I'm raising someone else's kid. My sister's daughter, and where I thought I'd never make it as a single father bachelor, I was wrong. This little girl has my heart. And only her. Until a stray dog happens upon my place and we're forced to call a vet. And a beautiful woman showed up. I didn't believe in fate. But it seems to believe in me. The beautiful woman who helped us out with the dog shows up again later on a blind date across the table from me. And I'm sold out for her before I realize what's happening. Pulling back is my only hope for survival. After losing my sister, I'm far more protective of me and her little one. But it's a losing battle. No way I'm going anywhere, until I'm forced to. It would seem I have a kid of my own in the world. Maybe this is the breaking point where I can walk away from the all-consuming passion of my new romance. Because I'm good with giving my time, my body, and all of my money. But to her? I've accidentally given all of me.
Harry
I checked my watch for the dozenth time that morning. If we didn't get moving soon, we were going to be late. Yet again.
"Winnie, come on!" I called to the girl who I was acting as a father to. "We have to get out of here, or else we're going to be late!"
"I need a minute!" she called back, and I practically hopped from foot to foot on the spot with my impatience. I didn't have time to wait a minute. I needed her out here now. Then maybe I would have time to grab something for breakfast before I-
Breakfast. Shit! That reminded me.
I hurried to the kitchen to grab the bagged lunch the housekeeper had left for Winnie on the kitchen counter, and I thanked God that I had thought to hire her way back when all of this had started.
"Okay, I'm going to leave without you!" I shouted up the stairs, and sure enough, a couple of seconds later, I heard little footsteps thundering down the stairs toward me as Winnie finally decided that she was ready for school.
I handed her the paper bag, she took it from me, and the two of us hurried out to the car as I patted down my sides for keys to make sure I had everything I needed.
"You never forget anything," she reminded me, smiling in my direction as she saw me panicking. "Remember?"
"Well, I obviously forget that I never forget, or else I wouldn't need you to remind me," I told her, and I opened the car door for her and helped her hop in.
"Did you remember your lunch?" she asked as we pulled away.
"No meetings on a Monday," I said. "I'm going to go out for something to eat instead."
"Can I come with you?"
"I'm not sure I would be able to get all the way across town and back in time," I replied apologetically. "But when you get into high school and start having free periods, we can do that."
"I want to," she said happily, leaning up on the window and smiling as she looked outside. There were times when she looked so much like my sister, her mother, that I found myself caught off guard. It was like there was a reflection of her right in front of me, even though I knew she had been gone for a long time now.
"You doing anything fun today at school?" I asked, trying to draw my mind from my late sister. The last thing I wanted was to kick this morning off with another wave of the grief that had ruled me for so long. I was just getting to the stage now where I didn't suffer every time she passed through my mind, but thinking about her was still a shock to the system.
"We're making birthday cards for our teacher," she said. "I'm going to do one with a frog on the front. She likes frogs. She always wears a necklace with a silver frog on it."
I listened to her as she chattered away, and I couldn't help but smile. She had such a passion for life, and it made me so happy to see my sister's spirit living on in her sweet little daughter.
I dropped her off outside the school gates and leaned through the window to give her a kiss goodbye.
"I'll be here to pick you up after school, all right?" I told her.
"Not Yara?"
"Not Yara," I replied. "You cool with that?"
"As long as we get ice cream," she said hopefully.
I laughed. She always seemed to know just how to press my buttons to get me to do whatever it was she wanted, even though I knew I should have been harsher on her. I didn't have it in me. Not after what had happened.
"We'll see," I replied, though I already knew that she had me just where she wanted me. She gave me a quick hug and darted off inside the school to escape the impending Portland rain.
I drove up to the office in record time. I was going so fast, I was actually a little surprised that nobody tried to pull me over. I guessed they could see how serious I was about this. I wanted to get there, settle in, and actually get some work done. I had been so distracted last week, struggling to keep my shit together. The good days and the bad days sometimes piled up very suddenly, and I just had to accept that the hard days were going to control me when they came along.
"Morning," Yara called to me as soon as I entered my office. We were on the third floor of a beautiful office building-well, the main part of the company was, anyway. This was where all the heads of department hung out, where we worked to make sure the pieces below us were running smoothly. There were dozens of our offices all over the country, but this was where it had all started.
Actually, that wasn't true. It had started with my grandfather, the same man who had started this business all those years ago. He had gotten in on the tech bubble before it had even really swollen to the all-consuming state it was in now, and he had set our family up for life with some amazing investments and by working with some talented up-and-comers. I had taken over as CEO as soon as I was old enough, as soon as my father had stepped down from the role. And the first thing I had done as head of Neo was hire Yara as my publicist.
"Morning," I said, greeting her right back. Hiring her had been one of the best decisions I'd ever made as part of my time here. I knew from the moment that I met her that I wanted her working alongside me as much as I possibly could. She was passionate, dedicated, and intelligent-everything that I wanted from the people I worked with. Her mind was sharp, and her tongue was sharper, and she knew just how to get what we needed from the people around us.
Chapter 1 Chaotic Morning
23/11/2023
Chapter 2 Can't Live Without Her
23/11/2023
Chapter 3 Visiting with Reed
23/11/2023
Chapter 4 Some Good in the World
23/11/2023
Chapter 5 Unexpected Encounters
23/11/2023
Chapter 6 Give Me a Call
23/11/2023
Chapter 7 Smokin' Hot
23/11/2023
Chapter 8 A Date
23/11/2023
Chapter 9 Lonely Hearts
23/11/2023
Chapter 10 Begging and Pleading
23/11/2023
Chapter 11 Only For You
23/11/2023
Chapter 12 Surprise, Surprise
23/12/2023
Chapter 13 What Are the Chances
23/12/2023
Chapter 14 Not Ready to Say Goodbye
23/12/2023
Chapter 15 Talking to a Dog
23/12/2023
Chapter 16 It Was That Bad
23/12/2023
Chapter 17 Same Old Question
23/12/2023
Chapter 18 Pushover
23/12/2023
Chapter 19 Harry Calling
23/12/2023
Chapter 20 Catch You Later
23/12/2023
Chapter 21 Give Me Shelter
23/12/2023
Chapter 22 Love at First Sight
23/12/2023
Chapter 23 Finding The One
23/12/2023
Chapter 24 Taking Him Home
23/12/2023
Chapter 25 Filling Her In
23/12/2023
Chapter 26 Life's Better with a Dog
23/12/2023
Chapter 27 A Message
23/12/2023
Chapter 28 Bending Over Backward
23/12/2023
Chapter 29 An Excuse
23/12/2023
Chapter 30 Did She Change Her Mind
23/12/2023
Chapter 31 Calling It In
23/12/2023
Chapter 32 Competition
23/12/2023
Chapter 33 Whatever You Need to Do
23/12/2023
Chapter 34 The Outlook Isn't Good
23/12/2023
Chapter 35 The Culprit
23/12/2023
Chapter 36 Get Used To It
23/12/2023
Chapter 37 Life Goes On
23/12/2023
Chapter 38 Gotta See Her Again
23/12/2023
Chapter 39 I Want You Back
23/12/2023
Chapter 40 Romanced
23/12/2023
Other books by Ali Parker
More