Grumpy Boss Girl (The Lucky Girls Book 5) Read online

  “You don’t even really know her,” I countered, though she did have a point. Of all the women who had made it to actually meeting Ella, none had seemed to be very natural with her. In fact, they had been awkward with Ella and great in the interview.

  Exactly the opposite of Samantha—or Sam.

  Maybe she wouldn’t be the worst choice.

  “We’ll see,” I reiterated at Ella’s silent, frustrated stare. “Stay up here this time, please.”

  “Fine,” she pouted, running and jumping on her bed. “I’ll wait here this time.”

  “Thank you, honey,” I said with a sigh, giving her a reassuring smile. “We’ll figure this out, I promise.”

  “Okay,” she said, her voice quiet as she grabbed one of her many books to flip through. She wasn’t able to read, but she still pretended like she could, and it was the cutest thing.

  Everything about her was the cutest thing.

  I chuckled to myself as I trotted back downstairs, immediately noticing Samantha sitting right back where she had been before—looking more nervous than ever.

  “I really am sorry,” she repeated herself, again, her eyes flickering up to me. “She’s just the sweetest little girl.”

  “She is,” I agreed, though my voice came out sharp, and maybe even a little defensive. “And that’s why I don’t allow for potential candidates to meet her until after the first interview.”

  “I completely understand. Like I said, I’m really—”

  “Sorry,” I finished for her, sitting back down in the chair across from her. “I think you’ve apologized enough.”

  She nodded, shifting uncomfortably, her eyes stealing a glance up at mine before looking back down at her hands in her lap. Something about the way she did it made me wonder why she was so uncomfortable. Was it because she was nervous about the interview? Or was it more? My mind flashed to the tease of her black lace bra, before instantly pushing the thought from my brain.

  Don’t go there, Chase.

  I blew out a sharp breath. “So, I don’t actually have many questions to go—but do you have any sort of CPR certification?”

  “I was CPR certified during high school when I was a lifeguard, but I let my license expire,” she answered, her face wincing as she added the last few words. “I’d be more than happy to get it updated.”

  I nodded, wishing that I actually had something more to say about it. She irritated me so much, and I still had no idea why—and that fact irritated me even more. Yet, Ella loved her already, and the woman did appear to be a natural.

  “I don’t have any further questions,” I finally said, standing up from the chair, desperate to get out of the room. Before I headed for the stairs to see Ella, I glanced back at her, noticing that her face had fallen, clearly disappointed in the interview’s abrupt ending. Guilt crept through my chest, thinking back to the clear connection she shared with Ella.

  That was hard to ignore, and I couldn’t help but wonder if that was why she was disappointed—or maybe she needed the money. Pursing my lips, I fought off the mixed emotions welling up inside me. I was obviously attracted to her physically, which wouldn’t be good, since she would always be around the house.

  “Thank you for your time,” she mumbled, giving me a half-hearted smile as she squeezed past me to head to the door. I caught a whiff of her musky feminine perfume, suddenly feeling a warmth hit me right in my core.

  Yep, she’s gotta go. I don’t have time for this.

  “You can see yourself out,” I quipped, gesturing towards the door. “Turn the bottom lock on the knob, too, please.”

  “Sure,” she turned back towards me for just a moment, giving me that same smile—the kind that didn’t reach her grayish blue eyes. I couldn’t even mutter out a ‘thankyou’ before I bounded up the stairs to check on Ella.

  You made the right decision.

  I tried to reassure myself that there was no way that I needed some awkward—yet ridiculously hot woman--working in my house. The combination annoyed the shit out of me, and I didn’t want to be constantly annoyed by the nanny that I would see all the time. There would be someone else, hopefully less awkward and less attractive.

  I had no desire to have any sort of relationship with my nanny.

  “You didn’t hire her, did you?” Ella whispered, her eyes glistening with tears as I stepped into her bedroom. “You just sent her off—I heard the whole thing.”

  “I just don’t feel like she’s a good fit,” I reasoned, beckoning Ella into my arms. “I’m sorry, honey. I just…I want to make sure we find the perfect lady to watch you.”

