Page 58 of The Billionaire's Accidental Daddy Duty
“No, not Isla. She was helping me while I found a nanny for my son. It’s a long story.” I waved my hand in dismissal. “But let me ask you something. Are you happy?”
“I am.” He took in a breath. “What’s going on?”
“Short version? About a month ago, I found a baby at my door. Turns out, the mom is a woman I had a one-night stand with almost two years ago. Her name is Harper. She was in trouble. But now she’s back. Being the asshole that I am, I more or less proposed to her with Isla standing next to me.” I waited a beat then added one huge detail that Nicolas didn’t know. “Isla and I are together. Or we were a few days ago. Now she probably hates me.”
“That’s why she was at my place when I came home from my trip this morning.” His scowl deepened as if he was finally putting all the pieces of the puzzle together.
“I should’ve come to you when I realized I had feelings for Isla. It all happened so fast, though.”
“You effedup. Royally.” He covered Chloe’s ears. “My house is like a war room right now. Operation: Forget the Bastard. Isla is looking for a new place and a new job.”
“No, she can’t do that. She can’t move on. I want to be with her. She can’t leave me.” I shook my head as if that small act would make her change her mind about me.
“I never thought I’d be givingthe Fixeradvice. But here we go—talk to her.” He squeezed my shoulder. “But before you do, get your life in order with Harper. You don’t have to marry her. Trust me, you can work out a schedule that makes everyone happy.” He dipped his head toward his daughter.
“You’re happy.” I wasn’t asking.
He was living his happily ever after like in some fairytale. It was written all over his face and in the way he held his daughter close, the way he looked at his wife when she entered the room.
“I am.” He nodded once.
“Thanks for the kick in the bum. I needed that.” I patted him on the back then waved good-bye at Chloe. “It was nice meeting you.” I headed back to my office.
“What are you going to do?” Nicolas followed me in.
“The only thing I can do. I’m going to get her back. Operation: Get Isla Back.” I picked up the phone and dialed Isla’s number. After four rings, I went to answerphone, I hung up and lifted my gaze to meet Nicolas’s.
“When you get sent to voicemail, it means the other person doesn’t want to talk to you.” He immediately caught on to what I was asking for. “No, I can’t get involved.”
“Isla is with Louisa, right?”
“Yes.” He pursed his lips then shot a quick glance over his shoulder to Chloe, who was sitting at Lisa’s desk shuffling papersaround. I had no idea what was going through his head. But I knew he wanted to help—not just me, but Louisa’s sister as well. Wasn’t that how Isla ended up working for me? He cared about his wife’s family. A beat later, he fired off a bunch of numbers.
“Lovely.” I dialed quickly and waited for Louisa to answer. The mere thought of getting Isla back made my chest buzz with excitement. How did I even think I could stay away from her?
“She doesn’t want to talk to you.” Louisa’s voice filled the silence in the room and even managed to soften Nicolas’s features. Jeez, that guy had it bad.
We both did, I supposed.
“I messed up.” I inhaled while I considered my options. Yeah, I had messed up big time, but Isla loved me. I refused to believe she had magically stopped having feelings for me. “Just need to know one thing. Please.”
“Fine. What is it?”
“On a scale from one to ten, how annoyed is she?”
“What?” She mumbled away from the speaker as if she were talking to someone else. “One hundred. And she’s more than annoyed. She’s hurting. Give her some space, Declan. She needs to get through this on her own. She had a rough morning.”
“Right.”
Crap. No doubt she saw I was trending again today. She knew I had been shopping for wedding rings. But what she didn’t know was that the whole time I was thinking about how those bands wound look on her hand, how she would look standing next to me, saying “I do.”
“Don’t call back.” Louisa hung up.
As soon asshe did, Nicolas barked out a laugh. “Did you really think that was going to work? You’re losing your touch.”
“Of course, I didn’t think that would work. I wanted to get an idea how bad it was. She doesn’t hate me, which is a good thing. And now I know exactly what I need to do.” I picked up the receiver again.
“You’re not calling them back.” Nicolas reached for the phone.
