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

has made the final decision and will be sending Matt and me to Portland to start getting the new place ready.”

“That’s exciting, isn’t it?” I asked. “You get to be a part of opening the brand-new location and starting to build it up. It’s an honor that he asked you.”

“Do you really feel that way?”

“I mean, I think that you’ll be a part of something pretty amazing. It’s not my favorite thing in the world to think about you going away.”

He let out a sigh and nodded. “Exactly. That’s what I’m upset about. I don’t want to leave you here.”

I smiled at him and reached for his hands, giving them an encouraging squeeze. “Jordan, I’ll be fine. Really, I will. Honestly, I should really be getting back to my own house, anyway. It’s been more than a week, and I would think by now you would be tired of our little extended sleepover.”

Jordan smiled and kissed both of my hands. “Never. It’s been fun having you stay there with me.”

I nodded, but the moment between us was shattered by the sound of Ava shouting to us that she needed some help.

“We better go see what’s going on,” he said.

There was heat in his voice, but I had to ignore it. Now wasn’t the time to give in to the draw I felt to him. Especially not after what he just told me.

After Ethan showed up at the bar and announced he would be waiting at my house for me, I knew there was no going back there. Not until I knew Ethan wasn’t in town anymore. Jordan brought me right back to his place after work that night, and he and Tyler went over to my place the next day to grab some clothes and other necessities. They said they didn’t see Ethan, but I wouldn’t put it past him to be hiding somewhere out of sight.

At least the guys were smart enough not to drive right from my place to his or back. That way even if Ethan was trying to track me down by following them, he wouldn’t have a direct path. Now I knew I wasn’t going to be able to rely on that anymore. Even more, I wasn’t going to be able to be with Jordan all the time.

And as disappointed as I was feeling about Jordan moving away, I needed to move past that. This was never intended to be permanent, and it seemed it was time to go back to the real world. I reminded myself that I was in no place for a relationship. No matter what my heart was trying to convince me of.

We walked together back to the front of the bar and saw a huge crowd of customers had come in. We dove back into work and didn’t have another chance to talk to each other for a couple of hours. Finally, there was enough of a break in the influx of customers for Jordan and me to take a meal break. Tyler had already put together plates of food for us, and Jordan brought them into the office so we could eat in some semblance of quiet.

“So, when I leave for Portland, I should really only be there for a couple of weeks. And I’ve already spoken to my mother,” he said.

I gave him a quizzical look. “Your mother?”

“Yes. I would really like you to stay with her while I’m gone.”

I was immediately hesitant and pulled back a little, shaking my head.

“I am really not sure about that idea,” I said.

“Why not?” he asked. “You can’t just go back to your place. At my mother’s house, you would be safe. He wouldn’t be able to find you.”

“I don’t want to involve your mother in my drama. That’s unfair to her. Plus, we don’t even know one another,” I protested.

“Well then, lets fix that,” Jordan said. “I want to take you over there tomorrow so the two of you can meet. I’ve told her a lot about you and she’s excited to get to know you.”

A surge of nervousness rushed up inside me all of a sudden

thinking about how Jordan’s mother would react to me, especially knowing I was having issues with my ex. Hopefully, Jordan had been relatively discreet, but I doubted that. I figured by now, his mother knew the entire story. I wasn’t relishing the thought of hearing all about that while I was there.

“I’ll tell you what,” Jordan said. “If you really don’t want to stay with my mother, that’s fine. But until we know that asshole is gone for good, I don’t feel comfortable leaving you alone. He told you he was going to be waiting at your house to talk to you about what you did. “Will you at least stay with Ava and Mason?” he asked.

After a few moments’ thought, I finally agreed to the compromise.

“If it’s alright with them, I will stay with Ava and Mason,” I agreed. “But only because I have no idea where Ethan is right now or when he might resurface.”

I hadn’t seen Ethan since the night he came to the bar. Though he threatened to wait for me at my place, I hadn’t heard a single word from him, and the one time I was able to go back by to grab a few extra things, there was no sign of him.

That didn’t necessarily mean he was gone. I knew him well enough to know he could be doing this on purpose. It could mean he was either messing with me so I would be as anxious and on edge as possible, or he was lulling me into complacency so he could pounce. Either way, it would make the moment he did come back even more fun for him.

Because of that, I couldn’t be certain he had actually left. Until I got confirmation of where he was, I needed to stay cautious.

21 Jordan

I was not excited about leaving the next day and bringing Hannah to meet