“Daddy, look! I got hair chalk too. It’s exactly like I wished for.” Annie held her braids high above her head, revealing hot pink undersides. “Isn’t it beautiful, Daddy?”
“Very beautiful.” Derek tugged lightly on Jo’s hair before releasing the strands, a visible shiver moving through her.
“I have an idea.” Kat clapped her hands together and turned to Annie, barely biting back her grin. “Why don’t you and I have a girls’ night, just the two of us, and we let Jo and your dad go to bed early?”
He wanted to protest, but there was no denying the hunger that hummed through his veins at the idea of having the whole cottage to themselves for the night. It was a horrible idea and went against every one of his rules. But before he could talk that particular fantasy back into its cage, Annie flung her arms around Kat’s waist, babbling a mile a minute about which movie they should watch first.
“Go get your pajamas,” Kat said, sending Annie sprinting into the cottage.
“You don’t have to do that,” Jo said to Kat. “It’s my job to watch her and—”
“And you deserve a night off,” Kat said. “Isn’t that right, bossman?”
“I told you not to call me that,” Derek grumbled, but there was no heat in it. Not when all the heat in his body had rocketed to his groin. A fact he was sure Kat was well aware of. She’d always enjoyed meddling in other people’s love lives. But the last thing he needed to do was sport a full-on erection in the middle of an exclusive resort.
Jo glanced between Kat and Derek, as though sensing a conversation happening between them that only they could hear. “I’m going to make sure Annie grabs her toothbrush.”
He watched her go, that blue streak winking in and out of view. He wanted to see it wrapped around his fist, to tug on those strands until she melted into a puddle at his feet, to bundle her into the shower and fuck her as they watched the color wash down the drain.
Kat’s chuckle pulled him out of his trance. “You have it so bad.” Kat shook her head.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“She’s cute. A little younger than I would have thought you’d go for.”
He groaned, planting his hands on his hips and turning his face up to the sky as though the key to getting out of this conversation would be written in the stars overhead.
“I’m trying to tell you I like her.”
“She’s good for Annie,” he answered.
“She’s good for you too.” Kat poked a finger at his chest. “You’re different around her.”
“Different how?”
“Lighter. You smile more.” She smirked. “It’s a good look on you.”
“She’s the nanny.”
“For the next few days. And then—”
“And then nothing. Then I'm out on the road with Midnight Storm—assuming Jackson doesn’t fuck it up between now and then. One last tour and then I can be the father Annie deserves.”
“You already are.”
Derek shook his head, scraping his hand over his face. If Kathad noticed the way he looked at Jo, then it was only a matter of time before Annie noticed, and if Annie noticed, she might start to hope. To plan. To get even more attached than she already was. He couldn’t allow it.
Kat sighed and lowered her voice. “Look, I’m not saying you need to marry her. But you’re on vacation—”
“I’m working.”
“At one of the most luxurious resorts in the country, with a beautiful woman staying in the next room and your amazing tour assistant taking your daughter off your hands for the night,” she said.
“And when Annie gets attached? What then?”
Kat chuckled. “I hate to break it to you, Derek, but Annie’s already attached.”
“It’s unprofessional. I’m supposed to be setting an example for the band.”