Page 68 of Sleeper: The Palisades Edition

This feels like my family.

This feels like my home.

It feels like Grammie was right about me—I’m still prone to flights of fancy when it comes to Shane Miller.

No matter how I’ve grown. No matter how confident I may be. No matter how direct I can be with him. I can’t stop feeling like he’s mine. That I belong with him. And his kids.

Oh my God, am I like the psycho nanny from that movie?

Have I imagined everything?

I haven’t seen Shane yet this morning because he had a breakfast meeting with a producer and then he had his personal training session at the gym afterwards.

I don’t want to feel like this when he comes home. I need to get these feelings out of my body. So, I go to an open space in the kitchen, take a deep breath, and jump around, punching and kicking the air. I huff and puff like a furious maniac. It feels good.

Until I hear someone quietly laughing behind me.

I freeze and cover my face.

“No, please, don’t stop.”

“Oh God. You’re never going to want to put your pretty penis in me again, are you?”

“On the contrary.” I feel his warm hands on my shoulders. “I’m actually hoping you still have a little of that angry energy left for when my penis is inside you.”

My own hands drop from my face so I can inhale the air around him. Without seeing him, I can tell that he is still glistening with sweat from his workout, andoh God the pheromones. I spin around to face him. His skin is flushed, and his fitted sleeveless Nike shirt is damp, hismuscles are taut, and I want to lick every single inch of him. “I have all kinds of energy left for when your penis is inside me.” I kiss him on the mouth, but he pulls back, letting his hands slide to my waist.

“There are a few things we need to discuss first, but I’d be happy to undress you while we talk.”

“Proceed.” I stand straight so he can remove my clothes.

He starts to unbutton my blouse. “First of all, I got an e-mail from Margo this morning. She told me she asked you to take down a picture from Instagram. I’m sorry about that.” I start to apologize, but he continues. “I Skyped her and told her not to communicate with you directly regarding nanny issues, since I’m the one who hired you. She can run things through me, and I’ll decide if it’s something I need to bring up with you or not.”

“Really?”

“With everything you do for me and the kids, it just pissed me off that she reprimanded you like that for something so insignificant.” He pulls my shirt off and lets it fall to the floor.

“Thank you,” I say as he stares at my bra. “You’re such a thoughtful boss.”

He shakes his head, grinning. “Don’t even joke about that.” He unbuttons and unzips my pants. “Second item of business…” He pulls his phone out from the pocket of his workout shorts and taps on his e-mail app. “My publicist forwarded something to me. Apparently someone got a few shots of us picking up the kids at school yesterday and getting Froyo after. Must have been a slow celebrity news day.”

He shows me the online images on his phone.There’s a shot of us walking toward the school from his car with his hand barely touching the small of my back. Just thinking about the way it had felt to have his hand on the small of my back in public makes me swoon. The shots of us through the window of the frozen yogurt place make the tip of my nose tingle. We look like such a fun, happy little family. “Does that bother you? That these pictures are out there?”

“I mean, I’m not crazy about the expression on my face in this one, but…of course it doesn’t bother me. I’m a little surprised someone bothered to follow us all the way to the Palisades from the school, but… Does it bother you?”

I shake my head. He pushes my pants down past my hips, and I step out of them.

“Good.” He reaches into another pocket and pulls out a small box. “Final item of business.” He looks down at my lacey bra and panties, clearing his throat. “You are so fucking hot.” His fingertip traces the edges of my bra. He squeezes one breast and grunts.

“Final item of business?”

“Right.” He pulls his hand away from my boob and uses it to open the box, holding it up for me to see. There is a gold heart necklace inside. He removes the necklace, drops the box to the floor. The chain is slightly longer than the one I’m wearing now, and the heart is a little bit bigger. He unhooks the clasp. “Turn around. Hold your hair up.”

I do as he says.

“This is my heart,” he whispers into my ear as he places the necklace around my neck. “I want you to wear it to remind yourself that it belongs to you now.”

The new heart pendant hangs just below the old one.