Kyla:Are you?
Jo:Can confirm, the hot single dad gives good dick.
Molly:I knew it!
Jo:BUT I am now a member of Kyla’s club of the sexless.
Kyla:Temporarily sexless! Gavin will be home this weekend.
Tessa:Wait, so you aren’t banging the hotsingle dad?
Jo:It was a one-time thing. I’m the nanny now. And Derek has a strict no-banging-the-nanny rule.
Molly:I’ve read that book. The hot single dad always bangs the nanny in the end.
“You didn’t have to do that.”
Jo spun around at the sound of Derek’s deep voice, flinging her phone onto the sofa bed as though it had suddenly transformed into a giant spider, the really big, hairy kind. He leaned against the doorway to the living room, the sleeves of his once-crisp button-down rolled up over his thick, corded forearms. Amusement painted his features as her phone bounced across the bed and fell to the floor beside it with a muffled thunk.
“Hi!” she chirped. “That phoenix princess—wild, am I right? And don’t even get me started on the jaguar prince. Something fishy going on with him if you ask me. Probably in cahoots with the evil king. Is Annie asleep?”
Why was she babbling? Jo wasn’t the babbling type. She was the sassy, unflappable type.
Derek’s smirk widened. She wanted to press her tongue into the dimple on his cheek and kiss the grin right off his face.
“She’s asleep. I think the travel finally caught up with her.” He pushed off from the doorway and headed for the kitchen, pulling down wine glasses and retrieving a bottle of something white and likely expensive from the wine fridge under thecounter. No one put discount wine in a wine fridge.
He held an empty wine glass towards her in question, and Jo had to remind herself that this wasn’t a sexy offer. It was more of a we’re-both-here-and-I’m-not-going-to-drink-alone offer. But who was she to turn down a glass of fancy wine-fridge wine? She nodded, tugging on the hem of her sleep shorts that suddenly felt much shorter than she remembered.
As he handed her a glass, their fingertips brushed, electricity shooting up her arm, and she jerked away, the wine sloshing dangerously close to the rim of her glass. He huffed a laugh, warm and deep.
“I hope she wasn’t any trouble while I was gone.”
“None. I’m pretty sure you have the perfect kid.” He chuckled into his wine glass. Jo took a sip of her drink to hide the way his smile prompted her own. “She asked if we could go to yoga on the beach tomorrow morning. What seven-year-old wants to get up early to go to yoga?”
Derek sat on the loveseat next to the sofa bed. “She’s probably hoping Nico will be there. She doesn’t get to see him often, but those two are thick as thieves.”
“She said he got her a ghost hunting kit.” She perched on the edge of the sofa bed, tucking one leg up under her, her knee brushing against Derek’s. “She was bummed she didn’t pack it, but at the time she was more concerned with finding gold on the beach than hunting ghosts in the hotel.”
Derek shook his head, affection crinkling the corners of his eyes. “He’s the big brother she never had.” His eyes skated over her, then quickly darted away. “You don’t have to take her to yoga in the morning.”
“I don’t mind. I love yoga. ThoughI haven’t been to a class in a while.”
“Too many late nights bartending?”
Her smile twisted into something rueful. “Not enough decent tips. Yoga classes are expensive.”
She chanced a glance at him but looked away quickly, not wanting to see whatever pity had seeped into his expression. She didn’t need his pity. There were plenty of free yoga videos online, even if it wasn’t the same as going to a live class.
“It’s fine,” she said. “My last roommate moved out not long ago. Shacked up with a priest. Well, technically, now he’s an ex-priest. Either way. It’s great. I’m happy for them. But we were already down one roommate as it was, and now it’s just me.” She shrugged and pasted on a bright smile. Maybe she was the babbling type after all. “Money’s a little tighter these days.”
The corners of his lips tugged down. “Is that why you’re working three jobs?” At her confused expression, he continued. “I believe you called yourself a ‘model-slash-bartender-slash-babysitter extraordinaire’.”
“Variety is the spice of life.” She finished off her wine and set it down on the end table next to the loveseat. “But for the next three days, I’m all yours.”
Something hungry and dark flickered in his eyes. Desire coiled low in her belly, pulling tight as she remembered a similar look staring up at her from between her thighs the night before. His eyes trailed over her skin, lingering on theneckline of her camisole, painting the swell of her breasts and the dip of her waist with heat. She swayed towards him, but then he blinked, his face clearing, and swept up their empty glasses on his way into the kitchen, leaving her off balance and flushed, wobbling on the edge of the sofa bed.
“I hear the Hotel Bellwether puts on an excellent yoga class on the beach every morning, but you should tell my daughter that Nico won’t be there. His personal trainer will video call his hotel room so he can work out without fans posting pictures of his ass on the internet.” He set the empty glasses on the counter beside the sink and turned to face her, leaning against the granite countertop, hands braced behind him. “But you should go. If you want to. Annie can stay here with me.”