Page 1 of Dear Daddy, Please Want Me

Prologue

Saul

February

Saul clicked through his calendar while the conference call wrapped up. Interview with a potential project manager. Finance meeting. He didn’t have a lunch break today, but that was probably for the best. He’d be too nervous to eat anyway.

After that was the big meeting.

He’d already told his executive team his news yesterday and they hadn’t batted an eye. He didn’t expect anyone else to either. He’d probably just say what he had to say, and then go on with the quarterly update.

But it felt huge to him.

He took a steadying breath and tried to focus on the meeting he was currently in.

“So we’ll have the mock-ups to you by Tuesday. Any questions?” someone asked.

“No questions,” Saul answered automatically.

He’d actually barely heard most of the call, but he wasn’t worried. They’d already gone over the marketing plan and he’d worked with this advertising company in his old business. Switching from advertising a vanilla dating site to a kinky one shouldn’t be a problem for them, especially since he knew one of the designers from a munch he used to attend.

People said their goodbyes and he hung up the phone.

He both wanted the whole-staff meeting to never arrive and wished it was over.

He looked at the clock in the corner of his screen. 10:58, so he had to get moving. At least interviewing someone would be a good distraction.

He picked up his tablet and flicked through his email to find the candidate’s resume. Levi Cohen. The literal Jewiest name on the planet.

Well, presumably the guy wasn’t too religious if he was applying to work at a kinky dating app.

In fact, it was much more likely that he was part of the BDSM community. Obviously, being a kinky little freak wasn’t a job requirement for working at the fastest-growing kink-based relationship app on the market, but there weren’t a lot of vanilla folks who worked at Cuffd either.

Even their building wasn’t subtle. They shared an office with a few other companies, but the stylized logo out front didn’t leave much to the imagination. An open handcuff formed the c and u, which attached to a length of chain for the entwined f’s, and looped around to connect with the closed cuff for the d.

It was Saul’s baby. He’d happily sold off his old company, a successful mainstream dating app, for a pile of money and started up Cuffd in his free time. He liked start-ups much more than large corporations, and even though the customer base wasn’t large, it felt like a service to the community.

Also, it was fun, and he felt like he got to be around his people.

Saul thumbed through the guy’s credentials, which looked good. He was eminently qualified, had solid recommendations, and was ready to start work in about a month when his current company closed down their local branch.

Most importantly, Christy personally vouched for him. She was the project manager for the other development team and would be working with the new hire closely. She’d excused herself from the interview process, but they’d apparently gotten their computer science degrees together. If this Levi guy had been responsible and competent during group coding projects as an undergrad, he could only imagine that after a master’s degree and a decade of experience, he’d be better.

Nikhil had already interviewed him over the phone, recommended him highly, and would be wrapping up his in-person interview right now. Honestly, even though Saul owned the company and would be working closely with whichever project manager they hired, it was Nikhil’s team. As the Chief Technical Officer, Saul trusted him to make the call. So if Saul didn’t get any weird vibes from the guy, he would offer him the job today.

He just needed to focus for long enough to conduct the interview.

He snagged the tablet and straightened his jacket and tie automatically while he walked down the hall. It was only a few yards to the conference room where Nikhil and—What was his name? Oh, yeah, he smirked, Levi Cohen—were waiting for him.

And Levi did, indeed, look very Jewish when he spotted him through the glass wall. Lean and trim, with dark hair and dark eyes with the faintest wrinkles around them. He was smiling at whatever Nikhil was saying and, astonishingly, Nikhil was laughing. Nikhil was a great guy, but he could be a little up-tight. It wasn’t often that he laughed out loud.

Saul slipped into the room and took a seat while the candidate, Levi, wrapped up whatever story he was telling.

“Hey,” Nikhil greeted him. Then he turned back to Levi and they both stood to shake hands. “It was great talking with you again Levi. This is your last interview and you should be hearing from us soon.”

“It was my pleasure,” Levi replied. “Just remember, I’m calling Pickles Aren’t Butt Plugs for my next band name.”

Nikhil was still chuckling as he headed out the door. He paused only to give Saul a distinctive nod, which he interpreted to mean hire him. Good. That made things a lot easier.