“Trey?”
Leslie’s voice filtering through the door made me smile. “Come on in, Leslie.”
She slipped inside and quickly closed the door. “So, I take it no calling you ‘Just Trey’ while at work?”
I ushered for her to sit. “We can cross that bridge once we have everything in place. People will ask a lot of questions, and I want to make sure we’re ready with answers. Come, sit, and talk. I can tell something is on your mind.”
She walked over to the chair, but instead of sitting down, she simply plopped the folders she was carrying against the cushion. I quirked an eyebrow as she walked around, and she quickly dropped into my lap. I chuckled and grinned as I held her against me, watching as her lips came closer to mine.
And after she captured mine in a searing kiss, I felt myself instantly relax.
“Oh, the things you do to me,” I murmured.
She giggled and kissed the tip of my nose. “Trust me, I understand completely.”
I leaned back, gazing into the face of the most beautiful woman on the planet. “So, to what do I owe the pleasure of your company?”
She giggled. “Work, unfortunately. I just thought I’d dampen it with something we both might enjoy a little more.”
I winked. “I suppose it isn’t every day that I get to hold and dote on the woman carrying my child.”
I watched as panic rushed behind her eyes, and I quickly changed my tune. “No one is going to know until you’re ready for them to know. I promise you, I haven’t said a thing, and I won’t unless I’m positive that it’s just the two of us.”
She sighed. “It isn’t that I’m ashamed, it’s just—”
I sat up and captured her lips, stopping her sentence in its tracks. “I understand, trust me. People are more forgiving of men in this situation than they are of women.”
Her voice didn’t rise above a whisper. “I just want you to know that I’m not ashamed of you.”
I smiled softly. “You forget that I know your past with other bosses.”
Her forehead rested against my own. “I know you’re not like them. It’s just…”
“You don’t want your reputation ruined when you’re still not sure if this is the real deal.”
She sighed. “I’m sorry, I’m just trying to protect myself. Rori’s father and I were nothing but a—”
I rubbed her knee softly. “You don’t have to tell me anything you don’t want to, okay?”
Her eyes found mine. “But I want to. I want you to know why I’m like this.”
I leaned back, bringing her with me as her head tucked beneath my chin. “Then, by all means, fill me in.”
She drew in a deep breath. “Rori’s father and I were nothing but a hook-up. It was the night of graduation. We were drunk and celebrating, and we had ourselves a little fling. Then, a few weeks later, I was pregnant, and I didn’t even know where to find the man. Until I ran into him at a coffee shop when I was seven months pregnant.”
“I guess he didn’t take it well?”
“I mean, he congratulated me at first. Until I practically blurted out that the child was his.”
I didn’t say anything as she drew in another deep breath.
“We had a rather frank talk in the corner table of that coffee shop that basically ended with his telling me that he wasn’t ready to step up and be a father and that I struck him as the kind of woman to understand that.”
I shook my head. “What an asshole.”
She shrugged. “I mean, I can’t blame him. We were drunk, and it was only a one-night sort of thing. He was gone by morning, and that was that.”
I paused. “Wait. Is that why you left me that one time before the sun came up?”
