All of Me (All Series Book 2)

by Ann, Natalie

  Reaching over blindly, never taking her eyes off her screen, she answered, “Yes, Ashley.”

  “Ah, there is someone here to see you,” Ashley whispered into the phone.

  Why would Ashley be whispering if there was a client up front? “Who is it?”

  Ashley cleared her throat and then said, “He says he is your father.”

  Great, just what she needed. Another interruption. She should have seen this coming a mile away. Her mother paid a visit, so her father would have to even the score.

  Though she loved her father and missed him, she really hated when her parents showed up unannounced like this. It wasn’t like they were just out for a drive and decided to stop in.

  Her father lived in Colorado now. He had moved out of California sometime while she was in college. She couldn’t keep track since it was past the point in her life when she would have visitations at his house. Now she only went when the mood struck.

  “It’s fine, Ashley, you don’t have to whisper. You can send him right back.”

  A minute later Spencer Mansfield stood in her doorway, smiling ear-to-ear. “There’s my girl. Come give your father a hug,” he said happily.

  She stood up and made her way toward him, extended her hands and was embraced in a huge hug. Her father always did give the best hugs. “Daddy, what a pleasant surprise.” She shifted back and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “Let me guess, Mom told you she visited.”

  Spencer waved a manicured hand at her and laughed. “You know your mother. She always has to brag. I couldn’t have her showing me up, now could I?” He looked around her office, impressed. “Look at you, all grown up and running your own office. Always my smart girl.”

  Her father had never mentioned her work before. He always said he was proud of her, but never in the context of her being smart or successful. Always on how she looked, or how well she was liked. But this was a first, and a feeling of pride burst through. “Thanks, Daddy. I’ve worked hard to get here.”

  “I know you have. I’m so proud of you. Your own partnership at thirty years old.” He gave her another hug.

  “Let’s keep my age out of this,” she joked.

  “There’s nothing wrong with being thirty. You don’t look a day over twenty,” he told her, always one to lay on the charm. That was how he ended up with younger wives all the time.

  “No, there is nothing wrong with it. It seems weird to say it.”

  Her father walked away and started to look around her office, stepping in and glancing at the framed photos on the walls, then at the picture of her and Kaitlin. “How is Kaitlin doing? Is she enjoying married life?”

  “Very much so,” Sophia said with a tender look. “Actually, she’s pregnant. With twins.”

  Spencer chuckled and turned away from the pictures. “That didn’t take her long at all. Good for her. I always liked Kaitlin. I bet her parents are thrilled to be grandparents,” he said, looking at her almost…hopeful.

  Oh no. Her mother wouldn’t have. She better not have. Last she knew her parents could barely talk to each other on the phone, and had no need to. Unless of course it was to get one-up on the other. “Isabel and William are looking forward to grandchildren. Almost as much as Kaitlin is to being a mother.”

  “So, her brothers don’t have any children?” he asked coyly. “There were three older brothers, correct?”

  Damn her mother. “Yes, Kaitlin has three older brothers.”

  “A set of twins, right? The oldest of the boys. Then another one that was in the Navy.”

  “Yes,” she said, hedging. She would be damned if she was going to make it easy for him. He was going to have to come out and ask. And then she would have to find a way to give her mother hell.

  Her father took a few more steps closer to her desk and she held her breath as she watched him touch the mouse to her computer and the screensaver pop up with Phil’s smiling face looking back at him. Like he knew it was going to be there. He turned and raised an eyebrow at her.

  “Seriously? I didn’t know you and Mom even talked anymore,” she said, disgruntled.

  He chuckled. “Not much. But we’ve always talked about you. As much as we’ve fought over the years, you have always been our priority. Even if you didn’t always feel that way.”

  She knew that, and it seemed to reiterate what her mother said last month when she visited. “I haven’t been a child in a long time,” she pointed out.

  “You will always be my child.” He walked over and gave her a kiss on the forehead. “So, when do I get to meet him?”

  “Excuse me?” He didn’t just ask to meet Phil. Her father had met very few men she had dated. And he had never asked to meet one. “What did Mom tell you about Phil?”

  “Nothing much.”

  She didn’t believe him. “I doubt that. So spill it,” she ordered him.

  He gave her another kiss on the forehead. Her father had always been affectionate as well as charming. She could see now why her mother would have fallen for him. Victoria would have eaten the attention right up. It was too bad that her father lost interest so fast, and everything seemed to be surface to him. “A gentleman never tells.”

  She wasn’t buying it. But there was no use arguing. “How long are you in town for?”

  “As long as I need to meet him.”

  Damn. She definitely needed to make a call to her mother soon. “He’s really busy right now, but I can see what his schedule is like.”

  “That’s fine. Just let me know what works. I’ll let you get back to work. I’m going to go check into my hotel.”

  “You aren’t going to stay with me?” she asked, surprised.

  “Do you really want me staying with you? I was under the assumption that you might not be alone,” he said, raising an eyebrow.

  She blushed, not something she did often, but this was her father in front of her talking to her about having a man in her house. “Point taken.”

  Someday

  “You can breathe now,” Sophia told him two days later. She had called him in a panic on Wednesday about her father’s visit and asked if they could meet. Unfortunately he couldn’t free up any time until today.

