Alien Architect Needs a Nanny (Alien Nanny Agency 1)

Emilia

Emilia headed down the corridor to the children, her heart still pounding.

Of course, she had needed to see him about transport, but if she was being honest with herself, she had really just wanted to see him.

She had tossed and turned all night, tortured by dreams of his hands on her, his tail brushing between her thighs as he plunged inside her.

Now she was miserable with unsatisfied tension, and he was pretending last night never happened.

He walked away for a reason. He didn’t want you to kiss him. He didn’t want to touch you. You’re just the help.

It hurt to think about, but her inner critic was right. She had overstepped her bounds and the best thing she could do was appreciate that he hadn’t fired her on the spot.

Tenet number twenty-six was Interact with the Children. And she planned to follow it, for their good and for her own. The sooner she put one hundred percent of her focus back where it belonged, the sooner she would get over this futile infatuation.

“Ready, guys?” she asked the kids when she reached the foyer.

Mimi hopped up from her place on the steps, her blue eyes dancing.

But Dyrk stayed where he was, leaned against the wall, tail curled around his leg.

“Your dad is letting me take a different gadabout today,” she told him.

“Yeah?” he asked, his ears perking up.

“Sure is, but I don’t know which one,” she told him. “Should we go find out?”

“Yes,” Mimi yelled.

Dyrk smiled indulgently at his sister, and they headed outside.

The clouds were low over the forest today, scudding through the trees like soft cotton.

Mornings on Ulfgard were usually cold and breezy, and today there was an extra chill in the air.

“Mimi, are you warm enough?” she asked.

But the little scamp was already sprinting for the garage. Clearly, she wasn’t too cold.

When they got inside, Dyrk ran back to Emilia, his eyes dancing with excitement.

“Go on,” he said. “Activate it.”

She swiped her bracelet to transport and then held out her hand.

“You do it,” she told him.

He grinned and he suddenly looked like a normal adolescent boy.

When he brought his finger, down there was a cascade of chimes as the lights of the most ostentatious, aerodynamic, outrageously expensive-looking gadabout in the garage flashed on and off as if in celebration. Its beautiful, green body shimmered as if it were bathed in a hundred coats of gloss, seeming to be every shade of green at once, depending on the angle you viewed it from.

“No way,” Dyrk howled.

“That can’t be right,” Emilia breathed. “He can’t want me to take that thing out.”

Dyrk checked her bracelet again.

“That’s what he gave you,” he said, his voice bright with glee.