Only three days before, I’d told my big brother I was looking for a babysitting job and here he was with a huge one. “So, you’ll be a live-in. It’ll be a full-time job, Brooke. The little boy is two, and his father has no clue what to do with a kid. This whole thing just fell in his lap. You’ll have to go in and take complete charge of the little boy. Is this something you think you can handle?”
Sitting on the bed in my dorm room, I chewed on my lower lip. “What about school?”
“You said most of your classes this semester will be online,” he reminded me. “And living-in will save you money on room and board, since you won’t let me pay for those. He’ll pay you well enough that you’ll graduate debt-free, Brooke.”
“Wow.” I nodded slowly. This was not a gift horse whose mouth I was going to look too deeply into.
The father will hardly ever be there,” he went on. “He’s hardly ever home now. It’ll be you, the kid, some servants, and that’s it most of the time.” He looked back at my absent roomie’s bed and took a seat on it after pulling the blanket up to cover the mess of sheets.
“And which one of your friends is this, Brad?”
One hand stroked his beard as he looked off to one side, trying to look nonchalant. “Gannon Forester, the man who gave me my first job.”
My eyes must’ve been bugging out. Not only was Gannon the worst of the bad boys my older brother hung with, but he was a billionaire to boot. And I knew that meant he got whatever he wanted. “Him?”
Brad just nodded as he cut his eyes to look around the small room. “You’d be able to say goodbye to this little rat hole. That would be a blessing in and of itself.”
I’d never actually met Mr. Forester. But I’d overheard Brad telling stories about how much of a womanizer he was. Could I handle a man like that? “Um, he’s kind of known for being a major ladies’ man, right?”
Brad’s blue eyes leveled on mine. “Not to worry, Brooke. I told the man you are not to be messed with. He made me a solemn vow he’d never do a thing to you. Not so much as one word of flirtation. If he does, you let me know, and I’ll properly beat his ass for it.”
It wasn’t that I was anti-flirtation. I was just … shy. And totally inexperienced. And if I was going to live-in, I needed to know I’d be safe, obviously. “And this poor kid, his mother was just going to turn him over to social services? That’s so terrible.” My heart hurt with the thought.
“Yeah,” Brad got up and went to look in my closet. “Is this all the stuff you have here?”
“That’s it. So, this job would start today, then?” I shoved my feet into my sneakers and leaned over to tie them.
“Yes, it would. I think you should come with me to meet him and his kid before you make the decision.” He turned around to face me. “If you think it’s something you’d like to do, then we can come back for your things. You can even leave them here, and I’ll pay the room and board for the remainder of the semester, in case you ever decide you want to back out.”
I never let my brother pay for anything, but he had a good point for once. And I was definitely struggling to make ends meet. “He’s around your age, right?” I got up off the bed and followed my brother out of my dorm room.
“Yeah, he’s thirty. He’s a decade older than you are. Surely you won’t find him attractive in the least.” He stopped and took me by the arm, looking me in the eyes. “Right?”
“Pish …yeah, right. I’m not into old dudes, Brad.” Call me old-fashioned, but in my twenties, I was still a virgin. My sum total of experience was a few kisses and a little basic groping. I was waiting for the right guy to come along.
About an hour later, we pulled up to the sprawling mansion Mr. Forester lived in.
“Wow, Brad. This is bigger than your place in Malibu.” I couldn’t believe how beautiful the place was. I adored the rustic look. The home looked like a huge log cabin with a covered front porch that spanned only one part of the humongous home. Tall pine trees lined the asphalt drive. The lush green grass was well kept, making the whole place look almost fake.
“Yeah, Gannon likes his little slice of wilderness out here in the sticks.” It wasn’t really the sticks—just the Hollywood Hills.
At the door, we were met by the butler, who introduced himself to me as Ashe.
“Who in this day and age has a butler?” I hissed to Brad as we walked through a dizzying maze of rooms until we came upon one that had cartoon sounds coming out of it.
He just shrugged.
Ashe gave me a smile. “Mr. Gannon is in there with his new son.”
With a nod, he left us to enter the room on our own. My brother pushed the door open. “Here she is, Gannon.”
The back of the man I might soon be working for was all I saw. Dark hair that was kept short and neat gave way as he turned, and the darkest blue eyes looked at me as he got up.
