drdaddy

by Sullivan, Piper

  “I’m pretty sure that was an invitation for you and your dad, sweetie. How about we go to a different park?”

  “No I want to go to this one!”

  “Fine.” It was the least I could do since I hadn’t spent as much time with her lately as I would have liked. “Let’s go then.”

  “Yay! We’re gonna have so much fun Rory!”

  We would not, at least I wouldn’t, but there was no need to share that with her. “Whatever you say kid.”

  She ignored me, or didn’t hear me as she ran, skipped and jumped her way towards the park, chatting excitedly the entire way. Watching her twisted something in my chest and I stopped in my tracks as a thought occurred to me. One day, probably soon, I wouldn’t have this relationship with Sydney. Kane would find a woman he actually loved and she won’t want his ex hanging around all the time. I would lose her as surely as I’d lost her father.

  I decided to shelve that thought for now but not before making a note to start looking for a new place. I would miss the yard I put so much of myself into, but my peace of mind had to matter more.

  “Come on Rory, there they are!” She pointed towards the rainbow of balloons and the huge banner that read ‘Happy Birthday Tamsyn’. There was a bouncy house, piñata and a clown set up opposite the two grills manned by chefs in white coats, a face painting station and a buffet table. These people went all out for kids’ birthday parties.

  I made the reluctant trek to towards the gathering, but I kept my distance while Sydney introduced herself around and charmed kids and adults alike. The women seemed nice enough, aside from the dirty looks occasionally shot my way. I was used to it especially from women born and raised on the right side of the tracks. It didn’t normally bother me but today my feelings were just below the surface and I didn’t like feeling inadequate. Especially by people whose opinions shouldn’t matter to me.

  “Are you the nanny?”

  I cut a glare at the neat blonde. “No. Family friend actually.”

  Her brown gaze narrowed and raked over me, clearly finding me lacking. “What does that mean, exactly?”

  I turned to give her the same assessing look before meeting her gaze. “Which word was unclear?”

  She wanted to say more but she knew I wasn’t going to play her game so she pushed off the picnic table and walked away in a huff.

  “Rory! Rory! It’s time to go!”

  I glanced at the little whirlwind headed my way. “Do we have an appointment or do you have a hot date?”

  She came to an abrupt stop and looked at her feet. “We just need to go. Please Rory.”

  Something was up, but I was as eager to leave this Stepford nightmare as she was, so I took her hand and we made the slow walk home.

  “Do you want to tell me what’s that was all about?”

  “Are you still sad Rory?”

  That was one heck of a subject change. “Who said I was sad?”

  “You’re my friend, I can tell.”

  Well now I couldn’t lie. “Yes I am but I’ll be fine. I promise.”

  “Is it ‘cause of Daddy?”

  Yes. “No sweetie, it’s because of me.” Because I have fatally bad taste in men, or maybe I’m just not cut out for relationships and connections. Ties to others. Maybe my mom left because she knew what I didn’t. That I would be better off on my own.

  “You’re not gonna leave are you?”

  “I’ll always be in your life Syd, if you want me to be.”

  The little girl stopped and flicked one brown braid behind her shoulder as she glared up at me. “You’re leaving,” she accused.

  “I never said that. But at some point I might have to move, or you and your dad might move.”

  “Why?”

  “Because sweetheart, eventually you’ll get a new mommy and maybe you guys will need a bigger place to live.” I hated the hurt and disappointment in her eyes but I couldn’t lie to this little girl. I couldn’t.

  “No! I want you to be my mommy Rory.” She flung herself at me and held me tight. “I love you Rory.”

  “I love you too kiddo and we’ll always be friends.”

  “Promise?”

  “Pinky promise,” I held up my pinky and she hooked hers around it.

  “Okay let’s go!”

  Jeez the girl’s brain moved fast, bouncing from one topic to another. “Why are you in such a hurry to get home?”

  “Uncle Owen is taking me to a baseball game!”

