Chapter One
Colton
I was never hiring a nanny again.
I would tell my boss that I couldn’t travel anymore. Or I would beg him to let me stay strictly behind the scenes, doing camera security work. Anything to avoid this panicky feeling that consumed me as I pulled off the highway onto my winding driveway.
The gravel crunched under my tires as I cranked the wheel, passing over the bridge without giving the frothing creek below even a backwards glance. For the hundredth time, I doubted whether I had made the right choice moving here.
I had only one thing on my mind. And as soon as I made sure she was safe, then I could breathe again. And then after I took a breath, maybe two, nanny was going to have to answer to me.
I didn’t think the truck was completely stopped before I was on my feet, striding up the short distance to the log cabin that I’d made my home for the past two years. My nine-year-old daughter, Sera, loved it here, and so after she’d been especially disappointed when I was gone for so long on my last job, I’d suggested she and a nanny stay here.
I hadn’t had time to interview the nanny, but when my ex-wife sent me her information, I’d run her name, Gia Cook, through the standard Lock and Key processes, and absolutely nothing had been flagged. I’d had to say okay. I had no real pushback, after all. And I was trying too hard to garner some trust with my ex-wife again. And my ex-wife had loved the woman.
I had been thrilled that for the first time in years, I hadn’t had to make these decisions on my own. That was until a few days ago, when Sera had called and mentioned that both she and the nanny had been sick that day. And while I’d managed to talk to Gia for a few moments, it had been clear that the woman was very ill. And Sera was only slightly better.
I had dropped everything, including my high-profile client, to race home. I would make sure that my daughter was okay, and this nanny could get healthy again and then get her out of our life. Because if she wasn’t able to tough it out for my daughter, then she couldn’t be trusted with her.
I suffered absolutely no fools. Not when it came to Sera.
I knocked on the door with my fist, not asking for entrance but warning that I was coming in. Running my fingertip across the keypad, the lock chirped a greeting as it unlocked. Chest tight, I stepped into the small living room, where a kids’ movie was running. Blankets were strewn across the sofa, and the lights were low, matching the stormy weather outside.
“Sera?” I didn’t stop myself from shouting. “Sera, where are you?”
A gasp, a flurry of footsteps, and then my daughter’s brilliant blonde hair appeared around the corner of the center staircase. “Dad! You really came!”
Relief coursed through my bloodstream as I leaned down. “Of course, baby.” Nothing would ever keep me from those I loved.
Sera grinned, front teeth still missing as she hurried down the hallway toward me. I held my arms wide, my eyes taking in her slightly crumpled blonde braids and the pajamas that she was still wearing well into the afternoon.
And I couldn’t even begin to dwell on how pale her face was, the dark circles under her eyes enough to send me into a rage. I held out my arms. “Come here, baby.”
Just as Sera broke into a jog, a sharp voice spoke out from behind her. “Sera, don’t!”
Fury pricked the backs of my eyes as I glared at the woman who stepped from the shadows. She was dressed in a pair of pajamas as well, a very familiar pair that was cinched high at her waist and dragged over the ground as she stepped into the light.
She was wearing my fucking pajamas.
I was going to lose my mind.
But then, just before Sera got to me, she seemed to slow down, her eyes going wide as the woman from behind her raced up, something in her hands. Something round and plastic, and… Oh, fuck.
A bucket.
“Breathe through your nose, baby,” Gia murmured, quickly catching up to where Sera now stood halfway between the kitchen and me. “Just like that.”
I was there in an instant, running an anxious hand over my daughter’s hair as she took a deep breath like Gia had instructed. “I’m sorry.” She hiccupped, pressing a hand to her belly. “I just got excited.”
“It’s okay,” Gia and I spoke at the same time, which made me only glare at her harder.
“Can you make it to the couch?” I realized now that I was so busy glaring at her that I’d missed that my daughter had managed to not gag again.
Gia spoke softly to Sera, her hands still running up and down her back soothingly.
I watched her hands for a moment, oddly transfixed by the bright-pink nails as they moved. They matched the enormous scrunchie that was holding her messy blonde bun and of course, the soft tank top that was barely holding in her breasts was pale pink as well.
She was Nanny Barbie. Fuck my life.
