by Mia Madison
Table of Contents
CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 6
CHAPTER 7
CHAPTER 8
CHAPTER 9
CHAPTER 10
CHAPTER 11
CHAPTER 12
CHAPTER 13
CHAPTER 14
CHAPTER 15
CHAPTER 16
CHAPTER 17
CHAPTER 18
CHAPTER 19
CHAPTER 20
CHAPTER 21
CHAPTER 22
CHAPTER 23
CHAPTER 24
CHAPTER 25
CHAPTER 26
CHAPTER 27
CHAPTER 28
CHAPTER 29
CHAPTER 30
CHAPTER 31
EPILOGUE
HOT SINGLE DAD
A Steamy Older Man Younger Woman Romance
Mia Madison
Copyright © 2017 Mia Madison
This is a work of fiction. All characters, places and events are from the author’s imagination and should not be confused with fact. Any resemblance to persons (living or dead), places or events is purely coincidental. All characters involved in sexual activity are 18 years of age or older.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any material form, whether by printing, photocopying, scanning or otherwise without the written permission of the author or publisher.
Applications should be addressed in the first instance, in writing, to the author.
NOTE: This story contains scenes of a sexual nature and language only suitable for mature readers.
CONTENTS
CONTENTS
CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 6
CHAPTER 7
CHAPTER 8
CHAPTER 9
CHAPTER 10
CHAPTER 11
CHAPTER 12
CHAPTER 13
CHAPTER 14
CHAPTER 15
CHAPTER 16
CHAPTER 17
CHAPTER 18
CHAPTER 19
CHAPTER 20
CHAPTER 21
CHAPTER 22
CHAPTER 23
CHAPTER 24
CHAPTER 25
CHAPTER 26
CHAPTER 27
CHAPTER 28
CHAPTER 29
CHAPTER 30
CHAPTER 31
EPILOGUE
ALSO BY MIA
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
CHAPTER 1
Holly
My heart quickens when I hear him from the top of the stairs. He’s here! I didn’t even know he was visiting, but there’s no mistaking the smooth confident tones of Dad’s friend Reid.
I take a comb to my long dark hair that has a tendency to tangle and look down at my jeans and T-shirt. Should I get changed? I have clothes that would look better than this… but no, they will have to do.
I can’t risk missing him.
Maybe he’s only here on a fleeting visit, or Dad will insist they go out for a drink or something, and that will be that. I’ll miss my chance to see Reid for another few weeks or even months. He doesn’t come here that much.
Not like the old days, when Dad had a small law practice and Reid was just getting his business going and lived a few blocks away. Now he has a multinational corporation and whole legal departments. I guess he and Dad meet up in the city these days.
I open the living room door and Reid looks up. I’m sure I’m blushing, which makes me redden even more.
It’s stupid to have a crush on a guy like Reid. He used to be married to Mercia Blane, after all. A guy who can attract a movie star is not going to look twice at me. I hope neither Reid nor Dad notice me blushing, because they are going to wonder what is wrong with me, or worse, suspect the reason.
Dad barely breaks off from talking. He’s going on about the political situation in Europe. It must be some business discussion I’m gate-crashing. But I don’t care. I have to see Reid, his blue eyes, his dark hair, his smile that lights up his face and the sheer strength of the man.
He gets up, towering above me, and gives me a kiss on the cheek and a hug—a bear of a hug with his big arms and hard body. I drink in the manly scent of him; his subtle cologne is unmistakably Reid up close. I want to rub my nose on his pale blue fine cotton shirt.
“Hey, Holly. I thought you’d be back home by now. Just finished college?” he asks.
“Yes, last week. I’m looking for a job now.”
“Pity you didn’t do law or finance,” he says. “We have a great intern program.”
I wish! Imagine seeing him every day at work. But chances are, as a lowly intern, I’d only catch an occasional glimpse of him and maybe not even that. He employs thousands of people.
“Yeah, it’s not easy getting an internship in fashion. I might have to rethink that plan. Get something else, at least for the summer.” For the summer? Who am I kidding? I’m starting to think my dream career as a designer might have slipped through my fingers.
“Oh! If you just want a temporary job, I need someone to look after the twins for a couple of months.”
In his house? Seeing him all the time? I have to resist the temptation not to snatch his hand off in my haste to say yes.
“What happened to Iris?” His nanny is a kind, older lady. I know the twins adore her.
“Her friend asked her to go visit his family with him. His brother lives in Australia and then he’s planning to take her on a cruise from there, but she’s dithering about going. She doesn’t want to let me down.”
“I thought you were going to say she was retiring to live in the country or something.”
“She’s been seeing her friend for a while. I guess love can hit you at any age.” He laughs. “Anyway, if you’re interested, it would really help me out. I know I can trust you to look after the twins even when I have to travel, and I’d like to let her go on her trip and not have her feeling guilty. Plus the twins would love to spend the summer with you. What do you say?”
