I roll my eyes. “I just want a friend to talk to sometimes. It’s lonely living in a strange country by myself. Emerson lives in another house and I only see her
once a week. I don’t want to jump your bones. I honestly don’t. I promise,” I whisper.
He smirks at my honesty. I feel like I said the right thing. He suddenly seems at ease.
“Why are you like this?” I ask.
“Like what?”
“Cranky all the time.”
He smiles softly. “I don’t know. It’s just who I am.”
“It must get lonely.”
His eyes search mine and I feel a power change between us, as if it’s a palpable thing. Suddenly, I see him for what he really is: a very misunderstood man sitting on the side of my bed.
He’s broken.
“I don’t want you to leave,” he says.
I frown. “But…”
“You are the first person Willow has ever defended to me.”
“What?’
“I saw you today, I was watching as the three of you drove around like maniacs with music playing.”
I get a vision of what we must have looked like from a distance. “God,” I mutter.
“You seemed so carefree.”
I stay silent.
“It’s the happiest I have seen them in a very long time.”
I tear up. Not for me but for him. What must it feel like to never see your own children happy?
“My children have had nine nannies in two years.” He bites his bottom lip. “Although your nannying technique is very…” he raises his eyebrows, “unorthodox.”
I smirk.
“I do have to admit you seem to be getting through to Willow like nobody else ever has.”
“She’s just misunderstood,” I tell him calmly. “She’s a good kid.”
He frowns as his eyes search mine, seeming shocked that those words just left my lips. “Don’t go,” he says. “We can try and work this out.”
“But I can’t be this straight laced nanny you want me to be. I’m not used to this job. It’s a world away from what I do back home.”
“What do you do back home?”
“I’m an engineer.” His face falls. “What?” He shakes his head in disbelief. “You are an engineer.”
I smile. “Why do you seem so shocked?”
“Because I thought you were…” His voice trails off.