Dad's Best Friend: An Older Man Younger Woman Romance (A Man Who Knows What He Wants Book 83)
Page 8
And the best way to honor your mother’s love, and boy did she ever have too much of it…more than any man, let alone me, deserved, is to let you love just as deeply and with all of your heart as she did.
And who you choose to love is not my decision if I’m being honest. And it didn’t take long for me to realize that the best man for you, honestly, was my best friend. There’s no one I trust more in this world and that includes trusting him with your heart.
I know he’s going to take care of you, protect you, and love you like no one else can.
I knew it before you two got back, and he gave me his word at the Tea Garden, even though I didn’t ask…but I sure did appreciate hearing it straight from him.
So I’m telling you two straight…straight from my heart. You have my complete blessing and I know you two are going to be perfect for each other.
Just promise to come visit and include me in stuff from time to time, okay?”
“Always,” Damian and I both say at the same time.
“And don’t make me feel like a grandpa too fast, okay?”
“Ummm yeah. About that.”
Both Damian and my dad’s eyes dart towards me and the entire mood of the room changes, but not in a bad way at all.
“You’re…?” Damian says.
I nod.
I throw myself into his arms and by the time I realize what’s happening my dad’s already back in the living room from somewhere he must have ran off to with two cigars.
“Dad! That’s for when you have a baby boy and after it’s born.”
“These are for celebrating, and I’m celebrating my best friend and my baby girl getting married. And if you have a baby boy, and I hope you do, well then the two of us can smoke one then too. But your fiancé and I are gonna smoke these outside because you’ve got a bun in the oven, the newest member of our little tribe here, and we want to give him or her every opportunity to be as happy and as healthy as I feel right now.”
Damian and my dad light up and for the first time in all their years as friends I see them hug each other, and in a crazy way it looks like two Grizzly bears standing on their hind legs about to wrestle.
That’s what happens when real men hug I guess.
And it’s just as rare as seeing Grizzly bears wrestling.
But as much as I’d wrestled with the possible problem I had in my mind the solution was a piece of cake…a piece of wedding cake that is.
Because that’s how it goes when you find a real man, an older man, who knows what he wants and won’t stop until he gets it.
And the best part of it all?
When he wants you…and a family. Together.
EPILOGUE
Delilah
One year later
I bounce baby Dylan on my knee as I bounce ideas off of Damian on our conference call.
I’m at home and he’s at the office with some clients, but thanks to video conferencing I feel like I’m right in the room.
“That sounds great, honey. Let’s do it.”
“Great. See you at dinner.”
“You know I wouldn’t miss it,” he says. He gives me a wink and blows me a kiss and we end the call.
Before I delegate these design changes to my team I’m going to take a few minutes to feed Dylan and relax a minute.
Since Damian and I got married there were sweeping changes throughout the company.
The number one rule changed from “just work harder” to “family first.” And the best thing is Damian meant it.
He immediately offered any employee that wanted it, and whose job allowed it, to work from home.
The employees loved it plus it gives us the option of downsizing to a smaller office saving some money which we can invest in our next vacation.
And our vacations truly are investments now. We want to take Dylan, and all our future children, to so many places around the globe so they can get a first hand education and understanding of other people.
And I’ve gotten so much better at understanding the tech world, and business, just from our trip to Tokyo and working next to Damian on a daily basis.
I find my favorite, comfy chair and prepare to feed Dylan. There’s something special about the connection between mother and child and when I look down and see him there resting on my torso and getting the nourishment he needs, from me, it makes me feel like I have a much bigger purpose in life.
And it feels wonderful.
And the idea of being a twenty-one-year-old mom in today’s day and age would have seemed way outdated to me if you would have asked me a little over a year ago.
But Damian’s birthday party changed everything, including me.
I went from having a huge crush to landing the catch of a lifetime.
I look up at the clock and realize that after Dylan’s feeding time he’s going to need to catch some zzzs. Ah, the benefits of working from home.
