His Nanny Mate (Moana and Edrick Morgan) novel Chapter 89

#Chapter 89: Art Lessons

Moana

As I walked around the room and helped the children with their art, I suddenly heard the sound of the floorboards creaking in the doorway. Thinking that it was Sophia coming to check on how everything was going, I looked up with a smile.

That smile quickly faded, however, when I realized it wasn’t Sophia, but was in fact Edrick who was standing there. He had an indiscernible expression on his face and stood as still as a statue in the doorway with his hands in his pockets, his eyes locked on mine for several long, palpable moments.

Was I seeing things, or had the cold Alpha billionaire finally realized the fault in breaking his promise to his daughter?

But before I could even process the fact that he apparently seemed to have changed his mind for whatever reason, Ella snapped her head up and gasped loudly.

“Daddy!” she exclaimed, jumping up out of her chair and running up to him. “You came!”

Edrick put on a smile and scooped Ella up, hugging her tightly and planting a kiss on her cheek while the other children also threw down their paint brushes and ran up to him. “Mr. Morgan!” they shouted excitedly, jumping up and down on their toes as they swarmed around him. Much to my surprise, Edrick set Ella down and then proceeded to greet each and every child… By name, no less.

“Hello, Clara,” he said, pinching the little girl’s cheek. “Hello, Matthew. Nice shirt you’ve got on today. Joshua…”

While all of this went on, I just stood there in a state of abject shock with wide eyes and an open mouth. It seemed that the Alpha billionaire changed his mind after all and wound up keeping his promise to his daughter; that didn’t mean that I wasn’t still furious with him, not only for initially breaking his promise but also for reeking of women’s perfume and being passed out drunkenly on the couch, but my attitude softened toward him a little bit as I watched him being so kind with the children.

Finally, Edrick stood and looked straight at me. “Am I interrupting an art lesson?” he asked.

“Um… Well—” I stuttered, still taken off guard.

Before I could get my words out, thankfully Ella stepped in. “We’re painting flowers, daddy,” she said, grabbing his hand and leading him over to her work station while the other children returned to their paintings.

“Oooh.” Edrick stuck his hands in his pockets as he peered down at his daughter’s canvas, which contained anything but a flower at this point. “That’s very good, Ella,” he said.

Ella grinned. “Are you gonna paint with us?”

“Oh, honey, I don’t know…”

“Pleeease?” Ella begged, clasping her hands together.

“Yeah,” Joshua added, “that looks like a… hm…”

“It looks like a hot dog! With hair!” Ella yelled, causing the children to erupt in a chorus of giggles. I finally walked over and looked down at the painting; it did, in fact, look like a hot dog with hair. The ‘stem’ of the flower was thick and red, and the ‘petals’ were just big brown swirls that resembled a mop of curly hair. If he’d added a bun and a smiley face, and maybe some arms and legs, it easily could have been a children’s cartoon character.

Stifling a laugh, I opened my mouth to tell the children to be nice… But before I could, the Alpha billionaire threw his head back and laughed loudly, slapping his paint-covered hand on his apron. His laughter caused the children to laugh even more, and even brought a smile to my face; I wasn’t sure if I was smiling more because it was funny, however, or if I was smiling because it made me happy to see the cold werewolf CEO so full of joy.

“I guess you’re right, now that I look at it,” he said finally, wiping away the tears that formed in his eyes from laughing so hard. “I guess I’m not an artist, am I?”

Edrick then turned to look at me. His steely gray eyes, which had just been full of mirth, softened as we looked at each other. I could sense an apologetic air about his expression, and it made my heart flutter a bit.

“Well,” I said finally, clearing my throat, “everyone can be an artist with plenty of practice.”

Edrick nodded. “Maybe my skills will get better with more of your lessons, Miss Moana,” he said.