled the cloth napkin over his lap.
"This looks delicious," he said. "I can't remember the last time I had such a good meal. I haven't had time to even put anything in the slow cooker between Jimmy and work. You're a lifesaver, Megan.”
Megan blushed as she cut into her roast. She took a bite and was pleased with the tenderness and flavor. Sampson wouldn't stop looking at her throughout the meal and then stood and grabbed a bottle of beer from the fridge. He offered her one and she politely refused. The last thing she needed right now was to lose her wits in any way. She was already on a razor’s edge. She couldn't take any risks. He sat down at the table and forked his roast, his eyes never leaving her. He then took a long swig of the beer and sighed.
"Megan," he started. "I have to say this or it's going to drive me insane. Are you”—he paused to read something from his phone screen—”123fg#765 from mate.com?"
Megan was speechless. How did he know? Of course he was a shifter, and he had a sense of smell that humans could only imagine. She felt exposed under the heat of his gaze. She wanted to escape but sat silently for several long moments, the sweat trickling down her brow. Finally she found her voice.
"What is that?" she asked dumbly.
"Megan, I'm a shifter. I can tell you're my fated mate. There's no question about it. My inner bear has been in hysterics all day. Screaming for you. I greatly appreciate everything you've done for me, and I need a nanny for Jimmy more than anything. But I cannot go another second without telling you what I'm experiencing. It would be unethical. And I understand if you want to leave my employment, but that is simply a chance I need to take in order to be honest."
It was obvious how flustered he was, and Megan felt the cold trickle of guilt wrapping around her shoulders. She scrunched her eyebrows together, completely unsure of what to say.
"I don't have any idea what mate.com even is.”
"It's a shifter dating app," he said as if that should explain everything.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Reed."
"Please, call me Sampson."
"I'm sorry, Sampson, but I don't know what you're talking about. I can't possibly be your fated mate. But, if it's not going to be a problem, I would love to stay and take care of Jimmy."
"All right," he said, the confusion washing over his face and rolling in waves through the room. It was so palpable that it hit Megan square in the chest. She felt so bad for him, she wanted to rush into his arms; hug him and console him.
"Thank you for dinner, Megan. It was delicious. I am going back to work. Jimmy's bedtime is at nine PM. At least that's what I was trying to make it. Maybe you'll have better luck than me."
“I’d say that six is probably a better time for a child his age to go down.”
“That’s exactly why I need your help.”
He turned away and walked out of the room, leaving Megan with a sense of desolation in her chest. The only thing that made it any better was the twinkle in little Jimmy's eyes when he looked at her.
Chapter 5
Sampson could not think straight. He was completely dumbfounded by her denial of being his mate. What else could possibly explain his inner bear’s reaction to her? He went back to his office, closed the door, and stood with his back against it. He was so completely confused by what he was experiencing that he didn't know if he could possibly do his job.
He still had so much work to do. He was so close, but now he felt he was further away than ever. He sat down at his desk, trying to clear his mind. He turned on his computer and started where he’d left off before dinner. Every time he had attempted to break into Dark Trove’s database, the firewall had detected the attack.
But Sampson was getting closer. He just needed to focus. Outside his door, he heard Megan walking by, talking softly to Jimmy about changing his diaper. The smell of her body wafted through the air. He growled, angry at himself for getting distracted yet again.
His inner bear screamed, “Mate, mate, mate,” relentlessly in Sampson's brain. There was no way to ignore it, and there was no denying who she was, no matter what she said. Sampson couldn't understand why she would deny being his mate. And he didn't know how he was going to get through having her around.
But what choice did he have? He had a mission to complete and the child to care for. He needed her help. And when he looked into her eyes, watched her smile, and watched her take care of Jimmy, he knew he needed her — not just for Jimmy, but for himself.
He put on a pair of noise-canceling headphones, trying to get into the zone. He had all the best technology and he finally had someone to take care of Jimmy — he should have been able to do his job, but he couldn't do anything except think about her. About kissing her, about caressing her soft cheek, about her holding baby Jimmy and carrying a child of his own.
It was completely unacceptable. Sampson have never been an emotional man. He'd never been the kind of man that let his passions control him. But as he tried to focus on his mission and his work, he was completely unable to do anything but long for his mate.
As he tried to type code again, willing himself to focus, she passed by the door a second time. He growled in disgust at himself as a whiff of her scent wafted up his nose, letting his fingers fall from the keyboard. He was going to have to do something about this. He couldn't let it go on. He pushed away from the computer, fully intending to demand that she tell him the truth. She had to admit she was 123fg#765. That she was his mate, and that she would love him and hold him and take care of him forever.
The insanity of these feelings was not lost on him, though, and he finally accepted that he wasn't going to be able to get anything done that night, whether he confronted her or not. So, he checked all his security systems, shut down his computer, and left the office for the evening.
As he was heading downstairs to the kitchen to grab another beer, he ran into Megan on the stairs. He had wanted to avoid her. It wasn't going to do him any favors being confronted by her. The smell of her skin and the look in her eyes intoxicated him. And he could barely speak as he tried to move past her.
