Christmas Daddy Next Door Read online

  I took a deep breath and shook the embarrassment from my mind before dragging myself out of bed and pulling my robe on. I wandered out into the kitchen and smiled as I found Taryn sitting at the breakfast table, drinking a cup of coffee and reading a book. Taryn was my little sister, and we were both on spring break at the same time. She was really the only reason I made my way back home to New York for my breaks. For spring break especially, most college kids escaped to the islands to party, and most people at Harvard went abroad or sailing on their parents’ yachts. Not me, though. My father didn’t really like boats and my parents were always busy with work, so holidays had never been a big thing in our house—meaning I wasn’t home to celebrate Easter or anything. Usually, if Taryn wasn’t going to be free from the shackles of the academy she went to, I would just stay in Cambridge and get ahead in my classes for the next semester.

  Taryn was in her senior year at the academy, and it wouldn’t be long until she was graduating and embarking on her own passage to college. She and I were pretty much twins, from the way we thought about life to the way we looked and the way we acted. I was sure that was why we butted heads so often, but in the end, she was my best friend. We had always been close, and when I went off to college, it had been hard on her.

  I sat down at the table and tapped her book, smiling. “Hey there,” I said. “Enjoying not having to think about going to school tomorrow?”

  “God yes,” she said. “And thankful that I don’t have to stay up listening to my annoying roommates chatter about stupid boys all night long. They seriously need to grow up.”

  “How is the year going?”

  “Not fast enough.” She laughed. “But it’s good. I have one more semester to go, and I’m pretty sure I got the valedictorian spot, which makes Dad happy.”

  “Of course,” I said, rolling my eyes. “You get to make the famed speech at graduation.”

  “Yours was epic.” She smiled. “Of course, I have to try to beat it.”

  “Of course,” I said.

  “Are you going to make it to my graduation?”

  “Uh, I wouldn’t miss it even for a kidney transplant,” I said. “Besides, who would be there to keep Dad under control and stop him from just jumping onstage and chanting ‘Harvard’ over and over again?”

  “He hasn’t shut up about it since I got accepted.” She rolled her eyes. “It’s a good thing that’s where I want to go because he wasn’t giving me a choice.”

  “Trust me, I completely understand,” I replied. “I’m actually coming in the whole week before your graduation so I can be settled in for the summer.”

  “You are my angel,” she said, standing up and walking around to me to wrap her arms around my neck and squeeze. “Seriously, everyone else is all excited about this, and I’m just like, please just let it be over quickly and without incident.”

  “Go get dressed,” I said. “Let’s go out to lunch since Mom never puts food in the kitchen unless the cook is here.”

  “Perfect. I’m starving.”

  We both rushed to get ready, throwing on jeans and T-shirts and then heading out the door before anyone could stop us. We went three blocks over to this little French café we used to go to all the time. It was quaint and secluded, meaning we had our privacy. We ordered lunch and I ordered a bottle of wine, knowing that they knew our father and wouldn’t worry about carding my sister. I handed Taryn a glass of wine and winked while she giggled.

  “So, Mom said you babysat Avery last night,” she said, sipping her wine. “How was that? Mom and Dad have been trying to get me to babysit for forever, but we both know I do not like kids and their boogers and germs.”

  “It was all right,” I said. “Avery has really grown. We just played board games all night.”

  “And?”

  “And what?” I asked.

  “Don’t act like there isn’t something else on your mind.” She smiled. “You answered short and sweet and then put your head down. Obviously, you’re holding something back.”

  “No,” I said, shaking my head. Taryn stared at me with a knowing look on her face. “All right, sheesh. I just really have an enormously massive crush on Will.”

  “Will?”

  “Yeah. He said to call him Will.” I smiled. “He’s just so handsome and kind, and the way he looks at me drives me absolutely mad. It’s like he wants to rip me apart with his teeth, but in a sexual way, not in a serial-killer way.”

  “I’ve known you have on crush for, like, ever,” Taryn said, waving her hand. “Old news.”

  “Really? Is it obvious?”

  She laughed. “Not to the outside world, but I’m like your twin from a different year.”

  I looked at her with blushing cheeks and broke out into laughter along with her. I could never hide anything from this girl. She knew me too well. That was okay, though, because the fact that I was crushing on Will was totally burning a hole in my brain, and I needed to be able to talk about it with someone.

  “So, is he seeing anyone?” Taryn asked.

  “No,” I said. “I mean, I don’t think so. He seems pretty hung up on his wife’s death still. I mean, I don’t blame him. She was his wife and the mother of his child. I’m not sure what I would do if in his situation.”

  “Well, maybe it’s time a sexy young thing like yourself breaks him out of that,” she said, wagging her eyebrows at me.

  I scoffed. “I’m almost ten years younger than him.”

  “So?” she said. “Age is just a number—unless it’s illegal, but you’re way past the legal age. And maybe it would make your trips home a bit more enjoyable so I can stop begging you to come home.”

  I laughed. “Oh, I see. Because you want me home, you’re willing to pimp me out to the highest bidder."

