The Nanny
Blackout
I am a coward.
And I wasn't even ashamed of it. No, I was comfortable with the title as I sat on my bed, chin resting on my hands as I watched Jamie attempt to scoot across the bed as he reached for the teething ring he had thrown just out of his reach.
Anne had come and gone a few hours ago claiming to have to rush because she wanted to get back before Gemma arrived at her home. Darcy happily skipping off with her grandmother blissfully unaware of the awkward tension suffocating me as I plastered on a fake smile and waved my saving grace off.
As soon as the car was out of sight and the door was closed behind us, I was off, scuttling up the stairs without a word to the perplexed looking Harry. And I had been here ever since, roughly about four hours now and well into the evening.
"Aria?"
I froze in my spot eyes widening in shock as I looked down at Jamie who tilted his head up and looked at me before shoving his fist in his mouth, clearly giving up on the teether.
After a few beats with no reply I heard Harry take a deep breath and wondered if he would just leave.
I was wrong.
"I'm, um... I'm going to pick up a take away, do you want anything?"
I kept staring at Jamie like I expected him to answer for me but all he did was pull his wet fist from his mouth and smack it down onto the comforter while gurgling.
Sucking it up, I squeezed my eyes tight and turned my head towards the door. "No I'm good. Thank you though."
"Are you sure?" His voice almost sounded desperate, like he wanted to prolong this conversation for as long as possible, the exact opposite from what I wanted.
"I'm sure." Was my short replay, hoping he would get the hint.
He did.
I heard him hesitate for a second outside my door before his footsteps could be heard descending the stairs followed shortly by the door shutting.
As soon as I was sure he was gone, a quick glance out the window to see the taillights of his Range Rover turning out of the gated property for verification, I picked up Jamie and headed down the stairs.
With Harry out I had about an hour window to grab a quick dinner and shower before going back into seclusion.
Luckily for me as I placed Jamie into the playpen near the kitchen I realized that he was already getting drowsy and would be ready to be put down for the night very soon.
As I quickly set to making myself a ham sandwich I glanced out the windows to see the evening sky become even darker as clouds rolled in, the distant flashing in the horizon letting me know that a thunder storm was soon to be hitting.
Glancing over at Jamie who already laid himself down and was trying his hardest to keep his eyes open even as his blinking became longer and longer, I decided that it was a good idea to shower first then come down for my sandwich.
Once again picking Jamie up, this time working extra hard not to jostle him out of his half asleep state, I made my way upstairs and into his nursery. I was still in awe of this room and the thought that was put behind it, not only from Harry but the other boys who helped and of course Niall who had been the one to plant the idea in Harry's head according to Harry.
A speedy shower later and I was peeking back into the room, making sure Jamie was still knocked out as I grabbed the baby monitor receiver, clipping it to the waist band of my pajama pants, and headed back downstairs for my sandwich.
Almost as soon as my foot made contact with the hard wood floors of downstairs I heard the beginnings of the heavy rain pounding on the roof. The sound made me tense up. I hated thunderstorms and this one was said to be pretty bad according to the weatherman on the news earlier.
As if my night wasn't already promising to be fun filled when Harry returned, now I had to worry about the slight panic attack I was sure to have with this weather.
Glancing at the time glowing on the stove clock I realized that Harry had been gone for just about an hour and should be getting back soon.
Even as I had that thought my eyes landed on the jar of Nutella that Harry obviously forgot to put up.
Deciding that I would definitely love a nice cup of hot chocolate and I certainly deserved one I figured the risk was worth it and set to making the delicious drink as I ate half of my sandwich with one hand and prepared the drink with the other.
I absentmindedly stirred while munching away at my sandwich thinking back to the last time I had made myself hot chocolate.
Harry had been so sweet that night, it was the first night I had actually looked at him like a friend.
I still wasn't sure how my opinion on him had changed so quickly. One day he was the cocky jerk I happened to work for and the next I was jealously watching him walk out the door on a date wanting nothing more than to scream at him to stay in with me and the kids instead.
And even still with all these crazy attractions and uncalled for feelings I was having for the man that was quickly changing my mind, I still chose to run and hide from him when he made even the slightest flirty comment at me. And the comment today had certainly been a doozy.
What the hell was wrong with me?
And what the hell had he meant by that comment anyway?
My mind kept trying to piece it together, one side arguing that he was obviously flirting while the other side picked apart any possibility that someone like Harry would be interested in me when he knew all the baggage I had to drag around.