"I'm sorry," she stammered.
He thought that he saw a hint of desire in her eyes, and he hoped that what he was seeing was real and not imaginary. She quietly apologized again and stepped to the side and away from him, heading up the stairs with a bottle of milk. He hurried past her and went down to the kitchen, grabbed a beer from the fridge and sat down at the table, trying to keep his wits about him.
He was finishing his beer and about to get a second when Megan walked in the room. She looked at him sheepishly and went to the fridge herself, grabbing the ice cream from the freezer. She silently dished herself up a bowl and sat across from him at the table. He was so disturbed by her presence that he didn't know what to say or think or do. Part of him just wanted her to go away because her presence was so distracting and so confusing, and he just wasn’t feeling like himself at all. He had always been a logical man, a man who didn't react to things so emotionally. But with Megan around, he felt like a huge bowl of nerves and emotions that he could not understand.
"You did a good job with Jimmy today," he said between swigs of beer. He was going to need something harder to get through this night.
"Thank you. He's a sweet kid. I feel really bad about his mom.”
"So do I," Sampson said. He had been so stressed, by first Jimmy's presence and then Megan's, that he hadn't fully allowed himself the chance to mourn his sister's death. And it still just felt like it wasn’t really real.
"What do you do in your office all day?"
"I'm a freelance computer programmer," he said.
"I hope that me being around isn’t too distracting for you."
The truth was that she was beyond distracting. And he didn't know what to do or what to think about it. If she would just admit that she was his mate then maybe he could come up with a rational decision on what to do.
With his inner bear screaming in his brain and the stress of all the conflicting and powerful emotions burning through him, he had no idea how he felt about even having her around. He had to put an end to it; he had to know the truth. He had known many shifters who'd found their mates. Although everyone’s story was different, he had never heard of any bear misdiagnosing his own mate.
"I have to tell you, Megan, that I am very concerned."
He looked at her and he could see the confusion plainly on her face. He'd never been particularly good at reading people. Maybe that was why he was in such a terrible predicament in the first place. With Megan, though, he felt he was somehow able to tell what she was feeling.
"Did I do something wrong?" she asked, her voice quivering.
"Not exactly," he said. “But you must understand, every time I smell your scent, my inner bear insists that you are my mate. It is not possible that you are otherwise.”
"I'm sorry, Sampson. But I have no idea what you're talking about."
He could tell that she was lying. And it was immensely disturbing to him.
“The thing is that I can't really concentrate. My inner bear is insisting that I mate with you. And I don't think that it is ethical for me to continue like this. My feelings for you are too strong and it could interfere with our working relationship.”
"What do you mean? Are you going to do something to me?”
"Of course not. It's not like that. I am in control of my bear; it doesn't control me. But it does know certain things, and one of those things is who his mate is."
"Is there any way that he could be mistaken?" she asked, her voice at a whisper.
"I'm afraid not. Not unless I've utterly lost my mind. And I don't think I'm quite there
yet.”
"I didn't suggest that you’d lost your mind."
"I have no other explanation for it.”
"Hasn't there ever been a mistake?"
"Not that I'm aware of.”
"There's a first time for everything." She took a bite of ice cream, avoiding his gaze.
He took another sip of his beer. She was clearly determined to keep up the ruse. He let out a long breath. It was becoming increasingly tedious.
"All right, Megan. I need to get some sleep. Hopefully this is all sorted out in the morning. If you could take a trip to the grocery store and pick up the things on my list, it would be greatly appreciated."
"Absolutely," she said.
He left the room and hurried upstairs to his bedroom. His inner bear was in such a state of frantic lust and rage at being denied that Sampson tossed and turned all throughout the night. And when he slept, he dreamed frantic dreams of her; holding her, touching her, kissing her. It was far too much to bear.
He woke up in the middle of the night, sweating and confused. The dream had been so real and so vivid. He had almost believed that they had been together. But no. He was alone in his bed, confused and raving mad. Sampson was at the end of his rope. He had to sleep, he had to complete his mission. There was too much on the line for him to fail.
Chapter 6
Megan was prepared to leave Sampson's house forever. It was heartbreaking to lie to him, but she didn't feel as if she had any other choice. It was tearing her apart. Every moment she spent with him and Jimmy, the more she felt as if she had a purpose and a home. Her plan to avenge her sister would do nothing but destroy that.
But then she thought of her sister's face and remembered the blood and the gore. The look of absolute despair in her sister's eyes the last time she’d seen her alive. Megan had to do something; she couldn't just let it go. She couldn't just let him get away with what he’d done to Amber.
The sound of Jimmy crying through the baby monitor pulled her out of bed. She groggily rose and climbed the stairs until she came to his room and found the little boy standing in his crib waiting for her. She picked him up, changed him, and put him in a fresh outfit.
Brainy Bear (Justice Squad Book 5) Page 3