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

had to leave to go back to Portland. But instead of it being a romantic night for us to spend together and savor before we were going to be apart again, it was quickly and getting tense.

The dinner he had delivered and then served in candlelight was sweet right up until he reached across the table to take my hand.

“I want you to come with me to Portland,” he said.

It was by far not the first time he’d said the same thing over the last few days. He had been trying hard to convince me to go with him. But it wasn’t because he didn’t want to be away from me again so he wouldn’t have to miss me. Instead, he insisted I had to go with him so he could keep me safe.

“Jordan, we’ve talked about this,” I said.

I really wanted that to be the end of it. This had the potential of being such a nice night, and I didn’t want him to leave on a negative note. But I also wasn’t going to just give in.

“I know we have. But I wanted to ask again. Come with me. Get out of Astoria for a little while. Come see Portland. You even said yourself that you thought it was pretty impressive I got to watch the bar grow from the very beginning. So, why don’t you come watch it, too?” he asked.

“It is impressive. But it’s not my bar. And I can’t just pick up and leave so that you can babysit me. I have responsibilities here,” I said. “I can’t just throw those away and leave everybody at The Hollow in a lurch because you’ve decided I should never be out of your sight.”

“You don’t have to think about it like that. Just think of it as a vacation. You’ve been working really hard at the bar; anybody will tell you that. You deserve some time off, and I think you’ve earned a vacation where you can relax a bit.”

“You really expect me to buy that? I’m supposed to think that going to Portland with my bosses while they oversee the building of a second location is a relaxing vacation?” I asked incredulously.

“Is that how you think of me?” Jordan asked, seeming taken aback. “Your boss?”

“You do own the bar where I work.”

“Wow. Good to know.”

“Don’t get so defensive. Of course I don’t think of you as my boss all the time. But in this circumstance, yeah. That’s kind of what it looks like. Either that, or you are putting me in a fishbowl so you can watch every one of my movements and decide if they’re acceptable to you,” I said.

“I’m not putting you in a fishbowl. I’m trying to protect you.”

I was starting to get irritated. “You’re babying me. And I really hate being babied.”

“I don’t understand why you’re being so difficult about this,” Jordan said. “You’re the one who has been so freaked-out by this guy. You’re the one who called me when you didn’t want to go in your house because you thought he was there.”

“And now you’re going to hold that against me?” I asked, shocked by the way he was acting. “I called you because I was scared, and I thought I could trust you.”

“You can trust me, Hannah. That’s the point of all this. I want to make sure you’re safe, and I can’t do that if I’m all the way in Portland and you’re here. Either that, or let’s get you packed and bring you to my mother’s house. She can keep an eye on you until I get back into town.”

That was it. I was officially done with this. I got up from the table.

“Stop. Seriously. That is enough. I can’t believe you’re acting like this. Did me telling you about how Ethan acted when we were together mean absolutely nothing about you?” I asked.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Jordan asked.

“I’ve told you how controlling he was and that he tried to dictate every moment of my life. And what he didn’t dictate, my parents did.”

“Are you seriously comparing me to him? Because I want you to be safe, I’m acting like a controlling prick?” he asked, scoffing in disbelief.

“It’s not because you want me to be safe. It’s because you want me to be safe on your terms. You don’t think that I am capable of living my life.” I forced myself to stop and close my eyes, taking a breath. “Look, I don’t want this to turn into anything. I’m going to go home.”

“Hannah, you don’t have to—”

“Yes, I do,” I said, avoiding him as he came toward me. “Have a good trip, Jordan.”

I grabbed my keys and left, hopping in the car and driving off before he could say anything else. For the next half an hour, I just drove around town. The truth was, I didn’t want to go back to my house. I hadn’t been there in weeks.

Finally, though, I decided all that time away from the house was probably all the more reason I should go back. It would need some serious cleaning, and now that I was thinking about it, I couldn’t get it off my mind.

I got to the house and sat in the driveway for a few moments, gauging how I felt. I didn’t feel completely comfortable, but I also didn’t have the instinctive hesitation I had before. I went inside and made sure all the doors were firmly locked before going through each room and closet carefully. When I was done with that, I checked the doors and windows again.

Satisfied the house was empty and I was secure, I went to work cleaning. Music blaring, I cleaned the entire house, chipping away at the hours of the evening and into the night. By the time I was finished, it was late, but I felt wired.

After pacing around for a little while, I grabbed my phone and called Samantha.

“Was there a fire?” she said when she picked up.

At least,