I stare out the window at the Golden Gate as my eyes glide across it, seeing how it connects two beautiful things together. The bridge making each one more accessible, more enjoyable, and stronger in the process.
And that’s exactly like Damian and I. Apart we’re not so bad, but together we’re an unbeatable team.
And thanks to this little guy clinging to my breast, our team is growing right along with the ever-increasing love we’re putting into our business and our employees lives.
And it’s all because of him, that there’s an us.
EXTENDED EPILOGUE
Damian
Fourteen more years later
“So this is what they call Silicon Allee, kids,” I say as we walk through the tech district of Berlin, Germany.
“Cool!” Dylan says.
I look over at my wife and we high five as the kids’ eyes go wide and they start exploring everything.
It was our hope that Dylan would like it here. He’ll be sixteen soon and we want him to live and study abroad for a year.
Fortunately one of our business associates has a room in his house for him. It’s the perfect fit.
And speaking of perfect fit, Delilah has more than proven herself as the perfect fit to lead our company back in S.F.
Or should I say her company. I’m still the president, in title at least, but she’s the C.E.O. and the owner. Because of the age gap we figured it was better to transfer the company over to her now than to worry about it later. Plus I wanted her to have it in her name. The work she’s put into it the last few years…she more than deserves it.
And we hope to be able to pass it to our children one day.
And with the enthusiasm they’ve shown for all things tech so far, that looks like a very real possibility.
And although Dylan will think he’s over here on a study abroad year, assuming he likes the idea, what he’ll really be doing is getting face time with the son of my associate.
So we’re basically both ensuring the next generations of our family continue their working relationship…just as it should be.
And Dylan will have plenty of help in the boardroom when his time comes.
Shoot, it might not even be him that runs the company. There’s also Daisy, Daniela, and Dawson to choose from when that time comes.
Personally I think Daisy has it in her the most. She’s fearless and relentless, which is kind of ironic considering her name is the kind of flower you find just blowing in the field.
And that’s why we named her Daisy in the first place. Although I can’t keep my hands off my woman it’s a sure bet that Daisy was conceived in Crissy Field, right near the base of the Golden Gate.
It was a day Darren was watching the other two kids we had, at the time, and the wife and I had a nice little picnic…only to find rolling up in a picnic blanket is very romantic and provides just the right amount of coverage from potential prying eyes.
But if there were prying eyes that day they didn’t see anything.
First and foremost because I’d never let another man see my woman’s bo
dy, or another woman mine.
And second of all because my eyes, like always, were completely locked on hers…right where they belong.
Even fifteen years later every time I look at her it feels like that first time all over again…the first time on my fortieth birthday that is.
Because that’s the moment I knew, without a doubt in the world, that she would be mine.
And that’s exactly what I did. Made her mine.
Forever.
“I’m feeling hungry again,” Delilah says.
“Yes!” I say pumping my fist.
“What? You just can’t get enough of these bratwursts can you?”
I wrap my arms around her. “I just can’t get enough of you,” I say. “And the last time you were hungry like this you were…drumroll please…pregnant.”
“Nooooo.”
“Yes. Believe me. I remember.”
I watch as her eyes gaze off into the distance as she tries to recall.
“Oh my gosh, you’re right.”
“I’m always right,” I say prodding her in the ribs playfully.
“Are you sure about that?” she asks.
“Well I was right when it mattered most,” I say.
“And when might that have been?”
“When I saw you and knew I was going to do whatever it took to make you mine.”
“Give me a kiss,” she says.
“With pleasure.”
Our two lips meet and before long we’re going at it right then and there, our kiss deepening.
Our lips pull back expecting to hear our kids say something to us like “get a room,” but they don’t.
Because they’re nowhere to be seen.
“There they are,” I say pointing to the other side of the glass.
“Are they in there playing with some sort of AI robot?” she asks.
