Chapter 5

When I open my eyes there's way more light outside than there usually is at this time of the day. I pick up my phone to see the time and, "Shit!"

I'm late.

Why the hell didn't my alarm go off?

Why hasn't Elsie been in to wake...

Nanny…

Ada…

I've got to get to the gym before practice.

Jumping out of bed I don't bother to shower. I'm going to work up a sweat this morning anyway so I'll shower at the arena. I pull on a pair of joggers lying at the edge of the bed and grab a fresh t-shirt. The smell of coffee wafting all the way up here awakens my senses. Fuck, I wish I had time for a relaxing cup of coffee, but I'll need my pre-workout drink instead and I'll have to gulp it down before I get into town.

I run a toothbrush over my teeth, tussle my hair a little so it doesn't have that oh-my-God-I-just-woke-up-like-this look and fly down the stairs. When I get to the kitchen, Ada is making scrambled eggs.

"Daddy!" Elsie smiles.

"Good morning, baby girl." I kiss the top of her head. "Did you have good sleeps?"

"Mhmm. I only waked up two times."

Two times?

She woke up twice?

And I didn't hear her?

I meet Ada's gaze and she winks at me before saying, "She woke up to use the potty, right Elsie?"

Elsie gives an overdramatic nod. "Yep!"

"That's right and she did a great job and went right back to bed."

Trying to rein in my guilt for not waking up to help her, I give her an overexcited smile and a high five. "Alright! That's my girl! I'm so proud of you."

I turn back to Ada and my shoulders fall. I whisper to her, "I'm so sorry. You could've woken me up."

"It's no big deal. I heard her shouting and went to help her."

"Shit, I'm sorry, Ada. I forgot to mention that she doesn't always sleep through the night without waking up at least once. Plus, the whole potty-training thing. Sometimes she just can't sleep or has a bad dream or her blanket falls off the bed…it's any number of things. She usually calls for me."

Ada looks at me sheepishly. "She did. Call for you, I mean."

A knot forms in my throat. "What? Seriously? I've never not heard her before."

I've also never slept in like I just did either.

"Don't worry about it. I handled it. She was fine. First time was the potty and second time she just had a dream she didn't like and I talked her through it."

I slide a hand through my hair. "Thank you, Ada. I didn't mean to make you have to wake up with her."

She smiles at me and touches my forearm. "It's really okay. I hope you slept well. I made coffee if you want some."

"I would love some," I tell her, reaching over her for my favorite blue water bottle, my chest rubbing against her shoulder. "Excuse me. Sorry. But Iiiii sort of overslept accidentally and now I'm late for morning work-out."

Ada's eyes grow and she cringes. "Uh oh. I hope I didn't keep you up last night unpacking."

"No, no," I assure her, filling up my bottle with water and adding a scoop of my pre-workout mix. "I guess uh…" I huff out a soft laugh. "I guess I went to bed last night relieved for the first time in a long time."

"Relieved?" she asks, scooping some scrambled eggs into a bowl for Elsie.

"Yeah. Relieved. Because Elsie and I have you now, don't we El?"

"Yep! And we're gonna play mermaids and puppy school and Ada said we can have a tea party!"

I catch Ada's gaze when she hands the bowl of eggs to Elsie. Her eyes look different today. Yesterday they were brownish in color, today they hold more of a green hue. "Last night was the first full night's sleep I've gotten in three years. You clearly have something to do with that. You're lifting a little stress from my shoulders and I appreciate that more than you know."

"Well, thanks, I guess. And that's what you pay me for." She smiles.

Her cheeks blush just a little and I'd be lying if I didn't think it was cute. I noticed the spattering of freckles across her nose and cheeks last night. This morning though, with her honey brown hair tied up on top of her head and several missed tendrils hanging down around her face. Her blue sweatpants and baseball t-shirt that I can only assume is her brother's team. The way she smiles at my daughter like they've known each other forever.

She looks comfortable.

Like she belongs here.

Like she's been here all this time.

"I should go. Coach is going to have my ass for being late."

"Daddy…what's ass?"

Ada and I both spit out a laugh as I grab an apple from the basket on the counter and place another kiss on Elsie's head. "Ada will explain it to you, sweetheart. Daddy's got to go."

Ada drops her spatula into the sink and gives me an incredulous laugh. I wink at her with a guilty smirk and wave to them both. "See you later ladies. Have fun today. Love you!"

"Love you Daddy!"

