Page 21 of Daddies Dark Desires (Forbidden Fantasies)
HARPER
God. Finally! I actually have some serious work to do. It’s been a week, and we’re officially past the point of studying our onboarding materials and learning the computer systems. Although Sunny got the hang of the systems before anyone else.
Innocent and sweet, the moment her fingers touch those computer keys, she completely transforms into some tech genius. I love that side of her. She loves that the other interns come to her for advice and help. Especially the tall, lanky one with the thick glasses.
She’s swooned at me several times about how he likes to put his hand on the back of her chair and lean over her shoulder. How he smells like the woods outside her house and that he’s got very nice forearms.
That girl is crushing hard.
I might be having a similar problem. A bigger problem. Because it’s not the interns that have caught my attention. It’s not even any of the guys in the bullpen.
It’s Grant, Trent, and Oliver.
They hover. Minimally engage. But they’re attentive in a way that used to make me nervous.
Now, it’s filling my journal up with fantasies.
The only way to distract myself is to throw myself completely into the files on my desk. I have a stack of at least twenty to peruse today, to generate profiles based off a mix of new and old information and to help assess a current threat to one of the firm’s clients.
I haven’t found anything helpful necessarily. I mean eliminating suspected threats is something, but it’s not the same as discovering something useful to stop whoever it is that’s causing problems.
At least they’re letting me use my brain. If I had to read another pointless memo about security protocols, I would have gone crazy. Shrieking, banshee, crazy. I don’t think poor Lenny would be able to handle that.
Grant, however, might. He’s my supervisor’s supervisor, and I know I’ve sent Miles to him more than once due to my attitude and legacy status.
I’m halfway through the stack they gave me this morning, and my desk is a complete mess. The new file I grab sends a slip of paper to the floor between my mini cubicle and Sunny’s. I get being an intern and having limited space, but it’s so easy to get crowded in here. I might have to buy some moveable shelving to keep organized.
It might just save my sanity. And make me more mobile.
Miles also isn’t a fan of my tendency to wander. He won’t be able to stop me once I have my own cart.
I bend to grab the fallen paper, but Tony, the other analyst intern, picks it up and hands it over.
It’s thicker than I thought. Photo paper.
Turning it over, I sit up, nearly toppling the contents of the folder in my hand.
It’s a picture of my dad. He’s in profile, a phone to his ear, short-cropped hair half gray. Dad wore his favorite field jacket—heavy enough to be warm but light enough not to slow him down. A deep navy blue that helped him blend into a crowd.
The background is blurry. Taken with a telephoto lens.
I swear my heart has stopped. The ache in my chest, the stab of fear and longing, it pricks the back of my eyes with tears.
Tony clears his throat, hand hovering like he wants to brace me for a fall. “Hey. You okay? You’ve gone a little pale. Need a snack? A drink?”
Blinking a few times, I shake my head and wave him off with a small smile. “No. No, I’m fine. I can wait until lunch. Thank you.”
Tony lingers like he doesn’t believe me. I’m acting strange. But who could blame me? I’m never subdued or polite.
Tamping down my sass has never been a strong suit of mine. So, I shoo him away harder. “Go on. Back to work. Don’t hover.”
That finally cracks the worry lining his features, and he scoots off to his own mini cubicle.
Sucking in a slow breath, I tuck the picture between my keyboard and monitor and turn back to the file in my hand. Why was my dad’s picture in this file? What does it mean?
The words swim in my vision, and I slowly lift my gaze back to the picture of my father.
I miss his face. Miss seeing it every day. Miss making him laugh and call me a little monster. Miss reminding him that he made me this way.
