Page 43 of Secret Baby Daddies
I let her slip away so she and Susie could hug and commiserate for a few minutes. I could hear them both sniffling and when I glanced up from my phone I saw it was Harley who was holding the older woman, comforting her when her own eyes were squeezed shut in pain.
Feeling helpless and needing to do something, I slipped into the front of the shop and called my assistant. As soon as Andreaanswered I quietly told her what I needed and hung up before she could ask any questions since Harley was heading my way.
“Do you need to get back to work? I can just…” She looked around and her shoulders slumped. “I guess I should…”
I slipped my phone back in my pocket and cupped her face.
“Why don’t you come to the office and check everything out? Who knows? Maybe you’ll see the sterile work environment of a huge corporation and fall in love.”
That earned me a small smile. She bit her lip and shrugged. “I don’t have anything else to do. I haven’t thought about school in days. Maybe I should just drop out. Without the shop, I just don’t know…”
School? She hadn’t mentioned anything about that and I wondered what it was about. I pressed my thumbs under her chin to tip her head up and force her to look at me.
“You’re not making any decisions today. You’re going to be a good girl and let me take over for a while. I know this is outside of sex but I think you could use someone else taking control right now.”
Her eyes were full of confusion and pain as she searched mine.
“Okay.”
I gently kissed her and stroked her cheek.
“We’re going to surprise Luc at the office. He’s in the middle of a meeting and I think it’ll be funny to see him get flustered when he sees you. Then we can stop by Maddox’s office and piss him off by leaving before he can get his hands on you. Then I want you to sit in my office with me while I do some work. I’ll have lunch brought to you and I have another surprise coming that I think you’ll like.”
She sighed and turned her face to caress her cheek against my palm.
“Okay.”
“I’m going to take care of you, little girl.” I took a deep breath and hoped she didn’t notice the way my hands shook. I knew it already but seeing her sad had me realizing just how much I’d do to make her happy. It was a scary thing to know there was no limit to what I’d do for her.
CHAPTER 33
Harley
Each time my brain started down a dark path of despair Jace was there to distract me. In the car, it was with a hand sliding up my thigh. When we walked through the lobby of their massive office building and I started to panic when I realized it wastheiroffice building, as inthey owned the whole thing, he quickly pulled me into his arms and kissed me. I heard at least three people gasp and forgot all about my financial panic.
“It’s not as big as it looks.” Jace looked down at me and winked. “Unlike other things I own. Those are definitely as big as they look.”
Despite my impending emotional breakdown, he made me laugh. I looked around and felt a sense of confusion when I saw the faces of the people coming and going around us. That confusion grew when I watched people greet Jace with smiles and nods. It was clear he was the boss but it was also clear the people passing us were genuinely pleased to greet him. In all the times I’d gone to Dad’s office when I was growing up, I’d never seen an employee look happy to see him. The entire environment had appeared stressful and plagued with darkness.
A smiling security guard greeted Jace and smiled at me.
“Ma’am. Welcome to Silver Tower. I’d offer you a tour but I think you’ve already snagged the best tour guide we’ve got. Although this guy usually looks a lot grumpier…”
Jace tucked me into his side and grunted.
“Bobby, this is Harley. Harley, this is Bobby. He’s probably the worst security guard we could’ve hired but he just refused to go away until we gave him a job.”
Bobby’s grin stretched wider.
“Boss, you’re going to let your friend think you’d leave her security to an idiot?”
I looked up at Jace and saw him fighting a smile. He reached out and slapped the other man’s arm.
“Harley is more than a friend. You’ll be seeing her around a lot. On the ranch, too, so if you’re out there with your brother you’ll probably see her.”
I blushed when Bobby’s eyes widened. I held my hand out and blushed even harder when he took it and kissed the back of it.
“Um, wow. Nice to meet you, Bobby.”
