The Single Daddy Situation

by Layla Valentine

  She nodded. “Yep. Bright and early.”

  Even just her presence that morning made him feel like less of a shell of a human being. He needed to keep himself in check—he didn’t want to risk losing the first new bright spot he’d seen in his life in years.

  Chapter 20

  Mariah

  For the first time in well over a year, Mariah had looked forward to Friday afternoon. During her tenure at The Max, Friday had been a day to dread. The final day of the workweek was the busiest for the club, and there were always plenty of drunk idiots to deal with throughout her twelve-hour shift.

  But this Friday, she could rejoice with the rest of the populace. Friday afternoon was the end of her workweek, and she would finally be able to spend some time by herself. To be sure, she liked working at Harfield and Wellner. Her coworkers were great—she had become especially fond of Jesse—and the environment was easily the best in which she’d ever worked, hands-down.

  As much as she liked the job, however, there was an undeniable tension between her and Logan. When she mulled over the feeling in her head, she didn’t think it was a bad tension, it was just… present. She couldn’t find a way to shake it, but maybe this weekend she could finally puzzle over the sentiment to find a solution.

  With her handbag tucked beneath one arm, Mariah rounded a familiar corner on the twentieth floor. She had finished sifting through and organizing a collection of client files, and she wanted to make sure there was nothing she had forgotten before she left for the day.

  The door to Logan’s office was open, and sunlight spilled through the doorway and onto the dark carpet of the hall. His gaze snapped away from the screen of a laptop as she made her way down the short corridor. With a slight wave, she stepped through the doorway.

  He motioned her forward, looking happy at the interruption. “Hey.”

  “Hey,” she replied, pausing behind one of the two cushioned chairs. “I finished going through those client folders, got all the irrelevant ones shredded and the rest of them organized.”

  Leaning back in his seat, he nodded. “Perfect. Thank you. Hey, real quick before you leave, I wanted to ask if you’d be interested in coming over tomorrow for a little barbecue. It’s supposed to be nice outside, so it seemed like a good excuse to fire up the grill.” He paused to shrug. Beneath the nonchalance was a wistful glint, the meaning of which she had no idea. “But when it’s just Emily and me, it seems a little pointless, you know?”

  She offered him a quick smile, but in reality, her heart had started to pound in her chest. “Yeah, that’s how I feel about cooking for myself, too.”

  The seconds of silence that followed felt more like a full minute.

  His face brightened, and his hands raised, as his gray eyes flicked back to hers. “I’ll be a better host this time, I swear. I won’t even get blackout drunk again.”

  “In that case…” she trailed off as she started to laugh.

  “Seriously, though,” he said. “Emily hasn’t stopped talking about you. I think she might actually drive me insane if you don’t come over. Besides, it was her idea to invite you.”

  Mariah’s heart tugged at the thought of the little girl. “Yeah, I’ll be there. Just text me the time and let me know if you want to bring anything.”

  She knew she would have been wise to turn down the offer, but even if he hadn’t told her about Emily, she would have talked herself into saying yes. Even if they weren’t more than friends, Mariah still liked to be around him. When they were together, she had fun, and his adorable daughter was an added bonus.

  He nodded. “Absolutely. I’ll see you tomorrow, then.”

  As confident as she had been in accepting his offer, she wondered what exactly she had gotten herself into. What would happen if they wound up alone together tomorrow? Would she give in to her temptation to kiss him back next time? She knew better than to think that any display of physical affection with Logan Harfield would end with just a kiss.

  At the thought, she was glad no one was around to see the flush spread over her cheeks.

  She could deal with the situation if sex was the only source of the tension between them. But the more time she spent in his presence, the surer she became that she still harbored the same feelings for him she had been hit with four years ago. She couldn’t pin down what it was about him that drew her in, but she also couldn’t deny its presence.

  Heaving a sigh, she shook her head.

  This was going to be more difficult than she had expected.

