Five

Lux

I glanced down at the list in my hand, then searched the shelves. Where the hell were the fancy brands?

Earlier today, I'd realized we were running woefully low on basically everything, and offered to do a grocery run. What I hadn't realized was how absolutely picky Archer was. I had half a mind to magic everything up, but I was worried the magicked stuff wouldn't be as good as the real thing, so here I was, searching for the cottony-soft, leak-proof, blah blah blah diaper.

"There you are!" I cheered when I finally found it, and the packets of diapers filled half my cart by the time I had enough. Then I had to get the baby formula, some teething toys, and a couple new pacifiers since Gunner kept throwing his right under the couch with unerring precision. I'd offered to sterilize them, but Archer was of the firm belief that once something went under the couch, it was no longer usable. I wondered what he'd say if Gunner managed to crawl under the couch one of these days. Would the same rules apply to him?

Laughing at my own sense of humor, I made my way through the rest of the store, buying groceries for the adults once I had everything I needed for the baby.

It'd been a week since I started working for and living with Archer and Gunner, and I'd enjoyed every day of my stay so far.

Something was always happening, and I hadn't had a single moment to feel bored or listless. Gunner was as entertaining as ever, and he'd inspired me to grow my hair out—Archer hadn't noticed that I'd used some magical assistance, thankfully—just long enough that I could tie it up and avoid his attacks. He was also starting to be more active, which was saying something since he hadn't been a quiet kid to begin with.

With just under a week left before Archer went back to work, I'd been trying to give them as much time together as possible, even though that might not be the best thing to do. We'd also been trying to get Gunner used to Archer leaving, but it seemed to make Archer sadder than it did Gunner.

Archer and Gunner needed to get used to the separation, but it still broke my heart because I could see how much he loved his son. Then again, this was the twenty-first century. I could always video call Archer if he wanted to see Gunner when he was at work.

Done with my shopping, I joined the checkout queue as I pulled my phone out, checking my texts. Earlier this month, Elva—a demon who had even me beat in the cheerful department—had created a chat group for us demons, and someone or the other was always active, so much so that I'd had to put the group on mute. They knew I was working as a nanny for a single dad, but they didn't know about the mate thing, and I was going to keep it that way.

Ryk : Our human mate's mom invited us over for dinner again today. We played board games, and it was a lot of fun.

Elva : Oooh! That's nice! @Kali, I wanna play board games.

Kali : I'll buy some on the way home.

Me : Awww look at you, @Kali. Such a smitten kitten

Kali : I will slaughter you and feed your entrails to Hella

Chuckling, I glanced up as I realized it was my turn, sticking my phone in my pocket.

"Hello! Did you find everything you were looking for?" a young woman in the store's uniform greeted as she started scanning my purchases, her name tag identifying her as Jasmine.

"Hello, Jasmine. And yes, I did. Thank you for asking," I said with a smile, and she blinked at me, then ducked her head, the tops of her cheeks going pink. Um, had I said something wrong?

She scanned the rest of my items without a word, her eyes staying firmly on the things she was scanning, and I was sure I'd messed up somehow. I was getting better at 'acting human,' but I still made the silliest mistakes sometimes.

When she'd scanned everything, she glanced up at me, a shy smile on her lips as she told me the total. I slid Archer's credit card to her, and she quickly charged me before returning the card and the bill.

"Thank you for shopping with us! Please come back again."

Smiling back at her, I wheeled my full cart out and to my car, and it was only then that I realized there was something written on the back of the bill.

Call me :) - Jasmine.

There was a number below the words, and I blinked at it as the penny dropped.

Oh. Oh !

I hadn't said anything wrong after all. Or maybe I had if I gave her the impression I was flirting. Elva did tell me that sometimes my friendliness came off as flirting, but I'd thought she was just teasing me. Maybe not.

Shaking my head, I threw the bill into one of the grocery bags, then slid the empty shopping cart into the rack where it was supposed to go before getting into the car.

As I drove home, my thoughts tried to flick back to the giant elephant I'd been ignoring for the past week, but I firmly pushed the thought away. No way was I allowing myself to think of Archer that way, not when I loved this job so much.

Risking the best job of my life for something that might or might not happen was stupidity, and I might be unreasonably cheerful most of the time, but I wasn't stupid.

Parking in the garage, I grabbed all the grocery bags and pushed my way into the house.

I found Archer in the living room, reading something on his tablet with one eye focused on Gunner, who was sitting on the floor and swinging a toy around in between bouts of trying to munch on it.

"Let me help," Archer said, leaping to his feet before I could say I was okay.

