“I thought—” I paused. There was no way in hell that I was going to tell him that I thought tonight was a date between the two of us. Had I completely misunderstood our phone call? What had he said exactly? I thought he’d been flirting with me, but maybe him asking me over for dinner was just wishful thinking.
I wish I could remember exactly what had been said.
“I’m just really confused right now. I, um …”
“You what, Nellie? Did you think that perhaps tonight was a date between you and me?” He stepped closer, and I swallowed hard as he ran a finger down the side of my cheek. “Sorry. You had a piece of fluff on your cheek,” he said then stepped back again.
His touch made my entire body glow with heat. He smelled amazing. I wanted to ask him the name of his cologne because I needed to buy it and give it to every single guy that I ever went on a date with. Every man needed to wear this cologne.
And he was just so attractive … and yet so fucking infuriating and obnoxious.
“Are you joking right now, Steele?” I asked him through narrowed eyes. “Are you really—”
“Got to go. Bye, Nellie, thanks so much,” he said. He grabbed a set of car keys off the table and headed for the front door.
“But you didn’t even tell me the kids’ names!”
“I’m sure you’ll figure it out. You’re the child expert after all,” he called over his shoulder.
The door slammed shut behind him.
I stood for a couple of seconds waiting for him to come back. This had to be a joke, right? I walked toward the front of the house and looked into the living room. The little girl was still sitting there, watching TV. What sort of idiot was he? How could he leave a complete stranger with his kids? Was he absolutely crazy? I didn’t know what to do in this situation. What the fuck had happened? Steele had invited me over to be a babysitter? Was he for real? Was I crazy?
Why the hell had I thought that this was going to be a first date? I had no idea what was going on. All I knew was that everything had just been too good to be true.
I grabbed my phone to call Shelby.
Chapter Thirteen
“Shelby!” I wailed into the phone as soon as she answered. “I’m in huge trouble. I’m so pissed right now.”
“What happened, girl? Can I put you on speakerphone by the way? I’m here with Skye.”
“Sure. Hey, Skye. What’s up?”
“Hey, Nellie. What’s up? Where are you? Shelby and I are thinking of heading to a barbecue at the Sigma House. You want to come?”
“I’m on a date. Well, I thought I was,” I groaned.
“What’s going on?” Shelby sounded confused. “Where are you? I thought you were on that date with that guy from the store.”
“Yes. I’m at Steele’s house, the asshole from the store.”
“I thought you said he was hot,” Shelby said. “I thought he was no longer an asshole.”
“I did say that, but I was wrong. He is the biggest asshole I know.”
“I’m not sure what you guys are talking about,” Skye broke in. “Who’s Steele and why is he hot and an asshole at the same time? That sounds really yummy, actually.”
“He’s the single dad Nellie met in the store,” Shelby explained.
“What?” Skye laughed out loud. “He’s a dad? You’re dating a dad? No way!”
“I’m not dating anyone. He has me here babysitting. Turns out this wasn’t a date at all.”
“What?” Shelby squealed. “No way. I thought it was a date.”
“Girl, I thought it was a date as well. I’m so pissed right now.” I suddenly felt eyes on me and turned around. It was a little kid that had run the cart over my feet. “Uh, hi,” I gave him a small wave. “I’m Nellie. I’m your babysitter.” I smiled at him widely, but he just stared at me and then walked to the fridge. He opened it and grabbed a Coke can, opened it, and started sipping. I had a feeling he wasn’t supposed to be drinking Coca-Cola, especially this late at night.
“What’s your name?” I asked, hoping that he’d come around. And then I whispered into the phone quickly, “Hey guys, I think I should go. One of the kids just came into the kitchen. I’ll call you back later.”
I hung up and focused my full attention on the little boy. “Do you remember me? I met your dad at the store.” I hoped he remembered me as someone nice and not as the bitchy who’d gone off on his dad.
He mumbled something into his Coke can that I couldn’t understand.
“What’s your name, sweetie?” I asked him, wishing I was anywhere but here. How could I be here babysitting for three little kids that I didn’t even know? And how irresponsible was Steele to just leave me here? He didn’t know me from Adam.
“I’m Joshua,” he said finally.
“Joshua. Can I call you Josh?”
“No, I’m Joshua.”
“Well, it’s nice to meet you, Joshua. I’m Nellie.”
“I know. You told me that already.”
“Oh, yeah, I guess I did.” I tried not to roll my eyes. Be like that, kid. “So, shall we go and find your sister and your brother? Maybe they’ll want to play.”
“It’s okay.”
“Um, is that a yes or a no?”
“You can go and find them. I just want to drink my Coca-Cola.” He looked at me and then sat on the floor. “And I want pizza with pepperoni and ham. No onions, though.”
“Um, okay. Well, I can see about calling to get a pizza.”
“And I want french fries too. And a cheeseburger.”
“Well, I don’t think we can get all that, Josh.”
“It’s Joshua.”
“Sorry, Joshua. I don’t think we can get all that.” I was breaking out into a light sweat already. I knew kids could be difficult, but this difficult?
“I want to play with my Legos now.” He jumped up and tripped as he started moving forward. The Coke can tipped and Coke spilled all over the floor. “Oops.” He grinned at me. “Guess you got to tidy that up.”
“Well, why don’t you get some paper towels and tidy it up, Joshua?”
“Nope,” he said and ran off, spilling more Coca-Cola on the floor as he left the room.
“Wait!” I yelled but he was already gone.
How was I supposed to deal with this? Should I run after him? Could I put him into time-out? I was probably the last person who should have been telling anyone how to raise their kids because I had absolutely no clue. I found a roll of paper towels and grabbed some to clean up the mess from the floor. That was going to be sticky. I’d have to find a mop and clean it up properly later.
I headed out of the kitchen to look for Joshua. “Hey, Joshua,” I called out, hoping that he would come to me. At least he could maybe introduce me to his brother and sister and then we could figure something out. Maybe one of them would have their father’s phone number. “Joshua?” I called again as I walked into the living room.
The little girl was still sitting on the couch. “He’s not in here.”