“Thank you,” she said with a smile. “You know, you make some pretty good pancakes and bacon.”
“What about my eggs?” I asked her.
“Well, yours are good, but if I must say, I do make a pretty mean Eggs Benedict.” She smiled as she said it and I swear, it lit up the entire room.
“Is that so?” I asked.
We both smiled at each other, and I realized how much I was liking getting to know her. I was enjoying this time we were spending together. I was enjoying just eating breakfast with her, and I’d definitely enjoyed having sex with her the night before. I didn’t want to lose any of it. I would never fire her and didn’t want her worrying about it.
“Well, I guess you’re just going to have to make it for me next time,” I said to her after a few minutes of eating together.
“I might just have to,” she said with a smile. I purposely added the ‘next time’ reference to make her feel better. I wanted her to know that I did want a next time, and didn’t want this to be some one-time thing. I wanted to do a lot more with Rachel, spending time doing anything would be great. Getting to know her more was what I wanted most of all.
After we ate breakfast, it was time for me to take her home. I didn’t want her to still be here when I had to go get Nell. I felt like that might have been a bit too much for Nell just now. Especially since she didn’t even know anything about Rachel and I going on a date yesterday. I didn’t know how she was going to react to it and needed to talk to her before it was just sprung on her. She was just a little girl and really wouldn’t understand things.
I drove Rachel home and kissed her goodbye.
“Thanks for kissing me and not making the same mistake,” she joked.
“Anytime, gorgeous,” I said. I loved her sense of humor and that she sought to find the humor in everything. That just drew me to her more.
Rachel smiled at me once more, and I kissed her again. I couldn’t help it. I wanted to make up for not kissing her that first night. I should have kissed her then. So, I had time to make up for. I found I didn’t want to stop kissing her. Her lips were so soft and perfect I didn’t want to let them go.
After I said goodbye to her, I drove off and headed to Kassondra’s house to pick up Nell. I knocked on the door and was greeted by her mom, followed by her dad, still looking as happy as ever. It made me wonder if they ever argued, and if they did, did they do in front of Kassondra? I had no idea. It really was none of my business, but they just seemed so in love that it made me curious.
After Nell came out and we said our goodbyes, we got in the car.
“What did you do last night, Daddy?” Nell asked me, as we drove away from her friend’s house.
“Well, I hung out with Rachel. I took her to dinner, as a matter of fact,” I said. I looked in the rearview mirror as I said it, and watched my daughter’s eyes light up. She looked so happy just at that one little sentence.
“Really?” she asked.
“Yes, really,” I said, nodding my head.
Nell smiled at me, and I smiled back. I wasn’t exactly sure what she was smiling about, but I liked to see her smile anyway. She was such a sweet kid and smiled often. When she didn’t smile, I knew something was wrong. So, the fact that she was smiling told me that she was happy.
“Why?” I asked her. I thought that maybe she would have explained why she was so excited about it, but she didn’t.
“Because I really like Rachel. I want her to be your girlfriend, Daddy.” She practically yelled the last part, and it took me by surprise.
“Really?” I asked her.
She nodded her head enthusiastically. “Yeah. I like that you’re happy, Daddy. You’re happy when you talk about Rachel.”
It surprised me to hear her say this. It seemed so adult-like. But, she was so observant, she noticed everything. If I bought a new shirt, she noticed it. If I got a haircut, even the tiniest trim, she noticed. If I didn’t get much sleep and had dark circles under my eyes, she noticed it. She was a very bright young girl. She caught on to everything, and even the subtlest change would catch her eye.
It warmed my heart when I thought about how much she liked Rachel, and it made me feel a lot better about where things were headed. At least where I hoped they were headed. We hadn’t really talked about it, and things were a little fuzzy this morning at breakfast. Rachel didn’t clearly say what she wanted, just that she was nervous about losing her job. But even if things didn’t work out between us, she was a damn good assistant, and I was never going to let her go.
“I’m glad you like Rachel,” I said to Nell, as we drove on towards our house.
Nell didn’t say anything more. She just smiled and stared out the window. After we pulled into the driveway, I helped Nell get out and carried her stuff back into the house. When we went inside, I turned on Nell’s favorite movie, and we snuggled on the couch. It was crazy to me how much I missed my daughter, even when she was only gone one night. She hadn’t even been gone for twenty-four hours, and I had missed her dearly. Though I did have someone to distract me a little bit.
“What would you like for dinner?” I asked Nell as her movie ended. It was still about an hour more before it was officially dinner time, but I wanted to get an idea at least, so we could know what to do.
“Pizza!” Nell yelled.
I loved her enthusiasm for pizza. It was her all-time favorite food, and it actually worked for me. It was easy and was also one of my favorite foods. We had that in common.
“Okay. Pizza it is; I’ll order some.” Then I grabbed my phone, stepped into another room and ordered a pizza to be delivered. I figured they would be busy, so it wasn’t too early to order. This particular pizza was really popular, and said they’d have our food here within sixty minutes, which was perfect. Then I went and watched movies, with my little girl. Bonding over pizza and her favorite movies.