He followed me into the kitchen, and we stocked the shelves side-by-side in companionable silence. That was, until he found the bill.

Archer

"What's this?" I teased, glancing down at the number. It wasn't surprising that some girl had given him her number.

Lux was good-looking with his blond hair and blue eyes, and his easy smile gave him a very strong boy-next-door vibe. I was sure he never had trouble finding a date. He'd certainly never have trouble trying to figure out if the girl was into him or his money.

"It's nothing," Lux said with a shake of his head, and I frowned. Did he think I'd mind or something?

"You can go on a date if you want, you know. I won't mind. You're allowed to have a life," I reminded him, and he ignored me, stacking the baby food into the cabinet.

"I'm not interested," he said after a long moment, and I nodded, deciding it was none of my business after all. Lux could date or not date whoever he wanted. As long as he did his job properly, it didn't matter to me what he did outside of it.

Right?

Then why did I feel the slightest hint of relief when he crumpled the bill and threw it into the trash?

It was probably because I'd prefer him to not be distracted. I'd heard quite a few horror stories about nannies bringing over a romantic partner to their job when the parents weren't home. I was sure that's all it was.

Since he'd done the shopping, I told him I'd make lunch and sent him to watch over Gunner. He could use a few minutes of downtime, and I could use a few minutes away from him to deal with my messy thoughts.

I'd always prided myself on dealing with my emotions. My dad used to bury his emotions a lot, and then they would explode out in the worst possible ways. I never wanted to be like him, so I'd promised myself early on that I'd never ignore my feelings.

After finding out Maya was going to have my baby, I'd visited a therapist just so I could talk it all out with someone safe, where I wouldn't be judged for what might sound like dumb worries to some people. It'd helped a lot, and by the time Gunner came into this world, I'd felt like I was ready to be a dad.

If it was up to me, I'd make therapy a requirement for all prospective parents. Either that, or a training course similar to the one Lux had to complete.

And there I went thinking about Lux again.

What was it that kept my thoughts returning to him?

Lux was amazing with Gunner, and he took care of the rest of the house—and me—like it was nothing. Like I'd told Jerry, I almost thought he had magical powers because of how excellent he was at his work. It was uncanny.

Was it just his work ethic I was inspired by? Or was there something about the man that'd caught my attention?

I really wished I could talk to Jerry about this, but his meeting on Wednesday had run late, and then he'd had plans on the weekend, so the dinner had been postponed indefinitely for now.

Shaking my head, I focused on putting together the sandwiches as Lux and Gunner's voice drifted in from the living room. Lux was explaining to Gunner how he'd brought him special toys to chew on, and Gunner seemed intent on munching on his definitely-not-made-for-chewing toys.

With a smile on my face, I plated some sandwiches and carried them to the living room, where Gunner had migrated from his spot on the floor to Lux's lap. Lux was rocking him gently as he chomped on the toy, and both sets of blue eyes turned to me. Lux smiled, while Gunner held out his drool-covered toy to me.

"Oh, is this for me?" I asked, placing the tray on the coffee table and taking the toy from Gunner. I laughed when he immediately reached out for it again.

Returning the toy to him, I picked him up, cradling him against my chest as I waved Lux over to the couch. "Lunch is served. I'm just going to put this little guy in his crib."

Nodding, Lux got to his feet and went off to wash up, returning just as I was settling on the couch.

Gunner seemed happy with his chew toy, and I took the moment to grab a sandwich, taking a large bite as Lux sat down on the other end of the couch.

Taking a sandwich, Lux bit into it, then groaned happily as he chewed, and my cock twitched in my pants at the sound, stunning me speechless.

Wait, what? That made no sense. I was straight .

Wasn't that the whole reason I'd picked a male nanny? So there would be no risk of me getting interested in him?

I'd known I had a fatal flaw, that I was attracted to skilled people, people who were good at what they did. It was what had drawn me to Gunner's mom in the first place, even if it'd just been for a night of fun.

It was also why I hadn't picked a female nanny. What I hadn't expected was that my attraction to skillfulness was stronger than my sexuality.

I might need to go back to my therapist and have an honest conversation with her to figure this out.

Or maybe I was blowing it out of proportion. Maybe it'd just been a fluke. It could happen, right?

I hadn't had sex in...wow, I was pretty sure Gunner's mom was the last person I had sex with. That meant it'd been around fifteen months since I last had sex. It was the dryest spell I'd had since college. No wonder my cock was reacting to Lux's voice. It was just like when I watched porn and something one of the dudes did turned me on. It had nothing to do with the man himself, and simply a reaction of my body.

Yeah, that had to be it.