Nanny for the Cop Next Door: An Older Man Younger Woman Romance (A Man Who Knows What He Wants Book 44) Read online

  NANNY FOR THE COP NEXT DOOR

  AN OLDER MAN YOUNGER WOMAN ROMANCE

  _______________________

  A MAN WHO KNOWS WHAT HE WANTS, 44

  FLORA FERRARI

  CONTENTS

  Copyright

  A Man Who Knows What He Wants Series

  Nanny for the Cop Next Door

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Epilogue

  Extended Epilogue

  Series

  COPYRIGHT

  Copyright © 2018 by Flora Ferrari.

  All Rights Reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  The following story contains mature themes, strong language and sexual situations. It is intended for mature readers.

  A MAN WHO KNOWS WHAT HE WANTS

  Book 1: Baby Lust

  Book 2: Veteran

  Book 3: Built

  Book 4: Bambino

  Book 5: Rescued

  Book 6: Leader

  Book 7: Professor

  Book 8: Burned

  Book 9: Worldly

  Book 10: Pistol

  Book 11: Policed

  Book 12: Driven

  Book 13: Lucky 13

  Book 14: Lumberjacked

  Book 15: Protector

  Book 16: Carpenter

  Book 17: Italian Stallion

  Book 18: Gardener

  Book 19: Budapest Billionaire’s Virgin

  Book 20: Billionaire’s Babysitter

  Book 21: Cocky CFO

  Book 22: Fireman’s Filthy 4th

  Book 23: Mechanic

  Book 24: SEAL’s Secret

  Book 25: Police, Pooch, and Smooch

  Book 26: Fireman’s Fake Fiancée

  Book 27: Billionaire’s Virgin Ballerina

  Book 28: Bitcoin Billionaire’s Babysitter

  Book 29: Veterans Day Daddy

  Book 30: Cowboy’s Christmas Carol

  Book 31: Police Officer’s Princess

  Book 32: Statham

  Book 33: Bodyguard

  Book 34: Greek God

  Book 35: Billionaire Single Dad's Babysitter

  Book 36: Mountain Man

  Book 37: SEAL’s Justice

  Book 38: Royal Romance

  Book 39: Doctor Mountain Man’s Special Delivery

  Book 40: Crocodile Dan D

  Book 41: Mountain Man’s Secret Baby

  Book 42: Doctor Bad Boy’s Secret Baby

  Book 43: Cop’s Babysitter

  NANNY FOR THE COP NEXT DOOR

  Braden Badge

  As a small town cop my job requires me to size up people real quick, but nothing could prepare me for the speed at which she grew up.

  Last time I saw her she was just a kid, but now she’s a young woman standing on my doorstep…here to help me teach my seven-year-old daughter how to grow into a young woman herself.

  But one look at her and I wonder just how close we’re going to grow together.

  Annabelle

  My dad’s best friend is a hot cop next door.

  I may have been away at college the last four years, but there are still some extracurricular lessons I haven’t learned that only this older man I’ve crushed on my entire life can show me.

  But when I agree to be the nanny to his little girl I realize there are a completely different kind of lessons I can learn from her. Resilience, inner strength, and the ability to endure.

  She’s an amazingly strong little girl. I had some experience as a babysitter before, but the more I get to know her I wonder if I’m in over my head as I attempt to be not only a nanny, but the female figure she needs in her life right now.

  The more I find myself getting in over my head, the more I find myself falling head over heals for my perfect police officer and his darling daughter.

  Braden Badge

  I can’t focus. I can’t sleep. I can’t stop thinking about her. My mind’s investigating scenarios where I can turn this hot pursuit into a perfect partnership without crossing the line with my neighbor’s daughter.

  When my best friend starts to suspect I’m getting too friendly with his daughter I know it’s time to show him just how perfect what we have is regardless of how he feels. No matter what, there can be only one outcome. I’ll do whatever it takes to win the key to her heart and when I do I’m going to lock up my nurturing nanny next door forever.

  *Nanny for the Cop Next Door is an insta-everything standalone romance with an HEA, no cheating, and no cliffhanger. If you like older man younger woman romances, hot cops, and single dad's next door this is for you!

  CHAPTER 1

  Braden

  The “World’s Best Uncle” mug slides from my grasp and quickly the floor is covered with broken pieces of ceramic and piping hot Folgers coffee…a staple in the cop diet. Yes, coffee counts as food when you’re on the go chasing down bad guys as often as we are.

