Tempting The Manny (5 page)

“Good
morning, beautiful.” He grinned, his dimple showing.

“It is an excellent morning.” She kissed him lightly.

His hands cupped her cheek as he deepened the kiss. His erection was pressed into her thigh. She was just about to reach down and wrap her hands around it when the sound of a door closing startled her. Jerking away from Jamie, she sat up quickly.

“Shit!
” Jumping out of bed, she hurried across the room, shutting her bedroom door. “Oh my God, Jamie! The girls are home. What time is it?”

Without waiting on him to answer, she looked at the clock on the nightstand.
It was ten o’clock in the morning. She wasn’t expecting them until the late afternoon. Quickly, she slipped on a pair of sweat pants and an old t-shirt.

“Stay here, okay?” s
he said quietly.

Jamie
nodded.

She left the room, making sure to shut the door behind her. Morgan came running to her for a big hug.

“I missed you, Mommy! But I had so much fun.”

Embracing Morgan, Olivia said,
“I missed you too, sweetheart. Where are Emily and Daddy?”

“He said he’d be right in. One of the neighbors wanted to talk to him.”

Olivia frowned. There was no telling who was out there with him. She almost didn’t want to know. She took Morgan into the living room and got her started on coloring. She tip-toed to the front door to take a peek. Shit, it was Kelly’s husband John. John jogged every morning. Most of the time she enjoyed seeing him run by the house in his tony shorts. Not today.

“Oh God,” she whispered. She had completely forgotten about Jamie’s car. It was parked right next to hers
, and Eric’s SUV was conveniently right behind it. All she could do now was pray there wouldn’t be a scene with the kids here.

She backed up slowly from the door
hoping this was some sort of nightmare.

“Mommy, I’m hungry. Daddy didn’t feed us breakfast.”

Olivia rolled her eyes. It was just like him to forget to feed them. “Okay, let’s get you something.”

“Can I have a chocolate
toaster pastry?”

“If we have some.
You usually eat those within twenty-four hours of me buying them.” They walked into the kitchen.

“Why is Mr. Jamie’s car here?”

Crap
. “He came over to see you guys. But mommy was lonely without you so he stayed with me.”

“That was so nice of him.”

“Yes it was.”

Opening the cabinet, she pulled down the chocolate fudge
pastry box. She handed one to Morgan.

“Aww,
I wanted them both,” Morgan complained.

“
One, and if you’re still hungry there are fresh grapes in the fridge.”

Morgan turned without another word and
left the kitchen. Letting out a loud sigh, Olivia relaxed against the counter. This wasn’t good. It was foolish to let Jamie spend the night. In fact, it was crazy she was even involved with him. Her life was way too complicated right now.

T
he front door opened and a slam followed. Eric’s footsteps echoed down the foyer. This would be a good time to be invisible. If only there was some magic saying to make it happen. Her name was called and she could hear the irritation in his voice. Morgan then directed him to where she was. She wished now they had bought the house with the double doors in the kitchen so she could escape.

Eric came in and handed her Emily. The baby’s face lit up and it melted her heart. She squeezed Emily against her chest.

“Has she eaten?”

“She had a bottle in the car.”

Emily needed much more than a bottle these days. “Did she get her breakfast though? Oatmeal.”

“No.” He crossed his arms and leaned against the counter.

She really wanted to yell at him. Call him a sorry excuse for a father since he couldn’t even feed the kids, but she knew better. This was anger taking over. She needed to stay rational. Eric did love the girls.

“We need to talk,” h
e said.

She’d been expecting this, so
she said nothing.

“I know what’s going on here and frankly I’m confused.”

“I—”

“You hire someone to watch the kids and it’s a man. Rumors are flying. I get a call last night from Kelly telling me that I had nothing to worry about because he’s gay. And yet this morning, his car
’s here. John says it was here all night. So tell me, what’s going on?”

Wow, where did she even begin.
Not saying anything, she pulled the highchair in from the living room and placed Emily in it. She then put a few cheerios on the tray to keep the baby happy.

“I know he’s here, Olivia. I’m not blind.
”

“Is that why you’re here so early this morning? To catch me doing somethi
ng to make yourself feel better? Why do you care?” This was all too much before her morning coffee.

“When I got that call last night it
devastated me. I realized the mistake I made. I want to come home.”

Chapter Seven

Olivia gripp
ed the counter with her back to Eric. He was unbelievable. He wanted her back? No way. He’d been absent for months before leaving and he’d cheated on her. To her knowledge, he was still with the other woman. This had to be some sort of jealousy thing. It was okay for him to run around, but she was just supposed to wait on him?

“What about Kate? Are you still seeing her?” Olivia asked.

“I can end it.”

Olivia spun around. “
You’re seeing her still and asking me to take you back? Get out of here.”

“No, please thin
k about it.” Eric reached out for her, taking her arm.

Olivia jerked away.
“Don’t touch me. It’s over.”

He stared longingly at her.
“I miss the girls and they need me.”

“Yeah well, don’t w
ait two weeks to see them again,” she snapped.

“I’m not. I don’t want to go through custody and so on. I think it would be easier if I just came home. Kate is nothing to me. You though, you’re my love.”

Olivia rolled her eyes. “I’ll think about it.” Even though she knew she wouldn’t.

“I want to see Jamie,
” Eric said.

“What? Why?”
Over her dead body.

“
He needs to know not to get comfortable in my house.”

What had she ever seen in him?
“Not now, the kids are here. Even this conversation isn’t appropriate.”

“Fine. I’m going outside. Send him out there and you watch the kids.”

“No,” she argued.

“Its fine
, Olivia, I’ll talk to him.” Olivia spun around to see Jamie standing in the doorway.

