The Billionaire's Nanny

40

It was a night to celebrate, yet I could not bring myself to shake off the bad mood seeing that room had put me in all week. Mia's fiancee, Mason had returned and he was meeting the family for dinner tonight. Lucas had noticed my change in behavior towards him, but he was too busy this week to acknowledge it. He had asked a few times why I was gloomy, to which I told him I had caught something and felt a little under the weather. 

I could not tell which hurt more, the knowledge that he had still not let go of her after those many years or the fact that he was too busy to care about how hurt I was. He was thoroughly occupied with trying to fix the security breach at the Milan branch and I feared he would have to travel there himself to fix things. Mia and Lilan frequented their visits and that was a more than welcome distraction for me, after Sarah's last message left me on edge. 

With enough space between us in the last few days, it had been easier to go on without telling him the real reason I was upset, but dinner tonight would make it harder to keep that up. 

Celine had managed to give a reply to my texts before I made the choice to go to the cops searching for her. She had asked for a week's break to collect her thoughts and apologized deeply for worrying me. I hated the fact that I could not do enough to console my best friend seeing as she was halfway across the world and would not even give me her whearabouts. I would fix that though, the moment she got back here. 

"Are you cold?" Lucas asked as we pulled into the driveway. He gave me a genuinely worried look that reminded me of the Lucas I knew before all of the secrets began tearing us apart. I was one to talk though. I had gone into the room he had strictly forbidden me from entering, but I was sure my disregard for his rule would be greatly overlooked when he found out that I knew he had kept a whole room dedicated to his ex-wife whom he claimed to not feel a thing for. 

"I'm fine," I answered more sharply than I intended to. 

He opened his mouth to speak, but the sound of the kids struggling to get the back door open stopped him. He opened it up from his side and the kids skipped with glee out of the car, racing through the walkway that led to the mansion. 

"What's wrong Chris?" he asked wrapping his warm palm around my thigh. 

So you're no longer too busy to notice? "Do you think this is okay?" I held up the bottle of wine we had gotten for his parents on our way here. 

"It's my mom's favorite," he pushed the bottle down slowly, "what's going on? I know you were lying about catching something that made you sick and I didn't push it because I want to respect your boundaries, but I cannot have you hiding whatever is wrong from me anymore,"

"I would not be the only one would I?" I gave him a rueful smile and pushed the car open before he got a chance to comprehend what I meant. 

"Christine!" Mrs. Maxwell called as I crossed the threshold of the house. She made her way to me in hurried steps and grabbed me in a squeezing hug. Now I knew where Mia got her tight embraces from. 

"It's so nice to see you again Mrs. Maxwel," I smiled, hugging her back. 

"Oh stop it dear," she feigned a frown, "I told you to call me Martha. My oldest son is only in his thirties." 

"I apologize, Martha," I said following her lead past the lobby to the living room. My eyes took in the surroundings around, admiring for a second time the decorative pattern of the house and of course the piano that sat next to the floor-to-ceiling window overlooking the pool outside. 

"No need to sweetie, whatever errs you make tonight are already forgiven by me before you even make them," She said with a playful wink. 

"Oh," I said, barely hiding my confusion and surprise. I had a feeling that had to do with the fact that she already knew about mine and Lucas's relationship. At least that was a good enough hint that she was happy about it. "I brought you this," I gave an earnest smile and handed the wine to her. 

She took the bottle from my hand, adjusted her glasses, and studied the name of the brand, "you know you have just earned yourself a higher spot on my favorite person list," 

"It was both our ideas," Lucas said from behind me. Martha gave a beaming smile as her oldest son stalked closer and wrapped his hands around her. 

"Then I'm not so mad at you anymore," she laughed. 

"You were mad at me before?" 

"For not bringing my favorite twins around enough," she smacked his arms and turned to me with a smile of adoration and a hint of plea, "I do hope that would change soon," 

"Mia cannot keep a secret can she," Lucas huffed and threw his sister a playful glare. Mia shook her head from where she was standing next to a man I had never met before. 

"She never keeps things from her dear mother," Martha chuckled. 

"Or anyone at that," he shoved a hand in his pocket and wrapped the other around my waist. Despite how upset I was at him, I leaned into his touch, realizing how much I had missed the sinful and spicy scent of his cologne and the way my skin heated at his touch. Maybe this visit would do a little to fix the small break that had begun to form in our relationship. 

"Come, let me introduce you, dear," she took my hand, forcing Lucas to release his hold on me as she led me to Mia's seat. She beckoned on a maid in waiting at the corridor and gave her instructions to serve the wine for dinner later. "I suppose you have not met my dear son-in-law to be, Mason," her smile deepened so much, her dimples started to show. 

