Never Say Never

When my brother’s best friend asks me to fake marry him to secure a business deal he desperately needs, I laugh in his face. Me, help Carter Harrington? That’s split-your-pants, rip-roaring hilarious. I don’t even like him.

I’m not exactly the "take home to Mom" type. I’m too outspoken and have never met an expectation I didn’t want to challenge. And to put it bluntly, my professional career of being an intimate relationships counselor doesn’t make for polite dinner conversation.

I had it all planned out. A perfect getaway, in a perfect forest locale, with my perfect boyfriend. It should’ve been...perfect. Until he breaks up with me, leaving me all alone when a stranger walks in on me post-shower, getting a too-good look at my bare backside.

Survival Mode is how I live. My ghost kitchen is the place to be for every work crew in the city, and I bust my butt from sunup to sun down, while rubbing every nickel and dime together to scrape by. And it’s going fine. Until he shows up. Kyle Harrington parks his truck right in the middle of my drive-thru line and acts like the trouble he’s causing is no big deal. Even tossing me a cocky smirk as he struts into my neighbor’s backyard to get to work on her construction project.

Grumpy single dad? Me. Sassy nanny with a past? Her. And a too-smart-for-her-own-good pre-teen? That’d be my beloved daughter. Being a single dad isn’t easy. Neither is running a billion-dollar company. Parenting is definitely harder, but I’ve been doing just fine—at least, that’s what I keep telling myself. And then another nanny quits. I’m not asking for much, just someone to help manage our carefully planned schedule, put up with my surliness, and not run away from the challenges my twelve-year-old daughter presents. Sounds easy enough, right? Apparently not.