Live-In Position (32 page)

“What?” I wiped my face, praying I didn’t have some glob on it.

“You are surprisingly easy.”

I burst into laughter and covered my mouth quickly. He caught on a moment later.

“I swear that’s not what I meant.” He couldn’t fight off his chuckle. It escaped his chest though he attempted to control it.

“Uh-huh, sure you didn’t,” I teased him.

“What I meant,” he took a breath to calm his laughter, “was that it’s very simple to be with you.”

“Thanks, I think.”

We walked out of the Market Grill hand-in-hand and browsed the market a little longer. I found the Oriental Mart and went crazy getting things to make Chinese dinner for Victoria and me. Fresh ginger and homemade noodles, almost too much to fit into my bag. I tried to carry the bag, since I was the one who had packed it full, but Dr. Bishop wouldn’t have any of that as we continued to walk. A childlike persona seemed to emerge. I started to see a side of him that reminded me of Victoria.

Entering the Market Cellar Winery, Dr. Bishop immediately looked at the bottles critically. He lifted a couple and then replaced them with a wrinkled nose. Swiftly and smoothly, he walked toward the person at the counter.

“Excuse me, do you have anything better than what is out front?”

I scanned the different colored bottles stacked along the walls in the massive wine racks and on shelves. I could hear Collin and the sales person having a discussion about wine.

Shopping with him was new and having lunch together was interesting. He had really thought about where we should go, and the fact was, he had planned well. Collin’s hand on my lower back brought me out of my thoughts.

“You ready?”

“They didn’t have what you wanted?” We exited the store.

“Oh, yes.” He raised a new reusable bag so I could see the tops of two bottles.

We walked a little further until I saw the restroom sign.

“I’ll be right back.” I pointed to the restroom sign before I hurried off.

Once finished, I washed my hands and stepped out of the bathroom. I stopped short. Collin was leaning against the wall opposite the bathroom door.

“Hey.” I slightly tilted my head at him.

“Hello.” He pushed up off the wall and stepped toward me, his hand behind his back.

“What are you hiding?” I craned my neck to see behind him, but he moved so I couldn’t see. “What is it?” I laughed. We began doing this crazy circle dance in front of the public restrooms, our laughter filling the space around us, and people looking at us strangely as they passed by.

“Are you always this nosy?” he chuckled. “Maybe it’s a surprise.”

“I don’t like surprises.” I faked a pout.

“If you keep sticking your lip out like that, I am going to suck it off of your face.” He moved in closer and spoke to me in a breathy whisper.

I quickly sucked my lip back in, and my breathing hitched. He smirked. Our faces were getting extremely close. I was enraptured in his eyes. The giggles of a small child snapped me out of the trance. I stepped back from him and grabbed his arm.

“We should get moving,” I mumbled with a little bit of embarrassment.

“These are for you.”

In his extended hand were a bunch of wildflowers. I looked at them and then to him. I kissed his cheek.

“Thank you.” I took the flowers and brought them toward me.

“Thank you.” He smiled.

“For what?” I looked up at him as we walked back toward the parking garage.

“For saying yes.” He released my hand and wrapped his arm around my waist, holding me tightly to him.

I allowed him to open my door when getting into the car and even to get out when we arrived back to the house. He walked me up to the front door and stopped.

“What’s wrong?” I was confused.

“Thank you for a lovely afternoon.” He leaned forward and kissed me. I kissed him back. Too soon, he pulled back and started walking toward the car.

“Where are you going?” The words just fell out of my mouth. He looked at me with a grin.

“I need to pick up Victoria.”

I could feel the warmth spread on my face and chest, smiling in excitement and relief. The excitement was that Victoria was coming home, and the relief was that he wasn’t just walking away from me.

Victoria returned in a pleasant mood. I was just happy everything seemed to go well with her visit. We went through her normal nightly routine and made plans for our last day of the summer vacation before she returned to school on Monday. I could tell she was tired, but I didn’t think she would fall asleep so quickly. She didn’t even make it through five pages of our bedtime story.

I placed the book back on her bookshelf and slowly walked back to her bed. I leaned down and tucked her in. With a kiss to her head, I turned to leave. My hand flew up over my mouth to stifle my gasp. Once calm, I removed my hand.

“Damn it, don’t do that!” I hissed quietly.

His smile was wide enough to light up the room. “I didn’t mean to scare you,” he whispered and walked toward Victoria. In one fluid motion, he bent over her and kissed her head. As I followed him out of her room, I noticed he was in his pajamas and grinned.

Dr. Bishop paused just outside of her door. I walked around him.

“Good night,” I said, trying not to laugh. He didn’t say anything. I composed myself. “Oh, did you want to sleep in my room?” I batted my eyelashes and laid the innocence on thickly.

“Don’t tease me, Miss Ashwood,” he growled and stalked toward me.

I burst into laughter but then squealed when he wrapped his arms around my waist and lifted me up. He carried me into my room and closed the doors behind us.

“Put me down,” I giggled quietly.

“Once we reach the bed,” he retorted with actual humor in his voice.

