Crazy Hot (The Au Pairs 4)

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voice. Eliza was really well connected--maybe she knew of an opening at a fashion magazine or something?

"My dad's girlfriend has these kids. . . . They're practically angels. Nothing like the Perrys. At all. I mean, the seven-year-olds basically read at college level," Eliza said enthusiastically.

"And?" Mara switched her phone from one ear to the other and squinted, wondering where this was going.

"Well, the thing is, the au pair they'd hired just quit--nothing to do with the kids, of course; she just landed a modeling job-- so they're hiring!" Eliza sounded so gleeful, as if she

had no doubt Mara would take the job in a snap.

"Au pair?" Mara asked doubtfully. It had been two years since she'd played babysitter. Last summer she'd had a kick-ass internship at Hamptons magazine. Chasing after a pack of kids, changing diapers, and wiping drool sounded like a big step backward. "I don't know, E." Mara's eyes wandered around the Pizza Hut, finally settling on two eight-year-old boys who were taking the toppings off their pizza and throwing them at each other across the table. Little monsters.

"She's paying a lot," Eliza wheedled.

Mara's curiosity got the better of her. "How much?"

"How's fifteen grand a month sound?" Eliza asked.

"That's a lot of money," she conceded. Even though she'd been lucky enough to win grants and scholarship money to fund her college tuition, with the cost of living in Manhattan, college was very expensive indeed. Her internship at the Circus wasn't

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putting anything in her pocket, either--it paid in freebies and premiere tickets.

Mara didn't want to be a sellout, but beggars couldn't be choosers, and at the moment, she certainly felt like a beggar.

"And there's more: Jacqui's in too. Plus I'll be here and we can all spend the summer together! It'll be a blast!"

"Oh my God, Jacqui too?" Of course. Jacqui would be with the Perrys in the Hamptons. The money was tempting, and so was the promise of friends, but not the job itself. "I mean, I would love to be with you guys, but I kind of feel like I need to do some writing--you know, show David I'm cut out for it." She looked over at the eight-year-olds again, who were now sword-fighting with their crusts. "He said my heart wasn't in journalism. Taking a job as an au pair sort of feels like giving up, like . .. proving him right."

"Well," Eliza said thoughtfully, "maybe David is right."

Mara practically dropped her slice of pizza. "Excuse me?"

"No, no--hear me out. Maybe your heart isn't in journalism. Because you're so much more creative than that. You're too romantic, too much of a . . . free spirit. Maybe you'd be better at writing a novel. Why don't you come out this summer and try writing a book? You know, like one of those funny Candace Bushnell-type things. About the beautiful people and the glamorous life and how it's not so beautiful and glam after all."

Mara sighed. Eliza always had outrageous, over-the-top ideas for everything. She couldn't write a novel. What did she know about it?

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"All those nanny books are hot right now," Eliza went on. "You could write a funny one about your experiences with the Hamptons set. The kids and their demands. The parents and their crazy expectations. I predict best seller!"

Against her better judgment, Mara was starting to grin. "That's ridiculous."

"No, it's not, and you know it. C'mon. You'll make a lot of money, get to hang out with me and Jacqui, get some notes for your blockbuster. That'll show David, won't it?" Eliza wheedled.

Mara picked up her tray and tossed the contents in the garbage. "You're quite the saleswoman, Miss Thompson!"

"Does that mean you'll do it?"

"Yeah." Mara grinned, picking up her bag again. "I'm in."

"Woo-hoo!"

Mara laughed as she strode purposefully out of Pizza Hut and toward the terminal exit. It was great to have a friend like Eliza. Someone who could steer you in the right direction, even when life sent you totally off course.

"So," Eliza's voice came chirping through the phone, "how soon can you be in the Hamptons?"