Page 1 of Smitten with the Single Dad

CHAPTER ONE

“Why do you have to leave us?” Aleysha asked with just a hint of a whine to her voice. Her smile was that of a tipsy woman who had enjoyed perhaps one too many white wines in the hot summer sun. “We’re a fun group. See?”

Vica smiled at her coworker, the only other female engineer in her department at Croft Engineering Ltd. “I know. I wish I was staying too. But this was just a one-year term, and the firm in New York is sponsoring my new visa. I need to go where the sponsorship is if I want to stay in the country.”

Aleysha pouted and sipped more wine, leaving a faint, dark-red lip print on the rim of the glass. She turned to Track, their boss and the son of the firm’s owner. “You’re the baby boss man. Why can’t you offer Vica another year? Sponsor her visa for a second term? She’s the best engineer this firm has ever seen. You’re idiots for letting her go.”

Brows around their tall table at the Westhaven Winery tasting room shot up to hairlines. Nobody spoke to Track Croft that way. Not even when drunk.

But Track brushed it off with a lighthearted laugh even though Vica could see the way the lines around his eyes remained tight like he was forcing himself to take Aleysha’s drunk tirade in stride, but really, he wanted to fire her ass for such insubordination. “You know I’m not the real decision maker,” he said, deflecting the blame to his father like he always did. “I might run our division,but Dad runs the show.” He turned to Vica, genuine remorse now coloring his dark-gray eyes. “I tried, Vica. I did. I wanted to keep you.”

The way he said “keep you” made something icy drip down Vica’s back. And given the heat of the August day, that was saying something.

Carefully, to not piss off her boss, Vica took a half-step to the side to put just a bit of distance between her and Track.

For the last year, he’d quietly pursued her while also flaunting his nightly, and weekendly, bedroom conquests in her face. He wasn’t a closet playboy with a “good guy” veneer. He was a rake and almost seemed proud of it. And yet, he still thought he deserved a shot with her.

She was grateful that he was her boss though, because it made for a very easy excuse to turn him down every time he suggested they go out for dinner or grab a drink after work. She simply said that she didn’t think it was smart to date her boss, and that she needed to focus on work and maintaining the respect of her coworkers. He never pushed, but he would wait a few weeks and then try again. It was exhausting deflecting his advances, but now that her job term was up and she was leaving Seattle for New York in two weeks, she figured a group outing was safe.

Track was kind enough to organize this goodbye party for her and their division. He paid for their ferry rides over to San Camanez Island, an island located just outside of Seattle, and he’d been covering the costs of all their excursions.

So far, they’d all been to the Twisted Sisters Cidery where they sampled flights of cider; then the Hardwood Distillery where they sampled various gins, vodkas, and whiskeys; and now they were at Westhaven Winery. Last on the docket was Sound Bites Pub, which was where the San Camanez Brewery was located.

Vica was not a big drinker—well, besides good Italian wine, because she was Italian and not liking wine was like not liking pasta—but an entire day filled with nothing but alcohol was not exactly her idea of fun.

Her coworkers, however, were a fun crowd, and she would be sad to leavethem. So she was grateful for this goodbye party, even if it was being thrown by her boss.

“New York is so smelly,” Hugh said, taking a sip of the Sauvignon Blanc from his tasting board. “I had to go once for a school field trip back in high school and all I remember was rats, garbage, skyscrapers, and way too many people. We went in the summer too, and the smell of hot garbage overflowing from a trash can is something that will be forever burned in my brain.” He made a face before reaching for an olive from the charcuterie tray.

Vica shrugged. “Well, I’m excited to smell it myself.”

Her other eight coworkers chuckled.

Aleysha wrapped her arm around Vica, pulling her into a side hug embrace, and a bit further away from Track. “Well, we’re going to miss you. It’s such a sausage fest in our division. It’s been nice to have another—”

“Taco in the mix,” Rhys said with a chortle.

Both Vica and Aleysha glared at the super socially awkward genius with an IQ of 170. Just because he was brilliant didn’t mean he wassmart.

“I was going to say, it’s been nice to have another woman on our floor,” Aleysha said, boring holes into Rhys’s forehead with her pretend laser vision of destruction.

Rhys, at least, had the decency to go a little pink in the cheeks and avert his gaze. He muttered a half-hearted apology, but anybody in a ten-foot radius knew he didn’t mean it.

Vica checked her smart watch. It was nearly six o’clock. She wasn’t sure what time they planned to head back to the ferry, but if she had it her way, she’d already be home, on her couch with her feet up and a good book in front of her.

“You have somewhere else to be?” Track asked, glancing down at her.

She smiled and shook her head, taking the smallest of sips from her Riesling. “No. Just like to know what time it is.” She motioned to his watch. “Just like you.”

He huffed a small laugh, then faced the rest of their group. “We’ll finish up here, then pile into the van and head to the pub.” He glanced back down at her. “Are you having a good time?” Casually, he flicked a swath of his dark-blond hair off his forehead. “I wanted to give you a proper send off. The team is really going to miss you.”

Vica plastered on a smile. “I am. Thank you, Track. You have all been so welcoming and kind. I’m going to miss the team too.”

“When do you start at your new firm in New York?”

“Two weeks. They are just finishing processing my visa. So I am going to drive. Road trip across the country and take my time. I want to go to the Grand Canyon, see the Rockies in Colorado, dip my toes in one of the Great Lakes, and see what all the fuss is about with thisChicago stylepizza. What is this deep-dish nonsense anyway?”

Track chuckled. “I dunno. I’ve always been a New York style guy, myself. You’ll have to let us know your thoughts.”

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