Chapter 4

BLAKE

The next morning, I supervised as Chef Rosa, my private chef at home, made bunny pancakes. The kitchen already smelled heavenly of crispy fried bacon and scrambled eggs which sat under the warmer.

Despite my better judgment, I went to the espresso machine and prepared another cup. As I waited for the coffee to drip out, I glanced down at my watch. It was almost seven o'clock. My driver would be here with Lacey at any moment.

Over at the kitchen island, Emilia was busy having a tea party with Mr. Snuffles. The tea was actually water, and the cups were plastic, but the bunny shaped cinnamon raisin buns were baked fresh by my own hands last night. Whenever I was plagued with insomnia, I resorted to the one thing I did best. I baked. There was nothing quite as effective as kneading out my frustrations into a ball of dough.

Thoughts of Lacey swam around my brain, keeping me tossing restlessly for hours. It was as if she was right there in my bedroom. Despite all my efforts to push her away, my blood pulsed with the anticipation of seeing her and getting to know her better.

The last drops of coffee dripped out, and like a possessed creature, I reached for the cup. There was no need for milk or sugar today. Pure unadulterated caffeine was what I wanted flowing through my veins.

I wondered if I had been hasty in hiring Lacey.

Her qualifications for the nanny position were sparse, to say the least. Had I been thinking with my dick instead of my head?

The employment contract was signed by both parties and finalized by email last night. As her employer, I had almost all the power in the relationship. If it turned out that she really couldn't handle the job, I could just fire her and pay a ten percent penalty clause. Considering that I had shoes that cost more than that, it wasn't even a slap on the wrist.

Not that I expected to fire her any time soon. Not when she blushed so fetchingly whenever I provoked her. Dirty thoughts flooded my mind. What other unspeakable things could I do to make her cheeks flush like that? Would she bite her lips and beg for more when I pounded my dick into her and drove her to ecstasy?

I shook my head. No. There was going to be no touching of the pretty little nanny. Even if she smelled delicious and had the most perfect bouncy tits that she kept hidden under that ugly sweater she wore yesterday.

"I don't want them!" Emilia shouted.

I turned around to find my chef and my niece glaring at each other over a plate of steaming pancakes. Chef Rosa had a spatula in one hand pointed at the child and her other hand on her hip, while Emilia sulked with her arms crossed over her chest. Neither of them showed any sign of backing down from the standoff.

Rosa pointed the spatula threateningly at me. "This goes beyond the scope of my employment contract. I cook. I clean. I keep the kitchen stocked. I do not babysit." She tossed the spatula into the sink, turned off the stove, and stormed out of the kitchen.

I let out a long sigh. At this rate, I was going to lose all of my staff at home and at work if I didn't get a handle on this situation. "Fucking great," I muttered.

A sniffle cut through my frustration like a knife. Emilia looked like she was on the verge of tears. "I'm sorry, Uncle Blake," she said through her hiccups.

My heart plummeted to my stomach. "Oh, Emilia, there's nothing to be sorry for. You haven't done anything wrong." I brushed her hair out of her face. "I'm very new at this, and I'm sure you miss your mommy very much."

She nodded.

"I miss her too," I said softly.

Emilia threw her arms around my torso. "Don't leave, Uncle Blake. Not like Mommy."

I looked down at her in surprise. "Oh, sweetheart. I promise never to leave you." Something sharp pierced my stone-code heart, cracking it open. It was the truth. I would die for her and destroy anyone who dared harm a hair on her head.

My ears twitched. Vaguely, I heard voices and footsteps coming from the garage door. Even before I saw her, I knew it was Lacey.

Rosa came back, bringing Lacey with her. My chef nodded curtly at me before disappearing.

Lacey paused in the doorway and took in the scene, as if uncertain of the situation she had walked into.

"Lacey!" Emilia cried out. She kicked her feet against the booster seat.

"Good morning, Emilia." Lacey walked over to the island and hung the strap of her purse on the back of one of the chairs. "Good morning, Blake." She examined the two of us with curious eyes.

"Morning, Lacey." I swigged the last of my coffee. "We're having breakfast difficulties."

Lacey glanced at Emilia's untouched plate. "I see," she said.

I mumbled an excuse to deposit the dirty cup in the sink. From there, I watched silently as she leaned against the counter next to Emilia.

Leaning down until she was at Emilia's level, Lacey spoke to her in a low soft voice. "These pancakes look delicious. Are they bunnies?"

Emilia shook her head.

"No? What's wrong with them?"

"That's not how Mommy makes them."

"Oh. Why don't you tell me how to make them, then?"

"It needs to be sweet and fluffy," Emilia said. "Woosh!"

Lacey glanced over at me and shared a look.

"Do you mean whipped cream?" I asked. Of course. It all made sense. I went over to the fridge and pulled out a can of whipped cream.

My niece's eyes lit up and she clapped. "Yeah!"

"Okay, Emilia. Show me how you want it." Holding the can upside down in position, I let her little hands guide me. We squirted the sweet topping onto the pancake until the entire thing was covered under a mound of fluffy whiteness. I had my doubts that my sister let her child eat this much sugar for breakfast, but if this was what it took for Emilia to eat her breakfast, then so be it.

"And eyes," she demanded imperially like the little dictator she was.

Lacey spotted the bowl of blueberries by the stove and brought them over. She let Emilia do the honors of adding two blueberries to the pile of cream.

Finally satisfied that the pancakes were to her standards, Emilia picked up a fork and dug into her breakfast.

My phone buzzed on the counter. Picking it up, I scrolled through the message. It was Anna, informing me that I was late for my meeting. I pocketed my phone and picked up the rest of my things. "Be good for Lacey, okay?"

"Yes, Uncle Blake." To my surprise, Emilia didn't even look up from her pancakes.

