скачать книгу бесплатно
“Accepted.” Brady moved in close and the diner faded into a distant rumble. “Now for your promise to me.”
She squirmed in her chair. Whatever he was about to say she could walk away from if she needed to. She held that thought close to her heart as she gave him a nod to continue.
“You promise you’ll give me a chance.”
Her eyebrows wrinkled in confusion. “Would I be here if I wasn’t ready to do that?”
“I don’t know.” Brady stroked his fingers along his jaw. “I don’t know you any more than you know me.”
“We grew up together,” Maggie protested.
“We grew up around each other and except for one night, we never talked that much. We’ve both changed over the past eight years, Maggie.”
He didn’t have to remind her of that. Everything about him had changed. Clothes, hair, even his attitude. Eight years ago he’d had a haunted look about him. Even with his confidence, he hadn’t been able to hide that look from her. For a brief moment, she’d met a kindred spirit and she’d let her impulsiveness get the best of her.
She definitely wasn’t that girl anymore. Her first one-night stand had given her a daughter and a taste of responsibility she’d only toyed with before that. She was as firmly planted as the oak in her backyard.
“Give me a chance to get to know Amber and give her a chance to get to know me. Trust me to accept responsibility for this child I never knew I had. Trust me to try my best to not hurt Amber’s feelings. Allow me to make a few mistakes without cutting me out of her life.”
Could she trust him? What choice did she have? He was Amber’s biological father. Maybe part of her had actually hoped he’d leave them alone and want nothing to do with them.
Maybe that’s why it had been such a shock when Sam had delivered the money. Sure, Brady had been in London, but he probably would have wanted to be involved, somehow. Or maybe he would have been like Maggie’s father and tossed her away.
“Maggie?”
She pulled herself from her past pain. This was a new future.
“Can you give me a chance?” Brady asked.
“I’ll try.” She gave him a halfhearted smile.
“And you’ll stay with me until I can get away?”
How could she say no? She needed to get to know this man before she introduced him to her daughter. And she owed him the chance to learn about Amber.
“I don’t know if this is a good idea.” Insane was what it was; she was actually considering spending the next few days in Brady’s apartment. Alone. With him. Certifiable. But if it meant Amber got to meet her daddy…
“It’s a large apartment and I barely use it. I bought it as an investment.” He glanced at his watch. “There’s time to get your things and set you up in my apartment before my next meeting.”
“You won’t take no for an answer, will you?”
He winked. “Definitely not.”
Chapter Five
One meeting rolled into the next, keeping Brady from focusing on the fact that he had a seven-year-old. Amber was never far from his mind as he went over the numbers with the team in London. Neither was Maggie.
When he finally managed to find time to sit at his desk, it was already quarter to five. On his return from lunch, he’d asked his assistant to order some groceries and have them sent to his apartment. As far as he knew, the refrigerator and cabinets were empty. The clock seemed to be marking every second he had left to get things straightened out. If he wanted to talk to Kyle before he left for the game tonight, Brady needed to get over to his office.
“Brady, I have those numbers you asked for yesterday.” Jules appeared in his doorway. She looked up from the reports and frowned. “Are you going somewhere?”
Brady walked toward Jules. “Can you talk me through it on the way to Kyle’s office?”
“Is there a meeting?”
“No.” He waved off her concern. Though he knew in the past things had been done behind her back, that wasn’t the way Brady worked. “I need to talk to Kyle about a personal matter before he leaves.”
She nodded, though she still had a crease between her eyebrows. They started down the hall, and she handed him a page from the top of her papers. “I’ve been going through the preliminary budgets we set up. It looks like Peterson has made some changes without giving us notification.”
Brady stopped abruptly and gave the sheet his full attention. Funds allocated to construction had been moved to another account. “Dammit.”
“I can change it back, but—” She bit her lip and glanced at her watch.
This could take hours to resolve with Peterson and that’s probably why he’d done it. If Jules went into his office now, she’d be in there for hours arguing about why it was correct in the first place. All the while, Peterson would be suggestive without being overt enough for her to press sexual harassment charges against him.
Brady took the papers from her. “I’ll take care of it.”
“Thanks.” The tension drained out of Jules’s face and shoulders. “I owe you.”
“Don’t think I won’t hold you to that.” Brady left Jules and knocked on Kyle’s office door.
“Come in.”
Kyle stood behind his desk, putting his laptop in his bag. His cell phone was cradled between his cheek and shoulder. He gestured for Brady to come forward.
“No…” Kyle said to the person on the other end of the line. “Thursday won’t work. Yes, see you then.”
He tucked the phone into its holder and gestured for Brady to take a seat. “If you’d been two minutes later, I would have been out the door.”
“Glad I caught you, then.” Brady took the offered seat and waited for Kyle to sit.
“What can I do for you today, Brady?”
Brady swallowed. “I know this is the worst timing, but I have a family emergency and need to take some time off.”
Kyle leaned his elbows on the desk. “Is everything okay?”
“I honestly don’t know.” Brady chuckled, suddenly aware how absurd the situation sounded. “I recently found out I have a seven-year-old daughter who knows nothing about me. Her mother thought I knew, but I didn’t.”
“Congratulations.” Kyle leaned back in his chair and it rocked with him. “So what were you thinking? A day? Two?”
Brady released the breath he’d been holding. “I have vacation built up, but I’m planning to continue working on the project while I’m in Illinois.”
“How long?” Apparently, Kyle had noticed that Brady had dodged that question.
“Two weeks.”
