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.”
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.”