"Hello," he rasped in a heavy accent, arms wrapped around Mia. I for one could relate to being held so possessively, and from the sheepish grin on Mia's face, I could tell she loved it too. 

"Hi," I said stretching my hand forward for a handshake. I gave a small smile to Mia who was beaming with joy as he took my hand and gave it a firm shake. 

"Christine I guess," he said with a little apprehension when he released my hand. 

"Oh wow, I see that my reputation has proceeded me," I c****d my brows at Mia. "It's nice to finally meet you. I have heard a whole lot about you too." 

"Well, I can only hope you have heard good things," 

"I will be the judge of that," Lucas said from behind me. 

"Brother," Mason said and reached out to hug him. Lucas returned the hug, clapping him on the shoulder. 

"It's been months man, we expected your visit long ago," Lucas said, releasing him. 

"Sadly, rainy old London has been more demanding these last few weeks, but I am not leaving until I see the beach," he laughed. 

"I am counting on it," 

"Where are the kids?" I asked, eyes darting around in search of Zoey and the twins. 

"Zoey is not here yet, and the twins want some private time with their dear old grandfather," Martha said, moving to sit on the couch. "They are in the playroom,"

Mr. Maxwell stepped out through one of the doors down the hallway and I could hear the loud squeals from Aiden and Abigail. "So I might or might not have just promised the twins a new dog for Christmas," he said with a big grin that showed his wrinkles. 

"Dad, you did that?!" Lucas asked, shocked. 

"What?" he took a seat next to his wife and crossed his legs, "never leave an old man with two adorable twins. I might just have a heart attack from all the overload of sweetness from those kids."

"You do not get to joke around with things like that," Martha said and smacked his shoulder, frowning. 

"Dad's joking?" Robin walked in through the front door, holding a sleepy Zoey in his arms. She roamed her small eyes around the living room, frowning at the new face, but screeched in joy when Lucas came into view. Lilian followed behind, holding a gift basket. She dropped the basket in front of Martha and dropped down to hug her. 

"Apparently, I'm having a new dog for Christmas," Lucas said through gritted teeth, taking Zoey, who was already struggling to jump into his arms. "Hey little angel," his eyes softened as he buried his face in the crook of her neck, singing how much he missed her. 

"She was fighting to sleep minutes ago," Lilian chuckled. 

"It's my charm," he smirked, "only I have it, also If the dog litters my house, I'm kicking it out instantly," 

"You're too old for Christmas gifts," his father said ruefully, "The pet is for my grandchildren, not you." 

"How can you still be so uptight when you have this cute little thing in your arms," I stretched my hands out to hold Zoey, and Lucas obliged. With this family, it was easy to forget all of the worries that had followed me up until the moment I set foot past the door. 

"Do not tell me you support this idea too," 

"What? I like pets," I shrugged, "you do not mind adding a cat for me do you, Mr. Maxwell," I smiled inwardly, seeing how Lucas huffed at the mention of another pet. 

"Not in the very least," 

"Oh god," Lucas released a deep sigh and raked his hand through his hair, "let's just go and have dinner."

"Not until I meet the smallest member of my new family," Mason stepped closer and cooed at Zoey as I rocked her gently in my arms. 

"Hi there," he leaned down and held his hand out to her, "I heard you were an adorable little princess, and I can say I heard rightly." 

Everyone watched quietly as Zoey gave him a puzzled look, eyes darting between his stretched hand and his smiling face. She turned her head to look at her mother, who gave her an encouraging smile, but that did not make her bulge. 

"I'm Mason, what's your name poppet," 

"Zo-ee," she said in a small tone, shrinking back in my arms. 

"Okay, Zoey, can I have a handshake?" he smiled wiggling his hands, "or wait, I think I have a teeny-tiny present for you," he dug his hand in the pocket of his black jean and took out some candy bars for her. Almost immediately, her face lit up and she finally gave him her hand, taking the candy along too. 

Mason had a triumphant smile when he straightened, "a little bribery never hurt anyone," he smiled and kissed Mia on her lips. 

"Aww, you look so adorable together," someone said from behind me and I did not need to turn around to know it was Lilian who had said it. 

Robin cleared his throat sternly and reached out to take Zoey from me, "I'll drop Zoey with the twins, and then we'll have dinner," From the way, he looked at them, I could tell he was not the biggest fan of their relationship. 

