Page 63 of Tempted By the Bosshole

I hang back while he sticks his head inside. Then he turns back with a grin. This is an emergency, but he’s smiling about it? I’m getting suspicious. My birthday was last week. Isabella and I celebrated, but…

“All clear. Looks like they’re ready for us.” Josh enters the room and sets the coffee on a table near Chad and Savannah.

As I fall in behind him, I stop. The office is covered in streamers and balloons. And why do I see bottles of champagne everywhere?

“Surprise!” everyone shouts.

“Happy birthday!” Isabella all but bounces up to me, full of excitement. “We got you, didn’t we?”

Grousing, I set the coffee cups aside and send her a gruff smile. “Yeah, baby girl, you did.” I drop my voice and whisper in her ear. “We agreed we weren’t making a big deal out of my birthday. I’ll punish you for this later.”

Her grin widens. Yeah, she’s not afraid of me at all. Minx. “I’ll look forward to that. For now, everyone is here to celebrate you, except Steve and Laurel.”

“It’s been a cold as fuck winter. Maybe should have taken the Caribbean cruise with them.”

“And miss this?” Isabella shakes her head. “Surprising you was priceless.”

Chad shakes my hand and wraps an arm around his wife. They look so fucking happy, and good for them. I used to be jealous, but now…

I drag Isabella to my side and kiss her temple. “Thank you all for thinking of me.”

“Oh, this isn’t just my doing,” she says.

Josh claps me on the back. “Gotcha.”

“Bastard. You should have been an actor.”

“Go to Hollywood when I can stay here and yank your chain? Never.”

Marcus crosses the room with Kate. Despite being a big bastard, he moves almost silently and sticks out his hand. “Happy birthday, man. You twenty-nine again?”

I laugh. “The twelfth anniversary of twenty-nine, sure.”

“Josh and Marcus understand,” Kate swears. “They’ve been celebrating the anniversaries of their twenty-ninth birthdays, too.”

“You’ll be doing that soon, too,” Marcus points out.

Kate bats him away with a roll of her eyes, but she smiles when he brings her in for a kiss while Josh swats her ass playfully.

Suddenly, Doug and Julia appear in the doorway. Instinct makes me stiffen, but I have to give my old pal credit. He’s bent over backward to make amends with Isabella. They’ve had some hard conversations. After a lot of tears on both sides, they’ve been healing and rebuilding their father-daughter relationship. Accepting our marriage has taken Doug some time, but he’s come a long way.

Even Julia and I have had some brutally honest talks and realized we were better as friends. As spouses, we wanted different lives, and both of us kept hoping the other would bend, despite the fact we’re stubborn. Since we’ve cleared the air, things are better. Being around these two has gone from something I did my best to avoid to actually pleasant.

“You two came?” I hold out my hand to Doug, then brush a kiss to Julia’s cheek. “Thanks for giving up your Valentine’s Day.”

My ex-wife smiles. “Izzy called and invited us. I’m happy to celebrate you.”

“Besides, we have news,” Doug says. “Julia and I have hired a surrogate to carry a child for us. They took one of my wife’s eggs and my sperm and implanted it…and it took! We should be parents by Halloween.”

“Congratulations!” I tell them. I mean it sincerely. Yeah, I could remain bitter that Julia put off being a mother for a decade and lied to me about it, but I’ve realized that, despite the pain, this outcome is best for everyone.

Or it will be as soon as Isabella is pregnant.

Our New Year’s Eve was an absolute sexfest. I did everything humanly possible to breed my wife. Even if it didn’t work, that was still one of the hottest nights of my life, but I’m hopeful. Isabella hasn’t had a period all year, hence the home pregnancy test I brought in the plastic bag. Which I left in the break room, damn it. I’ll grab it shortly.

“Oh, Dad,” my wife croons. “I’m so happy for you two!”

“Thanks.” He hugs his daughter. “This time, I’m going to do fatherhood right.”

---