  Chapter 21

  Mariah

  The fluttering in Mariah’s stomach had been nonstop since she started to get ready to leave for Logan’s place. She double- and triple-checked her cat-eye eyeliner, her hair, her loose-fitting T-shirt and her shorts. She knew she shouldn’t have cared about her appearance, but she couldn’t deny the rush she got whenever he looked at her. With one last spritz of perfume, she pulled on her black-and-white striped cardigan, grabbed her purse, and summoned a driver through a popular rideshare app.

  Even on the drive, she couldn’t shake the flutter in her stomach.

  She waved goodbye to the driver, and as soon as she turned around to face the porch, the door swung open. Clad in a black-and-white plaid shirt and a pair of well-worn jeans, Logan looked closer to a carpenter than a venture capitalist. He wore his hair straight back from his face, but a few strands had fallen out of place to brush his forehead. Whether he wore a suit and tie or plaid and denim, he was still gorgeous.

  “Is that her?” a voice called out from behind Logan.

  As he glanced over one shoulder, he nodded. “It’s her.”

  From around the corner, Emily practically skipped over to her father’s side. “Hi, Mariah,” she said with a little wave.

  “Hi,” Mariah replied, returning the wave as she stepped into the foyer. “How’s it going?”

  “It’s good,” Emily chirped. “Dad, can I give her the tour?”

  Mariah covered her mouth to stifle a laugh at the little girl’s matter-of-fact tone as she said, “the tour.”

  Logan’s eyes danced as he patted the top of Emily’s head. “Go nuts, kiddo. I’ll go get the grill started so we can eat soon.”

  Reaching out, Emily took hold of Mariah’s hand and led her throughout the main floor. When they passed Logan in the kitchen, Mariah could tell he was holding back laughter.

  Emily pointed out the various functions of the different rooms they visited. When they arrived at Emily’s room on the second floor, however, the tour was more in-depth. The little cartoon cats on her bedspread brought a wide smile to Mariah’s face, but when she spotted an eight-by-ten picture of a pretty woman with blond hair and blue eyes the same unusual shade as Emily’s, the smile faded.

  Gesturing to where the picture hung on the wall, Mariah looked over to Emily. “Who’s that?” she asked. She was sure she knew the answer, but she knew little about Emily’s mother.

  A flicker of sadness flitted over Emily’s face. “That’s my mom. She died when I was a baby. I don’t think I ever got to meet her. I’m not sure. I can’t remember that far back.”

  Mariah suspected the fate of Emily’s mother hadn’t been good, but she had still been unprepared for the answer to her unasked question. “Oh,” Mariah said, clasping Emily’s shoulder. “I’m sorry, honey.”

  Emily had a wistful look in her eyes when she glanced to Mariah. “Dad tells me stories about her sometimes, but I think it makes him sad to talk about her too much. He said that she was a really nice lady.”

  Squeezing the girl’s shoulder, Mariah nodded. “I’m sure she was.”

  The air of melancholy had dissipated by the time they made their way back downstairs. Tongs in hand, Logan waved to them from just beyond the set of French doors at the end of the dining room. Mariah let herself and Emily out onto the concrete patio, and they kept Logan company while he cooked their lunch—brats and hamburgers.

  When Mariah caught the first whiff of the roasting
food, her stomach rumbled. Her nerves had been so bad that morning that she had skipped breakfast. Though some of the fluttering remained, she had thankfully gotten past the point of outright nausea.

  As she and Emily helped Logan set the food on the dining room table, Mariah thought she could eat everything. When she finally took a bite, the delicious food made her moan in appreciation.

  “This is so good!” she said.

  “My dad makes the best food,” Emily piped up, her mouth full of hamburger.

  “I’m glad you both like it,” he replied.

  Mariah’s eyes met Logan’s, and the tingle of anticipation in her stomach intensified. If they wound up alone in a room together, she would almost have to walk right back out or she’d do something stupid.

  “So, I do have something work-related to run by you, Mariah,” Logan said, breaking the quiet that had settled over them as they ate.

