Page 666 of Hell Hath No Fury
Holding Georgie’s hand, he stood at his daughter’s side as the moving team organized her room. He’d paid for two services—moving their belongings and also unpacking and dressing the house. Moving from his apartment, he’d promised Georgie a whole new suite of furniture for her large bedroom, and this was the first time she’d gotten to see it in place.
“The ladies will hang the princess drapes you chose on the bed canopy,” Foster pointed out as the two women working on Georgie’s room unpacked soft furnishings. He’d asked for G’s room to be completed first. They’d get around to painting it whatever color she liked later, but for now, at least he could make sure her first night in her new home was as comfortable as possible. The furniture she’d picked out was white, and the small bed was fit for a princess with four posts. G loved every shade of purple, so the drapes, her bedding, cushions, rug, everything was in a variety of her favorite color. “Do you like it so far?”
Georgie stared around the room, looking bemused. An ache flared in his chest. Weeks ago, G would have been curious about everything in her room. But since Carolyn left for Paris, his daughter had been subdued. No wonder. What child wouldn’t be upset that their mother decided to accept a job offer on another continent?
Foster and Carolyn had argued, but there was no arguing with a woman who felt she was owed her chance at the life and career she wanted and would only resent G if she didn’t go forit. In the end, Foster decided he didn’t want Georgie around a mother who felt that way about her, anyway. But Georgie was five, old enough to realize her mother had left her, and too young to understand it wasn’t her fault. He could kill his ex for doing this to their sweet little girl.
Swallowing back his anger, he lifted G into his arms and turned to look out the window. Her bedroom had a large window with white shutters that looked down over their quiet neighborhood. The house was one of the largest on the street, really too big for just the two of them, but it was in a great area, and like the Bonets’, their house came with a pool. Georgie loved a pool.
“You can watch the world go by from up here,” he said. “I could put a window seat in so we can sit and read together. That sound good?”
G nodded, but her attention was focused elsewhere. Following her gaze, he tried not to tense because his daughter was sensitive and she’d feel the change in him.
But she watched the Bonet sisters. Colt and his fiancée and her younger sisters were still chatting in his driveway. Foster couldn’t help himself. His eyes automatically found Ember Bonet.
Now that he was gone, she’d come alive, gesturing with her elegant hands as the others listened to whatever story she told them. Colt and her sisters burst into laughter, and Foster wished the window was open so he could hear what she was saying.
He couldn’t believe his best friend, his business partner, omitted that the house he’d bought was next door to the Bonets. When he’d viewed the place the first time, there were no signs of the three of five sisters who lived there. The second time he viewed it, with Colt, again no sign of them, and the bastard hadn’t said a word.
What was he up to?
Was it because he knew Foster wouldn’t buy the house if he’d known Ember lived next door?
And not because he’d insulted her behind her back and she’d overheard and slighted him in return … but because he was pretty sure Colt could tell how attracted he was to the second-eldest Bonet.
From the moment they’d locked eyes at Colt and Jade’s engagement party, Foster felt drawn to her. It wasn’t like the normal attraction he felt toward a beautiful woman either. It was … it was like she had some magnetism about her. He’d found himself searching the party the entire night for glimpses of her, feeling something alarmingly like jealousy as he watched man after man invite her onto the dance floor.
He could tell she loved to dance.
And laugh.
She laughed a lot.
Full of joy.
And self-confidence.
It was an alluring combination.
And at eleven years his senior, single, never been married, a “lowly” Bonet who worked at a profession his father did not respect, Ember was as far removed from the kind of woman Foster was expected to date, and eventually marry, as anyone could be.
Foster couldn’t disappoint his family again.
Georgie depended on her grandparents more than ever, and a rift between them and Foster might mean she’d lose them. Moreover, while his business had taken off, there were no guarantees in life … except for the huge inheritance that would guarantee his daughter’s future. An inheritance his father would have no problem cutting him out of if he didn’t fall in line.
Reluctantly looking away from Ember, trying to ignore thoughts of her flashing, warm eyes and lush mouth, he said toG, “Why don’t we leave everyone to get on with the house and you and I go out for ice cream?”
G looked up at him with big, sad, dark eyes, the ache in his chest flaring again. “Can I get rainbow sprinkles?”
“Only if I can?” he teased as he nodded at the ladies organizing G’s room. They’d stopped dressing the four-poster bed to watch father and daughter walk by.
G snuggled her head against his chest. “Okay, Daddy.”
Her forlorn tone broke his fucking heart.
* * *
Later that night, G was conked out on her new bed after a day of Foster, Colt, and Jade trying to cheer her up. The engaged pair had decided to join them on their trek for ice cream, and ice cream had led to dinner and a walk along the pier. It was clear to them all that the new house really brought it home to Georgie that her mom was gone, that she and her dad were starting a whole new life without Carolyn.