  She hugged me, wrapping her arms around my neck. “But I think she is the perfect one for us.” Her tears tickled my neck as she cried into my shoulder, her little body trembling in my arms. “I just knew it when I met her—she’s like mama.”

  My heart dropped in my chest, hardly able to handle the words she was saying. Kacy had been gone for nearly two years, passing away when Ella was only two years old, so the fact that something reminded her of her mother was a big deal—it didn’t happen often. I picked her up, holding her as I carried her from her room and headed down the stairs.

  “Why don’t we order pizza tonight?” I offered, my words nearly coming out choked with emotion as I sat her down on the couch. “We can watch a movie, too.”

  She sniffled and hesitated, but nodded, wrapping her arms around her knees. “Can we watch Belle?”

  “You mean Beauty and the Beast, right?” I clarified, not sure that I had my princesses all in a row—sometimes I got them mixed up.

  “Yeah, Sam says that I look like Belle,” Ella perked up a little, her eyes sparkling beneath the lights.

  Damnit.

  “Stay right here,” I said quickly before heading for the front door. I sprinted for the door, fumbling with the lock before swinging it open. I took a step out onto the stoop, searching for the blonde headed, annoying-as-hell, Samantha Wilson.

  She’s not out here.

  Just as I was about to head back inside, a car pulled up, and Samantha appeared from seemingly nowhere, about to hop in.

  “Sam,” I called after her, hopping down the steps to catch her attention.

  She spun around, shock written all over her face. “Yes?”

  “You start tomorrow at 8 am,” I huffed, getting it out before I could change my mind. “Don’t be late.”

  Chapter 3

  Samantha

  “Ooh,” Ella beamed, looking at herself in the mirror. “I’m beautiful!”

  “Yes, you are,” I smiled softly, holding up my work mirror for her to admire the princess makeup job I had done on her. If someone had told me a few months prior that I would go from doing celebrity photoshoots to a four-year-old’s tea party makeup, I would’ve laughed in their face.

  But now it was my reality.

  “I just can’t wait for Daddy to see it,” she added, fluffing up her freshly curled hair that I had managed to pull off after looking at some YouTube videos. Naturally, I was great at makeup, but hair had never been a strong point of mine—and it showed in the lopsided updo on her head. However, she didn’t notice, and I counted it as a success for myself.

  “This has been the best day with you,” Ella said, sliding down out of her little wooden kid’s chair that I had set up for her. “And it’s just the first one!”

  “This has been a pretty great day,” I agreed, sitting down on the edge of her bed as she twirled around in her yellow princess dress, complete with a crown and white gloves.

  I let out a sigh, glancing down at my watch. It was nearly 4 pm, and there was no sign of Chase returning yet. I had shown up ten minutes early for my first day—just like Rachel had suggested, and Chase had immediately run out the door. He didn’t even bother to show me anything around the house. I had to rely on Ella to give me the rundown of everything, and she was not the most reliable source, considering how she tried to convince me ice cream for lunch was a normal occurrence in her hou
se.

  “Should I get dinner started for you?” I asked her, wondering what time she even ate in the evenings. He hadn’t left a bit of information—other than his phone number on a slip of paper in the kitchen.

  And there was no way I would be calling or texting him.

  I did, however, put it in my phone, just in case there was an emergency. That seemed like the right thing to do, but other than that, I would rather wing it than have to bug the sarcastic, arrogant Chase Peters.

  “We can eat ice cream for dinner,” Ella perked up, stopping her twirls to wiggle her eyebrows at me. “I think that sounds good, don’t you, Sam?” She came over to me, leaning on my knees.

  “I don’t think your daddy would appreciate me letting you eat ice cream for dinner,” I reasoned, shaking my head at her. “Good try, though. Let’s go see what we can find to make.”

  “Maybe I can help you make dinner,” Ella offered, grabbing my hand as I headed towards the staircase to head back down. “Daddy lets me help him cook sometimes—and that’s not a fib.”