  Nodding, she swallowed her mouthful of food and took a drink of lemonade. “Okay. Shoot.”

  “You know the client whose folder I asked you to grab me yesterday? The firm from Singapore?”

  “Yeah,” she answered with another nod.

  “I’ve been in touch with them for a while and, well…” He paused to look thoughtful. “I’ll spare you the boring details, but I finally landed a meeting with them. I probably should have told you about it when I heard back from them a few days ago, but it seemed like a lot to heap on you for your first week on the job.”

  Her eyes widened. “Singapore?” she echoed. “Is that where the meeting is?”

  His gaze flitted over to Emily and then back to Mariah. “Yeah. Well, kind of. It’s next week, at an Indonesian resort that’s really close to Singapore. I think I’m going to bring you with, too, kiddo,” he said, addressing Emily. “You’ve got a long weekend, don’t you?”

  Emily’s eyes seemed to glitter as she looked up at her dad. “Yeah, we don’t have school on Monday or Tuesday.”

  In her thirty years of life, Mariah had never traveled outside the United States. She had obtained a passport four years ago when she thought she would be pursuing an MMA career, but she still hadn’t used it. Now, out of the blue, she’d been handed an all-expenses-paid vacation at an island resort. Sure, the trip was technically for her job, but she figured the time away would feel less like clocking in at work and more like a bona fide vacation.

  Her heart hammered against her chest, and she could only hope that Logan didn’t notice the tremor in her hand as she reached out for another drink of lemonade. Her mouth was suddenly devoid of moisture, and she half-expected the glass to slip out of her clammy hand.

  A vacation to a tropical resort. A vacation with Logan. The same man she didn’t trust herself to be alone with, and she was about to agree to fly halfway across the world to share a suite with him for an entire weekend.

  She could see the disaster as it loomed on the horizon, but as she smiled and nodded, she was powerless to stop the collision.

  “That sounds great,” she heard herself say. “I’ve never been outside the United States before.”

  As he returned her smile, there was a knowing glint behind his slate-gray eyes. Despite the rush of anxiety, a thrill of anticipation pulsed through her.

  If she was barreling towards disaster, she might as well enjoy what little of the ride she had left.

  Chapter 22

  Mariah

  A Week Later

  After a ten-hour flight to Singapore, Mariah, Logan, and Emily had boarded a charter plane to take them to the Indonesian island resort. For the entire week leading up to the trip, Mariah had been antsy. When Logan asked her about the nervousness, she had shrugged it off and told him she was jittery about traveling so far away from home for the first time. In response, he had clasped her shoulder and suggested she grow accustomed to international trips—if his deal with the Singaporean firm went according to plan, Harfield and Wellner would officially be a global player.

  Despite the significance of the upcoming meetings, Logan hadn’t appeared nervous or agitated yet so far. Like always, he exuded a calm, collected air.

  When they arrived at the resort, they followed an employee to the suite where the three of them would stay for the weekend.

  The space was as large as any house in which Mariah had ever lived, and it was far more luxurious. Sunlight streamed in through a wide picture window that looked out onto the white sand of the beach. The ocean waves were a glittering shade of cerulean against the light sand, and Mariah thought she could just stand in the doorway and watch the water.

  Emily wasted no time sprinting over to her room in the far corner of the spacious suite. Mariah claimed the room beside hers, and Logan’s was across the living area. The space boasted two separate bathrooms—one beside Mariah’s room, and another in the master.

  Until now, Mariah hadn’t even known that vacations could be this luxurious. She felt like she’d packed up her apartment and taken it with her across the Pacific Ocean. In addition to the sectional couch and a driftwood entertainment stand that housed a flat-panel television, they had access to a kitchenette and a minibar.

  Once she pulled herself away from the picturesque sight of the nearby beach, Mariah hauled her suitcase into the bedroom. On a nightstand comprised of the same type of driftwood as the entertainment stand, a digital clock told her it wasn’t quite noon. If memory served, Logan’s first meeting started around lunchtime.