And as it had been growing accustomed to doing recently, my traitorous mind would throw in flashes of Harry's perfect lips smirking as he spoke to me, or his arms flexing as he held his daughter protectively, or the way his face would soften as he spoke to Jamie in baby talk like a pro. He was perfect and I hated that I was so damn aware of it all of the sudden and that my mind was using it against me to make my usually clear and level headed self freak out like a school girl with a crush.
I had been so lost in my thoughts that my body went into auto pilot, mixing and then serving myself the steaming hot liquid. I didn't become aware of what I was doing until I unconsciously took a sip and scolded my tongue forcing myself to return to the real world and not my day dreams of Harry.
"Damn it." I hissed and then jumped as a flash lit up the room followed almost instantly by a terrifyingly loud bang that caused me to shriek and drop the mug of hot chocolate to my feet where it proceeded to shatter into a million sharp jagged pieces floating in piping hot nutella hot cocoa that scorched the tops of my bare feet.
And as if that wasn't enough, before I could even close my mouth from the startled scream, the lights flickered off.
All in the span of two seconds.
Just wonderful.
I was bare foot, standing in a puddle of hot liquid surrounded by tiny piece of porcelain ready to slice into my skin if I stepped on them, and I couldn't even see where they were due to the time of day and the darken stormy sky outside.
"Fuuuuuuuck." I groaned wishing I hadn't been so keen to have hot chocolate.
"ARIA!"
My head snapped up at the sound of Harry's voice calling my name in worry followed quickly by the door slamming. I was both relieved to hear it and afraid and I didn't have a clue why.
I would have moved, but I was so scared of cutting my foot that all I could do was stand frozen in my spot as I heard Harry shuffle around just outside the kitchen before a dim light lit up the hallway leading into it. A short moment later Harry stood, flashlight in hand, staring at my frozen form in concern.
"Aria are you alright?" He rushed out taking quick steps towards me with a furrowed brow. "I heard you scream from outside."
"I, erm.. I'm fine. I just ugh... I broke a mug." I stuttered out with a shrug looking helplessly down at my feet. Harry's eyes hesitantly slid away from mine and down to the ground before he sighed and made his way over to stand right in front of me. The sounds of crunching under his shoes letting me know I had been right not to attempt to move.
"Don't move ok. I don't want you to get hurt." He said handing me the flashlight before bending slightly. I was confused by his actions until I felt his arms slip behind my legs and back and then the sensation of being lifted up into his secure hold, bridal style. I threw my arms around his neck in fear of being dropped and hoping I wasn't too heavy.
"I'm not going to drop you." Harry chuckled sensing my slight panic at being taking off guard. My eyes zeroing in on his plump lips forming that sly grin of his. "I just don't want you to step in any of that." He added nodding his head towards the mess that he had carried me out of. He didn't place me back onto my feet until I was safely in the hall away from any danger of hurting myself.
"Um... thank you." I could feel the heat rising in my cheeks as I realized I missed the feel of his hands on me and was unbelievably thankful for the blackout at that moment.
"No worries love." He said so unnervingly close to my ear I could feel the warmth of his breath on my neck as his hand slid over my own to pull the flashlight away from me. "Why don't you go put some shoes on while I pick this up before someone gets hurt?"
I nodded even thought it was so dark I was sure he couldn't see but for the life of me I couldn't find my voice. Instead I scrambled away towards the front door where I knew a pair of my Toms sat from when I returned from my daily walk with Jamie and Darcy.
As soon as they were on my feet I stood up and held the, thankfully, battery powered baby monitor up to my ear. Jamie was still blissfully oblivious to the power outage as he peacefully slept upstairs, his light baby snores letting me know he was okay.
I closed my eyes and threw my head back wondering what in the hell had gotten into me lately.
BOOM
The sound, once again, made me jump nearly a foot in the air and had my heart pounding erratically in my chest. Looking into the darkness towards where I knew the kitchen was I figured I would feel a lot better near someone, even if that someone was who I had actively been avoiding just a few short hours ago. Even if that someone seemed to have my hormones running rampet.
Darkness. Sexy man. Hormonal woman. This is not a formula for good things Aria.
Blindly I felt my way back towards the kitchen to find the flashlight laying on the ground aimed towards the broken pieces as Harry knelt on a clear area and carefully picked them up. Most of them already cleared away and dumped into the bin Harry had beside him. I quietly made my way over to him mirroring his position, determined to help him only to have his eyes blaze into me.
"Aria don't. I got this." He said as I ignored him and began cautiously gathering up the porcelain.
I could feel his eyes on me as I kept picking up pieces, it was very distracting which is why I probably didn't avoided the small sliver of ceramic that embedded itself into my finger.