___

"What the fuck, Miller? You're never late," Coach Denovah says when I literally toss my bag into my locker and pull out my work-out shorts. "Everything alright?"

"Yeah, Coach. Sorry. New nanny," I explain. "It's her first day."

"Ah. Well, that explains enough. You're never late so no harm no foul. Make sure you get those stretches in with Wilson this morning. We don't need any muscle strains today."

"You got it."

I tie my tennis shoes tightly and grab my sweat towel and head to the gym only to be immediately lambasted by the guys.

"The fuck, Miller?" Colby smiles wide. "You're never late, man."

"What happened to you?" Milo adds.

"Uhh…" I shrug my shoulders. "I'm going to blame the nanny?"

A sneaky smirk grows across Dex's face as he jogs on the treadmill. "You sly dog! Did you—"

"I absolutely did not fuck the nanny, Dexter."

He gasps. "How did you know that's what I was going to say?"

"Because all you think about is sex. That's how."

Hawken laughs. "Facts. He's got you there, Dex, eh?"

"Fuck you, Malone." Dex gives his best friend the middle finger and keeps jogging.

"Did everything go alright with Ada?" Quinton asks. "Kinsley said she texted with her last night and everything seemed fine."

"Yeah. It was great, actually. She fit right in and Elsie loves her already. Honestly, it went so smoothly I fell asleep without a worry. It was like all the stress I had been holding in my body just kind of dissipated. I slept hard and when I opened my eyes the sky was well awake." I chuckle. "I've never slept in in my entire fucking life, but I've got to tell you, it felt good."

"Soooo what's she like?" Milo asks. "Is it weird having a woman in your house again?"

I hit the power button on my treadmill and push the appropriate settings. "You know, I didn't even give it a thought. But clearly my subconscious did if I slept as hard as I did. Ada said she woke up twice last night and I never heard her."

"So does that mean Ada managed it?" Quinton asks.

I nod. "Yeah. She said once was a potty break and the second time was a bad dream. I couldn't believe I never heard her shouting for me."

Colby does his set of squats and then adds, "Well, maybe that's a sign of good things to come. She knows what she's doing. You can trust that she'll be able to help."

"Yeah. I think you may be right."

"Did you see what she sleeps in? Is she hot?"

"Dexter, for the love of God, I am not sleeping with the nanny."

He laughs. "I'm just saying, man. She's the first woman you've had around in what? Three years? How can you not at least notice?"

"I…" I let out an exasperated sigh. "I don't know what she slept in. But yeah, I noticed, alright?"

His brow lifts and a cat-ate-the-canary smirk spreads across his face. "Aaaand?"

"And…"

Fuck.

"She's pretty," I admit. "She's pretty in that very natural kind of way. And she seems comfortable in her own skin. I did notice that her eyes change color. Last night they were kind of brown and this morning they looked green."

"Uh huh…" Dex says, waiting for more.

"That's it. She's a pretty woman. That's what I noticed. I didn't lay in bed and think about her. I didn't touch her or kiss her or hit on her in any way. That's your game, dude. Not mine."

"Mmkay." Dex laughs. "We'll revisit this conversation in a month or two."

I roll my eyes. "Pretty sure my answers will be the same, but okay Foster."

"Okay, Miller."

___

Our first week together has gone so smoothly it's as if Ada has been Elsie's nanny all along. Elsie seems to be Ada's little shadow, doing everything she does. If Ada cleans, Elsie helps. If Ada is cooking dinner, Elsie wants to help too. And now the girls have their very own secret hand shake that Elsie loves to make me watch at least six times a day. I've come home to several dance parties in the kitchen at the end of the workday and listen to them giggling together when I'm working on charity stuff. Every now and then I get a tinge of jealousy that Ada gets to spend so much time with my kid, but then I remember she's doing all this for me. So, I can keep Elsie here in her own home. Her own place of comfort. So, on my days where I'm not so busy, I can easily spend time with my little girl.

After a grueling morning workout and a hard practice this afternoon to prepare for tomorrow's game, I'm excited to get home and see Ad…Elsie.

Elsie.

I'm excited to see Elsie.

Hopefully, the ladies have made it through the day without any issues.

I open the front door and step into a relatively quiet house.

"Helloooo?"

"Daddy!" Elsie calls out. "We're havin' a tea party!"

