Boss Daddy: A Secret Baby Romance

by Black, Natasha L.

“That’s exciting, isn’t it?” I asked. “You get to be a part of opening the brand-new location and starting to build it up. It’s an honor that he asked you.”

  “Do you really feel that way?”

  “I mean, I think that you’ll be a part of something pretty amazing. It’s not my favorite thing in the world to think about you going away.”

  He let out a sigh and nodded. “Exactly. That’s what I’m upset about. I don’t want to leave you here.”

  I smiled at him and reached for his hands, giving them an encouraging squeeze. “Jordan, I’ll be fine. Really, I will. Honestly, I should really be getting back to my own house, anyway. It’s been more than a week, and I would think by now you would be tired of our little extended sleepover.”

  Jordan smiled and kissed both of my hands. “Never. It’s been fun having you stay there with me.”

  I nodded, but the moment between us was shattered by the sound of Ava shouting to us that she needed some help.

  “We better go see what’s going on,” he said.

  There was heat in his voice, but I had to ignore it. Now wasn’t the time to give in to the draw I felt to him. Especially not after what he just told me.

  After Ethan showed up at the bar and announced he would be waiting at my house for me, I knew there was no going back there. Not until I knew Ethan wasn’t in town anymore. Jordan brought me right back to his place after work that night, and he and Tyler went over to my place the next day to grab some clothes and other necessities. They said they didn’t see Ethan, but I wouldn’t put it past him to be hiding somewhere out of sight.

  At least the guys were smart enough not to drive right from my place to his or back. That way even if Ethan was trying to track me down by following them, he wouldn’t have a direct path. Now I knew I wasn’t going to be able to rely on that anymore. Even more, I wasn’t going to be able to be with Jordan all the time.

  And as disappointed as I was feeling about Jordan moving away, I needed to move past that. This was never intended to be permanent, and it seemed it was time to go back to the real world. I reminded myself that I was in no place for a relationship. No matter what my heart was trying to convince me of.

  We walked together back to the front of the bar and saw a huge crowd of customers had come in. We dove back into work and didn’t have another chance to talk to each other for a couple of hours. Finally, there was enough of a break in the influx of customers for Jordan and me to take a meal break. Tyler had already put together plates of food for us, and Jordan brought them into the office so we could eat in some semblance of quiet.

  “So, when I leave for Portland, I should really only be there for a couple of weeks. And I’ve already spoken to my mother,” he said.

  I gave him a quizzical look. “Your mother?”

  “Yes. I would really like you to stay with her while I’m gone.”

  I was immediately hesitant and pulled back a little, shaking my head.

  “I am really not sure about that idea,” I said.

  “Why not?” he asked. “You can’t just go back to your place. At my mother’s house, you would be safe. He wouldn’t be able to find you.”

  “I don’t want to involve your mother in my drama. That’s unfair to her. Plus, we don’t even know one another,” I protested.

  “Well then, lets fix that,” Jordan said. “I want to take you over there tomorrow so the two of you can meet. I’ve told her a lot about you and she’s excited to get to know you.”

  A surge of nervousness rushed up inside me all of a sudden

  thinking about how Jordan’s mother would react to me, especially knowing I was having issues with my ex. Hopefully, Jordan had been relatively discreet, but I doubted that. I figured by now, his mother knew the entire story. I wasn’t relishing the thought of hearing all about that while I was there.

  “I’ll tell you what,” Jordan said. “If you really don’t want to stay with my mother, that’s fine. But until we know that asshole is gone for good, I don’t feel comfortable leaving you alone. He told you he was going to be waiting at your house to talk to you about what you did. “Will you at least stay with Ava and Mason?” he asked.

  After a few moments’ thought, I finally agreed to the compromise.

  “If it’s alright with them, I will stay with Ava and Mason,” I agreed. “But only because I have no idea where Ethan is right now or when he might resurface.”

