Page 8 of The Billionaire Dating Dad

“Are we even?” she asked, hoping he mistook the quiver in her voice for being cold.

They held each other's gaze. It was impossible to take her eyes from his slightly parted mouth. Was the gloss on his lips from their earth-shattering kiss or the beads of water running down his face? She didn’t know but the urge to lick the droplets away made her mouth water. Violet bit her tongue and was glad when his phone buzzed.

Answer it.She desperately wanted a reprieve from his penetrating stare. Instead, his next words quickened her pulse.

“One kiss for missing a dear friend’s engagement and lying for you…” He stroked his thumb along her lower lip in a lover’s caress. Not a lover’s touch, she corrected. But the brazen stroke of a man in control. “We’re not even close to being even,” he promised before taking his call.

CHAPTER TWO

Dimitri

July

He was a father.

The entire experience was surreal, and he hadn’t met little Maddison yet. Would she like him? Would he see glimpses of his younger self when he peered into her eyes? Parts of himself he barely remembered.

When he’d envisioned fatherhood, he pictured watching his wife’s stomach growing round with their child. Touching her belly and experiencing the first flutter, or the baby hearing his voice long before he’d heard her first cry. He’d pictured holding her tiny frame in his arms and worrying about her slight weight. The smell of his baby. Each time those fleeting thoughts crossed his mind, images of Violet, his fake date from the gallery, accompanied them. Dimitri slammed his eyes shut. He didn’t know any of the things that accompanied fatherhood, but he’dheard stories in his youth from his mother as she’d made her children feel precious and loved.

Now he hung onto those memories of his mother… his childhood. They sparked a longing that churned the deepest parts of his soul. But the happy home she’d created had masked his mother’s struggle to provide, though he and his siblings hadn’t known that until much later.

He stared out the tinted window to the tiny yellow house from the car’s back seat. This wasn’t a memory from his childhood, it was reality.He was a father.

Would he be good at parenthood? He was ambitious and successful. The family had banded together after his mother died and his older brother, Alexei, made sure they’d never struggle again.

Though he was familiar with the rigors of the corporate world, connecting with Maddison wasn’t a business transaction. However today turned out, it would change his life. His daughter’s life. Too much hung in the balance for Dimitri not to embrace his strengths. He knew nothing of being a parent, but he didn’t become successful by not knowing how to negotiate and deploy strategies to his advantage.

It was pointless to dwell on things beyond his control, like his daughter’s love for him, or May’s hidden motives for now telling him that she’d given birth to his child. That's not how he won in business. Rather than diverting his attention elsewhere, he concentrated on what he knew and the present situation.

The sunflower yellow home nestled between two newly renovated brick houses—one story bigger than his childhood home in New York. In the distance, the repeated chimes of a child’s bicycle happily disturbed the otherwise quiet residential street. His childhood neighborhood was never this peaceful. And the summer wind never floated freely without carrying the scent of his mother’s fresh laundry from their back porch.May’s little slice of heaven was different. An array of rose bushes surrounded the patch of grass, their petals lightly brushing against each other in the breeze. Yellow, red, and soft pink. He tried to recall his brief encounter with May all those years ago — had she adored roses? — and failed. Their time together was too short, too frantic with celebration, excitement, and lust.

He was sure he’d worn protection on their night together, as Dimitri always did, but protection wasn’t a guarantee.

Returning his gaze to the house, he knew modest didn’t mean unhappy. His childhood home was less than modest and space was optimized for efficiency. His best memories were in his family’s New York home, watching his mother pass food from the hot stove to the dining room table by merely extending her arm. Or during the winter, when she moved wet clothes from the front load washer to the dryer in the multi-use bathroom, all while relieving herself during her precious alone time. He smiled. Until age nine, he’d thought his mother an acrobat the way she’d maneuvered the space and multitasked.

While he sat in the back seat of the car, he noticed that May’s roof needed repair. He knew nothing about roofing, but from the bits of rolled shingles at the front right corner, the roof would spring a leak if it hadn’t already. The moment he returned to the hotel, he’d call his agent. Buying them a new house in Wheelcaster would move them closer. He’d do it because family was important and something about the house brought back forgotten images. Memories lost to time.

His phone rang, and he answered on the second ring. “Alexei, don’t you have work to do?”

“You try working with your wife and sister, pacing your office.”

“My sympathies.” Dimitri chuckled at his older brother’s disgruntled tone. “You have me beat in the wife department.” He smiled. “But I’m familiar with having an anxious sister.”

“Then you know the pain I’m in,” Alexei groaned, but his tone was good-humored. Happy.

“Will you two stop?” His sister-in-law’s voice rang through the phone. “Katya and I want all the details. How tall is Maddison? What does she like?”

How did she react to having a father?Was the unspoken question Candice was too kind to ask. A question that caused him to remain in the car for over a half hour since he’d arrived.

His sister, though, had no qualms about speaking her mind. “He answered his phone,” Katya said. “That means…” Dimitri envisioned her head shaking in disapproval. “For a guy that closes billion-dollar deals on the regular, I can’t believe you haven’t left the car.”

“He has ‘new dad’ jitters,” Alexei said.

Jitters were an understatement. Agitated was a better word for his chaotic emotions. He’d miss so much already. Maddison’s first steps, her first words… Did she love stories or sports? How could he relate to Maddison when he’d only found out about her existence a month ago?

“When Mamo brought you home from the hospital, I was nervous,” Alexei said. “I already had one terrible sibling —”

“Just admit I’m your favorite,” Katya teased.

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