The mate of his nanny

Chapter 166: Regular Girl

Moana

The next morning, I woke up to the sound of Edrick walking around the room. When I looked at the clock, I realized that it was a little later than I usually would have gotten up, and I quickly sat up and rubbed my eyes.

"Sorry," I said, throwing the covers off and getting out of bed. "I overslept. Guess I missed my alarm."

Edrick shook his head. "I turned it off for you," he said as he fixed his hair in the en suite bathroom mirror. "I let you sleep in."

I scrunched my eyebrows together. "Why?" Normally I woke up a full half hour earlier than this so that I could help prepare breakfast and get Ella ready, and sometimes I woke up even earlier than that.

"We're going out," he replied. "School supply shopping. Remember?"

My eyes widened for a moment. Edrick had mentioned that we would have to do some school supply shopping, but I didn't think that he would want to do it so soon. Either way, I smiled and ran to my room to get ready for the day. I put on something comfortable to wear, knowing that we would likely be walking around a lot, and then got Ella ready as well at Edrick's request. Ella was, of course, excited to go school shopping for the first time, and hardly sat down long enough to even eat her breakfast.

"I can't wait to be a regular girl," Ella suddenly said as we gathered our things and waited for the elevator to open. "I'll be just like all of the other kids!"

At Ella's words, Edrick and I both suddenly looked up at each other with incredulous looks on our faces.

"You are still a regular girl, love," I replied with a chuckle as I tugged her sun hat onto her head.

"I know..." Ella said. "But I'm still excited."

I smiled and took her hand, then stepped onto the elevator with her and Edrick. As the elevator carried us down, I chanced a look over at Edrick. I could have sworn that I saw a bit of a tear in his eye, but he quickly blinked it away and just smiled at me instead.

We headed to the mall, where our first stop was at a children's store for Ella. Even though she would be wearing a uniform at school and there was no need for new clothes, she still picked out a backpack, accessories, and a little pair of Mary Jane shoes to wear with her uniform. I was excited to see how cute she would look in her uniform, and I couldn't wait.

Afterwards, we went to the office supply store. I helped Ella pick out notebooks and folders off of the list of supplies that the headmistress gave us. Edrick disappeared for a bit, then returned with a cart full of stuff.

"Woah!" Ella said, jumping up on the side of the cart to peer in. "That's a lot of stuff."

Edrick simply shrugged. "There's a sale," he said, jabbing his thumb over his shoulder in the direction of the art supply aisle. I peered into the cart as well to see that he had fully stocked up on dozens of containers of crayons, coloring books, miniature canvases, acrylic and watercolor paint sets, and more.

"This might be too much, Edrick," I said with a laugh. "She's just one kid."

"It's not just for her." He grinned. "You'll need supplies for your classroom too, right? And, I wanted to get something for the kids at the orphanage."

My eyes widened at the Alpha billionaire's sudden charity. He certainly didn't need to buy anything for the kids at the orphanage, but he decided to do it without even being asked. I couldn't help but smile; he had changed so much since I had met him. The Edrick Morgan who I knew when I was almost hit by his car on the city street was gone now, and I didn't know where he went. It was almost as though he was replaced by this newer, kinder Edrick Morgan.

"That's... very kind of you," I said with a smile. "But you don't need to buy my supplies for me. Let me buy them with my own salary."

Edrick was silent for a moment. I could tell that he was about to refuse, just as he always did; but this time, I wouldn't let him. Ella had jumped off of the cart to go and look at a colorful notebook on the shelf, and now I grabbed the end of the cart and tugged it lightly toward myself.

"Seriously, Edrick," I said with a bit of a laugh. "Let me pay."

Edrick narrowed his eyes and tugged the cart back toward himself. "No. I'm paying."

Now, I was the one who narrowed my eyes, and I pulled the cart even harder and with more determination than before. "Edrick Morgan, let me pay for these supplies."

The smile on Edrick's face turned to a frown, and maybe he was a little more determined than I was. He tightened his grip on the cart, then yanked it back toward himself. "I won't let you—" he began, but then his eyes widened and his voice faltered as I lost my balance from the cart being yanked away and suddenly fell backwards.
I started to fall, my arms windmilling at my sides as I tried to balance myself, but it was too late. I nearly landed on my butt on the floor.

But I didn't fall.
Edrick moved like a flash of lightning, faster than I had ever seen him move before. He raced around the cart and caught me. I let out a small gasp, more so at his speed than the fact that I was about to topple over two feet onto my bottom on the carpeted floor, and looked up at Edrick with wide eyes as he held me.
His eyes were glowing; he had used his werewolf abilities to catch me, even though I wouldn't have hurt myself at all.

"I... Um..." I stammered. Edrick was looking down at me with intensity, his arms wrapped tightly around me. I thought I even saw his eyes flicker down to my lips, but I couldn't be entirely sure. All I knew was that, even though I would have been fine if I had fallen and I had only lost my balance, he had gone out of his way to catch me. And now, for some strange reason, I felt Mina get excited inside of me and urge me to kiss him again. The taste of his lips from the night before still lingered on my tongue, and I felt my heart rate quicken as I imagined kissing him again...

"Woah! What happened?" Ella said, dropping the pile of colored pencils and shiny notebooks in her hands as she ran over to us. "Moana, did you faint?"

I shook my head, snapped back to reality by Ella's voice. Edrick stood me upright and let go of me. He quickly averted his gaze, but I thought I saw him blush a bit.

"I'm fine," I said, smoothing down my skirt. I spotted the pile of discarded things on the floor and pointed to them. "Ella, don't make a mess. Pick those up."