"JESUS..." Ethan snapped, looking down, and making sure he didn't spill any coffee on himself. The chair spun around, and stopped facing him.

"Antonio, you scared the fuck out of me, what are you doing here?"

"This morning, I decided to stop by, and to see if you would like to get some breakfast, since you mentioned you would be starting around six in the morning, to catch up on these files." he says, pointing to the stack of folders sitting on the desk. "But when I pulled up to your house, I had a little surprise. I saw an extra vehicle sitting in the driveway, and started wondering...tell me, how long has it been going on?"

Ethan gulped a little, and tried acting like he didn't know what he was talking about "I have no clue what you're talking about."

Antonio lowered his head, shaking it a little, he knew Ethan was playing games with him, and all he wanted to know was, what was going on with them. He looked up at him, and leaned back in the chair "Ethan don't play stupid with me, I saw her car in the driveway, what was she doing there?"

"Who?" he asked, being a smart ass.

Antonio's head leaned back, and sighed "You know who... you know, Sadie is going to kill you."

Ethan swallowed hard; he knew he was done for, and smirked "Can I take you up on your offer about going to breakfast? I'm starving."

Antonio lowered his head, thought for a minute, then took another look at him "Is this funny to you? Not only are you hiding something from Sadie, you're trying to lie to me about it. You do realize that it would kill her, if she knew I knew about the two of you."

Ethan sighed "It's not what you think."

"Oh, I'm pretty sure it is. Her car wouldn't have been there that early in the morning, with all the lights off in your home. She came over after leaving our house, didn't she?"

"I have no idea what time she left your house, I was home, remember?"

"Quit playing games... OK, I guess that was a stupid question, since obviously she did. But what I would like to know is, why?"

"She came over last night, looking to play touch and tickle, hide the meat, you know..."

Antonio was getting frustrated, and began rubbing his face, all he wanted was for Ethan to be serious for a minute. "Yes... I know what you're trying to say. So, fill me in, how long has this been going on?"

Ethan took a sip of his coffee, then set it down on the desk "Let's get some breakfast, and we'll talk. I had a long night.... literally a long night." he smiled.

Antonio did all he could to keep his cool, knowing Ethan was trying to get out of telling him what was going on with them, not wanting him to be upset. Antonio stood up, and looked at Ethan "I'll drive." he said, firmly. They left the office; Antonio let the secretary know that he, and Ethan would be back in a little while, and to take messages. They then headed over to the A La Carte Café, a couple miles down the road, and while Antonio drove, Ethan tried cracking some jokes, wanting Antonio to cool down, and sighed when it wasn't working to well.

At the café, they grabbed their food items, and found an empty table away from everyone. Ethan sat, and immediately started scarfing down his food, while Antonio watched on looking disgusted. "You do realize you look like a damn pig, and a big-time fool right now... don't you?"

Ethan looked up, and looked at him surprised "What? I'm eating."

"My five-year old's don't even eat like a slob."

Ethan slowed down, stopped chewing, and leaned back in his chair "So, you really want to know what's going on... are you going to say anything to Sadie?"

Antonio huffed, and sat there for a second "I'm not going to say anything, but only if you promise, that the two of you will tell her yourselves, and that you keep me out of it."

Ethan sighed, leaned forward, and held out his hand "Deal, but what I can tell you is, it's over, it was only a onetime thing. We shared a kiss the night her car broke down, and yesterday, it sort of just happened."

"So... it happened, and now it's already over? So, basically... you used her?" he said, furrowing his eyebrows.

"No... I didn't use her." he snapped back, wondering where he got that idea from. He groaned, sighed heavily, and looked down at his food, thinking about Grace. "Grace is going to kill me if she knew that I told you." He looked up, and saw Antonio staring at him, and figured he better continue telling him everything.

He sat back in his chair, and crossed his arms. "It all started when I picked her up to get her car, we talked about the kiss, and I told her that it never should have happened. Next thing I know, she asked me just once, just once she wanted to know what it would be like, and got excited to hear her say that. I brought her home, and the hot dog found the bun." His mouth started to get dry, and took a drink of his juice. He lowered his head in his hand as he rested his elbow on the table, and pushed his food around with his fork "We then agreed to not say a word to Sadie, and that it was never going to happen again. Then, last night I was about to fall asleep, when she came knocking on my door, asking for one last time. Things happened between us, and we agreed that it would never happen again, and that it would be the last time. So again, the hot dog found the bun... then, I wake up this morning, and she was gone."

"So, you're blaming this all on Grace, is that what you're trying to tell me?"

