Page 18 of Off Limits Daddy

She smiled, but there was hesitancy to it. I had a feeling she wasn't here to give me good news.

"I’m sorry to just drop in, but I need to talk to you about Aiden."

I opened the door to let her in. "Sure thing. Do you want some coffee or something?" I shut the door behind her.

She shook her head and bit her lower lip. I got the feeling she didn’t like what she had to say, either.

That gave me an unsettling feeling. "What's going on? Is everything all right with Aiden's case?" It would be just my luck that some relative would pop up somewhere and want to take him from me. Perhaps it was selfish, but Aiden was mine.

She rubbed her temple and then looked up at me. "My supervisor has decided that Aiden would be better off with another family."

My gut clenched. "Like hell he would." Perhaps that wasn't the best answer to give her, but I was what was best for Aiden. I had no doubt about that.

"This is out of my hands. She feels under the circumstances, since he's so withdrawn and emotionally closed off, that he would do better in a two-parent family, especially one in which the mom is at home."

"Are you buying that bullshit? Or did I somehow wake up in 1950? I am an approved foster parent. You placed him with me."

She nodded. "I know. And I don't necessarily agree with my supervisor?—"

"Then don't do this. You're his caseworker. You know that I'm good for him." To be honest, I wasn't sure she knew that. We’d had only one other visit before this. But she wouldn’t have placed him with me if she didn’t think I was good for him.

"I did, but my supervisor has the final say about these things. I'm really sorry, Mr. Ashford."

Inside me, anger and fear coiled in a toxic brew. I couldn't let them take Aiden from me. "All this because I'm not married?"

She nodded.

"Then why did you even license me as a foster care parent? Why did you say that I could adopt him?"

"It isn't a policy that single men can't adopt. It's just that my supervisor feels in Aiden's case —"

"I heard you. She thinks he'd be better off with a stay-at-home mom. She's wrong."

She opened her mouth to say something, but another knock came on the door. I hoped to hell that it wasn't her supervisor.

"Just a second." I made my way to the door, which wasn't far because we hadn't gotten beyond the foyer. I looked through the peephole and was surprised to see Agent Veronica Marsden standing on my doorstep.

At first, I panicked. I had this idea that Social Services would for sure take Aiden away if they knew an FBI agent wanted to talk to him. But then I realized she would want to talk to him no matter who his parents were.

And then, a most brilliant idea popped into my head.

I opened the door, once again greeting with her with my signature smile. "Hey, babe, I wasn't expecting you." I stepped out the door, forcing her to step back, which she did with a quizzical expression on her face. I wrapped my arm around her and hugged her closely. Her hands came up, pressing against my chest.

"If you go along with this, I will do anything you want. You name it, it's yours," I murmured as I leaned in and kissed her cheek.

"You don't have anything I want." She wasn't struggling, but she clearly didn't want to be caught up in my embrace.

"Is everything all right?" Ms. Thomas watched us from the open doorway.

I was about to either fuck everything up royally or salvage my adoption of Aiden. I smiled as I turned, keeping my arm wrapped around Veronica. "Everything is just fine. Ms. Thomas, this is my fiancée, Veronica."

Next to me, Veronica tensed.

The social worker's brows drew together. "You're engaged to Agent Marsden?"

My smile faltered as it hadn't occurred to me that the social worker would know Agent Marsden.

I nodded. "Yes, she comes to my gym. It was love at first sight, wasn't it, babe?" I looked down at Veronica, hoping that she saw the pleading in my eyes and that she'd go along with this.

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