Blair gently threw Nolan back onto the couch and pointed a finger at him. “Excuse me. Did you just call me a poopy butt?”

Nolan laughed and nodded. “You’re a big smelly poopy butt.”

Blair had no idea why a kid calling her names was making her so happy, but she couldn’t stop smiling as she attacked Nolan with tickles and enjoyed his laughter in response. She could really get used to this being her life—coming home from work to Nolan and Erin. One of them making dinner while the other entertained the kid. It sounded pretty damn perfect. It was also nothing but a fantasy because Erin hadn’t mentioned anything else about their beach rendezvous. It was actually the opposite. The last few weeks of babysitting had been kept completely professional, and Blair hated it. She wanted to flirt with Erin. She wanted to feel Erin’s skin underneath her fingertips, even if it was only for a few seconds. She wanted so much more than what Erin was willing to give her, and she was really trying to be okay with that even though it was extremely hard.

“Can we play dinosaurs?” Nolan asked, saving Blair from a complete spiral.

“Let’s do it!” She spent the next hour in an imaginary dinosaur world with Nolan until Erin announced dinner was ready.

Blair carried Nolan into the kitchen and found that Erin had made baked potatoes with cheese and chicken fingers.

“I know it’s not the healthiest meal, but it’s what we had,” Erin said, as if she were embarrassed.

“Are you kidding me? My parents aren’t home tonight. If I wasn’t here, I’d be eating ramen noodles. This is much better.”

“Ah, so that’s why you came, huh? For my amazing home-cooked meal.”

“You caught me.” Blair set Nolan on the ground, then walked over to Erin and had to stop herself from putting her hands on Erin’s hips. “It has absolutely nothing to do with the company.”

After filling their plates, the three of them sat at the kitchen table and talked about Nolan’s day at school, the new projects Erin was doing for work, and how the first two days of training went for Blair. Blair went into excruciating detail about everything she had done the past two days in an effort to prolong the meal as much as possible. She didn’t want to leave, but she knew once she was done eating, she wouldn’t have a reason to stay.

Luckily, Nolan gave her a reason. “Mommy, can Bear read me a book and tuck me into bed tonight?” he asked as Erin cleared his plate from the table.

“You’ll have to ask Blair, sweetie. She probably wants to get home so she can get ready for another day of work tomorrow.”