Page 1 of My Forbidden Holidate

1

Hayden

While the rest of my college class is getting ready to hit the streets and bar crawl the night away or have romantic, candlelit dinners with their significant others, I’m spending the evening with my employer’s daughter.She’smy Valentine this year. Making Valentine’s cards, talking about our perfect date ideas, setting up pink and white streamers and throwing sparkly confetti around her dining room.

A lot of my classmates would prefer finding love tonight, but I think I’m already in love with Star’s family. More specifically, with her dad.

And I’d give anything for him to be my real date tonight.

“Make sure you keep the confetti on the table, Star,” I remind her, knowing full well that she’ll likely track it all through the house by accident. Or on purpose. Kids like confetti and glitter.

“Yes’m,” the little girl mumbles, her forehead creased in concentration as she spreads confetti across the table with her tiny palms. “Daddy’s gonna be so surprised.”

Hereallyis. I was asked to stay late and watch his daughter Scarlet for a few extra hours until her grandmother arrives to relieve me, not cook him dinner and decorate for Valentine’s Day. But it’s hard to tell strong-willed Star no when she puts her mind to something this adorable…andif I get the chance to see Dan, I’ll gladly spend an extra hour cooking.

“Are you and your dad gonna watch a movie tonight, Star?” I ask, using her nickname. Movies are some of her favorite things, especially romances, and we’ve spent many afternoons with theHallmarkchannel.

Star wipes confetti off on her dress, spreading glittereverywhere, and doesn’t answer me. “Daddy should be home soon,” she mumbles, peeking down the hallway toward the front door. She must be really excited to show him the Valentine’s Day cards we made for him.

I cringe internally as I think of mine. Writingthank you for hiring me,felt fifty shades ofwrong,so I wrote something a little more heartfelt and signed my name…with a heart.Talk about cringe. If Mr. Willows didn’t already know I was barely in my twenties, he would now.

No one sophisticated puts aheartby their name when signing a card. I might as well turn on a spotlight that saysI love youand shine it in his eyes.

I groan internally as I imagine him reading my card. What if he thinks it’s cute and sweet that I’m crushing on him?

That would break my heart.

The front door unlocks with aclickand swings open, and Star immediately gasps and rushes down the hall. “Daddy!”

I smile as I turn to serve spaghetti onto two plates for them. There’s no way I’m inviting myself for dinner and setting a third plate, but I pull out a third plate for when Star’s grandmother arrives. A nice family dinner sounds perfect, and I’d never want to get in the way of that.

Besides, I remind myself,you have a date tonight.

Part of me deflates at the reminder. A blind date in a college town. What could go wrong?

Star boldly leads her father to the kitchen and exclaims that we cooked dinner and made Valentine’s cards and can’t wait to eat chocolate, too.

Dan’s already stripped off his jacket, leaving his broad shoulders in view as he loosens the tie around his neck. The pale blue button down contrasts all the pink in the room and makes him stand out even more.

Tall, dark, anddelicious.

I notice a bouquet of gorgeous red roses in his hands and my heart stutters as it overflows with forbidden desires. I imagine him coming hometo me, roses in hand, love in his eyes as he backs me into the countertop to shower me in kisses and soft petals.

As I drink in my fantasy and my eyes lock onto the tiny triangle of exposed chest beneath his tie, his gaze flickers over to me and catches me in the act. I force a smile to stop from drooling at my employer and quickly pull the garlic bread from the oven to keep myself busy.

“Star, you know we talked about this…” Dan’s plush lips pull into a frown, and he kneels by his daughter’s side. “I can’t stay for dinner tonight. Daddy’s got plans, and Grandma is gonna spend some time with you.” He kisses her cheek when she looks like she’s about to cry. “I really appreciate the effort you put into everything, and I promise to watch a movie with you tomorrow night, okay?”

“Ms. Moona made sketti,” Star mumbles dejectedly.

“Did she, now?”

I try not to eavesdrop, but it’s impossible not to when the man of my dreams is ten feet away.

“Yeah, and I thought…” Star shuffles her weight from foot to foot as she gathers her courage. “… if we made sketti, you can stay home. You can date Ms. Moona and not go out with some other lady. You like Ms. Moona.”

My face burns as I hastily swipe spaghetti off the dinner plates and back into the pot, since dinner clearly isn’t happening.

He likes me.I feel like a schoolgirl repeating the phrase over and over in my head and writing our names in hearts in the margins of my notebook.

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