with your family at seven.”
“Easy afternoon.”
“Three calls on the first afternoon of your vacation sounds more like you’re working.”
He raised a brow, as if surprised by her words. Guess Libby didn’t speak to him like that. Well, Emma wasn’t like her best friend. Not even close.
“This is a light day.” He placed his empty glass on the table between them. “I’ve limited what’s on my schedule.”
Emma guessed she had a different definition of limited from his. “If there aren’t any changes—”
“There is one.”
She readied her pencil.
A muscle ticked at his jaw.
She leaned forward. “What?”
“We’re staying at my grandmother’s house. It’ll be easier with the party planning, and my grandma thought it would be better for the cat.”
Disappointment shot through Emma. She’d been a live-in nanny so she knew what staying at someone’s house as an employee meant. But the arrangement made sense, even without the cat factored in. She pasted on a smile. “That’s generous of your grandmother.”
He leaned back against his seat, but his gaze never left her. “My grandmother loves playing hostess. She’s thrilled I’m bringing company, not to mention a cat.”
The noise level of the engines changed. She clasped her hands together. “I’m sure your grandmother’s more excited to have you staying with her. Ten years is a long time to be away.”
“What has Libby told you?”
“Not much.” A glance out the window told Emma the plane was descending. “I know you’re throwing your grandmother an eightieth birthday party. Very nice of you to do.”
“Just holding up my end of a deal.”
Emma looked back at him. “Excuse me?”
His gaze, warm and clear, met hers. “When I was eight, I wanted a space-alien birthday party. My dad said no, so my grandma offered to throw me a party if I agreed to do the same for her when she turned eighty. We shook on it.”
Emma tried to picture AJ as a boy, but looking past the handsome man sitting across from her was impossible. “You remembered that after all these years?”
“No.” He half laughed. The charming sound sent a brush of tingles across Emma’s tummy. “My grandma did. She reminded me in February.”
She rubbed her stomach. Maybe she was feeling the aftereffects of being sick earlier. “Still nice of you.”
“She’s my grandma. I wasn’t about to say no.”
“Would you be returning to Haley’s Bay if it weren’t her birthday?”
“Probably not, which she knows.” Affection filled his gaze. “My grandmother’s a sly one. But I’m on my way so she’s happy. I want the party to go smoothly. That’s what I’m counting on you for, Emma.”
She wrote the words “anticipate and prevent problems” in her binder. “Yes, Mr. Cole.”
“AJ.”
The man had seen her vomit. The only other people to see her do that were her parents, God rest their souls, and Libby. “AJ.”
He smiled. She smiled back. The moment lingered. Filled her with heat. She looked at her binder. “Anything else I should know?”
“My family is big and crazy and loud.” AJ sounded amused, not annoyed. “I have four brothers—Ellis, Flynn, Declan and Grady—and two sisters—Bailey and Camden. Not to mention my sister-in-law, Risa, and more aunts, uncles and cousins than I can count.”
“That is a big family.”
“The single Cole men will hit on you because you’re new in town and their reputations haven’t been sullied yet. They’ve done that in the past. You’re under no obligation to them, and let me know if they annoy you.” AJ’s dark eyes and serious tone told Emma he wasn’t joking. “What you do on your own time is none of my business, but don’t let your actions affect your ability to get the job done.”
His words irritated her. Okay, he didn’t know her, but she wasn’t about to sleep around because good-looking guys were giving her attention. She imagined his brothers were attractive, AJ in multiples, like the Hemsworth brothers. That could be dangerous. To her job and her heart. She jotted a note in the margin. “Stay away from Cole males.”
“I’ll keep my distance.”
A lopsided grin formed. “Smart.”
She hated the way her body responded to his compliment. “It’s been my experience that business and pleasure don’t mix well.”
“Mine, too.”
At least they agreed on something.
“But business has to be fun,” AJ added. “All work and no play...”
“Would be boring.” Emma recalled Libby’s description of the Cole corporate headquarters in Seattle with a game arcade, gym, massages, errand service, and free meals, snacks and drinks at the employee cafeterias. Fun seemed to be the operative word at his company. Not surprising given that he developed a photography-based blogging platform and created a social media gaming site for friends to compete. “I wouldn’t last long as a nanny if I didn’t play. Having fun means everything to children.”
“What about you?”
“I like to have fun.”
He drummed his fingers against the chair arm. “What do you do for fun?”
“Play tag, dress-up, bicycle, hunt for treasure, bake, board games, and go to the Oregon Zoo, the children’s museum or OMSI.”
His fingers stilled. “I meant what do you do when you’re not being a nanny.”
“Oh. Sorry. I like to read, watch movies, hike, volunteer at an animal rescue center.”
“Quiet pleasures.”
“It’s not always quiet at the rescue shelter, but the noise is different there. I love being a nanny. The children are wonderful, but they’re loud and full of energy and want your undivided attention. A little quiet is nice.”
“Alone time is fun for you.”
She bit back a smile. AJ wasn’t grilling her, but he seemed to want to know more about her. She would have expected a billionaire to brag and make sure the conversation centered around him. Not that she knew any billionaires, but she’d worked for a millionaire. “Escaping inside a dark theater with a bucket of popcorn, a soda, a box of candy and no one to take to the bathroom at the best part of a movie is the definition of superfun.”
“There’s
