“Not good.”
“That stinks, doesn’t it? Do you have that heavy feeling in your tummy?” Sutton continued to stroke Ollie’s head but he’d already stopped crying. He was staring up at Sutton the same way we all were. “Yeah? I know that feeling. I get it, too. Feels like it’ll never go away if you don’t hit someone or something? At least that’s how I always felt when I was little. It was awful to feel like that, like there was a wild raccoon inside me and it was spittin’ mad.”
Charlie and Ollie both giggled at that image. Charlie’s shoulders even relaxed.
“A raccoon?”
Sutton put Ollie on his feet and rolled to her knees so she was closer to eye level with both kids. She took Ollie’s hand, too, and lowered her voice to a whisper.
“Yeah. An angry raccoon with no trash cans to play in. You want to know how I learned to scare that raccoon off? I went out in the woods by my house, woods just like these, and I screamed as loud as I could. I screamed so loud it scared that raccoon so bad that it peed its pants and ran off embarrassed.”
I’d once tried to comfort Charlie and she’d told me to fuck myself, so I was in awe as I watched the three of them giggling.
“Okay. On the count of three let’s scream so loud that Charlie’s angry raccoon gets so scared it pees its pants and even lets out a little toot as it scrambles out of here. Deal?”
Ollie cackled, his tears forgotten. “Deal!”
If I expected Sutton to half ass her scream, I was proven wrong when she counted to three and then joined the kids in screaming her head off. I flinched at the sound of them screaming and took a step back but then it was over and the three of them were giggling together like old friends.
Sutton turned those giant eyes on Charlie and I felt bad for the kid because as a grown man I felt the weight of those eyes like an anvil to the chest.
“Want to know my least favorite part of having an angry raccoon inside me? That little turd can’t and won’t apologize. SoIhave to. Since your raccoon can’t apologize to Ollie, Charlie, that leaves you to do it, doesn’t it?”
Charlie twisted her jaw back and forth for a few seconds and then looked at Ollie.
“Sorry.”
Ollie threw himself at her and hugged her tight.
“It’s okay, Charlie!”
CHAPTER 11
Sutton
I was already in love with Charlie and Ollie. I’d recognized the anger in Charlie immediately and, knowing the tiny amount I knew about how she’d ended up with Theo, I wasn’t surprised when she lashed out. I also wasn’t surprised when the three men watching us stiffened and all stepped forward like they were going to intervene. I’d probably overstepped my boundaries but if I was going to be their nanny, I needed to be able to resolve problems without their help. I also didn’t want to see how they handled Charlie’s anger. I remembered being her age and being so angry at my mom that it extended to Dad when he tried to calm me down.
I held my arms open to Charlie and grinned.
“Wanna hug and celebrate your win over that silly raccoon?”
She was hesitant to agree but when I didn’t immediately drop my arms she stepped into them and gave me the world’s fastest hug. Then she pulled back and crossed her arms. I glanced up to see the move was identical to the way Theo was standing.
“You’ll be our nanny?”
Theo had introduced me that way when she’d first scared the heck out of me. The question brought my attention back to the men around us and I blushed when I realized they were all three watching me intently. It was easier for me to forget they were there when I was tuned into the kids but looking at them brought me right back to my shy, awkward self.
“Um…I think I have to talk to these guys first.”
Ollie locked his arms around my neck, squeezing me until I felt like my face was being squished in an unfortunate way.
“You gotta stay, Sullie!”
“Let’s get back to the house. We have to talk to Sutton first, Ollie.” Dominic’s muscles flexed as he moved closer and gentlyscooped his son up. The gentleness was so at odds with the way he looked.
Charlie insisted on helping me stand, like she wasn’t tiny. I dusted my butt off as well as I could and ducked my head as my embarrassment over falling over caught up with me.
Leon insisted on turning me around and dusting the back of my thighs off, his hands warm and giant through the gauzy material of my skirt.