  He’d been a nervous wreck over it. Never one for meeting people or socializing, the last thing he wanted to do was meet Sophia’s father.

  It was crazy, really. He had been around Linda’s parents plenty. And he never remembered being nervous meeting any of his other girlfriends’ parents.

  But Sophia was different. She was the one. He knew it now and he couldn’t mess this up. He wanted her father to like him. And he worried that might not happen.

  Spencer Mansfield was everything he imagined of Sophia’s father. Sophisticated, classy, cultured and reeking of wealth. It was never a discussion he and Sophia had had in the past, but he had assumed her parents were well off. Sean worried over nothing with Sophia seeing the books for Harper Construction.

  Either way, it was important to Phil that Sophia’s father approved of him.

  “Daddy, this is Phil Harper.” Sophia had introduced them when he showed up at Sophia’s house. They had decided a meal at Sophia’s house would be more comfortable than going to a crowded restaurant on a Friday night. Secretly Phil was more worried knowing there wasn’t a time limit if dinner was at her house. But he was willing to do anything she wanted.

  “It’s nice to meet you, Mr. Mansfield,” Phil said, reaching his hand out.

  “Call me Spencer,” he said returning the handshake.

  The meal had gone off without a hitch. Spencer was friendly, welcoming, and humorous. It was clear where Sophia got her teasing nature. Even clearer was how much Spencer adored his daughter. All the more reason Phil needed to leave a good impression.

  “Sophia tells me you own a construction company with your brother,” Spencer said.

  He tried to explain their company as easily as he could, summarizing their work. Surprisingly Spencer was very interested and asked all sorts of question
s. “I’ve always been interested in real estate. I’ll have to pick your brain when I can stay longer. Maybe talk with Alec, too. I’ve been looking into another venture.”

  “I’ll be glad to answer any questions I can.”

  Three hours later, dinner was cooked, served, conversation flowed and Phil began to relax. It wasn’t as bad as he thought it was going to be. Except for a few uncomfortable moments when Spencer started asking about Kaitlin and her pregnancy, and his parents’ excitement over grandchildren.

  Honestly, he wasn’t that uncomfortable about the comments—not as much as Sophia seemed to be.

  At the end of the night, Spencer had gotten up, given Sophia a hug and kiss, then shaken his hand and said, “It’s nice to meet you. Treat my baby well.” All those charming mannerisms throughout the night had vanished. Spencer was dead serious when he made that comment.

  “Always,” Phil replied, and he meant it.

  Now he looked over at Sophia lying against him on the couch. Once Spencer left, she flopped down and breathed a sigh of relief, then pulled him down next to her.

  “It wasn’t so bad,” he told her.

  “Sure, glad you thought that,” she replied, laughing.

  “What? You didn’t have to worry about impressing him,” he complained.

  “Were you worried?” she asked sincerely, then leaned up and gave him a kiss on the lips.

  “Deathly.”

  She chuckled. “There was no reason to worry. I think he had already formed an opinion before you showed up today.”

  Was that good or bad? “How’s that?”

  “It’s a long story,” she said, snuggling into his side.

  “We’ve got all night.”

  “Don’t you wonder why he showed up out of the blue?” she asked instead.

  “I guess. But I know they’ve done this before, right? At least I remember Kaitlin mentioning it.” Anytime Kaitlin had brought up Sophia’s name he’d listened intently.

  “Well, my mother showed up first. Her visit wasn’t really planned, but since they were in New York she took advantage of it and traveled up here to see me. But once she returned home, she couldn’t wait to contact my father and tell him she’d been here. And she mentioned your name.”

  “What did she say?”

  “I don’t know. I’ll find out. But he came here to meet you.”

  “What?” It was a good thing she told him after, rather than before. He would have been even more nervous.

  “He would never tell me that, but I know my father fairly well. Needless to say, whatever my mother said to him, he arrived with it already in his mind he was going to meet you. You passed, don’t worry,” she said, grinning.

  He hoped so. “How do you know?”

  “I just do. My father has never asked to meet any of my boyfriends. And those he did happen to meet by chance, he barely gave them the time of day. Tonight was completely different. Trust me, you’re good.”

  “Glad to know that.”

  ***

  “What are you thinking?” Sophia asked him later in bed. They had been lying there for about ten minutes, just relaxing, his hand on her stomach, softly caressing her. Crazy thoughts running through his mind.

  He hated that she knew he was distracted, but he wasn’t saying. “Nothing.”

  “You’re lying to me,” she said, a touch of humor in her voice.

  “Nothing important,” he amended.

  “You are still lying to me.” She was on her back, he was on his side, resting on his elbow, his hand stroking and touching her. It had ended up on her stomach, moving in slow circles. He loved how soft she was, how soft she felt to him.

  “You don’t want to know.”

  “Why?”

  “Because it would scare you.”

  “You don’t know that until you tell me.”

  “Trust me,” he said earnestly. “It scares me. It will probably terrify you.”

  “Now I need to know.” She laid her hand over his and stilled his movements. “Tell me, Phil. I don’t want you to feel like you can’t say things to me. I want us to have an open relationship. I want us to be able to tell each other anything without worrying.”

