Page 9 of Daddy's Accidental Babies

We dressed again, slowly finding our way back to professional—or something like it. Her skirt was all wrinkled, and she fixed it without looking at me. I adjusted my collar, straightened my cuffs, still watching her.

“You mentioned earlier that I was ‘not exactly the people’s billionaire,’” I said, straightening my cuffs. “So let me ask you something. What kind of story changes that?”

She paused, brows furrowed. “Depends who you’re trying to convince.” Her hands lingered on her portfolio.

“Everyone,” I said. “Investors. Press. Board. You.”

She gave a faint scoff. “Then you need a softer edge. Human interest.”

“Soften me.”

She blinked. “What?”

“Give me a story the press will eat up. Something more than cold stats and press releases.”

She hesitated, then said, “Play the stability angle. Position yourself as grounded. Family values.”

There it was—a tell. Barely more than a shift in her spine and a change in her voice. Her eyes though, they darkened to inky depths that hid something just outside of my reach.

“Family values?”

She shrugged, not looking at me. “It tests well.” The way she avoided eye contact you’d have thought I had the plague or leprosy.

“And you think I can pull that off?”

“Anyone can. If they sell it right,” she said, but her tone was brittle, and I could see the line she drew in the sand. I filed it away. She gathered her things. “I’ll revise the talking points,” she said. “Email by noon.”

I opened the door for her. She left without looking back.

But something had shifted under the surface, and I’d be damned if I didn’t dig until I found out what it was.

5

SAVANNAH

The hallway felt suffocating, like it still held the static of everything that had just happened behind that door. Like his voice and his touch hadn’t quite faded from the air around me. I walked fast, trying to leave that heat behind before I let it get in my head and mess up my whole day.

My heels clacked too loudly on the marble floor as I walked toward the elevators. My blouse stuck to the back of my skin which was damp with sweat. My hands were shaky. I still wasn’t sure I was breathing right. There was moisture in places there shouldn’t be, and my head was a mess ofwhat-the-heckandplease-sir-morebattling for dominance.

The moment I stepped into the elevator, the doors slid shut behind me with a rush, and I finally let out a breath. Then the mirrored walls caught me. Hair slightly mussed. Lipstick rubbed mostly off. The faintest sheen of perspiration clung to my neck. My cheeks were pink from heat, and to anyone else, they’d think I just ran a mile.

“Jesus,” I grimaced, reaching up to smooth my hair and swallowing back the noise rising in my throat.

This couldn’t happen again. This couldn’t be a thing with Dominic. Not with everything at stake. What would Dad say? Because if I thought things would be bad six years ago when he was running for office the first time, how much worse would it be now that he’d held that office for five full years?

But my body wasn’t listening. It still pulsed—every nerve ending hummed from the way he’d gripped my hips and buried himself deep. God, I?—

The elevator dinged as it arrived at the eighth floor, where the PR division offices stretched in a long line of glass and chrome. The doors slid open and I stepped out, blinking hard and forcing myself to return to the world of press releases and spreadsheets. I could not afford to spiral out of control on my second day here.

Except Vanessa Roarke was already standing there, arms crossed, a sly smile curving her mouth like she knew exactly what I’d just done. I bristled before she even spoke, because like any good girl, I was paranoid that my indiscretions would be caught and I’d be exposed. I never did anything wrong. At least, I never meant to.

“Got a second, Bennett?”

“Not really,” I muttered, sidestepping toward my office. This woman didn’t work for me or for Raven & Rhodes. She worked for Dominic, and since the merger wasn’t official yet, I didn’t have to answer to her.

She moved with me as I clicked my way up the marble floor toward my office. “You’ll want to hear this,” she chimed, and I winced as I braced myself for whatever it was she was going to say.

I paused, trying to get a read on her. I didn’t know Vanessa well, but there was a sharpness in her tone and a confidence in her posture that told me she didn’t come down here for small talk.

---