"No, not exactly. I offered her at the shop if she wanted to come over for one last time, but she declined. So, I was a little surprised when she showed up at my door last night."

"You know, Sadie is going to be extremely upset."

"I know, but you both need to realize, we are grown adults who can make our own decisions..."

"Yes, that's true. But then again, this is her mother, and she looks out for the both of you. She worries that one of you will get hurt... but I do have to say, yesterday I noticed a glow in Grace, I just wasn't sure why."

"Nobody is going to get hurt, we made a choice together, and made a decision together, that last night would be the last time. I'll just continue to be myself around her, just like old times." he smirked "All we did, was satisfy each other's needs, since it had been a while for the both of us. We knew what we were doing, and I'm happy that I could satisfy her, and make her smile, she deserved it."

Ethan looked away, and thought about what Grace said to him "I can't let it continue anyway, I want kids Antonio, there's nobody left in my family, and I would like to carry on our name, sadly, Grace cannot give me that." His tone was soft, and sounded bummed. He was getting up there in age, and was hoping to start a family soon. He thought he would have had that by now with Melissa, had she not left him like she did.

"I really hope the two of you know what you did, because now that it happened, it could possibly cause one, or even both to get hurt, or even jealous of the other person, if they moved on with somebody else."

"We'll be just fine... I promise."

******

For the next few days, Antonio was having a hard time not telling Sadie, what he knew about Ethan, and Grace. As hard as it was, he kept his word. He knew Ethan was right, they're both adults, and are grown enough to make their own decisions.

Ethan had been staying late at work trying to get caught up, and kept himself busy with making deals. At times he still found himself thinking about Grace, and would smile.

Sadie began getting frustrated that she couldn't find the right nanny, and had been eagerly waiting to get back to work. She now knows, what Antonio was going through when he was looking for a nanny, and started thinking should I just do what Antonio did, and let it fall in my lap, the exact way that he found me?

She had another interviewee on the way over, and was feeling worn out. She figured if this one didn't work out, she was going to give up for a while, hoping that one would fall in her lap. Sadie heard Aria running upstairs, yelling someone was at the door, and stopped folding clothes, leaving them on the bed, and left the room. "Come with me." Sadie tells her, holding her hand.

Aria stood next to Sadie, while she opened the door. "Ilona?" Sadie asked.

"Hi, it's nice to meet you." she said politely, and looked down at Aria. "You're beautiful." she said to her, smiling. Sadie thought this was the best greeting that she has had, and opened the door further for her to come in.

Matteo ran out from the play room, and stopped when he saw someone he didn't recognize standing in the doorway. He slowly walked over, and grabbed Aria's hand "Come on, let's finish playing." he says, pulling her.

"Hello." Ilona says to Matteo with a smile. Both kids ran off, and left Sadie with Ilona. "That would be Matteo, he's my wild one." she giggled.

She brought her over to the table and had her sit down "Would you like something to drink?"

"No, I'm good. Thank you." Ilona sat at the table, and looked around "You have a really nice place here."

"Thank you." Sadie smiled, as she sat down. Sadie started with the interview, talked about their family lives, and how Ilona was raised. The more they talked; the more Sadie felt comfortable with her.

"We have eight kids, two are fifteen, two are nine, one is eight, and then we have three five-year old's. Those are the ones I need help with the most."

Ilona's eyes widened in surprise, and smiled "Wow! Two sets of twins and a set of triplets. I feel for you, that had to have been hard on your body."

Sadie didn't feel like discussing the oldest twins' real mother, being that it was irrelevant, but liked how sincere she was being.

"Yes, having all the kids was hard on me, and my body. And couldn't wait for them to be born... with the triplets, I felt like a whale."

"I bet." she giggled.

"So, the triplets all have different personalities, Matteo is wild, and loves to wander and explore, he is the one who you have to really keep your eyes on. Aria is a sweetheart, and loves to help with everything, she also likes to cuddle, and is always at your side. Then there is Carina, she's extremely shy. She plays well with kids, but doesn't like to talk much to adults. Occasionally she will become somewhat chatty, but not very often."

"That's good to know."

"Would you have a problem helping with any household chores? Meaning cleaning, as well as cooking meals, if I can't?"

"No, that wouldn't be a problem at all." she smiled.

"What about being a live-in nanny?"

"No, none. To be honest, my boyfriend and I of seven years, recently split up, and I have been in the middle of looking for an apartment."

Sadie was shocked to hear they were together for seven years, and never got engaged "Wow, seven years. That's a long time, and you have no kids?"

"Nope, no kids. He never wanted any, and I always did. That was one of the main reasons why I broke it off with him, I felt that seven years was long enough with no ring on my finger, and no kids."

