Page 55 of His Surrender

For the first time since Liana entered my life, I don’t feel like everything has changed.

It still feels normal.

Maybe becoming a father doesn’t mean losing everything that came before. It simply means adding someone new to it.

A bedroom door clicks open down the hallway. My eyes lift instinctively.

Aubrey walks into the kitchen, wearing loose gray pajama pants, patterned with tiny white stars, and an oversize Ohio State sweatshirt, her dark hair pulled into a messy bun.

She rummages through the pantry for a minute before turning around.

“Oh.” Her eyes widen ever so slightly when she realizes everyone is staring at her. “Uh, hello.”

Sawyer grins from the couch. “Hey, Aubrey.”

“Hi.” She offers him a polite smile before looking at the rest of the room.

I set my drink down and stand. “Guys, this is Aubrey. She’s Liana’s nanny. Aubrey, these are my friends. This is Lincoln and Kylie. Roman and Eva. Walker and Jessie. Colton and Melissa. You’ve met Sawyer, and this is his girlfriend, Kayla.”

A chorus of hellos fills the room.

“It’s nice to meet all of you,” Aubrey says with a shy smile.

“I’ll let you all get back to your night.” With a granola bar in her hand, she starts heading back toward the hallway.

“You don’t have to.” The words are already out before I can think better of it.

She pauses. “What?”

“You can stay.”

The room goes strangely quiet.

I clear my throat. “I mean … if you want. You’ve spent all day taking care of Liana.” I shrug awkwardly. “It might be nice for you to relax for a while.”

Aubrey’s expression softens. For a second, I actually think she’s going to say yes.

Instead, she walks over until she’s standing in front of me. “That’s really sweet.”

She places her hand lightly against the center of my chest. The warmth of her palm seeps straight through my sweater. Every muscle in my body goes completely still, and the room disappears. The only thing I can feel is the gentle pressure of her hand resting over my heartbeat.

I struggle for a response as my chin dips to look at her hand, still resting on me.

Her eyes flick down. “Oh.” Color floods her cheeks. “I’m …” She pulls her hand back so quickly that it’s as if she touched a hot stove. “I’m sorry. You enjoy your friends. I’ll be perfectly happy, curled up with my book.”

Before I can respond, she offers the room one last embarrassed smile and disappears down the hallway.

Her bedroom door clicks shut.

I slowly let out the breath I apparently forgot to take.

What just happened?

My body’s reaction to the warmth of her touch is foreign to me. It was like someone instantly turned the temperature up 400 degrees.

I turn back toward my seat and notice everyone watching me with eyebrows raised in curiosity.

Roman breaks the silence. “So”—he drags the word out— “you’ve got the hots for your nanny.”