Page 40 of Off-Limits Silver Fox Billionaire

My house was unusually quiet the rest of the day. Usually, Iris would sing to herself or come down to the living room to spend time with me, but tonight she stayed in her room all through and left me alone to nurse a bottle of beer in the kitchen.

It was almost midnight when I finally decided to go talk to her. I knocked on her room door softly, then let myself in when she didn’t respond.

“Iris,” I called, closing the door gently behind me. I needed to talk to her, and make sure she was alright. I hated it when she stayed silent like this for a long time.

“Go away dad,” she answered. Her voice muffled into her pillows. “I don’t want to talk to you. I can’t even look at you.”

“You have to,” I said as I went to sit by her bedside. “If you’re going to be angry with anyone, then be angry at me, not Bree. She’s done nothing wrong, and you know it. It’s me you should be angry with.”

“I hate both of you,” she replied. “I don’t want to sulk like a teenager, so I’m only going to say this once,” she continued when she finally sat up. “You have to stop whatever it is you’re doing with Bree.”

“Bree’s a grown woman and she’s the only one who can make me stop whatever it is I’m doing,” I told her while meeting her gaze squarely. “You know me Iris, you’re my daughter so you know me better than anyone else, and you know when I’m being serious.”

Iris folded her arms over her chest and held my gaze for a long time before she rolled her eyes and looked away. “Bree and I have been a friends a long time. How long has this been going on? And you had to get her pregnant? What are you going to do now, marry her?”

I wasn’t about to tell Iris all about the first day I met Bree. I remembered the day of Phil’s wedding to Allison all too well. I had known Allison a while. She ran the lovely Rue’s inn after her mother, and Phil showing up to the island had turned things around for her.

Bree had captivated me from that day. The years had changed her, but my desire hadn’t dwindled. Instead, it had grown into an explosive point I didn’t think I could recover from.

“I’m not going to discuss Bree with you,” I told her as I patted her shoulder. I got on my feet and was about to walk out of her room when she stopped me.

“Dad?” she called, so I turned back to face her. “Do you ever miss mom? Do you ever wish she was still here?” Her voice shook as she asked, and the memories of Jenny that flashed in my mind made me sigh.

“I used to,” I told her, then sighed. “I barely think about her these days.”

“I think about her a lot, dad,” she said in a tiny voice, and I saw tears in her eyes.

“Iris,” I said in a tender voice and released a deep breath. “You know your mother and I ended a long time ago. You didn’t understand at the time, but you grew to understand it.”

“I do, I do understand it, it’s just. I never thought you’d be with anyone else after her.”

Iris’s sad expression made my heart sink in my chest. I hadn’t thought I would be with anyone after Jenny too, but here I was thinking about a woman who was my daughter’s age.

What have I gotten myself into?

I didn’t think I was in love with Bree, but what was this feeling creeping into my heart each time I thought about her?

The next day, I drove by the bakery to check on Bree, but Allison was there without her, and I ended up buying a loaf of bread I didn’t need and some cupcakes.

I was walking out of the bakery when Phil got out of his car, and he waved to me from a distance before increasing his pace. “Hey Josh,” he greeted when he got to me. we shook hands, and I smiled at hm. “How’s it going?”

“Great …. How’s the boy?”

Phil turned to look at his son after I asked, and Samuel waved at me cheerily, so I smiled.

“I haven’t seen Bree around. Is she still in town?” I asked and rubbed the back of my neck. I thought about her the entire night, and I hoped that she would reach out to me, but since she didn’t, I was here to find her.

“Ahh yes, she’s at the house,” Phil answered. “She’s a little bit under the weather, probably just the stress from the wedding planning and all of that. But isn’t she always at your house with Iris?”

“I’m hardly ever home,” I lied.

Phil smiled at me again, and I nodded before patting his shoulder. “I’ll see you around.”

I got to my car, got in and drove back home. Iris was on call when I entered the kitchen and she didn’t spare me a second glance, so I dropped the loaf I got and headed to my room.

I tried texting Bree later that evening again, but she still didn’t return my texts. I called, but her line rang straight to voicemail. My heart wouldn’t rest until I could reach her and find out if she was alright.

Restless and unable to think about anything else but Bree, I left the house again and headed to the beach to spend some time there hoping a walk would help me clear my head.

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