“Hey, do you have any whiskey in that house? This wedding planning with my mother-in-law is stressful as fuck.” Dean adjusts his glasses and eyes me with the look of a desperate man.
“It’s five o’clock somewhere,” I respond with a laugh and slap him on the back as we make our way inside.
We situate ourselves across from each other at the kitchen island, and I can smell the scent of charred wood drifting in from the garage.
Dean sniffs loudly as I hand him a finger of whiskey.
“Cassandra is probably burning one of her charcuterie boards.” I answer his silent question and sip my own drink, savoring the spicy burn on my tongue. It’s the best kind of burn. A burn that tasted even better on Cozy’s tongue a few days ago.
Dean gets a wicked glint in his eye. “What’s the status update there? You’ve been a little radio silent since poker night.”
I inhale through my nose. Might as well rip the Band-Aid off because I’ve been kind of dying to talk to someone about it and my brothers are useless when it comes to advice on women.
“We’re kind of…dating.”
Dean chokes on his whiskey. “You’re actually dating the nanny?” he exclaims, coughing.
“Use her fucking name, asshole.” My tone is lethal and totally hypocritical because I love calling her the nanny in my dirty thoughts. But from Dean, that label sounds cheap. And Cassandra is obviously so much more than the nanny now. Hell, she’s slept in my bed every night since we returned from Aspen. It’s been tricky too because even though we’re not just banging it out anymore, we’ve still decided not to say anything to Everly, so it’s still a lot of sneaking around.
Our current plan is a lot like our old plan, except now we’re in my bed instead of hers. Cassandra comes over after Everly goes to sleep, and I worship every inch of her body. Then she slips out my patio door around five thirty every morning, looking well-fucked to go get ready for the day at her place.
It’s been a pretty good plan. Satisfying for all parties involved…except for one little incident yesterday.
I thought for sure we were busted when I woke up in the middle of the night to find Everly staring at me while I slept. I shot out of bed and woke Cassandra up in the process who hid under the covers even though we were already caught. Everly mumbled something about Millie eating her blanket and it took me a second to realize she was sleep walking and talking.
So I gently guided my little princess back upstairs to her bed where I was happy to discover there was no goat eating anything. I tucked her in, kissed her head, and came back downstairs to stress about what we were going to tell Everly the next day. I also turned up the notification volume on my phone because my camera alerts should have told me she was coming. I’m getting sloppy.
I stared nervously at Everly while she ate her oatmeal, waiting to see if she had any comments about last night.
She remembered nothing, reminding me once again that kids are a strange breed.
But regardless of that little hiccup, sneaking around is for the best. For one, she’s still my daughter’s nanny for the next several weeks so it might feel strange for Everly to have us dating. I don’t want to spoil her summer with Cassandra by blurring the boundaries between them.
Not to mention, I’ve never introduced Everly to a girlfriend before and I have no fucking idea how that is going to go.
Also, I still can’t get a read on where Cassandra wants all this to go. She’s so chill about everything in life and as much as I love that about her, I also hate it because it leaves me feeling uncertain. I like order. I like a plan. I’d like to flash into the future and see where this whole thing ends up because the suspense of the unknown is painful. And is all this even what I want? To put myself out there with someone again? Fuck…it’s all scary as hell.
Dean shoots me an apologetic face. “I’m sorry about the nanny word. I didn’t mean anything by it. You just shocked me. I didn’t expect you to be dating her.”
“You’re the one who told me to go after her,” I retort, my brows furrowed. “Hell, you all but shoved me out of my house on poker night to go chase her down.”
“I know, but I didn’t expect it to turn into a dating thing.” Dean blinks away his shock. “You’re usually a hit and run type.”
“That’s how it started.” I pinch the bridge of my nose and sigh as memories of the past few weeks circulate in my mind. So much has happened. “But then it kept going and next thing I know, we’re on my plane to Aspen so I can buy her a dress for my charity gala next weekend.”