  I hadn’t seen Ethan since the night he came to the bar. Though he threatened to wait for me at my place, I hadn’t heard a single word from him, and the one time I was able to go back by to grab a few extra things, there was no sign of him.

  That didn’t necessarily mean he was gone. I knew him well enough to know he could be doing this on purpose. It could mean he was either messing with me so I would be as anxious and on edge as possible, or he was lulling me into complacency so he could pounce. Either way, it would make the moment he did come back even more fun for him.

  Because of that, I couldn’t be certain he had actually left. Until I got confirmation of where he was, I needed to stay cautious.

  21

  Jordan

  I was not excited about leaving the next day and bringing Hannah to meet my mother was an added level of stress that made my stomach hurt. I could swear I could take live rounds with less stress than that forty-eight-hour window was giving me. There were so many tightropes to walk, so many ways things could go terribly, horribly wrong, but I held out hope it would all be fine. If I just kept my cool, stuck to the plan, and put one foot in front of the other, I could have it all.

  The last thing I wanted was for Hannah to make any indication that we were together any more seriously than potential dating. I knew my mom, and if we put any labels on what we were, she would be off to the races planning our wedding and naming our children after long-distant relatives I wasn’t aware we had. Her imagination and enthusiasm were legendary.

  Hannah and I were clearly in some form of relationship, but we hadn’t given any labels to it or talked about it. There eventually would be a conversation, I knew, but I wasn’t sure when we would have it. I knew I had no plans on sleeping with anyone else, and I was more than ready to be exclusive, and I had a feeling she was, too. But the fact remained, I didn’t want my mother planning what dishes she was going to give as a wedding gift before Hannah and I had a chance to even discuss what this new relationship meant and to figure out what we would do about my impending Portland move.

  On our way to Mom’s house, I turned the radio down, and Hannah turned to me.

  “So, before we get there, I just wanted to warn you, Mom is rather excitable and is excited to meet you specifically. She might say something about us dating. Just ignore her,” I said.

  Hannah laughed, putting her hand on mine on the center console.

  “Why? What’s so exciting about me?” she asked.

  “She’s just the type of person that will go to the extremes when it comes to her boys. She’s watched all of my brothers but Matt and I get married and start having kids, and she really wants us too as well,” I said. “I just don’t want her to run you off, you know?”

  “She won’t,” Hannah laughed. “I’m excited to meet her. Nervous, too. But I won’t be offended if she says something about us being together. It’s nice she cares so much about you that she wants you to be happy.”

  There was a note of sadness in those words, and I felt for her. Her own parents didn’t care if she was happy or not, as long as she did what they wanted her to do. In that way, she was right. It was nice that Mom cared so much about us. That she wanted us all to have a partner and a family. But I was still very aware that what Hannah and I had was very new, and Mom had been a bit much for girls in the past that my brothers brought home, resulting in promising relationships fizzling out quickly.

  When we arrived, I opened the door to the shuffling feet of my mother, who was on her way to open the door. I smiled and opened my arms, and Mom fell in for a big b
ear hug. She kissed me on the cheek and nearly pushed me out of the way to get her first look at Hannah.

  “You must be Hannah,” she said. “I am so pleased to meet you. We’re huggers here.”

  Giving Hannah no other option, she threw herself around her, and Hannah laughed as she patted Mom on the back with arms that were pinned to her sides.

  “It’s nice to meet you, too,” she said. “Thank you for having me over.”

  “Oh, that’s no big deal at all,” Mom said, leaving the hug long enough to stare at her for a second. “My goodness, Jordan was right, you are absolutely beautiful.”

  “Jordan,” Hannah said teasingly. “Thank you, Mrs. Anderson.”

  “Come on in, you two. Dinner’s ready,” Mom said, taking Hannah by the hand and leading her inside.

  I chuckled and shook my head as she showed her the bottom floor of the house. Dad’s chair was still the eyesore of the room, but it was my favorite place in the house now. Sitting there reminded me of him, and had dinner not been ready already, I likely would have taken the opportunity to sit and relax in it for a few minutes.

