My Dad’s Business Partner: A Forbidden Romance

by Cassandra Dee

  I smile, lost in thought.

  “I wonder if I could still manage a heel clicker.”

  “A what?”

  It’s my turn to explain the finer points of motocross, and I enjoy it. I tell Harlow the names of a couple tricks and how the riders are judged. She listens with real interest and asks smart questions. Part of me is reliving the past, but a bigger part of me is focused on my future, with Harlow by my side.

  As I go through the files on my computer, I’m only half paying attention. After the motocross exhibition, we spent the rest of the weekend in bed because I can never keep my hands off Harlow. In fact, she came into my office this morning, and I can still feel her mouth on my cock. Her lipstick ring is still at the base, come to think of it. That girl really is an artist, not to mention her watercolors are good, too.

  Unfortunately for us, this week Brent is in town, so we have to be well-behaved. It fucking sucks. I wish we could just be out in the open about everything, especially since Harlow leaves for school soon, but we both know better than that.

  My eyes glaze over while I scroll through another PowerPoint presentation of data no one actually cares about. My fingers drum by themselves. I don’t even realize it until I hear that I’m tapping to the beat to a song Harlow sang in her sleep three nights ago. She was so cute with her mangled lyrics. “Relax, said the nightmare. We are programmed to be seen …” I had to stop myself from laughing, just so I could hear her butcher Hotel California.

  Come to think of it, I should take Harlow to California one day. I bet she’d love the art scene there, not to mention the beauty of Napa. We could do a wine country tour, and then I’ll take her to a boutique hotel where we’ll …

  Suddenly, my office door bursts open and it’s Brent, shouting and red.

  “What the fuck is this?!”

  He shoves his phone into my face and forces me to watch a camera feed of the basement bathroom from two weeks ago. Harlow is on the countertop, her legs spread. I’m on my knees, using her thighs as earmuffs as she tosses her head back in a silent moan. Oh shit. We didn’t think anyone would find the footage, but obviously, her father has. I hold my hands up in a placating manner, even as my heart pounds. Shit!

  “Brent, calm down-

  “The fuck did you just say to me? Calm down?”

  “Just listen.”

  “I am three seconds from kicking your ass, Gray.”

  “Let me explain.”

  But my friend is too enraged to hear and cuts me off again.

  “I will knock you into next week if you don’t say this was all some sort of prank! But what kind of fucking prank is this?”

  I buzz my secretary quickly. “Can you ask Miss Marshall to come up?”

  “Right away,” Priscilla says grimly before clicking off. Meanwhile, Brent looks like he’s about to explode, his face is so red.

  “Tell me,” my friend hisses before pulling a chair up to my desk. “You’ve known my daughter since she was born. So what the fuck is going on?”

  I try to stay calm.

  “Listen, buddy, I know this is a surprise, but Harlow is on her way up, and we can talk about this like adults once she’s here. But if you’re going to be a hothead and scream the whole time, nothing is going to get done.”

  Brent merely grips the arms of the chair, his knuckles white.

  “I will murder you for taking advantage of my little girl, Gray. I will pound you into hell and beat you into a pulp.” I’m about to reply when the door opens and closes again.

  “No one took advantage of me, Dad,” Harlow says in an enviably calm voice.

  He doesn’t even hesitate. Brent is on his feet in a second, raging at his daughter.

  “How could you do this? Both of you! What the fuck? I told you to watch out for her, not fuck her!”

  That makes me angry.

  “Shut up. I’m in love with your daughter, so watch your mouth, asshole.”

  Harlow gasps behind me. Meanwhile, her father’s face turns even more purple.

  “What? Are you fucking kidding me? You’re a fucking dog, Jamison. You’ve fucked how many women in this town? All of them? There’s no way I’m letting some diseased STD-ridden asshole like you touch my daughter.”

  Harlow’s got tears in her eyes, but now I’m seeing red.