  I’d never met Kane’s best friend and business partner but I’d heard a lot about him. “That sounds like a good time.”

  “Uh-huh. Uncle Owen always lets me get hot dogs and chips and soda and cinnamon buns!”

  I laughed as we climbed the steps to our shared home. “That sounds like a tummy ache waiting to happen.”

  She giggled sweetly and pushed open the front door. “Uncle Owen has a secret recipe.” She placed a finger in front of her lips, the universal sign for ‘shush’.

  “Your secret is safe with me. Have fun sweetie.” I knelt down and wrapped her in a tight hug that felt too much like goodbye for my liking.

  “I will. You too Rory,” she grinned, nearly falling over when the front door opened further to reveal a tall handsome blonde wearing an amused grin.

  “Uncle Owen!”

  He scooped her up and she dotted his face with kisses. “Hey baby girl. It’s good to see you too.” His voice held amusement and I could see his love for the fun-loving little girl.

  “This is Rory. Rory this is Uncle Owen.”

  I held out a hand, and his own much larger hand enveloped mine. “Nice to meet you Uncle Owen. I’ve heard a lot about you.”

  “All of it good, I hope?”

  “Except for trafficking in junk food, yes.”

  “Big mouth,” he said to a laughing Sydney. “Yeah well, we pig out together because this one eats like a girl.” He tickled her was she squirmed in his arms.

  “I am a girl silly!”

  It was nice to see Syd so loved, because I knew whether I was in her life or not, she would be more than okay.

  “Well you two have fun. I’ll see you around Syd.”

  “Bye Rory!”

  The sounds of her laughter followed me inside quickly followed by a few sad tears streaking down my cheek. “Enough!” I couldn’t take this sadness anymore. It was time to put on my big girl panties and move past it. I couldn’t spend my life pining after Kane, or any man who didn’t want me. I couldn’t keep wishing for things that would never be, just as I couldn’t spend the rest of the day crying against my front door.

  I squared my shoulders and pushed off the door, making my way to the kitchen for a nice cold cocktail. “What the hell?” My light in the kitchen was on and so was the oven. I opened it and gasped at the chicken surrounded by potatoes and vegetables in a roasting pan.

  “I hope you brought your appetite Rory.”

  I spun towards the voice, the very familiar voice that still sometimes invaded my dreams. “Kane. What are you doing in my house?”

  “Making us dinner,” he said simply as though we hadn’t exchanged a single word in nearly a month.

  “You do know that you have a kitchen on the other side of this wall, don’t you?”

  He nodded and took another step closer. “Yes, but I couldn’t think of a way to get you to my place that didn’t include pretending Syd was hurt.”

  Syd. I smiled at the fact that he’d finally come around to using her nickname. “Okay but that doesn’t tell me why you’re here. In my house. Cooking dinner.”

  He took another step forward and another and another until he had me pressed against the sink and trapped between his arms. “I knew the only way you would talk to me was if I ambushed you.”

  I ignored the way my heart pounded inside my chest, doing a little squeal and stomp that Kane held me so close again. I refused to let his earthy masculine scent, his boyish smile and those intense eyes that projected everything he was feeling an
d thinking, move me.

  “What do we have to talk about?”

  “Us.” Silver blue eyes looked so deep into my eyes I swear he could see my soul. “I’m so damn sorry Rory. You were right, about everything.”

  Pushing the hope down deep, I put my hands on his chest. “Not that I don’t love hearing that, but I need specifics.”

  “You were right that I wasn’t all that upset about the book cover. I was so fucking blind Rory and I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me.” His big hands cradled my face, tilting me up so I couldn’t look anywhere but into those summer storm eyes. “I didn’t want to fall in love Rory but you made it impossible from the first moment I saw you, glaring at me with disheveled hair and sleepy eyes. Every day in every way you snuck inside my heart and took it over.”

  “Kane,” I put a hand to his jaw.

