Page 7 of Daddy's Accidental Babies

“Why are you here?” I asked.

Her eyes flicked up. “You just dismissed your team. You sure you want to go off-script?”

“I’m not talking about the meeting. I’m talking about you. Seattle. This company.” I turned my hand outward in a gesture then relaxed, and she watched it. Her eyes traveled up my arm to my face, and she held my gaze. And for a second, I thought she might shut down completely but she didn’t.

“You already know why. Knight Holdings wants access to European fashion distribution. Raven & Rhodes needs financial muscle. We’re trying to marry legacy with scale, and the press is watching for signs of failure.”

“No, really…” I leaned forward, clasped my hands together over the table and stared at her long and hard.

She didn’t drop her gaze. “You want the real answer? I’m here because I needed the job. And because I’m good at this. That’s it.”

“Christ…” I kept my tone level, but the word rolled off my tongue before a chuckle. “You could’ve landed a job anywhere. You chose this. You chose here. Why?”

She crossed her arms. “Because Raven & Rhodes has reach. Because I wanted a fresh start. Because I’d been gone from the industry too long and Raven & Rhodes took a chance on me when no one else would. I didn’t know anything aboutyourinvolvement until I walked into that conference room yesterday.” She emphasized the wordyourand it made me shrink back.

“So I’m a liability now?” I asked, narrowing my eyes.

She didn’t blink. “You’re not exactly the people’s billionaire.”

I laughed, and to my surprise, it came out real. “Is that what you think? You’ll humanize me?”

“Part of it.” She sat back slightly. “The rest is survival. I have responsibilities.”

The edge in her voice said that was all I’d get from her today. But I wasn’t ready for this conversation to be over with. We hadn’t even gotten to the real questions I wanted to ask.

“You know what I remember most about that night?” I asked, softer now.

Savannah’s eyes turned away quickly, but I saw the flush of her lips as blood rushed to them, filling them. She sucked in a breath causing her chest to rise and fall, and I continued.

“You didn’t flinch when I touched you—not once. You ate right out of my hands, just like now.”

Her jaw tightened. “That was a long time ago.”

“I haven’t forgotten any of it.”

She stood abruptly. “We should wrap this up.”

“You sure you don’t want to go off-script again?”

She didn’t respond. Just started packing up her things with more focus than necessary.

I stood and walked around the table with a measured pace. She noticed the shift in my shadow before she looked up, and when she did, her fingers froze on the tablet case. Her throat worked as she swallowed, her gaze flicking to the door, then back to me.

“You’re still terrible at lying,” I said quietly. “And even worse at hiding when you want something.”

Her eyes narrowed. “I’m not doing this.” Savannah was so tense I could pluck her like a guitar string and make her sing, just like my dick—hard in my pants and bursting at the seams to have her.

“Not doing what? Standing there pretending you don’t feel this?”

She straightened up. Her breathing was quick, but she didn’t move away when I stepped in closer. “Dominic?—”

“Say it.”

“It’s not?—”

I reached up and tucked a loose strand of her dark hair behind her ear. She inhaled sharply. Her body was tense, but she didn’t step back. Her cheeks were flushed, lips parted.

“Tell me to stop. I will.”

---