The hiss of pain was barely passed my lips before Harry reached over and yanked my hand into his after dropping his pile onto the floor with an irritated sigh. "Damn it Aria."
I bit my lip as he squeezed the tiny painful piece out of the pad of my finger causing it to bleed.
"You are so stubborn. Why can't you just listen to me for once?"
He sounded so angry suddenly. I had no idea where it was coming from, but even with his clipped tone he handled my injured hand so tenderly. It was so confusing.
"I-I'm... sorry." I said pulling my hand away to cradle against my chest protectively. "I just wanted to help, it's my mess after all."
His blazing eyes stared intensely into mine as his lips pulled down into a frown.
"I'm sorry about the cup. I'll pay for it." I offered, hoping that it would clear some of the tension and maybe get him to stop looking at me like that.
I was wrong.
"I don't care about the cup, Aria."
I didn't know what to say so I just looked down at my hand, glad that it seemed to have stopped bleeding but frowning at the stain it had caused on my shirt.
I sat there, looking down feeling stupid as I felt Harry watching me, wondering how I had even gotten here, when I felt it.
A warm hand sliding under my chin and lifting my face up so green eyes I had visualized more time then was healthy could stare into mine.
We didn't say anything, just stared at each other.
And then the space between us began to grow smaller, shards of glass and sticky quickly cooling chocolate forgotten as Harry leaned forward with one of his large hands in the space in between us where he was resting his weight.
The hand under my chin slid deliciously slowly over my neck and into my hair until it was cupping the back of my head and threaded into my damp locks. I was lost in that feeling for a moment, content with the tingling it caused throughout my scalp and the bolts of electricity that surged through my whole being, and then I looked up to find Harry less than a breath away, our noses touching and his blazing green eyes staring into mine.
Part of my brain was screaming at me, telling me that this was very, very wrong. It was completely insane the way things had progressed. It made no sense.
But as I watched him lick his lips and look into my eyes almost pleadingly I realized that I didn't care how we got here but I was almost certain I would die if he didn't kiss me right now.
And as if he understood that, Harry leaned in until I felt his lips cover mine in the most wonderful way possible. Both of us ignoring how utterly illogical this all was.
And for the first time in my life I was thankful for a thunderstorm.
And I wasn't even ashamed of it. No, I was comfortable with the title as I sat on my bed, chin resting on my hands as I watched Jamie attempt to scoot across the bed as he reached for the teething ring he had thrown just out of his reach.
Anne had come and gone a few hours ago claiming to have to rush because she wanted to get back before Gemma arrived at her home. Darcy happily skipping off with her grandmother blissfully unaware of the awkward tension suffocating me as I plastered on a fake smile and waved my saving grace off.
As soon as the car was out of sight and the door was closed behind us, I was off, scuttling up the stairs without a word to the perplexed looking Harry. And I had been here ever since, roughly about four hours now and well into the evening.
"Aria?"
I froze in my spot eyes widening in shock as I looked down at Jamie who tilted his head up and looked at me before shoving his fist in his mouth, clearly giving up on the teether.
After a few beats with no reply I heard Harry take a deep breath and wondered if he would just leave.
I was wrong.
"I'm, um... I'm going to pick up a take away, do you want anything?"
I kept staring at Jamie like I expected him to answer for me but all he did was pull his wet fist from his mouth and smack it down onto the comforter while gurgling.
Sucking it up, I squeezed my eyes tight and turned my head towards the door. "No I'm good. Thank you though."
"Are you sure?" His voice almost sounded desperate, like he wanted to prolong this conversation for as long as possible, the exact opposite from what I wanted.
"I'm sure." Was my short replay, hoping he would get the hint.
He did.
I heard him hesitate for a second outside my door before his footsteps could be heard descending the stairs followed shortly by the door shutting.
As soon as I was sure he was gone, a quick glance out the window to see the taillights of his Range Rover turning out of the gated property for verification, I picked up Jamie and headed down the stairs.
With Harry out I had about an hour window to grab a quick dinner and shower before going back into seclusion.
Luckily for me as I placed Jamie into the playpen near the kitchen I realized that he was already getting drowsy and would be ready to be put down for the night very soon.
As I quickly set to making myself a ham sandwich I glanced out the windows to see the evening sky become even darker as clouds rolled in, the distant flashing in the horizon letting me know that a thunder storm was soon to be hitting.
Glancing over at Jamie who already laid himself down and was trying his hardest to keep his eyes open even as his blinking became longer and longer, I decided that it was a good idea to shower first then come down for my sandwich.
