Employed by the Boss (Managing the Bosses 7)

“Not on your life,” Mark shot back. “There might be women out there who think it’s hot when a guy is good with children, but I’ve never met one who would be interested in a male live-in nanny.”

His brother laughed, and walked away. Mark shook his head and got back to work.

***

It was a matter of a few days to get everything ready to move. Jamie wasn’t nearly as easy about it as Alex had been. She seemed to go back and forth between suggesting that Mark live in the mansion proper, or that the nanny did, and reconsidering whether or not she wanted a nanny at all. Mark tried his best to reassure her that his feelings weren’t even a little bit hurt by the request that he give up the apartment. When he suggested that maybe it was about time for him to be living on his own again anyway, she’d looked at him sadly and made him promise to start joining them for a Sunday dinner that was apparently going to be a new tradition.

“How does Alex feel about that?” Mark asked, taking a bite out of one of the donuts he’d brought by as an excuse to spend a little more time with his sister-in-law before he officially moved out.

“Alex will be fine with it,” Jamie said, giving him a smile that Mark was pretty sure meant his brother had no idea what he was going to be walking into.

Good for her. Someone had to keep Alex on his toes.

“You going to invite Christine, too?”

“That was the plan,” Jamie answered. “And Dad. Everyone in the family, pretty much.”

Mark noticed Jamie definitely hadn’t included her mom in that round up, and he didn’t blame her. Going on what he’d heard about the way she’d treated both of her daughters, and the incident where she’d just shown up at the house and talked to Jamie like crap a few weeks ago, he didn’t think she exactly qualified as family.

“Well, I’m not going to say no to more of Murray’s cooking,” Mark decided, pausing to take another bite of donut. “That’s one thing about the apartment that I’m definitely going to miss.”

“You know you’re going to be living above a restaurant, right?” Jamie pointed out. “I’m sure that you’ll have plenty of good food to choose from, even if your chef isn’t technically your own private one.”

“He could be my own private one, as well as head chef at the restaurant, if I paid him enough,” Mark said.

“Either way,” Jamie laughed, “you’re not exactly going to run out of good meals.”

“True,” Mark agreed. “Very true. This is why Alex keeps you around. You’re always right.” He glanced down at the screen of his phone, checking the time, and shoved the rest of his donut into his mouth. Erica was going to be around to help him move any minute. Alex had offered to help, too, but when he’d gotten Erica’s offer Mark had brushed his brother’s off. He could see his brother any time he wanted. He couldn’t always arrange alone time with his gorgeous golf instructor.

“Flattery isn’t going to do anything for you,” Jamie said, laughing. “So whatever you’re trying, you can just stop now.”

“Trying?” Mark pulled on his best innocent look. “I’m not trying anything. I’m totally harmless.”

“I’ll believe that when I see it,” she shot back.

Outside, a car pulled into the drive with a crunch of tires over gravel. Mark stood. “That’s probably Erica. I guess I should get going.”

Jamie stepped in for a hug, and Mark gave it to her, holding her tight for a moment before stepping back. “I’m going to miss you.”

“It’s not like I’m leaving the country. You’ll see me again this weekend.”

“I know.” She pulled on a smile. “It’s just not quite the same, you know?”

“Can’t live on my brother’s generosity forever. It’s just time. It’s been time for a while and we’ve been stalling. All of us. There is nothing wrong in this. I promise. I’m actually looking forward to it,” Mark answered. “I’ll see you Sunday, Jamie.”

“See you then.”

Outside, Erica was stepping down from the cab of a truck that she’d pulled up to the end of the parking space closest to the apartment. She waved at him, and Mark lifted a hand in return, trying not to stare. He had only ever seen her in golf gear, neatly tailored and sophisticated. For moving day, she’d traded the usual out for cut-off jeans and a t-shirt that was a little too big for her, her hair pulled back in a ponytail. It was a good look.

A very good look.

“I think we should be able to get a lot of your stuff over there in one load,” she said as he got closer. “But if there’s anything extra we can always come back for it.”

“There’s actually not too much stuff in the apartment. All of the furniture is my brother’s. We should definitely be able to get it all out there in one go, especially if we put anything extra in the backseat of my car.”

“Good to hear,” she said. “Shall we get to work, then?”