Damaged Goods: A Single Dad & Nanny Romance

by Rye Hart

  Emma had told me she wanted lots of kids. We agreed to maybe having three or four total, including Zoey and Zack . Our new house was big enough to allow us to grow if we wanted to. And we did want to, which was something that surprised me. I didn't think I'd ever have the desire to have another child, especially since that child wasn't going to be mine and Gina's.

  But as she'd done with so many things in so many ways, Emma had helped me see it all very differently.

  Emma stood up and I kissed the side of her head. I so badly wanted to grow my family with her, but she was right; we needed to wait. The first step in our plan was to buy a home for us. Now that we’d done that, we could look forward to the rest. The next of our plan was the wedding, and that was happening in a few months. After that, we'd start trying for a baby of our own right away. By that time, Emma would have her early childhood education degree and could work with kids or she could stay home with our little horde. The choice was up to her.

  Either way, this was our family.

  The End

  Faking It With The Doctor

  CHAPTER ONE

  ABIGAIL

  “Working late again?” my assistant asked, smiling as she poked her head into my office.

  “As always,” I said with a smile. “Especially right before a fundraising gala – there's always so much to do. You know how it is.”

  “I do,” Kirby said. “But it's already after seven on a Friday, Abigail. There's really not going to be a lot you can do. You really should go home and get a little rest.”

  Kirby had a point. This late on a Friday isn't exactly the best time to get things done given that most normal people are already off the clock and gearing up for the weekend. I really should just go home.

  Of course, if I had anything to go home to, that option might be a little more appealing.

  The remaining few details of my upcoming fundraising event could be handled at home or even on Monday morning. As with most days, however, I preferred the quiet, tranquil sanctuary my corner office was to me. It was an office I'd worked so hard for, and now that I was here, I was practically living in it.

  My title – CEO of Brighter Horizons – was one I'd worked hard for and took incredibly seriously. We might be a small non-profit, but running the whole show took a lot of work. I often did the work of several employees just to make sure things got done right and on time. And although people told me to hire someone to help me, I preferred to do the work myself. Not only was it a way to make sure things got done to the standards I wanted, but it also let me put the money I'd spend on a new employee or two back into the organization.

  It seemed like an efficient, win-win to me.

  We were, after all, doing good things in our community with the money saved by not hiring extraneous staff. Besides, if I hired more people, I wouldn't have an excuse to work late and avoid going home almost every single night. If I ever pried myself out of my office, I might actually have to socialize and get a life. Or worse yet, date somebody and land a boyfriend.

  And with everything I had going on, God knew, I had no time for that.

  “Well, goodnight, Abigail,” Kirby said. “If there's anything I can help you with, just give me a call, okay?”

  Kirby was more than my assistant. Over our time together at Brighter Horizons, she had become my best friend. She could be a little odd and quirky, but she was completely honest and trustworthy just the same. We spent a lot of time working side by side on various projects, and given that we saw a lot of each other, it just seemed natural that we fell into a deep, lasting friendship – one that I treasured. If I’m being honest, , she was really my only friend these days.

  “No, I'm not going to call you, Kirby. You have plans, remember?” I scolded her. “You have a date with Mr. Perfect, if I remember correctly?”

  “A date, yes,” she said.

  A smile stretched across her face – the kind of smile that made her eyes light up. I'd never seen her so happy or excited before. But whenever she talked about Mr. Perfect, she always got that look on her face. It was utterly adorable and I couldn't possibly be happier for her.

  “But it's just that. One date,” she said. “I have plenty of time before and after –”

  “Not if it everything goes well,” I said with a wink. “Hopefully your date tonight turns into a weekend together complete with breakfasts in bed.”

  “Maybe so,” she said with a shrug.

