Page 83 of Accidental Irish Daddy

One heartbeat, then she pushes her misgivings away. “Okay. I’ll just pop into the restroom here…” The server is at our table when he sees my date preparing to stand up, and he pulls the chair out for her. “Check, Rob, please,” I tell him before he goes back to his corner. Bridges Wealth and Asset Management has an account here, but I choose to leave it for business only. It’s one of the ways I can hide my private life from my father’s inquisitive eyes.

That voice. I hear it again, only this time it’s coming from in front of me and it’s talking to Melissa. I whip my head to the right and see a girl. Young, blonde, medium height, slim, but that’s all I can see because she has her back to me. She’s waylaid Melissa on her way to the restrooms.

“Are you really going to leave with that man? I’m sorry, but I couldn’t help but overhearing parts of your conversation, at leasthispart of the conversation because his voice is pitched so much deeper than yours…anyway, I think the way he’s treated you this evening has been appalling! And you deserve better.”

Melissa doesn’t ignore the young woman like I thought she might. I can’t believe she’s giving what the woman is saying to her any credence. “What do you mean?” Melissa asks. And at this point, I can’t tell if she is amused, annoyed, or genuinely interested.

The blonde shakes her head. She doesn’t care that I can hear what they are saying. She doesn’t even bother looking over her shoulder at me. At least Melissa is dividing her attention between the blonde woman and staring at me to watch my reaction. Thank God the tables at Sergio’s are spaced far away from one another and no one else but me can hear, because the woman is going for it. “Look, I know this might sound rude of me to say, but my parents eat more than they talk so that’s whyI could hear that he makes no effort at keeping up his end of the conversation. He interrogates you about your life, but offers no information about his own. He asks you to his place for ‘a drink’, but then doesn’t even do you the courtesy of letting you decide if you want to spend the night or not. You are a gorgeous woman and can do better for yourself. Maybe not as far as his looks go, but definitely as far as his behavior does! What guarantee do you have that he’s all that, anyway? He doesn’t seem to have much of a personality. What if that is proportional to hisbedroomperformance? What are you going to do if he’s one of those three-second wonders? Or even worse…he can’t get it up?”

I’m the outsider now. These two women on their way to the restrooms have suddenly become the girls I hated at boarding school. The ones who formed unassailable friendships and cliques, and had their own conversational codes and way of rating the boys. Now I can feel what it is like being on the wrong side of their attention, wondering what I ever did to them.

Having said her piece, the young woman allows Melissa to head off to the restrooms. Then she turns around and my breath wooshes from me. Ms. Husky Voice is stunningly beautiful. We lock eyes, and strangely enough, it’s not an awkward moment. She’s satisfied her job is done and I am bowled over. Her eyes sparkle with intelligence and just a tiny bit of defiance. This woman looks like the last person in the world someone would want to cross swords with when it comes to a challenge.

She’s not five feet, ten inches tall like Melissa, perhaps three or four inches under, and she’s a little too large in the chest to be a model, but the woman has one of those faces that makes a man give her a double and then a triple take when he checks her out. I can’t stop this pull her eyes have on me. And then her mouth tips into a small smile. That smile tells me everything I need to know. What name did her father call her again? Ah, yes. Tess. Tess has a naughty side.

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Hooking up with my OFF-LIMITS boss never should’ve happened…

Travis Shaver is the CEO of the most prestigious hospital in New York City.

My attraction to him is undeniable.

The charming smile.

The confident swagger.

More importantly the chiselled abs beneath his tightly fit shirts.

He. Is. Perfection

Until I have to work with him.

Arrogant. Cocky. Demanding.

This tyrant pushes all my buttons.

He’s a certified alpha boss-hole.

But when I’m stranded, he’s last person I expect to rescue me.

The detour home complicates everything.

Including my feelings for him.

The closer we become, the harder he pushes me away.

When we both know he desperately needs me.

I’d leave everything behind to take a chance on him.

But will my bossy grump do the same for us?

Even if it costs him everything?