Just Sign Here - Cara Dee Page 0,16

I was just busy drinking in the sight of his body. “The radio show provided me with your name and what you did for a living. Someone at the office in Boston handled the rest.” I took the shirt from him and picked another, this time a light lavender one. Again, it would look great with the medium gray suit, and perhaps with a darker shade lavender tie. Peyton could pull off the color. I couldn’t. “You could be a model,” I murmured. “Perfect fit.”

He exhaled a chuckle. “I’m too short.”

He wasn’t. He was average, around five ten or so, but perhaps too short for that profession. Repeating the motions from the last fitting, I smoothed my hands down his chest until I felt his abs clench under my touch.

He was going to drive me insane.

“You’re tall, sir,” he noted, peering up at me.

My jaw tensed, and I inspected the sleeve length. He couldn’t be straight. Not if he was letting me do this. Noting that I was tall? Adorable. He was about as professional as I was.

“Try the green shirt,” I commanded quietly. The dark color would enhance the gorgeous green of his eyes.

“Yes, sir.”

I forced myself to return to the chair, wondering if there was actually a possibility I might eventually have him naked and spread out for me on my bed.

Five

As predicted, Peyton’s influence on Julia wasn’t an instant fix, but I did believe there was significant improvement. Cathryn and I adopted his strategy to remove most of Julia’s options, only keeping a select few for her, and it had eliminated several of her tantrums.

She was still at a sensitive age, but at least I wasn’t making it worse for her anymore.

I’d been up early to work out in the gym, so I didn’t see Julia until it was time for breakfast and she waltzed out of our bedroom, hand in hand with Peyton.

He was suited up and wore a little smirk for me. “Morning, Daddy.”

Fuck.

“Mownin’, Daddy!” Julia echoed.

“Good morning, you two.” I touched her cheek before she crawled up into her booster seat. “Cathryn should be here soon. She stepped out to buy some fun things for your beach day.”

It was a shame we’d be heading inland when we flew up to Santa Rosa the day after tomorrow, but we’d be back soon enough. Julia positively adored going to the beach. Her daddy was looking forward to a trip to wine country, however.

“Peyton come wid me to the beach?” Julia asked, nodding.

“Not today, darling. But you know what? We have the whole weekend off, both Saturday and Sunday. How about going to the pool together?” It was only a white lie. I had plenty of work, but I could do most of it poolside.

Julia was disgruntled but didn’t push the matter.

Peyton served her a plate of fruit and a yogurt cup before taking a seat to eat the same thing. Julia scrunched her nose at it, but when she noticed Peyton’s identical breakfast, she stuck a grape in her mouth.

The relief was indescribable.

How had I not figured it out sooner? She wanted someone to follow while going through this delicate time. I’d scoured bookstores for material on the development of toddlers. Perhaps she needed it even more now while we were traveling and structure wasn’t a given.

Regardless, I was incredibly grateful for Peyton.

At noon, I was treated to a tour of one of our flagship hotels in downtown LA.

It was one of our most popular locations, and ratings were excellent. And yet, it wasn’t supposed to be any different from our two similar hotels in Manhattan, both of which had shown a decline in ratings regarding service and amenities.

Were business travelers arriving in LA expecting less here, or was our staff in New York not as good?

Sophia, the front office manager, showed Peyton and me around the premises, from the two gyms—one on the eighteenth floor, one on the third—to the restaurants, from the rooms to the pool area on the roof. It was a large hotel. I’d stayed here before, though it’d been years. I preferred our smaller location in Santa Monica, partly because it was easier to get to LAX from there.

The downtown hotel was popular due to its proximity to convention centers and the fact that it was in the business district.

“And here, as you can see, we have our conference rooms,” Sophia said as we exited the elevator on the seventeenth floor. “We have many tech travelers coming in from Silicon Valley,