Once again picking Jamie up, this time working extra hard not to jostle him out of his half asleep state, I made my way upstairs and into his nursery. I was still in awe of this room and the thought that was put behind it, not only from Harry but the other boys who helped and of course Niall who had been the one to plant the idea in Harry's head according to Harry.
A speedy shower later and I was peeking back into the room, making sure Jamie was still knocked out as I grabbed the baby monitor receiver, clipping it to the waist band of my pajama pants, and headed back downstairs for my sandwich.
Almost as soon as my foot made contact with the hard wood floors of downstairs I heard the beginnings of the heavy rain pounding on the roof. The sound made me tense up. I hated thunderstorms and this one was said to be pretty bad according to the weatherman on the news earlier.
As if my night wasn't already promising to be fun filled when Harry returned, now I had to worry about the slight panic attack I was sure to have with this weather.
Glancing at the time glowing on the stove clock I realized that Harry had been gone for just about an hour and should be getting back soon.
Even as I had that thought my eyes landed on the jar of Nutella that Harry obviously forgot to put up.
Deciding that I would definitely love a nice cup of hot chocolate and I certainly deserved one I figured the risk was worth it and set to making the delicious drink as I ate half of my sandwich with one hand and prepared the drink with the other.
I absentmindedly stirred while munching away at my sandwich thinking back to the last time I had made myself hot chocolate.
Harry had been so sweet that night, it was the first night I had actually looked at him like a friend.
I still wasn't sure how my opinion on him had changed so quickly. One day he was the cocky jerk I happened to work for and the next I was jealously watching him walk out the door on a date wanting nothing more than to scream at him to stay in with me and the kids instead.
And even still with all these crazy attractions and uncalled for feelings I was having for the man that was quickly changing my mind, I still chose to run and hide from him when he made even the slightest flirty comment at me. And the comment today had certainly been a doozy.
What the hell was wrong with me?
And what the hell had he meant by that comment anyway?
My mind kept trying to piece it together, one side arguing that he was obviously flirting while the other side picked apart any possibility that someone like Harry would be interested in me when he knew all the baggage I had to drag around.
And as it had been growing accustomed to doing recently, my traitorous mind would throw in flashes of Harry's perfect lips smirking as he spoke to me, or his arms flexing as he held his daughter protectively, or the way his face would soften as he spoke to Jamie in baby talk like a pro. He was perfect and I hated that I was so damn aware of it all of the sudden and that my mind was using it against me to make my usually clear and level headed self freak out like a school girl with a crush.
I had been so lost in my thoughts that my body went into auto pilot, mixing and then serving myself the steaming hot liquid. I didn't become aware of what I was doing until I unconsciously took a sip and scolded my tongue forcing myself to return to the real world and not my day dreams of Harry.
"Damn it." I hissed and then jumped as a flash lit up the room followed almost instantly by a terrifyingly loud bang that caused me to shriek and drop the mug of hot chocolate to my feet where it proceeded to shatter into a million sharp jagged pieces floating in piping hot nutella hot cocoa that scorched the tops of my bare feet.
And as if that wasn't enough, before I could even close my mouth from the startled scream, the lights flickered off.
All in the span of two seconds.
Just wonderful.
I was bare foot, standing in a puddle of hot liquid surrounded by tiny piece of porcelain ready to slice into my skin if I stepped on them, and I couldn't even see where they were due to the time of day and the darken stormy sky outside.
"Fuuuuuuuck." I groaned wishing I hadn't been so keen to have hot chocolate.
"ARIA!"
My head snapped up at the sound of Harry's voice calling my name in worry followed quickly by the door slamming. I was both relieved to hear it and afraid and I didn't have a clue why.
I would have moved, but I was so scared of cutting my foot that all I could do was stand frozen in my spot as I heard Harry shuffle around just outside the kitchen before a dim light lit up the hallway leading into it. A short moment later Harry stood, flashlight in hand, staring at my frozen form in concern.
"Aria are you alright?" He rushed out taking quick steps towards me with a furrowed brow. "I heard you scream from outside."
"I, erm.. I'm fine. I just ugh... I broke a mug." I stuttered out with a shrug looking helplessly down at my feet. Harry's eyes hesitantly slid away from mine and down to the ground before he sighed and made his way over to stand right in front of me. The sounds of crunching under his shoes letting me know I had been right not to attempt to move.
"Don't move ok. I don't want you to get hurt." He said handing me the flashlight before bending slightly. I was confused by his actions until I felt his arms slip behind my legs and back and then the sensation of being lifted up into his secure hold, bridal style. I threw my arms around his neck in fear of being dropped and hoping I wasn't too heavy.