  “Shut the fuck up,” I growl. “You know nothing about my dating life.”

  A vein pulses in Brent’s forehead as he rages.

  “I know everything about your dating life, cocksucker! I’ve known everything about it for more than twenty years! You’re not sticking your dick in my daughter if I have anything to do with it, you fucking asswipe.”

  Harlow’s sobbing now, and she collapses on a couch. It kills me to see her like this, but I can’t take it anymore. I begin advancing on Brent.

  “Shut the fuck up. Take that back,” I growl.

  “Take what back?” he screams in my face. “The fact that you’ve been fucking women right and left since we were eighteen? The fact that you’re twice Harlow’s age? The fact that this is my daughter we’re talking about? You’ve fucking infested her with all your STDs!”

  That does it. I clock Brent hard, and he falls to the floor.

  “Daddy!” Harlow screams before rushing to kneel at his side.

  Brent rolls into fetal position, cradling his face while groaning.

  “Unnnh,” he manages as blood trickles from his nose. “Fuuuuuck.”

  I glare icily at him.

  “You deserve it,” I say in a cold voice. “I love Harlow, and I don’t give a fuck what you think. She’s twenty-one, and I want to be with her. Come here, Harlow. Leave that loser alone.”

  The beautiful girl looks up at me from her place by her dad. Then she looks at Brent again, then at me. I can feel how she’s being pulled in different directions, but my woman is smart. Slowly, she gets up and walks to me, as I embrace her in my arms.

  Brent’s still curled in fetal position on the floor, but he lifts his head when she does that, and then lets it drop with a thunk.

  “It’s true, Daddy,” Harlow says in a tearful voice. “I love Gray, and we’ve fallen in love with each other. I know this isn’t what you expected, or even what you want, but what we feel for one another is real. We’re in love, Daddy, and we’re in a relationship. Not only that, but I’m expecting Gray’s baby too.”

  I turn to look at her with surprised blue eyes. My head feels light, as if there isn’t enough oxygen in the room.

  “Baby, are you really?” I ask. “You’re going to have my child?”

  She nods tearily, and sniffles a bit.

  “I am, Gray. We always used protection, but nothing’s perfect. You’re going to be a daddy in about seven months.”

  With that, nothing matters anymore. I sweep Harlow into my arms, raining kisses on her face and neck.

  “Sweetheart, this is a dream come true,” I rasp. “I never thought I’d be a father, but now you’ve given me the greatest gift.”

  She cries and laughs simultaneously, throwing her arms around my neck.

  “It’s our gift to one another,” she murmurs. “Ours to share.”

  Meanwhile, Brent lets out a loud groan from his position on the floor. We turn to look at his collapsed form.

  “Unnnnh,” he moans, looking worse for the wear. “Fuck.”

  “You okay?” I rasp, although I don’t go over to help him up. “You deserve it, after the things you said.”

  Brent manages to lever himself to a sitting position.

  “Damn, you clocked me a hard one there, Gray. But I never thought I’d be a grandfather,” he manages while pinching his nose with his hands. “With you as the father.”

  Brent’s anger has evaporated somewhat, but he glares at me nonetheless.

  “Don’t get me wrong,” he warns. “If you so much as hurt a hair on my daughter’s head, I’ll kill you. But if you really love one another, then fine. Who am I to say anything? You’re my best friend and
a good guy, even if you are a fucking sneaky bastard,” he says grudgingly.

  “And the fact that you basically just called me a flea-invested manwhore?” I ask dryly, pulling Harlow even tighter to my big build. “Not to mention an STD-infested roach?”

  Brent winces.

  “Yeah, sorry about that. You better not be a manwhore anymore though. Like I said, hurt one hair on her head, and I’ll …”

  “I know, I know,” I chuckle, pressing a kiss to my curvy girl’s cheek. “You’ll slit my throat. But thank you, Brent,” I say with heartfelt emotion in my voice. “I appreciate your support. I love your daughter, she loves me, and this is something I never expected in life. A woman. A child. A real relationship.”