Sadie felt for her, feeling she would have done the same as her, then took her around the house showing her all the rooms, then showed her down to where her room would be, if she were hired. She walked her back upstairs, and introduced her to the kids. "You already met Aria, and Matteo, but this here is Carina." Sadie says, walking over to her, picking her up, and carrying her over to Ilona. "Can you say hi?"

Carina buried her head into Sadie's chest, refusing to look at her. "We think she might have a slight form of autism, we're not exactly sure yet, and with her being only five, they won't do any tests on her. They seem to believe that she is just one very shy little girl."

"Awe, poor thing." Ilona said rubbing Carina's back gently.

"Eventually, she will get used to you once she gets to know you. Her Uncle who is here quite often, is an outgoing person, a clown, and a bit of a comedian. She's shy around him also, and will do what she is doing now. But somehow, he can always get her to come to him, and get her to laugh, and smile."

Ilona smiled "That's good, what's his name?"

"Ethan... just a little warning, he enjoys teasing people." she giggled,

Sadie continued showing her around, asking her more questions about her. Sadie liked her, and liked how she reminded her a lot of herself "How old are you again?"

"Twenty-eight." she smiled.

"And your boyfriend, or ex-boyfriend wouldn't become a problem by coming around here?"

"No, our breakup was mutual."

"I'm just going to go ahead and say it... You're hired." she said excitedly, feeling relieved to have finally found the right nanny, and held her hand out to shake "You can move in whenever you like, just let me know when you decide."

"Well, I can start moving in this weekend, would that be alright, or is that too soon?"

"It's perfect."

Sadie showed her out, noticed Ethan pulling into the driveway, and hoped Ilona got into her car, before Ethan got out of his. Thank God she sighed in relief when she did. She didn't want Ethan scaring her off before she even started.

Ethan noticed the girl, and kept an eye on her as he walked past her car, then noticed Sadie standing in the doorway "Damn Chica, who the hell was that hottie?" he asked when he approached her.

"She's the new nanny I just hired, and you better behave around her, I don't need you scaring her off." she says, shutting the door, and giving him a nudge.

"Re-e-e-ea-lllly." Ethan happily said, rubbing his hands together.

"Damn it Ethan, your acting like she's a piece of meat."

"I didn't get a good look at her, but what I saw me likey a lot." he grinned.

Sadie placed her hands on her hips, shaking her head, then looked at him curiously "What are you doing here anyway?" Sadie questioned.

"Antonio would like to take the girls driving again. They both did good the other day, and we figured out a system with them, so far, it's been working" Ethan looked at her curiously, then grinned "So, what can you tell me about her?"

"Why?"

"I'm just curious about her." he says, as he sat down at the table, and reached for the application that was sitting there in front of him "Is this hers?" he asked, looking at her name "Ilona... I like that name." he smirked.

Sadie snatched the paper out of his hand, and placed it on the counter "If you must know, she's twenty-eight, recently single, loves kids, and she reminds me a lot of myself."

"Me likey even more.... when do I get to meet this fresh piece of meat?" he chuckled, knowing that would get her riled up. "Ouch." he laughed, rubbing the back of his head, after she smacked it.

"You just never mind, you worry about helping those girls, and I'll worry about the new nanny."

Later that night, Sadie was in bed with the laptop on her lap, looking for jobs in the area that were hiring, and writing a few down on a pad of paper. Antonio rolled over next to her, and laid his head on her arm "If you want, you could always work for me?"

"No, I need something different, and there's no way I could work with Ethan every day. It's bad enough I have to deal with his crazy ass all the time at home."

"Oh, come on, he's not that bad."

"I know he's not, but he's a pig."

"Well... that's Ethan. Always wanting to make people laugh, sometimes he may go overboard with it, but he's harmless."

"Now you sound like my mom, she said that to me the other night... she even had the nerve to tell me that she likes it when he hits on her...I had to cover my ears."

Antonio sighed, knowing what he knew. He rolled onto his back, and looked up, remembering what Ethan told him. "You do know they're adults, and can do whatever they want. No matter how much you don't like it, and try to stop them, there's nothing we can do."

Surprised to hear him talk that way, she set her pen down, and looked at him confused "Is there something that you know, that I should know, and you're not telling me?" 

Dun dun dun... will Antonio confess?🤔🤔🤔🤔

Hope you enjoyed the mild chapter. 😘😘😘😘😘😘😘😘

Is Ethan ready for someone new or will he continue to fight for Grace?🤔🤔🤔🤔

Comments and votes?? Please do!😍❤😍❤😍❤😍❤