  I knew Kirby was downplaying her relationship because she felt bad for me and didn't want to rub it in. Things were getting serious between her and Brian – aka Mr. Perfect – but I could tell she didn't want to talk about it too much around me, given my lack of potential dates. I tried to tell her over and over that it was okay, that I was genuinely happy for her. No matter what I said or did, though, she still continued to walk on eggshells around me in regard to her relationship.

  “Go, have fun and don't you dare think about work,” I said with a laugh. “That's an order.”

  “Given that it's Friday night, I should be saying the same thing to you,” she said. “But we both know it would fall on deaf ears.”

  “I'll have fun,” I said. “With my glass of wine and some Netflix. Don't you worry about me, I'll be just fine.”

  Kirby gave me a small smile and then turned and left. As soon as she was gone, the office grew quiet. It did sort of creep me out a bit to be in the building when everyone else had gone, but it was better than being alone at home. If I turned on a little music, I’d soon forget I was here by myself, and settle in to what I needed to do. I picked up my iPhone to plug it into my speakers when I noticed I had a missed call from my mom. Groaning inwardly, I punched the button and listened to the voicemail.

  “Hey honey! So, your dad and I wanted to know if you were free this weekend for dinner. Joanne's son is in town and I wanted to introduce you two –”

  Click. I deleted the voicemail before listening to the rest. There was no need to even bother. I'd have to make sure that I was busy this weekend. All weekend. Way too busy to meet Joanne's son Chad. He was apparently a doctor and someone my mom was already having dreams of me marrying. In her head, she was probably already planning it all out.

  I'd heard good things about Chad and he didn't sound like a bad guy. But honestly, I wasn't interested. Not just in Chad, but in men in general. I just wasn't there at that moment in time.

  My phone rang again while I was still holding the phone and I jumped a bit. My mother sure didn't know how to take a hint. I cancelled the call, then instead of waiting for the text I knew she'd be sending, I beat her to it. I quickly keyed in a message and hit send.

  Mom, I can't talk. I'm in a meeting.

  She responded with, At seven pm on a Friday night?

  Shit.

  My phone rang again as I stared at the screen. My mother's picture, of course, popped up, informing me that she was on the other end of the line. This time, I let out a long, dramatic sigh and answered.

  “Hi, Mom.”

  “Abigail, really? I wasn't born yesterday, you know,” she said. “I know when you're avoiding me.”

  “Mom, listen, okay, you're right, I'm not at a meeting,” I said, trying to think quickly on my feet. “I'm actually – on a date. With a guy. I stepped away to talk to you for a minute, but I really need to get back to him, so if –”

  “You're on a date?” her voice raised on the other end.

  “Yes, actually I am. Don't sound so shocked,” I said, doodling on a Post-It note on my desk. “We're at a really nice restaurant and everything. So, I really should get going.”

  “Which restaurant?” she asked me.

  “You probably wouldn't know it, it's downtown,” I said. “Some hipster place. I’d never heard of it before tonight.”

  “Try me,” my mom said. “Your dad and I go downtown a lot and we've tried a lot of different places. Even some of those hipster restaurants.”

  “Uhh well, it's called –”

  I racke
d my brain, desperate to come up with something. As I struggled to think, I vaguely remembered Kirby mentioning that Brian was taking her to dinner – but where? Thankfully, a name popped into my head at the last second. “The Cellar,” I said. “We're at The Cellar.”

  “Oh yeah, I've heard of that place before,” she said. “The reviews are all very positive. Is it any good?”

  “Haven't had a chance to eat yet, but if you let me go, I can give you my expert opinion on the place later,” I said, hoping she'd take the hint that I needed to get off the line. “Mom, my date is waiting.”

  “Uh huh,” she said, not sounding entirely convinced that I was telling her the truth. “Well let me know if you're able to come to dinner on Sunday. Chad will be here, and he's anxious to meet you.”

  “Mom, what if things go really well with this guy tonight and I don’t want to meet anyone else? I asked.

  “Yeah, well, if I actually believed you were dating someone, I'd answer that,” she said.