"A tea party?" I ask excitedly, taking the steps two at a time, still feeling the burn of the new stretches Wilson had me doing earlier. "Well, I must've gotten home just in time because I've always wanted to have a—" I stop abruptly when I make it to the kitchen and catch the sight in front of me.

Don't react.

Don't react.

Don't react.

Ada greets my shocked face with an overexaggerated smile and a quick glance at Elsie. "Hi Daddy! Would you like to join our tea party?"

Her face.

What happened to…

"Wow!" I say, my eyes growing by the second. "You look…" Shaking my head slowly, I watch as Ada slides her eyes toward Elsie again, who is anxiously beaming at me. "Ada, you look beautiful!"

If beautiful meant every hairclip Elsie owns in Ada's hair, bright pink lipstick rimming her lips like a clown high on meth, eye shadow up to her forehead, and purple blush on her freckled cheeks. The yellow one-shoulder dress is a nice touch too.

"Thank you so much. Didn't Elsie do a beautiful job on my hair and makeup? She worked really hard on it."

I look at my daughter in her pink tutu dress, her hair expertly braided in a pattern I don't recognize and could probably never master. Her nails shimmer with alternating pink and purple colors. The pride on her little face melts me.

And there's a swell of warmth in my chest I haven't felt in a while.

"She did a magnificent job!" I step over to Elsie and take her hand, twirling her around. "I'm so proud of you, Sweetheart. You both look so beautiful. I think I'm underdressed for this tea party. You gals are stunning."

Ada nods appreciatively. I can tell she's grateful I didn't say anything about her hideous makeup job. "Well then you'll have to change so you can join our party."

"Yeah, Daddy. Daddies need a tie."

"That's right," Ada agrees.

I grin at them both. "Well alright then. I'll run upstairs and change. I'll just be a minute."

On my way up the stairs I hear Elsie say, "Oh no! We forgot our hats, Ada!"

"Are they up here?" I call down from the staircase.

"Yeah," Ada answers. "They're sitting on the desk in my room. Would you be willing to grab them?"

"Sure thing."

I change my clothes quickly, sliding into a pair of gray pants and a light blue shirt with a matching tie. Anything for my baby girl. Though I'm freshly showered after practice, I squirt a little cologne on for good measure and head to Ada's room to grab their hats.

"Hats, hats, hats," I whisper to myself, trying to remember where Ada said they would be. "Desk."

Spotting them both on the desk, I step over to grab them but when I do I knock the book that was underneath them to the floor.

Oops.

I toss the hats to her bed and bend down to pick up the book that appears to be a photo album or scrapbook of sorts. Other than the two boxes I carried in for Ada last night, I haven't seen anything of hers, but curiosity has me wondering if maybe there's a picture of her late husband in here. By all means her past is none of my business, but here I am opening the album and, "Hooooly fuck…"

This is not a photo album of her late husband.

It's an album of her.

A sexy photo album.

I look back at the front cover and notice Kinsley's photography logo.

Holy shit. These are the photos Kinsley was talking about?

The entire book is filled with pictures of Ada I should absolutely not be looking at but fuck me, I don't think I could look away at this point if I was offered all the money in the world.

I swallow hard and turn the page, my chest tightening and my eyes glued to the stunning photos of Ada, one after another. Dressed in next to nothing, posing in positions I would die to be able to witness in real life, she is a goddamn goddess. Her long, toned legs poised in the air, her ankles crossed and her feet covered in a pair of red heels. Her body, wrapped in the sexiest piece of lace I've ever seen rests on a plush white bed. Her head tilted back, elongating her slender neck. One of her hands lies on her chest as the other pushes through her feathered brown hair.

Yeah. She's downright sexy.

Hot as fucking sin.

Her face though. I feel my dick stiffening in my pants as I focus on her beautiful face. Her eyes closed in ecstasy and her mouth in that perfect O shape that I'm certain she gets right before she comes.

This is definitely a permanent entry in my spank bank.

Shit, why am I looking at this?

I need to stop looking at this.

Fuck that.

I want to keep looking at this.

"Did you find the hats, Zeke?" Ada calls from downstairs.

Shaking myself from the hypnosis that is Ada's sexy body, I nearly drop the album on the floor again. "Yep. Got 'em! Be right down!" Before I get myself in any kind of trouble, I shut the album and set it down quietly on her desk and then take a deep breath.

Picking up the hats for the ladies, I close Ada's door behind me and take one more deep calming breath, making myself count to ten and willing the chub between my legs to calm down before I have an embarrassing moment in front of my daughter and her nanny.

