As I stood there, watching, the contrast of what Kennedy refused to give my son versus what a stranger was willing to offer blew my fucking mind. Moving carefully, I went to lift EJ from her lap, and her eyes popped open – alert and protective.
“It’s me. Y’all good,” I said gently, my words matching her demeanor.
The recognition set in, as she blinked slowly. “Oh, shit,” she whispered. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to fall asleep.” Still holding onto EJ, she sat up straight.
“You good. Let me put him in bed real quick.” Careful not to wake him, I lifted EJ from her lap.
“Okay.”
EJ’s room was cleaner than I’d left it earlier. The toy cars and wrestling figures that littered the floor were put away, and his mini library was organized by book size. I nodded my appreciation while tucking him in. Pulling the comforter over his little body, I dimmed the light and headed back out front.
Back in the living room, I caught Thyri mid-stretch. The sweater she had on lifted just enough to expose her small back. Shit looked soft as hell. I could see the remnants of stretch marks that had faded away over time on her brown skin. It was sexy, real woman shit that I admired. Not in a lust filled, “I wanna fuck you” kinda way but in appreciation of her motherhood.
Dropping her hands, she turned slowly, and we locked eyes. She tilted her head to the side a little, and her mouth formed a sly grin, like she’d caught me staring.
“Everything okay?”
“Yeah. Preciate you holding it down. I see what you did in the room too. Thank you.”
“Oh,” she smiled, “you mean whatwedid in the room? He gave me a little pushback about cleaning at first, but I turned clean up time into a game, and he got on board. The only other competitive two-year-old I’ve ever encountered is my son when he was that age. Anything he didn’t want to do or gave me a hard time about, I made it into a game. Worked like a charm.”
“That’s another thing I may be responsible for. We’re both competitive. Unlike some parents, I don’t let him win everything because of his size or his age. Ain’t no pity wins over here. We’re building character. Training him to be solid.”
“Love that for him. Kids need that, especially boys. Oh, and dinner was a hit, just like the oatmeal.” She patted herself on the back. “I put the leftovers away. Umm, I didn’t give him a shower.Didn’t know how you felt about that just yet. We did brush his teeth though.”
I nodded. “I respect that. I’m cool with it so long as he is.”
She checked the time on her watch and yawned. “Welp, it’s late, and I think my job is done here for tonight. I’m gonna head…”
“No,” I said. “You’re staying the night.”
“Who?” she questioned with a raised brow.
“You,” I confirmed, not knowing where the sudden urge to want to keep her around came from.
“Umm, I know today was successful and all, but you do know you can’t hold me hostage, right?”
I chuckled lowly. “I ain’t tryna hold you hostage, shorty. It’s late, and there’s a snowstorm headed our way.”
“Damn, really?”
“Yeah.”
“I can get a hotel for the night.” She hesitated. “I don’t think it’s appropriate for me to spend the night, Enzo.”
“I wasn’t asking you to stay, Thyri. I’m insisting. I’ll pull both of our cars into the garage. Make sure you check in on KJ.”
I left her in the living room and walked off to the back to reset the guest bedroom.Did I just force my nanny to spend the night?I thought. I didn’t know what came over me. All I knew was I couldn’t unring the bell. Didn’t want to. Fuck it.
I went to pull the sheets off the bed when my phone rang in my pocket. Pulling it out, Aura’s name flashed on the screen. He was the one person you didn’t want to talk to after having made a split decision that was out of character. I knew this nigga would give me hell. And for a minute, I started to ignore the call but said fuck it. I was a grown ass man. I didn’t have to explain shit to nobody. Besides, if Thyri was on fuck shit, I’d put a hole in her pretty little forehead.
“What’s good, nigga?”
“I meant to tell you this shit earlier. I put my ear to the streets to see if your nanny was in ‘em.”
Laughing, I shook my head.“I’m not surprised. You know I handled that myself, right?”
“Yeah. I know you just as thorough as me. But what’s better than two eyes? Four, right?”