  Damn. My mom knew me too well. But I continued playing it off, falling victim to my own lies. I wasn't about to let her know she was right, or I’d never hear the end of it.

  “I told you, mom –” I said, pausing briefly and covering the phone, pretending to talk to someone else, “No, it's fine, I'll be there in just a moment – mom, listen, the food is here, and I really need to go. Talk later?”

  I hung up before she could continue questioning me. For God's sake, Mom, I thought. This was the third or fourth time she'd tried to set me up with Chad. And each time, I made up some excuse, usually work-related. But eventually, I wasn't going to have an excuse and I'd have to meet the guy. It was either that or find a fictitious boyfriend with a backstory good enough to get her off my case. I went to plug my iPhone in when another text came through.

  So when will we get to meet the new guy in your life, huh?

  Sigh. I shook my head and started the music.

  CHAPTER TWO

  HARRY

  “You'll call me, right?” the tight little blonde asked as she stood in the doorway of my apartment.

  “Of course, darling,” I said, giving her a quick kiss as I patted her ass, nudging her out the door. “I just have to get ready for work. The life of a surgeon and all. I'm very busy. No rest for the wicked, as they say.”

  Her face fell, almost as if she knew that I had no intention of calling her and this was goodbye.

  “I really like you, Harry,” she said, hesitating in the doorway. “And last night was amazing.”

  “Yes, it was,” I said, glancing at my watch.

  I wasn't lying about needing to get to work – I had a complicated surgery scheduled for that morning. Maybe I shouldn't have gone out and bagged Miss Blonde Bombshell the night before major surgery, but I found that sex often helped me relax; put me in a calmer, mellower mindset. It was a release in more ways than one. But maybe I should have made sure the woman I picked up to bang wasn't so needy. And I never should have let her spend the damn night.

  “How about before I go, we make plans for this weekend, huh?” she asked, hope in her eyes.

  God, she was already so fucking clingy after one goddamn night! What would she be like a week from now? A month from now? I’d rather shoot my dick off.

  “I'm not sure what I'm doing this weekend yet, I may be out of town,” I lied. “So how about I call you, Shannon?”

  “My name is Shanna,” she said, her smile quickly fading.

  “That's what I said, wasn't it? Now seriously, I can't be late for surgery prep,” I said.

  I quickly ushered her out the door, and was losing my patience in the process. Why couldn't she seem to take a damn hint? I was a busy man, and being clingy was no way to win me over.

  Shanna turned and walked out the door, muttering to herself about how I was a jerk or something even less flattering. Not that I cared. She was a pretty, young thing, and she had proved to be a good distraction last night, but I wasn't down to see her again. Maybe if she hadn’t have laid there like a plastic blow up doll while I did all the work, I might have fucked her again. Hell, I might have even fucked her a few more times.

  I walked through my living room and took the stairs up to my bedroom, checking the time again. I was going to have to hurry if I wanted to make it to the hospital in time. I had a super complex heart surgery and I couldn’t afford to waste any more time. My staff needed to be properly prepped and my patient needed to see my face before the procedure. I wasn't one of the best in my field for nothing.

  Making sure I looked nice and professional with my hair combed and my face freshly shaven, I stepped out the door and walked to my BMW in my garage.

  It was going to be a long, tedious, and stressful day in the operating room, but how many people can literally claim they saved lives for a living?

  Add that to the pay and the fringe benefits – like blondie, or any number of women who couldn't wait to fuck a doctor – and it was all a pretty nice lifestyle. I really couldn't complain.

  ooo000ooo

  “You really ought to get yourself a nice girl, Dr. Pemberton,” Betty said.

  Betty was my cardiac nurse and had been in the medical field almost as long as I'd been alive. She was, hands down, the person I trusted most by my side in surgery. No one could handle the pressure like she did, and she often knew what to do before I even said anything. That's why we made a great team. She anticipated my moves perfectly and worked together like a well-oiled machine.

