Mr. Tanner's Babysitter

Chapter Seven

                                                                                            Trent

             There should be no reason as to why I was so attracted to Payton Young. She and I were of two different worlds, and we both knew it. A woman like her would struggle to keep up with my everyday life, not to mention our age difference. Payton was Twenty-Two years old, whereas I had just turned Twenty-Nine a little over two weeks ago. Being around Payton brought complications into my life that I would rather avoid. The first time I met her, I could feel my attraction was high, but you could still be attracted to someone and still maintain a business relationship. For me, it was getting harder each day to be around her and not have her in the way that I wanted her.

           Payton was a striking young woman. Her curled champagne hair, green eyes, slim body, and long legs would be enough for any man to lose his mind over. Something was different about her, though. Payton carried herself in a way that would make one think she did not know of the beauty she possessed, and I think that was one of her more attractive qualities. She did not have to try hard to impress anyone. Payton would captivate a room from the moment she walked into it. With all of that said, she was off-limits to me. Any woman should be off-limits to me, but especially Payton.

           There were things that Payton did not know about me. My life was not as simple as it seemed, and I knew the moment she found out what I was hiding from her, I might lose her. That is why I have been forcing myself back and trying not to get too close to her, which Payton made it difficult to ignore her. Two times now, she has teased and taunted me with her sexy body. Now lying on my bed, I was thinking about having my way with her when I should be thinking about how to get her out of my mind. This kind of thing was not something I needed in my life right now. If the media got ahold of this, they would have a field day with it. I would be the talk of this small town amongst other towns, which I could not afford. It did not matter what I had to do; I would need to get Payton out of my mind once and for all.

           The next morning came faster than I wanted it to. That was one of the worst things about being a successful business owner. I had to be on time for something when I wished I could sleep in a little longer and have a day to myself. Running multiple companies came at costs, and one of those was losing the ability to sleep in even on my days off. I hopped out of bed and went to take a shower. My shower was cut short when I heard a commotion coming from outside my door. I wrapped the towel around my waist and went in search of the loud noise coming from inside the kitchen.

           “s**t, s**t, shit.” I could hear Payton say before I even turned the corner. When I took a little peek around the corner to see what had her so worked up, I saw spilled milk all over the floor. “I am so f*****g clumsy,” she said before bending over to clean up the mess.

            Payton was wearing a long sleeve loose shirt that barely covered anything. Immediately my breath caught inside my throat. When she did things like this, it was impossible to ignore my body that was craving her. I stepped out from the corner and crossed my arms over each other. “Is everything okay down there?” I asked her with a hint of humor in my question.

            She jumped so high, hearing my voice. When she turned around, her mouth flew open before she tugged at her bottom lip with her teeth. “Good morning, Mr. Tanner,” she said with a quavering voice. It was something about when she spoke to me like that. I wanted to throw her on top of the kitchen counter and show her just what I was capable of.

            I could feel myself growing underneath my towel. A stifled back a laugh seeing as it was funny how easily Payton could turn me on. “Payton, baby, you are staring again.”

            Her green eyes were telling me to come toward her while her body language was dangerously begging me to put her out of her misery. Payton stood up and tugged at the shirt she was wearing as if it would magically grow longer to cover her bare legs. “I am going to go get dressed. Sorry for disturbing you, sir.”

            As she walked by me, I inhaled her fruity scent that took over everything inside me that has been fighting against her. My hands grabbed her by the waist and forced her to my chest. Before I could stop myself, my lips were over hers, tasting her delicious candy-like flavor. My hand automatically fell over her ass, pressing her even closer to my body. We were interrupted by my housekeeper Charlotte. Without thinking about it, I pushed Payton off of me before Charlotte could see what I was doing to her.

            Payton gave me a look of disappointment as she rolled her eyes directly at me. “I see what this is now, Mr. Tanner. The next time you feel like you want to touch me, don’t! Leave me out of whatever games you seem to be playing.” She then turned abruptly and headed off to her room.

            Charlotte was giving me a mischievous know it all look as she stepped into the kitchen. “Mr. Tanner,” she said while nodding her head. What I liked most about Charlotte was that she kept to herself no matter what she saw while working in my home. There had been many things that she has seen over the two years she has worked for me. Luckily for me, Charlotte came highly recommended by my mother and had been in the cleaning business for nearly twenty years. I could not imagine the things she has witnessed in her time.

            Once I had returned to my room to get dressed, I searched for Payton, only to be told by Charlotte that she had left already. Damnit, I wanted to clear the air between us. I knew that Payton was upset with me for throwing her off me in the presence of Charlotte, but I was not thinking straight. As I got into work, I searched around the office for Payton, hoping she would be here. I usually would not bother coming down to the editor’s floor unless otherwise requested by Geneva. I decided to play it off and act as if I was here to see how things were going. Most of the staff was off for the weekend. The only people in the office now were a few of my editors and Geneva, who had to come in whenever I requested weekends to be worked. Weekends were only required when I felt as though we had not met our goals for the week, but I only requested them to be there for half a day. This was the first weekend I have had my staff work in several months because we had been doing so well.

            Geneva spotted me the instant I walked onto the floor and came over to greet me. “Mr. Tanner, what a surprise. What has you coming down to visit the editor’s today?”

            “I wanted to see where we were at on projections for the new book. The deadlines are approaching soon, and I am beginning to wonder if we will meet them.”

            “Do not worry, sir. Our editors are on top of it and are expected to turn in the final manuscript to me on Monday.”

            “Good. See to it that I get that manuscript on my desk first thing Monday morning because if I must come looking for it, it will not pan out well for your editor’s.”

            “Understood, sir.”

            I finally asked the question I had wanted to ask the moment I stepped inside the building. “Have you seen Ms. Young this morning?”

            Geneva peered over her shoulder, and my gaze followed. Payton was sitting on a desk with her right leg over her left knee in one of her shorter skirts. Mark was sitting beside her, laughing along with whatever she was talking about. My muscles tensed when I saw how easily it was for her to speak with him. I wanted it to be that easy between us. The only problem was that it was not just Mark that was starving for her attention.

            “Thank you, Geneva.” I walked over to where Payton was and stopped until I was standing so close that I could reach out and touch her leg. “Ms. Young, I would like to see you in my office.” Payton never glanced in my direction. She only continued her conversation with Mark, who had his eyes cast down. The right decision, Mark. “Payton, my office now. Do not make me repeat it, or I will write this down.”

            Her eyes shifted to mine as she jumped down from the desk. I could not help but now notice the low-cut blouse she was wearing. “Mark, I will see you in a bit. Are we still good for lunch?”

            “Yeah, I will text you the info.”

            “That will not be necessary. Ms. Young will be having lunch with me today in my office. She will be in meetings with me throughout the remainder of the day. Sorry to be the one to interrupt your plans.”

            Payton huffed before she crossed her arms and walked off without me. I was satisfied to see the look of disbelief on Mark’s face. I could not explain why making him squirm where Payton was concerned gave me a satisfaction I had not had in a while. This meeting with Payton was much more than a business meeting. I wanted to talk to her about things going on in my home that could not happen anymore. She deserved to know that we had to stop whatever was going on long before it started, something that neither one of us would be able to stop.