Page 30 of The Billionaire Dating Dad

When she didn’t answer, he rested his forehead against the wood. This distance was both familiar and strange, reminding him of the months they had spent apart. “Violet, open the door.”

She didn’t answer. But he felt her on the other side like a warm caress.

His warm caress. His anchor.

“Maddie is so happy,” Violet whispered.

“I know.” Dimitri closed his eyes.

“She doesn’t need my help anymore.” The words were muffled but he heard them as clearly as he felt his chest tighten.

“Open the door, Violet.”

“Let me out of our arrangement.”

His breath caught in his throat. He hadn’t thought about their arrangement to find another nanny in months. Was she just biding time to get away from him? Was May’s return just what Violet needed to escape him?

He clenched his jaw, realizing he didn’t give a damn. “No,” he said. “I’ll give you tonight. One night, then I’m coming through this door whether you like it or not.”

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Violet

Violet clung to the pillow that had soaked her tears throughout the night in a room she rarely spent time in since Dimitri seduced her to his bed. Each time she’d prayed for sleep to dull the shock of May's return, fate had only sharpened her pain. Replaying Maddie’s happy squeal and the way Dimitri had embraced the mother of his child.

No words were needed to decode the ray of emotions that had tornadoed through the room. Even she’d been swept up in Maddie’s excitement. But it wasn’t until she’d glanced at the way May clung to Dimitri’s arm, leaning into him as if he were her anchor that jealousy reared its head.

She groaned, shoving the pillow aside. Today was no different than any other day. Except she wouldn’t be sneaking away from Dimitri’s room before Madison woke. Or try to hide the glow from a night of sex from her face. How easily she’d fallen into the routine of sleeping in his bed, feeling thevibration of his heartbeat against her face as she slept against his chest. How easily she’d forgotten that she was Madison’s nanny.

Violet got out of bed and readied herself for the day. She was a mess. Her eyes were swollen from crying but taking a deep breath, she was determined not to show it. Everything had changed in one night, yet it was still eerily familiar.

Eating breakfast together was familiar and while that was Jack’s domain, she wanted to busy herself in the kitchen. Though she longed to check in on Maddie, Violet suspected May would be there. If she hadn’t seen or held her daughter in months, that’s where she’d be, stroking her hair and counting her breaths as she slept. Violet would do it until she memorized the changes she’d missed.

She started down the stairs, then stopped when voices reached her ears.

“Maddie kept me alive. She helped me fight when my mind was filled with pain.”

“You shouldn’t have gone through that alone,” Dimitri said.

May laughed. It was a broken sound. “After the third treatment, I wished I’d taken you up on the offer but part of me still didn’t want Maddie seeing me that way. Pain riddled. Barely able to do the smallest task.”

“She’s a strong child. You raised a strong little girl.”

“Thank you,” May said. “I meant to ask this more delicately but if I learned anything it was how precious time is.”

Violet closed her eyes. Praying that May didn’t want to take Maddie away. That would crush Dimitri.

“I want us to be a family.”

“We are a family,” Dimitri said.

“I meant a traditional family.” May paused. “For Maddie’s sake. For all the times she’d asked and it was the one thing I couldn’t give her. But now, you and me, we can.”

Family meant the world to Dimitri, yet it was the missing part of Violet’s life. She’d always watched the intricate threads from afar. Never participating or believing she was worthy of unconditional love. Perhaps that’s why she became a nanny, to be part of something greater even if that world could never be hers. For all the flaws she’d witnessed in the households she worked for, Violet could close her eyes and imagine their lives were fairy tales filled with love and happiness.

Even the Townsons were a conjured project from her imagination. If she could be the one babysitter that didn’t fall prey to Mr. Townson’s advances perhaps their daughter would not withdraw into herself. Perhaps the Townsons wouldn’t use their child as if she were a possession to be flaunted before their friends. But there was little love in that house and simply ignoring Mr. Townson’s advances wasn’t enough to keep them from ruining her reputation.

Dimitri and Maddie were different. They had gotten into her heart and she’d fallen spectacularly for the father and daughter. They deserved happiness. And Maddie didn’t deserve any more pain, not when everything she wanted was so close.

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