Meanwhile with Jack

While they were at the secret house, Jack was stuck at home with the babysitter.

Her name was Chloe. She was twenty-five, with light brown hair that she usually kept in a loose ponytail and a face that was just pretty enough to be distracting. She had a nice figure, the kind that filled out jeans and simple tops without trying too hard, with a solid chest and a tight waist that Jack had spent way too much time noticing over the past year. She wasn’t model-level hot, but she was the kind of attractive that made it hard to look away when she bent over or stretched.

Jack hated that his parents still made him have a babysitter even though he had turned eighteen two weeks ago. It was embarrassing. Chloe knew it was embarrassing too. She treated the whole arrangement like mild babysitting duty mixed with mild suspicion, like she half-expected him to try something stupid the second his parents left.

Which, to be fair, he kind of wanted to.

Right now she had him sitting at the dining table with his laptop open and a half-finished assignment in front of him.

“You’re not done yet,” Chloe said from the kitchen. “Your mom specifically told me to make sure you finished that paper before you messed around on your phone all night.”

Jack groaned and slumped in his chair. “It’s not even due until next week.”

“Don’t care. Homework first.” She walked over and tapped the top of his laptop. “Get it done.”

He scowled up at her. She was standing close enough that he could smell whatever light perfume she was wearing, and it only made the whole situation more frustrating. Hot babysitter forcing him to do homework like he was still fifteen. Perfect.

He tried to focus on the screen for another minute before his eyes drifted back to her. Chloe had turned away again and was wiping down the counter, the movement making her shirt shift against her back.

“You’re staring again,” she said without looking up.

Jack’s face heated. “I’m not.”

“You are. You’ve been doing it since I got here.” She glanced over her shoulder at him. “I’m not dumb, Jack. Cut it out and finish your work.”

He clenched his jaw and looked back at the laptop, annoyance and embarrassment twisting together in his chest. This was so stupid. He was eighteen. He shouldn’t still be getting bossed around by a babysitter, even if she was hot.

Something sharp and frustrated clicked in his head.

Before he really thought about it, he muttered under his breath,

“Stand on one leg.”

Chloe paused. Then, without any comment, she lifted one foot off the floor and stood there balanced on the other, still facing the counter like nothing was strange about it.

Jack froze.

He stared at her. She just… stayed like that. Wiping the same spot on the counter while standing on one leg.

His heart started beating faster.

“Spin around,” he said, a little louder this time.

Chloe turned in a slow circle on her planted foot, then went back to wiping the counter, still balanced on one leg.

Jack’s mouth had gone dry. He sat up straighter in the chair.

“Hop,” he said.

She hopped once in place, still on one leg, completely casual about it. Her boobs bouncing.

A disbelieving grin started pulling at his face. This was real. This was actually happening.

He leaned forward, eyes locked on her.

“Cluck like a chicken.”

Chloe immediately started making quiet clucking noises while still standing on one leg and wiping the counter. She didn’t even look embarrassed. She just did it, like it was the most normal thing in the world.

Jack had to cover his mouth to keep from laughing out loud. This was the dumbest, best thing that had ever happened to him.

He watched her for another few seconds, then decided to push it a little further.

“Shake your butt.”

Chloe started swaying her hips side to side in a slow, awkward little wiggle while still balanced on one leg and clucking. The movement made her jeans pull tight across her ass, and Jack felt his face get hot all over again, but this time for a completely different reason.

He was practically vibrating in his chair now, grinning like an idiot.

This changed everything.