Chapter 22
Rachel
I walked into work and was surprised to be the first one there. Since I had a key to the place, I let myself in. I had done this on occasion before when I got there before James. This was why he’d given me a key in the first place. I sat down at my desk and put my purse away, then got right to work checking emails and phone messages. There were a couple phone messages from clients and about four or five different emails.
Responding to the ones I could took only a few minutes, and I jotted down notes on those James needed to respond to. That’s when James came into the gallery. He was carrying two coffees and handed one to me.
“Thank you,” I said to him.
“You’re welcome, gorgeous,” he said to me.
I smiled at James. I really wanted to talk to him about the other night. I wanted to tell him how depressed I’d been the last couple of years, and why. And how I’d been feeling better since I started working here. How I haven’t even been depressed since we started spending time together. I was finally feeling so good mentally; I really wanted to tell him. I was proud of myself, and I felt like this was something he should know.
Just as I was about to tell him, he said, “I’ve got some things I need to go do. My friend Derek is coming by; he should be here soon,” he said.
“Okay,” I said, vowing not to even mention it to him. He smiled at me once more and then walked down the hallway and up the stairs to his office. I heard the door to his office open, but I didn’t hear it close, which was good. But I just wished I could talk to him about everything. I felt the need to.
A couple hours later, a guy came into the gallery.
“Hey. I’m Derek. James is a friend of mind; is he here?”
“Hi Derek, I’m Rachel. I’m his newest assistant. James is waiting for you” I said to him.
“Are you sure I’m in the right place?” he asked.
I gave him a funny look, “What do you mean?” I asked him.
“Because I think I’ve died and gone to heaven,” he said to me with a wink.
I shook my head, not in t
he mood to get hit on. Besides, his little joke was a little too cheesy for me. It wouldn’t have worked on me at any other time in my life, and it certainly wasn’t working on me now.
“James is waiting for you,” I said to him.
“Sorry, he just doesn’t normally hire such gorgeous women to work for him.” He was now leaning on the desk, and was getting a little too close to my face for comfort, really starting to bother me. I was in no mood to be hit on, especially not by some stranger. And especially not by the friend of the guy I liked. Though, in fairness, he had no idea that I liked James, or vice versa. He had no idea that James and I had slept together. At least I hoped he didn’t know. He must not have known if he was acting this way, right?
“I’m serious. James is waiting for you,” I said, then turned my attention to my computer, completely shutting him out and hoping that would do the trick. And it did, because he turned and walked away, heading upstairs to see James. I didn’t hear from him again and I was pretty thankful for that.
Being hit on had always kind of irritated me, especially by strange men. A few minutes later, James came down the stairs and I thought for sure he was going to scold me for the way I’d treated his friend. Instead, he asked if I could go pick up Nell for the day, so he could keep talking with Derek. I didn’t mind doing it; I loved spending time with Nell.
“Sure thing,” I said to him. I quickly stood up, grabbed my purse and headed out the door. I didn’t look back, unsure of what to do or say. He seemed to be acting funny towards me today and I was just getting a weird vibe from him. I drove to Nell’s school, her booster seat in the backseat of my car, and she practically screamed when she saw me. I was glad that James had added me to the pickup list.
“Rachel!” she yelled, when she got to my car.
“Hi, Nell!” I said to her, then got out and helped her buckle up.
I tried not to seem too distracted on the drive back to the office.
“How was school, sweetie?” I asked her.
Nell smiled at me when I caught her reflection in the rearview mirror. “It was good,” she said, and then she giggled.
“What?” I asked. I didn’t know why she was laughing, and wasn’t quite sure what was going on. Maybe there was something on my face. I didn’t think I’d said anything that could have made her laugh. I felt really confused.
“I know something,” she said, then giggled again.
I just shook my head.
Little kids: I loved how they acted like this when they had secrets. I didn’t know what her secret was, but I had to admit I was getting more and more curious by the second. The more she didn’t tell me, the more I wanted to know. But I guess that’s how secrets work.
“What is it?” I asked her.
She shrugged and giggled once more, and then she finally spoke. “My daddy likes you,” she said with another giggle.
I tried to focus on my driving, but what she said had thrown me off. I hadn’t been expecting her to say that at all. In fact, that was the last thing I thought she was going to say. I thought maybe she was going to tell me she had a crush on a boy school, or there was something on my face. I don’t really know what I thought she was going to tell me, I just didn’t expect it to be that.
“Really?” I asked her.
She nodded her head at me. “He likes you a lot, Rachel.”
I let that sink in for a minute before I responded to her. I wasn’t even sure if I believed it myself, so I wasn’t quite ready to be talking to her about it. Did he say something to her? Did he tell her that he liked me? Did he tell her that we went on a date this week? Or that—no, he wouldn’t have. What did he tell her? All these questions were running through my head, and it was all just confusing me more.
“Are you sure about that?” I asked her. I hoped she wasn’t lying. What I really hoped was that she was telling me the truth, and what she was saying was true because I really liked James.
