Page 15 of Possessive Bodyguard Summer

“Can you read this to me?” Kaleigh asked, pointing to the book she’d handed me. “Withrealprincess voices?”

“Absolutely!”

As I opened the book, I caught Clay disappearing from the doorway.

By the second page, I had one princess speaking with a dramatic British accent and another sounding suspiciously like she'd grown up in Brooklyn.

Kaleigh giggled through most of the story. When the princess rescued the dragon instead of the other way around, her giggles had faded into sleepy little sighs.

I closed the book and looked down. She was out, one tiny hand still rested on my forearm like she'd wanted to make sure I hadn't disappeared.

As carefully as I could, I slipped my arm free and slid out of her bed before tiptoing out of the room and heading back downstairs to find Clay.

I wasn’t the least bit surprised when I found him in the kitchen, leaning against the counter with a cup of coffee in his hand.

“Everything okay?” he asked.

“She fell asleep. I hope that’s okay.”

He nodded. “Most days she takes a nap after preschool.” Clay sat down his mug. “Can I get you a drink? Coffee? Tea? Water? I think I’ve got some soda in the fridge.”

“Water would be great.”

Clay grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge before turning back to face me. “So, what do you think?”

“I think she’s an incredible kid,” I answered honestly.

He smirked. “I meant about the job. Are you sure you can handle all that energy?”

“Oh.” Heat flooded my cheeks. “Right.”

Clay crossed his arms over his chest. “No pressure.”

“Liar.”

He chuckled. “Hey. Just because I’m in a time crunch doesn’t mean I want you to feel rushed into a decision.”

I looked down at my hands and bit my lip. I believed him. In the very short amount of time that I’d known Clay, it was clear to me that the man never said something he didn’t mean.

“You know Sloane meant what he said. If this doesn’t feel right…”

“I can still take the admin job.”

He nodded. "No hard feelings on my end either. I need you to be sure. Not for me, but for Kaleigh.”

I let out a slow breath I hadn't realized I'd been holding. "Thank you."

"For what?"

"For giving me the chance."

“I didn’t really have a choice,” he teased with a smile.

"I still can't believe Sloane talked me into becoming a nanny."

"I still can't believe he hired one without asking me."

We both laughed.