Island Expectations - Evangeline Kelly

Chapter 1

Eden

How was I supposed to be okay with this? I was not okay with it, but I didn’t have a choice. Not a real one, anyway. My employer, Brett—the man I’d fallen in love with two years ago—was getting ready to go on a date.

And it wasn’t with me.

He strode into the room, catching my attention immediately, his short brown hair snipped closer on the sides than it had been yesterday. He must have gotten a haircut, and that burned a little because I knew he was trying to look his best for the woman he was about to take out to dinner.

“Have you seen my keys, Eden? I put them on the table earlier, but they’re not here.” He patted his front pockets and glanced around the room, appearing lost.

“Not sure.” I glanced at him over my shoulder. “I thought I saw them there as well, but it looks as if they sprouted legs and took off.” I tried to chuckle at my lame attempt to make light of the situation, but the pain in my chest wouldn’t let me.

My eyes fell to the dark blue jeans that molded over well-developed thighs and the tan sports coat that stretched across his broad, muscular physique. He was thirty-seven years old but didn’t look a day over twenty-nine, at least in my eyes. He kept himself in shape and had an energetic attitude, so most people didn’t realize he was in his late thirties.

Honestly, he was so handsome my heart felt as if it were squeezing inside my chest whenever he was near. Sometimes, it was painful to look at him, which was why at times like these, I tried to avert my gaze to keep my sanity intact.

I was stir-frying chicken and vegetables at the stove and had a good excuse to turn my back to him. Cooking dinner for his two young children, Shelby and Kenny, was part of my responsibilities as their nanny and had been for the last three years. It was probably time I moved on, considering how attached I’d become to this family, but I couldn’t seem to force myself to take that important step.

“Oh, here they are,” he said, jingling the keys in the air. “They were in my back pocket. Guess I forgot I put them there. You know, first date jitters and all.”

I didn’t want him to be nervous. Didn’t want him to care about impressing his date, but I had to face reality. If he hadn’t developed feelings for me in the three years I’d worked for him, it probably wouldn’t happen now. I was twenty-three, fourteen years his junior, and he sometimes referred to me as “kid,” reinforcing my theory that he hadn’t noticed me in the way I wanted to be noticed.

“Whoever this woman is, she’d be crazy not to like you.”

I finally made eye contact, knowing I would blush the moment our eyes met. He smiled, revealing two dimples on either side of his mouth, and I was such a goner. Like clockwork, my face heated, and I turned my back to him so he wouldn’t notice. Yep, that always happened when our gazes connected. It was a wonder he never noticed, or maybe he did and was too nice to comment on it.

I kept my gaze on the frying pan and did my best to focus on the task at hand. He walked up behind me and lingered for just a moment.

“That’s why I like you so much,” he said. “You always know the right thing to say.”

I swallowed hard and closed my eyes for just a second. This was so hard. It was killing me a little more each day. “Glad to help.” My response was almost inaudible, like a whisper, but I didn’t repeat myself.

He walked away, and the emptiness in the air reflected his departure.

I sucked in a breath and chided myself for hoping for something that wasn’t there. Brett Allen wasn’t interested in me. He was going on a date with another woman, and his intentions couldn’t have been any clearer.

After he left, I served Shelby and Kenny their meal at the table and did my best to quiet the nerves in my stomach. I kept picturing him with his date, and it wasn’t helping the situation. What if he really liked this woman? What if they went on another date after this one? What if…a relationship developed between them? I shuddered and wiped my clammy hands on the sides of my pants.

It