Page 62 of Surprise! I'm Engaged To My Boss
The sound of children's laughter caught our attention, and we turned our eyes to a small playground where half a dozen kids were playing. A little girl, about three years old, was climbing the stairs of a slide by herself and struck a brave pose when she reached the top, even though it was a small slide, perfectly suited to her size. It made me smile, thinking about how much I wanted to teach those little things to Alice.
My little girl had lost her mother when she was still so young. The little time I spent with Leah didn't give me much of an idea of whether she would have been a good mother or not. But, of course, that didn’t mean much. If Leah had known me better back then, she would have been sure I had all the potential to be a terrible father. But knowing about Alice changed me, and it probably had changed Leah too.
One thing I was sure of, though, from just a few exchanged emails: Leah loved her daughter and wanted her to have a father.
I would be that father. Nothing would stop me from that.
“Sorry, brother, but I have to go,” Logan declared.
I turned to him, seeing that he had his cell phone in his hand and was starting to get up.
“What do you mean? You haven’t even met Alice or Camila yet,” I replied.
“I'm sorry, Mike. It's from the hospital. One of my patients has had a relapse and is going to need emergency surgery, and I need to be there.”
“Isn't there another doctor who can do this?”
“It's complicated, brother. I promise there will be plenty of opportunities for me to meet your fiancée and my niece.”
“Maybe before her college graduation...” I replied.
But he pretended not to hear and, after giving my mother a kiss on the cheek and another pat on my back, he left. We should have been used to the fact that Logan never had time for his family.
I looked back at the children who were still playing, thinking that I didn't want to be like Logan... like our father used to be.
“Son...” my mother's voice reached my ears, but I kept looking at the children. “I never had false modesty, and I always thought that you could find pretty girls, but never any who were as beautiful as you. But I guess I was wrong, right?”
I turned my face towards her and noticed that she kept her eyes fixed on the entrance of the mansion. I turned towards it, understanding where that comment had come from.
And...Holy shit!
'Beautiful' would be a simple word to describe Camila. Especially at that moment, wearing a black dress with lace straps and her red hair tied in an elegant bun, with a few loose strands falling over her face covered in light makeup.
I couldn't take my eyes off her, completely spellbound and, to be honest, overcome with a crazy lust. I had a sudden urge to pull her out of that party and take her to my house, to my bed.
Of course, that unfortunately wouldn't be an option for me.
Chapter twenty-seven
MICHAEL
Camila stopped in front of a table at the entrance, probably having to give her name to a receptionist. Since my mother and I were already well-known figures, we had been allowed in directly without going through that procedure. Besides, everyone who arrived there had already been identified when their vehicles entered the condominium gate.
I noticed that even after giving her name—which should have been on the list, since I had informed the Harrises that my fiancée would be attending the party—Camila wasn't immediately allowed to enter, and the woman kept asking her more questions.
Suddenly, I was overcome with a surge of anger toward those damned snobbish millionaires and their rigid, inhumane security measures. The Harrises were the kind of people who lived in constant paranoia, always thinking they might be the target of a robbery, akidnapping, an assassination attempt, or something of the sort.
Ironically, their only daughter had died young, not because of any of the scenarios they so feared, but because she had left her parents' house emotionally distraught after an argument with them—and ended up causing a car accident that took her life.
In a way, the family's greatest and only tragedy had been brought upon by themselves.
Frustrated by all of it, I got up and walked over to her. When she noticed my presence, Camila turned her eyes toward me, and for a moment, we both stood frozen, locked in a gaze that made a few seconds feel like an eternity.
Until the receptionist’s voice reached my ears, snapping me out of the trance.
“Sorry, miss, I’ve checked again and the name is not on the list.”
That made my irritation come back, but I took a deep breath, trying to control myself. The girl was there working, she wasn't to blame for anything.
