Page 21 of Worth the Try
Surprise flashes across her face, and I think if I were any other person, Lennox perhaps, I’d make a joke here, ease the thickening tension and reset us into the more easily navigable roles of boss and employee. But I don’t know what kind of joke would work, and…I’m tired. Tired of, well, everything. I don’t have the will to fight a damn thing tonight.
So I smile, and move out of the way, and we finish cleaning up. She leaves shortly afterward, once the final Clorox wipe has been discarded and the kitchen is clean and tidy once more.
Closing the back door on Elodie’s retreating form, I turn to my daughter. “Head upstairs and get ready for a bath. I’ll be right up.”
“Okay, Daddy.” Rosie flashes a smile and darts away.
My phone buzzes on the counter. Thinking it might be my mom with an update on Dad, I grab it and glance at the screen.
UNKNOWN
Did you get my last text? We need to talk.
The breath whooshes out of me as my body tenses with adrenaline, my grip tightening on the phone. Before I can decide how—or even whether—to reply, another message comes through.
I know you’re reading these. Don’t ignore me.
Cursing, I blacken the screen and barely manage to contain the urge to throw the phone against the wall. Violence never solved anything, but it sure would make me feel a tiny bit better.
I know exactly who’s texting. And there’s no way in hell she’s getting what she wants.
Chapter 8
Elodie
IT TAKES A couple of weeks, but finally, on the third Monday of my job nannying for the world’s hottest rugby player, I’m able to sustain an air of “why, no sir, your beefy tattooed thighs and slightly crooked smile and scarred eyebrow and chest muscles and love for your daughter actuallydon’taffect me” whenever I see Ansel.
I’d like to say that it’s because that whole idea of being repeatedly exposed to something can make you immune to it is right.
Except that’s not it at all.
Not even close.
There’s no denying how scaldingly hot he is. Or how he makes each and every particle in my body scream“holy FLUFF he’s hot”every time I see him.
No, it’s simply that I’ve stood in front of the bathroom mirror and literally practiced keeping my face from reacting.
I’m not proud of it.
I’m also not proud of how I’ve watched, um, hours—hours!—of rugby highlights with him in it, trying, I swear, to get immune to him. All it’s done is made me hyper-aware of the way his body moves. Also, whoever does the slow-mo reels featuring him andhis ridiculous butt on social media should be awarded a medal. Or jailed. I’m not sure yet.
And it’s not as if he’s deliberately showing off his hotness when I’m around. If anything, he’s kind of…a dork. It feels wrong to say, but I’m pretty sure that Ansel would be happiest surrounded by spreadsheets instead of sprinting down a rugby pitch.
Which, of course, makes him that much hotter. A beast of a man on the rugby pitch who turns to absolute goo for his daughter and talks about financial solvency like it’s the most interesting thing in the world.
I guess what I’m attempting to say is that I’mtrying.And lo and behold, I think I’ve finally succeeded, because this morning, I’m able to smile and meet his warm caramel eyes without blushing. I mentally give myself five points—same as a try is worth in rugby—as I say, “Good morning, Ansel.”
He smiles back, and Istilldon’t blush. It’s tempting to award myself another five points, but no need to get ahead of ourselves. “Rosie’s putting on her new swimsuit. She’s decided to wear it all day.”
“As she should,” I agree. “It’s disgusting outside already. You didn’t do her hair, did you?”
His answering grin, slightly crooked as always, does things to my insides, but I keep chantingkeep cool keep cool keep cool,and I swear, I think it’s working. “No. Still in yesterday’s braids.”
“The ones she did herself?”
“The very ones.” He strides across the kitchen and plucks the keys to his Land Rover off the hook on the wall. “Thank you for teaching her. I don’t know why that never occurred to me.”
I keep my eyes firmly on his back. Not his backside. And you know what? That’s another five points.
