Nanny for the SEALs by Cassie Cole

39

Heather

Asher was a good father. He genuinely cared about Cora and the boys. It was almost amusing seeing him freaking out just because his daughter had one instance of lying.

The girl would be fine. I would just need to make sure I didn’t take her for granted while focusing on the boys. She needed attention and praise too.

I thought about the kids during the stakeout. Sure, Dustin and Micah were little balls of rebellious energy, but that’s just how little boys were. The three dads were doing the best they could, given the circumstances. It couldn’t have been easy for the last six years.

Not that men couldn’t raise children alone. I knew plenty of single dads who did wonderful jobs with their children. But it was harder, especially in a situation where the three men each had a child of their own from the surrogate, and shared a business, and tried to do everything at once. It would have been easier if they had a mom to help out.

Or a wife.

I had no idea where the hell that thought came from. But once it appeared, I let myself consider it. I really liked these guys. I mean really liked them. Each of them was wonderful and unique in their own way. And after five weeks together, I knew what we had was more than just physical, no matter how much I tried to pretend otherwise.

I cared about Asher, Brady, and Rogan. And I knew they cared deeply about me, too. Not to mention the love I felt for their three children. We had something special growing.

I don’t know if I can leave at the end of six months.

Asher and I passed the time by playing games. “I spy with my little eye…” I said slowly while gazing through the binoculars. “Something pink.”

Asher answered immediately. “The woman on the left side of the balcony with the wine glass. She has a pink top.”

“Damnit. You’re good at this game.”

“We’re both looking at the same balcony,” he pointed out. “Our options are limited.”

“What kind of threats is Amirah getting?” I asked.

Asher pursed his lips while gazing across the courtyard. “The most recent one is on the computer. It’s from the same account that threatened her before the first attack, at her house.”

I twisted the laptop around on the table so I could read it. There were two Twitter Direct Messages, sent five minutes apart:

Amirah, my beloved. You have ignored all of my messages. Why don’t you reciprocate my love? No one will ever love you the way I do. I can promise you that. Is someone keeping you from me? Do you have a personal assistant reading your messages and deleting them? Who is keeping me from you?

I do not know why you have decided to be such a FUCKING BITCH. Tonight, I’m going to make sure you never love anyone ever again. If I can’t have you, no one can. You will die tonight, WHORE.

I winced. “They went off the rails awfully fast. The first message is pleading, and the second is hostile.”

“The stalker seems quite bipolar,” Asher agreed. “Of course, if Heimdall is behind this, then it’s orchestrated to look like—”

The radio on the table crackled to life. “Cooper here. Apple Pie is wandering out to the balcony to get a drink.”

Asher touched his earpiece and said, “Copy.” Then, to me: “Keep an eye on the party. I’ll scan the balconies above.”

I spotted Amirah as she walked through the open doors out onto the ballroom balcony. She was wearing a gorgeous moss-green dress with a plunging neckline. There was a split in the hem which showed a flash of bare leg with every stride. Her blonde hair tumbled around her shoulders in ringlets, swaying back and forth as she spoke with people on the balcony.

I’d kill for her stylist, I thought.

“Movement a few floors above,” Asher said. He was touching his earpiece with one hand and holding the binoculars in the other. “Fifth floor. Third balcony from the left.”

“Should I extricate Apple Pie?”

Asher hesitated a few seconds. “Negative. It appears to be someone smoking a cigarette. They’re in a bathrobe. No weapon sighted.”

“Copy. Apple Pie has retrieved a drink and is heading back inside.” I could hear the relief in Cooper’s voice.

The guys were right: stakeouts were boring. That false-alarm was the only excitement we had during Asher’s shift. At five minutes to ten, I woke Brady up from the suite bedroom. He poured himself a cup of coffee from the carafe.

“Want me to order more? So that it’s hot?” I asked.

“Nah. I want it cold.” Brady chugged it down, then poured another.

Asher stretched. “I’ll head home. You coming with, or you want to stick around?”