But I can never unsee what I saw.

It's there forever etched in my brain.

Her body.

Her passion.

And hell, if I'm not going to spend the rest of this night and every one after this wishing I could see more of Ada Lewis.

___

"You're really great with her." I grab the dish towel hanging from the stove and dry each dish as Ada washes them before putting them away. "Elsie's always been a creative and playful kid but she's very different with you than she is with my parents."

She turns her head and smiles and I have to break eye contact because the moment she looks at me I see her in the red lacey number from her picture upstairs.

Except for the ungodly makeup still on her face.

"Really?"

"Mhmm." I clear my throat. "I mean you are probably close to thirty years younger than my parents so there's the whole age difference thing. You have more energy and imagination than both my parents combined."

She chuckles. "Imagination is one of the things I love about kids. Their brains at this age can literally come up with any scenario without fear of judgement. It's dragons, castles, and princesses one day and it's cowboys and bank robbers the next. Kids are so much fun."

Ada finishes washing the last dish from our tea party and leans against the sink with a clown-like smile on her face and I laugh, shaking my head.

"What?" She looks around. "Did I miss something?"

"I'm sorry," I tell her trying and failing to hide my amusement. "Your face."

She cackles covering her face with her hands. "Oh God! I totally forgot what I looked like! I'm so sorry!"

"No, no, no. Don't apologize at all. You're a Godsend. My mother would never have allowed her to do it in the first place. I bet she was giddy as hell."

"She was." Ada nods with her hands on her cheeks. "Which reminds me, I should thank you for not saying anything when you came in earlier. Elsie was so proud of her accomplishment after giving me a quote-unquote princess make-over."

"I'm pretty sure I'm the one who should be thanking you for letting her do it and for not changing it once she did."

"Oh, I would never change her work. I'm a firm believer in letting kids do their own work no matter what it looks like in the end. It's how they learn. Plus, kids grow up fast enough on their own. I see no need to make them grow up even faster by stifling their creativity and expression. And before you even ask, yes, I took several pictures."

"That's great," I laugh. "Well, for what it's worth, it was quite the tea party."

"That it was. And I'm glad you got to join us."

"Me too." I put away the last dish and rehang the towel I was using. "Can I get you anything? A beer? Glass of wine? I think you've more than earned it."

And I'd love to get to know you better.

"Thanks, but I should probably…" She gestures upstairs. "Go, uh, you know, get out of this dress and wash my face a few hundred times in the shower before my pillowcase looks like a stained-glass window."

A pang of disappointment shoots through my chest.

She turned me down.

"Right. Yeah. Of course."

She crosses her arms over her chest. "Thanks again though for a fun evening, Zeke. She'll be talking about tonight for days."

She really does look pretty in that dress.

"My pleasure. Any time. Well," I shrug, "I guess I mean mostly any time."

"Right." She smiles and slides her hair back behind her ear. I follow the movement of her hand wondering just for a moment what it would feel like to do it for her. To feel her silky hair in my fingers, her warm skin under my palm.

Shit. Cut it out Miller.

She's not yours.

"Well, good night," she says with a nod before heading upstairs.

"Goodnight, Ada." I watch her walk out of the kitchen and into the foyer to the stairs. Once she's out of sight I slouch back against the counter where I‘m still standing and blow out my breath, relieved in a way. Now that she's gone she can't see how awkward I feel.

Maybe she didn't notice at all. I could be so lucky.

"God, what am I even doing?" I whisper to myself, rubbing my forehead between my thumb and forefinger. Seeing her in those photos is doing something to me and I wasn't ready for it. It's been so fucking long since I've been with a woman. Not just intimately but emotionally. I'm relatively good at making small talk with anyone, but when it comes to Ada I feel a bit tongue tied. The more I watched her tonight the more I thought about her playing a different role in my life.

She's pretty.

She's smart.

She works hard.

She's creative.

She's fun.

She loves Elsie.

These are all wonderful traits.

Fuck.

What am I doing?

Pushing away my immediate thoughts, I turn and reach for a small glass from the cupboard and the whiskey bottle from the corner cabinet. I pour myself a small drink and tip it back, swallowing it in one gulp. I wince slightly at the burn as it slides down my throat and then pour a second glass.

With any luck this will help knock me out so I can sleep peacefully and not have a night filled with thoughts of a scantily clad nanny invading my dreams.