Читать книгу The Nanny Solution - SUSAN MEIER, Susan Meier - Страница 11

Absolutely positive he was going to be punched out by his best friend in the very near future, Jake arrived at the Sunbright Solutions complex early the next morning. He had ducked out of his kitchen before Hannah had awakened and stopped at a convenience store for his morning coffee rather than drink it at home while he waited to say hello to Dixon. He was, admittedly, avoiding his new nanny until he figured out how to handle this mess.

He couldn’t believe that Hannah had thrown herself into his arms the night before and all but wept with relief. Worse, he couldn’t believe how elated he was to see her and how his arms had instinctively wrapped around her, even though he was holding a briefcase and a suitcase…. But she had leaped into his arms and he had wrapped his arms around her, and both had shocked him.

No. They had scared him. Sexually, he and Hannah were on the same page. He had many times seen the glint of attraction in her eyes that mirrored the intense gut-level reaction he kept having with her. That wasn’t the problem.

The problem was that emotionally and experience-wise, he had her by almost ten years. There was no way in hell he could get involved with her. She was too young for him and, he reminded himself, she was the little sister of his best friend.

Unfortunately, neither of those points stopped the tingles, the urges, the unmitigated sexual response he had every time he got within ten feet of her.

Jake took the right, then the left that would get him in the corridor that led to the wing that housed the offices for his portion of the staff. Troy had been moving his company, Sunbright Solutions, from California to Wilburn for the past year. The first few months, employees who transferred worked in the office wing of Troy’s mansion. Now that most of the Sunbright Solutions complex was complete, everyone had his or her own space. To Jake’s great relief, there was little chance he would run into Sunbright’s vice president of operations, Luke Evans, the big brother of the naive woman who seemed to have the hots for him.

Jake and Luke might have been on the same high school football team, but Jake was a quarterback and Luke was a fullback. At least fifty pounds—and the ability to bench-press large chunks of iron—separated them.

“Jake! Jake! Wait up!”

Jake squeezed his eyes shut as Luke’s voice echoed through the sun-drenched glass corridor. So much for thinking twenty thousand square feet could save him.

He took a quick breath and turned to face Hannah’s big brother. He didn’t like the urgency of his best friend’s tone. Jake liked even less that while he had been globe-trotting, still had jet lag and had spent his first night home worrying about his attraction to this man’s sister, Luke had been sleeping in his own bed, and visiting his gym. His green eyes were clear and rested. His broad shoulders filled out his navy-blue suit coat in the way that spoke of commitment to regular strength training. If Luke asked about Hannah and Jake said the wrong thing, one jab would send Jake sprawling.

“I have a few questions to ask you about the California complex.”

Jake almost choked on a sigh of relief. “Okay, shoot. Talk to me while we walk.”

“I’d rather we kept this just between us. Let’s make small talk until we get behind a closed door.”

“Problem?”

“Let’s wait for the door.”

“Okay,” Jake said, getting the message. “So got any plans for the weekend?” Though the question was trite and even somewhat stupid, he tossed it out quickly to prevent Luke from asking about Hannah.