‘I’ve looked after him almost every weekday for two years. It’s only natural he feels comfortable with me.’
Leo felt movement behind him and turned to see Danny standing in the door of his home office. ‘Dmitri is on the phone.’
‘Right.’ Due to the delay in collecting Ty, Leo still had work to wrap up. But first he needed to sort the problem of Ty and the nanny. ‘You take him to bed,’ he instructed Lexi. ‘And then—’
‘Please.’
Leo blinked at her quiet reprimand.
He thought about telling her that if she interrupted him one more time with that gorgeous mouth he’d do something they’d both regret but found himself in the unique position of needing somebody else more than they needed him. A situation he did not like at all. He had to get rid of her and the sooner the better. ‘Please, Miss Somers, would you be so kind as to take my son to his bed?’
He could tell she wasn’t fooled by his mocking tone, but that was okay. He knew she’d do it. Ever since she had told Ty that this ‘nice’ man was taking them on an adventure and had made it sound as if it could rival Disney World he knew she was a soft touch under her no-nonsense exterior—a weakness he was ruthless enough to exploit.
‘Which room is his?’ she muttered.
‘This way.’ Leo hadn’t thought about which of his spare rooms to give Ty, but they were both the same so he chose the first one he came to.
He opened the door and inhaled vanilla as Lexi moved past him and looked around the room, a frown marring her smooth forehead.
King-sized bed, bedside tables, French windows leading to an outside balcony, private bathroom. What was there to frown about? Except maybe the absence of a cot. Chort vozmi. He hadn’t thought of that.
‘Are they locked?’ She nodded towards the French windows and spoke softly as the toddler was almost asleep in her arms, something Leo was glad about because he couldn’t look at Ty without remembering his brother, Sasha.
‘Of course,’ he said, but he walked over and rattled the handles anyway.
‘He really has never been here before has he?’ she said, almost to herself.
‘I told you that.’
‘Yes, but I don’t think I wanted to believe you.’ ‘I don’t lie.’
She cast him a fathomless look. ‘Can I have some more pillows?’
‘Why?’
‘Because he’ll feel more secure if he’s surrounded by pillows. This bed is too big for him.’
Leo opened the inbuilt wardrobe and pulled out three spare pillows and placed them on the end of the bed. ‘Anything else?’
‘Pyjamas.’
He glanced at Ty’s jeans and T-shirt. ‘Can’t he sleep in what he’s got on?’
‘Do you sleep in jeans?’
Her sharp rebuke both surprised and irritated him.
‘Are you trying to find out what I sleep in, Miss Somers?’ he asked, wondering if her eyes flashed golden when she was aroused as they did when she was angered.
He expected her to snap at him but instead she smiled sweetly. ‘I already know. It’s called a coffin.’
Leo blinked, astounded at her unexpected sassiness and then she surprised him again by shushing him. ‘Just go.’ She waved him away with her free hand as if he were an annoying insect. ‘I’ll take care of this.’
Leo left, not sure whether to be bemused or outraged at her temerity.
Lexi fixed the bed so that Ty wouldn’t fall out of it and then sat beside him while he fell into a deep sleep.
Then she picked up her phone and called Aimee in case she hadn’t left for her boyfriend’s house and was worried as to why she hadn’t returned to their shared apartment. When Lexi told her who Ty’s father was she could almost see Aimee slap her forehead.