“Since we’re discussing things we don’t like, I don’t like you ignoring me. It doesn’t create the best work environment since I care for your children.”
“I don’t like you filling my children with junk food and telling them they can watch a movie I haven’t approved. So Iguess we both have things we’re going to have to learn how to manage.”
“Guess so.”
I assume that means he’s going to continue to avoid and ignore me. But why? Because I think I’m doing a good job. I mean, I’m not perfect. I make mistakes. A lot of mistakes. Like, if you don’t make sure Zayer is actually down for his nap, he’ll get up and leave his room. Honestly, I think the boy is done with naps for how long it takes to get him down. Or if Phaedra’s school outfit isn’t perfect or if her breakfast isn’t just so or if her school backpack isn’t set just right, then she has a rough day at school. I wonder if she has a bit of PTSD, because control and predictability are comforts to her. A hundred guesses on why. And Sabrina’s mind and body are always going, so if she’s not constantly stimulated in some way, she gets cranky or seeks out trouble.
But all of these things are learning curves. Things perhaps their father could have told me if he were ever to speak to me.
The timer goes off on my phone, signaling the cookies are done. Dragging myself away from the king, I slip on oven mitts and pull the trays out of the oven, transferring the cookies that look and smell incredible onto a plate.
“Can we have one now, Papa?”
“After supper,” he tells Phaedra.
The gloves drop back on the counter after the last cookie is moved and then I attack the mess, making sure everything is cleaned up. “How about we go get washed up?” I breeze past Sebastian and take Sabrina’s hand. I pull Zayer from his arms and go to leave. But I make another mistake. This one far more costly than any of the others I’ve committed so far.
I turn and glance back over my shoulder.
Our gazes lock. His glacial blue-gray eyes are somehow warmer than before as they stare, a smolder that breathes heatand life into dormant crevices within me. I want to melt into him. Dissolve.
His pupils round as tension crackles between us, followed by a palpable silence. I can’t tell what he’s thinking. He’s perfected the art of hiding his emotions. I only wish I had the same skill set. Just one look from him does terrible things to me. Especially when he runs a hand through his hair and a finger across his bottom lip, all without removing his eyes from me.
I stifle a sound. I wonder if he has any clue how unfairly handsome he is.
Plus, I can’t deny I like the flirting. Both giving and receiving. It’s the best high I’ve had in too long.
Sabrina jerking on my arm tugs me out of the spell I’m under. But it’s too late. The damage is done. For the first time since stepping foot in this palace, I wonder if curses are real. Only this curse is on me and no one else.
Because I might have a small, misplaced thing for my boss. And I have zero clue what the fuck I’m going to do about it.
10
SEBASTIAN
She almost caught me staring at her ass. If she had turned back a half-second before, that’s all it would have taken. Then what would I have done? I know what I wanted to do, and therein lies the problem.
We ate supper and afterward binged on cookies, which were spectacular, and now it’s popcorn while watching the movie in the theater room. Althea joined us, and I see Emily popping her head in every now and then, too.
But as everyone watches the film, laughing at the green ogre on the screen, I can’t tear my eyes away from her. Bellamy.
The way she smiles so brightly and uninhibitedly. Her laughter, just as loud and infectious as the children’s. Zayer is on my lap, thank God. Having him here keeps my dick under control. It hasn’t even been a week, and yet everything in my palace revolves around her.
I’ve done my best to avoid her. I’ve done my best to rein in my temper and hold my tongue. All fucking week, that’s what I’ve done. I dealt with Samil. With the members of parliament. They’re all finally gone, and all I wanted was a break. Somepeace and quiet so I could go into tomorrow and actually relax with my children while managing to smile.
But Bellamy outsmarted me.
She got me to smile. She got me to laugh. She filled my heart with the sweetest of pains to the point where my chest pinched. I can’t remember the last time I did something as simple as watch a movie and eat junk food with my children. They’re having the best time, forgetting all the harsh realities of their world as they should, and it’s all because of her.
A woman I doubted and questioned, but I’m starting to believe my children knew something I didn’t from the very start. I want to hate her simply for the reason that she challenges me and doesn’t care about respecting my crown. I want to hate her for being so fucking beautiful that all I want to do is look at her all the damn time.
She’s not their mother and she never will be, but I hadn’t considered her making it here as their nanny. Hadn’t given any real thought to her living under my roof with any permanence. How will I survive if she stays? It’s only been a week. Months would kill me.
Lusting after the nanny is the worst sort of cliché, and fucking her is not an option. My children are falling in love with her, and I could never risk them losing that for something as selfish as my own desires. They’ve already lost enough.
It’s more than that, though.
There’s the curse to consider. The monster that breeds madness in my mind is like a living, breathing nightmare I can’t escape.
