Nanny for the Alien Lord by Tammy Walsh
Belle
Used to sleeping alone,we lazily rolled into each other during the night and woke each other up.
We cuddled up close, shared an innocent kiss, and before we knew it, things got a whole lot steamier.
Sometimes I took the lead, other times he did.
It was hard to tell where the dreams began and where they ended.
The first hesitant tendrils of sunlight filtered through the curtains as I finally got up.
I kissed his sleeping form on the cheek and crept across the room.
I stopped at the door to look back at him.
I was smitten with him.
There was no other word for it.
Smitten as a kitten.
As I crossed the hallway, I couldn’t help but think back over the time we enjoyed together.
His tight abs and powerful arms weren’t defined as a male model’s might be but there was an undeniable superior strength to him that was both appealing and satisfying.
He could raise me off my feet without barely even trying.
My cheeks burned at the memory of how he lowered me onto that intimidating length of his while he stood upright, his elbows curled around my knees.
He pummeled me like a jackhammer until I couldn’t take it anymore.
And then he did it more.
His endurance was dimmed only by his insatiable desire.
His desire for me.
My bed was untouched and, fearing my sister might come in and see it, I hastily crossed to it and messed the blankets up.
Then I threw them back as if I’d only just woken up.
The perfect crime.
I moved into the bathroom and stepped beneath the hot spray.
Once again, fragments of the previous night flashed before my mind and I couldn’t help but smile.
I’d mistaken his motives.
I thought he was trying to box me in, to control my decisions and make them himself.
In my rage, I hadn’t seen the truth for what it was.
He’d only wanted to help me.
That was why he’d had the ramps and elevator built—what was money to a billionaire?
That was why he’d introduced his friend Iatell.
He hadn’t insisted she take on my sister and her designs.
She’d genuinely loved them otherwise she wouldn’t have reacted the way she had.
Despite his help, there was still a part of me that felt uncomfortable with letting someone get close, with anyone helping Abbie but me.
It’d only ever been the two of us against the world.
It’d always been that way, so I figured it would forever continue along those lines.
I dried myself off and got dressed for the day.
Life seemed so much brighter and more exciting now.
Nothing like the dreary darkness it’d been the past few days.
It was as if a terrible migraine had invaded my senses and only now was I awake and alert to the beauty of the world.
I got dressed and kept an eye on the mirror.
I wanted to show him my legs, so I selected a short skirt that barely reached my knees.
It was sky blue and revealed me just the way I liked.
I headed downstairs and into the kitchen.
Abbie filled two cups of coffee and wheeled over to the dining table.
“Sleep well?” I said.
“Well enough,” Abbie said with a smile. “Here. Come sit down. We need to talk.”
I stiffened at her choice of words.
Who liked to hear them spoken with her matching tone of foreboding?
“Okay…” I said, pulling up a chair beside her. “What do you want to talk about?”
Abbie’s eyes twinkled, a filthy grin on her lips.
“You. Tauas. Last night.”
There was no way she could know what happened!
We were quiet!
We took pains to ensure we didn’t wake anyone up!
Tauas’s bedroom was as far from the others as you could get.
No one could have heard us…
Unless they wanted to…
I glared at my sister.
“You pervert!” I said. “You listened at the door?”
“I did no such thing,” Abbie said, holding up her hands in surrender. “I didn’t need to. You forget that when you lose the ability of one sense, it improves the sensitivity of the others. I could hear you even if you did nothing but sleep.”
She winked at me.
“And you did a whole lot more than that, didn’t you?”
My cheeks glowed crimson.
How embarrassing.
“How long have you known about us?” I said.
“Longer than you, I suspect. I’ve known you’ve been into him ever since you came back from the ball. Ever since then, you’ve been floating on cloud nine, in your own little world. And after you got the job as nanny here, you’ve been glowing brighter than a lightbulb.”
As if on command, my cheeks burned even brighter.
“That ticket was a real bargain after all, huh?” Abbie said. “I never should have wasted it on you…”
She giggled and sipped on her coffee.
“What I don’t know,” she said with a frown, “is how serious it is between you. Is it just something to do over the two weeks or is it something that could last a whole lot longer?”
I’d asked myself the same question many times and always stopped short of answering it.
Whatever I came up with was always going to be subjective.
Plus, I had my sister to take care of.
Even with Tauas’s help, that wasn’t about to change.
If Tauas wanted to be with me, he would have to be with my sister too.
We came as a package deal and I had no intention of giving her up.
I reached across the table and took her hand in mine.
“I don’t know, and that’s the truth. But you make sure to tell me as soon as you know.”
Abbie threw back her head and laughed uproariously.
“I will,” she said, wiping her eyes dry.
“You know, Daynnis will be back in two days. What happens then?”
I shrugged.
“I don’t know.”
Abbie hissed through her teeth and bit off an expletive.
“You’re no fool, Belle. If you want a relationship with him, you’re going to have to come clean.”
“About what?”
“About how you feel. At least, one of you has to.”
The idea of being honest with him made my stomach clench.
I’d been honest with my ex-boyfriend too, right before he dumped me.
I had no intention of repeating that little episode again.
“Speaking of unknowns, Iatell Islah turning up like that yesterday wasn’t just a freaky coincidence, was it?” Abbie said.
I shook my head.
“Tauas invited her here. He saw your designs and thought they had potential. Don’t worry, he didn’t force her into inviting you to her Warehouse or anything. She genuinely liked your designs.”
“Naturally,” Abbie said, tossing her hair over her shoulder, “a professional like her knows quality when she sees it.”
Heavy elephant footsteps thundered down the stairs.
Elken bolted into the room and jumped into Abbie’s lap.
“Elken!” I said. “Be careful!”
Abbie rearranged Elken so she was more comfortable.
“I can’t feel anything below the waist anyway,” she said, before turning and giving me a wink. “I imagine you must feel similar.”
I slapped her on the arm.
Abbie turned to Elken.
“How about we get you some breakfast?”
Elken nodded and yawned broadly, her face still swollen with sleep.
Abbie turned to the kitchen cabinets and got to work.
My sister was right, of course.
She was always right about these things.
What exactly was my relationship with Tauas?
Over the past couple of days, it’d morphed into something strange and surreal.
It wasn’t a regular relationship or an excuse to have fun.
I knew from the pangs in the pit of my stomach, the uncomfortable awkwardness writhing like the sea, that the emotion I promised myself I would never feel again had already taken root.
Dare I take the chance that it might blossom into something more?
Was I willing to expose my heart to him, in the hope that he might take the same chance on me?
Just thinking about it made me feel sick to my stomach.
“Morning everyone,” Tauas said, looking a million bucks in his sharp suit.
To think he was all mine last night.
“Morning,” Abbie said, bending over Elken to explain how to make cereal.
Elken had a very focused look on her face.
“Morning,” Tauas said.
“Morning,” I said back to him.
He glanced at the others, quickly bent down, and planted a silent kiss on my cheek.
I stiffened and checked the others weren’t watching.
Elken focused on her bowl as if it was her mortal enemy, while a knowing smile curled Abbie’s lips.
Some people didn’t need to see something to know what was happening.
I wish I was the same.
Maybe then I wouldn’t have been so shocked about what would happen over the next twelve hours.
