Page 31 of Broken Boss Daddy

Pausing my pacing, I faced her and took in her appearance and watchful eyes. Jessica had this amazing ability to calm me down in an instant. She’d done it the whole time we had been seeing each other, and she did it when we first met.

With her around, my worries about life and everything in between suddenly disappeared.

Sitting down next to her, I pulled her into my side and placed a kiss on her forehead. “I don't know why I’m so nervous.”

“Do you want to know what I think?”

“Always.”

She fully faced me. “I think you’re nervous because it’s your father and you want to impress him. You spent most of your time with your mom growing up, so you don’t know how to act around him and his family.”

“How’d you get to be so smart?”

“I went to school, dumbass.” Her cheekiness was a side I hardly ever got to see, but one that I adored. “Listen,” Jess continued, “I might not have had the same upbringing as you did, but family—blood or not—can be awkward and makes you want to pull your hair out in frustration. Yet, at the end of the day, it’s still family. If you try, they will try.”

“You’re right, and I know you’re right.”

“I’m always right.”

“True, and somehow you always know just what to say about this family stuff.”

The cloud that covered her eyes grew bigger, and I wracked my brain for what I could’ve said to bring it on. Jess pulled away from me, both physically and emotionally. The world suddenly felt so cold without her.

“Jess?” I called.

She didn’t answer. I had no clue what happened in the ten seconds between my comment and her reaction. What was I supposed to do to bring her out of wherever she’d gone?

A thought occurred to me. Well, more like I recalled something from our phone call a couple of days ago. “So, about your TV daughter. Do I get to meet her?” I joked hoping that she would find it as funny as I did.

Turned out, that was absolutely the wrong thing to say. Jessica looked at me like she had slapped her. Her expression was something I never wished to see again.

I didn’t know what to say. The joke was just that—a joke.Right?

Hastily standing up, I stared at Jess like I was seeing a completely different person. My words stuck in my throat. She couldn’t meet my gaze.

What the hell was going on?Surely, Jessica didn’t actually have a daughter. There was no way in the world that she would’ve kept that from me if she did. She wouldn’t do that to me…

Honestly, it would explain a lot—

“We should get going if we don’t want to be late.” Jessica interrupted my potentially deafening thoughts.

She reached for my collar and straightened it out, and it was like the past few minutes never even happened. Jess was back to herself, although still guarded, and I decided that there must’ve been something in the air to make us act so crazy.

Encircling my arms around her waist, I kissed her and told her for the third time that night that she looked beautiful.

When she blushed, I put all my worries away and told myself that it was Jessica and I trusted her.

I went in for another kiss but she pushed away from me. However, this time it was with a smile at my sullen face. “You’re not going to use me to get out of dinner.”

“Huh?” I was confused.

“Please, you’re telling me that sex wasn’t just on your brain?”

“Sex is always on my brain.”

“You’re such a guy.”

“Thanks. I hadn’t noticed.”

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