I can tell she’s lying.
There’s a light sheen of sweat on her brow, her voice is uneven and laced with guilt, and her eyes are downcast with shame. Years of honed military instincts are hard to shake. Why is she behavi-
Then it hits me.
She was touching herself.
She thinks she’s hiding it, but the flushed and dazed look on her face says it all. My chest thrums as I think about her upstairs, her hand inside her panties, her fingers wet and slick, her eyes closed, her sweet little lips parted and throbbi-
I growl, the rumble making her take a step back. If she was touching herself then she must have been worked up, and as I think about what that might mean my mouth runs dry. I calm myself with a deep breath.
‘Manage your time better,’ I say. ‘And don’t make a habit of it.’
‘I won’t,’ she says with a wink, and I’m not sure which sentence she’s replying to. I need to get a grip on this.
‘Ground rules,’ I say, jabbing my finger hard onto the breakfast table between us. ‘Visitors. I meet them first. I want to know who’s in my house and why.’
She nods.
‘Use of the car-‘ I continue, but she interrupts.
‘I can use the car when I need to, there’s a fuel card in the glovebox, keep it above half at all times,’ she quotes, bouncing on her toes.
I sneer, hitting her with a wall of silence. She says nothing for a moment and then she begins to grin and swing her dress. ‘And don’t ever interrupt you,’ she whispers. ‘I’m sorry. When I get nervous I talk, and I really like to-‘
‘Mackenzie,’ I say, taking another deep breath.
‘Sorry,’ she says, pretending to zip her lips together. ‘It won't happen again.’
I nod and push on, sliding an iPhone across the table toward her. ‘Phone usage. Personal calls are allowed in the evenings, but day time calls are strictly for emergencies. This is yours to use.’
She nods, her eyes widening as she picks it up. ‘Thank you,’ she says softly.
‘No smoking. No alcohol consumption.’
‘Of course.’
‘Under no circumstances will Thea or Willow be late for school, nor Harpy late for her clubs and classes.’
‘Absolutely not,’ she says, her hands clasped together, clutching the phone as she shakes her head, the white Alice band that’s holding back her flame-red hair slipping a little as she glances down.
I can’t help myself, my dick hardens as the words I don’t intend to say come rushing to my lips. ‘And… any infraction of these rules will result in swiftdiscipline.’
She snaps back up, her eyes twitching as her lips move slowly. That caught her attention, and as I watch, a wave of goosebumps erupt all over her neck, spreading down her chest and arms, and I almost smile.
‘Yes, sir,’ she says with a subtle lilt, her voice barely a whisper as she raises one hand and salutes. I know she’s mocking me, but I nod anyway.
‘Good girl,’ I say, then I exhale as subtly as I can.
I don’t know where the last few sentences came from but my heart is racing and for a moment I can’t stop staring at her, her green eyes like shining emeralds glistening in the sun as the two of us just breathe.
Then Harpy speaks and I crash back to reality. ‘So, Kenzie’s going to be our new nanny?’ she says. ‘Defiantly?’
I blink and look at her, almost laughing at the irony of her mispronunciation, her eyes full of hope, her little feet bouncing nervously under the table.
‘Yes,’ I say, smiling. ‘She can stay. Defiantly.’
Mackenzie smiles as Harper erupts, my littlest girl throwing both her tiny arms into the air and cheering unnaturally, almost theatrically, the influence of too much daytime television evident, and for a moment I feel ashamed. At the same time, Willow dances in a little circle, her enthusiasm more reserved but still abundant.
‘Thank you, Mr Ledger,’ says Red, smiling a smile that’s too old for her years, as if she knows exactly what I’ve been thinking all this time. ‘You won’t regret this.’
‘Good,’ I say. ‘Don’t make me.’
*