Billionaire and Nanny Secret by Lauren Wood

7

Ezra

There was an obvious tension between Quinn and me, although I had nobody but myself to blame for that. If I was being completely honest, I was nervous, and that nervousness was making me do things that I shouldn’t. Not just that, but I was furious as well at this girl for something that she couldn’t control. I was mad because I wasn’t able to control myself, which wasn’t her fault.

If anyone were to blame, it was her parents for bringing such a beautiful woman into this world. Last night, I’d been able to stop us, but what about next time? How much self-control would I be able to muster then, especially considering that I’d only stopped because I thought I heard Paige. There was no way that I was going to be able to stop longing for this woman. It didn’t matter what I did.

So, being the man that I was, I’d managed to conjure up a plan of sorts, and it was brewing easily, in my mind. If Quinn and I didn’t get this attraction for each other sorted out, then it would always affect us, which meant that it would affect her work. And I wasn’t going to allow her to give me anything other than her best.

The last time a woman on the job had become infatuated with me was terrible. I sighed, as I thought about it, a shiver running down my spine. She’d been so obsessed, and it was the prime example of unprofessionalism that I didn’t go for. She hadn’t been able to get anything done with all of the time that she spent gawking at me. That was why, in the end, I had to let her go.

All night, I hadn’t been able to go to sleep, although that was hardly new for me. I could be a bit of an insomniac at times, but it wasn’t that I wasn’t able to go to sleep. It was as if a part of me hadn’t wanted to because I wanted to picture Quinn and see her, all flustered and horny, from what we’d done.

At some point, I’d even debated going to her part of the house, knocking on the door, and continuing what we had started, but I’d known better than to do that. It would look bad on me, and for someone like me, image was everything.

So I’d managed to stay put, but the same wouldn’t be said for tonight. I looked at myself in the mirror while I slid on a plain white t-shirt in preparation for dropping Quinn off to work. I’d never done this before, and I was surprised that she accepted without much convincing. But there was a reason for all of this.

I never did things I didn’t premeditate for a long time, but thinking about this longer wouldn’t change my mind. I just had to be sure that acting like an ass this morning wouldn’t make her think of saying ‘no.’ Because after all, I wanted just one night with her, one wild night, and then, maybe, I could back off.

Or, at least, I hoped that I could back off.

The doorbell sounded throughout the entire house, and I walked downstairs to answer it, knowing that Quinn was getting ready to go to the veterinary clinic. My face was scrunched up into a frown, as I tried to think about who was supposed to be coming over. Nobody had called me, and my family, and what I could call my friends, knew better than to just come over without letting me know ahead of time.

And nine times out of ten, I denied them access for whatever excuse I managed to think of. I made it obvious that my free time was just that, time for me to myself to enjoy doing what I wanted to do, not to have everyone bombard me with their requests. And my mother happened to be the worst when it came to that.

I opened the door and sighed when I saw who was behind it. Klaus was staring at me, with a smirk on his lips.

“Hello, brother.” He knew most, out of anyone else, how much his unexpected visit would bother me. He raised an eyebrow at me when I didn’t move away from the door. “Aren’t you going to invite me in?”

“No,” I answered simply. “I’d rather not.”

“Why not?” He cocked his head to the side, acting like he was innocent.

“Because you know how I feel about you just dropping by.”

Klaus snorted. “I was supposed to just ‘drop by.’” He made air quotes. “Don’t you remember our plans?”

I studied him, trying to remember if we’d made plans for today. But as far back as my mind could go, I couldn’t remember anything.

“What are you talking about, Klaus?” I asked him. He was constantly rambling on when he shouldn’t.

“It’s Saturday,” he reiterated. “The bar?”

“That’s not our Saturday ritual.”

“It could be. Now, move aside.” He pushed my shoulder, and I backed up, allowing him access to the house.

“I’m not going to the bar, today, Klaus,” I stated, closing the door and turning around to see that Quinn was there, staring at us in curiosity. She looked surprised at our topic of conversation, but she hid it well. She coughed and straightened her back as if to pretend like she wasn’t listening.

But I knew better. She was relieved. She was happy that I wasn’t going to the bar. I wasn’t doing it for her, was I? No, I didn’t owe her any kind of loyalty. The sole reason was because I only wanted one woman underneath me tonight, and I wouldn’t find her at a bar. She was standing right in front of me.

“Quinn,” my brother exclaimed and walked over to her. Klaus took her hand and kissed it. “It’s always a pleasure.”

She smiled, politely. “Same here.”

“What are you dressed for?” His eyebrows furrowed as he looked at her scrubs.

Quinn nodded at me. “Ezra’s about to take me to the vet office.”

“Work?”

“Yep.” She replied shortly.

“Speaking of which,” I intervened, not wanting Klaus attempting to woo her, like he was so good at. “How about you make yourself useful while you’re here and watch your niece until we get back?”

Klaus showing up may have worked in my favor. If I was going to tell Quinn my idea then I needed for us to be alone. The best way for that was if Paige was out of the picture. She didn’t need to know about any of this, and with how smart she was, I didn’t want her piecing any of it together. Paige was smart for her age.

I could tell that my words were making Klaus curious, and the only reason he was holding himself back was because of the woman standing beside him. Maybe he figured out why I wanted the time alone, or perhaps he didn’t and still just wanted a shot at Quinn himself. I hardly ever knew anything that went through his head although I was glad for that for a majority of the time.

“I mean, I was going to…”

I cut him off and grabbed Quinn. “We’re leaving,” I announced. “Be back in a bit.”

Before Klaus could say anything, I moved Quinn outside, my hand on her wrist. I hadn’t even thought about the fact that I was touching her before I was. But here I was, walking her outside to the car. I knew that I should have let her go, but that was the last thing that I wanted to do. So I didn’t.

