and win.
“Not just save. Be a family.” He grinned and opened his arms wide as if he expected me to jump for joy.
And that was when it hit me. The job, the sex, the date . . . it was all part of his dream come true. When I walked into his office almost two weeks ago with a baby in my arms, asking for a job, he thought his dream was coming true.
“Oh. My. God.” I took a few steps back. “Wow. You have problems. Like real, deep therapy problems.”
I turned and plucked my purse and jacket from the chair, thankful I had refused to let that grabby hostess take it when we first arrived.
“Where are you going?” He stood there, eyes wide, watching as I moved to the door.
“I’m leaving. Nathan doesn’t need a dad. There’s no law written anywhere in the world that says he must have a dad. And if I do let a man close enough to me to meet Nathan and become part of his life, it’s because he’s a good man, not because he has money. And definitely not because he’s a liar, only out to make himself feel better.”
I opened the door and left. I didn’t look back because I was afraid he would follow me. Once I stepped out of the restaurant, I realized I had no way of getting home.
Thankfully, a cab had pulled up, dropping off a couple. I rushed forward and hopped inside. I gave the driver the address as I buckled up.
When the cab pulled away, I looked back, watching as Monty ran out of the restaurant looking for me.
Chapter 19
Monty
“WE HAVE A PROBLEM,” Rock said as I sat in his office tapping my foot on the floor.
There was a fire in the gigantic fireplace near his desk. I kept staring into the flames, hoping to discover some answers to the tough questions in my life.
But nothing came to me.
“What else is new?” I grumbled.
He stood and leaned over his desk. “I would have expected to have this type of conversation with James, not with you, Monty.”
When Julia ran out of our date two days ago, I felt hurt. I had called her, but all I got was her voicemail and unanswered texts.
I hoped to find her at her desk when I showed up for work this morning, but it was empty. The only thing awaiting me was a note on my desk from Rock telling me to come see him.
Julia must have told her sister, who then told Rock. I knew Rock wanted to do more than just yell at me. He probably wanted to punch me, but this was his office, and we weren’t kids anymore.
He did not understand how much I wished he would hit me. I could really have used a fist to my face that was so hard it would knock me out. I screwed everything up with Julia.
Everything.
There was no way she would ever let me see her or Nathan.
“Tell me what happened with you and Julia?”
I sat back in the chair and stared up at him. “Do you want the whole truth or just what Julia knows?”
That surprised him. His head jerked back. “I have a feeling I will dislike the whole truth more than what I’ve heard from Julia.”
“Probably.” I nodded. “You spoke with her? How is she?”
Maybe it was the bags under my eyes from not being able to sleep the past two days that had Rock gazing at me with pity. Whatever it was, he sat back in his chair and sighed.
“She’s fine. She still works for The Blue Spot. We hired her. I explained if she wasn’t comfortable working as your assistant, I could reassign her somewhere else in the company.”
“Where?”
His brow hitched up. “That’s information you won’t be privy to. There’s a reason she doesn’t want to work for you, remember?”
I rubbed my face. “Right.”
“She told me, with Laura present, that you two have been fooling around.”
“I didn’t force her. I never made her do anything she didn’t want to do.”
Oh, dear God, I sounded like a perv.
“She told me. That wasn’t her complaint. It was your obsession with her being a mom. That’s none of your business. Her son, her life outside of The Blue Spot, is no concern of yours. I didn’t think you were like this, Monty. I have to say, it surprised me to hear what she said about you. How you wanted to save her and for you all to