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“Good morning, pumpkin,” I whispered as I kissed her cheek.
Chloe opened her eyes and grinned. “Is today the day you’re going to marry Paxton?”
Laughing, I gazed into her beautiful blue eyes. “Not today.”
She frowned. “Well, will you make me pancakes then?”
“Yes! That I can do.”
Jumping up, Chloe raced down the stairs and into the kitchen. Pulling the chair at the island out, she climbed up while I gathered everything needed for pancakes.
“Daddy, why is Paxton so different from my old mommy?”
My heart seized up. “Well, your mother doesn’t have love in her heart. Paxton does.”
“Why doesn’t she have love in her heart?”
“I don’t know, pumpkin. Some people only think of themselves and not others.”
She stared out the window as I poured the batter onto the pan.
“Daddy, do I have to call her my mommy anymore?”
Lifting my hand to the side of her face, I tried not to let her see how I was dying inside. I hated that Kim was Chloe’s mother. “No, Chloe. You don’t have to call her mommy if you don’t want to. She’s never going to be in our lives again.”
“She doesn’t want to be my mommy, does she?”
Fuck. Did I tell her the truth? What would that do to her emotionally?
“Pumpkin, she doesn’t deserve to be your mommy.”
Her little eyes seemed lost in thought, before a huge smile covered her face. “Paxton’s going to be my new mommy soon. You really need to hurry, Daddy.”
Laughing, I kissed her on the tip of her nose. “You’re bossy. Just like Paxton.”
Her eyes lit up, and I didn’t think I’d ever seen my daughter look so happy.
“I want to be like her! Just like her! I wonder if Paxton wants a pet goat too. Patches needs a friend.”
Stopping what I was doing, I shook my head and winked. “You little stinker. Are you trying to figure out how to get yourself another goat?”
Her little hands covered her mouth as she giggled and nodded.
“Chloe Lynn Parker. You’re a sneaky one.”
My eyes drifted back to the ranch’s financial books, and I felt my cheeks straining from the happiness of the memory. I shook my head and got back to work.
Something was off. Numbers weren’t making sense, and I had a feeling the old CPA who took care of my father’s books was up to no good. Dad wanted to hire that fucker Mike, but I put the halt on that when the asshole tried to hook up with Paxton. I sent his ass back to San Antonio almost two weeks ago. I didn’t have a good feeling about him from the moment he set foot in my office and Dad introduced us.
Asshole. Of course if it hadn’t been for him, I’d have never have gone to the bar that night, and Paxton wouldn’t have asked me to take her home. When she started for her bedroom I couldn’t help the dirty thoughts that flashed through my mind. My dick was growing hard remembering her in my arms. Naked. Her soft skin against mine.
Fuck. I wanted her.
I pushed all thoughts of my cock inside Paxton’s pussy out of my mind and got back to reviewing last months’ figures.
The knock on the door had me lifting my gaze.
“Steed?”
“Dad.” I motioned for my father to sit down.
He walked into the room with all the confidence in the world. I remember being little and thinking I wanted to walk into a room like my father did. I constantly heard people say the most amazing things about my father, and as a little boy looking up to him, I knew I wanted to be just like him someday. The guilt of staying away from the family ranch business still weighed heavy on my heart.
“How’s it going, son? Find what you were looking for?”
He leaned back in the large leather chair opposite my desk. Dad had insisted that I have an office in the main house. Right next door to his. Within a day of telling my father I was coming back home, he had the office ready. A large mahogany desk sat near the large floor-to-ceiling windows that overlooked the Texas Hill Country. In front of the desk were two large, oversized leather chairs that Mom had picked out. To the left was a sitting area with a sofa and table. The other side held a large table. Dad had used this space as a conference room before I moved back, and I had talked him into keeping it one as well.
Shit. How in the hell do I tell my father I suspected his former CPA was stealing from him?
“I think so.”
“Trevor need to be here? I can give him a call.”
My brother Trevor had an office as well, but it was down in the main barn, along with the two-bedroom studio where Trevor lived. Since he was the foreman, he wanted to be closer to the barn so Dad had the studio built onto the barn.