  Maybe she was right, though. Maybe this was exactly what I needed.

  Chapter 3

  Will

  I was no different than anyone else, and I fucking hated Mondays. This Monday was extra painful because I had a meeting first thing in the morning, and an extra stressful meeting at that. Then I discovered the client I had taken out to the event on Saturday was apparently not impressed with me or the company. My financial advisors were coming down on me hard since this client was worth a whole lot of money. I got on the phone with him and set up another dinner, one he wanted to have at four. I agreed, but as soon as I got off the phone, I realized I needed to figure out how to take care of Avery. He got done at preschool at three, which wouldn’t leave me enough time to take him anywhere. His nanny was still out of town, and that left me with only one option.

  I picked up my phone and called Ella.

  “Hey,” she said happily.

  “Hey,” I said. “I need to ask a huge favor of you.”

  “Okay, shoot,” she said.

  “I have a four o’clock meeting and Avery gets out of school at three,” I said. “Is there any way you could pick him up from school and watch him until I get home? I’ll have the front doorman let you guys into the apartment.”

  “Sure,” she replied.

  “Thank you so much,” I said, letting out a deep breath. “You’re a lifesaver. I shouldn’t be home any later than seven or eight.”

  “Awesome,” she replied. “I’ll feed him some dinner, and we can watch a movie until he falls asleep.”

  “Perfect.”

  When I got off the phone with Ella, I smiled, feeling so grateful she was home right now and I could rely on her to take care of Avery. I didn’t know what I would do without her at this point. Work had become so crazy and hectic. I thought about the other night, and immediately, Ella’s sexy outfit popped back into my head. Visions of her tight body and sexy, bouncing ass attempted to distract me, but I pushed through it, remembering I had other things to think about. This dinner needed my undivided attention, and that was exactly where I pushed my mind to. I was incredibly stressed over this, and I wasn’t sure how to convince the man to work with us.

  I got thr
ough the rest of my day and then headed out for the restaurant where I was meeting the client. The entire ride over there, I was thinking about Ella, and this time I just rode it out. Maybe the distraction was better than focusing on my work situation, which would just make it even more stressful. That didn’t seem to be the case, though, since the more I thought about Ella, the more frustrated I became that I hadn’t had sex in forever and that I wanted something I obviously couldn’t have.

  I had to admit that the frustration carried over into my meeting, but it was probably well deserved on the client’s part. He was incredibly arrogant, turning his nose up at everything as we went along. I felt like this guy was yanking my chain and wasting my incredibly precious time. The last thing I wanted to do was sit here with him when I could be with Avery. I needed him to start being honest about his intentions. I didn’t need any more bullshit or half-assed answers from him.

  “Here’s the deal,” I said, leaning forward after ordering. “We have a seriously good contract to offer you, one we have never offered to anyone else. We are the top software investment firm in the country. You know that. However, this whole time you’ve just been skirting the issues, and I feel like you’re playing games with me. There is some serious potential in the products we have discussed as well as the companies that will be involved. I need to know if you’re even close to making a decision on this.”

  “All in due time,” he said, looking around the room. “Have you been here before? It’s an interesting place.”

  “Mr. Westhaven,” I said in a raised tone, “I don’t have time for these games. I went out of my way to plan that event on Saturday only to be dragged out after work today because you weren’t impressed. Although I obviously want you to be impressed with the company, whether you are impressed with how we wine and dine you isn’t my concern. I’m starting to get the feeling you had no intention of discussing business with me here and were just out for another free meal despite the fact that you are incredibly wealthy.”

  “Well,” he said, pulling his napkin up and wiping his mouth angrily, “I cannot believe you would—”

  “No. Enough,” I whispered harshly. “I’m in no way trying to insult you, sir, but you have to look at this from all perspectives. There’s a huge project everyone can pull off huge gains with, and I don’t think it’s time for pussyfooting around. I’ve always been direct with everyone and everything in my life. It has been a key factor in the success of my company. Even in the beginning, when people were telling me I was going to fail, I was direct and to the point. There is nothing to lose or gain at this point if we’re just going to run circles around each other, trying to play some song and dance. I don’t play those games like so many of my competitors do. I’m sure that has lost me money in the past, but frankly, it has gained me a lot of respect as well.”

  I leaned back in my chair and folded my hands in my lap, feeling confident in my approach. The anger faded from his face, and he began to laugh, pulling his napkin back down in his lap. He sipped his drink and shook his head, still chuckling quietly. I wasn’t sure how to take it since all my dealings with this man had been filled with arrogance.

  “I have to say, I like how direct you are with me,” he said. “So many people tiptoe around me, and no one ever wants to stand up to my bullshit. Well done, sir.”

  “Thank you,” I replied, starting to calm down. “I’m sorry if I offended you.”

  “No, no,” he said, waving his hand. “You’re right on one accord. I am a cheap asshole. I like saving money just as much as I like to make it. They always say that’s how the rich stay rich. We may make big purchases and investments, but we scrape together our pennies at every turn. When I grew up, I was a poor boy living with my mother in Hungary. We barely had anything. Then I came here and I built my wealth, but that poor, hungry boy from the village has never left me.”

