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“And Adrian, it can’t be easy speakin’ about all this shit with my daughter, y’know? There are boundaries there that ya don’t want to cross, and I respect that.”
Adrian’s knee knocked against mine under the table, and for the briefest of seconds, the memory of him taking me from behind with his hand on my throat invaded my senses. The buttery bit of crab didn’t taste like it should anymore—it tasted like his mouth.
“You’ve still got that place over in the Hamptons, yeah?”
“Yeah,” Adrian said, cracking a leg in half and breaking the meat along with it. He cursed at himself before holding his hand out in my direction as a silent request for the little fork I’d been hogging. I gave it to him carefully, making sure we didn’t even touch. I didn’t need another flashback. “Why?”
Dad plucked another couple of whole crabs out of the pot at the end of the table and whacked them down on the serving dish in front of us. “Why don’t you take Lucas and Ava out there next weekend so you two can…I don’t know, iron out all the kinks?”
I nearly choked on my fucking crab.
“That’s not?—”
“Adrian, respectfully, hear me out, would ya?” Dad snapped, and oh no, here we went—theI know better than you and will not be told otherwiseside of my father was kicking in. He was incapable of being reasoned with when he was like this, and Icould already feel myself shrinking into my fucking seat. “If she had the chance to be around Lucas, see how you are with him, and get to know you a bit better outside of business mode, I think it could really help her get a better idea of who you need in terms of a partner. You forget she hasn’t been around ya at all for the last ten years?—”
“Dad,” I interjected. “If Adrian isn’t comfortable with it, then don’t force me on him.”
“No, look at him. He loves the idea.”
I glanced at Adrian. All I could get from his face was mortification. “No, you’ve freaked him out, Dad.”
“He’s not…you haven’t freaked me out, Dave,” Adrian clarified, swallowing his food. “I just don’t know how Lucas would feel about that.”
Yes. Good. Perfect excuse.
“Lucas loves going to the Hamptons,” Dad said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. “He didn’t have a problem when I came with you last time. Why is Ava any different?”
“I…”
“Listen,” Dad insisted, leaning forward on the table toward Adrian. My stomach twisted as the realization slowly sunk in that neither of us could fight this—not without Adrian suddenly finding someone he wanted to spend the rest of Lucas’s childhood with in the next five days. “You wanna find someone soon to help with Lucas? Because this might be your best bet.”
Adrian sighed, and for the briefest of seconds, he met my gaze. “All right.”
Dad’s joyous,I was rightlaughter filled the room, and all I wanted to do was run. This was ahorribleidea. For both of us.
Adrian nearly jumped as Dad’s hand clapped him on the shoulder, tightening fiercely and giving him a little shake. “You should feel honored that I trust ya so much with my kid,” Dadchuckled. “Don’t think there’s a man alive who I’d trust enough to ship her off for a weekend with except you.”
Chapter 14
Adrian
Taking a weekend of work off at short notice when we had an event on Saturday and Sunday wasn’t my best move as CEO, but Lucas hadn’t been able to stop shrieking about his excitement to go to the Hamptons when I’d mentioned it in passing, and I couldn’t bring myself to break his heart after his plea for me to work less a few weeks ago.
But that didn’t mean I couldn’t bring some work with me to distract me from Ava.
In an effort to ensure that we weren’t alone together, I’d invited Lucas’ nanny, Grace, as well. At least if there were three adults on-site at a minimum, my chances of letting my cock think for me were slim.
I took up residence in the very back of the van I’d rented, with Ava and Lucas in the middle row of seats and Grace in the front with the driver. I did my best to focus on my laptop as I braved the two-hour car journey, but it was hard when Lucas kept asking question after question after question.
To my utter surprise, though, Ava had been quick on the draw for all of them.
“Why is it called the Hamptons?”
“Because it’s made up of two areas named East Hampton and West Hampton,” Ava grinned, leaning across the middle seat to show Lucas something on her phone. “I think I asked my dad that same question when he used to bring me out here.”
“Oh, cool,” Lucas chirped. His mop of black curls bounced as he turned rapidly in his seat, watching as a massive bird flew past the car window. “What’s that?”
I opened my mouth to reply, but Ava beat me to it.
