The Nanny and the CEO by Rebecca Winters Page A

it didn’t matter because his son appeared to be in the best of hands. Yesterday morning he couldn’t have foreseen the changes that had already taken place since he’d picked her up in front of the hotel.
    He gathered up the swing and headed for the nursery. After putting it in the corner, some impulse had him walking across the hall to her room. She’d left all the doors open, so he continued on through. When he reached the bathroom, the sight that greeted him brought a lump to his throat.
    Reese had filled one of the sinks with water. While she cradled the back of Jamie’s head in the water, she washed his scalp and talked to him in soothing tones. His son was mesmerized. Slowly she rinsed off the baby shampoo, then took a bar of baby soap and washed his limbs. With the greatest tenderness she turned him over and washed his back. He made little cooing sounds Nick felt resonate in his body.
    Without conscious thought he reached for one of the towels and held it up for her. Their eyes met for an instant. She said, “While you dry him off, I’ll find him a new outfit to put on.”
    Nick cuddled his boy to him, uncaring that he was still wet. He smelled so sweet. As he felt Jamie burrowinto his neck, a feeling of love flowed through him so intense, he was staggered by it.
    â€œWhat do you think?” she asked when he appeared in the doorway to the nursery, holding up three outfits. “The white with the tiger, the green with the fish or the navy with the Snoopy?”
    â€œMaybe we should let Jamie decide.” He turned him around in his arms and walked over to her. “I wonder which one he’ll go for.”
    She laughed in anticipation, watching him closely. “His eyes keep looking at the dog.”
    â€œEvery boy should have one,” Nick declared. “Snoopy it is.”
    â€œDid you have a dog?”
    â€œNo. What about you?”
    â€œWe went through three before I left home.”
    Reese had the diaper ready. Nick lowered his son in the crib and put it on with no hesitation this time. She handed him the one-piece fitted suit with no legs. After he’d snapped it, he picked him up again.
    â€œLet me brush his hair and then he’s ready for the day.” As she lifted her arm, it brushed against Nick’s. An unconscious thing to be sure, the lightest of touches. But he’d felt her warmth against his skin and the next thing he knew it had swamped his sensitized body.
    He hadn’t been intimate with a woman since the last time he’d slept with Erica. That was the reason for this total physical reaction. It had to be.
    â€œFirst things first,” she declared. “There’s a diaper pail around here somewhere with a scented deodorizer. Ah—” She opened one of the cartons. “Just what we need.” After lining it, in went the diaper. Then she liftedher head, causing her ponytail to swish like quicksilver. “Where do you want the crib to go?”
    He struggled to concentrate. “How about the far wall. The sun won’t reach him there when the shutters are open, and it will leave both doorways free.”
    â€œPerfect.” She moved things out of the way so she could roll it into position across the hardwood floor.
    Nick settled Jamie back in his swing and they got to work opening all the boxes. While he put the stroller together, she stacked diapers, baby wipes, powder, baby cream, lotion and ear swabs in the changing-table compartments. After watching her bathe the baby with nonallergenic products, he realized there was a reason for everything she’d bought.
    â€œI’m glad you took the Oriental rug away. I can’t wait for you to see the baby furniture,” she said as he reached for one of the bigger cartons.
    Curious himself, Nick opened the box and discovered a child’s antique white dresser with olive-green trim and a Winnie the Pooh hand-painted over the drawers. The next box