Page 2 of Daddy's Intern

“When I left, where did you go?”

I shake my head. “Not everyone runs away when things get tough, Tate. There was only Mom and me. There was nowhere to run.” I shrug, I wouldn’t have ran even if there was. “We got through it,” I tell him. “It only got worse when I moved away.”

It’s something that I feel guilty about. Had I stayed, maybe she’d have been okay.

“You’re telling me,” he growls. “That you had to take care of your mom without any help?” His words rumble in his chest.

I sigh. “There was no one to help,” I reiterate. “What’s done is done, but it still doesn’t answer my question. Why did you force me to take this job and make it damn impossible to find employment elsewhere?”

He shoves a hand roughly through his salt-and-pepper hair. The man needs to stop doing that, it’s such a sexy look that I can’t think straight when he does it. “Because,” he snarls. “I can. I’ve got meetings all morning. You are to be in attendance and take notes.”

I purse my lips and straighten my skirt. “Certainly.” I may despise the man, but I’m damn good at my job, and I’ll do whatever it takes to get it done. I can put the space between us and be professional when the time calls for it. “The meeting is for here, correct?”

His nostrils flare. “Yes.”

“Would you like me to get breakfast for the meeting?” I ask sweetly, my fake smile big and bright.

His jaw clenches as he watches me, his eyes narrowing at the corners. “Make sure you’re ready, the meetings in fifteen minutes. We’re already delayed due to your tardiness.”

Oh, he’s a fucking asshole. “I apologize again for being late. But I assure you that the meeting will run smoothly.” So long as I don’t stab him with my damn pen.

He takes a step backward, and relief washes through me. I can finally breathe again. “Get to work,” he snaps.

I give him a look of sheer contempt, curtsying slightly. “Yes, sir,” I reply, plastering on that beaming fake smile. I turn on my heel and exit his office.

Kill them with kindness, that’s always going to be my motto, and Tate King is a man that affects me like no other in more ways than one.

CHAPTER TWO

TATE

Two weeks later

Ihad thought that giving her a job would be somewhat helpful to her, especially in the situation that she’s in. Her mom is in assisted care, she’ll need the money from the job here to pay for that along with any other bills that may arise. But she walked into this office with an attitude while looking like every man’s wet dream. I wanted her from the moment I set eyes on her, and that was before I even knew who she was.

She’s the forbidden fruit, someone whom I can’t have, but yet, watching her flirt with those businessmen today was the last straw. There’s only so much a man can take, and Anna-Beth Winters has pushed me to the limit.

I watch as she leaves the office. My jaw locked, my fists clenched. Christ. The woman is driving me in-fucking-sane.

My cell rings, and I see that it’s Abel Yarding. A friend from college, one of the few that I call a close friend, one that I trust implicitly. “Abel,” I greet. “Everything okay?’

“Hey, Tate, are you busy? I’m in town and was wondering if we’d catch dinner?”

I glance at the clock on my wall, it’s just past six. “That I can do, give me an hour, where do you want to go?”

“Black Crow Brewing?” he asks.

That’s the bar that’s in town, it’s owned by Vivian Andrews, it’s a fairly new establishment, and Viv never fails to get a crowd in. Whether it’s pain and pint nights or a quiet night for drinks, the bar is always busy.

“You got it, I’ll meet you there in an hour,” I tell him.

It doesn’t take me long to go home and shower. My mind is constantly on Anna-Beth. She’s worked for me for a month, in that time, I haven’t been able to have one night where I haven’t woken up hard, with my hand on my cock, dreaming about her.

Christ. She’s my every waking thought. I want her. I don’t think that I have ever wanted anyone the way I do her.

Marrying her mom was a huge mistake. I shouldn’t have done it, I was twenty-four, she was fifty-six. It was fun, and somewhere along the way, we got swept up in it all and were married. By the time we realized what we’d done the ramifications were clear. If we ended, Belinda would be left alone, and her daughter would be also. I tried for six months to stay, thinking of ways that I could make it right. I didn’t love Belinda, I was infatuated, at twenty-four I wanted to rebel against my parents, and I wanted to teach them that they didn’t own me. That’s exactly what Belinda was, my rebellious stage.

Soon, Belinda started to lie, telling me things that hadn’t happened, going out and leaving her daughter alone and not coming home for hours, and then telling me lies. I left. I was done. I wouldn’t and couldn’t put up with it any longer.

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