“Starting…”
“Tomorrow or the next day?”
Kyle templed his fingers to his lips as he contemplated Brady. The clock in the corner ticked mercilessly. Kyle’s expression didn’t change. Brady felt as if he were being silently quizzed on a subject he didn’t know a single answer for.
Kyle stopped rocking. “You’ve just made a transition to this team. We usually like to build vacations into the schedule ahead of time.” Kyle smiled. “But this qualifies as a family emergency.”
“Great. I’ll keep the Detrex project going via email and phone.” Brady started to get up.
“No, the Detrex project is a huge account. Since Dave Peterson and Jules Morrison are both on the project, they should handle things while you are gone.”
Brady sank back into the seat. If he let Peterson take over the project, it would sink faster than the Titanic. Jules would have to deal with that scumbag every day. “With all due respect, Kyle, Peterson is a decent manager, but the contacts deal with me directly. We have so many balls in the air right now, one could drop and someone might not notice.”
“Then you had better get them up to speed before you leave.” Kyle rose from his chair, obviously dismissing him.
Brady stood. “Detrex is my project. I’d rather stay here than risk it failing because I left at the wrong time.”
“The project won’t fail without you.” Again, Kyle dismissed his importance.
But Brady knew how this game was played. He’d studied it from every angle. He wasn’t going to lose this project and the boost to his career. But if he let Maggie down this time, she might never let him see Amber.
“Let Jules lead it.” Brady knew this was a risky move, but he had to play it. “If she has any questions, she can contact me or go to Peterson. It’s only two weeks.”
He hoped that Kyle would accept this. He could work the project with Jules while he was gone. Peterson wouldn’t care if the project failed because it was Brady’s and Jules’s necks on the line. Until it’s time to take credit.
“It’s probably time Jules took on some additional responsibility.” Kyle walked with Brady to the door and turned out the lights in his office. “But this project is too big to let fail. If I see any indication that she can’t handle it, I will pass it off to Peterson.”
Brady nodded. “Enjoy the game, Kyle.”
Turning on his heels, Brady headed to Peterson’s office. It was time to take his project back.
Within thirty minutes after Brady left, Maggie had finished putting away her things. What was she doing here?
She grabbed her phone off the nightstand and dialed Penny’s number. It was early afternoon so she should be able to get her before Amber got home. “Did you tell him?” Penny asked immediately.
Maggie fell onto the bed. “Yes. I’m in his apartment right now. How is Amber doing?”
“She’s fine. I’m fine. What are you doing on the phone with me?” Penny laughed. “I know it’s been a while, but get out there.”
“He went to work.” Maggie rolled onto her side and stared out the window overlooking Central Park. “I told him.”
“Okay.” Penny stretched out the word as if trying to pick up the underlying meaning. “What happened?”
Maggie relayed the morning meeting followed by the nerve-racking lunch. And ended with her being dumped off in an apartment that looked like a pristine hotel room.
“It’s like no one lives here.” Maggie walked to the empty fridge. Her stomach rumbled, reminding her that she’d only eaten a few bites of lunch.
“Did you go in his room yet?” Penny sounded as if she was on the edge of her seat, waiting.
“I’m not going to snoop.” Maggie turned to look at the closed bedroom door. She leaned against the refrigerator and wondered what he would have in his bedroom.
“I bet he has kinky sex toys.”
“Penny!”
“Or naughty magazines.”
“Seriously?”
Penny changed tactics. “Would you want someone like that around Amber? After all, it’s important to have a good male role model and not all men can pass muster.”
Maggie tapped her finger against her bottom lip. “He did say that he wanted me to find out about him before taking him to meet Amber.”
“See?” Penny’s triumph was obvious even hundreds of miles away. “He wants you to snoop. Why else leave you in his apartment alone?”
“Because he had to go to work.”
“Wrong!” Penny said, sounding like a buzzer. “Excuses, excuses. Get in there. I’ll be right beside you. Make sure to use descriptive words like black leather love swing.”
“Okay, but don’t get your hopes up.” Maggie crossed the room and turned the doorknob. Just in case, she checked over her shoulder to make sure no one was in the apartment.
“A girl can dream.”
Maggie shoved open the door and stepped into a room similar to her own. The hardwood floors from the living room continued into the room, providing the only warmth to the otherwise white, sterile room.
“Dying of suspense over here,” Penny said.
“It’s bigger than my room. King-size bed.” No art. No photos. No spark of personality. Lifeless. Loveless. “Light tan bedspread with matching curtains. Black dresser. Two doors.”
“One of them has to lead to the sex chamber.” Penny’s voice quivered.
“Do you think that if he had a sex chamber I would tell you?” Maggie rolled her eyes as she opened the first door to a bathroom.
“You’ll tell me or I promise to read Amber Stephen King tonight.”
“You wouldn’t. Besides, I would be so shocked to find a sex chamber that I probably would tell you, so you could tell me what all the things were for.”
“You know it,” Penny said smugly.
“Door number one is a bathroom. Nice. Clean.” Lifeless.
“I’ll take what’s behind door number two.”
She opened the door to a walk-in closet the size of her bathroom at home. “Big closet.”
The rich scent of sandalwood drifted over her as she entered the closet.
“Dirty mags?” Penny whispered, as if they were on the hunt together, instead of just Maggie waiting to get caught going through Brady’s stuff.
The closet was neatly organized with nothing out of place. Suits lined up, next to neatly pressed pants, a few pairs of shoes. “It’s as if he doesn’t live here.”