  He inhaled deeply. He couldn’t believe he was about to tell her what was going through his mind. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

  “You’ve got me nervous right now. Just say it.”

  He rubbed her stomach a little more with her hand on top. “I’m imagining you pregnant.”

  “What?” she shrieked. “Where did that come from?”

  “You’re father kept making a point of bringing it up. It’s hard not to be thinking it lying here. Sorry.” It was more than casual comments about Kaitlin and her pregnancy tonight. More about how his parents were lucky to have grandchildren on the way.

  She thought for a second, he could see, then asked, “What do you see?”

  “What do you mean?” She didn’t look scared or upset by his answer to her question.

  “You said you are imagining me pregnant. What do you see in your mind? How fat am I?”

  He chuckled. “You aren’t fat. You’re gorgeous. There is nothing more beautiful than a pregnant woman.”

  “Really?” she asked curiously. “I don’t hear too many women saying that.”

  “I can’t tell you what it’s like from a woman’s point of view. I can’t even tell you from a man’s point of view other than what I would think.”

  “And tell me,” she encouraged him. “What do you think about it? Other than I’m not fat in your mind.”

  He paused. She was teasing him, he could see, and he relaxed and explained. “The thought of my child growing inside of you is the most amazing thing to me. To know we are one, we created something together. Something out of love. Ours. I can’t explain it. It wouldn’t matter to me how you looked on the outside, not at all. I wouldn’t be able to see past the miracle of our child.” He felt like a fool saying that. But it was the truth. It was what he felt, even if he was trying not to squirm with embarrassment under her gaze.

  Her eyes filled with tears and he panicked. “What? I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that,” he rushed out.

  “No, don’t apologize. I’ve never heard of a man saying anything like that before.”

  He hoped that was a good thing. “So,” he said trailing off, not knowing what else to say and feeling a bit awkward now.

  “So,” she said back, smiling at him. She raised her hand to his face, trailed her fingers down his cheek and over his jaw, then reached up and kissed him. “Someday.”

  “Someday,” he replied back softly.

  ***

  Sophia woke early the next morning. She hadn’t slept much the night before. She’d had no idea Phil was going to say what he did. It was totally shocking, to say the least. Almost alarming.

  Not just what he had been thinking, but his words and his thoughts on the subject. That he imagined her pregnant and seemed to enjoy it, if not look forward to it. She hadn’t meant to say “someday” to him, but after it slipped out she held her breath to see his response.

  In her mind and in her heart, she was there, every part of her was right there—Phil was the one. Any man that could look at a pregnant woman and never see anything other than amazement and love over the miracle growing inside of her rather than the raging hormones and weight gain was a catch. Yeah, he was the one.

  “What are you doing?” Phil asked.

  She jumped slightly, not hearing his approach. She’d been sitting in the kitchen drinking coffee quietly. She hadn’t wanted to wake him, and she needed more space to gather her thoughts.

  When she woke up an hour ago, she slid out of bed and came to the kitchen, not even bothering with a shower. “Drinking my coffee.”

  He walked over and poured himself a cup, then sat across from her at the table. “Everything okay?”

  “Sure, why do you ask?”

  “Just wondering if you’re having thoughts about last
night?”

  She was, but didn’t want to say that. “No.”

  “You’re lying to me, Sophia,” he said, throwing her words back at her.

  “Not much,” she replied.

  He let out a little huff and held his hand out for her to move over to him. He pulled her onto his lap and wrapped his arms around her waist, placing his chin on her shoulder. “I love you so much.”

  Someday might be coming soon if he kept that up. She was a mess, dressed in old shorts, a loose-fitting shirt, and not a touch of makeup on. There was probably yesterday’s makeup smeared on her face. He didn’t care, or didn’t notice. Not at all.

  She turned her head, closed her eyes against the tears, then opened them up. “I love you, too. And so you know, my thoughts aren’t bad ones at all.”

  “I’m glad.”

  The One

  “Let’s get this show on the road,” Alec said, walking into Sean’s office. They were all there bright and early before the office even opened, getting ready for their one day of interviews. Phil wasn’t looking forward to it.

  “What are you complaining about?” Sean asked. “I’m the one stuck in a room with both of you all day long.”

  Phil knew Sean was joking. He fit in well with the company and could banter back and forth with the best of them. “You’re used to sitting on your ass all day though,” Phil said back with a snicker.

  “Hey, I was going to say that,” Alec complained.

  Sean chuckled. “Pull up a seat, boys. I’ll give you a summary of everyone.” He handed over some papers. “Here’s a copy of their resumes for you to look over before they come in.”

  “How long is this day going to last?” Alec asked, frowning. “I was hoping to get to the site today.”

  “I doubt that will happen,” Sean explained. “I told you to block a whole day off. Each interview is set for ninety minutes.”

  “Ninety minutes,” Phil said, frowning more than Alec. That was torture for him.

  “They won’t last that long. But we need time between each one for you to look over their resumes and notes before the next comes in. If you guys had bothered to give me any time prior to today then we could have taken care of some of this.”