Her hands immediately find her hips, and I try like hell not to laugh at how similar she looks to my daughter a moment ago.
“I absolutelyampaying to stay here, Niko. I’m no freeloader.”
Pushing off from the wall, I take a couple steps with this damn crutch until I’m inches from Sadie. We’re so close I can see her chest heaving up and down as she struggles to stay calm. I inhale, breathing in her intoxicating lavender scent, and, before I can stop myself, I’m reaching out to tuck one of the purple strands of hair that has come loose from her ponytail behind her ear.
She sucks in a sharp breath but I don’t retreat. I hold my ground and stare.
“Sadie. You’ll be caring for my daughter. The most important, precious person on this earth. There’s no way in hell I’m taking a dime from you. What you’ll be doing for me is invaluable. The least I can do is offer you a place to stay. For free.”
We stay locked in the moment, neither of us daring to look away, until finally she throws her hands up in defeat.
“Fine! But you’renotpaying me.”
Like hell I’m not.
I open my mouth to argue with her again, but she holds her hand up in my face. “Nope. Don’t even try, Niko. I didn’toffer to help you so I could get another paycheck. If you try to pay me, I’ll hide the money in your shoes or something.”
Her defiance has me flaring my nostrils, fighting the urge to bend her over my knee and let her know exactly who’s in charge here. Stunned by the inappropriate thought, I take a step back, creating some much needed distance.
This woman has me all out of sorts. Why the hell am I imagining myself spanking her? I’ve never even done that with a woman before. But my god, I can’t think straight around her. Sadiedoes somethingto me. I’ve never felt anything like this.
Instead of flashing lights, warning me away from the danger that is Sadie, I feel the opposite. I’m excited. I’m turned on. And I want to do things with her, to her, that I never even dreamed of doing before.
Sadie’s eyes shoot down to where my excitement is clearly visible for all to see.
Motherfucker.
I turn around abruptly, running my hand down my face. “We’ll discuss everything later. I need to get to the arena to meet the trainers.” I awkwardly adjust myself, but it’s no use. There’s no hiding what she does to me. Not in these pants.
“Fine,” she says. It’s less defiant than two minutes ago, but I still detect sass in her tone.
Before I make a bigger fool of myself, I turn slightly, shielding my front but looking at her. “Sophia’s schedule is on the fridge in the main house. I’ll have my phone on me so text if you need anything. I shouldn’t be gone more than a few hours.”
Sadie nods, and I take that as my okay to leave.
Sophia is making shadows on the wall in the living room. I use the crutch as support and lean down to give her a kiss on the top of the head. “Be good for Miss Sadie. I love you.”
“Bye, Daddy. Love you.”
I make my way to the door that leads to the garage, berating myself for acting like an ass in front of Sadie. Notonly does she work for the team, but now she works for me. There’s no way in hell I’m not paying her for being here. I’m going to have to figure out how to get her to agree to that. I also need to figure out how to keep it in my goddamn pants and not let something like that happen again.
Just as I’m closing the door behind me, I hear her voice.
“Ready, sweetheart?”
The adoration in her voice when she speaks to my daughter has my heart picking up speed yet again. My body’s reaction to Sadie is starting to really piss me off. I’ve just agreed to have her take care of my daughter. I can’t be having these thoughts.
I slam the door of my SUV shut and back out of the garage with only one thought on my mind.
I am so fucking screwed.
“All right, Niko. Last thing we’re going to do on the table is a round of stim.” Sloane cleans off my knee then attaches the pads so they’re surrounding the area where my pain is the worst. “This is going to send electrical impulses to stimulate your nerves and hopefully block or help with the pain.”
I put my hands behind my head and close my eyes. “This isn’t my first rodeo, Doc.”
Sloane smacks my arm. “I forgot you’re getting old and need this like once a month.”
“Ooh, burn!” Connor’s voice floats through the air, but I don’t bother chirping back. I hear him take a seat on the training table next to me but keep my eyes closed. If I don’t look at him, maybe he won’t interrogate me about the whole Sadie situation. God knows I’m not ready to talk about that just yet. Not after what happened this morning.