  “No I need to say this Rory, you need to hear it. I love you. I mean it, I am so fucking in love with you and I’m a jackass for not realizing it sooner. I want us to have a life together, all three of us.”

  I stood there staring up at him in shock. Completely stunned at the words that had flown from his lips with such heartfelt emotion. I couldn’t speak because I had no words. What does a girl say when she was on the brink of having everything she’d ever wanted in her life?

  “I know I don’t deserve you and I know it will take time to show you that I really do love you, and I will. I’ll do anything, just name it. Or better yet, just give me time to show you. You loved me once and I think you can love me again.”

  “Kane, I can’t love you again. And I don’t need you to prove anything to me.”

  “You don’t?” He took a step back, not severing the connection but, almost.

  “No. I never stopped loving you Kane, you’re in my heart and under my skin. You are a part of me.” I made up the step between us and wrapped my arms around his neck. “If you love me that’s all I need Kane. Your love is all I want.”

  “You have it Rory. As much of my love as you can handle.”

  “Then I have it all, Kane. I love you.”

  He kissed me and it thrilled me as much as the first kiss, the first time we made love. I basked in the heat of his kiss, his love. “So, do you think we can have makeup sex before the timer beeps?”

  “There’s only one way to find out,” I told him as I unhooked the overall shorts and let them fall to the floor, leaving me in a white tank and matching white thong and nothing more as I hopped on the table. “Better stay here and keep an eye on it.”

  A heart stopping grin spread across his face. “I love the way you think, woman.”

  “And I just love you.” And I would love him for as long as my heart beat.

  Epilogue

  Rory ~ One year later

  “Mommy! Mommy, over here!” Syd jumped up and down waving her hands in the air so I could see her.

  The plane ride from New York had felt never-ending but it all washed away at the sight of my two favorite people. Syd ran straight to me but her father, the love of my life, stood where he was, looking good enough to eat in worn jeans and a blue Oxford rolled at the elbows.

  “How’s my girl?”

  “Good. I missed you. I want to go on tour with you next time Mommy, okay?”

  It never got old hearing her call me Mommy. I swear my heart did a somersault each and every time. “I missed you too. It looks like a lot has changed since I’ve been gone,” I told her indicating the new gap in her teeth.

  “I look ugly and the tooth fairy didn’t come.”

  “You look adorable Syd, never forget that. And I’m sure she’ll show up soon, you have to be patient because there are millions of teeth falling out everyday.” I hated that I missed it but I would make sure the tooth fairy left her something good.

  “Okay,” she pouted and I hugged her again. “God I’ve missed you kiddo.”

  “What about me? Did you miss me?”

  I looked into stormy blue eyes and smiled as my heart fluttered like it did every time he looked at me with eyes so full of love. I still wonder how in the hell I got so lucky. “I really missed you babe.”

  “Yeah? How much?”

  I laughed as we made our way to the luggage carousel watching as he easily picked up my suitcase and we made our way out into the warm fall day. “Enough to give you the answer you want. If you still want it.” Six months ago Kane had asked me to marry him and I wanted to say yes, I really did. But I wanted us to live together first to make sure we both understood what we were getting into with a kid and my tendency to lose myself in work.

  “I want it,” he answered quickly, voice deep and serious. “Do you?”

  “I do.”

  “Good,” he said and lifted my suitcase into the back of his new SUV.

  “But Kane, there’s something I need to tell you.” It was the reason Bryan and Tessa had been okay with me taking a few days off from the tour to come home and be with my family.

  He frowned, trapping my body with his. “What? Is it about why you’re home early?”

  I nodded. “How did you know?”

  “Tessa called and she sounded alarmed. Worried. What’s wrong, are you sick?”

