“Nothing,” I said, waving away my stupid joke. “My ex-roommate liked old ‘80s movies.” (God, I sure was racking up those exes).
The cloud of confusion opened into a wide smile, and he said, “Oh, right. Three Men and a Baby.”
“Three babies, in your case.”
“I guess so.” Relief smoothed the edges of his light laugh. “And I’m hoping you’ll seriously consider the position.”
My hesitation leaned more and more toward accepting the job offer, but right before I could say anything, a loud crash rang through the house. The girls’ shrill laughter and screaming followed, punctuated with the pounding of their little feet zooming around.
I met Ethan’s gaze, which instantly turned urgent. “Fifty-thousand a week.”
“What?” I blurted out, barely able to contain my shocked laugh. I couldn’t tell which one of us had just suffered a mild stroke.
“You heard me.” He pulled out his check book and scribbled the first fifty to show he meant what he’d said. “I’ll add a generous bonus for anything over and above the regular duties.”
Fifty-thousand dollars a week? Talk about the miracle that would solve all my problems. I wouldn’t even need a bonus.
My resistance started to dissolve exponentially, and Liv’s voice in my head helped it along. This was just a detour.
I couldn’t wait to tell her how this random detour would end up being so much more than a roof over my head.
“I’ll take it,” I said, and rose from my chair, hand outstretched.
Ethan stood up and shook it. “Can you start immediately?”
“Of course.” We moved toward the door to his office, him falling easily in step beside me. “I’ll be here first thing tomorrow morning.”
“Um, that’s not what I meant.”
I gave him a puzzled smile as I opened the door, but didn’t get to ask for an explanation. Because the tug of war anchor was standing there, looking ridiculous with a green suckerdangling from his hair. In the background, the girls’ laughter and shrieking was still going strong.
“For the love of God, don’t go,” he said, desperate urgency swimming in his deep brown eyes.
4
Ethan
“For the love of God, don’t go.” Miles looked and sounded the way I felt.
Luckily, I fared better when it came to keeping up appearances. Even with the bar for dignity on the floor, this woman was still a stranger and I still wanted her to think there was some semblance of control here. However delusional that made me.
The noise from inside ricocheted down the hall like merry explosions. Something that sounded like a shoe hit the wall, followed by Adrian’s muttering about manners in enclosed spaces. In the middle of it all, Maren stood in the doorway with myself on one side of it and Miles on the other. I noticed the way he tried to look composed while discreetly yanking at the sucker in his hair. He had a way about him in the presence of a beautiful woman. Like a switch would get flipped. I’d seen it in action and more often than not, he left me impressed.
Now though, the result was more tragic than anything else.
Maren’s gaze shifted between us. Calculating. “I, uh, I wasn’t expecting to start right away in the literal sense.”
“It’s often the things we least expect that end up surprising us in the most incredible ways.” Ever the charmer, Miles flashed a grin that was meant to be disarming. With that sucker bumping into his forehead, he just looked insane.
Maren took it in her stride. “Great line. Sounds like you’ve been working on that one for a while.”
I stifled a laugh. She had balls, that was for sure. Miles feigned offense, but that grin didn’t move, which told me he was particularly delighted with her attention too.
“Listen, I get this might seem a little sudden and—”
“Desperate?” She quirked one perfect brow, and my heart stuttered in place.
I swallowed back the urge to make a fool of myself. Any more than I had been, anyway. “Why don’t we talk about it some more over coffee? I just brought in the most amazing dark roast from Algeria.”
