Now isn’t the day. She’s Amelia’s nanny. Clare works for me. I’m not going to fuck that up.
“You mentioned on the plane that you were previously married. I wasn’t sure the specifics,” I say, trying not to make her comment from earlier into a big deal.
“Oh, I like men,” she whispers, staring straight into my soul. “Handsome, dark-haired, brooding men who tell it like it is and know what they want.”
Damn, she’s describing me. Isn’t she?
She doesn’t even flinch as her gaze is latched onto mine. It’s a shame this can’t happen. The sexual tension is insurmountable, but I won’t fuck things up for my own pleasure.
Amelia deserves better than that.
So does Clare.
“It’s too bad you don’t have a thing for grumpy single dads,” I quip, “because I’m that guy.”
She tugs her bottom lip between her teeth, and I step closer. I shouldn’t.
This laundry room has already caused more drama between us than necessary. It’s no longer a safe space but a room filled with sexual tension. The small space traps her and makes my pulse quicken and my blood boil.
I have her between me and the washing machine.
Clare exhales an anxious breath. Her lips part and cheeks redden the longer I stare into her blue-green gaze.
“Sir?” Clare’s voice is raspy and thick. I could just imagine her screaming my name in the height of passion.
My cock strains against my trousers. I’m going to need an icy cold shower after being in her proximity. We haven’t even touched, and I’m dying inside, aching with want. She sizzles my blood and makes me feel every inch like a man.
I shouldn’t be this addicted to a woman I haven’t even fucked.
And we can’t.
We shouldn’t.
She’s my daughter’s nanny! I barely know her.
“Panty Thief,” Clare says, daring me to retaliate. I feel it in her heated gaze. She wants me to kiss her, taste her, and drive her wild with passion. She’s un-fucking-believable, and I reach out slowly, my fingers pushing a strand of her blonde hair behind her ear.
“You’re never going to let me live that down,” I say, grateful that she hadn’t called me that little nickname in front of Connor. Another reason I needed to send her out of the house this afternoon.
There are some things that my younger brother doesn’t need to know. The fact that I sport a raging hard-on for the nanny is one of those.
Clare smiles deviously and leans in, brushing her lips against my ear. “If you wanted a pair of my panties, all you had to do was ask.”
I open my mouth to tell her that I didn’t plan on stealing them. Hell, I don’t know how they got into my pocket, but those words don’t come.
Instead, I lean in, closing the distance, the smallest gap of air between us. My lips hungrily crush hers, bruising and rough as I pull her hips against mine, wanting her to feel what she does to me.
Clare gasps. The softness and surprise that spills out of her lips are like heaven, until I realize she’s not kissing me back.
SIX
Clare
I meant to kiss him back. He startled me. Yes, we were flirting, and I thought that’s as far as it would ever get.
Levi doesn’t like me. I’m just the hired help, the nanny for his daughter. And whatever feelings he thinks he has for me are mixed up in the fact that I’m taking care of Amelia.
He probably has some type of fantasy conjured up that we could be a happy family. His daughter would have a new mother, and he’d have someone to take care of the house and his kid while he works all day.