"Ignore him," Martha giggled as he walked past to the room Mr. Maxwell had come from, "he's the one with the stick up his ass," 

"I strongly disagree," Mia chuckled, eyeing Lucas. He shot her a matching glare but chuckled at her comment anyways. 

"Let's just go get dinner," Martha led the family to the large dining hall and everyone took their seats as the servers brought in dinner. 

The rest of the evening went on really smoothly. Everyone was attracted to Mia and Mason like a moth drawn to a flame. We went through dinner, listening to all the answers the family had to ask about them and I found it particularly interesting that their relationship had kicked off when Mia volunteered to help at his foundation in London. It was comforting to know that I was not the only one falling in love with my hot as sin boss. 

"I have an announcement to make," Lucas cleared his throat after the servers took the plates for dinner away. Martha gave instructions to bring dessert in 10 minutes. 

Mia was about to protest as he spoke but clamped her mouth shut when he took my hand, bringing it to his lips for a soft and, lingering kiss that made my heart flutter.

"I'm only forgiving you for stealing my spotlight tonight because I hate to keep the news still secret," Mia giggled happily.

"Like you ever kept it a secret," he said through gritted teeth. 

"What's going on?" Mr. Maxwell asked, swirling the drink in his hand. From the look on everyone else's faces, I could tell that he and Mason were the only ones that were oblivious to what Lucas was about to say. 

"Chris and I are dating," his eyes never left mine as he spoke and I squirmed under the intensity of his gaze. 

"Wow that's such a shocking secret," Mr. Maxwell said in amusement and downed the rest of the wine in his glass. 

"You knew?" Martha turned to him in shock. 

"Apart from the fact that you and the girls are not exactly great at keeping things under wraps," his eyes darted out to Lilian and Mia, "anyone would see that these two cannot stay away from each other one second. Plus I have never seen my son grinning like such an i***t around any woman before, so it was not that hard to figure out."

"Well then, that means I don't have to take caution before doing this," he pulled me into him and closed his lips over mine, causing everyone at the table to coo and aww. 

"Well then that calls for a double celebration and a lot of toasting," Mason chuckled, patting Lucas on his back. 

"And I have just the thing for it," Martha smirked and rang the bell. A server walked in and she gave her instruction to bring the bottle I had given her as a gift earlier. 

If I thought the way they treated me as the kid's nanny was welcoming it was because I had not experienced the warmth that radiated from this family as they accepted me as Lucas's girlfriend. Not like I had any, but whatever doubts that threatened to crawl up about them were washed away at their acceptance. 

"That's mom's favorite," Lilan said happily as the server poured each of us a glass along with chocolate chunk cookies after dinner. 

"We drove five hours to get that," Lucas said in a hoarse voice. He had loosened a few buttons down on his shirt, revealing the hair on his chest and from the way, his hand ran up and down my legs playfully, I could tell he had had more than enough to drink in the few hours we had been here. 

"It was Sarah's favorite too," Mia blurted with a giggle, "Lucas would always buy it for her whenever she started to go ballsy on him." I could tell she had also had a little more than enough to drink like her brother. Her eyes widened as she realized too late what she had said. 

The table fell quiet, Lucas stiffened and his jaws clenched, Mia had her hand over her mouth as she shot him an apologetic look, Mr. and Mrs. Maxwell almost looked unbothered, except Martha had her fists clenched so hard, her knuckles were white, and well Lilian was just being her, shooting everyone a sympathetic look. 

And as for me, I felt like I had been knocked off the table and back into that room. All the reminders of how he still held on to her, the photos, the damn letters, all the sadness I had been trying to push away all week, and all the emotions I had managed to hold back resurfaced. I struggled to keep the tears from rolling down my cheeks. 

"I'm so sorry," Mia said slowly, her eyes were pleading and I knew she did not mean to say what she said. "I really did not..." 

"You all need to learn to stop mourning her name," Lucas said through gritted teeth, eyes on his filled glass of wine. "You all know I'm long over her—long ago," 

"Are you?" I could not help myself, or maybe it was not such a great idea o have so much wine tonight. 

"What?" Lucas turned to me, shock and bewilderment and maybe a little annoyance coloring his face. 

"Are you really over Sarah or are you just saying that to make yourself believe it," I said with a sad smile. "You know like speaking something into existence because you cannot keep claiming to let something go if you still have your damn fingers clutching it so tight" My voice was croaked and everyone at the table could probably tell that I was fighting the emotions building inside me but it was hard to care when that was all I had done all f*****g week. 

"Chris..." 

"This is some really great wine," I lifted my glass, ignoring all the shocked expressions everyone was throwing me. I downed the contents of my glass in one swig and I could have sworn I heard someone gasp, oh well, whatever. 