  “You are something else, Ella,” I laughed, squeezing her hand. Despite Chase being difficult, he’d sure made a cute daughter, who had quickly stolen my heart. In fact, I was actually enjoying being a nanny—for the first day, anyway.

  “Do you think he’ll be home soon?” she asked, her voice growing serious as we headed to the kitchen. “Sometimes he works really late.”

  “I, um, don’t know when he’ll be home,” I answered her, releasing my grip on her hand as I gazed around the spotless kitchen—not really even knowing where to start. I had managed to get through lunch by fashioning a sandwich of sorts, and Ella had loved it. However, she did inform me that she usually didn’t eat sandwiches for lunch.

  Which meant I needed to get better at cooking.

  “What’re we gonna make?”

  “I don’t know the answer to that, either,” I muttered, reaching for the cabinets, searching for some sort of idea. “What kind of food do you usually eat for dinner?”

  “I don’t know,” Ella replied with a little shrug. “Daddy says we’re supposed to eat colorful food.”

  Colorful food—right.

  “I take that means you must eat a lot of vegetables and fruit,” I mumbled, trying to recall all of the late-night Food Network shows I had watched after a few glasses of wine. “I can figure something out.”

  “Uh huh,” Ella drew out, suddenly sounding very unconvinced of my ability to make us dinner.

  Growing frustrated by the lack of food I was finding in the cabinets, I headed to the fridge, remembering the plethora of groceries I had found there. Swinging open the door, I rummaged through the contents, noting a lot of colorful foods. I was no chef, so it would have to be simple…

  Like chicken and rice with some broccoli—or something.

  “He asked a million questions at the interview but didn’t even bother to pass along any instructions on the job,” I grumbled to myself under my breath. “This is ridiculous.”

  As I pulled out a pound of chicken breast, I heard the door chime go off, ringing throughout the house. My heart jumped in my chest—Chase was home.

  Shit.

  “Daddy!” Ella squealed, her little play heels clicking on the hardwood floors as she headed to the entryway.

  “Ella!” Chase called back, his voice frighteningly cheery. “Oh my, I see you’ve had a bit of a, uh, makeover,” I heard his voice echo through the house, suddenly coming out much less enthused.

  “Sam made me look like a princess,” Ella chatted away, her voice giddy as I froze to listen. “She did a lovely job,” she added in her proper princess voice.

  “It’s great, honey,” he replied, still unenthused but soft and gentle with her. “Maybe we should go wash it off before I start dinner, though.”

  “Why?” she demanded. “I like it. I look like a princess.”

  I couldn’t hear what he said to her, his voice too low to carry into the kitchen, but I did hear footsteps growing closer. I quickly threw everything back into the fridge, and spun around to lean on the black granite countertops just as Chase stepped into the kitchen.

  “Hi,” I greeted awkwardly, my black long-sleeve t-shirt slipping slightly on the slick surface. I popped back up, swallowing hard as he stood there, eyebrows raised.

  “You know this isn’t a makeup artist job, right?” he snapped, his green eyes boring into mine.

  He’s mad about it.

  “She wanted to look like a princess, and so I thought it would be fun—”

  “Don’t do it again,” he cut me off, shaking his head. “She’s four. There’s no need for her to be piling costume makeup on her face.”

  “It’s all nontoxic,” I countered, offended by his jump to berate me. “It’s not like I was endangering her in any way, but I won’t do it again.”

  “You don’t have to explain your actions,” he said, uncuffing his sleeves and rolling up his dress shirt. My eyes fell to his toned bare forearms, before heading up the rest of his arm, sculpted beneath the white dress shirt.

  Ugh.

  I ripped my eyes back to his face and blushed as he looked at me with amusement—he’d caught me checking him out. It was clear he was used to it, too. However, the amusement faded quickly as Ella entered the kitchen, makeup still on her face.

  “Are you gonna eat dinner with us?” she asked me, her little eyes pleading up at me as she clasped her hands in front of her.

  I opened my mouth to speak, but Chase cut me off. “She has to get home tonight. Maybe some other time, honey.”

  Okay, then.