  With that, Harlow turns to me.

  “Always, Gray Jamison. I’ll always be yours.”

  And with that, I kiss her in front of her father, uncaring of our witness. After all, I may be Brent’s business partner, but I’m so much more than that to his daughter. I’m Harlow’s lover, her partner, her boyfriend, and now, babydaddy to her child.

  Epilogue

  Harlow

  * * *

  Two years later.

  “If you had asked me that day in my office,” Gray muses. “I never would have believed Brent would come to our daughter’s first birthday. Or any birthday at our house, for that matter.” He’s combing his black hair one more time in the mirror as we get ready for our daughter’s party.

  “Well,” I braid my curly locks tightly to keep them from Fannie’s baby fingers. “I think once the fact that he’d be a grandfather hit him, he knew he’d have to get over it.”

  “Yeah, but still. This is Brent Marshall we’re talking about. CEO extraordinaire who never shows any mercy.”

  I just smile.

  “Everything changes when you have a family. Even you, Mr. Jamison. I’d say you’re a big, cuddly bear now.”

  My boyfriend laughs.

  “Oh really?”

  “Yes, definitely. A big, cuddly bear who likes his honey,” I quip while straightening my dress. The material doesn’t sit well over my nursing bra, and I can’t stop twitching it back and forth.

  My boyfriend watches my breasts jiggle as I try to adjust the material more comfortably. “I could watch you do that all day. Can we skip the party?”

  I giggle, “Fannie only gets one one-year-old birthday party in her whole life. We are not fucking it up because we can’t stop fucking.”

  He wraps his arms around my waist from behind and looks at us in the mirror, his big form completely dominating mine. “But it’s so much fun,” he murmurs hotly in my ear.

  I wiggle my ass against his groin and giggle. “Oh, I remember. Just like it was so much fun this morning that the nanny had to take Fannie downstairs for privacy’s sake.”

  My boyfriend nips my ear.

  “I’m pretty sure Fannie had no idea what she was hearing.”

  I make a face at him in the mirror.

  “I don’t mean our daughter! I mean the nanny. It’s embarrassing Gray! We go at it like rabbits all the time, and I think the nanny knows.”

  He merely nuzzles my neck.

  “Good. I want people to know how much I adore my lush woman. You’re gorgeous, sweetheart.”

  I laugh and pull away.

  “Okay, enough is enough. We have to get downstairs, otherwise, even more people are going to talk. How do I look?”

  Gray eyes me up and down, his eyes hungry.

  “Fuckable.”

  I giggle. “That’s not the right answer. What I mean is, how do I look for our child’s birthday party, where our cherished guests will be eating cake with our one-year-old daughter?”

  He stands up straight, takes a deep breath, and says, “You look perfect, sweetheart. And you seem to be painfully immune to my charms. I’m not sure how I feel about this.”

  “I hope you feel fatherly,” I say with a smirk.

  I expect Gray to laugh, but instead he pulls me close once more, his expression serious.

  “Actually, I think everything’s worked out amazing, Harlow.”

  I smile up at him, fondly trailing one hand through his dark hair.

  “How so?”

  “Do you remember that conversation we had a long time ago?”

  I shake my head.

  “Which one? We’ve had a lot of conversations.”

  Gray nods, and takes a deep breath.

  “The one where we talked about how your dad wanted you to work for Kombuchaid? The family legacy and all that?”

  I laugh.

  “Yeah, but I never went back after my internship ended. Motherhood came for me, remember? But it’s for the best. I was never into marketing, and I love staying home with Fannie while painting in my free time.”

  Gray nods seriously, and kisses me.

  “But even so, Brent wanted you to work for the company because you’re his heir, and he wanted to keep the company in family hands. Now I think we have a chance, don’t you?”

