Page 3 of Brazilian Fantasy
Ah, so Alyssa is my secret sponsor.
“No, she didn’t tell me your little girl’s name,” I hedge, understanding we’re not talking about the child anymore, but something else entirely…something that’s going to reduce our friend group by one—because if I’m right about why she sent me here, I’m going to murder Alyssa, slowly and painfully.
Looking anxious, Lucas casts a worried look at his daughter, his body suddenly tense. “But she did tell you Maddie stopped speaking after her mother died last year, right?” he asks, his voice so low I have to strain to hear him.
My heart pinches as I take in the deep sadness in his eyes, his genuine concern for his little girl. “Ah, yeah, of course.” I should excuse myself. Go to the bathroom and call Alyssa to find out the exact details before I do or say something to make matters worse for this family.
He relaxes slightly, the hard ridges of his face softening as he slides his hands into his pockets, pulling his khakis lower on his hips. Jeez, just when I thought he couldn’t look any hotter, he goes and proves me wrong.
“Okay, good. We’re on the same page then.”
Same page, different book, maybe.
“Let’s get you settled into one of the guest room then I’ll give you the rest of the tour. Maddie’s regular nanny Eugenie left instructions.”
Bamn!
And there is. The bombshell I’ve been waiting for him to drop.
I’m here to babysit Maddie.
Good-bye epic sex.
What did one get for strangling a friend these days?
“Do you just have the one suitcase?” he asks.
Walk away, Piper, before this vacation becomes a complete train wreck.
I nod, and he says, “It might take Maddie time to warm to someone new. She’s gone through so much trauma. It’s not easy for a little girl to open herself up after losing her mother.”
Oh, hell. How can I walk away now?
Maybe I’ll poison that cockle soup Alyssa’s always raving about.
He dips his head, and that rebellious lock of hair once again falls over his face. “With your experience in a daycare, I’m sure taking care of one little girl for three weeks, as opposed to thirty or more in a classroom, will be a breeze.”
I stand still, feeling like I did that day in junior high when, on the way to soccer practice, Alyssa had accidentally slammed my fingers in the back door of her mother’s SUV—nauseous and dizzy.
Lucas steps around me and puts his hand on the heavy front door. He gives it a little shove, and I spin around and glance outside before he cuts off the view. What the hell had my friend been thinking? This vacation was supposed to be about me getting away from kids, not babysitting some millionaire’s little girl. Am I being punked? I search for signs of Ashton Kutcher, but as Lucas closes the door, the walls begin to close in on me.
I breathe past the panic. How can this be happening? The whole point behind the New Year’s Eve pact was to draw a name and secretly put together a sexy dossier for an epic adventure where sensual dreams come true.
I drew Harper’s name that fateful night, and I have spent months saving and putting together a once in a lifetime trip to England for her—with a little catch. One that will knock off her socks—as well as her panties—not lock her in a mansion taking care of a little girl who looks at me like I’m the monster under her bed. Truthfully, I might babysit kids for a paycheck, on my way to a managerial position, but in the two minutes I’ve been here, one thing has become perfectly clear. Maddie needs a mother figure, and that is something I’m not, and never tried to be, to the kids I care for. I’d be doing this family an injustice.
Lucas’s brow pulls together, and he angles his head, his eyes searching my face, no doubt registering the shock. “Piper, are you—?” A small squeak sounds from behind us, and we both shift to see Maddie dashing into the other room.
“It’s like this, ” I begin, ready to tell Lucas there’s been a mistake. But when he turns back to me, and I see the lost, frightened way he’d been looking at his daughter, my heart turns to Jell-O.
Shit. Shit. Shit.
Don’t go soft now, Piper. You are not the girl for the job.
Then who is?
Lucas looks back at me and smiles, but it doesn’t reach those dark, haunted eyes that hold so much worry. “I’m sorry, what was it you were saying?”
Walk away, Piper. You’re not equipped to help this family.
