Lindy snorts.
“—and that I’m to ensure he eats regularly.”
Another snort.
“But mostly just that I should be a companion. Keep the man company.”
Lindy doesn’t respond to this last bit, and too late I realize she isn’t looking at me. She’s looking behind me.
I spin around and barely stifle a shriek when I see the silhouette of a man standing in the darkened doorway.
I can’t see his face, but his voice is ice cold. “Sounds like my father forgot to mention the most important part of your job. But then, he never tells my babysitters what they’re really doing here.”
I take a small step forward, wanting to get a look at the man I’m talking to, but he takes a step back, hiding himself in the darkness.
“And what’s that?” I ask, narrowing my eyes.
“Suicide watch.”
The door slams in my face.
Chapter Four
Paul
God fucking damn it.
Damn it all to hell.
Before I can think about it, my arm is in motion, and the crystal shatters against the wall. I barely register that Pappy Van Winkle bourbon is trickling down the wall into an expensive puddle on the hardwood.
I thought I was prepared.
Hell, I was prepared.
I was prepared to greet whatever matronly, pious do-gooder was next in line in my father’s endless supply of babysitters and make her feel right at home. Okay, that’s an exaggeration. But I had every intention of not being a dick. I was going to show her my good side—my right side. Maybe even force a smile. Welcome her. I’d spent all night telling myself that a washed-up hag wouldn’t care what I looked like.
But the woman on the other side of the door? No, the girl. She’s no washed-up hag. This caregiver is…beautiful.
And I don’t think it’s just the fact that I haven’t been with a woman in longer than I want to think about and haven’t seen a girl my own age in longer than that. She’s hot. Big green eyes, long blond hair that I want to tangle my fingers in. A wide, lush mouth that I want…
No. No fucking way.
She can’t be more than twenty-two. All of the others were at least in their mid-thirties. This woman—this girl—is exactly the sort of person I exiled myself to Maine to avoid.
She’s tempting. Not just in the sexual way, although yeah, there’s that. But with that briefest of glimpses, she tempts me with something worse: she makes me long for normal.
She has to go. Now.
I make a fist and ram it hard against my thigh, punching myself in punishment. Of all things, you had to go and tell her you’re on suicide watch? But it was instinctive. I wanted to drive her away hard and fast, and that seemed like a surefire way of scaring off someone who has to be a rookie at this business.
She’ll be scampering back to the car by now, and I tell myself I’m glad. I don’t need a gorgeous blonde to remind me of all the things I can’t have.
Except…
My eyes fly open.
That damned ultimatum.
To say that my father one-upped me on this is an understatement. The three-month commitment to playing nice was bad enough when I thought I’d be dealing with a crotchety old woman, but this? Asking me to spend three months in the company of this gorgeous blonde?
This is sheer manipulation. My father isn’t just trying to lure me back to the real world, he’s throwing me into it.
I push my fingers into my eyes as the reality of my situation wraps around my brain and squeezes. What are my options?
I can tell my dad to shove it—let the girl get back into that car with Mick, and as a result be out on my ass with nowhere to go and not a cent to my name. And I can leave Alex’s wife and daughter with nothing.
Or…I can chase after Goldilocks and pretend that I want her here. Pretend that I need her so that my best friend’s daughter can live.