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That one was the woman’s fault.
Liam sighed. “It’ll be okay. I’m sure it’s nothing that can’t be cleaned up. You might want to think about controlling your children a little better, though.”
“Oh.” The woman flushed, and Liam regretted his comment — if only a little. It didn’t seem like too much to ask to keep children in line in a public place, but he hadn’t meant to make her feel bad. “Actually, these are my nieces and nephews. They’re very well-behaved, but they are still children.”
“I see that.” Liam glanced down at the paper in his hand. “Amelia?”
“That’s me. And the little ice cream-based fashion designer here is Jamie.”
Liam glanced at the little boy in her arms, who looked to be somewhere between one and five years old (Liam didn’t spend a lot of time with children and wasn’t good at estimating their ages). His hands were covered with pink ice cream and his eyes were still slightly teary from the loss of his scoop.
“Well, hello to you both.” Liam should have just walked on right then. He had a lot of work to do and no time for small talk. But something about the harassed-looking woman held him in place. She was slight and willowy, with light-blond hair in a wispy braid, and deep-brown eyes that were somehow warm. There was just something about Amelia that Liam found intriguing. “I’m Liam. I work at Lilypad Learning Solutions, just down the block.”
He left out the fact that he was the CEO of the company. People tended to become obsequious and fawning when they found out that he was a billionaire, so he preferred not to lead with that.
“Lilypad Learning!” Amelia smiled. “Wow. My sister is an elementary school teacher and she swears by your phonics program. It’s so fun, the kids don’t even realize they’re learning.”
“That’s the goal.” Just then, Liam’s phone buzzed. It was the office. “I’d better be going.”
“Let me know about the dry-cleaning bill!” Amelia called after him. Liam nodded, although he had no intention of making Amelia pay for anything. She clearly had her hands full enough as it was with her herd of nieces and nephews.
Liam answered the phone as he hurried away. It was the paper supplier. As he made his way back to the office, he argued over prices, already slipping back into his CEO mentality. He had a lot on his plate today.
He needed to put the sight of the beautiful blonde with a baby in her arms out of his mind.
Back in the building, he hurried into his office, where he changed into one of the spare suits he always kept there. Liam worked long hours, sometimes even spending the night at work, and he appreciated always having something clean and ironed to change into. He put the strawberry-scented suit over the back of a chair and made a note to ask his assistant to bring it to the dry cleaner’s.
As Liam hurried back out towards his next meeting, which he was already running late for, he was stopped by his assistant, Ryan. Ryan was fresh out of college and relatively inexperienced, but he worked hard and was quickly becoming one of Liam’s trusted advisors.
“Liam.” Ryan looked slightly uncomfortable. “I’ve canceled your next meeting.”
“What?” Liam stopped short, confused and a little annoyed. His next meeting, with the head of the advertising department, had been an important one. “Why?”
“You have another meeting. I don’t know the details, but your lawyer said that it was personal and urgent.”
Uncharacteristic worry flooded Liam. As the CEO of a major edtech company, he knew that lawsuits happened, but the fact that this was something personal made him worry. He had no idea what this could be about.
“Okay. Where?”
“Conference room B.”
“Thank you. Please hold my calls and any other meetings until I’m back.”
Liam made his way to the conference room, his heart racing. He usually handled the ups and downs of business with poise, but he was already a little rattled from his disastrous morning and the ice cream incident.
Liam’s lawyer, Nick, was already waiting in the conference room. He was an older man, with salt-and-pepper hair and the straightest posture Liam had ever seen.
“Please, have a seat.” Nick gestured to a free chair.
“May I ask what this is about?” Liam slid into the seat across from the lawyer.
“This is a rather… delicate… matter.” Nick tilted his head to the side. “Do you remember a woman by the name of Cora Matthews?”
“I do.”
Liam had never been the type for serious relationships. His business was his baby, and he didn’t have the time to dedicate to a steady relationship. In previous years, he’d had the occasional fling, never more than a few nights. Recently, though, it had happened less and less, and Cora had been one of the last of those flings. Liam remembered her as a pretty blonde he’d met at a bar, but the details about her failed him.
Liam felt a stab of guilt. He’d never implied to any of the women he had flings with that he was looking for something serious. But he still wished he remembered a little more.
