Park Avenue Player by Vi Keeland
Chapter 11
Hollis
What the hell did I get myself into?
We were in pairs—parents and their respective children.
“You have to go fast, okay? I want to win the grand prize,” Hailey said.
“What’s the prize?”
“A gift card from Target.”
I would have happily bought her one myself if it meant getting out of this potato sack.
The announcer yelled, “On your mark…get set…go!”
At the sound of the whistle, with my legs stuck in a gray, canvas sack, I began hopping across the open field. I couldn’t help but laugh at how ridiculous this was. Worse, Hailey was chiding me the whole time because I’d fallen behind the rest of the pack.
“Come on, Uncle Hollsy! You can do better than that!”
I hadn’t been taking it seriously enough. She was right. I could have done better. A lot better. With that realization, I suddenly picked up my speed, hopping as fast as I could with everything I had in me. I managed to pass a few of the pairs and also get quite a bit ahead of Hailey.
I’d finally hit my stride in potato-sack racing when I passed Elodie’s face-painting stand. She was still setting up. A man was standing there talking to her. I wondered if it was the same guy from earlier—the jerk’s father who was trying to get in her pants.
As I hopped along, my eyes became glued to Elodie and that guy. I even turned my head to keep looking after I passed them. That’s when I knocked right into the back of one of the parents.
Oof!We both fell over.
“Shit! I’m sorry. Are you okay?” I asked.
The man was not happy. He didn’t say anything as he picked himself back up and continued the race.
I’d fallen so far behind now that Hailey had pretty much given up on us.
She caught up to me. “Are you okay? How did you fall? Did you trip?”
Yeah. I tripped over my damn dick.
“Yeah. I got distracted.”
“A for effort,” she said, out of breath.
“You sound like Elodie now, grading me.”
She looked over toward the face-painting station. “Looks like Elodie’s all set up. I’m gonna go get in line. Are you gonna be okay without me?”
“Yeah. I’ll manage just fine.”
I went in search of some water and came upon the guy who’d been talking to Elodie when I fell on my ass.
I took a gander at his nametag. “Are you Lawrence’s father, by any chance?”
“Yes. And you are?”
“Hollis LaCroix. Hailey’s uncle. Tell your son to stop disrespecting my niece.”
He sighed. “Look, I just apologized to your nanny. But my son denies doing anything wrong.”
“Well, Hailey’s not a liar. So if she says someone is bullying her, she’s telling the damn truth. Just keep your son in check. And while you’re at it, keep your hands off my nanny.” I walked away before he could respond.
I didn’t need to add that last part. Not really sure why the idea of him trying to pick up Elodie made me crazy. Did I have a thing for her? I knew she was attractive, but I couldn’t understand why this guy talking to her had irked me that badly.
Anyway, it didn’t matter how I felt about Elodie. Now that she’d become the best thing to happen to Hailey in a long time, she was most definitely off limits. I could never fuck her, because then I’d have to not see her again, and that wouldn’t work in this equation.
Hailey came running toward me. “Look! Elodie made me into a unicorn.”
She beamed, proudly displaying her new pink and purple face. A horn was painted in the middle of her forehead. There were sparkles around her eyes.
“Wow. You look...great.”
She grabbed me by the hand and pulled me toward Elodie’s station. “Come on. It’s your turn.”
“Oh no. I don’t want my face painted.”
“Yes, you do. And look, there’s no one else in line right now.”
Elodie smiled wide. “Well, hello, sir. What can I do for you?”
So many potential answers came to mind.
“Apparently, I’m getting my face painted.”
Hailey giggled, then whispered something in Elodie’s ear.
Elodie shook her head and laughed. “No. We can’t do that.”
“Yes! Yes, we can.”
I looked between them. “Should I be worried?”
“Sit,” Elodie said.
Hailey jumped up and down. “Do it!”
Elodie sighed.
What the hell is going on here?
“Uncle Hollis, can you give me some money? I’m gonna go get a slush while Elodie paints you.”
I reached into my pocket and handed her a ten.
“Bring me back one,” Elodie said. “Gonna cheat on my diet a little.”
“Okay.” Hailey skipped away.
When Elodie’s eyes landed on mine, I asked, “So what exactly are you doing to me?”
Multiple meanings there...
She cleaned her brush before opening a few bottles of paint. “Don’t worry. It’s all in good fun.”
She leaned in and started to paint my face with small strokes. I had to say, I didn’t exactly mind being this close to her. It was an innocent excuse to be near her, to breathe her in, without it seeming inappropriate.