His gaze locks on mine. He’s expecting an answer.
CHAPTER 2
Reid
“The twins would love to spend the summer with you.” Ha! I trot out that line like it was only the twins who want Holly’s company. She’s Frank’s daughter for fuck’s sake. But when I gave her that hug, feeling her soft body against mine, my cock forgot all about that. Down boy! I know I can’t go there.
I will have to be careful if she says yes to working for me. And not even think about her that way, no matter how difficult it gets. But if Iris goes on her trip, I’m going to struggle with childcare, and Jack and Katie love to see Holly.
She smiles. “I guess it would be a fun way to spend the summer while I consider all my options.” Damn, I love that smile. Enchanting when she was a kid, but now she’s twenty-one it’s fucking sexy, especially when it’s aimed at me.
As I get in my car and Holly and Frank wave me off, I’m already regretting my offer. I should have just called an agency to get a temporary nanny. I could have postponed a lot of my overseas meetings until after the summer so I didn’t have to leave the kids with a stranger.
What was I thinking? I’d have to be a complete moron not to realize what a big mistake I made asking Holly to babysit, but apparently, I am the biggest idiot in the world, or maybe just an idiot when it comes to her. The words just came out of my mouth without thinking how tou
gh it would be to have her around and not be able to touch her.
I shouldn’t even have gone to Frank’s. His house is over an hour’s drive from mine. I could have met him in town and I wouldn’t have run into Holly.
But it’s been a while since I saw her, and I couldn’t stay away when I thought she might be back from college. I just didn’t plan on inviting her to spend the whole fucking summer with me. That’s asking for trouble.
But when she said she was looking for something to do and she seemed a bit down, I had a solution. So what do I do but go in like the proverbial knight on a white horse, solve her little problem and dump a whole heap of horse shit at my door?
*
Holly shows up with her suitcase a few days later, her dark hair shining in the evening sun. I tell her to come in and she smiles at me shyly as if unsure of her welcome, even though she’s been here quite a few times with her dad.
As she walks in and I take her suitcase, I catch a subtle waft of the apple shampoo she uses and I want to grab her and pull her to me. But common sense prevails because the twins are running past me and they are all over her as soon as she gets through the door, like over-excited puppies.
“Let Holly get in before you jump all over her,” I tell them, although I’d like to do exactly that myself.
As I show her up to her room, I catch myself looking at the bed, wondering what she’ll be wearing between the sheets in a few hours. (Maybe nothing at all. Fuck!) Knowing she’ll be sleeping in one of the bedrooms just a few yards from me is going to be torture. I might have been better to put her in the guest wing, but she needs to be near the kids.
I thought about saying my plans had changed but in the end, there was no way I could get out of it. I couldn’t tell Frank why I didn’t want her around. He’s delighted I gave her the job. He even called to thank me for asking her. Apparently, she’s been getting so many rejections for fashion jobs, each one another little dig at her confidence, the idea of doing something different for the summer really cheered her up.
Of course, Katie and Jack are happy about it all. They squealed and ran around like crazy, making a racket as only 5-year-olds can when I told them Holly was coming to stay. And I can’t disappoint them either. Mercia, their bitch of a mother, already lets them down far too often. She arranges to see them and then cancels at the last moment because something more important has come up.
Holly will be good for them. I can’t deny that, even if it means saying goodbye to my peace of mind for a couple of months.
I’ll just have to be careful. I usually work fewer hours in the summer to spend more time with the twins, but I can see that if I do, it will only lead to problems. Putting in some extra time at the office will help. I can make a start on the plans to expand the Madrid operation that I was putting off until September.
But then I come out of the kitchen and look at Holly and the twins playing and I know I was lulling myself into a false sense of security. Just doing overtime at the office is not going to cut it.
Holly is lying on the rug in the living room and the twins are crawling all over her, tickling her as she giggles uncontrollably. The hem of her T-shirt is pushed up, revealing the smooth, lightly-tanned skin below. My cock springs up like a spaniel thrown a hamburger. I’d like to plant a kiss on her stomach, just one soft touch of my lips. Fuck! I’ve got it bad.
“Hey kids, leave Holly alone,” I snap.
The twins stop in their tracks, shocked at my reaction, and get off Holly. Katie looks like she might cry.
Holly blushes and gets up, pulling her T-shirt down over her stomach. “It’s okay. They weren’t doing any harm, were you, kiddos?” She wraps a comforting arm around each of them.
No, the only one having any problem with it was me, but none of them knows it. “I just thought you could do with a bit of peace to settle in. That’s all. I don’t want them wearing you out on your first day.”
I have to make amends. “Katie, why not put on Frozen? You can watch that until bedtime.”
“But you said…”
“Never mind what I said, you can watch it tonight.”
After having the thing on auto-repeat for months until I knew every word, every song by heart, I banned it until further notice, though I bet Iris has been letting them watch it.
