Hold Me Close - Talia Hibbert Page 0,157

heard that in a while,” he said wryly. But as they moved deeper into the house, the kids’ high voices fading behind them, he grew serious. In the shadows of the hallway, he paused, and Hannah stopped too.

“Listen,” he said, “this all feels kind of weird—hiring someone to look after my kids. I look after my kids. But I’ve been thinking about it from every angle and I really…” He sighed, rubbing a hand over his face, and Hannah noticed for the first time how achingly tired he looked. Beyond the striking handsomeness of his strong bone structure and soft smile, beyond the impact of his dark hair and bright eyes. Those eyes were cradled by plum shadows so deep they almost looked like bruises.

“There’s nothing wrong with needing help,” she said.

He arched a brow. “Right. I bet you ask for help all the time.”

She felt her cheeks heat. He had her there. More than he knew.

“Sorry,” Nate said, squeezing his eyes shut for a second, shaking his head. “I’m kind of all over the place right now. The point is, I have no idea what Ma’s gonna need from day to day, and Zach works full-time. My job is flexible, but it’s not easy. I know this is the right thing to do.”

And she knew exactly why he was saying these words out loud, why he was letting them spill out like some absent stream of consciousness instead of keeping them all bottled up. She’d seen how his gaze flew to Shirley every time she coughed or shivered—and how it slid away again a second later, weighed down with the thick, sticky slime that was guilt.

Yeah; Hannah knew guilt. For some reason, Nate had a lot of it. And it seemed to be fucking with his head.

“I’m just going to be honest,” he said. “I really want to give you this job. You know what you’re doing, the kids like you, I like you, my mother goes to church with your mother… it all seems very neat.” He barely managed a playful smile, but even his weakest effort made her want to smile right back.

Which Hannah didn’t like. She preferred to be in complete control of her own smiles; life was unpredictable enough without bringing errant facial muscles into the equation. But she wouldn’t hold his compelling handsomeness against him. Much.

“I’d love to take the job,” she admitted. “As long as you’re not about to show me a rat-infested attic room with a single-paned window.”

“Oh, no, Hannah. This is Ravenswood. The attic room is riddled with genteel field mice.”

She might’ve laughed at that, if it weren’t for the way he’d said her name. Or rather, how it hit her—as if she’d never heard it from his lips before. Which was ridiculous, because she most definitely had. She knew she had.

But as he flashed her a grin and led the way, she couldn’t shake the feeling that she’d never heard it quite like that.

Hannah put that thought aside for later and followed him up the stairs, trying her best not to look at his arse. But really, it was right there. Directly in front of her face. Taunting her like a smug, juicy peach in black shorts. And holy shit, had she really just used the phrase smug, juicy peach? What the fuck? The force of her own astonished horror smacked Hannah so hard, she almost fell back down the carpeted steps.

“I don’t know if this is a reasonable request,” he said, “but I was hoping you could move in by the end of the week. I mean, I’m not sure where you live—”

“On the other side of the park,” she replied, brushing off the last of her baffled self-disgust. Maybe if she ignored these strange, Nate-related thoughts, they’d go away. “You know, the new flats? I’m in my sister’s, so I don’t have a lease or anything.” She followed him past what looked to be the kids’ bedrooms, stepping over unpacked boxes and strewn-about Lego in the hall. The urge to tidy everything in sight was practically suffocating her, but like the valiant soldier she was, Hannah squashed it. Common sense dictated that she leave all presumptuous cleaning until it was too late for him to get rid of her.

“You live with your sister?” he asked.

“She’s dating her next-door neighbour. Suffice it to say, she’s not exactly using her flat right now.”

She trailed off as he reached a door at the end of the landing and pushed it open