Page 98 of My Lucky Charm

She needs to focus on work, and so do I. End of story.

So, I plug my phone in and turn it over on the nightstand, preparing myself to spend an entire day on her Chicago tour tomorrow without letting myself imagine it’s a whole lot more than just business.

Chapter Twenty-Five

Gray

Iwake up five minutes before my alarm goes off, as usual.

I’m up before the sun, and I workout while Scarlett sleeps. By the time I’m done with my shower, I find her sitting on my bed watching television.

“Hey, Scooter.”

She makes a face at me. She secretly loves all of the nicknames I give her, I know it.

“Do we get to see Eloise today?” she asks.

“I think so, yeah,” I say. “She’s going to take us on a tour of Chicago.”

“Cool!” She grins. “I like her.”

“Yeah,” I say, pulling a hoodie on over my T-shirt. “She’s great.”

Really great. I like being around her. I’m not sure what to do with that.

“You like her too,” Scarlett says without looking at me.

I frown. “Yeah. I just said she’s great.”

She tosses me a knowing look. “But you like her.”

I laugh. “Uh, she’s my assistant.”

“But you think she’s pretty, right?”

I almost blurt out a heck, yeah. But I stop myself from saying anything. It must’ve been too long of a pause.

“Dad?”

“She’s my assistant.”

She rolls her eyes.

I give in. “Yeah, of course she’s pretty,” I say. “But lots of women are pretty.”

She squints at me. “Lots of women don’t make you smile.”

I stop moving and meet her eyes. “I think you’re seeing something that’s not there.”

“I think you’re not seeing something that is there.” Scarlett shrugs and goes back to watching her show as if she hasn’t just said something profound.

I sit on the side of the bed, realizing she might get attached. If she does, it could hurt her to realize that I have no plans to date my assistant, no matter how pretty she is. And while Scarlett has always been an old soul, she is still a kid, and I don’t want anything in my life to hurt her.

“Listen, I know you like Eloise—”

“She’s so awesome,” Scarlett says wistfully.

I smirk. “You just met her.”