  “Awe,” Ella whined. “But she was just about to make me dinner.”

  “I’m sorry,” he replied, his face growing soft with remorse, nearly startling me. “I’ll be working late in a few days, so she’ll be able to eat with you then.”

  She let out a sharp exhale. “Fine.”

  “I’ll be back tomorrow,” I added, giving her a warm smile. “Bright and early. We can go to the park, too—maybe get some ice cream, if your daddy says it’s okay,” I glanced over at him, making awkward eye contact.

  “Uh, sure,” he mumbled, still holding my eyes. For just that moment, his eyes were still soft, the same way they were when he looked at Ella—and just for a second, I felt something shift in my body. However, his expression hardened quickly, and he looked away from me. “Tell Samantha, goodbye, though. She needs to get home.”

  He really doesn’t like me.

  “Her name is Sam,” Ella argued, folding her arms across her chest. “I don’t want to call her Samanth-tha.”

  “You can call me whatever you want,” I went to her, kneeling down to pull her into an embrace. “Thanks for letting me spend the day with you.” I made sure not to look at Chase, certain he was probably rolling his eyes at me.

  “Thank you,” Ella beamed, wrapping her little arms around my neck. “I can’t wait to see you tomorrow.”

  “I can’t wait to see you,” I added, leaning back and bopping her on the nose playfully the way she did me. I stood to my feet before turning to Chase. “Do you want me to help you get the makeup off her face before I go?” I offered, glancing back down at the costume makeup.

  “I can handle it,” he snapped, shooting me a glare. “I don’t need your help.”

  “Sorry,” I winced, my stomach knotting up at the coldness in his voice. “I’ll just grab my things and head out.” I ducked out of the kitchen, heat flushing my cheeks in embarrassment. Chase was so soft with Ella, yet so edgy and irritable with me—like I just grated his nerves.

  All I was doing was offering to help.

  I shook my head as I grabbed my jacket and bag, heading towards the door. “Bye, Ella,” I called as I slipped on my Vans by the door. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  “Bye, Sam!” she called back, her voice as light and cheery as ever. She hadn’t seemed put off by her dad’s harsh words towards me—so maybe it was just normal for him to treat everyone els
e terribly. I let out a sigh and slipped out the front door, locking it behind me. It was an unseasonably cool fall day in the city, and I quickly slipped on my leather jacket before pulling out my phone to call Rachel.

  “Hey, I take it your first day is over—how’d it go?” she answered, her voice chirping with excitement.

  “Uh, well,” I began as I headed down the street to jump on the subway. “It went great until Chase came home—he’s not that nice of a person, is he?”

  “I mean, Blake has always said he was a good guy. He’s definitely all business, but he’s not that bad. I think things have been a bit difficult for him after losing his wife,” she added, her voice growing a bit somber.

  “I noticed there were a couple of pictures of her in Ella’s room,” I recalled, thinking of the auburn-headed woman holding a much younger Ella, Chase’s arms wrapped around both of them. “I didn’t ask him or Ella about her, because I didn’t want to be nosey.”

  “It might be a touchy subject,” Rachel seemed to shrug on the other end of the line. “So why is Chase not nice, again? You didn’t mention that when we talked about the interview.”

  I took a deep breath before answering. “I thought maybe he was just having a bad day or something the day of the interview, since he still hired me, but…” my voice trailed off for a moment as I trotted down the stairs. “But I think he might actually hate me. I put costume makeup on Ella this afternoon, and he was not happy about it.”

  “Oof,” Rachel laughed. “I guess you just know to avoid that next time. Maybe he’s one of those guys that doesn’t think little kids should wear makeup, even if it’s just for play.”

  “He didn’t leave any sort of instructions either—and didn’t even give me a quick walkthrough of anything. I was left to figure it all out on my own,” I added, feeling some relief as I vented. “And I have no idea what to cook for her.”

  “I guess maybe he just wanted you to have the freedom to create your own routine,” she suggested, making my frustrations seem unnecessary.

  “Maybe,” I agreed. “I guess we’ll just see.”