“Brooke, it’s a pleasure to meet you.” He came toward me, and a small boy with huge blue eyes and a tearstained face immediately jumped off the couch and scurried over to stand beside him, sliding a pudgy arm around the man’s long legs. It was obvious the poor little guy was bewildered at having lost his mother and gained a stranger for a father all in the same day, so he was terribly anxious.
“Hello, Mr. Forester,” I greeted him, then smiled at the toddler. “Hi there.”
Thumb wedged firmly in his mouth, the boy attempted a small smile around it.
“Please, call me Gannon. And this is my … son, Braiden.”
“Hey there, Braiden.” Brad hunched over and stuck his hand out. “I’m your Uncle Brad. It’s nice to meet you.” My brother took the little boy’s hand and shook it, making the kid giggle before he pulled his hand back.
His giggle was every bit as adorable as he was.
His father chuckled in a way was anything but adorable. Deep and husky, it was sexy as hell.
I wasn’t sure what was wrong with me. I didn’t think this way. I didn’t find older men attractive. So what was happening here?
Sure, Gannon Forester was tall. Like six-foot-three or something. Sure, he had broad shoulders and the rest of his torso tapered elegantly to a waist that wasn’t exactly narrow, but smaller than his wide chest. Long legs, covered in blue jeans that clung to some pretty great looking muscular thighs, made my gulp. The man was a masterpiece in a white t-shirt and faded blue jeans. And bare feet.
Even his feet are gorgeous.
It was then I realized I had looked the man over, all the way down to his naked feet. I quickly snapped back and pointed to the sectional the two had gotten off of. “Should we discuss the arrangement?” Someone had to take over this interview, and it might as well be me.
“Of course,” came the words from Gannon’s chiseled lips. Yes, even his lips looked as if they were cut from marble. His features were sharp, yet soft around his gorgeous eyes. Blue pools that were surrounded by thick, dark, lush lashes. Any girl would die to have those natural lashes. Lashes the little boy had, too, I noticed after another glance. The boy finally disengaged from Gannon’s leg and wandered back over to the couch, where he had a battered children’s book and a sippy cup.
“You and your son are nearly identical,” I found myself saying. “He’ll be a real lady-killer one day.” Then I found Gannon’s eyes on mine. The slightest hint of a sexy smile was on his lips. I realized what’d I just said. Ahhh … crap …
I looked away, feeling shy as Gannon began my interview, “So the job pays whatever you want it to. You’ll have a bedroom that will adjoin the one I’ve had set up for Braiden. It’s right across the hallway from mine.”
My brother interrupted. “A bit close, don’t you think, Gannon?”
Those blue eyes raked across me as they swung to meet the lighter blue eyes of my brother. “It’s for the boy, Brad. I want him to feel safe. After all he’s been through, I want him to feel safe, secure, and loved.”
When my brother scoffed, I felt offended for the man immediately and came to his defense in a heated rush, “Brad! Don’t act that way. It doesn’t matter what he’s done personally, all these years. He’s a father now. He’s just thinking of his little boy.”
“Sorry, sis.” Brad still looked suspicious, even as he apologized. “You’re right. Sorry, Gannon.”
Gannon chuckled lightly. “Wow. A real tigress you’ve got there, Brad. And one I’d love watching over my little boy.” His eyes fell on me once more. “Please tell me you’ll take the job. I’m being totally serious when I say you name the price and I’ll gladly pay it. I have no idea what the going rate is for sitters, but I want you to be the highest paid one in the history of nannies.”
“I have to have Tuesday and Thursday mornings off until eleven,” I told him, in case Brad hadn’t. “I have class for one hour each of those days, and it’ll take me until then to get back out here. Will that be a problem?” I chewed my lip, nervously hoping that would not put me out of this once-in-a-lifetime job opportunity.
“Not at all,” came his quick reply. “I’ll adjust my work schedule to go in a bit later on those days. Any other accommodations I need to know about? Oh, and you’ll have a car to use too. You can take it to school and anywhere else you want to go.”
“I have the car my brother just gave me a few days ago. I don’t need your car. And I don’t need a boatload of money either. Five hundred a week is fair, since you’re also providing room and board.”
Gannon shook his head. “No. No way to only five hundred. I tell you what; how about a thousand a week and you let me pay off any student loans you have and pay for the rest of your college? It’s only fair to you. You’re going to school to learn how to take care of kids after all. I want to help you do that.”
My brother answered for me as he jumped up, “Deal!”
I looked between handsome father, adorable son, and my beaming brother. My senses reeled, and suddenly so were my deliriously happy finances. Things looked very, very good.