Page 44 of Off-Limits Silver Fox Billionaire

“Iris’s wedding is drawing closer; I think it’s best if we figure out a way to tell everyone about it before the wedding. I know you don’t want to draw attention away from her, but it’s best we clear the air before Francis gets to town.”

“She’s not even speaking to me right now, how do I do that?”

“She’s Iris and you’re Bree, her best friend. She’ll come around.”

Our medium rare steak arrived after thirty minutes, and we got right into enjoying it while talking about different things. I liked listening to Bree analyze what she thought about the restaurant’s cooking, and the gleam in her eyes as she told me about the first time she tried cooking without Allison’s guidance.

“I think I fell in love with cooking because of her. She taught me a lot, and soon I was longing to follow in her footsteps and make something out of the skill I had learned. It was enough at first, but after my break-up, it wasn’t anymore.”

“So, what is right now?” I asked. “What do you think you need to do to feel like you’ve got your life on track again?”

Bree paused for a second, then she dropped her cutlery and sighed. “I think the first step to figuring that out is to get my own place and move out of my dad’s house. I’ve got the answers I need; I just need to figure out what to do with them.”

After dinner, we went for a drive around town to enjoy the breeze, and I kept stealing glances at Bree while driving so I could admire her. She closed her eyes, angled her head high a bit, and relaxed on the chair while the wind ruffled her hair all over the place.

The increase rush of adrenaline through me warmed my insides and made me long to have her in my arms. I wasn’t confused about these growing feelings for Bree. I knew I was falling in love with her. The only problem was I couldn’t risk letting these feelings grow especially now that she was carrying my child.

If I let myself fall for Bree, then it would be more devastating if she ever decided to change her mind and call it quits between us. These days it felt even more like that was going to happen.

Just like Jenny, she could decide I wasn’t what she wanted, and her leaving would ruin me because I had let myself indulge in the growing feelings for her.

I couldn’t let that happen. Whatever went on between Bree and me, I had to make sure to keep love out of the equation at least until she was older, and more sure of her decisions.

* * *

Iris wasin the kitchen when I returned from dinner with Bree. I had kissed her in my car before letting her walk into her house, and even now, I could still taste her on my lips. It didn’t feel like I could get rid of the surge of emotions coursing through me tonight.

Iris glanced up from what she was reading and looked at me. She averted her eyes at first in an attempt to ignore me, but I entered the kitchen and finally sat beside her.

“Did you go on a date?” she asked. “You look good.”

“Thanks, Iris,” I said to her, then tapped my fingers on the table for a bit. “And yes, I did go on a date.” When she didn’t say anything else, I added. “With Bree.”

Iris snapped and slanted me with a furious look. “Are you trying to get me angry dad?”

“Actually the opposite. I’m trying to let you see you can’t just push Bree out of your life just like that. She’s your best friend, Iris and I watched you two bond with her for the last 5 years.

“Well, I was wrong about her, and she’s not my best friend anymore.”

“You can’t easily replace her, Iris. Bree is …”

“Actually I can replace whomever I want. She’s not my family so why can’t I? You replaced mom, didn’t you? You completely moved on and forgot about her. Mom moved us here because she wanted to be closer to her heritage, but you hated it from the start.”

“Iris,” I cautioned. “We do not talk about your mother, Iris…We never talk about your mother.” I never hated it here. Jenny hadn’t decided to move because she wanted to be closer to her roots. She had wanted to move because she wanted to be closer to her lover.

Finding out that chunk of truth after catching her in her lies had hurt more than anything else, but I had still blamed myself because I was hardly ever around.

I could never stop blaming myself for the sour turn our marriage took. Jenny was the love of my life, and even after it ended, I believed I could never love another. I still didn’t think I could love another woman the way I loved her.

“Why not? Because you don’t want her to be a part of your life?”

Her words hurt, but the ache in my heart deepened because I could see that she was hurting too. I didn’t understand her fully at that moment. Was she mad that I was with Bree? Or was this something else?

“Iris, your mother, and I ended a long time ago. You were just a child back then and you didn’t know what happened. I let you stay in contact with her because she’s your mother, but it didn’t change the fact that we got divorced and everything I had to do with her ended then. Now, this is about Bree and not your mother… Can’t you find a way to let this past us?”

“Why are you even defending Bree?” Iris yelled as she rose to her feet. “I was having a peaceful night, and here you are trying to ruin the peace for me by bringing Bree up. Because you want her in your life doesn’t mean I have to want her in mine too.”

I lifted my hands in an exasperated sigh and shook my head. “I’m trying to reach out to you here, Iris. You can’t keep being angry like this.”

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