  As Mariah made her way back to the living area, Logan emerged from the master bedroom. He had abandoned his casual attire in favor of another black suit that was tailored to his lean, muscular frame. With gray eyes fixed on the expansive window, he adjusted a pale blue tie before he shifted his gaze to her.

  “No time to rest, huh?” she said. She was surprised to find that she was disappointed by the idea of his absence. In their trip to an island resort, she had hoped for at least a day of relaxation.

  “Not for me, no. You can take the rest of the day, though. If you want, you and Emily can hang out. She’s been talking a lot about karate and Bruce Lee ever since you mentioned him the other day.”

  Mariah, her brother, and her mom had all been enamored with classic kung fu films when Mariah was in grade school. Though she had expanded her interests as she grew older, there was still a special place in her heart for the legendary Bruce Lee.

  “Believe it or not.” Mariah raised an index finger and flashed him a matter-of-fact look. “Martial arts are actually a really great way to relax. On some level, you can compare it to yoga. It’s all about centering yourself and keeping calm.”

  He chuckled. “Oh, I believe you. I know you’re the expert.”

  As Emily emerged from her room, Mariah’s smile widened. “That sounds great. I could use a little practice myself.”

  The girl’s blue eyes shifted from Mariah to her father as her expression turned curious.

  “I’ve got to go to work,” Logan said, kneeling down to hold out his arms. “But Mariah’s going to hang out with you until I get back. Sound good, kiddo?”

  Emily’s face brightened as she nodded. “That sounds awesome!” She wrapped her arms around her father’s shoulders for a hug.

  “I’m not sure how long I’ll be gone, but you guys have fun, all right?” He raised his eyebrows and glanced at Emily.

  “We will,” Emily chirped, waving a hand as Logan started toward the door.

  Mariah had been nervous about spending the day with Emily at first. She had worried the girl would find Mariah’s chosen activities boring or tedious, and she would be stuck trying to scrape together an afternoon that would hold the kid’s attention. But Mariah learned in short order that her anxiety was unfounded.

  After they went to one of the hotel resort’s restaurants for a light lunch, they headed to the pristine beach to practice a few basic karate techniques. Emily asked a whole slew of questions about Bruce Lee and other famous martial artists, questions Mariah was more than happy to answer. Despite Logan’s ins
istence that Emily was interested in martial arts, Mariah hadn’t expected her to be this enamored.

  She caught herself as she went off on a tangent about how at the center of every martial arts philosophy was the desire for inner peace and nonviolence, but to her continued surprise, Emily soaked up the words like a sponge. Mariah didn’t have a great deal of experience with kids, but she knew without a doubt that Emily was far more mature and thoughtful than others her age.

  When the sun started its descent toward the horizon, Mariah and Emily made their way to the water’s edge to collect seashells.

  Mariah picked up a sand dollar and held it out for Emily to see. With a smile, the girl nodded her approval, and Mariah dropped the shell into a woven basket.

  “Me and Dad go to the beach to pick out seashells sometimes,” Emily said as they resumed their search. “It’s fun, but we haven’t gone in a while. He’s been busy with work, but I know he’s trying his best.”

  Glancing at Emily, Mariah didn’t miss the glimmer of sadness in the girl’s eyes. She felt a pang of sympathy at the wistful expression, and she resisted the urge to kneel down and wrap the girl in a bear hug.

  “My mom used to be gone a lot for work, too,” Mariah said instead. “It was just me, her, and my little brother, and she had to work really hard to make sure we had everything we needed. We didn’t know it, but the reason she was working so hard was so she would get a better job where she didn’t have to work so much.”

  A hopeful flicker crossed Emily’s face, and Mariah couldn’t help but wonder if she had just given the girl a false reassurance. She hadn’t lied—her mom had busted her ass for years when Mariah and her brother were young, and once she finally obtained a promotion to a steady, forty-hour workweek, they saw her regularly.