“You don’t have too.” S
he was so embaressed.

“
It’s fine, really.” Jamie assured her.

She glanced at Eric and saw the smirk spread against her face. This wasn’t good at all.

Eric brushed past her and Jamie followed him. She stood there feeling helpless. If only she could run out there after them and hear what was said, but then the girls would definitely know something was up. Instead, she combed her hands through her hair and decided to see how the girls’ weekend was. Morgan, being the talker, was so glad to tell her all about the fun things they did.

Of course
Eric had done all sorts of fun things, while she was always left with the day to day duties and couldn’t even afford trips to the local kid-friendly entertainment venue.

She concentrated as best she could, but her thoughts were stuck on what the guys were talking about. It then dawned on her that Eric might tell Jamie that she said he was gay. That wasn’t good. She really liked Jamie. He deserve
d better than her. She was trouble.

And now Eric wanted to come home. It had to be because he was jealous.
The nerve of him thinking she would let him back. He’d cheated and left. Called her all sorts of names too, such as The Ice Queen. He wanted her to be more like Kelly. Olivia’s blonde hair needed to be blonder, she needed fake nails, and two trips a week to the tanning bed. The extra weight in her thighs and butt needed to be sucked out so she could look perfect after only six months from having a baby.

At one time, she thought that was who she might want to be.
Not anymore. Not since meeting Jaime.

When she was with Jamie, he made her feel perfect. The way his hands touched her body, squeezing her hips. His eyes devoured her like she was the prettiest girl he had ever
seen. He spoke to her like she was more than a mother. He wanted to know her deep down. She smiled. He was wonderful to her. She could tell she was important to him and that he truly cared for her.

And she had screwed this up. All she had left to hope for was that he showed in the morning to watch the girls.

Letting out a loud sigh, she noticed Morgan had stopped talking and was now fully engrossed in her coloring. Emily had dozed off in her highchair. She stood and crossed the room, gently picked the baby up. Patting the baby’s back so she stayed asleep, she took her to her bedroom and laid her in the crib. Emily stirred only a moment before finding her thumb and nodding back off.

She
shut the door and went back into the living room. The front door opened and closed and she expected to see Eric, but it was Jamie who came through the door. She froze a minute, when he motioned her toward her bedroom. Olivia turned the TV on and told Morgan she would be right back.

She closed the door behind her and kept her distance from Jamie.

“So…” she said,

“We talked. He isn’t happy about this and I let him know a new nanny would be starting and I wasn’t exce
pting any money for the time I’ve watched the kids. He let it known he wanted you back.” He paused. “And I told him that if it was what you wanted then I wouldn’t stand in the way. However, if it wasn’t, then I wasn’t going anywhere.”

Her heart skipped a beat. Jamie wanted her still.
“I don’t want him.”

“I want you to at least think about it.”

Olivia walked to Jamie and stood before him. “I don’t need to think about it. If I had to make a choice right now or two weeks from now, it would be you.”

He smiled. “I like that answer.”

“Good.” She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him to her, kissing him.

“Bu
t we should cool it down.”

“It only just started though.”
Sadness swept through her.

“I know, but you’ve got a lot going on. I’m not going anywhere. It doesn’t matter how slow we go. I’m in this for the long run.”

“Do you mean it?” She studied his eyes.

“Yes
, Olivia. I’ve fallen for you.”

She
tugged him to her again and enjoyed the feel on his soft lips against her. His hands lifted her shirt in the back and rubbed her lower back. Excitement grew in her and the kiss intensified.

“I wish we could continue,
” she whispered.

“
We have plenty of time. But for now, enjoy your day with the girls. I’ll be here tomorrow and will start training the new nanny.”

She hated that he would no longer be watching the girls.
“I’ll see you tomorrow then.”

Olivia
kissed him once more and then followed him out of the bedroom. Morgan was delighted to see him. He scooped her up, and Olivia’s heart melted as she watched the little girl wrap her arms around his neck. She kissed his cheek and then like any kid, returned to her TV program with no problem.

Olivia walked him to the door. She wanted to touch him. She might even settle for a hug, but she didn’t need Morgan asking any questions. Instead, she leaned against the doorway dreamy-eyed, and watched as he drove away.

****

God,
Jamie loved that woman. He tossed his keys onto his cluttered kitchen counter and went toward the fridge for a soda. His mouth was dry and craved liquid after his night with Olivia. In fact, he was famished. It was lunch time and he hadn’t had anything to eat or drink yet.

Popping open the soda, h
e chugged it down. After tossing the can into the trash, he opened the fridge and grabbed a leftover sub. Taking the sandwich and another drink, he took a seat on the couch in his tiny living room.

This was getting a little more complicated then he was used too. Olivia had a lot to get worked out in her life. He had told her he would stick it out and he hoped that he would be able too. Eric was an intimidating a man and was used to getting whatever he wanted. If that man had it in his mind he wanted her back, he would do whatever he could. Eric would use the kids without a second thought.

However, if Eric won, he knew he still wouldn’t be who Olivia needed. He couldn’t be faithful. His arrogance radiated off of him. Jamie was almost positive he’d had several affairs that Olivia didn’t know about.

Olivia needed to find herself and build her own
confidence. She was so concerned about what others thought. He wished she would tell everyone the truth, that Eric was a slimeball who couldn’t take care of his family and instead was out dipping his stick in whatever would open its legs.

Jamie
crumbled his wrapper and tossed it across the living room. Frustration flooded him. All he wanted was to help her, but he knew she needed to do it on her own. That was the hardest part.

Now all he could do was hope he had inspired a confidence in her that would make her realize her full potential.