Bimbo Babysitter
The wrought iron gates loomed taller than any Sophia had ever stood beneath. They suggested both security and power. Ivy curled through the metal like it had grown there for generations, as if even plants had pedigrees in this neighborhood. Beyond them, the drive slithered toward a house that didn't just sit on the hill--it ruled it.
Sophia adjusted the strap of her tote and took a breath. She didn't belong here. That thought looped in her mind like a broken record. Her scuffed flats crunched on the gravel as she approached the callbox. Her fingers hovered.
"Just press it, dammit."
She wasn't timid, not really. Just careful. She'd avoided the traps so many freshmen fell into--no parties, no useless electives, no debt for things she didn't absolutely need.
Babysitting some silver spoon-fed nepo-baby for a couple of disgustingly rich socialites? That, she needed if she wanted to pay her way through college.
Still, her eyes darted around as if someone might scold her. The neighborhood was a parade of privilege: white stone walls, manicured hedges shaped like chess pieces, and not a single car older than three years. Even the silence felt expensive.
She caught her reflection in the polished brass intercom.
Unremarkable. That's how her aunt Diane often described Sophia. Pretty, but like a daisy--bland, forgettable beside the roses. Brown hair in a no-nonsense braid, minimal makeup. Swaddled in a beige cardigan, a pleated skirt that reached past her knobby knees. Bony hips, pale skin, no curves to speak of, so she hid under unflattering layers.
If her cousins were blossoming into young womanhood, Sophia was a stunted weed.
But she was there out of a steel sense of resolve. And resentment. Resentment at the ignominious fate of spending her twenties accruing student debt.
She exhaled and pressed the button.
Static. Then a sultry voice purred, "Yes?"
Sophia straightened. "Hi. Um--hello. My name is Sophia Mendel. I'm here about the babysitting position?"
A pause. "Of course, Sophia. Come on up the drive. We've been expecting you."
The gates opened.
Sophia stepped forward. The house was three stories of sprawling grandeur, all cream stucco and French windows, framed by climbing roses in full bloom. The lawns and manicured gardens were immaculate.
She could do this.
The ad had been posted on a campus job board. A powder-pink sheet with fancy curling font that caught the eye. It whispered of money. The hourly rate was absurd. Even a dozen hours a week could net Sophia a debt-free future.
As she passed into the shadow of a stone portico, the front door swung open.
"Sophia, welcome! Please do come inside, sweetie!"
The vision of beauty greeting Sophia was not what she expected.
She'd imagined someone older, more refined. Pearls. Garden parties. But this woman looked fresh from a fitness shoot, with her glowing skin, slender limbs, sumptuous curves and glossy amber hair piled in a stylish quaff.
She was lean, stunning and...
young.
Perhaps only a year or two older than Sophia's eighteen years.
A barely-legal knock-out attired in a short tennis skirt and crop top which clung to her covergirl figure, exposing a swath of toned midriff. White sneakers with a slight wedge heel and frilly socks completed the country club look. An elaborate gold necklace glinted at her throat, dragging the eye to her sumptuous chest with the inevitable pull of a gravity well.
Sophia froze, suddenly stricken by feelings of inadequacy.
"Yes--uh, hi," she said. "Sorry. I thought I'd be meeting, um, someone older. Mrs. Hapsburg?"
"Bless your heart. I get that all the time. And yes, I'm Adrianna Hapsburg. Come in, sweetie!"
Sophia hesitated, then stepped inside. The foyer was twice the size of her dorm suite--marble floors, a chandelier, faint scents of citrus and lavender.
Adrianna shut the door. "You're right on time. I was playing a few sets with Hubby dearest. He has so much energy these days. It's tough to keep up, but what can a girl do?"
She shrugged with a coy smile before strutting forward, her sensual hips swaying.
Sophia's brain snagged on
Hubby dearest.
Adrianna didn't look old enough to rent a car, much less be married or own this extravagant home.
Adrianna glanced back. "You okay, sweetie? You look like someone dumped cold water on you."
"Oh no, I'm fine," Sophia said quickly. "I just didn't expect... I mean, you're very... young."
Adrianna laughed. "Aren't you a doll? Thank you, but I'm older than you think. Healthy living and a positive attitude, that's my secret. We girls must always put on our best face for our menfolk, no?"
That last part hit Sophia in the chest.
Best face...