I was tempted to leave, but Brady gave me a hopeful look. “I’ll stay and keep Brady company,” I said. “Otherwise he’ll just fall asleep.” I grinned at the man.

Brady snorted. “You think you’re joking, but I’m tired as shit. I might need that second pot of coffee after all.”

Asher said goodbye and then the two of us were alone. I caught him up to speed on everything that had happened in the first shift.

“Sounds about right,” Brady muttered while peering through the binoculars. “That’s how most of these go. A whole lot of nothing. And even when something does happen, there’s a whole lot of nothing leading up to it. It’s probably not too late to catch up to Asher and catch a ride home…”

“I’ll stay,” I said. “I meant what I said about keeping you company. Besides, I’m enjoying spying on all these famous actors. I feel like the paparazzi.”

Brady added five packs of sugar to his cup of coffee, then took a sip. He smacked his lips with satisfaction.

“Do you want some coffee with your sugar?” I teased.

“Hey. I don’t judge how you drink your coffee.” He sipped again and said, “Speaking of sugar, I still can’t believe Cora was bribing the boys with candy.”

“Yeah, it’s pretty crazy.”

“Serves Asher right for always gloating about her,” he went on. “I’m never gonna let him live this down.”

“He’s actually really broken up about it,” I said. “I can tell he’s taking it hard.”

“Good! Serves him right for being a smug asshole about it.”

“I’m being serious,” I said more forcefully. “You need to go easy on him. The three of you are a team. A weird parenting team for sure, but you’re still a team. You need to present a united front with regards to the children. If you make it a competition, or treat some kids differently than others out of spite, it will end up poorly. Kids are perceptive. They understand what’s going on even if you think you’re being careful. I’ve seen it a million times with kids whose parents are always arguing.”

To Brady’s credit, he cast his eyes downward and looked ashamed. It was exactly how Dustin looked when he had been caught taking candy from Cora.

“Well, fuck,” he said. “I didn’t mean for it to go like that. I just meant it in a buddy-buddy sort of way. We always gave each other a lot of shit when we were in the SEALs.”

“You’re not SEALs anymore,” I emphasized. “You’re fathers together. The kids see how you act and emulate it.”

“Yeah, all right,” he said.

He returned to scanning the Warwick Hotel across the courtyard. I could tell I had gotten through to him. Maybe even too much, based on how quiet and embarrassed he seemed.

“Shit, Brady,” I said after a while. “I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings.”

“I’m all right,” he said quietly.

“Normally you’re talkative and fun. It feels like I kicked a puppy.”

“I kinda feel like I got kicked,” he said. “But I deserved it. Raising kids shouldn’t be a competition. You’re right.”

I put a hand on his thigh. “You guys are doing the best you can. I told Asher the same thing. Parenting isn’t easy. Especially in a weird situation like the three of you are in.”

He continued to peer through his binoculars. “It’s easier now that you’re here. You make everything easier, you know.”

He paused and smiled over at me, then resumed scanning the building.

I let my hand slide further up his thigh. “I don’t make everything easier. There are a few things I definitely make harder.”

I found his bulge along the right leg of his jeans. It stiffened at the touch, expanding down the denim.

“You trying to distract me?” he asked with a sly smile. “I distinctly remember you promising you wouldn’t. You crossed your heart and everything.”

I squeezed him through his jeans. “It’s only a distraction if you let it be. Just keep doing what you’re doing and I’ll climb on top.”

He hummed deep in his throat. “Your body will be in the way. Your sexy, delicious body…”

“Well then,” I crooned, “I’ll just have to find a way to have some fun without blocking your view.”

I danced my fingers up his jeans. Every tooth of the zipper clicked as I slowly opened him, then reached inside and pulled him out.

He groaned as I bent my head over him, wrapping my lips around his shaft and taking as much as I could. He grew impossibly hard in my mouth, and put a hand on the back of my head to gently move me along.

“Nuh uh,” I said, pausing to smirk up at him. “Keep both hands on your binoculars. No distractions.”

I savored the way he moaned loudly as I resumed the blowjob.