I also couldn’t help but look down into her cleavage. Fuck me. She had amazing tits. She smelled amazing, too. I’d never been this close to her. She smelled like a mix of flowers and candy.
“What are you looking at?” she suddenly asked.
I pried my eyes upward and didn’t even try to deny it. Because it was all too clear that I’d been enjoying the view.
“Where do you expect me to look from this angle? I don’t have many choices. I just picked the best one.”
“I’m kidding, Hollis. I don’t mind if you look at me.”
She stopped painting for a moment and looked into my eyes. The sun brought out the highlights in her gorgeous hair. I felt myself starting to sweat, and it wasn’t even that hot out. Fucking hell, she was beautiful. Okay, so maybe I did have the hots for the nanny. I needed to keep that my dirty little secret.
When she resumed painting, I closed my eyes. I quite enjoyed her hand on my chin while she worked. It was soft and dainty, and I had the urge to run my tongue along it. I wouldn’t, of course.
“Can we talk about sex?” she asked.
What?My heart pounded. “Hmm?”
Did she fucking read my mind?
“Okay...so, Hailey said something to me earlier that made me wonder if it’s time to have the birds-and-bees talk with her.”
I breathed out a sigh of relief.
“I didn’t want to do that without consulting with you first.”
I cleared my throat. “Ah. Okay...well, what did she say?”
“She told me she thought the dad who was flirting with me wanted to screw me. So clearly she knows what sex is. I just wonder if maybe, given the fact that she’s approaching her teen years, someone needs to talk to her about birth control and stuff.”
Shit.
Fuck.
Shit.
She’s too young for that, isn’t she? No, it would be dangerous to assume that. Better safe than sorry.
“Okay...yeah, I think you’re right.”
She dabbed some more paint onto her brush. “Do you want me to do it? Have the talk with her...or would you prefer—”
“Oh, I would not prefer. No preferring going on here. I would really appreciate you handling that. I hope that’s not outside of the scope of the job.”
I’d give my left nut not to have to have that conversation with my niece.
“I don’t think we really have a scope, do we?”
“Well, cooking certainly isn’t a job requirement, but you do that anyway. I don’t want to take you for granted. You go above and beyond. I think talking to her about sex takes the cake, though.”
“I don’t mind doing it. Is there anything you prefer I not discuss with her?”
“Use your judgment. I just want her to be safe when the time comes. As much as it makes me uncomfortable to even think about it, I don’t want to be naïve, either. I remember kids in my middle school having sex, and I’m sure things have only gotten worse. It would be very easy to just throw it under the rug. So I appreciate your help.”
She stopped painting my face for a moment. “Can I ask you a personal question?”
“Yeah...”
“Before Hailey, I assume you used to bring women back to your place. Now that she’s there, where do you...”
My mouth curved into a smile at her hesitation. “Where do I fuck?”
“Yeah.”
She seemed to blush. I loved it.
“Well, not in the apartment.”
She resumed painting. “Right. I was curious—how you logistically make it work.”
I wasn’t sure about the relevance of this question, aside from her just being curious.
“Well, there are ways around it,” I said.
“Like...”
“Like meeting someone at their place in the middle of the day or getting a sitter and going out at night. Having Hailey at home does limit my options, but…”
She finished my sentence. “But where there’s a will, there’s a way.”
Thinking about sex while she had her hands on me—while I could feel her breath on my face, while her tits were practically up against me—was definitely not good. I could feel myself getting hard. I really needed to think about something else.
Hailey returned, holding two slushes. Good. That should do it.
“Oh my God!” She laughed. “You did it!”
“What kind of shit are you two pulling?” I asked.
“Language, Hollis,” Elodie said.
I pulled out my phone to look at my face.
The red and black paint was shocking. And she’d drawn a little horn on each side of my forehead. They’d made me into the devil.
“So this is how you see me?” I asked.
“Remember, it’s all in good fun, Hollsy.” Elodie winked.
I wondered if she’d think it was all in good fun if I smacked her on the ass and left a handprint. Damn, I enjoyed that thought. Maybe I was the devil.
“Where’s my slush?” I teased.
“I didn’t think you wanted one.”
“Did you ask me?”
“You want me to get you one?”
“I’m just kidding, Hailey.”
“Here.”
Before I knew it, Elodie had shoved her spoon in my mouth. Now she was feeding me slush. I had to say, she had a very motherly instinct.
I felt a lot like a horny teenager having the hots for “Stacy’s Mom” right about now.
