Hiring a nanny with zero experience, zero references, and zero enthusiasm for childcare?

Obviously, I've lost my mind.

But Dr. Erica Grant—awkward plant scientist extraordinaire—needs money. And I desperately need someone to watch my daughter while I rebuild our lives in my brother's small town.

Because two years ago, everything fell apart. And I'm still trying to protect my six-year-old from the fallout.

Erica was supposed to be temporary. Professional. Safe.

Except she's brilliant with botany, hopeless with humans, and somehow the first person to make my daughter smile in months.

She's also distractingly beautiful in that completely-unaware-of-it way that derails every professional conversation I try to have.

The plan was simple: keep it professional, heal, focus on my daughter.

But then came that accidental kiss.

Now I'm falling for the nanny who treats people like they're more dangerous than any lab experiment—who's built a life around apples and science because it's safer that way.

She won't tell me why she keeps the world at arm's length. But I recognize those walls.

Because I've built the same ones.

She's convinced she's not cut out for this. For us. For the risk of letting someone in.

But maybe two people who've learned to protect themselves are exactly what each other needs.

And I've got one chance to prove her wrong.