Page 9 of My Best Friend's CEO Dad

“Yeah?”

“I asked how the research is going?”

I look at my laptop. It’s facing away from her. She can’t see the screen. I’ve been sitting here for thirty minutes, and I’m still on page one. The words seem to shimmer and change shape, becoming an outline of Lukas.

“Yeah, good,” I tell her.

Later, Kayla and I are playing Scrabble in the living room. I haven’t seen Lukas all day. I could finally work on the essay and put up some defenses in my mind again. However, they crumble when he walks by us, heading for the kitchen. Why does this place have such a fricking open plan?

He’s changed into faded blue jeans and a baggy T-shirt that hides his muscles. Maybe he’s doing it on purpose, tired of me ogling him. My heart picks up its pace as he walks by.

“Got time for a game, Dad?” Kayla calls over.

I squeeze my hand into a fist to relieve some tension. Being close to him is agonizing. It’s like just seeing him ignites a whole slideshow of inappropriateness in my mind. As he pours a glass of water from the kitchen, he replies, “Uh…”

“Oh, come on. It’ll only take twenty minutes. Then you can get back to saving your company.” When he still hesitates, Kayla goes on, “Remember what you’re always saying about recharging your mental units. You said it’s like directing an army. The units need leave, time to recover, or they won’t be able to fight as well.”

“Maybe that was me using a bunch of fancy talk to justify slacking off,” he says in a dark tone.

Kayla flinches. “Oh, uh, okay.”

Lukas walks into the living room, looking down at his daughter. His features soften as much as a man like Lukas’ features can. “I’m sorry, Kayla. Yeah, I’ll play a game.”

“You don’t have to.”

He sits on the couch next to his daughter, both of them opposite me, which is how it will always be. Even if, somehow, Lukas wanted me as badly as I wanted him, he’d never let it show. He’d never betray his daughter.

We clear the board and start again. Lukas stares down at the board with a glint in his eyes, seeming intense, like this is a board meeting rather than a board game. Kayla gets the first word—love.

“Well, isn’t that nice,” she says, smiling. “Dad, you go.”

He sighs. “I’ve only got one decent option here.”

“Okay, so what’s the issue?”

“It’s inappropriate,” he says.

She laughs. “Dad, I know you’re busy a lot, but you do know I’m twenty, not twelve, right? Anyway, I know you. If it’s a choice between winning and feeling awkward, you’ll pick winning.”

He shrugs, placing the letters down. I watch them one by one, anxiety twisting through my gut. Is he mocking me somehow? But how would he know?

Virgin.

“That’s a high scorer,” Kayla says, laughing, “and nowhere near as inappropriate as I thought it would be.”

I swallow, trying to keep my expression impassive—no big deal. It’s not like Lukas even knows or cares how many sexual partners I’ve had.

Staring down at my letters, I can’t believe it when I see it. It’s like fate is playing tricks on us at this point. Not only will this be my highest-scoring word, but I also want to get him back, which is pretty nuts, considering he didn’t choose his word out of spite.

Oh, well, here we go.

Naked.

I look up, forcing myself to meet his eyes. He stares at me for a moment. Is it my imagination, or is the corner of his lip twitching like he’s almost smiling?

“Jeez, you two,” Kayla giggles.

“Just playing the letters how they’re dealt,” I say. No, I lie. That’s not what I’m just doing. I wanted to have a not-so-subtle dig at her dad, too. I’ve never lied to Kayla before. It leaves a bitter feeling deep inside me.

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