“What? You think I’m the type of girl that puts out on a first date?” I scoffed teasingly. As soon as the words left my mouth, I was tossed on the bed with a grinning Dr. Bishop crawling toward me. Just when I thought he was going to get straight to clothing removal, his fingers dug into my side and tickled me.

“STOP, OH GOD, STOP!” I begged.

“Are you going to tease me again?” he chuckled.

“NO!” I screamed and gasped for air when he stopped.

“Good.”

“Jerk,” I quipped. With a smack to his arm, I got out of bed.

That night I climbed into bed with Collin, not Dr. Bishop. Once I was under the covers, he moved closer to me and wrapped his arms around me.

“Am I truly a jerk?” His voice was quiet.

“Sometimes,” I answered, running my fingers through his hair.

I felt his arms tighten around me. Just when I was about to ask him what he was thinking, his voice stopped me.

“Good night.”

No more words were said. I fell asleep wondering what was going through his head.

C
hapter
T
wenty

GETTING VICTORIA BACK into her school routine wasn’t nearly as complicated as I expected. The first week was pretty simple, and she was excited to see her friends. The second week was proving to be more difficult.

“Come on, you are already running behind schedule.” I pulled the covers off her head.

“I don’t wanna,” she groaned and pulled her pillow over her head.

“Get up,” I laughed and smacked her butt lightly.

“Hey!” She sat up quickly, her hair a wild nest of frizz.

“Well, get up or I will do it again.” I raised my hand teasingly. She covered her butt and got out of bed.

“I’m up, I’m up,” she grumbled on her way to the bathroom.

What usually took us fifteen minutes was accomplished in seven minutes this morning. As we hurried into the kitchen, we ran into Connor.

“In a hurry this morning?” he chuckled.

“Just a little.” I grabbed the cereal, milk, and juice.

Victoria hopped up to the breakfast bar. She rushed to eat her cereal, and we practically sprinted to the car. We made it just in time. The moment she stepped through St. John’s doors I slouched back against the car.

“Rough morning?”

My head snapped up to see Amber smiling at me.

“Hey, you,” I wrapped my arms around her in a warm hug. We pulled apart. “How are you?”

She shrugged. “Good, I guess.”

“You guess?” I raised one eyebrow at her.

She sighed heavily. “Well, it’s just…oh, it’s nothing. I’m sure you have things to get done today. Plus, I should get MJ home.”

“No way.” I shook my head. “Meet me at the coffee shop around the corner.

“Sophia—”

“I won’t take no for an answer.” With a quick wink, I hopped into my car and drove to Cup of Joe. Amber pulled up behind me.

“So what’s going on?” I asked after we had gotten our coffee and settled into a corner table with MJ.

“It’s hard with William being so far away all the time. I miss him.”

I furrowed my brow. “Gone? Gone where?”

Amber’s eyes widened. “Oh shit!”

“What?”

She clapped herself on the forehead. “I wasn’t supposed to say anything,” she groaned.

“Okay, I’m confused.” I shook my head lightly, taking a sip of my coffee.

Amber leaned over the table a little bit and whispered. “Allison is staying with Juliet.”

I almost sprayed Amber with coffee. “What?” I choked out and quickly wiped my mouth.

“I know, right?” Her eyes grew large and she nodded. “So William and the boys are with her.”

“Wait, wait, back the truck up. When did Allison move in with Juliet?” I had my hands up, palms facing Amber.

“I guess she was staying with Mrs. Bishop, but something happened and she went to the vacation house.” Amber shrugged. “From there she ended up with Juliet. It’s weird, isn’t it?”

I nodded, still in shock. “Crap, I’m sorry. So William has been gone for a while then?” I asked, quickly redirecting the conversation back to her.

“Yeah,” she sighed out. “I just really miss him.”

“I’m sorry.”

Amber smiled at me. “How are things with that guy you were seeing?”

I furrowed my brow in confusion. “What guy?”

“You know the one from the beach. Didn’t you go out with him a couple of times?” She pulled her paper cup to her lips.

Dominic.

“Oh, yeah,” I shook my head. “That was better left as friends. I haven’t seen or talked to him for a while.”

“Will he be at the wedding?” she smirked.

I shook my head. “No. I’m guessing you got your invitation to the wedding?”

She nodded.

“Good, you’re coming right?”

She nodded.

We finished our coffee and talked about a couple more things before we went our separate ways. I had a few errands to run—picking up a few things from the grocery store, going to the bridal shop for a follow-up fitting, and then picking up a wedding shower gift for Miranda.

I finally finished all my errands, jammed everything into the car, and made it back to the house. I carried the grocery bags into the kitchen, quickly putting the items away. Another trip out to the car, and I returned with an arm full of garment bags that I laid over the banister of the staircase. Entering the house with my hands full of wedding gifts for Miranda, I kicked the door shut behind me.

After putting everything away, I placed Miranda’s gifts in my room. I needed to do some laundry so I stripped my bedding, grabbed all of my dirty towels and clothes, and took them to the laundry room. I put the first load into the washer and ran back upstairs to sweep my room.

