Milllionaire Dad, Nanny Needed!

“You were engaged?”

“And he left me at the altar.” She lifted the baby to Dominic’s eye level. “But even if I didn’t have that history, I have a better reason to stay here tonight.”

Reminded of the baby, he winced. “Right.”

“Just as you said, I’m here to help you with Joshua.”

She said it crisply, evenly, sounding like a professional nanny. Or at least she thought she had, until Dominic leaned against the island, looking sexy, sophisticated and like a man who didn’t believe a darned word she’d said.

“So, we’ll postpone going out until I hire a permanent nanny.”

She gaped at him. “I just told you I nearly married somebody like you and for my trouble got left at the altar. I eventually figured out that I pushed him into something he didn’t want, but that only makes me know unequivocally that you’re the last person I should go out with.”

He chuckled, pushing away from the counter and stepping close. “Actually, Audra, I think that makes me the perfect guy for you to go out with.”

Though his nearness caused her pulse to skyrocket and her leg muscles to turn to rubber, her brain had jumped to full operating capacity. She gaped at him in disbelief, but before she could counter, he said, “Even you admit your mistake wasn’t dating a playboy. It was thinking he would settle down.”

She snorted a laugh. “Exactly.”

“I think you missed your own point. You must have had good times with him.” He caught her hand, lifted it to his lips. “Before you tried to tame him, that is.”

She swallowed. A wispy trail of sensation danced along her knuckles, up her arm and flew straight to her heart. If a light kiss on her hand could make her insides shimmer with warmth, what would those lips do to her if they kissed her on the mouth?

“And didn’t those good times make you happy? Maybe decrease your stress? Maybe help you forget your long week of work?”

“Yes.” That was actually why she’d fallen in love with David. He was the first guy to make her forget everything. Let logic go. Leave her troubles on the dock as she stepped onto his boat. Laugh. Relax.

“And if you hadn’t gotten serious with him. If you’d let him be who he was…wouldn’t you be together right now?”

And if he would let go of her hand, would her breathing restart? “No.”

He laughed, pulling away from her. Not defeated, but looking like a guy who knew to retreat to fight another day. “I still say it wasn’t him but your approach that was wrong. After I hire a new nanny, come out with me and have a little fun.”

Audra sucked in a breath, amazed at how tempted she was to consider a suggestion that was incredibly wrong. He was too damned much like the man who had jilted her. And she’d learned her lesson. Dominic might be correct in saying that David had made her happy, but he’d skipped over the fact that she was a serious woman. She couldn’t have uncomplicated relationships with men like her ex and Dominic. Anytime she got involved with a man she liked, she would always fall in love.

And that was the biggest reason of all to stay away from Dominic. She would fall head over heels and he would amuse himself for a few weeks or months and then move on.

No, thanks.

“Have fun tonight,” she said, grabbing Joshua’s bottle and heading for the door. “And try not to stay out too late.”

Joshua awakened four times that night. Obviously frightened and confused by another change of home and caregiver, the baby sobbed pitifully. Her heart breaking for the little boy who was experiencing his third change of homes in as many months, Audra rocked him, sang to him, cuddled and soothed him. It was 5:00 a.m. when they both fell into a deep sleep. So when Joshua’s crying awakened her again, she groaned.

Sympathetic with the baby, she forced her eyes open only to discover it was morning. She popped up off her pillow, glancing at the clock. It was nine!

Throwing back the covers, she rolled out of bed and ran to the nursery. “Good morning,” she sang, refusing to let herself be tired or listless when this baby so desperately needed love and understanding.

“We’ve got some stuff to do, and I’m not entirely sure what order to do it in.” She kissed his forehead and then checked his diaper. Realizing he needed a change, she reached for one of the throw-away diapers in the drawer of the changing table beside the crib.

“For all my experience with my nieces, I’ve never kept a baby overnight. When I babysat for my sisters, I always left when they returned home.”