“Apparently, I’m getting my face painted.”

Hailey giggled, then whispered something in Elodie’s ear.

Elodie shook her head and laughed. “No. We can’t do that.”

“Yes! Yes, we can.”

I looked between them. “Should I be worried?”

“Sit,” Elodie said.

Hailey jumped up and down. “Do it!”

Elodie sighed.

What the hell is going on here?

“Uncle Hollis, can you give me some money? I’m gonna go get a slush while Elodie paints you.”

I reached into my pocket and handed her a ten.

“Bring me back one,” Elodie said. “Gonna cheat on my diet a little.”

“Okay.” Hailey skipped away.

When Elodie’s eyes landed on mine, I asked, “So what exactly are you doing to me?”

Multiple meanings there...

She cleaned her brush before opening a few bottles of paint. “Don’t worry. It’s all in good fun.”

She leaned in and started to paint my face with small strokes. I had to say, I didn’t exactly mind being this close to her. It was an innocent excuse to be near her, to breathe her in, without it seeming inappropriate.

I also couldn’t help but look down into her cleavage. Fuck me. She had amazing tits. She smelled amazing, too. I’d never been this close to her. She smelled like a mix of flowers and candy.

“What are you looking at?” she suddenly asked.

I pried my eyes upward and didn’t even try to deny it. Because it was all too clear that I’d been enjoying the view.

“Where do you expect me to look from this angle? I don’t have many choices. I just picked the best one.”

“I’m kidding, Hollis. I don’t mind if you look at me.”

She stopped painting for a moment and looked into my eyes. The sun brought out the highlights in her gorgeous hair. I felt myself starting to sweat, and it wasn’t even that hot out. Fucking hell, she was beautiful. Okay, so maybe I did have the hots for the nanny. I needed to keep that my dirty little secret.

When she resumed painting, I closed my eyes. I quite enjoyed her hand on my chin while she worked. It was soft and dainty, and I had the urge to run my tongue along it. I wouldn’t, of course.

“Can we talk about sex?” she asked.

What? My heart pounded. “Hmm?”

Did she fucking read my mind?

“Okay...so, Hailey said something to me earlier that made me wonder if it’s time to have the birds-and-bees talk with her.”

I breathed out a sigh of relief.

“I didn’t want to do that without consulting with you first.”

I cleared my throat. “Ah. Okay...well, what did she say?”

“She told me she thought the dad who was flirting with me wanted to screw me. So clearly she knows what sex is. I just wonder if maybe, given the fact that she’s approaching her teen years, someone needs to talk to her about birth control and stuff.”

Shit.

Fuck.

Shit.

She’s too young for that, isn’t she? No, it would be dangerous to assume that. Better safe than sorry.

“Okay...yeah, I think you’re right.”

She dabbed some more paint onto her brush. “Do you want me to do it? Have the talk with her...or would you prefer—”

“Oh, I would not prefer. No preferring going on here. I would really appreciate you handling that. I hope that’s not outside of the scope of the job.”

I’d give my left nut not to have to have that conversation with my niece.

“I don’t think we really have a scope, do we?”

“Well, cooking certainly isn’t a job requirement, but you do that anyway. I don’t want to take you for granted. You go above and beyond. I think talking to her about sex takes the cake, though.”

“I don’t mind doing it. Is there anything you prefer I not discuss with her?”

“Use your judgment. I just want her to be safe when the time comes. As much as it makes me uncomfortable to even think about it, I don’t want to be naïve, either. I remember kids in my middle school having sex, and I’m sure things have only gotten worse. It would be very easy to just throw it under the rug. So I appreciate your help.”

She stopped painting my face for a moment. “Can I ask you a personal question?”

“Yeah...”

“Before Hailey, I assume you used to bring women back to your place. Now that she’s there, where do you...”

My mouth curved into a smile at her hesitation. “Where do I fuck?”

“Yeah.”

She seemed to blush. I loved it.

“Well, not in the apartment.”

She resumed painting. “Right. I was curious—how you logistically make it work.”

I wasn’t sure about the relevance of this question, aside from her just being curious.

“Well, there are ways around it,” I said.

“Like...”

“Like meeting someone at their place in the middle of the day or getting a sitter and going out at night. Having Hailey at home does limit my options, but…”

She finished my sentence. “But where there’s a will, there’s a way.”

Thinking about sex while she had her hands on me—while I could feel her breath on my face, while her tits were practically up against me—was definitely not good. I could feel myself getting hard. I really needed to think about something else.