Adrianna had nothing to fear there. She was sculpted perfection. Smooth skin, high cheekbones, kissable lips--airbrushed into existence. A modelesque beauty like her wouldn't have been out of place on a yacht cruising the Mediterranean. Her hoarfrost blue eyes rimmed with thick lashes were almost too much.
Sophia could lose herself in them.
"Sweetie, you're staring," Adrianna teased. "I must look a fright after tennis." Not a hair was out of place.
"Now, I know you're dying to see the nursery--what woman wouldn't? But alas, my precious lamb is sleeping." She sighed dramatically. "Instead, let us adjourn to my parlor and discuss renumeration, responsibilities, and the terms of your employment."
"T-terms?" Sophia blinked. "Beg pardon? I'm only here for an interview--"
"Of course you are, sweetie!" Adrianna linked arms with her. "And you're doing fine. What are you studying?"
"Early childhood education."
"Wonderful! Teaching is a respectable role for an
unattached
young lady. Come now. I'll give you the tour, then tea. If you're still interested."
Sophia nodded, clutching her tote tighter.
Still interested?
If Sophia could earn even a whiff of the abject wealth on display, she'd be
committed.
________________
"This is Hubby's smoking room." Adrianna pushed open a heavy oak door, and a different world unfolded before Sophia. "You will not enter unless invited."
The room was drenched in masculinity. From the rich, wood-paneled walls to the burnished leather wingback chairs gathered near the fireplace, every inch had been crafted to project old-world refinement.
The fireplace, carved from sandstone with a mantle the color of aged bone, housed smoldering embers. Above it, a portrait hung in a gilded frame featuring an older man with tugsten gray eyes, a swarthy build, and a sly smirk.
Sophia took a tentative step inside. The air was infused with scents she couldn't quite place--cigar smoke clinging to the drapes, a trace of brandy, leather polish, and something else... something heady, primal. A musk. Subtle, but undeniable.
It should have been off-putting. And yet, something about the smell pulled at her. Soothing, nostalgic.
Then she saw the hunting trophies.
A stag's head, antlers sprawling like a crown. A boar's snuffling snout. The glassy eyes of a fox caught mid-snarl. Dozens of them. Frozen expressions of animals long since silenced, their deaths mounted as macabre dΓ©cor.
Sophia's stomach twisted. She quickly looked away, willing her features to remain neutral.
However, Adrianna noticed.
"Your reticence is understandable; they scared me at first, too. You get used to them after a while," she rolled her eyes, wrapping a supportive arm around Sophia's waist. "Men and their trophies, am I right?"
Trophies...
The word sparked a haptic tingle in Sophia's brain.
Adrianna was a trophy. A picture-perfect housewife who dressed like a country club member and played tennis all day and called strangers "sweetie." She didn't have to worry about silly things like studying or paying the rent.
Sophia gave a weak laugh as her gaze slid back to the lion. There was something about it--too lifelike, too knowing. She pulled the cardigan closer around her skinny frame.
"Well," Adrianna said, breezing toward the door, "you won't spend much time in
here,
anyway. Unless you're a fan of boring business talk and taxidermy."
"Not especially," Sophia murmured, following her into the corridor. "What does your husband do, besides hunting big game?"
"Hubby mostly complains about inflation when he isn't acting as the research executive for Grayson-Nixon pharmaceutical. He's something of a genius. The luckiest day of my life was when he scooped me up and told me to be his."
"He... told you? Just like that?"
"Oh yes, sweetie. Real men--powerful men don't dither or question. They
command."
Adrianna waxed nostalgically, her hoarfrost eyes misting. "I was like you once, steeped in the foolish notions the self-proclaimed adherents of progressivism force-feed us. Then Mr Right walked in off the street and
poof!
None of it mattered anymore."
Sophia frowned; something about that felt wrong, though she couldn't pinpoint what exactly. "Walked in off the street?"
"That's the funniest part." Adrianna giggled. It sounded nice. "I used to work at a diner. Can you believe it? Me. Slinging burgers. What was I thinking?"
That
was
funny. As the door closed behind them, Sophia allowed herself to giggle too. Felt good--a release of tension.
The aroma of musk and old smoke still clung faintly to her clothes as they moved on.
She couldn't shake it off.
________________
"Here we are. Much better than that stuffy smoking room, don't you agree?"
The parlor was very...
pink.