  Slowly, realization dawns on my face.

  “You said that we should merge our families. Something about making a baby together, so that the company would stay with both the Marshalls and the Jamisons.”

  Gray nods, his eyes twinkling.

  “It’s happened, hasn’t it? Everything I predicted came true.”

  I laugh, slapping his arm playfully.

  “Gray, Fannie is only one! Maybe she’ll hate the corporate world just as much as I do!”

  But he merely shakes his head and presses another kiss to my mouth.

  “Or maybe she’ll be just like her father and grandfather, and adore business and commerce. It could happen. Besides, if Fannie doesn’t fall in love with Kombuchaid, then it means we should have more children. We’ll have to have at least a dozen to make sure that at least one of them decides to stick with the company.”

  That’s when I know it’s my turn. My cheeks flush and I look up at him through my lashes.

  “Well, I don’t think you have to worry, Mr. Jamison, because I’m pregnant again. You’re going to be a daddy, and Fannie will have a little brother or sister in about … oh, seven months.”

  The look on Gray’s face is sheer joy, and he cups my cheeks tenderly with both hands.

  “Are you serious, sweetheart?”

  I nod, so happy that my soul overflows with happiness.

  “Yes, Gray. Our family is growing, and I can’t wait to have another baby with you.”

  He merely kisses me again, his lips tender as his eyes gaze into mine with adoration. After all, Gray is my dad’s business partner, but now our love has united us as a family.

  * * *

  THE END

  * * *

  Would you like to hear more about Gray and Harlow? Then pick up a bonus scene here, where they enjoy some naughty time together. It’s free when you subscribe to my newsletter! (You can unsubscribe at any time)

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  Next in the Series

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  If you felt the sparks between Brent and Janie, then you’ll love My Bestie’s Dad, available here.

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  Sneak Peek: The Frat Boys Next Door

  Sasha

  Sasha’s had a crush on the frat boys next door for ages now, even when they keep her up all night.

  * * *

  It should be illegal for houses to be so close together that I can hear people having sex next door.

  If only my scholarship to Remington College included room and board, then I wouldn’t have to live in this ramshackle, four-story building. My bedroom is in the attic, which is nice because I get plenty of privacy. However, the walls must not be insulated because whenever there’s a party at the fr
at house across the way, I feel like I’m practically there.

  But right now, this drafty attic room is all I can afford. Even now, I have to work two jobs in order to make ends meet, and that’s on top of being a full-time student. It’s not easy, but I count my blessings. Things could be much worse. So what if I occasionally have to stop by Remington College’s food pantry? I’m not too proud to go hungry, and I’m grateful for what the donors provide.

  But what makes life excruciatingly unbearable are the loud parties that happen pretty much every night at Delta Tau Tau. The heavy bass, random thumping noises, and of course, the moans and squeals that could drive a nun insane.

  I should have known better than to accept a room next to a frat house. How anyone in my house gets their zzz’s is a mystery to me. Maybe I should invest in noise-cancelling headphones. But I’d be too afraid to use them because what if I slept right through my alarm? I’d lose my barista job, which requires me to be at Cafe La Heart by 5 a.m. each morning.

  Speaking of which, there’s a thumping bass coming from next door which practically makes my floor vibrate. I sigh and check the time. It’s nearly eleven at night and it’s a Tuesday! Who the heck has parties this late on a weekday? Don’t guys in frats have class, just like everybody else? What about the people who attend these parties?

  I peer out of my window. My vantage point gives me a good view of the offending house. There are people standing around in the yard next door with red cups in hand, and sure enough, the house is packed to the rafters with kids. People are talking, drinking, singing, and a few people are even dancing on the deck they have on the first floor. Apparently, weekdays mean nothing in college, but I didn’t get the memo. I’m fine with partying on weekends, but this is just sheer ridiculousness. I mean, hello. Some of us have jobs to go to in the morning, followed by a full day of classes.