Page 27 of A Baby Surprise For My Billionaire Boss

It was only then that Maddie realized the weight behind what she had said — the thing he might have heard. He might think that she had been implying, yet again, that there was something wrong with the way he was raising Charlie. He might think she was drawing comparisons between himself and her own father.

She put her wine glass down and leaned in, anxious to correct any misunderstanding. “I don’t mean to say that — well, I wasn’t trying to say anything, really,” she said.

Eli raised his eyebrows, looking faintly amused. “What is it you weren’t trying to say?”

Oh, hell. “I just mean that… we were talking about you and Charlie, and then we were talking about me and my father, and I didn’t mean to suggest that the two situations were the same.”

“No, it sounds as if they could hardly be more different, according to you!”

“That’s not what I meant.”

But he was smiling. “Don’t worry,” he said. “I’m not angry. You make a good point. I think so much about the things I want to provide for my son, but I sometimes forget that the most important thing I can give him is the memory of a childhood full of happiness. I want him to know that he was loved. It sounds like you never doubted that.”

“I never did,” Maddie agreed quietly.

“Thank you.” Eli’s tone was sincere. “Truly, I appreciate you sharing that.”

He reached out and rested his hand on top of hers for a moment.

Maddie breathed in sharply. What did this mean?

She should pull away from him — she should hurry up to her room, and never mind the wine and tiramisu.

She didn’t want to go.

She waited for him to break the contact between the two of them — but he wasn’t breaking it. It was almost as if he wasn’t even aware that this new line had been crossed.

What am I doing? For God’s sake, I could lose my livelihood over this. I could lose my place to live. What would I do then?

That realization broke through the cloud that had surrounded her thoughts. She removed her hand from his and got to her feet. “I ought to go to bed,” she murmured. “This was?—”

But she couldn’t think what to say. How could she describe it? What had it been?

Maddie turned and hurried away, but the feeling of palpable tension followed her.

CHAPTER 11

ELI

“You really don’t have to work all day?” Charlie asked, unable to disguise the excitement in his tone.

“I really don’t.” Eli could hardly believe it himself. It felt like he was forgetting something vital, walking away from work for the day like this, and yet it had been surprisingly easy to do. He had put his mailbox on do not disturb and arranged for his messages to be forwarded to his secretary and one of his associates. Between the two of them, they would be able to handle anything that came through, and he should be fine to take the day off.

A real day off. When was the last time he’d had one?

He wasn’t sure — but he was looking forward to it.

“Can we spend the whole day here?” Charlie asked.

“Maybe not thewholeday,” Eli laughed.

“But you don’t have to get back home for work!”

“That’s true, but I think you’d get tired if you were on the beach all day long.”

“I would not,” Charlie insisted. “I want to stay all day.”

“We’ll see,” Eli said. “We’ll see how you feel in a few hours.”

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