Page 21 of The Keeper

“Yes. She didn’t want to wake you, but she’ll be at the house in the morning.”

“Yay. I like her.” Evie yawned. “She’s fun.”

I like her too, I thought as we passed through the streets of London.

More than I should.

CHAPTER 9

NOAH

“All right, lads, listen up. We’ve got to step up our book club game.” Adil planted his hands on his hips. “Our last two meetings have been, how shall I say it, lackluster. That’s why I’ve taken the liberty of assigning everyone tasks ahead of this month’s meeting. If you check your emails⁠—”

“Oh, c’mon. We don’t have time for this,” Gallagher complained. “We have proper matches to win, yeah?”

“Team bonding off the pitch is extremely important for team synergy on the pitch!” Adil shouted over the din in the dressing room. “As I was saying, please check your emails for your assigned tasks. If you choose to ignore your task, I cannot be held responsible for the photos of you that may or may not make it into this year’s holiday album.”

A chorus of groans swelled, but no one dared complain further.

Adil had appointed himself the team’s unofficial historian, and he sat on a treasure trove of embarrassing candid photos that could make or break a guy’s ego.

I changed into a set of clean clothes and chugged the rest of my water. My shoulder twinged at the movement.

We’d lost last week’s match against Arsenal, and Coach had doubled down on our drills today. I felt the resulting ache in every inch of my body.

“Yo, Wilson, is it true?” Samson popped up next to me, freshly showered and full of energy despite our brutal training session. “Did you hire Cece as your nanny?”

“Who the hell is Cece?”

“Carina. That’s my nickname for her.”

A sliver of irritation surged through me. I tossed my empty water bottle into my gym bag and yanked the zipper closed. “Why do you have a nickname for her?”

As far as I knew, they were looser acquaintances than Carina and I had been prior to her nanny job, but I wasn’t caught up on team gossip and the players’ relationships. Maybe they’d been talking all along. She did say he was good-looking.

I didn’t get it. So what if Samson had perfect teeth, perfect hair, and a smile that’d landed him a multimillion-dollar partnership with a famous toothpaste brand? Smiling was overrated.

So was perfection.

And stupid nicknames.

“All pretty girls deserve a nickname,” he said easily. “So is it true? DuBois says you’ve been shacked up for weeks.”

I glared at Vincent, who was eavesdropping unashamedly a few lockers down. He shrugged and mouthed sorry, even though he didn’t look sorry at all.

“We are not shacked up,” I growled. “Yes, she’s been Evie’s nanny for the past two weeks, but she’s still on probation. Let’s see if she lasts.”

Her probation period was up this Friday, and she’d been an exemplary employee so far, but Samson didn’t need to know that. He didn’t need to know anything more about her than he already did.

“Any woman who can put up with you for more than a few days is a saint,” Gallagher joked. “I’m pretty sure your ex-nannies have all formed a support group.”

“Don’t be mean. Noah just wants what’s best for Evie,” Adil said loyally. “Speaking of which, the dating profile I set up for you is still active. If you change your mind…”

“That has nothing to do with Evie, and I won’t change my mind.”

Last year, he’d created a profile for me on Konnect, an exclusive dating app for celebrities and other public figures. The profile only had one photo and no personal information, thank god, but he’d insisted on keeping it up despite my protests. Something about helping me “keep my options open,” which was ridiculous since I hadn’t asked for options to begin with.

I had two priorities right now: work and family. Love did not factor into that equation at all. Even if it did, I wouldn’t use a dating app. They had everything I disliked—strangers, small talk, and self-important people. No thanks.