  “Have you read over the contract?”

  “I have,” he said. “I did so before you even took me out on Saturday. And I do want to point out that your financial advisors were a bit off on their assessment. It wasn’t that I wasn’t impressed with your event. It was that I wanted to see some gusto from you before I agreed to invest that kind of money into something. I’m more than aware that this project is a win for everyone involved. I just needed to know you were the man to handle it.”

  “So you were waiting for me to fly off the handle?” I laughed. “Well, sir, you came to the right man. I didn’t create this company without stepping on some toes, and some feelings for that matter.”

  “As long as you stay a wolf like you are right now, I can’t see anything happening to my money except growth,” he replied. “People don’t realize it takes a bit of balls to be successful in business, and you have those balls. I had heard of your reputation, but I was just waiting for that man to surface.”

  We talked through the rest of dinner, about the deal, about the company, and about private matters that had nothing to do with business. I ended up liking the old fool and his willingness to take risks when it came to how he handled business and money. I realized that while he was looking for gusto in me, I was pretty much looking for the same thing in him. I was glad I had decided to bring him back out.

  “So,” I said after paying the bill, “can I go back to my people and tell them we have a deal?”

  “I would be stupid to turn you down.” He smiled. “I’ll have the contracts signed and sent over tomorrow.”

  We shook hands and parted ways. I felt like I was back in action again. It had been a long time since I’d landed a difficult client, and it lit a fire under my ass. When I got home, Avery was already in bed and Ella was sitting on the couch, waiting. She stood up and smiled as I walked through the door.

  “Well, how did it go?”

  “The client is more than happy to be involved in my project,” I said, smiling.

  “That is so great,” she exclaimed. “Congratulations! We should do something to celebrate. I’ll pull out the cheesecake I made for Avery and me.”

  I smiled as she walked into the kitchen. Then I walked over to the mantle above the fireplace and looked at the pictures of Megan, Avery, and me from what seemed like a lifetime ago. Megan would have been so excited for me, pulling out the champagne and wanting to hear every second of the meeting. She may not have been in the industry, but she’d been there from the start, so she would have understood exactly what was riding on this project. She had always been my biggest cheerleader. Just thinking about her was forcing a dark mood over me, almost like a smoke that surged through me, trying to snuff out any sign of light or happiness in my life. In the past, it had been the driving force behind my depression. Tonight, though, I couldn’t let myself fall into that dark place. I had worked too hard. I took in a deep breath and pushed my feelings into the background. Besides, Ella was here, and she wanted to celebrate with me.

  Ella had been on my mind all night and all day, and that was starting to become something that fueled my decisions. I knew I wouldn’t have reacted as I did to my client so quickly had I not been thinking about Ella on the car ride over. I had gotten so frustrated that the frustration hadn’t stayed in the car when I’d gone into my meeting. Instead, it had festered and strengthened. Luckily, I’d been able to get away with it this time, but I wasn’t sure that would happen again. Having sex with Ella would be a much-needed, positive distraction, and right then I decided I was going to seduce her.

  I walked over to the bar and pulled out a bottle of champagne, looking up as Ella walked back into the living room with two plates of cheesecake. She set them down on the bar and smiled, looking at me as I pulled down two glasses. I wasn’t sure why it mattered, but by instinct, I stopped and looked over at her.

  “You’re twenty-one, right?”

  “Yep,” she said, smiling.

  “Perfect,” I said. I uncorked the bottle, poured us two glasses, and handed her one. “To a really great night and a wonderful celebration partner.”


  “Why thank you,” she said, clinking my glass and taking a sip.

  “So,” I said, sitting down and taking a bite of the cheesecake. “Do you have a boyfriend out there at Harvard?”

  She laughed. “No. I’m much too busy for that.”

  That was exactly what I wanted to hear. I wanted to fuck her more and more every second.

  Chapter 4

  Ella

  It was useless to think that, after last night, I wouldn’t be thinking about Will. I hadn’t stopped thinking about him since the first time I’d watched his son. Last night, though, had been different than before, more personal than it had ever been. I had really wanted to kiss him. That thought had been running through my mind since the moment he had walked through the front door, excited about his new business deal.

  We’d cracked open the champagne and drank as he told me all about the conversation, how he’d gotten his “gusto” back, or so he had called it. I’d found him completely fascinating. I hadn’t seen him anywhere near as happy as he’d been after coming back from his meeting, and just the view of his genuine smile had warmed my heart. He’d had a rough last few years, and for the first time since that I’d seen, there had been a light in his eyes. It had been incredibly hard not to feel good with him and like I was somehow a part of that.

  I walked into my parents’ living room and curled up on the edge of the couch, giving in to my thoughts. There was more to what was going on than I really understood, especially since I had been gone for so long, but I wanted to spend more time with Will before I left to go back to school. But when it came to men, courage had never been my strong suit, so asking him out was not in the cards. I picked up the phone and scrolled to his number, figuring I could at least call and make sure everything was good. I took a deep breath and pressed the button before putting the phone to my ear.