Nanny with Benefits

Was I falling for her completely? I’d never felt a pull this strong before.

After I came, I spooned her in my wide bed. I had missed the company of someone who needed me as much as I needed them. And it wasn’t just the chemistry. It was like a pull on my whole being that invited me into her beautiful world where everything just seemed so right. I had felt like this with Alice, but not to the same degree. With Karly, it was as if when I wasn’t with her, a part of me was gone. I had never in my life experienced it, and now I knew why certain people lasted an entire lifetime together.

“Thank you,” I said, holding her close to me.

She was sure of me too. I knew it as she pulled my arm tighter around her. “Thank you, Damon. I never thought it could be so…perfect.” She paused. “I’d better go into the guest room so Alexis doesn’t find us,” she said in a whisper.

I didn’t want her to go, but I kissed her and did the right thing, knowing my responsibility as a father must come first. “Good night, beautiful,” I said.

She smiled at me, fire in her eyes. “Good night, Damon.”

After she left, I realized her words had melted into me as I’d heard them. She was genuine and kind, and I was the luckiest man on the whole planet. To have someone so beautiful allow me to take her in the dominant sense, to be vulnerable to me just because I needed it to be that way—well, that said a lot.

I felt, at this point, we were going to be instrumental in one another’s lives, and not just for a few silly months like most people. We actually gave a shit about each other and had the feelings of the other at the forefront of our minds. That was the stuff dreams were made of. Yes, real, tangible, hopeful, pie-in-the-sky dreams that could unfold because we both wanted it to be so. I felt as if some sort of magic had entered my life in the form of a twenty-five-year-old woman who cared for my daughter way more than anyone else could or would.

Karly Lewis had changed my life, and from the moment I first saw her, I had been hooked. How was it possible the universe could shower you with such perfection? I didn’t even think I could have dreamed her up more perfectly. I was more than lucky. God, and she was so fucking hot.

Chapter 22

Karly

On Saturday, I woke up to Damon and Alexis cooking breakfast. They were trying their hand at pancakes with maple syrup and ice cream. Alexis was pulling the leaves off the strawberries to help her dad with the finishing touches. I’d forgotten to set my alarm after the night I’d shared with Damon. It had been desperately good, but now I awoke to the reality of the whole situation. A little girl’s feelings were at stake, and if she knew what was happening between us, it would affect her entire life.

“We’re all going to see the Statue of Liberty today,” said Alexis. “And Clara even said she’s coming with us.”

“Really?” I answered, wondering why Damon had planned such a family-style outing.

I made myself a strong coffee, and I tried not to show my disconnect regarding the planned outing. It had been an exhausting week, and the last thing I felt like doing was sightseeing with the rich man who had tarnished the front page of the newspaper because of his interactions with me. I would’ve preferred to lay low and lock myself in a tall tower somewhere in the middle of a small country that no one ever visited. My mood wasn’t the best despite the night we’d shared. The reality of the situation was really hitting home for me, and I didn’t quite know how to cope with it all.

What was I, really? A girlfriend? A nanny? A nanny with benefits? A girlfriend who was a nanny? Shit.

I ate my pancake with a smile on my face. I didn’t want to rain on Alexis’s parade. It would be an exciting adventure to visit the Statue of Liberty, something I hadn’t done since elementary school. I began to wonder if this was Damon’s way of finding out my feelings. Maybe he wasn’t sure how I felt about everything either. We’d never told one another. It was important that he knew eventually, mostly for him, but definitely for his beautiful daughter who needed to know where she fit into any relationship he had. At six years of age, she had to be the most important part of everything, center stage.

The other issue I’d been trying to wrap my head around was the press conference that was coming up on Monday. To get the press off the doorstep in the literal sense, Damon had promised them an exclusive conference. There would be a ton of questions, and the way I felt about him mattered. He really needed to know my standing in it all before he spoke to them. The pressure was just so overwhelming for me.