Falling For The Nanny: The Billionaire's Baby SOS / The Nanny Bombshell / The Nanny Who Kissed Her Boss

Bella squealed with delight.

“You love to play.”

She cuddled Bella to her and the baby nestled in. Just about to turn away before he started spinning odd fantasies again, Matt stopped himself.

Maybe he wasn’t so much envisioning himself with a family, but Claire. After their discussions today, he’d be an idiot not to realize this was a woman who longed for a family.

He frowned, watching her.

Maybe that’s what drew him? They hadn’t known each other long enough to really like each other. Yet he couldn’t deny being drawn to her. So did he want a family…or did he simply want help with Bella? Real help. Not just a nanny to care for his baby, but someone to love her in ways Matt wasn’t sure he could?

CHAPTER NINE (#ulink_9189cf61-448e-5557-8662-b8f1afc8e0a5)

WITH his new questions about Claire confusing him, Matt spent Wednesday trying to avoid her. But how could he when caring for Bella together put them in the same room all the time? When she finally went to bed, he got a few minutes of peace and quiet, but when he entered his bedroom, he could smell her. Her scent wasn’t just in the bathroom anymore. No. It was everywhere.

Thursday morning, Bella seemed to have learned that spitting out her food could be entertaining, so Matt found himself stationed by the high chair, wiping spit food off the tray, putting himself directly in line with Claire’s scent.

After breakfast, they rolled a ball back and forth for an hour, keeping Claire’s scent around him and emphasizing the fact that they didn’t talk.

They couldn’t. Every time they talked, they got to know each other. And when he got to know her, he liked her. But when they didn’t talk, he thought about her. Wondered how a little girl got along without a mom when she had a distant dad. Wondered why she wasn’t bitter, as he was about his family. Wondered how she’d stayed so sweet.

Though he needed to learn everything he could while he had Claire with him, by Thursday afternoon he knew there had to be a better way to handle this. They had to find something to do while they cared for the baby. Something that would occupy their minds enough that he could stop thinking.

He wanted twenty minutes of not thinking. Not about his family, not about Bella and especially not his unwanted attraction to Claire.

He pushed himself away from the desk. “You know what? I think we should spend the rest of the afternoon cooking dinner.”

Claire glanced over. “Cooking dinner?”

“Yeah. I’m getting a little tired of takeout. But we also have to spend time with the baby. So I thought we could put her in the high chair and chitchat with her as we put a roast in the oven.”

She walked the baby over to him. “That’s a great idea. We’ll get dinner, but you’ll also learn how to multitask with a baby.”

“How is that different from regular multitasking?”

“No matter what you’re doing, if Bella needs tending to, she becomes the priority. This is a great way to start seeing that.”

Matt shook his head, unable to stop the laugh that escaped. “Seriously? You think I’m that stupid?”

He expected her to have some kind of funny comeback. Instead, she froze. “You laughed.”

“What you said was either insulting or funny. I chose funny.”

“Okay…” She bit her lip. “It’s just that—” She stopped again.

“What?”

“When we met you never laughed. You smiled a bit, but sort of craftily like you were trying to figure me out. Then you started ‘kind of’ laughing. But not really laughing, more like chuckling. You just really laughed. A genuine laugh. As if you’re happy.”

He headed for the door. “I’m not happy.” He stopped, raked his fingers through his hair, as that damned confusion overwhelmed him again. Technically, he was happy. He liked who he was and what he did. “That’s not to say I’m unhappy. Things are working out with Bella.” He stopped again. What the hell was going on with him? Why did he feel he had to explain himself to her? He strode to the door. “Could we please drop it?”

She raced after him. “Why? I think it’s cute. You like Bella. Or maybe you like the idea of being a dad.” She smiled dreamily. “It’s cute.”

He walked out of the office and toward the kitchen. “It’s not cute. I’m confused.” Realizing he was talking to her again, admitting things he shouldn’t, he stopped abruptly and she almost plowed into his back. “Could we just forget it?”

“Okay. Sure. I’m certainly not trying to talk about personal things. But I think Bella makes you happy. That’s all I want to say. You don’t have to answer, explain or refute it. It’s just an observation.”

But as they worked together seasoning the roast, peeling potatoes, preparing vegetables to make a salad when the roast was done, she continued to wear that ridiculously dreamy smile. A smile that said she was thrilled all this was working out for Bella.

Bella sat in her high chair, cheerfully banging a rattle on the tray. Claire chopped veggies, dreamily thinking thoughts Matt was absolutely positive he didn’t want to know. And he organized everything, getting rid of his pent-up energy and doing what needed to be done. Like the man of the house.

Damn. There he went again. Thinking about things, his life, in ways that were foreign. He wasn’t a family man. He didn’t want a family.

But he had one.

And he had to admit that with Bella settling in and him growing accustomed to her he did feel…happy.

All these years he’d thought his successes and toys made had him happy. But the new feeling bubbling through him told him they only made him feel successful.

Claire or Bella or maybe Claire and Bella made him happy.

And it scared the snot out of him.

The buzzer for the gate rang and he walked to the intercom. The screen above the row of buttons showed a truck with the Hansen’s Department Store logo on the door.

“Yes.”

“I have a delivery for Matt Patterson.”

“Gate is opening. Come to the front entrance.”

Without looking at Claire, he said, “I’ll take care of this,” and left the room.

After lighting the burner under the potatoes to cook them for mashed potatoes, Claire fell to the chair near the high chair. “Your daddy is the first person I’ve ever met who didn’t want to be happy.”

Bella gurgled.

“You’re right. Let’s hope he gets accustomed to it.” She ruffled Bella’s soft tuft of hair. “What am I thinking? You’ll get him accustomed to it.”

She would. Because Bella had the rest of her life to worm her way into his heart.

Which was a very good reminder to Claire. With everything Matt did, she liked him more. Try as he might to be grouchy and sullen, he was growing accustomed to Bella and enjoying being a dad. And that was very attractive. But, though he’d accommodated a baby in his life, this wasn’t a guy who would fall head over heels in love with a woman. She’d be lucky if he remembered her name after she left. She wasn’t here to make him happy, worm her way into his heart or fall in love. She was here for the baby. And she’d do well to remember that.

Claire stayed in the kitchen with Bella and finished the mashed potatoes. When the delivery man left, she unwrapped the additional toys that had arrived that afternoon. She showed Matt how to dump the colored rings from the cone onto the floor and help Bella rearrange them on the cone again. With all the playing, Bella grew tired more quickly than usual and Claire and Matt just barely got her bathed before she fell asleep at seven.

They walked into the kitchen silently. Both of them probably as tired as Bella, and both of them lost in thought.

Matt went directly to the oven. “With her going to bed this early, is she going to sleep tonight?”