Page 49 of Secret Baby Daddies
“Yep.” Patty flashed me a quick smile that ended in a grimace. “Don’t think this changes anything.”
I nodded.
“Yes, ma’am.”
Harley slipped out of my arms and grinned up at me.
“I have more flowers to deliver, boss man.”
I forced myself to let her go but it wasn’t easy. I wanted to take her into my office and make her come a few dozen times. I wanted to hold her. I rubbed my chest as I watched her hurry back toward Jace’s office to get more flowers. There’d only been one other woman in my life I’d chosen to care for and that was Margaret Silver. She’d been good to me and the rest of the kids she brought into her home. I was still angry at her for how she’d left things when she died, though, and it scared the shit out of me that what I felt for Harley was bigger than that. It was far past possessing her.
“She’s a sweet woman, Lucien.” Patty sniffed her flowers and grunted. “Don’t fuck it up.”
I grunted back at her.
“She’s pregnant with our kid.”
“You say that like you think it means you can’t fuck this up. We’re past the days when a woman had to stay because of a baby.” Patty adjusted her pearls and managed to look down her nose at me from over a foot below me. “I’ve never seen that lookon your face before. You’ve seemed, dare I say, happier lately. I’d hate to see you lose that.”
I crossed my arms over my chest and frowned.
“You’re being a buzzkill, Patty.”
She shocked the hell out of me by letting out a surprised laugh. It sounded so strange coming from her mouth and it only lasted a few seconds before she was straight-faced again.
“Get back to work, Lucien.”
I stared in the direction Harley went and rolled my shoulders.
“Cancel the rest of my day, Patty. Please.”
It was a testament to how much she liked Harley that she didn’t grumble once.
“Consider it canceled.”
I hesitated. “If my brothers come looking for me, or for Harley, tell them I kidnapped her and they should just keep working.”
“That’s going to go well.” She sighed but her eyes were damn near dancing with giddiness. “There are few things I love in life more than I love frustrating Jace, Lucien. This is a great gift.”
I shoved my hands in my pockets and winked at her.
“See you tomorrow.”
Harley was just coming out of the bathroom when I grabbed her. I covered her mouth just as she started to yell and pressed my mouth to her ear. “I’m kidnapping you for the rest of the day, little bunny. Don’t make a sound.”
She relaxed into my chest and looked back at me over her shoulder. When I moved my hand from over her mouth she licked her lips and smiled.
“You’re lucky I only have a few more bouquets to hand out.”
I ran my hand through my hair and growled.
“Go. Finish handing them out and meet me back here.”
She twisted around to kiss me and then hurried away. I only had to wait a few minutes before she came rushing back, giggling.
“If you want this to be a solo kidnapping you’d better hurry it up. Jace is coming.”
Office appropriate behavior escaped me. I threw her over my shoulder, slapping my hand over her ass to make sure no one saw anything, and rushed to the elevator. I nodded at a few of my employees as I passed them and just acted like nothing was strange. HR was definitely going to email me about my choices. It was a good thing they worked for me, I guessed.
