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I took a drink and watched as she sipped her beer. “Do you like beer?” I asked with a smirk because the facial expressions she was trying to avoid were sneaking through.

She laughed and said, “I’ve honestly never had it. I’m not much of a drinker, but since you were having one, I thought, why not?” I watched as her lips wrapped around the bottle. Fuck. I had to stop looking at her because I was imagining what her lips would look like wrapped around me.

We made small talk about the weather and work until our beers were finished, and I was glad for the distraction because I couldn’t keep my mind off her. Sure, I dated, and I would have the occasional hook-up, but it’d been a long while since I’d done either. The thought sent me into a slight panic, so I said, “I…. uh… think we better call it a night.” It’s not like I wanted her to leave. No, I didn’t, but I was worried that if she didn’t leave, I might flirt too much or say something stupid to make a fool of myself.

She hopped up. “Oh, I’m so sorry. I’ve taken up enough of your personal time.” She moved to set her drink on the counter.

Doing the same, we bumped into each other. I explained, “No…no… you’re not taking up my time. I just…” She looked up at me and her lips parted. “I know it’s getting late and if I don’t go to sleep, I’ll be dead tomorrow when Ada wakes me up at the butt crack of dawn.” Ada. Keep thinking about Ada.

“Yeah, of course. Thanks again for everything, Dean. What you did for me tonight meant so much to me. I’m still sorry you had to do it, but I am grateful.” She grabbed my bicep as she moved to pass me. It sent fucking chills up my neck and made my scalp tingle. Her touch was soft and graceful, like the day I shook it in her interview.

As she passed, I said, “Eliana,” and grabbed her hand.

The intake of breath I could hear from her made me pause before saying, “I’m glad you’re here. I’ll see you on Monday. Drive safe.”

We looked down at our hands together. She said, “Night, Dean,” and walked out the front door where I followed to watch her leave.

After I closed the door behind her, I leaned against the wall, I stared at the ceiling trying to imagine being with her. Holding her. Running my hands all over her curvy body, hearing her light moans beneath me. “You don’t even know her, Dean. It’s been two days,” I said aloud to no one. Monday was going to arrive well before I was ready, so I went to bed thinking about her.

Chapter 11

Eliana

One Month Later

It’d been a month already since I started nannying and Dean and I had been skirting around each other ever since the Fall Fest. In fact, it felt like he was either ignoring me or being a grump ass on purpose. I wondered if there were any more Fall Fests we could go to because what the fuck, I thought. I kept wondering, what happened to the Dean from that night? We had a charged moment before I left. I felt it when he grabbed my hand, and I knew he felt it too, but I had no idea what happened after that. All I knew was that I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about him. I’d caught him staring at me, but he quickly looked away and he never said anything.

In the short month that I’d been Ada’s nanny, she was doing so well. I’d taken her to playdates, and her socializing skills had become excellent. She was mindful of her manners and got along well with everyone she met… mostly.

I’d taken Ada to the park so she could play with some of the other kids. Sitting on the bench, I watched as she ran around and laughed. After turning my head for two seconds to grab my ChapStick out of my bag, I heard a child crying. I could hear Ada too. My eyes darted in the direction of her voice. She said, “You’re not a boss of me. My daddy is a boss of me.” Just then, a boy pushed her, making her fall and she started crying.

I hopped up and ran to her, telling her, “Ada, come here, let me see.”

Ada protested, “He pushed me. I didn’t do nothing. He bossed me.”

“I know, baby.” She’d scraped her knee. “Come here.” Picking her up, I turned and looked at the kid standing with his mother and said, “I think you owe Ada an apology.”

His mother chirped with her annoyingly high-pitched voice, “My son doesn’t need to apologize. She does. She should’ve listened.”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. “She should’ve listened? Excuse me? Not listening doesn’t give your son the right to put his hands on her.”

The mother stuck her nose in the air and snapped, “Well, maybe if she had a mother to teach her how to listen and do as she’s told, she wouldn’t get pushed.”

I was livid. “You’re teaching your son violence towards girls is the answer to a girl or woman not listening? You should remember that he might be someone’s husband one day. Someone’s daughter is going to be the recipient of what you’re fostering here.” I started to walk away but turned back around again and said, “And don’t ever comment about something you know nothing about. She has plenty of maternal figures in her life. Clearly, having a mother has made no difference for your son.”

She gasped, but I didn’t give her time to respond before I turned and took Ada to the car to go home. I was so angry and thought, Dumb bitch. When I put Ada in her seat, I looked at her knee, it was bleeding. “Are you okay?”

She nodded and said, “It’s stingy.”

I made a sad face, “I know. Let’s get you home and cleaned up. How about some ice cream? You were so brave back there and I’m so proud of you for standing your ground.”

“What does that mean?”

Smiling, I said, “It means, no one is the boss of you. People can ask you nicely to do something. If you don’t have bad manners, and aren’t being mean, you have every right to tell someone no and that they aren’t the boss of you.”

Ada nodded. “My daddy is the boss.”

Laughing, I tickled her, making her laugh, and said, “That’s right, your daddy is the boss! Come on, let’s go home. We need ice cream.”