Bad Nanny (The Bad Nanny Trilogy #1)(59)

“Don't talk about your ex-girlfriends,” she says and lifts her palms up. “I'm not trying to get weird or anything, I just … I don't want to talk about them right now, okay?” A strange shadow of emotion flickers across her face and is gone. I try to interpret it, but I'm no good at this stuff, so I just shrug my shoulders and open the cabinet.

I pull out the box of pancake mix and read the instructions carefully. Huh. Easy peasy. I got this shit.

“You want them in heart shapes?” I ask as I waggle my eyebrows and grin at her. Brooke pulls out a chair and sits in it, crossing her legs in a pair of pink cat pj's that kind of make me want to kiss her face off. “Or if that bugs you, I can do … smiley faces? There's bacon in the fridge. We can go classic breakfast cliché and do fried eggs, too, if you want.”

“Do hearts,” Brooke says firmly and then after a long pause, “and f*ck your ex-girlfriend.”

I throw my head back and laugh, putting my hands together and touching my fingers to my lips.

“Yeah, yeah, I like that. Let's reclaim the heart pancakes from that bitch.” I grab a rag and wipe off Sadie's high chair before heading to her crib to grab her. “And she was a bitch, that much I can assure you. I felt bad for her because after we slept together, she cried and told me her whole life story, like how she was homeless and everything.”

I snag Sadie's diaper bag with my foot and toss a blanket onto the living room carpet to change her.

“Your white knight disorder again?” Brooke asks from her spot in the kitchen. She sounds bemused, and I wonder what her face looks like, cleaning Sadie up as quick as I can and hefting her against my chest.

“Yup. Exactly. That shit gets me into such serious trouble. The chick ended up stealing like, a thousand in cash from the safe in my closet and bailing after two months.” I park my niece in her chair while I get some music started and make up a bottle. My song pick for the morning is “Queen of Hearts” by We The Kings. Oh, I so totally dig this tune. “To be honest, I never even really liked her that much.”

“You date girls you don't like?” Brooke asks as I let warm water run over the bottle and start prepping the pancake batter, jamming to my groove as I move. “I think there's a few psychological issues hiding in there somewhere.”

I snort and grab a cup and a half of water to toss into the mixing bowl, whisking out the lumps as I bump and grind my hips and Brooke laughs at me. When I look back at her, she slaps a hand across her mouth and shakes her head at me. I just give her a wink and keep movin'.

“For sure. No doubt there. I think I have commitment issues. Like, if I date girls I hate, then I don't have to worry about falling for them, you know?”

“Wow. I mean, you're actually aware of that?”

“Hell yeah. Have been for years. What about you? Do you think dating a guy for three years that won't sleep with you or marry you means anything?”

“You think I have psychological problems?”

I shrug my shoulders as I check the bottle's temperature. Perfect.

“You want to feed this kid for me?” I ask with pouty lips. I know I'm supposed to be the nanny here, but I also sort of want to see Brooke hold the baby. She nods and reaches her arms out for Sadie, propping her up against her chest as I watch, feeling all possessive and shit. Like, maybe this girl's supposed to be my woman or something?

Buuuuut, I just did say I have commitment issues, didn't I? I was not f*cking kidding about that shit.

I go back to the pancakes and stir the batter with vigor as the song repeats itself. I like to put my songs on loops sometimes, listen to the same damn thing a hundred times in a row. Who doesn't, right?

“I guess I was scared,” Brooke admits as I get out a pan and rub some butter around the bottom. Pancakes always taste better when they're soaked in butter, right? “My sister got pregnant really young and then went through a long string of semi-serious boyfriends. None of them turned out to be who she thought they were. Maybe by dating Anthony, I felt like I was safe from all of that. He was safe. Everyone always said what a good guy he was, how nice he was, how dedicated he was to his faith …”

“Oh, that is so not sexy,” I laugh as I get out the bacon and eggs from the fridge. “Dedicated to his faith? Gross. Don't you want a guy that's dedicated to you instead?” I glance over my shoulder and find Brooke's cheeks turning a funny pink color. “A guy that can nail you to the mattress?”

“Um, children present,” she says, but she knows they're asleep and that Sadie can't understand a damn thing we're saying. I grin at that.

“Good guy. Nice. Dedicated. Yuck. No wonder you fell into bed with me.”

“What's that supposed to mean?” she asks as I start a second pan up for the bacon.

“I'm, like, the complete opposite of that guy, don't you think?”

“Not really. You might not be religious, but you are kind of a nice guy. I mean, you look all badass and tough, but you're kind of sweet, Zayden.” I turn around and wrinkle my nose at her.

“Ouch. Sweet and nice?” I put my tattooed knuckles together. “You just haven't seen me get up the need to kick anybody's ass yet. I totally can.” I flex for Brooke and she laughs, sunlight streaming through the glass of the sliding doors and turning her hair into a glittering sea of bronze. Damn. Damn, damn, damn.