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His eyes were ice blue and a little bit haunting. It felt like he was staring straight through all of my lies and wanted to rip them apart with his perfect white teeth. “You won’t show up for this job a day early again?”
“No, I won’t.” I realized he was being sarcastic and laughed. It did nothing to ease the tension. “Of course, I won’t. It was a good thing I did show up early, though. This little one was practically rattling the walls of this house with his powerful lungs.”
Joe looked to his brother. “Make sure all the paperwork is right.”
Finally, thankfully, the attention shifted to Collin. While Collin informed his brother he knew what he was doing, I slowly backed towards the door. The two of them in a room together, when their focus could swing back to me at any minute, was too much. I wasn’t sure how I would’ve managed yelling at them when one look from them made my tongue feel thick in my mouth. It was better that I’d been swept into the accidental lie.
“Normally, you’d have the afternoon to-” Joe cut himself off and turned to find me near the door. “What are you doing?”
“Leaving?” I smiled brightly.
Frowning even deeper, Joe turned to face me completely and crossed his arms over his chest. “You just started. How could you want to leave already?”
I looked between the two brothers and scrunched up my face. “I just meant I’m leaving the room. You two were talking and I was just going to give you privacy.”
Barely noticeable, his shoulders sank about an inch or two. “Oh.”
I hardened my empathy and refused to feel bad for him, for whatever he was going through. He’d gotten me fired. I wasn’t going to feel bad. “So, I’m going.”
“No.” He shook his head and nodded towards the chair I’d vacated. “Sit.”
Again, my reaction to being treated like a dog by yet another Carrington brother was to laugh. I wasn’t sure what it was but I couldn’t find the will to be offended. I was just amazed by their audacity. “You and your brother are so alike.”
Joe scowled. “What are you talking about?”
I tried to fight my grin but it was useless. In an instant, I realized with a startling clarity that annoying them gave me a natural high that I wanted to keep feeling. An even wider grin stretched my mouth. Maybe I couldn’t scream at them like I’d originally planned but maybe there was something else I could do to get my vengeance. How crazy could I drive them before they got rid of me? I didn’t want to push so far that I actually lost the guest suite waiting on me, though.
I perched on the edge of the chair and staredwayup at Joe. My heart thumped harder and I knew messing with them wouldn’t be easy. He was intimidating. “You and your brother both told me to sit like you were talking to a dog. That’s all.”
His jaw muscles worked as he watched me. I could see his mind working behind those pale eyes and watched his nostrils flare. “Dogs don’t talk back.”
With a shock, I felt my core clench. I glanced down at my thighs in horror and truly felt betrayed by my body. How could my vagina react to such a prick of a man?
“As I was saying… Normally, you’d have the afternoon to adjust to the house and settle in but with our previous nanny leaving so suddenly, I’m afraid you won’t have any time on your own today. You’ll need to take care of Milo today and get him settled into bed tonight before you’re done with your day. Breakfast is served at seven-thirty sharp. If you want a hot breakfast, that’s when you’ll get it. This hall of the house is off limits unless you’re summoned. The east wing of the third floor is also off-limits. The rest of the house and property are available for your use.” Joe pulled out his phone, thankfully, and stared at it instead of me. “You’ll be provided a phone and car while you work here. If the car in the driveway is any indicator of your driving skills, I don’t think you should drive the kids anywhere, however.”
Milo grumbled in his sleep and burrowed his little fist into my chest. I gently patted his back and bounced my knee to rock him. There was something about a sleeping toddler that melted my heart and I was lost in his softness for a moment. In a room full of men with sharp edges, little Milo was a relief.
“Collin?” Joe was still on his phone, tapping away. “Any other house rules?”
I thought about the binder of rules I still hadn’t looked through. More rules?
“We’re busy and we need to be able to focus during the day. We have a set schedule and we like to stick to it. I’ll send you the schedule Matilda used.” Collin tapped away at his phone and then looked up at me. “Your phone will have all the security information programmed into it. It’s easy to understand but if you need help, try to catch us at a time when we’re free.”
I flinched when Joe shoved the phone in his hand under my nose. I took it to avoid him shoving it any farther into my face and looked at it. It was the nicest phone I’d ever seen. I turned it over and then glanced up at them. “I already have a phone. I’m not great at technology. I break it. You should probably keep this if you don’t want it getting broken. Also, I drive just fine. My car is just old.”
They both stared back at me with matching confused looks on their faces. Collin spoke first. “Take the phone.”
“It’s one of the toughest phones on the market. You won’t be able to break it.” Joe shook his head. “I need to get back to work.”
I stood up and shoved the new phone into my back pocket. “Cool. Good luck at work.”
“Good luck?” Joe followed me to the door and when I turned around, he nearly ran me over. He gripped my arms to steady me and then let me go like I’d burned him.
I waved to Collin and shrugged as I looked up at Joe. We were standing just outside of Collin’s office and when he closed the door, it felt oddly intimate with just the two of us standing there. “Break a leg? Have a good day? Which would you prefer?”
He frowned and then just kept right on frowning.
“Oh, I know.” I laughed suddenly and then covered my mouth in an attempt to take back the loud sound. Only after I was sure Milo wasn’t waking up did I look back up at Joe. “You like dog commands. Work. Is that it? Work, Joe. Good boy.”