  “Let me help you,” she says as we bend down at the same time to pick up the pieces.

  Somehow the pieces have landed in a way that clearly spells out the word W-o-r-s-t…as in the way I’m handling this situation.

  And a situation is exactly what I have on my hands at the moment.

  I reach for the biggest broken piece…the “W” in worst, but apparently our minds think alike. Just as I’m about to grab it her small hand slides in before mine and my fingers make contact with hers.

  I feel a jolt of electricity shoot through me, but I don’t pull my hand back. I leave it there taking in the soft, feminine feeling of her hand beneath mine. I haven’t felt a woman’s touch in years, even though technically I’m doing the touching. It’s just that I’ve been too busy with work and then more recently too busy with Vivian to even consider a relationship, not that I’m looking for one.

  And somewhere in between serving and protecting the residents of our small town and trying to be a dad to Vivian, Annabelle grew up…fast.

  For years she was always just the girl next door…Adam’s daughter. As in my best friend Adam. The guy I’ve known since we were kids when we first “met” on the baseball diamond in the midst of a drag down knock out fight…if such a thing exists for nine-year-olds. The coaches had to separate us, but not before we both got in a few good licks.

  We were ejected and made to shake hands, but by that point it wasn’t necessary. We’d both won each other’s respect by standing up for ourselves and not backing down, even at such a young age. I think we instinctively knew this was the kind of buddy we both needed, and best buddies is what we’ve been ever since.

  Su
ch buddies in fact that when Annabelle was born Adam made me her Godfather. It wasn’t a responsibility I took lightly, but if I’m being honest with myself it was something that had found its way onto the back burner these last few years.

  I hadn’t seen Annabelle since her high school graduation. That’s what kids do right? They graduate high school and then go off into the world.

  Well she had certainly done that, moving to New York to study, but what was also very apparent was that she was back…in a big way. Big as in all grown up kind of way. Big as in what are those two things on her chest that I never noticed before kind of way. Big as in what is this feeling that I’m getting in my jeans right now kind of way.

  She was back in town looking for a job, which presented the perfect opportunity for both of us.

  She’d come over this morning to meet Vivian and see how they got along. Assuming everything worked out then she’d be my nanny for the next six months before her student loans kicked in. It also gave her time to wait on the perfect job, not that many existed in this town, but at least she wouldn’t be pressured to take something she didn’t really like back in New York.

  That was the plan at least. Until now.

  One look at her and I knew there was no way she was going back to New York. Not now. Not in six months. Not ever.

  The way she’s pulling me to her like a magnet makes one thing crystal clear.

  I’m going to make her mine, and with me is exactly where she belongs from here on out.

  CHAPTER 2

  Annabelle

  I’m technically not even inside his house yet. My feet are still on the top step. But if the way he just looked at me is any indication I’m “in” in a much more important way.

  The kind of way where a guy takes one look at you and you know you’ve got him…hook, line, and sinker.

  I never ever thought this moment would come. Just the fact that I was coming over to be his nanny told me he still thought of me as a young girl, not a woman. And while I may not be a woman yet, I know that four years after leaving this small town for New York I have matured a lot. And in more ways than one.

  I was the prototypical late bloomer. Flat chested at high school graduation and kind of shy and awkward to boot. A few days in New York and I started to see that if I didn’t get a little more assertive I was going to get walked on left and right. I wasn’t about to become pushy or aggressive, but I learned how to stand up for myself.

  But right now standing up is the last thing on my mind. I don’t want to do anything that causes his hand to come off mine.

  This is the man I’ve crushed on my entire life. He was already scorching hot enough when he was “just” the hot cop next door. Add a daughter into the mix? Fahgettaboutit, as they say in New York.

  But there was one big complication to this entire recipe that the success of my love life hinged on.

  He was my dad’s best friend.

  Not just good friend. Best friend. Best friend as in since childhood, do anything for you type of best friend. The kind you don’t find anymore.

  The kind where he agrees to be the godfather of your daughter. Yeah, that’s me.

  The stupid girl with a crazy crush on her godfather. Talk about being a disaster.

  But this disaster of him dropping his coffee mug might just be the kind of “disaster” he needed to really see me for the first time in a new light.

  I’m not sure what dropped quicker. His mug or his jaw. Both were on the floor at the speed of light. And on the floor is where I hoped to be with him one day. As in rolling around having knock down drag out sex. At least that’s what I hoped for although I know I’m not sure I’m ready for it, considering I’m not technically ready for much.

