Page 26 of A Baby Surprise For My Billionaire Boss

“You’ve worked all day,” Eli said. “I can do the dishes. Come and have a glass of wine with me.”

He was doing this more and more often — offering to open a bottle of wine for her at the end of the day, or inviting her to sit down with him as he ate a late dinner. It was something Maddie had come to enjoy, but she also knew that she probably shouldn’t be doing it as much as she was. She should tell him no, but she couldn’t seem to bring herself to do that, because the truth was that she wanted that experience. She wanted him to come home in time to see Charlie, but at the same time, she wanted him to come home after Charlie was in bed so that the two of them could spend time together.

Maddie had also noticed that Elineverworked as late as he once had these days. Even on the nights when she was sure he must know he was going to miss out on seeing Charlie, he was making an effort to get home earlier.

She could only think of one possible reason for that — it had to be because he wanted to spend more time with her.

She took a seat at the table, feeling slightly uneasy about the choice she was making but incapable of choosing anything else. Eli went to the fridge and pulled out a bottle that was shorter and narrower than a standard wine bottle.

He noticed her looking at it. “It’s a dessert wine,” he explained. “I don’t always like these, but as a special treat, they can be really nice.”

“Are you supposed to have dessert with it?”

“Yes. I brought home a tiramisu.”

“You did?” She hadn’t expected that at all.

Eli pointed to a bag on the counter that he must have brought in with him — it hadn’t been there before, but she hadn’t noticed itwhen he had come in. “I had my assistant pick it up and bring it to the office for me,” he said. “One of the nicest in the city. Have you been to this restaurant?”

She checked out the logo on the bag. It wasn’t a name she was familiar with. “I haven’t.”

“I’m going to have to take you sometime,” he said.

Maddie didn’t know quite what to say to that. Having a glass of wine at the end of the day was one thing, but was he talking about taking her out to a fancy dinner? Surely that was crossing the bounds of professionalism.

If Eli was aware of it, he showed no sign of it. He cut into the tiramisu and put pieces of it onto plates. He placed one of them in front of her and gave her a fork. “I hope you like it,” he said. “It’s supposed to be the best around.”

She waited while he poured the wine. “The truth is, I don’t think I would know a good tiramisu from a chocolate pudding,” she admitted. “I haven’t had it more than twice in my life.”

“Oh. You’re not a fan?”

“It isn’t that,” Maddie said. “It’s just not something that we really did in my family. My mom’s idea of dessert was a fruit salad with some whipped cream — which I also really enjoyed — so we didn’t have decadent stuff like this.” She took a bite and then sipped the wine. Eli was right — the two did pair well together.

“What about your father?” Eli asked.

Maddie shook her head. “He was more of a dessert guy, but he died when I was fourteen.”

“Oh, Maddie. I’m so sorry. I didn’t know.”

“No reason you would. I never brought it up to you until now.” She shrugged. “It was a long time ago. I don’t think about it as much as I once did.”

“But you do still think about it?”

“I’ll always think about it, to some degree. He was my father. He meant everything to me.”

“You were close, then?”

“Very close.” She hesitated. It was a difficult thing to talk about, even now. “He was my biggest fan,” she said. “My biggest supporter. When I used to talk about my plans to become a dancer, Dad was always the one who told me I could do it.”

“You said it took your parents a while to get on board with the idea.”

“That was mostly my mom. Really, Dad was with me from the start. He told me I was the world’s best dancer and that I could do anything I wanted to do — things that obviously weren’t exactly true, of course, but when you’re a little girl and your father tells you that you can do no wrong, you believe it.”

“I’d imagine,” Eli said quietly.

“I couldn’t be more grateful for everything he gave me,” Maddie said. “If not for my dad and his influence in my life, I don’t think I would have been brave enough to pursue a career in dance in the first place. And even though I wasn’t able to make that dream come true, the amount of time I spent trying is something I’m not ever going to forget. The training I got from it has been invaluable. And then there’s just the relationship I had with my dad. That’s been one of the most important experiences of my life. I don’t know what I would have done without him.”

Eli was quiet, staring into his wine glass.

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