"No. Grace will be coming home with us right now."

I turned to see Corbin, with his wife standing behind him. "Is something wrong?" I asked.

Corbin leaned in and hissed at both of us. "Everyone in the room is talking about you two. How you're stealing my daughter away because I was Dan's pick for office manager, not yours."

I had to choke down a laugh. "That makes no sense. I was going on the first vacation I had taken in years, and I told Dan that whoever he picked was fine with me."

"It doesn't matter. People are talking. About how you realized you needed a trophy girlfriend to go with your shiny bank balance, and picked the first girl you came across. All sorts of ridiculous things."

I turned to see Grace's eyes filling with tears. "Do you want to get out of here?" I asked, trailing my fingers against hers. She pulled them away. "I should go home with Dad," she said softly.

They vanished into the crowd before I could stop them.

I've always hated social events, but this was officially the worst one ever.

Corbin had always been an ass kisser. I was a little surprised that didn't extend to being happy that his daughter was dating the head broker, to be honest.

I understood that the age thing was a bit of a hard pill to swallow, for a father. But he knew me. He genuinely knew that I was a good man. If it weren't for the money, the position of power, and the age thing, he would be delighted that Grace was dating someone like me.

Someone tapped my shoulder, and I was pulled into yet another round of conversations I didn’t care about with people who didn't matter.

All I could think about was finding a way to make Grace understand that I was hers, if she still wanted me. Other people's opinions weren't important.

Even her father's.