  As I got into the dining room, I could see Mom had been busy. There were dishes all over the table, including some of Mom’s regular hits. It was enough food to feed the whole family, most likely, but it was just the three of us. Which meant she was fully intending on sending most of it home with us. Already I was trying to figure out how in the world I was going to fit it all inside my refrigerator.

  We sat, and Mom immediately launched into stories about our childhood. Thankfully, she kept away from some of the more embarrassing things in our past and seemed to be a bit more reserved due to my requests from immediately assuming we were planning a wedding date. When dinner was over and Mom brought out her infamous tiramisu, I indulged as I always did in a slice that could be better described as “half a cake.”

  “This was my specialty,” Mom said. “Ever since I married Jordan’s father, I have made homemade tiramisu every Sunday night. This week I didn’t feel like eating any, and none of the other boys have come by. So, you two are getting the spoils.”

  “It looks delicious,” Hannah said.

  “It is,” I said. “It’s my favorite thing she makes.”

  “He asked for it for his birthday three years in a row,” Mom said, her voice trailing off as she slipped into her memories. “So did his father. Peas in a pod they were.”

  “He used to sneak down in the middle of the night and get a slice,” I said. “When I was eleven, I caught him doing it, and it became a weekly tradition for the two of us. Sneaking down and eating a bit of Mom’s delicious dessert before going back to bed.”

  “Is it an old family recipe?” Hannah asked.

  “Sort of,” Mom said. “My mother wasn’t much of a cook. Just made the basic stuff for us kids to eat, but my father’s mother was brilliant. She left him a book of recipes, which I still have. It’s all handwritten, and some of them are almost a hundred years old.”

  Mom had separated some small plates and had just carved off a few pieces for us. I was already diving into my slice when Hannah took her first bite. Her eyes widened, and she looked over to me. Her mouth hung open.

  “I know,” I said.

  “But,” she began.

  “I know,” I said again.

  Mom smiled, and we ate our dessert quietly for a few minutes before Mom cleared her throat.

  “Now,” Mom began, making my ears perk up. “Jordan told me that you might need a place to stay for a little while to avoid an ex-boyfriend?”

  Hannah glanced at me before going into it. I knew it was a touchy subject for her, as it would be for anyone, but since I was asking Mom to make space for her for a little while, I had to tell her why.

  “Yes, I might,” she said. “It’s a whole situation, but Jordan is just trying to look out for me.”

  “He’s like that,” Mom said, smiling at me. “He’s a good boy.” She turned back to Hannah. “Well, I have a lot of room now that none of my boys live here. I went ahead and got the old guest room ready anyway, just so you wouldn’t have to stay in one of the boys’ old rooms. No pressure, but if you want to stay here with a doddering old woman, you have a place.”

  “That is very sweet of you, thank you,” Hannah said. “I’m honestly not sure what I’m going to do, really. And you don’t seem doddering to me.”

  “Aren’t you sweet?” Mom asked, then turned to me. “I can see why you like her so much.”

  “Mom,” I began.

  Hannah put her hand on mine, and our eyes met. She smiled. I decided to let it go for now, since Mom was being on pretty good behavior otherwise.

  “Well, that was delicious,” Mom said. “I’ll be in the kitchen cleaning up. You two make yourself comfortable.”

  “I think we’re going to get going actually,” I said.

  “But we should help with the dishes,” Hannah said, standing. She didn’t look at me, but I got the feeling she was intentionally offering to help for multiple reasons, one of which was to make Mom feel like we weren’t rushing off.

  “Oh, I can handle it,” Mom said.

  “Please,” Hannah said. “You cooked all this wonderful food, let me help you. Jordan and I can handle dishes. You should get a chance to relax.”

  “Thank you, dear,” Mom said, stunning me. As she walked away, I turned to Hannah, who shrugged, and we made our way into the kitchen.

  A half-hour later, we hugged Mom goodbye and got back in the car. As we got on the road, I cleared my throat. It had dawned on me that I had been pushing Hannah a bit.

