Last on the List (Wait With Me #5)(14)

I wrinkle my nose. “I think I prefer Cassandra.”

“Fair enough.” She taps the wall beside her. “I’ll let you get back to work. Thank you again…Max.”

I nod and turn back to my desk, hating how much I like the way my name sounds on her lips.





“Hello, Zaddy,” I murmur to myself the next morning as I stare slack-jawed at Max from the grass as he hoists himself out of the swimming pool. Sluices of water ripple down his washboard abs and disappear into his low-slung swimming trunks.

“Morning,” he says crisply as he notices me walking over to him. He grabs a towel off the nearby lounge chair and wipes it over his head, mussing his dirty-blond locks.

“Heyo.” I swallow the knot in my throat and rip my eyes off his very erect nipples as I stand before him. “You’re up early.”

“I like to swim laps in the mornings.” He wipes his pecs next. My eyes follow his movements for far longer than is appropriate. If there’s any length of time that would ever be appropriate for a nanny to look at her boss’s big, fat pecs.

Can pecs be fat? Probably man boobs are fat. Max definitely doesn’t have man boobs. They are mounds of firm muscle that I would really like to poke my finger into one to see what they feel like. I bet they feel like pound cake.

What is with me wanting to touch various body parts of this man? I am unwell!

“Swimming is nice,” I reply, hesitating awkwardly in front of him because it’s hard to walk away from such a fine specimen.

“For those of us who can swim.” The corner of his mouth pulls up into a teasing smirk like it did yesterday. It might be my favorite expression he makes, and I don’t even care that it was at my expense.

I bite my lip and smirk right back. “Maybe I’ll learn more than a weak doggy paddle one of these days.” Especially if it would give me a body like his.

Mirth dances in Max’s eyes as he tilts his head and reads the text on my loose-fitting graphic tank. It reads: ‘Whatever. I’ll just date myself’

“Nice shirt,” he says with a small laugh.

“Thanks! I got it from my friend’s T-shirt shop downtown. She has a lot of cool stuff. I was hoping to take Everly there for one of her tie-dye classes.”

Max nods. “I’m sure Everly would love that.”

“Cool.” I pause awkwardly, clutching my Kindle, and am unsure what else to say. “Guess I’ll just head inside then to read while I wait for Everly to wake up.”

I make my way toward the deck steps and pause when Max calls out. “What’s on the agenda for today?”

“Agenda?” I respond, turning on the bottom step to face him. I’m dressed in a pair of tie-dyed shorts, and I swear I catch him staring at my legs. I shrug. “No agenda, I’m afraid. My nanny business model prefers more of a willy-nilly approach.”

Water drips off Max’s hair as he walks toward me with a dubious look. “What is willy-nilly exactly?”

I waggle my eyebrows playfully. “I suppose you could say it’s like an elevated version of YOLO. It allows Everly and me to be spontaneous. I mean…look at this beautiful morning? Why would we want to spoil all its possibility with a stifling agenda? Unless it’s for tie-dye classes, obviously.”

“Interesting,” Max huffs and takes a few steps past me so he’s towering over me. His six-pack abs are annoyingly eye level now as he turns back and adds, “If my business philosophy was willy-nilly, I wouldn’t have any of the success I have today.”

He turns to leave as I can’t stop my reply from tumbling out of my mouth. “And that would be a bad thing?”

Turning on his heel, he furrows his dark brow at me. “You have a problem with success?”

“No,” I answer and glance back at his giant pool. “But at what cost?”

“What does that mean?” His tone takes a swift turn from pleasant to punchy, and I scold myself internally for not being able to bite my damn tongue.

I try not to squirm under his penetrative glower. “I’m just saying all things in life come with a cost. It’s important to determine what expenses are necessary and what expenses aren’t. I’m sure I don’t have to tell you that material items aren’t the only things of value in life.”

Max tilts his head, his eyes roving over my face for a long, pregnant pause. He takes a step down, looming over me with his all-business face that I recall him having during my initial interview. “You have a lot of uniquely strong outlooks on life, Cassandra. I can’t help but wonder what’s inspired them?”

My chest tightens at his pointed question, and I falter for a moment, trying to figure out how to answer him.

“You were born and raised here in Boulder, right? You mentioned growing up on a farm. Is a willy-nilly business philosophy really how your family gets things done?”

“No,” I state, my lips thinning with challenge as I watch his pouty lips like a freak. “But country life is very different from corporate life.”

Max stares at me incredulously. “And you think you know my business?”

I open my mouth to reply when a high-pitched voice breaks through the moment, “Morning!”

Max and I both spread apart like we were caught kissing. I didn’t realize how close we’d gotten until Everly snapped us out of whatever mental standoff we were just in the middle of.