I walked Quinn to her side of the car and waited for her to get inside. I caught a glimpse of her face, as she settled into the car. She was beyond nervous and surprised. There seemed to be more to it than that, though. She had a cute blush to her face. I had embarrassed her, and for some reason, I was happy about that.

Once I got into the car, I put the key in the ignition and put the car in drive. My head looked at Quinn, and she was staring out the window. Her lips were parted, and she was breathing heavily. What I wouldn’t give to peer into her thoughts and see what was going on in there.

One thing I knew for sure was that she was confused. And I didn’t blame her. There were parts of me that weren’t even completely sure of myself or what I was doing. All I knew is that it needed to be done. And all I could hope was that she felt the same way…although what were the chances that she didn’t?

I turned the car onto the road, trying to remember where her vet office was. Once I was on the road, my attention turned to Quinn, fully.

“Do you know why I offered to take you to work this morning?” I wanted to know what she was thinking before I told her the truth, just out of my own curiosity.

“So you could apologize for how rude you were?” She offered before I saw her eyes widen. Quinn had managed to surprise herself with her words, and the more important part, she’d managed to surprise me. I had already known how mean I’d been to her, but I didn’t want to be reminded of that.

“You thought I was rude?”

She raised an eyebrow at me. “Yes.” Then, she swallowed. “But I shouldn’t have said that. You’re my boss, and I’m sorry.”

“I was an ass.”

Yes,” she agreed. “You were.” She was still looking out the window.

“That isn’t why I offered to drive you to work.”

“Then, why did you?”

“Because I wanted to talk to you.” I sent a glance her way. “About us?”

“Us?”

“Yes.” I could feel Quinn’s eyes staring into me.

“What about us?” Her voice was low yet intrigued.

“There’s an obvious attraction between the two of us,” I stated. “That can’t be denied.”

“Yes.”

“I don’t think that we can keep working together or try to go back to normal unless we figure this out together. And I think that the only way we can work past this is if we go to the root of the problem and…”

“And sleep together?” Quinn finished for me, her voice shocked. And I heard the smallest bit of lust in it. She liked where this conversation was going.

“Exactly.”

“Why would that help us?” She asked me. “Wouldn’t that make it worse, so much worse?”

I knew where she was coming from, but that wasn’t how I saw this.

“I don’t think so,” I told her, honestly. “Right now, all I can think about is how you’ll feel, what you’ll taste like. If I had all of the answers to my questions, then wouldn’t those questions just leave my head? I wouldn’t have to worry about those things anymore.”

Quinn looked like she was taking in everything I was saying. “So one night of wild sex, and then what?” She asked me, trying to get answers to fill in all of the holes that my proposition were leaving her with.

“And then we forget all about it,” I told her, evenly.

She nodded. “So, we pretend that it didn’t happen.”

“Precisely.”

When the words were said out loud, I realized that they sounded different, much different than I had expected. It made me sound like a cold-hearted jerk who just wanted to take advantage of her. That wasn’t my intention, and I couldn’t change how I was viewed. After all, if the shoe fit. I couldn’t change it now.

Quinn didn’t say anything. Her eyes were focused out the window, and she was silent. I couldn’t think of a time that I’d ever seen her so quiet. Usually, she was full of words, things that she wanted to say. I’d made her speechless, and that was an accomplishment to me.

But I wanted to hear something. I wanted her to tell me whether she agreed with me or not. At the same time though, I didn’t want to rush her for an answer. The car ride was incredibly quiet, as we drove to the vet, leaving me with my own thoughts. Quinn didn’t stop looking out of the window, and I knew she was trying to process everything that I’d said without making that obvious.

When was the last time that I had ever felt so anxious or nervous? I was the kind of man who was always sure of himself, who knew exactly what he wanted and that was that. So, why was it different this time? Why was I so unsure of myself and attempting to get validation from a woman, one that I planned to sleep with, at that?

In all honesty, I was used to being confident of myself and in my actions. I was used to knowing exactly what I wanted and getting it, without having anything stand in my way. When I wanted a woman, I never had problems getting her, and now I was wondering if Quinn was going to be the first woman to really reject me.

Quinn wanted me, I knew that much. But maybe I wasn’t the only one with questions and concerns. Just like I didn’t want to sleep with a subordinate, perhaps she didn’t want to sleep with her boss. Last night could have just been a mistake for both of us, except that it wasn’t. I knew what I’d said, but I hadn’t really thought that it was a mistake. Nothing with her could ever be a mistake.

I pulled into the parking lot of the vet and stopped. Quinn unbuckled her seatbelt, but she didn’t get out. She turned around to face me, biting into that lower lip the way that I liked. I wished that I could reach across, grab her chin and press those lips against mine. But I knew better than to even consider that at the moment.

She hadn’t even told me whether or not she was accepting or rejecting my proposition yet.

In an effort to try and convince her, I got out of the car and walked over to her side to open her door. Quinn looked shocked at my chivalry before she slipped out of the car, our bodies incredibly close together. She was staring at me with those big green eyes that I’d come to like so much.

“What’s your answer, Quinn?” I asked her, bending down so that my lips were next to her ear. I didn’t care if anyone saw us.

She didn’t say anything for a second before she nodded her head. “I think that I would like that.”

My thumb brushed over her bottom lip. “Good.” And then my lips were on hers. Kissing her may not have been the best idea, but it seemed like a pretty good one to me. Those beautiful, luscious lips. I could tell that she was surprised, but she was enjoying this nonetheless. She liked the feeling of my lips against her, liked when I kissed her.