Page 20 of Daddy's Unexpected Gift

If someone at work told him where I lived, I was going to pitch a fit. That was information that they should not be giving out.

“I was running out of time,” he practically snarled. “Wayne did a reverse look up or something. He got your address off the internet.”

“Look, I get it, taking care of Georgie is more complicated than you expected. But taking shortcuts that interfere with other people, that interfere with my life, isn’t going to help. Maybe I would have been available to help out tonight if you'd asked. But you didn’t. You can’t do that to me. I will not put up with it. Georgie is your responsibility, not mine.”

“I overstepped,” he admitted.

“Thank you for saying that.” We were both quiet for a long time after that. The wind was sucked out of my indignant sails. Saying he'd overstepped was a gross understatement. I would never get an apology out of a man like Sterling Alexander. An admission of action was the best I was going to get.

He tightened his arms around me, and I rested my head on his shoulder. This was far too comfortable, far too exhilarating.

“Having Georgie in my life has been more challenging than I could have anticipated.”

I didn’t say anything, letting him talk.

“I wasn’t prepared. Nothing could have prepared me for learning of Argene’s death. She was so young and vibrant. She was so much younger than me. I had no idea that she had a child. I’m only willing to admit I don’t know what I’m doing because it’s completely obvious.”

His words were low, soft murmurs against my cheek. I wanted to lean into him. Anything to get closer and let those whispers of breath become flutters of his lips against my skin. I couldn’t, shouldn’t be thinking these thoughts I was having about him and his lips and my body. I needed to be professional.

“I know having Georgie is hard. If it’s too much, you need to let me know. Ideally, she should stay with you, but if you cannot, are not capable of caring for her, you need to tell me. Think about it over the weekend. We can find a foster situation for her until her bio-father is located.”

“What happens if he isn’t located?” His voice was rough.

“She’ll be placed with an adoption agency. It’s not what her mother wanted, but if that’s what’s best for the child, that’s what we need to do.”

He stopped dancing and glowered at me. His arms caged me in. “No.”

“Trust me, it’s better that she be raised by people who want her around, and not someone who considers her a chore.” I pushed out of his embrace and looked around to see if I could find the woman with Georgie. They were sitting at a table. Georgie had the woman’s earring half in her mouth, half in her fists. The woman smiled and had all of her attention on the baby. They were fine.

I put my hand on Sterling’s chest. He wrapped his warm hand over my fingers, and I felt that touch in my core somehow. My throat went dry. This whole situation was hard.

“Good night, Sterling. I’ll see you in a few days. We have another appointment, unless you want me to have someone else assigned to your case.”

“No.” His thumb skimmed back and forth over the back of my hand. “I don’t need someone else assigned to my case. I’ll see you.”

I walked away. When I crashed into the party earlier, it was so obvious to me that’s what I had to do. But this felt wrong. Leaving him like that seemed wrong. I stopped at the valet desk on my way out.

“Could you please call a car for Mr. Alexander? He’ll be leaving soon,” I asked as I handed over the ticket for my car.

I took one of the many twenty dollar bills out of my pocket and waited.

“Thanks.” I handed over the tip as the valet held my door open for me. I looked back over my shoulder, seeing if I could get one last glimpse of Sterling in a tux before I left. I didn’t see him. There were too many people between us.

11

STERLING

As I stood there in the middle of the dance floor with couples swaying around me, watching Cecelia walk away, I became aware of several things all at once.

Failure was not an option, and I was currently failing Georgie. I was failing the memory and trust of my sister. Argene had wanted me to take care of Georgie. Me. I had been named. It was not some throwaway line in a request to send her to family but a specific request that I be the one to take Georgie should anything happen to Argene and the father not be located.

But Georgie’s father’s name wasn’t provided. Was Argene keeping Georgie from him? Did I need to protect the child from her other family? I couldn’t protect her if she was put into foster care.

I wasn’t going to let that happen.

I watched every swaying step of Cecelia’s hips until she was obscured from view. I hadn’t even glimpsed at Katherine as she had left the party. I wasn’t even disappointed that Katherine was no longer coming home with me or even an option for future potential interactions. But I felt a sense of loss with Cecelia gone.

Quickly scanning the event, I located Robin and Georgie and strode over to them.

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