Single Dad CEO: A Billionaire Boss Romance

by Lara Swann

“It was just something I heard - about your trip to New York being unusual and that I should check the rooms. I’m sorry Kenneth, there are a lot of rumors flying around at the moment - but when I confirmed that you were taking your secretary with you, I was concerned.” His tone seems to have shifted from dubious to explanatory now, at least, so I guess that’s the end of it, but I still feel shaken.

  The rooms might be nonsense, but if someone is looking into that trip to New York…

  “I understand the advantages of having your secretary with you on your business trips, Kenneth, but I would caution you to be careful while this lawsuit is ongoing. I know it’s difficult to have to think about, but how your actions might be perceived is important at the moment. Everything you do could have a potential impact on this case.”

  He’s just giving me good advice, I know that, but it’s still hard to hear. It’s even harder to know he’s right.

  “Damn it, Patrick, I get that, I do. But taking Jessica with me to New York? Really?”

  “If I heard a rumor, someone else no doubt has as well.”

  “I can give you the damn invoice, you can check the room information - there’s nothing there.”

  Not with the rooms.

  “I don’t doubt that - though, yes, I will need those details - and I only questioned it because it’s the first time I’ve heard of you doing so. Now isn’t the time to start doing things differently, Kenneth.”

  I run a hand through my hair.

  “Okay, I’ll bear that in mind, but I’m not going to let this impact ExVenture or the work I need to do to keep us running. At least there are no more business trips in my diary, though, so you shouldn’t have to worry about that again.”

  “That’s good to hear. The only other thing to consider…” He pauses for a moment, and I instinctively know that I won’t like what’s coming. “I don’t know your new secretary - Jessica, is it?”

  “Yes.” I say, frowning. It’s not like he knew any of my other secretaries either.

  “Considering your recent trip together, it’s likely she could be approached by Danielle’s team, in case she would be willing to offer testimony that could be useful to them. I just wanted to check that isn’t likely to cause a problem for us - that if they did, she’d have nothing to raise against us?”

  I grip the phone harder as I have to bite back my instinctive comment.

  No way are they dragging Jessica into this. I’m not fucking letting them talk to her.

  I’m pretty sure that wouldn’t go down well.

  “Why would they talk to her?”

  “Because she deals with you on a daily basis, she’s inside everything you do and you just took her on a business trip. At the very least, they’ll want to know the kinds of activities you might have engaged together in while you were away, and they’ll probably try to encourage her to think of anything that might have been inappropriate. I don’t know how influenced she might be by that, even if nothing inappropriate actually happened, so I wanted to ask if I should be prepared for any unpleasant surprises.”

  Her lips against mine. Her body grinding against me. The overwhelming need, desire, simple rightness of having her in my arms again…

  The kiss flashes back through my mind and I have to blink it away.

  Nothing inappropriate. Yeah. Right.

  “Kenneth? Is there anything she might have to say I need to know about? If they ask, is she likely to start thinking that way?”

  “No.” I say it, and I know it’s the truth, despite everything that actually did happen. “There’s nothing. Jessica won’t give them anything if they approach her.”

  I know that much.

  It just galls me to think they might approach her. That she’ll have to deal with all this after…after…damn it.

  “Okay. Thank you, Kenneth. I’ll send through another update by the end of the week.”

  He clicks off and I’m left staring out into my empty office with that kiss playing over in my mind.

  Patrick’s warnings repeating over the top of it.

  Wanting Jessica here, but suddenly confused about everything.

  You’ve been a fucking idiot, Kenneth.

  I know that. I’ve known it the whole time.

  Kissing Jessica was a bad idea. Wanting to do it again is worse. The whole thing is fucking bad timing, even if it hadn’t freaked Jessica out too.

  I know I’m an idiot.

  But that doesn’t mean I know how to stop it.

  * * *

  Jessica isn’t at work the next day, either. Or the one after that.

  I spend the time trying to manage my frantic work schedule without her, while not letting anything burst into flames in her absence, which is just about achievable - and trying not to think about that kiss, which is absolutely impossible.

  It would be easier if Abbie didn’t keep talking about her, but it seems Jessica has been as unforgettable for her as she has for me. I’m not sure that’s a good thing.

  I didn’t quite expect Abbie to get so…attached.

  She keeps asking when she can see Jessica again, when Jessica is going to look after her again, whether Jessica can be the one to take her to the park, or the zoo, or the kids’ club at our local community center.

  I never meant for that to happen.

  But then, I didn’t think about it. It seems like there are a lot of things I haven’t thought about.

  By the time Jessica finally does come back, I’m this close to turning up at her house unannounced, just to check everything is alright. I haven’t heard anything from her since that first message.

  I’m worn out from the half-week without her, from too many thoughts I keep trying to silence, and from concerns about this lawsuit at the back of my mind - but the moment I see her, it’s like something inside me lights up. As stupid as that sounds.

  “Jessica.” I grin, hearing the mixture of relief and concern in my voice as I walk out of my office, watching her set down her bag on her desk. “Are you okay? What happened?”

