Traded by Lisa Suzanne
CHAPTER 12
I get to know Brooke a bit while JJ naps and Jack fields calls about the trade, and I find she’s a twenty-one-year-old student studying elementary education at UNLV. She attends classes part-time while JJ is in daycare during the mornings, and we spend over an hour discussing her coursework and professors—some the very same ones I had when I attended the same school.
She has a long-term boyfriend of several years who’s studying to be a lawyer, and his cousin is Calvin’s assistant, Lily. That whole chain is how she ended up in the position of JJ’s nanny. She seems really sweet, like we could have some nice chats. Since she’s an employee bound by the same nondisclosure agreement I signed with my contract, I wonder whether we can chat about what I’m really doing here, but I want to clear it with Jack first...so for now, I keep it vague.
She heads upstairs to get JJ when he starts making a little noise through the monitor, and she brings him down a few minutes later.
It’s my first time meeting Jack’s baby boy, and I swoon.
He’s the cutest little boy I’ve ever seen.
He has rosy cheeks, a smattering of dark blond hair that hasn’t quite grown in yet, and eyes the same shade of navy as his daddy’s. There’s no mistaking he’s Jack’s son.
“You want to hold him?” she asks.
I nod and take him gently from her, protecting his sweet little head as I do, and I feel a twinge in my chest. I loved nannying for Kennedy in the two months I was there before Miles was born, but it was when the baby came along that I really started to enjoy my job. It just made me realize how very much I want kids of my own someday.
Holding this little boy makes me feel those same things all over again. I’m only twenty-five, so I’ve got plenty of time, but I grew up as an only child. I want a kid, and I want siblings for that kid.
Right now, and for approximately the next year, I have zero prospects in the way of actually making that happen. Unless I happen to meet one of Jack’s hot football buddies. Then maybe.
Yeah, right.
But that Ben Olson guy isn’t hard to look at...
When Jack eventually emerges from his office, he looks worn down. He heads right for the pantry and grabs a bottle of gin off the top shelf, and he sets it on the counter. That’s when he glances up and spots me holding JJ.
He abandons the bottle on the counter and makes his way toward us. “May I?” he asks, holding out his hands to indicate he wants to hold his baby. I hand him over, and he looks down at JJ.
“Did you sleep good, little buddy?” he croons softly.
And I swoon. Again.
Jeez.
He stares down at him with all the love in the world, enough to make my eyes prick with a little heat. He’s this big, tough, condescending, egotistical asshole, and yet seeing him just look down at his son the way he is makes him almost...human.
Almost sweet.
Almost, but not quite.
He opens the slider doors and takes the baby outside, and I glance at Brooke.
“He’s so good with JJ,” she says.
I think about asking whether Michelle is good with her son, but before I get a chance to ask, she starts talking.
“They’re an interesting couple.” She walks over to the window to watch Jack with the baby in her charge. “But they share a child, so I guess they’re trying to make it work.”
I stand beside her, and we both watch Jack as he walks around the yard talking to his son. “How long have you been nannying for them?”
“Since JJ was born, so right about four months.” She seems like she wants to add more, but she also doesn’t know me well enough to trust me yet. “Just look at him,” she says, and we both do.
My eyes drift down from his torso to his narrow hips to his butt, and I sigh.
Reality check, Kate.
We’re looking at the baby, not at Jack’s ass.
“He really tries so hard to be a good dad, and he does a great job. But with him going back and forth to Denver and working so much even when he’s here, I get why he wants me around to be that constant in his son’s life.”
“What about Michelle?” I ask.
She clears her throat, and she’s quiet a while before she finally answers. “I’ve heard horror stories of mothers who hated their nannies because they felt like the nanny had a stronger bond with the child, so I actively look for places to include her in our daily routine. But every single time I’ve asked, she’s had something else she needs to do.” She lifts a shoulder and glances over at me. “She tries, too,” she scrambles to say, which just tells me she’s trying to cover the fact that she’s gossiping about her boss regardless of what she actually believes. “But she’s just so busy with her circle of friends and her job.”
“What does she do?”
“She works with the Aces as an assistant to the marketing director, but she wants to assist her father instead. He already has two assistants, and he calls on her upon occasion when he needs additional help.”
“Her father?” I repeat.
She nods. “They’re super close.” She twists her middle finger over her pointer finger. “Two peas in a pod.”
Jack walks back toward us, so that’s the end of our conversation. But it’s interesting to note that Michelle and her dad are as close as Brooke claims they are, and I can’t help but wonder whether that has something to do with why I have a job here.
Once Brooke gets JJ going on his bottle, Jack glances over at me. “Can we talk in my office?”
“Of course,” I say, and I ignore the racing in my chest. Why do I have the sudden feeling like I’m in trouble?
I follow him to the office, and I slide into the chair across from him.
It’s leather and plush at the same time, like I could sit here all day and not get a stiff back.
“Who are you and why are you here?” Jack asks.
My brows draw together. “I’m Kate and your new team owner hired me as a different sort of coach for you.”
