It’s Only Pretend
A Single Dad Boxset
Piper Sullivan
Copyright © 2018 by Piper Sullivan
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Also By Piper Sullivan
Accidentally Hitched: An Accidental Marriage Romance
Accidentally Wed: An Accidental Marriage Romance
Accidentally Bound: An Accidental Marriage Romance
His Takeover: An Enemies to Lovers Romance (Boardroom Games Book 1)
Sinful Takeover: An Enemies to Lovers Romance (Boardroom Games Book 2)
Naughty Takeover: An Enemies to Lovers Romance (Boardroom Games 3)
Fake Fiancé Next Door: A Small Town Romance
Knocked Up By My Best Friend:A Friends to Lovers Romance
Stranded: A Mountain Man Romance
Cowboy's Fake Fiancée: A Single Dad & A Virgin Romance
Cowboy's Barmaid: A Small Town Military Romance
Seal's Professor: A Military Roommate Romance
Let’s Pretend: A Fake Fiancee Romance
Dr. Daddy Next Door: A Single Dad & A Virgin Romance
Dating the Doctor: A Single Dad Romance
Seal'd to Her: A Second Chance Military Romance
Safeguarded: A Bad Boy Mafia Romance
Boxsets & Collections
Single Dad Kisses: A Collection
Nanny Down Under: A Single Dad & Nanny Box Set
The Takeover Boxset
Contents
Let’s Pretend
1. Rafael
2. Harper
3. Rafael
4. Harper
5. Rafael
6. Harper
7. Rafael
8. Harper
9. Rafael
10. Harper
11. Rafael
12. Harper
13. Rafael
14. Harper
15. Rafael
Epilogue
I’ll Pretend
Prologue
1. Sasha
2. Antonio
3. Sasha
4. Antonio
5. Sasha
6. Antonio
7. Sasha
8. Antonio
9. Sasha
10. Antonio
11. Sasha
12. Antonio
13. Sasha
14. Antonio
15. Sasha
16. Antonio
Preview: Accidentally Bound
1. Mason
2. Trish
About the Author
Also By Piper Sullivan
Let’s Pretend
Rafael
As a general rule I don’t hate lawyers. I do however find them tedious, annoying and useless. Even the Royal Legal counsel at home and even the General Counsel for the family business, Estamillo Shipping. At least I felt that way until I found myself sitting in a sleek modern office inside a Beverly Hills law office.
“I just don’t understand how they even have cause to bring such a ridiculous fucking lawsuit!”
“Mr. Cavalleros you need to calm down.” Tara Hansen, my lawyer with a reputation for being a shark, calmly reminded me for the sixth time in the past half hour. “This is America, we can sue anyone for anything we choose. It is my job to make sure they don’t win, and I am damn good at my job.”
Her confidence did inspire me but how in the hell could any man in my position feel confident or inspired when someone tries to take away your child? “So you’re saying they have no chance to win custody of Sofia?”
Tara gave me a gentle smile and I hated it, so placating and fake. “There’s always a small chance,” she said to me while her fingers flew over the keyboard on her mobile. “But I have a private investigator looking into every aspect of their lives. We’ll find everything that reflects poorly on them as guardians for Sofia.”
This was exactly the part of the law that turned my stomach. How could I live with myself if I let this woman tear apart my former in-laws? They were still my daughter’s grandparents. But then again, how could I not use every tool at my disposal to make sure my little girl stays with me?
“I’d like you to run what you find by me first.”
“I know you are a royal Mr. Cavalleros, and therefore you are used to people bowing to your every whim. However, I only take cases I can win. So if you don’t trust me to do what I have to do, I’m happy to recommend someone else.”
Well hell. “No that’s fine Ms. Hansen but these people are Sofia’s grandparents.”
Tara leaned forward and then stood, turning her back to me to gaze out her window. “You need to remember that they are also the people telling the court that you’re not fit to take care of her. That your lack of a female companion is somehow hurting your child.” She turned around, blue eyes fierce and ready for battle. “The law is not for the faint of heart. Do you trust me to do everything in my power to keep Sofia where she belongs?”
I nodded, because what the hell else could I say? “I trust you.”
“Good. The Royal Counsel of Estamillo has sent me their recommendations, you want to hear them?”
I shook my head. My father, the King of Estamillo, was in agreement with the Counsel. Come home with Sofia and out of the reach of the American justice system. “I’ve heard nothing but for the past three days.”
She laughed. “They have good intentions but given our relationship with your country, I think it’s best not to turn this into a diplomatic fiasco.” Leaning against her desk, she crossed her arms and gave me an assessing look. “It wouldn’t hurt your case though to have a woman in your life. Is there someone?”