  I loved having Betty my side – even when she sometimes acted like my mother.

  “I don't have time to date,” I said, laughing.

  We'd finished with the surgery – another one for the win column – and I was filling out the mountain of paperwork in my office. Betty sat across from me, chatting as we unwound.

  “Not seriously at least. My schedule here keeps me busy,” I continued. “Besides, most of women I meet are so needy – they couldn't handle dating someone like me. My work comes first and most don't seem to understand that, or be willing to accept it.”

  “Which is why you're a good F,” Betty said, her smile crinkling the corners of her mouth. “But one day, you're going to wake up and realize you're missing something, Harry. Trust me on that.”

  Betty was staring at the plaques on my wall. Diplomas, awards, and a lifetime of achievement all hung neatly behind me.

  She spoke to me from her own personal experience, I was sure. She often told me how she regretted not getting married and having children of her own, saying that her job had been the only thing in her life for so many years. There she was, in her sixties, and work was all that she had.

  “I have plenty of time,” I said, closing the patient file. “I'm still only in my thirties.”

  “Yeah, that's what I said too,” she said with a wry grin. “And then one day I woke up a senior citizen. Time goes fast, Harry. A lot faster than you might think.”

  “Come on now,” I teased. “Things are going great with Robert, I thought?”

  “Yes, they are,” she said. “Terrific. Never thought I'd meet a man who could keep up with me. Albeit, he is a decade younger than I am.”

  “You're only as old as you let yourself feel,” I said.

  “Is that why you still chase after the twenty-year-old girls?” she asked, a smile on her lips but a serious look in her eyes.

  “See? You get it,” I said.

  “I'm just holding out until you decide you're interested in older women,” she said, smiling and winking at me.

  “I'd just break your heart,” I said. “And that is the one thing in this life I'd never, ever want to do.”

  “Ain't that the truth,” she laughed. “I may be old, but I'm not stupid. I know a heartbreaker when I see one.”

  She knew me well, that was for sure.

  CHAPTER THREE

  ABIGAIL

  I was already in my office Monday morning when Kirby got there. She stopped in and set a Starbucks mocha down on my desk – made just
the way I liked it. Kirby took good care of me.

  “Jesus, Abby,” she said. “Did you sleep here this weekend?”

  I smiled. “No, it just looks that way.”

  Sitting down across from me, she looked like she was ready to burst. She was suppressing a wide grin and I could see she was dying to spill the beans about something. Turning away from the database of donors I'd been poring over, I looked at her and raised an eyebrow.

  “Well someone looks happy for a Monday,” I teased. “Guessing the weekend went well?”

  “It was amazing,” Kirby gushed. “Brian is seriously like the best guy I've ever met.”

  “Yeah?” I asked and smiled.

  I felt a twinge of jealousy, but not enough that I couldn't push it away and be happy for my friend. “Go on, tell me the details,” I said. “I can tell you're ready to burst.”

  “Well, we went to dinner at The Cellar, like I mentioned – and the food there is worth it. Oh. My. God. Abigail, you have no idea what you're missing,” she said. “But after dinner, we went back to his place...”

  Her voice trailed off, obviously insinuating that they'd hooked up. Not that it was a new thing, but they were still in the stages of the relationship where spending the night together wasn't a given, so it was still fresh and exciting.

  “And?” I prompted her.

  “And I spent the whole weekend with him,” she said. “The next morning, he made me breakfast in bed, then we went out and saw a movie and had some lunch – and it just went on from there. I didn't want to leave Sunday night, but I didn't have my work clothes and knew I shouldn't push my luck.”

  Her long, blonde hair was flowing loosely around her, and while she wasn't wearing any makeup , her obvious happiness made her glow. She was radiant and I was thrilled for her.

  “Happiness suits you, Kirby,” I said with a grin. “You deserve this. You really do, sweetie. After that last asshat you dated, you deserve a good guy.”