I put my ear buds in and turned up the volume on one of my favorite playlists as I vacuumed the floor. I decided I would go over Victoria’s room quickly before putting the vacuum away. On my way out of her room, I ran into Mrs. Baker, who had an arm full of Victoria’s clothes. I pulled the ear buds from my ears with a tug of the wires.

“Good afternoon,” I smiled.

“Look at you, doing my job for me,” she winked.

“I just figured I can clean up after myself and might as well go over her room too.”

“Oh, I’m not complaining,” she chuckled and entered Victoria’s room.

I returned the vacuum to the hall closet and went back to the laundry room. Putting my ear buds back in, I was happily met with the crooning of Frank Sinatra. There was no way to stop myself from bopping along to the song. I leaned into the washing machine and brought the wet clothing to the open dryer when I felt someone grab my hips.

I screamed and jumped, my head hitting a solid mass. Spinning around and yanking the ear buds out of my ears, I discovered the solid mass was Dr. Bishop.

“Are you okay?”

Dr. Bishop held his chin, nodding.

“Are you really or do I need to get ice or something?” I bit my lip nervously.

He removed his hand. “I’m fine.”

“Well then I should hit you…again…for scaring the crap out of me!” I narrowed my eyes.

His laugh was deep but not playful. I watched his tongue roll along his bottom lip and fought the urge to attack him. He moved slowly but with determination toward my lips.

The laundry room door swung open and I jumped again, this time bumping into the half-empty washing machine. Dr. Bishop quickly took a step back.

“Oh, I didn’t realize that—” Mrs. Baker’s statement trailed off. She had no idea what to say. Heat rose into my face, flushing me bright red.

“No, it’s fine. How are you this afternoon?” Dr. Bishop’s voice was smooth and cool.

“I’m well, Collin. How are you?” Mrs. Baker responded pleasantly.

I finished transferring my wet clothing to the dryer and started another load before quickly excusing myself from the room. When I got back to my room, I realized it was getting close to pick-up time for Victoria. I hurried to make my bed with clean sheets and blankets before grabbing my keys and bag. I was halfway down the stairs when I saw Dr. Bishop standing at the bottom, waiting for me.

“You’re leaving?” He looked at his watch. “Victoria?” His eyes came back up to my face.

I nodded.

“Before you go,” he leaned forward and kissed me, “drive safely.” He smiled and went up the stairs. My eyes may have followed his backside as he ascended. Maybe.

The entire drive to pick up Victoria, I thought about Dr. Bishop and me. If Grace found out about our relationship, she would definitely use it to her advantage. Then there was Victoria. I believed she would be happy about it, but what if, for some reason, she wasn’t? What if it didn’t work out and then she would have to deal with our break up? Honestly, how did I think this was going to play out? I mean, what nanny has a wealthy doctor in her bed every night and ends up with him for good? I groaned and pulled into a parking space, waiting for the school to unleash the children to the world.

Her bouncing red ponytail wasn’t hard to spot. A smile instantly spread on my face from her happy expression. I climbed out of the car and she ran up to me.

“Oh my gosh, we did the coolest science experiment ever today!”

She was full of excitement as she told me about her teacher making a test tube overflow with baking soda and vinegar.

Victoria’s activities schedule was back in place. However, I did make some variations to her after school routine, taking her down to only three days with lessons. Monday was her piano lesson at home, Tuesday was dance class, and Wednesday was split between horseback riding and karate, depending on the season—horseback riding classes while the weather was warm and karate when the weather changed over to cooler.

I went over what I wanted to say to Dr. Bishop about a thousand times. I didn’t want him to think I was trying to overstep my boundaries because of our relationship. I was lounging on my couch with my laptop reading over my completed book. I thought I was prepared to talk to him until he entered my room that night.

“Good evening, Miss Ashwood.”

I turned my head and peeked around the armrest of the couch. He entered my room in his pajamas.

“Good evening.” I looked back to my laptop.

He quickly sat down on the couch and lifted my feet to his lap.

“What are you doing?”

Before I could stop him, he reached over and took my laptop from me.

“Stop,” I protested. He stilled. “It’s just, it’s not finished.”

It was partially true. I mean the book was written, but I hadn’t done my read-through, and it hadn’t been edited yet.

“Can I look?”

He gave me the most wonderful smile, and I almost agreed. I shook my head and took my laptop back.

“It’s not ready.”

He frowned. “Why can’t I read it?”

“I told you, it’s not done yet.” I shrugged.

“Will you let me read it first?” His smile was back.

I shrugged again.

“Tell me what it’s about.” He settled back into the couch.

“Um…well, it’s sort of a kid’s book.” I bit my lip.

I kind of figured he would drop it, but I was wrong.

“Really? Like a fairy tale?” His eyes, that could be ever so cold, were warm and curious.

“It’s not done yet,” I said uncomfortably.

He took my laptop and closed it before placing it on the coffee table.

“Why won’t you talk to me?”

“I am talking to you.”

“Sophia, I want to know things about you, but you seem reluctant to talk to me about them.” He slid down next to me on the couch, his left arm over my thighs and his head in my lap.

“What do you want to know?” I rolled my eyes.

“Everything.” I could feel the smile on his face.

“Well, there is something I wanted to talk to you about.”