"Go on, I've got it from here," Lacey reassured me. "If I need anything, I'll ask Rosa."

Despite my doubts about her abilities, she had handled Emilia's tantrum with flying colors. She was good at her job. Really good.

The day at the office dragged on. For the first time in my life, I didn't care about new products our research department created, or how much market share we gained in the Chinese market. As I listened to my employees talk about sales figures and customer value, all I wanted to do was go home and eat pancakes with my girls.

By the time I came back home, Emilia was already tucked in bed, and Lacey sat in a chair next to her bed reading a bedtime story to her.

I watched them from the doorway as Lacey finished the story. Emilia blinked sleepily, giving me a little wave with her fingers before she clutched Mr. Snuffles close to her chest and snuggled into her covers. Lacey put her finger up to her lips and turned off the light, leaving a single nightlight on before stepping out into the hallway.

Together, we made our way downstairs and toward the kitchen.

"How was she?" I asked.

"I could say that she was an angel, but then I would be a liar," she said with a grin.

I let out a chuckle.

We walked into an empty kitchen. It was late and Rosa was already off duty. I went to the fridge and pulled out a beer. I offered Lacey one. She shook her head.

"Are you sure? If you don't trust my driver to take you home, I can do it."

"Oh, it's not that." She paused for a moment, as if unsure if she should say more. "I plan on getting some writing done when I get home."

I raised my eyebrows. This was interesting. My nanny was full of surprises. "What's your book going to be about?"

"It's a paranormal romance novel about vampires with mind-reading powers. I know it sounds cheesy."

I shook my head. "No, it's an intriguing premise. A romance novel published at the right time riding the market trends can become a major hit." I gestured at the espresso machine. "What about a coffee, then?"

Lacey gazed longingly at it. "Black coffee sounds wonderful. I wanted to make one during the day, but I didn't want to break the machine."

"You're free to use anything you need while you're here." I gestured for her to come closer. "Come on, I'll show you how to use this thing. It's not hard."

She moved close enough that I could smell her delicious scent. I swallowed hard. It took all of my focus to keep my hands steady as I showed her how to tamp the coffee grounds and start the machine. Even though she didn't want any milk in her coffee tonight, I demonstrated how to use the frother. Covering her hand with mine, we moved the container of milk around until it was filled with the perfect amount of foam.

"Huh, that wasn't as complicated as I thought it would be."

I handed the cup of coffee to her and went to clean out the grounds. "I think writing a novel is far more difficult. That's a very impressive goal. I would love to read it when you're finished."

She nodded, hiding her smile behind her cup as she took a sip of coffee.

Over the next several weeks, we settled into a comfortable routine. Lacey would arrive in the mornings and the three of us would have breakfast together before I headed to work. After the first night, I rearranged my schedule so that I could get home early. We would have dinner like we were a family before Lacey would head home. Both Emilia and I were reluctant to see her go at the end of the day.

Under Lacey's care and a stable daily schedule at home, Emilia's tantrums over her food stopped.

One night, it was my turn to read Emilia her bedtime story while Lacey put away her clothes in the chest of drawers. As Emilia was curled up by my side, she asked the question I had been hesitant to voice out of fear of rejection.

"Is Lacey going to come with us for Christmas?"

Lacey shot me a curious look in the middle of folding a t-shirt. "What's this about?"

I cleared my throat. "I have to be in Paradise Peaks before and during the holidays for an important meeting. We'll be staying in a penthouse suite at the Hughes Hotel. Emilia and I would like it if you could come with us."

The shirt in her hands fell in a heap onto the drawer. "Oh, wow. I figured I would have the holidays off."

"If you already have plans, I can find other arrangements. You don't have to come if you don't want to." The disappointment settled in my stomach like bad coffee. Of course, she wasn't going to stay with us. The holidays were a time for family, real family, not the fake family she was paid to put up with.

"No, it's not that," Lacey blurted out. She picked up the crumpled shirt and folded it again. "I'm just surprised. My roommate already had plans to go home, so I was going to stay in and eat a gallon of caramel fudge ice cream all by myself while watching old reruns."

"What about your family?" Emilia asked with the innocence only a child could have.

Lacey pushed the drawer closed. She came to the bed and sat on the edge next to my legs. "My family lives very far away. Too far for me to go visit them this year," she said with a sad smile.

Emilia kicked off the covers and climbed onto her knees. She bounced with excitement. "You can have Christmas with me and Uncle Blake!"

Lacey shot me a glance. "I've never been to Paradise Peaks before. It's not exactly a world that I'm familiar with."

It finally dawned on me. She felt insecure about fitting into this new world. Her genuine nature was a refreshing change from the gold-digging vipers who usually clung to me. "Don't worry about anything. You'll be my guest. All of your expenses will be covered, I'll pay you overtime, and you'll stay in the penthouse with us. We'll fly in together on my plane. You can go explore all the tourist sites with Emilia while I'm working, and we can hit the ski slopes together. Think of it as a paid vacation."

"Okay, but only if I'm off the clock. All of this is already too much."

I sputtered. She was being ridiculous. How could I ask her to look after my niece for days for free? But the warning look in her eyes made me pause. She was serious.

"Alright. No overtime then."

"Then I accept your invitation."

Emilia shrieked with delight, climbing over my knees to get to Lacey. She threw her arms around her neck, and Lacey laughed as she picked her up in her arms.

I coughed to cover the strange flutter of nerves in my chest. Already, I pictured the three of us around a glittering tree on Christmas morning.

Even if I promised that I wouldn't pay her, that didn't mean that I couldn't make it up to her in other ways. My mind raced with ideas of what kind of presents I could get her.

I was going to make this a Christmas she was never going to forget.