She nodded her head enthusiastically “He’ll never tell you, but he likes you a lot.”
“Why won’t he tell me?”
She shrugged, “I don’t know. But I thought you should know because I really like you, Rachel. And I really like how happy my dad is when he’s around you.”
I couldn’t help the smile that came across my face. I tried to fight it off, but I just couldn’t. It felt so good to hear her say this. Because I knew she would never lie about such a thing. There was no way she could make something up like this. It had to have come from James. Or at a minimum, it was something she’d put together from being around him and hearing him talk about me.
“Thank you, Nell,” I told her. I really was thankful that she told me, because before that I was so confused about what was going on with us. Maybe he himself was still trying to wrap his head around his feelings for me. I just needed to give him time. Hell, I needed time myself.
This was so new to both of us, and we both had been hurt, badly. I went through my divorce, and he lost his wife. We both probably needed more time, but there was just something about him that I couldn’t resist. I couldn’t and didn’t want to stay away from him. All I wanted was to spend more time with them, getting to know him even better. Having sex with him again was on my mind as well. The sex was mind-blowing, and I hadn’t been able to get him off my mind. In fact, I thought about it all the time.
“I wish my daddy would tell you,” she sighed, as she looked out the window. “I like when you hang out with us,” she said.
I smiled at her. Children were so innocent, thinking that everything was always so easy. But things weren’t always so black and white. I mean, there was a reason why I was holding back from telling him how I felt, and I knew I felt a lot of things for him. When I woke up in his arms the other morning, it was the single best moment of my life in years. I hadn’t wanted to leave that spot.
“I’m sure he will,” I winked at her.
“Do you like him?” she asked me.
I wasn’t sure what to say. I knew if I told her ‘yes,’ she would probably tell him. But I didn’t want to lie and say I didn’t like him and break her little heart. Especially when I really did like her dad. I decided the former was probably better than the latter. So, I took a deep breath, “I like your daddy a lot,” I told her. It felt weird to say it out loud. It made it so much more real it seemed.
“I knew it!” Nell yelled from the back seat.
I laughed. She was so cute and innocent. She wanted nothing more than for her dad to be happy. I really loved that about her. I liked that she also wanted me to be a part of her life so much that she was willing to play matchmaker, even if she did know what she was doing. Part of me hoped that she would go tell her dad what I said. Even though a tiny part of me hoped that she wouldn’t. It was scary to think that he might know my true feelings for him.
It had been a long time since I’d had a crush on anyone like this; it had been since before my ex. It was hard to process these feelings and realize that I had them and they were for someone new. I never thought I would feel this way again, and here I was driving with this innocent little girl in the backseat of my car, trying to hook me up with her daddy. It had to have been the single best time in my life.
We got back to the gallery to find that Derek and James were still upstairs. I could hear them laughing periodically. I took Nell back into the kitchen area where I made her a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
“You’re not sick of these yet?” I asked her.
She shook her head, “No, I’m not. I love the way you make sandwiches,” she said.
It was really heartwarming to hear her say that. I know it was just a sandwich, but it meant more to me than she would ever realize.
Chapter 23
James
I was sitting in the office talking with Derek about his upcoming show.
“I got it all set up dude. There’s a bunch of big people coming out that are looking specifically at you,” I told my longtime friend.
“Reall
y? That’s awesome,” Derek said.
“Yeah, man. I’ve never experienced anything like this. But people really love your work. Even people just seeing it for the very first time. This is why I chose to represent you, and this is why I don’t want you to try to sell your art in the other galleries,” I said. He knew I was just kidding, and I knew he would never go anywhere else.
“This is so awesome, man,” Derek said.
“I know. I’ve never been this excited about a show before. We’ve got Donna Newbury coming all the way from New York City.” She was a world-renowned art critic. She hardly ever left New York City for art.
“Are you serious?” he asked. He was in as much shock as I was when she told me she was coming. It was one of the messages that Rachel had handed me this morning. So, I’d just found out myself. But I wasn’t going to tell Derek that. I didn’t want him to think she had just decided to pick him up at the last second.
“Yeah man. I’m totally serious. There are some big people coming out, and I don’t say that lightly.” I said to him, reiterating the fact that this was a huge show for both of us, and that he shouldn’t do anything to fuck it up. Though I wasn’t going to say that in so many words.
“Nice, man,” he said. He looked down at his phone and texted away, something he did often. I put his phone away, and he looked at me, then folded his hands and leaned into my desk. “So, your new assistant, Rachel? She is fucking hot,” he said.
I felt a wave of anger rush through me. Anger and jealousy. Derek wasn’t a good person where women were concerned. I didn’t like the way he treated women, though I didn’t judge him on it because he was his own person. But I wanted him to stay the hell away from Rachel. He didn’t know this yet, but she was mine.
“Don’t. She is not going to be one of your one-night stands,” I said. I made sure to put emphasis on the word ‘not’ so he would realize just how serious I was about this.
Daddy Boss (A Boss Romance Love Story) Page 13