Chapter Two
Lucas
With the household still asleep and the sun rising over the ocean, I shift back and forth in my office chair. The wheels squeal under my weight, and I wince, not wanting to wake anyone just yet, as I go over the events of last night.
I glance out the open window and listen to the surf on the shore below but can’t seem to shake the feeling that Piper had no idea she was here to babysit Maddie. But that can’t be right. A couple of months ago, when Alyssa called to tell me she was moving to Antigua, we discussed Maddie and her need for a caregiver while Eugenie, her regular nanny, took a much-needed vacation with her husband.
With a degree in child psychology and numerous years of experience under her belt, Eugenie, an old family friend of my in-laws, came out of retirement as a favor to me to care for Maddie. I can only hope that with enough time she’ll be able to bring my little girl out of her shell and back to me.
Piper, however… Well, she’s no Nanny Eugenie. In more ways than one.
Stop fantasizing about the new nanny, already.
Caralho.
I tap my fingers on my keyboard, unable to concentrate on the open program in front of me. Not when sexy Piper Young is snuggled in one of the guest rooms upstairs, ready to take on an assignment I’m pretty sure I’d just sprung on her.
Why did she agree? Why didn’t she just come right out and explain the mix-up?
Maybe there isn’t a mix-up. Maybe I’m just thrown off by the hot new nanny. It’s been a long time since my dick jumped like it was hooked up to a bunch of electrodes.
I toy with my phone then punch in the number for Alyssa, needing to get to the bottom of matters. A few minutes later, her sleepy voice answers. Shit, I didn’t stop to think she’s an hour behind me and might still be in bed.
“Hey, Alyssa. It’s Lucas. I didn’t mean to wake you.”
“Is Maddie okay?” she asks, her voice rising.
“Yes, she’s fine,” I reassure her quickly, and her breath of relief comes over the phone. “It’s just that Piper…she showed up yesterday.”
“And?” she asks, a new lilt to her voice.
“She’s a lovely girl.”
“A lovely girl?” When she gives a very unladylike snort, I wonder what happened to my sweet cousin, who always used to walk the straight and narrow. Now she’s practicing medicine in Antiqua and living with two men. I don’t have a problem with that. I just wonder what it was that made her stand up to her family and live the life she wanted to live.
“Lucas, you sound like you’re a hundred-year-old man with one foot in the grave.”
“I’m twenty-nine and very much alive, thank you.” But I thought “lovely girl” was safer than telling my cousin her best friend is as hot as fucking hell. I haven’t thought about sex in a very long time, and I definitely shouldn’t start with Piper. Lusting over the nanny is wrong.
Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.
“You’re far from alive, Lucas.” Her voice is soft this time, sympathetic. “Jenny’s been gone a while. I just want to see you happy again.”
My stomach clenches as I rake my hands through my hair, not wanting to rehash this conversation with my cousin. Yes, she cares, I get it. But I don’t deserve happiness, or happily ever after. Not after the tragic way Jenny died—thanks to me.
I might not have been directly responsible for the accident, but she was in that car because of me. If only I hadn’t gone into the office that day.
As guilt eats at me, I redirect the conversation. “I get the feeling Piper didn’t know she was here to babysit.” I wait for a response, and when none comes, my gut tightens. “Alyssa. What have you done?”
“Well…” she begins.
I pinch the bridge of my nose, the ache in my jaw sliding to my temple and giving me a headache. When she doesn’t continue, I say, “Well, what?”
“Fine, it’s like this. Two years ago, we all put our names in a hat and secretly drew one. I picked Piper’s name.”
I shake my head, having no idea where she’s going with this. “And?”
“And on the month of her twenty-fifth birthday, I was responsible for sending her a dossier for an epic vacation.”
“An epic vacation? You thought babysitting for me would be epic for her?”
“Well, not exactly. I knew you needed a nanny, and I figured while she was in Brazil, she could have a good time, if you know what I mean.”
“Of course, I know what a good time means. I’m not a hundred fucking years old like you think,” I say. No, I’m a twenty-something, red-blooded male who suddenly can’t stop thinking about sex—even more so now that Alyssa has told me why Piper is really here.
“Good, then introduce her to one or two of your hot guy friends. Part of the pact is that we don’t go home until we’ve had epic sex.”
“Are you serious?”
A man’s voice sounds in the background, then a slap rings in my ears. “Cut it out. I’m on the phone with my cousin,” Alyssa warns, but it’s followed by a giggle. Another man’s voice sounds, and I shake my head. I seriously do not want to know what’s going on in her bed right now.
