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“I’m sure we can get another one for just you and me to work on.”
He smiles. “Okay!”
A door opens from the back of the house and then voices, but I can’t make out what they’re saying. I assume it must be Theo’s dad and Hannah.
“Dad’s home.” Theo looks at me.
It’s obvious from his huge smile that he worships his dad like a hero. It warms my heart before it chills because I have no idea what that feels like. I’ve never had that kind of relationship with either of my parents and never will.
I hear the low timbre of a male voice the closer they get to the family room. There’s something familiar about it that I can’t pinpoint. But when Hannah walks in the room, smiling with her arm outstretched to the man beside her, my stomach plummets and sweat beads along my hairline.
My one-night stand from six months ago stands there. The same man I haven’t been able to get out of my head.
At my insistence that night, we didn’t exchange names or numbers. I’d never had a one-night stand before and I wanted my one time of wild abandon to be completely anonymous. It made it easier to act out of character and was part of the thrill, if I’m being honest.
But here he stands in front of me.
My new boss.
Theo’s dad and… oh my god! Hannah’s husband? I slept with the father of my new client.
Bile burns my throat while he and I stare at each other from across the room.
Hannah is introducing us, but I don’t hear anything she says because I’m running through our conversation from when I showed up. Was there anything else in the information packet?
Her lips stop moving and she looks at me expectantly.
I open my mouth and my cheeks heat, embarrassed that I have to tell her I wasn’t listening. But the man by her side catches on and steps forward with his arm outstretched.
“Violet, right? Brady Banks.”
I take his hand hesitantly, mostly because of his satisfied grin, like an FBI agent who just caught the guy he’s been chasing for a decade. When our palms meet, the heat sears my skin and an electric current runs up my arm.
Suddenly, there’s a flash in my brain of the night we spent together and those hands running all over my body, cupping my breasts and trailing down to—did that finger have a ring on it? A tan line?
Think, Violet! Think.
“Daddy, Violet is gonna help me with a Lego set. But don’t worry, not the rocket ship. I told her that one is ours.”
I blink back to the present as Brady ruffles Theo’s hair. “Thanks. For a moment I thought I was replaced,” he teases and looks at Hannah with a shared smile.
They have their “I know what you’re thinking” faces on and a cool sweat coats my body. How do I get myself out of this?
“You seem a little shell-shocked, Violet.” Hannah giggles. “Don’t worry, Brady gets that reaction a lot, don’t you?”
He glances at her a little sheepishly… guiltily? “Comes with the territory of being the Kingsmen’s best wide receiver.”
I didn’t know who he was when I met him. At least not in the context of being a professional football player. I don’t follow sports. My dad wasn’t the type of man to sit around on a Sunday and watch football. He spent his Sunday going to church and doing everything that needed to be done around the house before his six-day workweek began on Monday.
“The hiring process was really hush-hush. It’s a bit of a shock when I find out who I’m working for when they’re in the public light. Sorry.” I hope my smile masks my sudden discomfort.
He nods. “Understandable. We didn’t want women taking the job just to get close to me. Some women are hard to beat off.” He raises his eyebrows at me. A direct dig since I didn’t want to exchange any personal information that morning.
“Jeez, Brady,” Hannah mumbles and rolls her eyes.
It doesn’t faze Brady as his gaze travels down my body with so much heat my nipples pebble under my shirt.
Hannah clears her throat. Brady glances at her and then Theo.
