CHAPTER 2
Alyssa
“I can throw that away for you,” the voice says. It’s deep, masculine, and seemingly came out of nowhere.
I stand up straight from my bent over position with the piece of paper I found blowing around on the sidewalk now firmly in hand.
“Thanks,” he says as his hand reaches out to mine and I feel the paper gripped from the other side.
I feel a slight tug against my fingers, but I don’t let go. My body is completely frozen as I take in the sight of him and the little baby he’s carrying in his arm.
He’s a good eight inches to a foot taller than me with shoulders at least twice as broad.
He’s wearing a crisp, white T-shirt that looks like it’s fresh from the package.
Everything about him has a certain sharpness and crispness.
His eyes are very alert and vibrant and his physique shows he clearly cares about his body as well.
I do a double take on that body of his. His T-shirt isn’t tight, but it fits in a way that you can easily make out his muscles. He doesn’t just have a physique. He’s ripped!
Ripped as in perfect pectorals, amazing abs, and boulders for shoulders. He even has those muscles that connect his thick neck to his shoulders. I think they’re called trapezius muscles, but I’m not totally sure since I haven’t really met any guys with muscles as defined as his.
He’s big, but he’s not steroids big. His muscles look natural and fit his overall vibe well. Very well.
But as incredible as he looks what really has my heart beating is that baby he’s carrying. Oh my god!
A big strong man like that with a little baby. Talk about instant attraction, but of course if he’s got a baby then there’s surely a mother not far behind.
I temper my enthusiasm and focus on looking at his beautiful brown eyes, and not his beautiful body.
“You can keep it if you really want it,” he says. “Maybe it will bring you more luck than it brought me.”
I catch myself daydreaming.
“Sorry,” I say, releasing my grip on the paper.
He examines it quickly. “Yep, one of mine.”
I wish I was one of his, that’s for sure. But not one. The one.
Gee whiz! What has gotten into me all of the sudden? I’m not even into older guys and even if I was I wouldn’t have a chance with this guy. He’s obviously already got a women in his life and guys that fit and good looking are always either already in relationships or gay.
“I’m the one who should be saying, sorry,” he says. Is his gaze always this direct? Most people I meet barely hold eye contact. This guy doesn’t just hold eye contact, he locks on so hard I’m not even sure if he even blinks. “New guy in town littering up the neighborhood,” he says.
“You’re new?” I ask.
“Yeah. Carter,” he says. “Nice to meet you.”
“Alyssa. Nice to meet you.”
“Now there’s a name you don’t hear every day.”
“Really, I thought it was getting more and more popular,” I say.
And then if he couldn’t get any hotter he raises it to another level. He smirks. “Yeah, well I guess that’s because I work mostly with a bunch of guys.”
“Oh,” I say. I’m already imagining about twenty clones of this guy all in one place. It would be like the Chippendales if they worked a 9-5, but something tells me this guy isn’t the 9-5 type. “What do you do?”
“Protect and serve,” he says.
“You’re a…police officer.”
“You wanted to say cop, didn’t you?” he says in an accusatory tone.
“No! I mean…”
“It’s okay,” he smirks again. Oh my god is this guy sexy. And he’s a police officer. “We use the term ourselves.”
“Oh. I thought maybe that wasn’t such a nice thing to say.”
“Not at all, and it can’t be worse than the things I’ve been hearing all day.”
I try and decipher his words. I have no idea what he’s talking about.
“Sorry,” he says shaking the paper and then holding it so I can read it.
Babysitter Wanted, the heading reads.
“I thought this was going to be an easy position to fill. How wrong I was.”
Talk about making lemons out of lemonade.
The spring semester has just finished at college and I’m home looking for a job. I should have landed an internship heading into my senior year, which would then turn into a real job once I graduated, but things didn’t work out that way.
Now I’m scrambling for a summer job when all my other friends are already working for companies who are sure to make them offers or planning their summer holidays to Greece, Spain, or other far off destinations with white sandy beaches and white hot guys.
I’ve spent the entire day looking for a job. I only just stepped outside to get some fresh air and to let my eyes focus on something that’s more than eighteen inches away from my face. Something that’s not a computer emitting white light into my eyes all day likely causing blindness at some point and definitely causing me to go stir crazy.
If this charming cop is looking for a babysitter for his beautiful baby I just might be in luck. Plus if he’s out and about in the neighborhood I won’t need to find a way to get access to a car to drive to “work.”
Talk about falling from heaven. Get paid to take care of Mr. Perfect, and I’m sure Mrs. Perfect’s, baby all day? Sign me up.
“You haven’t found a suitable applicant?”
“Well I’ve had plenty of applicants. Suitable applicant? I know she, or even he, is out there but I just haven’t been able to find them.”
“You’re still looking then?”
“Not for much longer. I needed to have a sitter lined up tonight or else I’ll have to quit my job and skip town.”
Oh, he definitely can’t do that. I need to meet these other cops he works with. I mean if they look anything like him, and are as easy-going and as charming as he is then I have to find a way to get in front of them. But as much as that sounds like a great idea, what sounds even better is him. It’s just so frustrating that all the best guys are already taken. Maybe that’s what makes them so easy-going and pleasant people. They find the right wife and then their life just gets that much better. They find love, start a family, and realize there’s nothing to stress out over after that. When you’ve found the one and started a family you don’t sweat the small stuff, and you realize everything outside of family matters is just that…small stuff.
And everything is literally small stuff with a guy who’s this big. I feel smaller, lighter, and more feminine just in his presence.
Married I think to myself. Unavailable.
My gaze subconsciously drifts to his left hand which is holding his baby. I don’t see a ring. That’s strange. I look back at him thinking I probably just didn’t get a good look. The baby’s cute little clothes must have been hiding it.
“Are you still taking applications?” I ask.
“I wasn’t but…yeah. I mean you never know right? Just keep trying to the very end. Do you…know someone?”
“I do. And she really, really loves babies.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
“Does she have experience with kids?”
“Well, she’s a lot older than her brother and she basically raised him all by herself.”
“I like where this is going.”
“Me too,” I say.
“Is there anyway I can meet her? Maybe even get a face-to-face tonight if possible.”
I smile.
“Wait. You mean?”
I nod my head.
He looks at me in a different way. I can’t describe it, but there’s just something different about it.
“Do you maybe have time for a quick coffee?”
“I thought you’d never ask,” I say as I come up on my tiptoes slightly in excitement.