Page 34 of Anything But Lonely

“And this is Emerson,” Mateo says, his voice cutting through the noise, “my nanny.”

I blink, suddenly very aware that I’m standing in front of a group of strangers while Mateo Lane introduces me as his.

Like he’s staking a claim.

And usually, a man doing that has me wanting to break his jaw.

Or at least knocking him down a few pegs.

“His nanny,” I repeat, looking at Mateo. And while there’s something intriguing about Mateo calling me his, old habits die hard. I look at the guys. “You know, technically he hired me for Crew. But after watching him nearly take out an entire sound system ten minutes ago, I thought I’d expand my responsibilities.”

For a second, there’s silence.

Then Eddie lets out a laugh, shaking his head as he looks at Mateo. “Oh, she’s gonna be fun.”

Theo’s eyebrows shoot up, a grin spreading across his face. “I like her.”

Mateo glances over. “You’ve known her for five seconds.”

“Yeah,” Silas chimes in, pointing at me. “And in those five seconds, I already see her taking a good ten years off your life.”

“Just doing my job.” I salute in their direction before asking Crew, “Ready for lunch?”

Crew wiggles out of his dad’s hold before grabbing my hand as we walk towards the stairs on the side of the stage.

“Try not to break anything while I’m gone, okay, rockstar?” I say over my shoulder, finding Mateo watching me walk away, his lips curled in a small smirk.

He shakes his head, as if accepting his defeat.

And I have to remind myself that Mateo Lane is my boss.

He’s Crew’s dad.

It’ll be good for me to remember that.

Too bad, I’m not always one to do what’s good for me.

CHAPTER 14

MATEO

My nanny.

I called her my nanny.

Not my son’s nanny.

Not Crew’s nanny.

My nanny.

I should’ve just pulled my pants down and pissed right on the spot. That would’ve been less obvious.

I usually don’t have a possessive bone in my body. I find it embarrassing and silly when men feel the need to point to a woman and grunt the word “mine.” And I certainly don’t think anyone would ever feel the need to mark her territory when it comes to me.

But here I am mentally banging my head against the wall of the hotel shower in the hopes of forgetting another instance where I made a fool of myself in front of Emerson. I’ve known the girl for just about 48 hours, and I’m surprised she can look at me with a straight face.

I acted on complete impulse, not thinking through my actions for even a second. I saw the way Liam wrapped his arms around her so easily, the way she smiled as she hugged him back. And then I saw Liam with my son, and I didn’t realize how close I was to the monitor, the feedback cluing me in—along with everyone else.