Falling for the Billionaire's Daughter - Lori Ryan Page 0,61

seven years old.

Leaning into her desk drawer, she tugged out one of the plain white envelopes she kept in a neat stack at the back. This had become a routine.

The money arrived from her father every week. No note or anything. Just a stack of cash. Why he thought it was safe to send cash through the mail, she would never know. Nor did she care.

Every week, she simply opened the envelope, moved the cash into an unmarked envelope, and dropped it into the church donation box on her way home.

“Who sends things unsolicited to someone at their place of business, anyway?” She had a habit of talking to herself, and that kicked into high gear when she received these letters. “Completely unprofessional,” she muttered.

Not that it mattered. She was the Office Manager at the medium sized law firm of Schuler and Koskoff. As long as she kept the office running smoothly—which she did—her bosses didn’t care if she received personal calls or mail. It was the principle of it that bothered her, though.

As Mia tossed the envelope in the trash, her hand froze. A return address. Today’s envelope contained a return address. And there in black and white, her father’s name. Leo Kent.

“New Haven,” she said aloud to the empty office, an odd tingling sensation running over her arms “Has he actually been in New Haven all this time?”

Not that she cared. She didn’t. She was simply shocked to discover how close he’d been to her own home in Hartford, just over an hour north.

Close enough that he could have come to see her.

Could have shown up at her soccer games or high school graduation, at the very least. Or her college graduation when she’d earned that coveted BA from Trinity. The one she and her mom had worked so hard to fund?

For the smallest of moments, Mia let heartache wash over her. Tears threatened to come but she blinked them away, swallowing down the ache in her throat.

Anger flashed in her gut and Mia shredded the envelope. Tossing the pieces in the trash. It didn’t take long for her to reach back in and pull the pieces out. She smoothed the crinkled paper and taped the return address back together.

“Better.” She let out a slow breath. Now she could handle this problem head on, just like she always did when faced with something that wasn’t working in her life. She’d go to New Haven this weekend and put an end to the letters. She’d tell Leo Kent she didn’t need his money, or him.

Nick Traber poked his head in her office. “You about ready?”

Mia nodded, shoving the envelope back in her desk drawer and straightening her skirt. She’d been dating Nick for six months. There was a stability to him she found comforting and his blue eyes were kind. She also liked that he was taller than her own five feet eight inches.

She stood and moved around the desk to him, annoyed that she was a little shaky as she did so.

Nick leaned in and kissed her cheek. She let her hands run up the sleeves of his suit jacket and closed her eyes, steadying herself.

When she’d been in college, Mia had dated a guy who began talking about a future with her almost immediately. He felt things so strongly, he began to scare her pretty early on in their relationship. Gary Schake had very quickly shown her what it was like to be with someone who cared too much. Who felt things too hard. And when she’d tried to break things off, it had gotten ugly and more than a little scary for a while.

Things with Nick weren’t like that. When she’d first seen him, her immediate thought was that he was nice looking. Brown hair, gentle brown eyes. A dimple when he smiled. He was a good looking man, but not so good looking that he’d be arrogant about it. She liked that.

Their feelings for each other had built slowly, and she liked that. They didn’t have to discuss where to eat. They’d walk down to the diner on the corner while he told her about his caseload. It was what they did every time they met for lunch.

Nick was an independent lawyer who leased office space in the same building as her firm. He primarily handled trusts and estates, with some occasional real estate law thrown in.

They started down the hall to the elevator. She waved to the receptionist on her way out. Hailey would know where to reach Mia if she needed anything. Not that she was interrupted at lunch for emergencies often, but still.

Mia smiled as she and Nick exited the building.

When they got to the diner, he would order a BLT on wheat toast, hold the mayo. He’d drink unsweetened iced tea. Two of them. No more, no less.

Her smile grew as he started telling her about something he’d done with a trust he thought would save the client money in the long run. Something about how he set it up.

She could breathe again when she was with Nick. She slipped her hand into his and he glanced her way and smiled.

“Hungry?” he asked.

“Starved,” she said, as he launched into details about remainders and living wills and all the things that bored her to tears, but reminded her how steady he was. She took a deep breath and left all thoughts of her father and his unwanted money behind.

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About the Author

Lori Ryan is a NY Times and USA Today bestselling author who writes romantic suspense, contemporary romance, and sports romance. She lives with an extremely understanding husband, three wonderful children, and two mostly-behaved dogs in Austin, Texas. It’s a bit of a zoo, but she wouldn’t change a thing.

Lori published her first novel in April of 2013 and hasn’t looked back since then. She loves to connect with her readers.

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