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His phone went off

"Ignore it," he said hoarsely

She nodded and readjusted her grip, starting again at the base with her tongue His fingers tightened in her hair, more a show of need than doroaned, and then…his phone buzzed again

"Fuck" He let go of her to fish through his pocket, pulling out his phone, glaring at it "Fuck" He sagged back and stared up at the ceiling

She rose up on her knees and looked at hio" But he didn’t htened, pulling her off the floor and into his lap He held her close for a htened out her dress for her When he was done with that, he kissed her ain, then set her on the couch next to hiot to his feet He stuffed himself back into his pants, which appeared to be very uncorabbed his shirt from the floor He put it on inside out, swore, yanked it off, then righted it and tried again

"You going to work like that?" she asked

He looked down at his hard-on "That bad?"

"Boy Scouts could ca again She was trying to remember that they weren’t well suited, that he was the opposite of everything she’d ever wanted, but it wasn’t working

Not even close

She wanted to tug down his pants and finish what she started

"Christ, Grace," Josh said on a groan "Don’t look atto mentally recite che at me like you want to eat me for breakfast"

She slapped a hand over her eyes "Oh my God I was not"

"Yeah, you were"

Okay, she had been doing exactly that "Sorry!" She paused, lowering her hands "And you can recite the cheripped her arainst him He kissed her and said, very quietly, very seriously, "We okay?"

"Well" She gave hih, Josh let her go and turned for the door His cell phone was vibrating froain He was already on it before the door shut behind hih the truth was she needed a lot more than a mo, but she couldn’t seeasms She did the best she could to look presentable and entered the big house, nearly tripping over Anna "Sorry!"

Anna studied her for a beat "You justinnocent as they went into the kitchen "Oh?"

Anna shook her head "A up the pretense Tank was juate, snuffling and snorting Grace released hiht of the lightsaber lying on one of the chairs and began posturing, growling fiercely at it

"You drive hihtsaber"

Anna rolled her eyes "My brother You drive my brother crazy"

"Actually, I’nal to sit

He didn’t Instead, he barked

Grace took a doggie cookie out of a container on the counter "Sit"

Tank rolled over Twice

"Tank, sit"

Tank offered her a paw to shake, and Grace gave up

"So," Anna said, "are you going to fall for Josh like the other nannies? Because I don’t reco fired Or du about?"

Tank whirled in circles, then rolled again, clearly going through his entire repertoire of tricks for another cookie

"Didn’t you interview your employer before you took the job?" Anna asked Grace

"Well, I…" Not this time, she hadn’t "This job sort of happened in a hurry"

Plus she hadn’t wanted to probe Which was entirely different fro to know Because she did want to know

Bad

"You never wondered why none of your predecessors are still around?" Anna asked "Or why such a great guy with such a great farin so similar to Josh’s that Grace blinked--"can’t keep a nanny? Or a girlfriend? It’s because they all fall hard for him And he doesn’t have a heart, so he doesn’t fall back"

"Wow," Grace said

"I know You really need to get it together"

"No, I mean you’re pretty mean Anyone ever tell you that?"

Anna didn’t seereed "I’e"

"No, you’re not You’reto turn into another lecture?"

"You’re taking cooking and a creative writing class," Grace said "A saint would be bored I’ed

"But why not?" Grace asked "I don’t get it If you’re sh to do so with yourself"

"Like?"

"Like whatever you want," Grace said "It’s wide open Hell, you could play softball if you wanted"

"Hello, I’ton University website," Grace said "They’ve got a whole handicapped athletic progra softball and soccer and self-defense classes"

Anna blinked twice

"Run out of excuses?" Grace asked her

Anna snorted "Didn’t anyone ever tell you that you’re supposed to be nice to the poor handicapped girl?"

"You have to earn nice"

Anna narrowed her eyes, and Grace shrugged "It’s true You don’t get an ass-pass just because you’re handicapped, no matter what you think And to be honest, you don’t seem all that handicapped"

Anna sputtered at this "Are you blind?"

"No Are you?"

Anna just stared at her "I’ me"

"I’m paralyzed froreat emphasis Clearly she had this routine down, and just as clearly, it usually worked for her "You’re supposed to feel sorry for me Everyone feels sorry for me It’s what they do"