Chapter Two

Cassian

“I promise I am great with kids. Literally, every time I meet a child, they fall in love with me within seconds,” the nanny candidate said, laughing heartily as though she had just made a funny joke.

I watched with a blank, void expression, completely unamused by her.

Yeah… this one is a no as well.

I crossed out her name on the list. It was the last one I had to interview for the day. I sighed and rubbed my forehead.

“Thank you for your time. I will reach out to you to let you know my final decision,” I said to her just like I had to all of the other candidates that had come for the interview.

I stood up and she did as well, leaving me alone in to my thoughts. I rubbed my forehead again and walked over the bar, in need of a drink.

I was thoroughly exhausted. For about a week now, I had been doing this over and over again, looking for the perfect nanny for my daughter, Amelia.

However, there had not been any in the long list of candidates —recommended and otherwise — that had come for the job so far that I felt were even remotely close to what I was looking for in a nanny.

So far, there had been some that I simply felt that I could not trust with my daughter, while others had simply been incredibly annoying, like the woman who had just left.

Even worse, there had been some who had been trying to flirt with me.

Fair enough, I was a CEO and I supposed it was clear for everyone to see that I had a lot of money. However it had angered me that they would do that.

The last thing I wanted was for anyone to try to use my child to get to me.

I needed someone who was going to be there for my daughter and her only.

I did not need a woman who would ignore my child while she planned ways in which she could try to seduce me.

I sighed and poured myself a stiff drink. I took a sip, allowing the silkiness and heat to slide down my throat, a mixture of pleasure and discomfort. I had just sat on the stool set up in front of the bar when my phone rang.

I looked at the phone a little way off from me and sighed. I downed the remainder of my drink before getting up to go pick up my phone as I hoped it was not another person calling about the nanny position.

As much as I was willing to interview millions of people until I found the perfect nanny for my daughter, I had begun to dread seeing most of the ladies come in for the interview.

Especially since I could almost always tell from the beginning that they were not the right fit but I still had to go on with the interview anyway.

I picked up the phone, relieved to see that it was not any of the ladies but instead, my best friend, Everett Monroe.

“Hey Everett,” I said, slightly less tired.

“Hey Cassian,” he greeted. “How is the nanny hunt going?”

I sighed, glad to have someone I could vent to.

“Very terribly. So far, there has been nobody that I can stand and I am almost ready to give up. I would have if it wasn’t so important.”

Everett laughed from the other side of the line. “Wow bro. Have you considered that perhaps you are just a bit too picky?”

I rolled my eyes, my lips tilting upwards slightly at his teasing.

It had crossed my mind that perhaps I was the problem and not the long list of women that I had interviewed.

At least not all of them.

However, I could not help it if I was being picky. I needed to be. There was no other option.

“Well, my friend. Amelia deserves only the best, so, of course I am picky,” I responded, not the least bit sorry about that.

“That is true,” Everett said, chuckling. “Well, I might have someone who would be able to do the job.”

“Oh? Who?” I asked eagerly.

“My sister.”

I held the phone away from my ear and looked at the caller ID, wanting to make sure that I was indeed talking to my best friend.

“You are suggesting that I hire Evelyn,” I said slowly, wanting to make sure that I had not misunderstood what he was saying.

I heard Everett sigh on the other side of the line as he often did when it was a topic and that concerned Evelyn and I. I massaged my forehead as I waited for him to go off.

“I don’t know what is wrong with you two. It has been six years and you guys are no longer kids, okay?” he began his rant. “You would think that you would be over your petty dislike for each other but it is beginning to seem to me like the two of you are aging backwards when it comes to this matter.”

I could hear his heavy breathing at the other end of the line and I grinned. Often times, Everett ignored us whenever we had our petty matches against each other, but there were times when he acted like a mother hen and would constantly hound us to make up.

“Well, my memories of Evelyn have always been just this annoying attachment that came with you when we were younger.”

Every time I had wanted to hang out with Everett, Evelyn was just always there… always wanting to tag along.

I could never just have Everett all to myself for just one day.

Nope, she just had to be there and she had never opted for being quiet either.

She always made sure I knew she was there.

I had always found her to be very annoying.

Of course, it had not helped that she also found me annoying, possibly even more than I did.

Because of our mutual dislike for each other, we were always fighting. In fact, I was pretty certain that we had fought ninety percent of the time, if not more.

This had not changed when we got into high school as Everett had hoped that it would.

His hopes had been dashed when instead of getting better, things had only gotten worse. We now had even more things to hate about each other and to criticize.

It had also not changed even when puberty hit and I began to notice her a little bit more.

She was beautiful, I had managed to acknowledge that but that had not changed the fact that she was annoying and it had not made me hate her any less.

In fact, my annoyance sort of grew because I noticed her attractiveness.

I sighed as Everett continued to try sell me the reasons why this was a good idea.

“You know Evelyn, Cassian. I know you guys never liked each other or got along, but you know can trust that she is never going to do anything to hurt your daughter.”

True…

“You know that she doesn’t really care about your wealth or any of your accomplishments. I mean, she even refuses my help most of the time.”

Also true…

“She is also really great with kids, and loves taking care of them. Remember you even said she had no ambition for choosing to work with children when it isn’t profitable.”

All of this was true. I hated to admit.

I groaned.

I knew very well that Everett would continue to go on and on about how qualified she was until I budged and chose her for the job.

Worse was that despite our mutual dislike for each other, I could not very well fault her.

She really was the best choice.

“Okay. Alright, fine,” I said, giving up. “I’ll give this a chance if she will.”

Everett burst into a cackle, and I pulled the phone away from my ear, staring at it in shock. I did not realize I had said anything funny.

“What is it now?” I asked.

“That is exactly what she said too! You know, for people who claim to hate each other so much, maybe you guys are more alike than you think,” he said, still snickering. “Yin and Yang?”

“Don’t make me mad, Everett,” I groaned.

Everett laughed once again, enjoying this a little more than he should’ve been.

“Bye Cassian.” He hung up, leaving me staring at the phone as I wondered what on earth I had just agreed to.