There was, but not officially. I admit I’ve harbored feelings for her for some time now, but she was too young. Had too much life to live to settle down with a man twenty years her senior and play mother to someone else’s child. And she was my nanny.
“There is,” Tara smiled and sat down, resting her chin in her hands. “A girlfriend? Because that would be good.”
“No, not a girlfriend.” Not even a woman I’d been on a date with, though we did spend a great deal of time together.
Her smile fell. “Well making her your girlfriend would be good. Making her your fiancée would be even better.”
I said my goodbyes to the lawyer and made my way to the sprawling beach home I purchased for my stay in America. I spent the ride home staring at the sparkling water to my left and thinking.
Losing my wife was hard for many reasons, but none more than the fact that my little girl would never get to know her mother. It hurt to live without her that first year, knowing that had Angelica simply stayed home instead of competing in the regatta during a storm, she would have been here to witness Sofia’s milestones. First walk, first laugh, first word. She’d missed it all and now her parents were trying to take Sofia from me.
I won’t let that happen.
I can’t.
By the time I arrived home, angry and terrified, I had to wipe it all away so Sofia wouldn’t pick up on it. She was a sensitive girl and I needed to shield her from this as much as I could. For as long as I could.
“Daddy! Come build with us,” she said in her accented English, smiling up at me and covered in sand.
“What are you ladies building?”
Sofia looked over to her nanny, Harper, for the w
ord she was looking for and Harper looked up at me with those beautiful violet eyes that had enchanted me from our first meeting.
“We’re building the biggest, baddest sandcastle a princess ever built.”
“Yeah!” Sofia bounced on her knees, hands flying wildly, sprinkling sand everywhere. “Sorry Harper. Sorry Daddy.”
“No worries kiddo. Can’t go to the beach and not get sandy,” Harper smiled, leaning over to pat Sofia on the shoulder and giving me an enticing look at her sizeable chest.
“Come Daddy!”
“Yeah, come on Daddy,” Harper smiled and winked up at me playfully. She was goading me because I’m too serious she says. For the past eighteen months she’d been trying to pull me out of my shell, to get messy and do something spontaneous. It hadn’t worked.
Maybe that’s why she’s not interested.
“Give me five minutes to change.” As I made my way back inside I could still hear their laughter and happy conversation behind me. Harper had been everything Sofia needed and they’d taken to each other beautifully. She loved Sofia and would do anything to protect her.
Anything?
Maybe…
Harper
“What’s the matter with you child?”
Saturday is my day to visit with my grandma Edie. She’s my favorite person in the world and the only family I have left. And she’s as crazy as they come.
“Sorry Grandma I’m just so worried about Rafael. He’s been weird lately and I just know something is wrong but he won’t say what.”
“Here’s a crazy idea. Try asking him about it.” She smiled at me, that same patient smile she’d been giving since I landed on her doorstep when I was nine years old after my mom died. I never knew my dad and it’s always been me and Edie. For a while my grandpa Nelson was around, but he died two years after I came to live with them.
“It’s not that simple Grandma, he’s my employer.”
“But you don’t want him to be?” She chuckled at the confused expression she must have seen on my face. “Lord girl you wear your heart on your sleeve. Always have. You’re allowed to care about your boss.”
I knew that, I really did. “But I’m not allowed to fall for him Grandma. It would be bad for both of us.” Never mind the fact that a guy like Rafa would never want a girl who couldn’t finish business school, who didn’t have her life together and who could never replace the gorgeous wife he never stopped loving.
“I think you’re wrong, but don’t listen to me, I’m just an old lady.”
I had to laugh at that. “Old lady, you act younger than I do!” Even today she wore tiger striped leggings and a black off the shoulder t-shirt that said ‘I put cougars to shame’ and high top black sneakers that added at least two inches to her petite frame.
“Well you are a tad stuffy for my granddaughter but that’s okay. I’m young enough for the both of us.” She slowly made her way through the care package of goodies I’d brought for her since the little grocer in the retirement village didn’t carry gourmet goods. “I just love all this stuff. You do have great taste. Probably got it from me,” she mumbled and pulled out a jar of body butter.
“Who else would I get it from?”
“I know I’m older than dirt, but trust me when I tell you that if you care about your Rafael as much as I think you do, sit down and talk to him. Let him know you’re there for him. Men need that.”
I could do that except I still get so nervous when we’re alone. There’s just something about him that pulls me in and lowers my guard. Arousal pulses constantly in me whenever he’s around, which makes it hard to keep my thoughts straight.
“I’m not ready for that yet, Grandma. Tell me about your week.”
She pointed at me with the hair sticks I picked up in Chinatown, a serious expression on her face. “Love and life has a strange way of happening girly, whether we’re ready for it or not.”