The silence on the table stretched over a few seconds, giving me a chance to think back and regret the words I had just said. Thankfully, Mia stepped in, deciding to be the peacemaker of the family, "So we finally set a date for our engagement," she said with forced glee. 

"How beautiful," I blurted, "some good news in my life finally."

*** *** ***

The effects of my words settled in further after dinner, and I was more grateful for Mia and Lilian as they continued to divert the attention from my f**k up. I knew I had a long list of explaining to do, but for now, I could stay out of everyone's eyes and keep the attention away from my near-drunk blurts.

Lucas did not do so much as speak to me as the rest of the evening dragged on, I too was in no mood to indulge him and with my near drunk state, I knew it was a bad idea to go over to the kids who were being looked over by one of the keepers in the playroom. So I settled for the option of staying by myself and cheering the others having fun from a distance, which proved to work really well until it was time to go home. 

"I'm sorry for ruining dinner tonight," I said to Mia as we walked down the driveway, the kid's running in front of us and Lucas following from a distance behind us. 

"It's fine," she brushed her hair flying all over her face from the evening breeze. "I know something is up with you two, and I don't expect you to tell me right now, but try to sort it out soon," she leaned closer to whisper, "as much as I love you and my brother, I will kill you both if the same thing happens at my engagement party." 

I giggled loudly as she spoke, maybe I was tipsier than I thought. Thankfully, a driver was sent with us, I could not trust myself or Lucas to not get someone killed if either of us drove tonight. "I don't know if I want to fix this," 

"Is it about Sarah?" 

"Can there be anything else?" I laughed, thankful that we had gotten to the car before I said something else to add to my streak of drunk talking. "I will call you tomorrow after I get past my hangover hours," 

"I'm counting on that," she gave me a much lighter hug just as Lucas made his way to the car too. The driver and kids were already seated inside and I shared a brief look with Lucas before saying goodnight to Mia and slipping into the car. 

All the way home in the car, everyone was quiet. Lucas though was very watchful, and I knew I would have a lot of talking to do once we got home. I was glad that the kids were already asleep by the time we pulled into the driveway. I moved to lift Abby first, but Lucas stopped me. He climbed out of the car and I followed too, giving him a questioning look. 

 "Emma will make sure they're safe in their room, you are coming with me," 

"What if I do not want to?" I crossed my hand over my shoulder, tipping my head up. 

"Good thing I'm strong enough to carry you then," rage blazed in his eyes and he hauled me off the ground throwing me over his shoulder. 

"Put me down," I demanded in a voice loud enough to wake the kids, "I said put me the f**k down right this minute," 

Ignoring me, he walked past Emma, who looked surprised to see me over his shoulders but said nothing apart from a greeting. 

"Get the kids in the car and put them to sleep," he growled and punched the elevator buttons. 

"I am not in the mood to talk to you Lucas, put me down now." I smacked his shoulder and cried in pain as I only managed to hurt my own hand. 

"Good, because I have given you too many options to tell me what the hell is wrong with you. This time you will tell me, I'll make sure of it." he fished his bedroom door key from his pocket and unlocked the door. Stepping in, he kicked the door close and clicked the ock back, successfully taking away any option of running away I had. 

"Why the hell are you locking the door?" I glared at him after he set me down on his bed. 

"Because we need to talk and you need to calm down," 

"I do not want to talk to you," I got to my feet, and realized too late that it was a wrong choice as my eyes came face to face with his broad chest. 

"What's going on?" he grunted, wrapping his hand around my waist, forcing me so close to him, there was barely any space between us. 

"Oh, you mean apart from you locking me up like a f*****g prisoner?" I yelled, refusing to fall for the dizzying effect being so close to him had on me. 

"I will not have you running off." he wrapped his other hand around my neck, and I feared he was about to take his rage out on me until he started making slow caressing movements up and down my neck. "What were you talking about at dinner?" 

Tears swarmed my eyes and this time I did nothing to keep them away. "We both had too much to drink tonight, let's talk in the morning," 

"But I want you now," he mumbled, dropping his face lower to mine. "I'm so mad at you right now, so f*****g mad. How do I still want to kiss you at the same time."

Without giving me a chance to speak, he crashed his lips into mine, tightening his strong arms around me to make sure I was not pulling back anytime soon. 

His kiss was hot and it felt like he was pouring all of the anger he felt into it, coercing my mouth open and plunging his tongue into my mouth. It was raw, needy, furious, forceful. I wanted so badly to let loose and drown in him, but his next words completely knocked the air out of my lungs.  

"f**k, Sarah."