Katie doesn’t need telling twice. The DVD is slotted into the TV in record time. And peace reigns once more. But for how long?
“What time do they have to go to bed?” Holly asks.
And that’s when I realize that soon it will be just her and me alone, and no kids to take my mind off how I feel about her.
CHAPTER 3
Holly
It’s going to be a nightmare living here, being so close to Reid. Why didn’t I understand that when I jumped at his offer of a job?
I spend as long as I can bathing Katie and Jack and putting them to bed, reading stories, and tidying up the playroom.
“Are you hungry?” Reid asks me, when I come downstairs. “I’ll make you something after I say goodnight to the kids, if you like.”
“It’s okay; I already ate.” And even if I hadn’t, I’d have lost my appetite for sure. I thought I’d love being here but this is different from seeing Reid at our house or going to his place for the twins’ birthday parties or something.
It’s just him and me, for a start. I want him, but I can’t do anything about that. He would think I’m crazy just for imagining him and me together. A guy like that. Oozing sex. Owner of a multi-million-dollar business. He can have anyone he wants.
Since he divorced Mercia, the gossip columns have had a field day speculating about his next relationship. Not quite as much as they go on about her likely new lovers. But still, enough to know I’m not in the running.
I should just get it into my stupid head. He’s not going to look at me that way—his friend’s daughter. I’m just the babysitter, conveniently free for the summer, a replacement for Iris.
He goes upstairs to see his children, and my stomach is in knots. I flick between the channels on the huge state-of-the art TV. Do men like him who jet off here, there, and everywhere on business even watch TV? I imagine he’s busy making money most of the time. I suspect he’s even busier than Dad, who is always dealing with one legal case or another and has been a bit of a workaholic since Mom passed when I was nine.
Am I getting in Reid’s way? I could just go to my room. My heart sinks at the thought of sitting in there every night, lovely though the decor is, with him somewhere in the house avoiding me as much as I’m avoiding him.
But then he’s back with a bottle of wine and two glasses. “Would you like some?” he asks.
“Sure. Yes, please.” I grab the glass like a safety blanket, something to hold onto. My knuckles are tight around the stem.
“Don’t worry,” he says, taking the seat opposite me. “I’ll be at the office most evenings and leave you in peace. Then you can do what you want once the kids are in bed.”
“Do you always work so hard?”
“Most of the time.”
“Even in the summer?”
“Then too. But that’s a good point. We’re going to Villefranche next month. Iris was going to come with us, of course, so I hope you will come instead.”
“Villefranche?”
“South of France. We have a place there on the hillside overlooking the Med.”
I want to ask about that “we.” Does he mean him and the kids or someone else? I want to know who else is going to be part of that “we” before I say yes. There’s no way I’m going to be able to watch him with some beauty in a bathing suit while I look after the kids. But I don’t know how to find out without asking.
And then he says, “It will be just us there. It’s my one time to get away from work. I pick up messages once a day, but otherwise, the company has to get along without me.”
“Don’t you worry about things going wrong?”
“So far they’ve managed for a couple of weeks
every summer without anything too disastrous. Will you come with us?”
“Yes, okay. I can be Iris over there,” I say, though I don’t know how I’ll cope with Reid for two weeks with no respite. Still, Reid and the south of France. A house overlooking the sea that’s sure to be even lovelier than this two-story condo in Manhattan. I can’t help getting excited by the idea of that combination.
“You’ll have to dye your hair gray and put on a few pounds first,” he jokes. “Much as I love Iris, you’re nothing like her. And I’m guessing you look a lot more fetching in a bikini.”
CHAPTER 4
Reid
I can’t help teasing Holly. I love the way she blushes. It’s proving to be a challenge keeping my mind out of the gutter when I’m alone with her.
I’m not sure whether I’ll be able to stop myself taking things too far, beyond banter and into much more dangerous territory. At least in France, the kids will be around a lot of the time. The late evenings, though—after-dinner coffee and drinks on the balcony overlooking the water in the moonlight—that will be something else.
And then I remember, like a punch in the gut, some guy of Holly’s that Frank mentioned last year, but thankfully never since. Is he still on the scene? Suddenly, no matter how ill-advised it is to poke around asking questions about her love life, I have to know.
“No boyfriend pining for you here when you go away to France? I thought your dad said you were bringing someone home last holidays?” Why don’t I just shut up? She probably thinks I’m like an annoying uncle—the kind that says “aren’t you married yet?” and “haven’t you grown?”
“That didn’t work out.”
“Oh.” I hope she dumped him. I can’t imagine it was the other way around.
“He thought it would be a good idea to date another girl from my dorm as well as me. As if I would be too stupid to find out.” She rolls her eyes.
“Dickhead.”
“Exactly.” She takes a sip of her wine. “I found out just in time. I don’t know what it is with guys in college. So many jerks. It’s like they were giving out certificates for it and they were all trying to get a higher grade average than each other.”