"I'm not going to drop you." Harry chuckled sensing my slight panic at being taking off guard. My eyes zeroing in on his plump lips forming that sly grin of his. "I just don't want you to step in any of that." He added nodding his head towards the mess that he had carried me out of. He didn't place me back onto my feet until I was safely in the hall away from any danger of hurting myself.
"Um... thank you." I could feel the heat rising in my cheeks as I realized I missed the feel of his hands on me and was unbelievably thankful for the blackout at that moment.
"No worries love." He said so unnervingly close to my ear I could feel the warmth of his breath on my neck as his hand slid over my own to pull the flashlight away from me. "Why don't you go put some shoes on while I pick this up before someone gets hurt?"
I nodded even thought it was so dark I was sure he couldn't see but for the life of me I couldn't find my voice. Instead I scrambled away towards the front door where I knew a pair of my Toms sat from when I returned from my daily walk with Jamie and Darcy.
As soon as they were on my feet I stood up and held the, thankfully, battery powered baby monitor up to my ear. Jamie was still blissfully oblivious to the power outage as he peacefully slept upstairs, his light baby snores letting me know he was okay.
I closed my eyes and threw my head back wondering what in the hell had gotten into me lately.
BOOM
The sound, once again, made me jump nearly a foot in the air and had my heart pounding erratically in my chest. Looking into the darkness towards where I knew the kitchen was I figured I would feel a lot better near someone, even if that someone was who I had actively been avoiding just a few short hours ago. Even if that someone seemed to have my hormones running rampet.
Darkness. Sexy man. Hormonal woman. This is not a formula for good things Aria.
Blindly I felt my way back towards the kitchen to find the flashlight laying on the ground aimed towards the broken pieces as Harry knelt on a clear area and carefully picked them up. Most of them already cleared away and dumped into the bin Harry had beside him. I quietly made my way over to him mirroring his position, determined to help him only to have his eyes blaze into me.
"Aria don't. I got this." He said as I ignored him and began cautiously gathering up the porcelain.
I could feel his eyes on me as I kept picking up pieces, it was very distracting which is why I probably didn't avoided the small sliver of ceramic that embedded itself into my finger.
The hiss of pain was barely passed my lips before Harry reached over and yanked my hand into his after dropping his pile onto the floor with an irritated sigh. "Damn it Aria."
I bit my lip as he squeezed the tiny painful piece out of the pad of my finger causing it to bleed.
"You are so stubborn. Why can't you just listen to me for once?"
He sounded so angry suddenly. I had no idea where it was coming from, but even with his clipped tone he handled my injured hand so tenderly. It was so confusing.
"I-I'm... sorry." I said pulling my hand away to cradle against my chest protectively. "I just wanted to help, it's my mess after all."
His blazing eyes stared intensely into mine as his lips pulled down into a frown.
"I'm sorry about the cup. I'll pay for it." I offered, hoping that it would clear some of the tension and maybe get him to stop looking at me like that.
I was wrong.
"I don't care about the cup, Aria."
I didn't know what to say so I just looked down at my hand, glad that it seemed to have stopped bleeding but frowning at the stain it had caused on my shirt.
I sat there, looking down feeling stupid as I felt Harry watching me, wondering how I had even gotten here, when I felt it.
A warm hand sliding under my chin and lifting my face up so green eyes I had visualized more time then was healthy could stare into mine.
We didn't say anything, just stared at each other.
And then the space between us began to grow smaller, shards of glass and sticky quickly cooling chocolate forgotten as Harry leaned forward with one of his large hands in the space in between us where he was resting his weight.
The hand under my chin slid deliciously slowly over my neck and into my hair until it was cupping the back of my head and threaded into my damp locks. I was lost in that feeling for a moment, content with the tingling it caused throughout my scalp and the bolts of electricity that surged through my whole being, and then I looked up to find Harry less than a breath away, our noses touching and his blazing green eyes staring into mine.
Part of my brain was screaming at me, telling me that this was very, very wrong. It was completely insane the way things had progressed. It made no sense.
But as I watched him lick his lips and look into my eyes almost pleadingly I realized that I didn't care how we got here but I was almost certain I would die if he didn't kiss me right now.
And as if he understood that, Harry leaned in until I felt his lips cover mine in the most wonderful way possible. Both of us ignoring how utterly illogical this all was.
And for the first time in my life I was thankful for a thunderstorm.
YOOO!!! IF YOU DONT UPDATE I SWEAR...
9/3/16