I take a second to sort through everything she told me. “So, when you went to Antigua—”
“Yeah, I was sent here by the friend who drew my name. She was responsible for everything, right down to the clothes in my suitcase and the villa where I stayed and met the two most wonderful guys who—”
“Never mind.” I hold my hand up to stop her, even though she can’t see me. “I don’t need the details.”
“Be sure to set her up with someone who will make it epic for her, Lucas.” Another giggle, followed by another slap.
“I gotta go.”
“Have fun,” she says before the line goes dead.
Have fun? What the hell was fun? Life had been anything but after Jenny’s death. Maddie isn’t speaking, and all I do is drown myself in my work to avoid people and push down the guilt.
A swooshing sound at my door gains my attention, and I spin around to see Piper’s backside sliding past the archway.
“Piper?”
She slowly inches back, and that’s when I see her—really see her.
My dick stands up to greet her, and I nearly bite off my tongue.
Three weeks of pure torture. Yeah, that’s how this is all going to play out.
She winds a long strand of chestnut hair around her finger and shifts from one foot to the other. “Sorry, I wasn’t trying to eavesdrop. I didn’t expect anyone to be up. My system is all messed up from flying and the time change.”
“It’s fine.” I crook my finger and focus on the screen in front of me, anything to keep my eyes off the sexy, mid-thigh-length nightie hugging her curves. She obviously didn’t expect to run into me, otherwise I can’t imagine she’d be rushing around the house in something so…barely there. Then again, she wasn’t responsible for packing her own clothes.
Thank you, Alyssa.
Wait, what the fuck am I saying? I think of rain, the ocean, my backyard pool. Anything wet to help quench the flames inside me. Shit, that’s not working because now I’m thinking of other things that are wet.
Caralho.
I clear my throat. “Come on in.”
“Was that…Alyssa?”
I gesture to one of the two chairs on the other side of my desk, and when she sits, her short nightie rides up her thighs. Great. Just great. I try to look away. I really do. But I’m a man, and this woman is all kinds of sexy.
I nod. “She told me about the pact.”
A hint of pink crawls into Piper’s cheeks. “What did she tell you?”
“About the dossier, the adventure. Epic sex.”
Epic sex.
I briefly pinch my eye shut as I’m bombarded with images of Piper in my bed, her long hair sprawled on my pillow, not the pillow of one—or two—of my friends. “That she’s responsible for packing your bag.” Unable to help myself, I let my gaze slide from her face, tripping over her beautiful breasts on the way to her long, sexy legs. If Alyssa planned for Piper to stay with me the entire time, why pack such sexy sleepwear? Obviously, I’d see her in it sooner or later, right? Wait!
Have fun.
Son of a bitch. I’m going to fucking kill her.
“Oh my God. How embarrassing,” Piper murmurs, her hands going to her face.
“Hey.” I push from my seat and cross my desk, dropping into the chair beside her. “Don’t be embarrassed. We’re adults. It’s fine.” She tugs at the hem of her nightie, but it doesn’t budge. “One thing isn’t fine, though.”
“What’s that?”
“You weren’t expecting to babysit Maddie.”
Her big blue eyes go wide, and she places her hand on my knee. I stiffen at the contact, and she pulls her hand away quickly. “Sorry.”
I take a fast breath as sexual tension arcs between us. “No, I’m sorry. I just… I haven’t been…”
“Touched?” she asks quietly.
My cock throbs at the softness in her voice, the way her gaze is dropping. I brace my elbows on my knees to hide my erection, but it’s too little too late. The nanny is well aware of my hard-on. “Yeah, I haven’t been touched in a long time,” I admit.
She shakes her head, and her curls tumble over her shoulders. “I won’t do it again.”
“I’m not saying…” Shit, what am I not saying? That she shouldn’t do it again? That she should? “So, about you babysitting,” I say. “I can find someone else. I’ve had other offers, actually. The neighborhood. Women. I just didn’t—”
“No, I’m here, staying in your home,” she says, cutting off my rambling. “Taking care of your daughter is the least I can do. Besides, I’ll still have my evenings to myself, right?”
“Yeah. Ah, about that. Alyssa asked me to set you up with one or two of my friends.”
Her face goes bright pink this time, and she tugs at her nightie harder. “I’m going to kill her.”
This makes me laugh because we’re definitely on the same page now. “I won’t do anything you don’t want me to do, Piper.”
As soon as the words leave my mouth, her gaze meets mine and punches the wind right of my lungs. I know I haven’t been with a woman in a long time, but fuck, if I’m right, and I think I am, I’d say the warmth in her cheeks, the sensual way her gaze is sweeping over me, alludes to all the things she does want me to do to her.
But sleeping with the nanny is wrong.
Right?