Page 2 of Knot The Nanny We Planned

"Easy for you to say," I whisper. "You're not the one who just… " I gesture vaguely at myself, at the evidence of my body's betrayal that every person in this room can scent. "You're not the one who…"

"Who what?" Knox takes another step closer, and now he's close enough to touch. He tilts his head, his nose brushing the curve of my neck, and inhales deeply. A shudder runs through his entire body. "Who got wet for three men she just met? Who's dripping right now, wondering what it would feel like if we bent her over the nearest surface and took turns?"

"Knox." This time it's Deklan who speaks, and his voice is a blade. He's still against the far wall, but his scowl has deepened into something dark and dangerous. "She's here for a job. Not for your games."

"Who says they're games?" Knox murmurs, but he pulls back. His green eyes find mine, and there's something in them that's not just hunger, there's curiosity. There's want. Real want. The kind that goes deeper than biology. "She feels it too, Deklan. Don't pretend you don't."

Deklan says nothing, but his jaw tightens, and his dark eyes flick to me, just for a second, before looking away. But in that second, I see it. The flash of hunger, raw and unguarded, before he locks it down behind that wall of grumpy indifference.

He feels it too.

The realization crashes over me like a wave. All three of them. Whatever this is, this electric, impossible pull, it's not one-sided. They're drawn to me the same way I'm drawn to them. The honey-vanilla of my scent is calling to them, and their pine-smoke-cedar is calling to me, and the air between us is so charged with pheromones that I can barely think straight.

But I have to think straight. I have to.

"I need to understand what's happening," I say, and I'm surprised by how steady my voice sounds when my entire body is trembling. "The agency, they said this was a nanny position. They said you needed someone to care for a child. They didn't say anything about…" I gesture between the four of us. "About this."

JD's expression doesn't change, but something shifts behind his eyes. Something almost vulnerable.

"There is no 'this,'" he says, his voice carefully controlled. "Not intentionally. The agency matches based on compatibility, temperament, and skills. Whatever you're feeling right now, it wasn't something we requested or expected."

"But you're feeling it," I say. It's not a question.

JD is quiet for a beat. Then two. His black eyes hold mine, and I watch the muscle in his jaw tick as he grinds his teeth.

"Yes," he finally says. The word is dragged out of him like it costs him something. "I'm feeling it."

"Good God," Knox breathes, and when I glance at him, his grin has softened into something almost awed. "It's real. The scent-match, it's actually real. All three of us." He runs a hand through his golden hair, and for the first time, the cocky Alpha facade cracks. Underneath it, he looks stunned. "I only agreed to this because JD wouldn't shut up about it."

"The child needs a nanny," JD says firmly, as if trying to anchor the conversation back to reality. "That's why we used the service. That's why you're here. Everything else, " His gaze drops to my mouth, lingers, then forces its way back to my eyes. "Everything else can be managed."

Managed. The word lands like a stone in my chest. Of course. Manage it. Suppress it. Pretend that the air isn't thick with want, that my thighs aren't slick, that every instinct in my body isn't screaming at me to let them take me, claim me, make me theirs.

You're a nanny, I remind myself. You're here to do a job. You're not here to fall into bed with your employers.

But my omega biology doesn't care about job descriptions.

"If you want to leave," Deklan says from his wall, his voice still flat and cold, "no one will stop you. The elevator is right there." He nods toward the doors still open behind me. "We'll find someone else."

Something sharp twists in my chest at his words. ‘Find someone else’. The thought of another omega in this space, breathing their air, catching their scent- it makes something primal and ugly rear up inside me. Possessiveness. Jealousy. Over men I met three minutes ago.

This is insane.

But I don't step back into the elevator.

I look at JD, steady, controlled, his massive frame practically vibrating with the effort of holding himself back. I look at Knox, golden and wicked, his green eyes burning with a heat that makes my toes curl inside my worn sneakers. I look at Deklan, dark and distant, his scowl hiding something that flickers in his eyes every time he lets himself look at me.

Three men. Three scents. One impossible match.

"I'm not leaving," I say, and I watch all three of them react, JD's sharp inhale, Knox's slow smile, and Deklan's barely perceptible nod. "I'm here for the job. I'm here for, " I swallow hard. "What's the child's name?"

For a moment, no one speaks. Then Deklan pushes off the wall, and something in his expression cracks, just barely, just enough.

"Lily," he says quietly. "She's two. She's… " His voice catches, and he clears his throat roughly. "She was my sister's. Mara's."

Was. The past tense hangs in the air like smoke.

"I'm sorry," I say softly. "About your sister."