Not Just the Nanny - By Christie Ridgway Page 0,3

a few moments before. "Kayla's not a kid. You know that, right?"

"She's a student," he shot back. "That makes her a kid. Sort of." It sounded stupid even to his ears, but he could only afford to think of the nanny in those terms.

"I thought you told us she graduated. From college. And she's got to be in her mid-twenties."

Mick waved a hand. "Still a girl."

Austin grinned. "Looks like a woman to me. As a matter of fact - "

"She's off-limits," Mick ordered.

The other guys were staring again, so Mick jerked up his chin and focused on the television. "How about those Cowboys?"

"How about those cheerleaders?" Austin countered.

Which was exactly why Mick had warned the other man off. He was all about the superficial stuff, flashy boots, short skirts, and big...pom poms.

"You can't keep them all under wraps forever," Will said quietly from his seat in the booth beside Mick. "Believe me. I raised my five younger brothers and sisters and among the many things I learned, besides how to stretch a dollar until it squeals for mercy, was that they grow up and then itch to get out on their own."

Mick groaned. "I don't want to think about that." It didn't take a genius to figure out why. After losing his wife, Ellen, and the future he'd envisioned for them had been snatched away so cruelly, he couldn't imagine how hard it would be for him to loosen his hold on his kids.

Will laughed a little. "Nature has a way of making that easier. It's called 'the teenage years.'"

"Yeah, I suppose." Mick took another swallow of his beer. "Though I've already explained to Jane there will be no dating until she's thirty-one."

Will laughed again. "Good luck with that. But maybe all this would be a little easier if you considered finding a love interest yourself."

"Not going to happen." He couldn't imagine it. Although life with Ellen had been good - despite the fact that they'd been so young he could hardly recognized the kid groom he'd been in the man he was now - he had no plans to add a permanent woman to his life. He barely managed his current situation. Single dad, fire captain and somehow a romantic relationship, too? Wasn't going to happen.

He couldn't take on the additional responsibility...he didn't want the responsibility, even for the tempting trade-off of regular companionship in his bed.

Not to mention the difficulty of finding someone the rest of his household would get along with, too. "What kind of woman would Jane and Lee like? And Kayla? Who would she approve of?"

"Mick, Kayla's the nanny. And she's not going to be with you forever anyway, right?"

Wrong.

No, no, not wrong. Kayla gone was just something else he couldn't picture in his head.

He had another image in there instead, one that had been impossible to banish, for the last six months. She'd been out for the evening and he'd just gotten Lee back to sleep after the third request for water when he'd heard a muffled thump coming from the porch. Without thinking, he'd yanked open the front door, only to find...to find...

It replayed in his mind. A young man, sporting a sandy crew cut, his hands cupped around Kayla's face, his mouth descending toward her upturned lips. The moment had stretched out, it seemed, forever. Mick had time to notice the bright glint of Kayla's shiny blond hair in the lamplight, the dark sweep of her lashes against her cheek and then the stunning blue of her eyes as they lifted and she caught him witnessing her good-night moment.

They'd flared wide and her cheeks had flushed pink as she hastily stepped back from her date and away from the almost-kiss. "I...um...uh..." she'd said, her gaze fixed on Mick's.

Instead of smoothing the moment over and retreating, Mick, bad Mick, had merely held the door open so she could slip inside. He supposed he'd been frowning, because it was the proper expression for a man feeling decidedly hot under the collar.

Like an overprotective father might feel.

Or a jealous - no!

But damn, ever since that night he hadn't been able to see her as "just" the nanny. Although she'd never been that, not with the way she'd taken to his children and they'd taken her into their hearts. But he hadn't seen her as a woman, a kissable, desirable, damn beautiful woman until that awkward instant on the porch.

And he hadn't been able to stop thinking about it for one day since, even though he