Boss Daddy: A Secret Baby Romance by Black, L. (good books for high schoolers .TXT) 📕

feel a bit proud of myself. I couldn’t believe something I’d thought of would be turned into one of the special events. It was just another bit of confirmation that I was where I was supposed to be and finally taking control to give myself the life I wanted and thought I might never get to have.

13 Jordan

At the last minute, Tom changed his mind and decided to keep me in Astoria, which suited me just fine. Sending Mason and Tyler alone meant that only a few extra shifts needed to be covered, and Amanda pitched in for some of them while Matt and I took on the bulk of it. It meant long days and longer nights, but at least it kept me busy enough not to dwell too much on the possibility of the change or what was going on between Hannah and me. Not that there was anything to think about really since she and I were so busy we barely had time to talk the entire time. When we did, though, the sparks were just as bright as always.

As I was heading in for another night of work, though, things had changed. Mason had called me the night before, and things were going to start moving a lot faster. It was a surprise to hear just how confident he was on the phone, but on second thought, I shouldn’t have been. Tom was sold on the idea, and while I was a little bitter that we all just went along with whatever he said, I had to admit he was usually spot-on with his assessments. He didn’t miss when it came to business opportunities, and he hadn’t as far back as when we sold peanuts for Scouts or made lemonade stands in the front yard. He was an entrepreneur at heart, and if he said something would work, he was likely right.

When I got to the bar, I immediately found Matt and pulled him aside with me as we did prep work and got the place ready for open.

“I got a call last night from Mason,” I said.

“Oh yeah? Ava didn’t say anything,” Matt said.

“Yeah, he said he was only telling me. I don’t know how much is set in stone yet, but it’s enough that I figured I should give you a heads-up.”

“What’s going on?”

“Well, it looks like they found a place and are headed back today,” I said.

“What? That fast?”

“Yeah. Mason loved the place, and Tyler thinks it has even more potential than here. They should be getting back pretty soon. Tom’s going to handle all the paperwork from his office in San Francisco.”

“Of course he is,” Matt said, shaking his head. “Man, I can’t believe it.” He turned to me, cocking an eyebrow. “Who’s going to run it, though?”

“Not me,” we said in unison.

“Shit,” Matt said.

“Yeah, shit,” I said. “We have to figure this out, because it’s only right.”

“I agree.” He sighed.

“What?”

“I dunno,” he said, but I knew what he was thinking.

I was about to tell him he didn’t have to do anything. He was an adult, and he could tell Tom to shove it if he wanted to. That his life was his own, and he could stay here and be his own man and a thousand other things I had an inkling to tell Tom myself when my voice stopped in my throat. Hannah had just walked in, and my eyes went right to her like magnets.

She smiled when she saw me, and I felt my throat catch. Then she made her way toward me, and I had to look away so I didn’t spend the entire time she was coming staring at the way her hips swayed back and forth. She was mesmerizing.

“Hey,” she said casually as she approached us both. “How are you guys doing?”

“Good,” I said.

“Great. Busy, though,” Matt said. “Matter of fact, I need to get… back… to the back…”

With that, he abruptly turned on his heel and left. It wasn’t the smoothest exit in the world, but Hannah didn’t seem to notice. Or if she did, she didn’t let on.

“Anything you need help with?” she asked.

“Nope, I got it,” he said, exchanging a look at me over his shoulder. I could swear there was a smirk on his face.

“So,” I said, without any real idea where I was going with it.

“So,” she said back, echoing my silence.

“I heard you did some work behind the bar,” I said, suddenly remembering talking to Ava.

“Yeah, I did,” she said brightly. “It was a lot of fun. Very intimidating, but fun. You guys know so many cocktails.”

“They do. I’m mostly the one who just knows about beer. Everything else is a bit fancy for me.”

She laughed, and I felt my stomach clench. The sound of her laughter was enough to drive me wild on its own. I wanted to hear that sound every day for the rest of my life.

“Did you hear about the Great Gatsby theme?” she asked.

“No, I didn’t. I tend not to know what the theme is until I walk in and see it, usually.”

“Oh, it’s going to be awesome,” she said. “I’m really excited about it. I think I get to wear a fancy dress, and everything’s going to be black and white. It just sounds like so much fun.”

“I hope they don’t expect me to wear a tux.”

She smiled wide, and I caught the faintest hint of her looking me up and down. “You’d look good in a tux,” she said. “Or any suit really.” Suddenly, she blushed and turned to the side. I had a feeling she was about to find as flimsy an excuse as Matt did to bolt, so I interjected with the first thing that came to mind.

“How’s your painting going?” I asked clumsily. I tried to recover by stammering for a second. “I mean, you were saying something about some projects you were in the running for?”

“Oh, I guess I didn’t tell you,” she said. “The city actually