  “Yes, but not how you think.” His expression was grim and I cupped his jaw, scraping the pad of my thumb along his jawline. “I felt sick the past few days and then yesterday I fainted.” His jaw clenched and I kept rubbing soothing circles. “I went to the hospital fully prepared for them to tell me I’d caught a bug from the airplane or shaking hands or something. Instead he told me that I’m ten weeks pregnant.” I held my breath and waited for his response. I didn’t think Kane would be upset but we hadn’t really talked about expanding our family and definitely not so quickly.

  “Is this good news Rory?”

  “I think it is, do you?”

  “Hell yeah. A wife and a new baby sounds pretty damn great to me.”

  My body relaxed against his. “I love you Kane.”

  “I sure as hell hope so since you’ve agreed to marry me.” He swooped in for a quick, hot kiss and pressed his hard body into mine. “This isn’t because of the baby, is it?”

  “No. I know it’s better for you professionally for us to be married before the little one gets here and I think we’ve proved that our family fits.”

  “I love you so damn much Rory,” he growled and held me tight. “Your book tour ends in five weeks. Let’s get married the weekend you return.”

  My heart swelled at his excitement to make me his wife. This big strong handsome man was mine and so was the little girl impatiently tapping on the window. And soon we would add another member of our family to love.

  “I can’t wait.”

  “Me either but you deserve a real wedding.”

  “A backyard wedding,” I countered.

  “With caterers and a sexy white dress.”

  “And a DJ not a band.”

  He grinned, a twinkle in his eye. “Buffet style.”

  I pressed a kiss to his jaw. “Now I really can’t wait to marry you.”

  “Come on guys!” Sad was bored already.

  We both laughed at her impatient tone, moving into our seats while Syd got settled behind us. “Do you want to tell her or should I,” he asked.

  “Let’s tell her together,” I reached for his hand and he pressed kiss to mine.

  “Hey Syd,” he called to her.

  “Yes, Daddy?”

  We looked at each other and smiled. “You’re going to be a big sister,” we said at the same time.

  “Cool!”

  Pretty damn cool, indeed.

  * * *

  THE END.

  Dear Reader, hope you enjoyed Rory & Kane’s story. If you’d like another sexy glimpse into their world, I’ve included an extra scene which didn’t make it into the final cut at the end of this book. This scene takes place after Rory visits Keane one day at the hospital. This scene doesn't add anymore to the development of the story's arc, but it's
certainly steamy!

  Feel free to use the Table of Contents to help you find it.

  ***

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  Excerpt of Fake Fiancée billionaire boss

  Chapter 1

  Everything would be fine. At worst, she would end up laughing and assume he was pulling her leg or at best she would take the offer without another question.

  Justin Dunne's workday was coming to an end. Any minute now his assistant Jennifer would be coming to let him know she’s heading home for the day. And when she did, he would conjure up the nerve to ask her what he had wanted to ask her all day. The worst part is that he didn’t have enough fingers or toes to count how many times he had to rephrase his question. He suddenly felt small in his large office, dreading what he was about to do. But what was the worst that could happen? If she said no, she would just leave and show up to work the next day like nothing happened. Maybe. She could also assume the worst and think this was his way of sexually harassing her.

  But if she said yes, his plan would work perfectly.

  Would this count as sexual harassment? He contemplated this as he sat at his desk drumming his fingers impatiently on its surface. Irritated he stood up and walked around his desk to sit on the edge, but no pose could erase the sense of doom that lingered on the border of his mind. He took a deep steadying breath and said, “Everything would be fine, just breath, ask her what you want and let the chips fall where they may.”

  There was a slight knock on his door, and he quickly moved around to sit behind his desk again, trying his best to look at ease.

  “Come in!” he called and cleared his throat. His tongue felt thick in his mouth.

  With her purse in hand and her coat dangling over her arm, she walked into his office and smiled, and Justin stood up. It was not an out of the ordinary gesture, since he was taught etiquette by his mother from the day he was able to stand. You always stood up in the presence of a lady. But right now, he felt awkward to say the least.

  "Mr. Dunne, I’m heading home now, is there anything else you need me to handle before I go?”