“Really?” Max frowns at me.
“Well, it’s not like we can just leave Everly sleeping alone in the Fletchpad all night.”
“Oh, right, of course.” Max shakes his head as if he can’t believe that thought never occurred to him. “And I’ll be sure to turn the alert on for the security camera in her room when I come over, so I’ll be notified right away if she gets up.”
“There’s a camera in her room?”
Max stares at me like I’m a moron. “There are cameras all over the house, Cassandra.”
“Where?”
Max points at a round thing in the corner.
“I thought those were fire alarms!”
He shakes his head.
“Oh, my God, so you’ve like…seen everything me and Everly do all day long?”
He shrugs, and I see a small smile tease the corner of his mouth.
“What the hell!” I exclaim as a powerful mixture of rage and humiliation swirl in my belly. “That would have been something nice to know a month ago. God…so you’ve seen—”
“The dance parties? Yes, I’ve seen them.” He pins me with his eyes as a smug grin tugs on his lips.
“And the—”
“The time you slipped on the floor in your swimsuit when you ran inside to grab drinks for you and Everly? Yeah, I saw it.” His smile spreads fuller now, revealing his perfect white teeth as he takes a step toward me.
I slice a hand through my hair, absolutely shocked that he has been keeping tabs on me for a month. Have I picked my nose? Removed a wedgy? The horror! “Jesus, Mary, and Joseph!”
“I don’t watch everything…just the clips that record movement for more than sixty seconds. And once I started trusting you, I quit watching mostly.” His smile is replaced with chagrin as he fails to quell the anxiety roaring through my body.
“Oh, thanks for that.” I groan in mortification at the things he might have seen. “This is some messed-up nanny-cam stalker bullshit. Like honestly, I don’t know if you are mentally well, Max.” Let’s face it, we’re both fucked up because as much as it horrifies me to think about what he could have seen…I’m also oddly aroused by the stalker vibes. But only a little…
He scoffs and shakes his head. “Cassandra, I’m wealthy and have a large house. Did you really think I wouldn’t have security cameras?”
He makes a good point.
I shake my head and get back to the task at hand. “Okay, so late-night hookups only, no bangers in the Fletchpad, no sleepovers, and…what else? Did we miss anything?”
Max’s jaw muscle tics again, indicating we very much missed something. He props himself on the sawhorse and crosses his arms over his chest. “If we do this, it’s just us, right? You’re not going to go stroke some other dude’s eyebrows at a bar this weekend?”
My jaw drops. “It was one time! I just wanted to see how they felt!”
His eyes dance with mirth. Sexy mirth. The sexiest of all the mirths. “You didn’t answer the question,” he presses, his eyes captivating me.
I lick my lips and struggle not to smile back at him. “Luckily, you have a very nice quizzical brow, so I think my brow fondling needs will be fully satisfied.”
“Fucking right they will,” Max all but growls, giving me a glimpse of that alpha male energy as he obviously struggles to stay on his side of the room.
My stomach swirls with desire as I realize this is really happening. I’m going to get to sleep with this tall, sexy drink of a man again. And my daydreaming fantasies will multiply!
I realize this is some sort of nannies with benefits situation that could likely turn into a complete disaster, but considering I’m not here for that much longer, I think we can make this work. We’re mature enough to handle this.
I purse my lips as I eye Max seriously. “Can the last rule be that no matter what happens between us, it doesn’t affect me being Everly’s nanny? I like her too much to let drama between us push me out of her life. If things go sideways, you’ll have to fire me because I’m not going to quit on her.”
Max’s face grows pensive as he stares back at me. “I’m not firing you, Cozy.”
His use of my nickname sends a rush through my body, and I steel myself to nod woodenly. “Okay then.”
“Okay then,” Max adds sexily.
“We have a deal.” I smirk and step forward to hold my hand out to his.
He stalks toward me, wafting me in his delicious scent as he takes my hand in his. My smile falters the instant I feel the heat of his palm against mine. Max’s eyes flick down to my lips, and his nostrils flare, clearly feeling the current of electricity coursing between us.
“I’ll see you later tonight,” his voice growls with wicked promise before he finally lets go of me.
I nod and swallow thickly, watching him take measured steps backward before retreating into the house.
This is going to be interesting.
The summer night air is crisp as I make my way across the grass at ten o’clock. Everly is fast asleep, finally. I know because I checked her camera on my phone about a hundred times before locking the house up to run across my lawn like a sex-starved teenager.
This feels irresponsible and childish as hell. But Everly is eleven. She’s not some toddler I’m leaving in a crib. If she wakes up looking for me, my phone will ping, and I’ll get dressed quicker than she can climb down the winding staircase. And hell, I’m still on the property. It’s not like I’m abandoning her to have casual sex with her nanny.
Except that I am.
But fuck it, this is more fun than I’ve allowed myself to have in years. Hell, my normal routine when Everly is at my house is to work for hours at my desk after she’s asleep. I usually have loads to catch up on just from taking time away from work to give her my focus, so I don’t fully have time for this.
But for once, I’m putting my needs ahead of work because I’m living on borrowed time. Once I partner with All-Out, my life is going to change drastically. This will probably be my last fling with a woman before my company explodes. I’m not going to feel bad about this, no matter how fucked up it is.
My cock thickens in my jeans, liking where my mind is going.
I have never met a woman I’ve struggled to keep my hands off of the way I have with Cassandra. Hopefully, banging it out will snuff out this insane allure she carries. And hell, she wanted a summer fling. Nothing says summer fling like fucking your boss when you’re off the clock.
I stand in front of her door and check my phone one last time before knocking. No turning back now, Max. You’re all in.
“Hey there. How was the rest of your evening?” I croak when I open my front door, and Max walks in, wafting me in his freshly showered scent.
“Take off your clothes,” he says, peeling his shirt over his head and tossing it to the floor. His eyes are wide and a bit crazed.
“What’s the rush?” I ask, walking backward toward my sofa as he stalks toward me.
“The rush is that I had to take an ice-cold shower after our little garage moment so that I could be a semi-decent father and put my kid to bed. Now she’s asleep, the security camera is on, and I don’t want to be a semi-decent father anymore.”