  You need to crawl before you can walk and when it came to my womanhood in that way, well I was still on my knees. Yep, I had been saving myself for him. There were times I wondered if anything would ever happen, but somehow I never lost hope. I think a double major and a full course load helped to keep my mind from wandering, not that there were any guys that could have taken my thoughts from him.

  The guys my age just didn’t have “it.” They were still trying to figure out who they were and what they might become one day. With him one day was already here, having arrived long ago. After that first fight with my dad when they were kids, Braden knew he wanted to be a policeman. He wanted to stick up for others just like he did that day on the baseball field when he charged the mound because he thought my dad was throwing too close to his friend. A nine-year-old charging the pitcher’s mound? Who ever heard of such a thing?

  I certainly have over and over again by this point, but the story always gives me goose bumps. A protector, even as a boy. That’s what Braden Badge is. I mean, come on. Even his last name…Badge. How could he not be a cop? How could he not wear the badge?

  And as good as he looked in his uniform he looked equally as yummy right now.

  He opened the door in jeans and a T-shirt. No shoes. He had that Sunday morning lounging around the house look and all I wanted to do was jump on top of him on a cozy corner of the couch and watch movies and read the morning paper. And I don’t even read the newspaper!

  But for him I would. For him I’d do anything. That’s how deep my feelings went for him. I’d thought about him for so many years now he wasn’t just a part of my thoughts he was my thoughts. I caught myself daydreaming about him in class. I’d fantasize about him when I watched police procedural TV shows. He affected me so deep he even influenced the kind of television programs I watched. This was a whole different level. I wouldn’t say I was obsessed because it’s like he was an app on your phone…just always “running” in the background of my thoughts and my mind.

  As his hand met mine his dark brown eyes, so dark they’re almost black, rose to meet mine.

  He says nothing, just taking in the sight of me as I do the same with him.

  He has a beard now, something I’ve never seen on him but wow…does it ever look good. I wonder if he’s working undercover now. And oh how I’d like to get under some covers in his bed with him.

  But covers are the last things we’d need.

  I feel the heat from his touch and it’s white hot, nearly matching the heat I feel inside.

  I can feel my cheeks redden and my skin go flush. I feel light headed and know when I come up out of my squat I’m probably going to be even more light headed. If I lose my balance I know he’ll be there to grab me and keep me from falling…at least falling in another way.

  I fell for him a long time ago, and as much as I see the way he’s looking at me this moment, it’s not enough to be sure. It’s never enough. I know my mind will see what it wants, and I don’t want to be the kind of girl who throws herself at the guy she wants. I want him to come to me. To pursue me. To chase me. To show me just how much he wants me and how far he’ll go to get me.

  Not that I’d make him work that hard for it. Living in the big city has made me more mature and more sure of myself. I know what I want and I’m not afraid to say so.

  “You hand,” he finally says, breaking the silence. “They…so…I’m sorry,” he says. His eyes open wide and he quickly shakes his head from side to side as if to clear his thoughts, seemingly trying to remind himself that he can’t do this. That he can’t pursue me even if he wants to.

  But if I’ve waited this long I’m willing to wait a little longer. I’m playing the long game here. I don’t just want him right now. I want him forever, even if that’s how long I have to wait.

  CHAPTER 3

  Braden

  “I need to get more sleep,” I say, trying to laugh off what just happened. But we both know what really just happened. She came in here and rattled me to the core. Woke me up from my self-induced female slumber and reminded me what it’s like to feel again. And feelings are exactly what are shooting through my mind and body right now.

  I’m paid not to feel. Trained to be stoic. I relay on being rational. Never impulsive
. Always instinctive based on years and years of practice.

  But even after years of being around her, no amount of “practice” could have prepared me for this moment. This moment when she came back to town as a woman who’s all grown up.

  And did she ever fill out.

  Other women can’t even get a second glance from me. I always thought it was just because I was too busy or unsure of their motives. There are plenty of cop chasers, and I know better than to get involved with a woman who’s only in it for the badge and not in it for me. And by badge I mean the shiny gold one, not the right one…my last name.

  I don’t even tell people I’m a cop anymore. Mostly because I want to meet them as a person, first. I don’t want to define people based on their jobs, and I certainly don’t want them to do that to me. Profiling is the old way of policing anyways. I never liked it and never participated in it. I always wanted to know each person as an individual first and foremost, and wow has she ever become an individual in her own right.