“It looks like it,” I say.
“Well that means we can continue our little adult playtime then doesn’t it?”
“You don’t have to ask me twice,” I say grabbing her by her amazing ass and lifting her up off the ground.
Her legs wrap around my waist as I carry us behind a row of bushes.
“Really? Right here?” she asks.
“You know if I could I would have you everywhere.”
I check to make sure there are no drones overhead or any buildings with high floors that have a view of us.
Nope.
We let the kids do their thing with the technology inside as we do our thing with each other outside.
Because no matter the advances in technology in the future they’ll never replace the love one person has for another.
Especially mine for her and hers for me.
And that’s a feeling you just can’t replicate…ever.
Because she’s one of a kind.
A MAN WHO KNOWS WHAT HE WANTS
Book 1: Baby Lust
Book 2: Veteran
Book 3: Built
Book 4: Bambino
Book 5: Rescued
Book 6: Leader
Book 7: Professor
Book 8: Burned
Book 9: Worldly
Book 10: Pistol
Book 11: Policed
Book 12: Driven
Book 13: Lucky 13
Book 14: Lumberjacked
Book 15: Protector
Book 16: Carpenter
Book 17: Italian Stallion
Book 18: Gardener
Book 19: Budapest Billionaire’s Virgin
Book 20: Billionaire’s Babysitter
Book 21: Cocky CFO
Book 22: Fireman’s Filthy 4th
Book 23: Mechanic
Book 24: SEAL’s Secret
Book 25: Police, Pooch, and Smooch
Book 26: Fireman’s Fake Fiancée
Book 27: Billionaire’s Virgin Ballerina
Book 28: Bitcoin Billionaire’s Babysitter
Book 29: Veterans Day Daddy
Book 30: Cowboy’s Christmas Carol
Book 31: Police Officer’s Princess
Book 32: Statham
Book 33: Bodyguard
Book 34: Greek God
Book 35: Billionaire Single Dad's Babysitter
Book 36: Mountain Man
Book 37: SEAL’s Justice
Book 38: Royal Romance
Book 39: Doctor Mountain Man’s Special Delivery
Book 40: Crocodile Dan D
Book 41: Mountain Man’s Secret Baby
Book 42: Doctor Bad Boy’s Secret Baby
Book 43: Cop’s Babysitter
Book 44: Nanny for the Cop Next Door
Book 45: Small Town SEAL’s Saving Grace
Book 46: Cop’s Fake Fiancée
Book 47: Billionaire’s Nanny
Book 48: Cowboy’s Babysitter
Book 49: Steamy
Book 50: Brother’s Best Friend
Book 51: Possessive Professor
Book 52: Firefighter’s Babysitter
Book 53: Soldier’s Secret Baby
Book 54: Ward’s Independence Day
Book 55: Doctor Next Door
Book 56: Possessive Policeman
Book 57: Coached by the MMA Fighter
Book 58: Boss’s Babysitter
Book 59: Virgin in New York
Book 60: Rock Star’s Baby
Book 61: Possessive Protector
Book 62: Possessive Australian
Book 63: Best Friend’s Brother
Book 64: Possessive Cowboy
Book 65: Summer Romanced
Book 66: Possessive Prince
Book 67: Lovers’s Enemy
Book 68: Cop’s Best Friend
Book 69: Possessive Firefighter
Book 70: Football Next Door
Book 71: Doctor December
Book 72: Possessive Canadian
Book 73: Blue Collar Billionaire
Book 74: Possessive K-9 Cop
Book 75: Possessive Brazilian
Book 76: Hockey Obsession
Book 77: Possessive Boston Irish American MMA Fighter
Book 78: Halloween Next Door
Book 79: Possessive Russian
Book 80: Baseball Mine
Book 81: Cop’s Caribbean Captive
Book 82: Instalove Island
Book 83: Dad’s Best Friend
Book 84: Thanksgiving with Dad’s Boss
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