Page 17 of Daddy's Unexpected Gift

There was a bit of a commotion off to my left, but someone always got a little drunk at these things. Especially if they had a private happy hour in their limo on the way over. Having big money didn’t always mean people knew how to behave appropriately. As if the money excused piss-poor decisions, like arriving at a charity ball buzzed. This was supposed to be a classy event, a fundraiser for friends of the children’s museum. And as such, those of us with deep pockets were invited.

Ignoring the commotion, I sauntered back to Maurice and Katherine, intending to make a financial promise that would either turn Maurice into my best friend for the rest of the evening or get him off my back. I hoped for the latter.

‘What’s going on over there?” Katherine asked as I held up the glass I brought back for her.

I glimpsed over my shoulder and shrugged. I didn't know and I wasn’t particularly interested.

Just then, a couple of loud women walked past us chittering about someone’s baby mama and how young women of this current generation have no sense of decorum. I shook my head. If there was a baby-mama situation going on, it probably had more to do with the lies the poor girl had bought than anything else. Probably, some guy made promises and forgot to tell his wife about getting his side piece pregnant, or he failed to make child support payments. Either way, it wasn’t something I intended on giving my attention to.

I was here to contribute and enjoy myself while doing so. Gossip wasn’t my thing.

Katherine’s fingers bit into my arm. “Sterling,” she hissed out my name through clenched teeth.

“Katherine, what’s the matter? Are you all right?”

“It’s that woman,” she said. Her hand tightened on my arm.

“What woman?” I twisted to look back at the area where the commotion was going on. Cecelia was storming toward me with Georgie in her car seat carrier hanging in her hand. “Crap.”

“You said she was your nanny. She is not acting like a nanny, Sterling. Is there something you need to tell me?”

I didn’t like the tone in her voice. She was accusing me of not being truthful. I didn’t like that very much, especially after she had already joked about the situation seeming a little too strange to be real.

I let out a long breath. “I’m not sure what you are insinuating, and I do not know why she is here. Excuse me,” I said. I adjusted my jacket and walked toward Cecelia. Whatever she thought was doing, it needed to stop right now.

“You need to leave,” I said as I approached her.

She stopped on the edge of the space between the tables and the dance floor. She glared at me and lifted the car seat out to me.

“Take Georgie and go home. We will discuss this later.”

“No, Mr. Alexander, we will not. We can talk about it right now in front of everybody, or?—”

I took the car seat in one hand and wrapped my other hand around Cecelia’s arm. I moved her out of the center of the event and toward the back wall. We were not going to do any of this with an audience.

“Get your hands off me.” Cecelia writhed in my grasp. She was soft, and my fingers bit into her arm deeper. “You’re hurting me.”

I released my hold of her. My intention wasn’t to hurt her, just to move her.

“What are you doing here?” I asked. “I said I would be back later.”

“I don’t know what you think my job is, Mr. Alexander, but I am not Georgie’s babysitter or her nanny. You overstepped.”

“I overstepped. My bad. I am kind of in the middle of something here. So, will you take Georgie back? I’ll give you the key to the penthouse. You can take her there where all of her toys are, and we can discuss this when I get back.”

“You keep saying that, but I don’t think you are actually listening to anything I am saying.”

“Sterling, do you want to tell me what’s really going on here?” Katherine joined us, a strained expression on her face.

I was not going to be pleased if Cecelia’s little stunt got in the way of my plans.

“Is it true, what I keep hearing? You’re the baby’s mother?” Katherine asked.

Cecelia let a rather unladylike snort out of her nose. “What? Are you kidding me?”

“Katherine.” I tried to keep my voice down. “I told you, she is from the agency.”

“I am not Georgie’s mother. Didn’t he tell you about the baby in the limo? I mean, you were there when he abandoned her with me.”

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