Nanny For The Billionaire

I kept telling myself that everything would be fine, that it was going to work out well in the end.

Darlene, to get this job, your confidence has to be a hundred percent. You are amazing. You can do this. Also, you need this job. Badly.

My brain was saying that but my body refused to cooperate. I was jittery, my foot tapping unconsciously against the marble floor and I kept rubbing my sweaty palms down the length of my crimson red skirt. I could feel my underarms soaked with sweat, but hopefully my black top did a good job of concealing them. I looked down at my skirt wondering again if the skirt was too short for a prospective nanny to wear to her interview before I chided myself to calm down.

A nanny? In all my twenty-six years on earth, if someone had told me that I would be here today, I would have laughed at their face. But when I saw the ad in the Los Angeles Jobs Magazine with the ridiculously high pay and premium benefits last week Tuesday after Charity, my friend had called me about it, it was all I had been thinking of. The pay was crazy…really crazy. The conditions were super comfortable and I got to save for college. It was already too good to be true and the benefits were not exhausted.

The best part was I didn't have to stress David anymore.

David was my best friend and I have been living with him ever since I got kicked out of my apartment three months ago. He is the first child of four kids, and ever since his parents died in a car accident last year, he has been the one taking care of his siblings. Even though he never complained about how his expenses increased since I started living with him, I knew he had to be bothered. That’s why I am here, about to be interviewed for this job. I owe David so much already and I do not want to add more to my debt. A lot of bad luck has come my way throughout the years, but I have held my pride. This job would be a step to a better life for me. At least that was what my horoscope on the papers said yesterday.

Good things are coming your way from now on and you are going to find success and happiness in everything you do.

I just had to see it play out.

Some books from the secretary table fell with a thud on the floor which jolted me out of my reverie. I looked at my watch and sighed. I have been waiting for over an hour now. Either the boss I was about to see was the busiest man on earth or this was the sign of another bad luck that is waiting to happen. I looked around as I mentally prepared myself for anything that was to come. The lobby I was in was as wide as it was tall with floor-to-ceiling glass windows and magnificent art paints on the wall. It was obvious that Luca Parker, my prospective employer, was indeed doing very well for himself.

When I saw the ad, I had spent the whole of last weekend researching all I could about Luca Parker with my computer. And every page on him left me gaping. How could one man be so possibly smart and confident in what he does? And so handsome too just from his pictures? Luca, the CEO of Parker Tech, was one of those tech nerds who loved to play with computers and software. In his case, he was a genius who had the guts to take on new things that tech guys would never dream of doing. And that led to his first major contract with big companies such as Amazon and Netflix, when he was just twenty two years old. It had been seven years since then and he had gone ahead to launch several successful software that had changed the computer world and made him a well-positioned billionaire. Some people just have it all.

The only glitch on Luca's success story that I could find was a quiet divorce from a short marriage . It was from the marriage that he had a child, a boy called Tommy. A boy whose nanny I am going to be. Hopefully.

Let’s not get ahead of ourselves Darlene.

I didn't notice when the Secretary called my name until I heard her impatiently clearing her throat. I stood up immediately which made my bag fall on the floor, revealing its entire contents in the process. I could already feel my face getting red. Not a great sign.

Flustered and slightly mad at myself, I picked the bag and clumsily kept all my stuff — my lipstick, hand mirror, phone and files—back inside while apologizing. The Secretary, a huge dark-skinned woman with thick glasses probably in her early fifties, didn't say anything. Rather, she gestured that I followed her.

"Is he ready to see me now?" I asked before mentally chiding myself. Of course dumbass, he was ready to see you, my inner voice said to me. Why else is the Secretary taking you to his office?

I was relieved and mortified at the same time that the Secretary didn't bother to answer me but continued to lead me through a long corridor to his office after we entered and exited an elevator. My stomach was knotted with tension, my palms once again clammy.

I was qualified. I was qualified. I was qualified.

I repeated that mantra in my head to calm myself down. He saw from my application papers that I was qualified. That's why I was called to his office this morning. So there was no reason for this to go bad. None at all.

Suddenly, the secretary stopped in front of a double heavy wooden door. She rapped on it twice.

"Come in." A baritone voice boomed from inside.

I swallowed. Oh my goodness. This is it. This is really it.

The secretary opened the door and we entered. The secretary was already introducing me before I had closed the door behind me.

"Luca, this is Darlene Ortziz, the applicant for the nanny job that you asked me to call for the interview today."

Luca did not raise his head. His fingers could be heard as they clicked rapidly on his laptop.

There was silence for a full minute while I looked around at the office. Damn. It was so obvious that Luca had a taste for excellent wooden furniture. The tables and shelves where neatly arranged files were kept were made from the finest of timber. I couldn't take my eyes off them. I had a thing for wooden furniture and these pieces were so lovely, they took my breath away. The left side of the wall adjacent to where the Secretary and I were standing was covered with a flat-screen television. The other side was decorated with awards, certificates, and great paintings from famous artists.

The Secretary gave a discreet cough which brought Luca's head up.

"Oh you both are here.", Luca said as if he didn't hear when I was being introduced. He drew his chair back a bit so he could stare fully at me. I did all I could so as not to show that I was uncomfortable. I had straightened my usually unruly black hair with a hot comb and had dusted my face only with powder because the ad said applicants were not supposed to wear too much makeup. But still, I felt squeamish under his gaze. I couldn’t look him in the eyes, and had to look above his head instead.

"Mrs. Laura, you can leave now." He said to the Secretary, temporarily looking at her, and he went back to typing. Now that I was no longer under scrutiny, I was able to look at his face. Wow. The pictures I saw when I had browsed him online did not do justice to his appearance in real life.

His face was perfectly sculpted, with prominent cheekbones and evident Jawlines. His eyes were brown which reminded me of honey and they sparkled when he smiled briefly at Mrs. Laura. His blond hair was trimmed to his head with the sides around his ears and necks forming spikes. Like a Greek god. Or an angel. I don’t even think there’s a word to describe him.

Looking at him from the monitor of my computer, I knew he was good-looking. I had mentioned it casually to my friends. David had rolled his eyes while Charity had gushed over it.

But now that I was seeing that he was full-blown gorgeous, I felt unsettled as I tried to ignore the prickles of sexual attraction that I was feeling right now. There was a reason I had been celibate for the past two years and seven months and this sudden attraction to this powerful rich man that could be my boss soon would not do at all.

Mrs. Laura nodded, and while she passed, she did something that I didn't expect at all. She smiled reassuringly at me before she unlocked the door and left. So she likes me?

This day is off to a great start. I guess the horoscope was right yesterday. I had already passed one test. What could go wrong?