Read Online Nanny Next Door by Michelle Celmer - Free Book Online

things.
    “Maybe I can help you organize,” she said, eyeing the moving clutter that he hadn’t yet found a place for.
    “That would be a big help.” He lifted April off the changing table and turned to Sydney. She stood in the doorway, the towel still draped over her shoulders, and… hello.
    She must have been chilled, because he could see the outline of her nipples through her damp shirt. It was as if they were calling to him, silently begging him to notice.
    He noticed. And God help him, he appreciated the view. His first thought was to ask if she’d ever been in a wet T-shirt contest. A clear indication that a month without female companionship was taking its toll. Maybe he could talk one of his sisters into watching April next Friday evening so he could go out. An evening at Moose Winooski’s, the local brewery, was exactly what he needed to shake off the stress of a month in captivity.
    With any luck, the P.I. would find someone to take April soon, and Daniel would have his life back.
    He realized that he’d zoned out staring at Sydney’s chest, and she must have noticed, too, because she pulled the towel down to cover herself.
    “Did you want to hold her?” he asked.
    She looked longingly at April, but said, “I shouldn’t while I’m all wet.”
    “Maybe we should talk about money,” he said.
    “Money?” she asked, confused.
    “I do plan to pay you to watch April.”
    “Oh, right. Sure.”
    “Let’s go back to the family room.” He carried April over to the playpen and laid her inside, hoping she would play a little while longer before lunch. Sydney sat on the couch, and he took a seat beside her. Maybe it was his imagination, but she seemed uneasy. Maybe she just didn’t like talking finances.
    “I’m not sure what the going rate for a nanny is, and I doubt I can even come close to matching your former salary—”
    “Why don’t you just pay me what you can afford?”
    What if what he could afford was less than what she needed? Or maybe whatever he could pay was better than no pay at all. “I want to be fair. Why don’t you give me a number. What you would expect for, say, a forty-hour week.”
    She though about it for a minute, then quoted a sum that even he considered ridiculously low. Not that he wouldn’t love a great deal, but it wouldn’t be right to take advantage of her. “Are you sure that’s enough?”
    “Let’s just say that I’m not hurting for money.”
    He recalled hearing a rumor that she’d taken her ex to the cleaners in the divorce. It appeared as though it wasn’t just a rumor after all.
    “Besides,” she added. “Think how convenient this will be for me. No morning commute, and if I have things to do at home, I can just bring her with me.”
    “True,” he said, but it still seemed low to him. “You should know that occasionally I work the night shift.”
    “I don’t have a problem with that. And maybe if I get a parking ticket…”
    He grinned. “It would be nice if it disappeared?”
    “Not that I would ever ask you to do anything unethical.”
    “You get a lot of tickets?”
    “Over eight hundred dollars’ worth in the past year.”
    He winced. That was blatant harassment. He didn’t doubt the mayor’s posse was responsible. And though fixing it for her could put him in hot water, it would be worth a minor scalding or two. “Consider it done.”
    “When do you need me to start?”
    “Is Monday too soon?”
    “Monday is fine.” She paused and then asked, “So we have a deal?”
    If she wanted to work for peanuts, who was he to tell her no? “Yeah, we have a deal.”
    He extended a hand to shake on it, and she hesitated before she slid her hand into his.
    It was ice-cold. “Sydney, you’re freezing,” he said, rubbing her hand between both of his to warm it. “Why didn’t you say something? I could have loaned you a sweatshirt.”
    She extracted her hand from his grasp and wound it with its mate in her lap, eyes lowered. “I-I’m