  She glances up and me and I frown immediately. Her face is drawn and pale - and there’s nothing like the usual spark in her eyes.

  “Have you been sick?”

  “I’m fine.” She says, her voice quiet as she glances down at the desk before taking a seat. “I’m sorry I’ve been off.”

  She doesn’t explain why, but she doesn’t sound fine. Not at all.

  I want to press, to find out what’s been going on, but my heart is flipping in my chest and the slight tremor at the edge of her mouth makes me feel like if I do, she might just burst into tears.

  “It’s fine, it was no problem.” I neatly skip over all the scheduling I screwed up while she was gone. “Just…so long as you’re alright.”

  She nods, but doesn’t say anything else. For one brief moment, looking at her, I wonder why I was so desperate to see her again. It’s nothing like I was picturing. I expected a debate, some awkwardness or tension maybe, but…something of the girl I kissed in New York, who ran off on me a moment later.

  Instead, she seems almost…empty. Exhausted. Like she’s already forgotten the moment that’s been playing on my mind all week.

  That thought sends weird spirals of emotion through me and I have to bite back the urge to say something. I wanted to clear the air between us, the moment she came in, but looking at her now - hearing that dull tone to her voice - I’m struggling to feel like there’s anything to clear.

  I don’t know why that bothers me more than the tension I expected, but it seems to.

  “Jessica…” I hesitate, but then I finally say it. “About New York…”

  She glances up at that, meeting my eyes briefly before looking away. “It’s fine. Let’s just forget it, okay?”

  That’s it?

  It’s fine?

  Is that all it was?

  I know she said she couldn’t do it, but…damn…

  I feel like an idiot. More so than when I was talking to Patrick.


  “Yeah…okay.” I finally say, but I still pause before I turn away. “Listen, let me know if you need anything, okay? You don’t look right Jessica - if you need more time—”

  “I’m fine.” She repeats, and it’s almost like talking to a robot.

  Is that all she can say?

  I know I’m being unfair, but…fuck…really?

  “Okay.” I say again, though my tone is dubious at best.

  I turn back to my office anyway, thoroughly confused and disheartened.

  Was it really all in your head? That spark? That connection? That moment it felt like you were coming home.

  Such a fucking idiot.

  I spend the rest of the day burying myself back in work, relieved that I can at least leave the secretarial duties to Jessica. Whatever is going on with her, it doesn’t seem to have affected her ability with that in the slightest. Within a few hours, she seems to have fixed whatever mess I created while she was gone and is already tackling the backlog of tasks I left - so much so that it seems like she’s going after it in a frenzy.

  I glance out at her desk more than once throughout the day, feeling concerned.

  I want to go and check on her again - make sure she really is okay or see whether I can get her to talk to me - but…well, I can’t deny our earlier conversation has my pride stinging.

  I can’t believe she didn’t feel anything - that she doesn’t even need to talk about it, to say anything to stop it being awkward between us.

  I run a hand through my hair, suddenly not sure how I’m going to deal with her working here alongside me every day - knowing she’s driving me crazy, that all these thoughts are swamping me…and she feels nothing.

  God damn it.

  It just…seemed so real. The look in her eyes. The way her body melted into mine. The overriding need for more.

  It’s been years, Kenneth. You don’t know her anymore, not really. Maybe that’s just how she reacts to any kiss.

  Somehow, the idea of that hurts more. That she might have kissed dozens of guys like that and then—

  For fuck’s sake, Kenneth. Stop this.

  She’s her own woman. I chose to leave her. She can do whatever she god-damn wants.

  I just can’t get her out of my head.

  It eats at me throughout the day and I feel like I spend more time watching her than I do working.

  So I don’t miss the way she leaves the moment the clock hits five. It’s unusual enough that I sit up at the sight of it - Jessica has never seemed overly concerned about what time she leaves before. Not that I have any complaints, I’m pretty sure with the pace she worked today, there’s not much left for her to get done, but still…

  It leaves me wondering.

  If it hadn’t been for the way she checked her watch and the distracted look on her face, I would have thought it might have something to do with avoiding me. But no, I can’t help but feel like I’m the last thing on her mind right now.

  If only she was on mine.

  I sigh and try to clear up the last few things I’m working on before heading home for the day, telling myself to stop thinking about Jessica. I have my own life to worry about - and thankfully, the moment Abbie rushes up to me, my little girl is enough to make me remember that.

  I still get brief images of the three of us together in New York, but not enough to distract me from what’s important.

  Caring for my little girl.

  That will have to be enough.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Kenneth

  Over the next few work days, through to the start of next week, nothing changes with Jessica - or between us - and we settle into a rhythm that is nothing like what I was hoping for.

  I still notice every little thing she does - I can’t help that - and I’m still concerned.

  Her pale, exhausted complexion doesn’t change, not even over the weekend and I begin to suspect that whatever is going on with her really isn’t sickness. She would have recovered by now.

