AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I get up and open the door.
I regret it.
Because Cash is standing on the porch, and my cheeks are instantly hot.
So much for that never letting a man get in your head thing.
“Cash,” I manage to say.
There we go. Not so difficult. He was just my high school crush. Just the person I’d pined after for years until he’d started dating my best friend instead.
Cash stares at me, his deep, ocean-blue eyes seeing straight into my soul. The Taylor brothers all have that stare, but none compare to Cash.
I take stock of his body in the silent heat of the Texas summer night, aware that the awkward quiet has continued for far too long.
Cash is taller than most men, well over six-four, broad-shouldered, muscular in the chest and arms and legs, and damn well everywhere else, but with the easy grace of an artist. His dark hair is short, the top longer than the sides, and styled like he’s just rolled out of bed.
His nose is crooked from where Reggie Donald broke it with his dad’s Louisville Slugger—accident when we were kids—and he’s got those three freckles on his left cheekbone that I used to doodle in the backs of my textbooks.
“June,” he says, his voice a rumble that penetrates me to the core.
Get over yourself.
“It’s good to see you again,” he says.
There’s another quiet broken only by the chirping of crickets. “You, too.”
He lets out a low breath, and I, like an absolute psycho, want to lean in and feel it against my skin.
“Sorry to interrupt your evening,” he says.
“I was just trying to get my mom’s old laptop to work, and let’s just say I don’t think there’s an IT guy in the country who could bring it back to life. I’m surprised it didn’t zap me when I tried to turn it on.”
Cash’s lips don’t even twitch. The boy who used to laugh and kid around with me is gone and has been replaced by this surly man.
I swallow. This is so friggin’ awkward.
“I heard you were looking for work,” he says.
“News travels fast.” I laugh. “Yeah, I’m kind of looking to get back on my feet. I was hoping Marci needed help at the Heartstopper, but she’s fully staffed, so…” I trail off because I’m not sure why he’s here. I glance sideways at his dad’s house. “Are you visiting your dad?”
“Nope.”
“So, you—”
“I need a nanny,” he says, like he can’t wait to get the words out. Almost like he’s mad at me for having to say them. “You’re a good person, June, and you’re good with kids. You get that teaching degree you always wanted?”
Cash remembers. He remembers my dream.
Wait. Did he just ask me to be his nanny?
Cash shifts his weight from one foot to the other. “Look,” Cash continues, running a broad tan hand over the back of his neck, “I’m in a tricky spot. I need a nanny for Alex for the summer. I need someone responsible who’ll keep her from melting her eyeballs in front of the TV or computer.” More tumbling words, half-angry. Or is he just in a bad mood?
“And you thought of me? Isn’t there anyone else who could help you?” I ask. “I’m back so that I can work up the funds to start school, but I’m not sure nannying is what I want to do.”
“I can help you with that,” he says. “Money’s not a problem.”
I smile. “That’s very modest of you, Cash.”