  “Hey, so, you don’t have to make a decision tomorrow if you don’t want to. But I would feel a lot better if you made sure all your doors were locked,” I said.

  Hannah smiled and nodded but stayed quiet for a few minutes. When she did speak, it broke the comfortable silence.

  “I really like your mom,” she said.

  “She really likes you.”

  “Really?”

  “Yeah,” I said. “She’s a bit pushy about the whole kids thing usually, but I’ve never seen her abdicate household duties to a girl one of us brought over, no matter how tired she was. She trusts you with her kitchen. That’s big.”

  “That makes me feel good,” Hannah said. “I adore her. She’s funny and sweet. How I imagine a mother should be, you know?”

  I nodded, grimacing a little. It hurt to hear how she felt like she missed out on the family experience.

  “Well, if you let her, she will mother you to death. So be wary.”

  “I’ll keep an eye out for it,” she said. “I really don’t know how I feel. I might want to stay there. I don’t think I can make a decision right this second.”

  “That’s fine,” I said.

  “I just don’t want to be a burden. Yet, I don’t want you to worry about me so much.”

  I turned to look at her. A burden. How in the world could she think she was a burden?

  “I don’t feel like you’re a burden at all,” I said. “I just don’t want to pressure you into something you don’t want to do.”

  “I appreciate the sentiment, but I am an adult. I am independent. I can take care of myself.”

  I picked up her delicate hand and pressed my lips to it. We were pulling into my driveway, and I was looking forward to getting inside and starting the evening that tended to end the same way. A very desirable way.

  “I know,” I said. “I didn’t mean to imply you were incapable of taking care of yourself. I just want to make sure you’re okay. If there is anything I can do to make sure of that, I want to do it.”

  She smiled and raised my hand to place a kiss on it.

  “Thank you,” she said. “Now, what are we going to do with all these leftovers?”

  22

  Hannah

  I tried to hold off waking up for as long as possible the next morning. I knew as soon as we were up, Jordan would have to get ready and leave for Portland. The reality of him
actually leaving wasn’t something I had let myself think about since he told me he had to go.

  In truth, it still felt strange to even consider being stressed about him not being there. Whatever was going on between us, we hadn’t talked about it. There were no commitments or definitions. We were what we were, whatever that was, and all I could really do was keep figuring it out one step at a time as it came.

  Part of that meant realizing I really would miss him. I hadn’t just gotten used to having him around. He wasn’t just a nice guy or somebody fun to talk to. He was a part of my daily life, somebody I thought about several times a day, every day, and somebody I relied on seeing.

  It wasn’t something I’d expected when I came here, and definitely not something I was looking for. I’d moved to Astoria to escape other people trying to control my life and tell me who to be and what to do. Finding somebody wasn’t even close to being on my agenda. In fact, I didn’t want anything to do with it.

  But then Jordan came along. People always said you find the perfect one when you stop looking. It seemed that might be true for me. I didn’t know if I was ready to really consider Jordan perfect, or get anywhere near the possibility of referring to him as the one. But I couldn’t deny what was happening between us. I couldn’t pretend I didn’t feel the closeness forming, or the feelings growing inside me.

  I couldn’t pretend he didn’t make me feel safe and appreciated for who I was, rather than what he might want me to be. I didn’t know what it all meant, but I did know I didn’t want him climbing out of the bed and getting in that car.

  But he did get out of bed. I couldn’t really stop him. In fact, I asked, just to be sure.

  “Do you think I could write you a note saying you don’t have to go because you need to stay here with me and it would work?” I asked as I watched him get dressed.

  Jordan smiled and turned around to face me. He leaned over for a kiss.

  “If I thought it would, I would have you do it. Unfortunately, I don’t Tom would see it that way,” he said. He dropped his shirt over his head and came to sit down on the edge of the bed and put his shoes on. “But you are more than welcome to stay here while I’m gone. If you feel safe and comfortable here, you can make yourself at home.”