“Right. So, guest bathroom is at the end of the hall there. And I’m here.” I pointed at the ajar door next to hers.
“Okay.” She shifted her weight and glanced at Joey instead.
“If you need anything, let me know. I have to get some work done. I already lost a lot of time with this one.” I reached for Joey’s chubby hand again.
He was a happy little guy. He didn’t seem concerned at all to be surrounded by strangers. I stepped closer to kiss his head. Isla’s quiet sigh stirred an odd feeling in the pit of my stomach—like longing mixed with regret. But how could that be? I wasn’t the marrying type, or the fatherly type for that matter. I had chosen the bachelor-slash-CEO life. Though standing here in the middle of the hallway with Isla looking at me with doe eyes, holding my baby, I couldn’t remember why.
I shook my head to clear it. “Work.” I waved toward the kitchen.
“You gotta work. We’ll be over here.” She went into her room and slowly shut the door.
I stood there for a few more seconds, inhaling her sweet perfume. After a few beats, the spell wore off, and mymind switched gears toward something more tangible and familiar—the new network design for Nicolas’s company.
By the time I had reached the bar cart, I was already in full engineering mode. I spread out my designs on the dining table like I did every night after work. I sipped on my gin and tonic and re-read my notes. This part of my day was my favorite. When I could sit and just get shit done. In the office, it was hard to concentrate on a single task with so many interruptions and fucking meetings.
An hour later, I glanced up at the clock on my screen as I reached for my mobile.
Clockwork.
My entire nighttime routine was clockwork—come home, fix myself a drink, work for several hours, order in, work some more, drink some more, then bedtime. But tonight, I didn’t feel like eating out of a takeaway container.
Before I could figure out the details or why this would be a bad idea, I was standing in front of Isla’s room, lightly rapping at her door.
“Hi.” She popped her head out.
“Hello. How’s everything going in there?”
“Great.” She lowered her voice. “He had one of the bottles from the diaper bag, and then, went back to sleep.”
“You’re some sort of baby whisperer.” I leaned on the threshold, smiling at her. “Are you hungry? I was getting ready to make some dinner.”
“It’s like ten at night.”
“I make a mean ahi tuna.” I cocked an eyebrow. “And I have a bottle of ridiculously expensive wine that came in my welcome package from Windsor Financial Holdings.”
“Iamhungry. I didn’t have time to eat before.” Her smile faded.
I got the feeling she had had a rough day. Of course, I played a big role in that.
“How can I help?” She stepped out wearing what I assumed were her bed clothes—a pair of cotton shorts in navy blue and a matching top that barely contained her breasts.
My gaze zeroed in on her beauty mark. Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea. No, of course it was. I fired her earlier. The least I could do was feed her a proper meal. “Can you toss a salad?”
“I think I can manage.” Her bare feet padded across the hardwood floors as she made her way to the kitchen.
When she saw the print outs on the dining table, she made a beeline toward them. I figured she was still on the team, so it was okay for her to take a look. And yeah, a part of me wanted to impress her with my mad skills. Most women found my wealth appealing but didn’t much care how I made the money. They thought computer stuff was boring. In their defense, no one ever went to the Crucible to geek out over network designs.
And that was exactly what Isla was doing. I headed to the fridge and took out the ahi steak that had shown up with my grocery order yesterday. Mrs. Ross, the older lady who cleaned my flat every day, insisted on keeping my fridge and pantry stocked. She thought I ate out too much. She wasn’t wrong.
“You have it all figured out.” Isla joined me.
“Not even close.” I turned to face her, then realized shemeant the design. “Oh, that. Yes, I decided it would be better to start from scratch. His security is shit.”
“How did he survive this long?”
“He was flying under the radar before. But all the acquisitions he’s done lately put a target on his company. Everyone wants a piece of the pie.” I showed her the steaks. “What do you think?”
“Do you really know how to cook that? I don’t want to get food poisoning,” she teased.
