Page 86 of A Ticking Time Boss

I snort. “No. He’s as meek as a lamb.”

She frowns. “He is?”

“Yes. No, it’s not him. Or the Globe at all.”

“Then what? Do you not-so-secretly hate your birthday?”

“No.” I run a finger over her jaw and find the edge of her bottom lip. She’s soft, but deceptively so. There’s strength beneath it. “My dad sent me a text.”

“Oh?”

“It’s the first time we’ve had contact in years.”

Her mouth parts beneath my finger. “I’m sorry, Carter.”

“Sorry,” I repeat. Perhaps that is something to be sorry about, but I can’t find the emotion. “There’s a good reason we haven’t spoken.”

Audrey’s hands find the collar of my shirt, fingers curving around the fabric to rest against my skin. “Want to tell me about it?”

The smart answer is no. Especially not here, in my office, and not when I’ve barely leashed the irritation flaring up inside me.

But apparently I’m not smart today.

“He recently got out of prison.”

Audrey’s eyes widen, and there’s such shock on her beautiful face that I gently pull her hands away from my shirt. Grip the edge of my desk instead and put some distance between us.

“In prison?” she says. “You’ve never mentioned him before. Is that why?”

I think of her descriptions of her family. Of dentists and chiropractors and a brother she worries about. Retirement parties and vanilla ice cream. How different my story must seem to her.

“It’s one of the reasons, yes. He’s not a good man,” I say. Audrey says nothing, just looks at me with those big eyes of hers. My teeth grind together. “He travelled a lot for business when I was a kid. Only later did we realize, my mother and I, that he had another family. And that most of his business dealings were illegal.”

“Oh my God,” Audrey says quietly.

I run a hand through my hair. Of all the things I thought I’d be doing today, explaining my father’s sordid past was low on the list. “We haven’t met in almost a decade. Spoken only once, during his time in jail. And now he’s out.”

“Did he wish you a happy birthday?”

I snort. “Yeah. Probably the first step in his master plan of getting back in my good graces.”

“Hmm,” Audrey says. Her eyes are troubled, and there’s more on her tongue, but we’re not going into more detail here. I pull her close and kiss her instead.

“Thanks for the cupcake,” I tell her. “You should head back downstairs before my next meeting.”

Her smile widens. “Right, I should. I’ll have to sneak again.”

“Felt naughty, did you? Coming up to this floor.”

“Wildly so.” She looks over her shoulder toward the door, but it remains closed. “At first I planned a different surprise.”

“Did you?”

She nods and reaches for the neckline of her blouse, tugging it down to reveal the red, lacy detailing of her bra. “It’s a matching set,” she whispers.

I close my eyes and take a deep breath. “Go,” I say.

She laughs and heads to the door. “I’ll see you tonight,” she says. “And happy birthday again.”

---