Page 72 of Baby For The Billionaire Silver Fox

“Yes, a rom-com. Gotta love those happily ever afters,” he said with a small smile.

I poked him in the side. “Don’t make fun of my favorite genre.”

He stood up and said, “It’s late. I have to go. I’d try to make out with you, but it doesn’t feel right with all the army men watching us.”

I glanced at the army men I’d lined up on the old desk facing the bed. “Nobody wants an audience.”

“Do you work tomorrow? If you don’t, can we meet for coffee? Maybe you can talk me down from pounding Cyrus Walker.”

I knew he wanted to talk about this some more. “Sure, I’ve got a late start. I have a theory about Cyrus which we can discuss tomorrow.”

“Good night then.”

I reached up and took his face in my hands, and gave him a single kiss.

“Dan, I’m only going to say this once, but I mean it. Thank you for your service.”

He hesitated. “I imagine I’m going to hear that from loads of people.”

“Your time of service was more than that one tour. You served your country. You did your part to keep it safe, and you can be proud of that.”

I closed the door behind him and went back to Buddy. I dropped to my knees and stroked the sleeping dog, further digesting what Dan had told me. What an amazing man. He wasn’t perfect, and he was kind of complicated. But he was honest, sincere, and a good person. Who could blame me for loving him?

And that was the truth of it—I loved him.

- 26 -

Dan

Ienteredmylivingroom and shrugged off my coat. Damn, Nicole was good at getting me to talk. I’d shared a lot with her since she’d been here, which wasn’t my usual deal. She’d listened with kindness and compassion and could ask pointed questions in a way that didn’t put a person on the defensive.

I wasn’t sure why I’d told her all that. I held my personal stuff close. The therapist even had a hard time getting me to open up. Perhaps I was testing Nicole.

I threw on some sweats and opened a bottled water. Maybe I was showing her all the cracks in my armor to see if she would run away. Hell, I was probably doing some self-sabotage shit on purpose to give her another reason to move on to her next nursing gig.

I shook my head. That was crazy. Why would I want to drive her away? I stared at the TV clicker in my hand without seeing it. The answer was that I was afraid to screw this up. She meant so much to me.

My doorbell dinged, and I jumped. With Nicole on my mind, I rushed to answer it.

It wasn’t Nicole. It was Mandy. My heart sank.

“Mandy. Is something wrong?” I asked.

She came in and unbuttoned her coat. “I was feeling a little down and wanted some company. Is that okay?”

“Come in,” I said dryly, as she had already come in and arranged herself on the couch. “Drink?” I asked.

“Whiskey, please.”

I raised my eyebrows. “Since when do you drink whiskey?”

“Since I got so lonely,” she said, looking me straight in the eye as she crossed her legs. Her blouse was very low cut, and her push-up bra had her breasts almost spilling over the top. Or maybe she’d had a boob job. I didn’t know or care.

I brought her a whiskey, and she downed it like she was doing a shot. She scooted over to sit right next to me. “I’ve missed you.” Her fingers traveled down my arm. “My, you’ve certainly gotten more muscular. You feel good,” she purred. Her hand continued to travel down to my lap. “I could make you feel even better.”

I hip-checked her and stood up abruptly. “Mandy, it’s not going to happen.”

Anger flashed quickly across her face before she replaced it with a sad look, complete with a few crocodile tears.

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