Lecture out of the way she proceeded to tell me all about winning at strip poker, flirting with the new bag boy in the market, and the newest resident with all of his own hair and teeth.
“I hope you’re using condoms.”
She blushed for about the tenth time in my whole life, and I burst out laughing.
“Oh now you’re embarrassed. Unbelievable!” I decided to let her find the box of latex at the bottom.
I loved visiting my granny. She is an amazing woman, strong and capable. She took care of me nearly all my life and I’m happy to return the favor. Which is why although her words stuck with me the entire drive home, I had to think long and hard about opening up to Rafael. The man was a prince and someday he would be king of Estamillo. He was a father. A billionaire in his own right. He was everything I ever wanted in a man.
But he was also my boss. And I need my job because Edie’s little retirement village was not cheap. At all. Even with my side job designing and making jewelry, I needed this job.
So, I had to keep my feelings to myself.
By the time I walked into the beach house I knew that I had to at least try to get Rafa to open up to me before the stress ate him alive.
“Rafa?” I blinked into the dark kitchen where he sat at the table, a bottle of dark booze at his left, a crystal tumbler tucked neatly away in his right hand. “Tell me what’s wrong Rafa, please.” He looked so dejected, so raw and emotional, it hurt to look at him.
“Everything is wrong. I’m going to lose my little girl.”
Was that all? I went to him, sitting close and covering his big, strong hand with mine. “What do you mean? Sofia is your daughter and she adores you. How could you possibly lose her?”
His laugh was dry, bitter. “Angelica’s parents are suing me for custody of Sofia.”
“What?” I couldn’t believe my ears. There were plenty of crappy fathers in the world—mine couldn’t even be bothered to stick around—but he was not one of them. Rafael was kind and loving, gentle and patient. “You’re an amazing father Rafa. Hell, you’re Prince Rafael, screw them. You can fight and you can win.” I felt a bit like a cheerleader in an eighties film but I meant every word.
He smiled at me, seemingly amused by the fight in me. “Thanks for the vote of confidence but it’s a tad more complicated than that.” I felt all the blood drain from my face as he told me about the one thing I dreaded the most. “The attorney suggests I find a stable and steady girlfriend to help, but a fiancée would be better.”
I knew then and there that I’d been fooling myself this past year, thinking all I had was a silly crush on this man. Nope it was more than a crush and I know that because of the way my heart is breaking as I listen to him talk about girlfriends and fiancées. It was like a black hole, quickly closing it on itself until I couldn’t breathe.
“I see. Do you have anyone in mind for this position?”
“Just one,” he said as his lips curled with amusement and he looked at me. “You.”
“I don’t even know if he was for real Grandma. Maybe he just meant that I’m the only woman he knows and deals with on a regular basis.”
I spent the past week mulling over those three words—not the right ones, but pretty damn close—and I still was no closer to an answer. I wanted him to want to be with me, not need to.
“Maybe you should stop trying to figure things out and take them at face value.” Edie pursed her hot pink painted lips and shook her head. “Who knows, maybe the universe is helping you out. Giving you a chance to have everything you’ve ever wanted, now you just have to be brave enough to reach for it.”
That sounded great, right? I thought so too, but the truth was just the idea of his rejection stung. Hurt me to my core. That was the real reason behind my fear. “What if all he wants from me, is a pretend fiancée?”
She smiles like she already knew my answer before I answered it. “Then you’d know he isn’t as great as you think. But I have a feeling he’ll surprise you.”
I don’t know if surprised is the word I’d use because I’m pretty sure
he sees me as his too-young, unsophisticated nanny; not the sexy woman I hoped he’d come to see. I gave myself the drive home to fantasize about Rafa seeing me as a woman, to imagine him kissing me and pressing his body into mine. About him smiling down at me before he entered me, or early in the morning before the rest of the world is awake. But when I pulled into the driveway, I killed the engine and shook those thoughts from my head. It was time to put my game face on.
Five minutes later I was on the deck facing the ocean and happier than ever that I took the time to put my game face on. Mark and Crystal Wentworth were there. During the year and a half that I worked with Sofia, they’d come about a half dozen times, and each time it was filled with tension and stress. And now this.
“Harper!” Sofia scooted off her chair and ran over to where I stood, looking pretty as can be in her fluffy pink dress. But she also looked uncomfortable in all those layers since it was eighty degrees outside. Her face lit up and I crouched down for a hug.
“How are you kiddo?” This little girl was the sweetest kid I’d ever met. She was polite and curious, too serious when she wasn’t being a total goofball.
“Good,” she murmured. “How is your abuelita?”
“She’s great and I have a surprise for you from her. Later,” I whispered in her ear making her giggle. “Are you enjoying your visit with your grandparents?”
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