  She leaves every day at five o’clock exactly and in every interaction we have, she seems distracted and like she can barely focus on what I’m saying. I can’t really complain - there’s no fault with her work in the slightest - but it still bothers me. It’s like I’m not even there - like we’d never begun to get friendly or close at all.

  I try to avoid it, but as much as it stings, I reluctantly begin to accept that what happened really did mean nothing to her - that she’s been able to totally put it behind her.

  She said we should forget about it - and after a few days working with her, I have no doubt that’s exactly what she’s done.

  It’s not that easy for me to do the same - but I can accept that’s how it is between us.

  Forgotten, even if it still lingers on my mind anyway.

  I try to tell myself that after everything Patrick said - with everything that’s going on - that should be a good thing.

  It doesn’t feel like it, though. Seeing Jessica looking like this doesn’t feel good in any way.

  I let things settle like that between us though - it’s obviously what she wants right now - and spend my working hours trying to turn my focus back to the job, instead of my secretary, hoping it will find a way to distract me.

  The moment it does, though, I immediately wish it hadn’t.

  I get an emergency call from Kelly, who quickly hooks Patrick and Harry, my CFO, into it - at almost the same time a couple of emails land in my inbox. Both of them are from the group of the investors I just visited for a week.

  “Kenneth? We need to talk.” Kelly says, by way of introduction, sounding harried and a little bit frantic. “Harry was on the line to me this morning, saying he’s getting worrying calls from New York—”

  “They’ve heard about the lawsuit.” Harry cuts in. “Both of our key investor groups. They’re spooked, Kenneth, and I’m not sure what to tell them—”

  “We don’t know what they’ve heard.” Kelly interrupts again. “I’ve looked, and there’s nothing in the media in New York. This thing seems to be spreading, but I don’t know how.”

  That would explain the edge of agitation in her voice. If there’s one thing Kelly doesn’t like, it’s not knowing what’s going on - and not having a way to control whatever story is going out there. If she can’t even find it, there’s no way she’ll get that.

  “Okay.” I say briskly, bringing the cross-talk to an end. “I’ve just had a few emails myself - who called you this morning, Harry, and what did they say exactly?”

  I make a note of what he tells me, my heart sinking as he does. Between the people he’s heard from and the emails I’ve got, that’s almost all of the investors in ExVenture. The people we need to keep our expansion going.

  It feels like entirely too much of a coincidence that they’ve suddenly all heard about this - New York City isn’t close, and ExVenture isn’t so successful that a story on us would beat out anything the bigger players have to offer - and a moment later, Patrick voices the suspicion I’ve been thinking.

  “It sounds like they got tipped off - these groups, very specifically.”

  Which means someone really is trying to screw with us.

  “I agree.” I say, reluctantly. “Okay, I’m going to make some calls now - try to do damage control, let them know from me personally that this is all bullshit and we’re on top of it. I’ll get back to you after I hear more, but I think this one is with me.”

  Despite Harry being the official first call for our investors, the relationships we have with them are all through me. I was the one that negotiated the initial deals, and I’ve been the one to personally update them on our progress. So far, everything has been very positive - and I’m counting on that to get us through this issue.

  That, and the fact that the lawsuit is completely false.

  We hang up and I immediately start dialing other numbers, sending Jessica a brief message to clear my afternoon. I’m going to need a while to deal with this.

  U
nfortunately, it doesn’t go nearly as well as I hope. The investors I talk to sound noticeably more reserved than I’m used to and the easy relationship we usually have is a lot more hesitant. I try to offer every reassurance I can and while they say cautiously supportive things, they also make it clear they can’t be associated with anything like this if it does go the wrong way.

  One or two even ask whether I have any plans to settle this out of court and I have to bite my tongue not to show my frustration.

  I do everything I can, but it quickly becomes clear that if I want their ongoing support with ExVenture, that isn’t going to be enough.

  They want personal reassurances - and even if they don’t say it, I think they want to see me tell them there’s nothing in this in person, to judge me face-to-face. I can understand that, but it still takes me a long time to slowly accept that’s where all this is leading.

  The last thing I need right now is another trip to New York. I just did that, damn it. I can’t afford to go away again - not so soon.

  But it quickly becomes apparent that’s the only option and by the end of the afternoon I’m left muttering curses to myself and glaring at the other side of my office.

  My desk phone interrupts me again and I pick it up automatically - to hear Harry’s voice on the other end of the line.

  “How did it go?” He asks cautiously.

  I can understand his concern. He deals directly with the finances - and he probably knows what kind of impact it would have if those investors withdrew their funds at this stage better than I do. I’m just imagining how bad it would be…he actually knows.

  “Not as well as I was hoping. They want personal assurances - and another trip to New York to discuss all this.”

  “Mm, I see.” He says slowly. “Do you think when you go that you’ll be able to convince them to maintain their support?”

  I pause for a moment.

  When.

  Of course, to everyone I work with, there’s not even a question of it.

  I’ll be going to New York.

  If I’m honest with myself, I’m not even sure there’s a question of it for myself, either. If I need to, I’ll be there.