“There is no red room of pain in this house. And no magic happens in this house. This house is for my kid,” I groan with irritation, running a hand through my hair. I never bring women back here. Not even when Everly is at her mother’s. I prefer to keep my life as a single man in Boulder very separate from my life with Everly. Most of the women I sleep with don’t even know I have a kid.
Kate doesn’t look like she believes me. “What about that chick in Aspen I met? She’s never come to Boulder for a visit?”
“No…what I do in Aspen stays in Aspen.”
“So that’s where the red room is.” Kate laughs, and Norah looks decidedly uncomfortable.
“Let’s save the dirty stuff for your books, Kate.” I wrap my arm around her and gesture for the door. “This conversation requires alcohol.”
“I’m just trying to figure you out, Max,” Kate states, eyeing me speculatively. “Every millionaire has a kink.”
I exhale through my nose. “Boy, I really love seeing you, Kate.”
We head outside just as Sam and Maggie arrive. Sam owns Tire Depot in town and has done all the work on my dad’s construction vehicles for years, so I know him pretty well. His wife, Maggie, I don’t know as well because she’s not originally from Boulder. She’s Miles’s little sister, and apparently, it was a whole ordeal when the two of them hooked up. But obviously, everyone got over that little hiccup because they were married over the winter and seem to be doing well.
“So Max…Dean was saying that your ex-wife is out of the country for the summer,” Kate says, holding a bottle of beer in her hand while her baby is strapped to her chest in a little swaddle wrap. It’s a look only Kate could pull off. “What’s Everly up to while you’re at work all day?”
“I hired a nanny actually,” I reply and take a sip of my whiskey, doing my best not to let my thoughts fixate on Cassandra again.
After our little ropes course day yesterday, I gave her and Everly a wide berth today. The thoughts I had watching her lush figure strapped up in all those harnesses were highly inappropriate.
I need to get fucking laid.
Which will be next to impossible now that I have Everly around all summer. So I need to get my dirty thoughts about the nanny in check.
Beyond the indecent thoughts I had about Cassandra, I had some surprisingly wholesome thoughts too. I forgot how fun it is to share the joy of Everly’s experiences with another person. I haven’t had that happy family feeling since Everly was one and Jessica and I were still married. Every time Everly cracked a joke or giggled with glee, Cassandra and I would share a knowing look that said…this kid is the best.
It felt…nice.
Which is why I need to go back to the office next week and stop having happy family moments with Cassandra and Everly. Cassandra is an employee. Nothing more.
“Where did you find this nanny?” Kate inquires, adjusting her red ponytail. “I might need one once Tucker here is a bit older.”
“A nanny agency in town actually.”
“Oh cool, I didn’t know we even had one of those.”
I shrug. “The candidates were less than impressive. But the owner’s sister interviewed and Everly fell in love with her.”
“Huh,” Kate huffs. “Are they teenagers or like college students home for the summer?”
I shake my head. “The gal I hired is older actually.”
“Like a grandma old?” Kate asks curiously.
“Not a grandma, no.”
“She’s twenty-six,” Josh says, coughing into his fist.
I swerve accusing eyes at him.
He shrugs. “She’ll get it out of you eventually.”
“Twenty-six? That’s not much younger than us,” Kate snaps pointedly. “Well, except for Maggie…at least she’s older than the wittle baby of the group,” Kate says with a baby voice.
Maggie rolls her eyes and leans into Sam as I get a flashback of that fucking Chad guide who accused me of being Cassandra’s dad. I’m only eight years older than her. What the fuck was with that guy? The age gap between Maggie and Sam has got to be bigger than that.
“What did she do before she was a nanny?” Kate continues, incessant as always.
I press my finger to my lips. “Would you keep it down?”
“Why?” Kate blinks back at me.
“Because she lives in the guesthouse, and I don’t want her to think we’re talking about her.”
Kate swerves her gaze over to the tiny white house nestled along the flowing creek downhill. “She’s in there right now?”
“I believe so.”
“Why isn’t she out here with us?”
I balk. “She’s a daytime nanny. Not a nighttime one. I didn’t want her to think she had to work.”
“But she’s a grown-up. Surely she likes alcohol and adult conversation?” Kate deadpans, looking at me like I’ve committed some unforgivable sin.
“It didn’t seem professional,” I argue.
“Good God, men are the worst,” Kate snaps and thrusts her beer into Miles’s chest and takes off toward the guesthouse, baby still cinched tightly to her chest.
I turn to Miles. “What is your wife doing?”
Miles shoots me a half smile. “If I had to guess, I would say she’s going to make a new friend.”
“She’s totally making a new friend,” Dean confirms, resting his hand on my shoulder.
“Can we stop her?” I ask, watching Kate burn rubber all the way to Cassandra’s place. I really don’t want Cassandra up here right now. I’m trying to get farther away from her, not closer.
Dean sighs heavily. “Kate’s been one of my closest friends for years and the answer is always no.”
I pinch the bridge of my nose. “I’m so happy you guys came over.”
“Me too!” Lynsey says with a bright smile, clearly not picking up on my sarcasm.
Music wafts down from the deck of the Fletchpad into the open windows of my tiny house. Max said he was going to have company tonight, and of course I didn’t take it personally when he told me I didn’t need to join them. I’m just the nanny. I’m not a friend. And honestly, this is my time off. I should be able to relax and kick back and “do less.”
Yet still, I find myself peering out the window from my loft bed and enjoying the view of the Edison bulbs casting a glow over Max’s big dick…I mean deck! Jesus.
He’s amassed a nice little group of friends over there it seems. Most of my friends have moved on from Boulder. I was lucky Dakota was still around because I’ve lost touch with pretty much everyone else. And I cut off contact with all the people I met in Denver. The more space I get from that life, the better.
The sun is just beginning to set as a couple of girls who look to be Everly’s age splash around with her in the water. The scent of grilled meat seeps into my cottage, making my stomach growl.
Ugh, this is stupid.
Why do I want to be out there? Because I think Max is fucking gorgeous and I couldn’t stop noticing how he kept looking at my legs in his car on our way back from the ropes course yesterday? Because I loved the way he smiled at Everly instead of the camera every time I took their photo? Because seeing him in a suit is sinfully hot but seeing him in jeans and a gray T-shirt with sweat marks from his harness is the stuff wet dreams are made of?