“That’s great. I’m eager to meet her,” he answered.
Joey’s cries greeted us in the living room. The girl was clearly hungry and angry about it. I directed Sam to a seat then met Elliot on the other side of the room, where he was jiggling and swaying with my daughter.
“I changed her, so she’s extra mad,” he told me.
My breath caught. I didn’t know exactly why, but Elliot changing Joey’s diaper had made my throat tighten with emotion.
“Thank you so much.”
He huffed a laugh. “It was just a diaper, Catherine. You’ve probably changed a few hundred by now.”
“I have. Only me.”
His gaze went almost tender with understanding. “You’re welcome.”
“Give me the girl, Elliot.”
As soon as I took her from him, she started rooting on my chest. I moved to go sit down to feed her when Elliot caught my shoulder.
“Why is there a man in my living room?” he asked in a controlled, flat tone.
“He’s here for his interview, of course.” When he didn’t let go of me, I glanced down at his hand then back up to him. “I need to feed Joey. You’re going to have to release me.”
“You’re interviewing a man to be Josephine’s nanny?”
“That’s Sam. He seems really nice. Better than Mary, that’s for sure.” I shrugged, trying to knock him off. “Joey’s going to eat my soul if she doesn’t get milk soon.”
His brow pinched. He slowly let his hand slip down my arm until it fell away. “I’ll get your nursing cover.”
While he raced back upstairs to find the cover I loathed and rarely used, I sat down across from Sam, Joey squealing in my arms.
“Do you mind if I nurse her? She’s this close to staging a mutiny due to starvation.”
Sam chuckled and shook his head. “It’s completely fine with me. I’ve nannied for several nursing mothers.”
I put a pillow under my elbow and pulled up my shirt. Fortunately, I was wearing a nursing tank underneath, saving me from flashing my soft, white stomach at Sam. Not that he was looking. He had averted his gaze to the papers he’d brought with him.
What a nice guy.
Before he’d shown up, I hadn’t been too sure about hiring a man as a nanny, but Sam was giving me good vibes. I hoped he didn’t ruin it.
Chapter Nineteen
Elliot
She hadn’t waited for me to get her cover.
Catherine had her breast out, in full view of the large, strange man making himself at home on my fucking furniture. I hoped he enjoyed it. It was the last time he’d be experiencing it.
I sat down next to Catherine, handing her the cover. She shook her head and tossed it aside.
“Thank you for getting it, but I really hate wearing it, and Sam’s fine with me nursing during the interview,” she said quietly.
“I’ll bet he’s comfortable,” I muttered. Who wouldn’t be comfortable with a pretty woman’s breast on display? Sure, nursing was beautiful and natural, but it was still a breast, and this one was attached to Catherine. I’d seen far more of her in the weeks she’d lived with me than I’d ever expected to, and I couldn’t stop myself from looking.
I doubted Sam was any more capable.
“What was that?” she whispered.
“Nothing.”
She patted my knee. “Don’t make it weird.”
I jerked my chin at the overgrown frat boy across from us. “Let’s get this over with.”
Joey kicked my arm like she was sending me a message. Grow up, asshole. I took her foot in my hand and rubbed her downy soft skin, conveying back, It isn’t my fault your mom drives me to distraction.
Catherine and Sam conducted the interview with little input from me. As far as I was concerned, he was out of the running. He could say he’d been trained by Supernanny herself and was the inventor of the Montessori method and still wouldn’t have been qualified.
That he was eyeing Catherine like he was interested in more than just a job didn’t help. As for her part, I couldn’t tell if this guy was her type or his nanny charm was working on her, but they kept making each other laugh while I failed to see what was so goddamn funny.
At least Jo wasn’t laughing. When she finished eating, Catherine held her in the crook of her arm, facing Sam, and Jo’s little brow puckered. She was a smiley girl. For her to frown at good-guy-Sam was surely a sign.
“How do you feel about sleep training?” I asked.
Yes, I’d interrupted, but them chatting about some beach in Costa Rica they’d both been to wasn’t getting us anywhere. It was time to shut Sam down.