The Nanny Solution. SUSAN MEIER
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begin to get him on a schedule.”
With the picture of the diaper still vibrating in his memory, Jake smiled gratefully, the same way he would with any assistant who was taking a messy job off his hands. That was when he realized all he had to do was treat Hannah like an assistant, a secretary, or any other subordinate he was accustomed to dealing with and everything would be okay.
“That’s fine,” he said, taking the heavier suitcase from her and leading her up the stairs. “Do whatever you think we need to do to make our lives and Dixon’s easier, because I have a feeling we’re going to have him for a couple of months.”
“Really? You heard from his mother?”
“I have a call in to his mother so we can get the details of the length of her shoot, but she hasn’t called me back. If she doesn’t phone by Wednesday, we’ll know this commitment she forced on us is a lot longer than she wanted to admit.”
Hannah laughed and Jake stiffened. He wasn’t sure if it was a good idea to get too chummy with her. The goal here was to be polite and bosslike, not funny. Though, it was hard not to be at least a little silly about Felicity’s antics. While dancing on Friday night it was clear he and Hannah shared the same sense of humor. Hannah would probably think it odd if they didn’t laugh and tease and joke. Then she would figure out something was wrong, then she might go to her brother…
Yeah. Better let her laugh. No, actually, what he had to do was to continue to make her laugh as he had done on Friday night.
“Here’s your room,” he said as he opened the door. The floral bedspread and curtains seemed perfect for her, not just because the yellow and orange colors suited her but also because giving her this room put her an entire corridor away. He’d had to rearrange the nursery to do this but he knew moving Dixon was much better than sleeping two doors down from Hannah.
“You have your own bathroom.” Which meant no awkward bathroom scene. No stockings over the shower rod. No running into each other naked beneath robes or bath towels.
“And here’s the walk-in closet, with laundry chute and caddy.” Which meant that as long as she put her clean and folded laundry on her shelf in the laundry room, she would only have to press a button to bring them to her room, not run around half naked looking for a blouse…Not that he thought she would. But he wasn’t taking any chances.
“It’s lovely.”
“Thanks. My mother decorated it.” He turned away from her and walked to the door, not about to stand and chat with her while she unpacked because that would definitely not be a bosslike thing. “I’ll be in my office if you need me.”
“Okay.”
Jake closed the door behind him and sighed with relief. That had actually gone very, very well. He had to like her. He had to get along with her. She was his best friend’s little sister, not to mention his boss Troy’s sister-in-law. For the rest of his life, she would be popping up at parties, baptisms and weddings. He couldn’t dislike her, avoid her, or ignore her. So all things considered, the first encounter had gone well. Plus, he was leaving for Paris this morning. She would have three full days to get herself adjusted to his house and he would have three full days to get himself adjusted to knowing she was in his house.
In his office, Jake typed in the short list of commands that activated his brand-new NannyCam and immediately the image of Dixon’s nursery flashed onto his computer screen. He didn’t feel guilty or feel as if he was spying on Hannah. To Jake this was simply a typical precaution any father who had to leave town the very first day of his nanny’s employment would take.
Watching the scene of the white crib and changing table in the large airy room, made sunny and happy with the rainbow curtains that currently billowed in the morning breeze, Jake sat back in his tall-backed black leather office chair. He had only intended to turn on the system, but just then Hannah emerged from the adjoining bathroom, carrying the baby tub, which she set on a counter by the crib. She picked up squirming Dixon and set him in the water.
Jake leaned in to study the screen again. Clearly happy to be in his bath, Dixon gooed, bounced and splashed, but Hannah only laughed. Jake watched her, his head tilting to one side as he observed the way she handled Dixon.
“You better stop wiggling or you’re going to slide right out of my hands.” As she said that, she leaned down to Dixon and rubbed her nose against his. The baby giggled all the more. Enveloped in a warm, fatherly feeling, Jake smiled.
He couldn’t picture Felicity doing this with his adorable little boy. Hell, he didn’t think the L.A. nanny was this warm with Dixon. Yet, it didn’t seem odd to see Hannah play so intimately with the baby she had gotten acquainted with at his party once they realized she would be his nanny. She and Dixon seemed at home with the playing, the tickling, the teasing.
He continued to silently watch Hannah, enjoying her interaction with Dixon, until he realized just how much he was enjoying it. He thought Hannah was pretty and sweet, and he adored his son. The sight of them together made him feel things that went beyond anything he had ever felt before and entered the soft, wonderful place he thought only existed in a man’s imagination: the place where intimacy with a woman mingled with the joy of fatherhood.
He bounced away from the screen.
Whoa, he thought, then turned off his computer screen, though he left the computer itself on, to continue operating the camera and to record everything that took place in the nursery while he was gone.
That was a weird feeling.
A very weird feeling. Especially since he and Hannah had never been intimate.
It was the kind of feeling he had heard other men talk about with reference to their wives. The kind of feeling that scared him silly because listening to his friends talk about turning all mushy inside watching their wives with their babies made him think they were wimps. He could allow for a little wimpiness and sappiness about being a dad. He could let a guy get sloppy as all hell over a woman. But as soon as a man made that baby/mother connection, Jake knew it was all over for the poor sap. The guy was a goner.
And he did not intend for anything to be over for himself. He had a great life. He was rich. He was good-looking. He had any woman he wanted from the large, sophisticated circle of jet-setters in which he traveled. And, if everything went well with this week’s delivery, he would have the kind of risky, adrenaline-producing career that most men only dreamed about.
He had no business thinking about mothers and babies. He loved Dixon. In fact, having Dixon was the blessing of his life because in spite of never marrying, he got to be a dad. He had an heir, money and, even if he only remained a CIA courier, a fabulous secret life of sorts. He didn’t need to be thinking sappy thoughts about a pretty girl.
With that, he left his office and headed for the kitchen and a final cup of coffee before he departed for the airport. As he brought the cup to his lips, Hannah entered the kitchen, carrying a very clean, very nicely dressed Dixon. Wearing a pale blue T-shirt, shorts and little tennis shoes, Jake’s six-month-old son already looked like the jock Jake was sure he would someday be.
“Here, give him to me,” Jake said, reaching for his son.
“Be careful. He’s particularly squirmy today.”
“It surprises me that he took to you so well.”
Hannah shrugged and gave him a beautiful smile that he felt the whole way to his toes. “It shouldn’t. He’s not old enough to make strange yet.”
She issued the comment so casually that it struck Jake that part of the reason he was having more trouble controlling his feelings today was that Hannah was acting differently. He could have sworn she was afraid of him when he danced with her Friday night. Or, at the very least, that she was shy. But here she was behaving as if they were lifelong buddies.
He could easily believe she wanted to work for him because she had been laid off and needed the money. But that shouldn’t make her eager to be around him. If anything, she should be shooing him out the