He picks up a pen and flips it around between his fingers. “Yeah, no shit. That’s not what I meant. What are we telling the media when they ask who you are since you’ll be blessing my public presence at all times?”
I stare at him blankly. Calvin had mentioned we should have a plan, and with the whirlwind today has been, I sort of forgot.
“The look on your face clearly tells me you haven’t given it any thought. It doesn’t take very long in the spotlight to realize you always need to be prepared.”
“Got it. You know you can talk to me without being condescending all the time,” I say, my voice full of sugar.
He ignores me and continues thinking aloud. “We can’t say you’re my girlfriend since I’m engaged to Michelle.”
“Uh, is there something wrong with the truth?” I ask.
He gives me a look like I’m stupid, and it’s not the first time I’ve had the urge to slap him. My fingers flex in my lap where they rest.
He never stops flipping the pen, and my eyes fall to it as I just sit back and observe for a beat.
“Yes,” he says.
“What?”
He blows out an exasperated breath. “I can’t tell people I have an adult babysitter. It’s ridiculous.”
“And yet it’s your reality.” I smile sweetly. If he’s going to patronize me, I’m going to push his buttons right back.
He’s deep in thought as he flips that damn pen around some more, and when he glances up at me, he catches me watching. His brows dip as he stops and sets the pen down.
He knows what I’m going to say.
It’s a nervous tick from a man who is never nervous, at least not on the outside. He’s showing me an insecurity as he deals with this new reality, and the last thing he would possibly want is for a stranger outside his inner circle to observe any sort of vulnerability on his part.
But it’s my job to pull those things out of him even though I already know he’s going to fight me every step of the way.
“It’s okay to keep doing that,” I say gently. “It’s the first time you’ve let your guard down.”
“And that’s why I stopped,” he says pointedly.
“We’ll say I’m a friend,” I suggest.
He shakes his head. “Not good enough.”
“Manager? Agent? Publicist?” I toss out different ideas to see what will stick.
“My current manager, agent, and publicist might have something to say about that.”
I look up at the ceiling and tap my chin as I think, my lips twisting as I squint. And then I snap my fingers as it comes to me. “Got it. I’m your new assistant.”
He tilts his head and narrows his eyes as he studies me for a beat, and then he nods. “That could work.”
My brows shoot up in total shock that he actually approves of my idea. “Holy cheeseballs. Really?”
“Cheeseballs?” he repeats, his tone definitely mocking.
“I worked with children at my last position. I sort of got used to screening my language. But really, you think the assistant thing could work?”
He shrugs. “Sure. I just need to make sure the people who know don’t say anything.”
“Does Michelle know?” I ask.
He shakes his head, and truthfully I’m shocked by that. Shouldn’t his fiancée-slash-the daughter of the guy who made this whole deal happen know the truth?
“What did her dad tell her?” I ask.
“He just said you’re a type of coach, and she doesn’t really give a shit. I’ll talk to Tom and Ben, though, because they know. And my family.”
“Tom and Ben?” I ask.
“Tom’s my agent. And Ben Olson,” he says. “An old friend who was also recently traded to the Aces.”
“The one you went to the strip club with last night?” I ask.
He purses his lips and shakes his head with a bit of disgust. “See? I can’t do a goddamn thing without the entire world finding out.”
“Well it was another mark against you. You have a fiancée and a baby at home and you’re out drinking at a strip club. Do you really not see at all how that’s problematic?”
He flattens his lips. “I don’t need to answer to anybody.”
“Except your boss,” I point out. “Your future father-in-law. God, how stuck must you feel right now?” I’m pushing here, and I say the last part rhetorically.
I’m shocked when he answers anyway.
“Incredibly.”
My eyes flash to his, and he looks away before I get the chance to read what he’s thinking. “Then why are you marrying her?”
“Long story.” He clears his throat. “I have a few more things to do including preparing for a press conference welcoming me to the team tomorrow, and then I’m meeting some people for dinner.”
“Where are we going?” I ask. When he frowns at me, I add, “I just want to know how I should dress.”
His frown deepens. “You can wear whatever you want in the house, though I’d keep it PG at the worst since there’s a baby. Not that his mother does.” He says that last part under his breath.
“Cute, Jack, but I’m coming with you.” I purse my lips at him.
“The fuck you are.”
“Might I remind you that your boss is paying me to be there, so yes, in fact, I certainly am.” I cross my arms over my chest and drum my fingers on my bicep as my heart races at standing up to him.
His eyes fall to my fingers where they move, and I realize I’m showing him my own nervous tick. I stop drumming immediately.
“Calling in the big guns on the first day?” he asks.
“Don’t make this harder on both of us.”
He sighs. “Fine. But you’re not sitting at my table, and I’m not paying for your meal. And if for some reason my dinner companions acknowledge you, none of this holy cheeseballs ridiculousness.”
I smile sweetly, but it’s really just to mask my glare. “Yes, sir,” I say, and I can’t ignore the tiny bit of heat in his eyes at my submissive reply.
