Page 15 of Baby Daddy Boss

“Yes, I’ve already stayed too long. I have somewhere I need to be,” she retorted, her voice cold.

“Let me walk you out then,” I was already zipping my pants up.

“No, thank you. This…,” she paused, chewing on her lower lip.

“Let’s just pretend this didn’t happen.”

I watched her leave without glancing at me; it felt like a bucket of ice water had been dumped over my head.

She regretted it.

Chapter 10

Roseline

IlookedatCiro,who happily ate his breakfast while I swear half of it was ending up on his shirt, but still, watching him soothed the nervous energy growing in my chest.

I sat across from him while I ate a piece of toast with jam and some peanut butter. The worn wood of our kitchen table stretched between us, reminding me how much he had grown since we moved here.

And yet, I couldn’t help but be aware of how much I’d fucked up last Friday. I couldn’t believe I’d slept with Aldric again, that I’d given into temptation. Lord, was that man a constant temptation? I shook my head, trying to clear the image of him looming over me, trying to chase out the feeling of him pressing into my walls. I didn’t need to start the day aching for him.

It was Sunday; I’d see him soon enough, starting tomorrow. Today was all about Ciro and me. “Want to go to the playground today?” I asked, stroking Ciro’s hair. He hummed some form of affirmative as he kicked his little feet and continued to eat his oatmeal. I walked across the kitchen to prepare a dishcloth to wipe him down. It was a typical weekend morning for me. I was taking care of my son and spending time with him. I didn’t have daycare to rely on today, so I couldn’t work, but it was a special time for me to bond with him while I spent eight to ten hours a day, five days a week away from him.

We moved through our morning routine quickly after he finished eating, and I prepared us to spend most of the early hours outside. I needed to stock up on some food once again and just some necessities. Sadly, my bank account was still running on dregs even though I had managed to pick up another handful of hours at work. Perhaps I should look into tutoring. It wouldn’t be hard to get a neighbor or friend to watch Ciro for an hour or two, one or two days a week, so I could get some extra pocket change.

With that in mind, I spent the entire day in between errands making future arrangements with contacts who knew Ciro and me while I tried to figure out how I would bring up my excuse to Aldric without offering him too much information. I went to work the next day, the beginning of the week, with new resolve blossoming in my chest and a confidence that I would completely ignore any lingering awkwardness.

Sometimes, however, it didn’t matter how prepared I was. I walked into the office with my head held high, my back drawn tall, and though I thought I had convinced myself that I was prepared, there was still a tiny voice in my head spouting doubt. Perhaps those words held more power than I knew because as soon as I saw Aldric, I froze, my breathing grew shallow, and I remembered how his fingers had felt between mine as he stretched my hands above my head. I remembered how he tasted and the crisp scent of his cologne.

It wasn’t fair, I was supposed to be climbing the ladder to becoming a professor, to a job I needed, yet I had already royally fucked up. He looked up from the papers in his hand, his reading glasses perched low on the bridge of his nose. His brow quirked as he caught me staring, and I felt a flush creep across my face.

Just ignore him; that’s what I had decided, right? I nodded silently in greeting and turned to go to my desk. It wasn’t a mess, and I appreciated it because I didn’t think I could handle it the way my heart was already in my throat.“Good morning, Roseline,” Aldric said, and my toes curled in my low heels as I noticed his voice was still scratchy from morning disuse. “How was your weekend?”

Ignoring him would be hard, and easing myself into his presence was out of the question if he was going to be pressing for interaction already. But as I turned to look back at him, he was still reading the paper, as if I didn’t make him uncomfortable. I hated that; I was envious that he could be so calm when he’d been buried balls deep in me just a couple of days ago.

I squirmed on my chair as I found my voice, “It was fine; just focused on housework.”

“You are too young to spend your entire weekend keeping your house in shape,” he murmured. I bristled, “I’ve been doing that since I was sixteen.” He looked up, his chin tilting in surprise, “That’s a poor childhood.”

“Well, I at least learned responsibility,” I huffed, brushing him off because he was right. He grinned and looked like he was biting back words that he knew would upset me. Mischief filled his expression, and I hated that I found him so attractive at that moment. I pursed my lips to the side in a pathetic excuse of a pout before I remembered what I needed to ask before the classes started. “Ah, I have a question. I need some extra cash,” I glanced to the side, shame bubbling in my gut. “I was wondering if I could tutor a student or two on the weekends.”

He was silent for a moment, and I finally looked up in hopes of finding the answer to my question on his face. Aldric considered my proposal carefully, “well, it’s unusual, but since the school isn’t exactly paying you a huge salary, I don’t see anything wrong with it,” he answered. “Really?” I blinked rapidly at him, hoping he wouldn’t say it was a joke.“Yeah, sure, I mean, we have a lot of students who are struggling right now, and I know a few of them would benefit from some tutoring and would take advantage of it,” he nodded. “Though, don’t you have a part-time job?”

I could feel the shame growing again, the guilt, as he reminded me that I couldn’t support my child. It wasn’t Aldric’s fault; he was just trying to understand. But my emotions didn’t care. They didn’t care that he didn’t know I had a kid. A kid that was his as well. This was all his fault, after all. I frowned, “Yeah, but not exactly with enough hours to live on.”

He narrowed his eyes at me, “You don’t exactly live in an expensive area.” Now he was being an ass, my guilt began to turn to anger, and my frown turned to a glare. What the hell did he know about my life? Who was he to assume anything aboutanyone’slife?! My lips pulled back away from my teeth in a sneer.“Don’t assume you know anything about me! Hell, you don’t even remember me!” I snapped and then clapped my hands over my mouth, terrified I had spilled my secret in anger.

He blinked, “Remember you?”

I shook my head vehemently, “Nothing, it’s nothing. Never mind. It was just one… never mind. It’s not important.”I gathered everything I needed for the first class and darted out the door without a word.

Aldric didn’t follow, thankfully, not until the students had already found their seats and I was starting my lecture. But during class, I couldn’t drag my eyes away from him for longer than a few minutes. He had a deep frown of confusion etched across his face, and though he was looking at me, it was still more like he was looking through me. I felt he could see everything, like he was peeling me apart layer by layer, seeing past everything I didn’t say to him and every lie I told. I hated it, it made me want to hide behind the podium, yet I forced myself to breathe as I pushed myself to continue teaching.

Aldric left the room before the class ended, and that’s how the day went until I had to leave for dinner. I did, however, have a chance to write a flyer for tutoring to hang on the corkboard outside the student break room.

I stepped back with a hopeful sigh as I stared at it before I hurried away to work; I couldn’t afford to be late.

Chapter 11

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