Page 16 of Accidental Theirs (Alpha Billionaire Daddies #6)

Chapter Fourteen

SEBASTIAN

I finish up at work a little early on a Thursday, and Richard has sent me a text inviting me to dinner.

He rarely ever invites me over on a weekday, since we end up drinking too much together, so I wonder if he’s missing Yvonne.

Come to think of it, their wedding anniversary is coming up. I only remember because the first anniversary after her passing, Richard got shit-faced and called me to pick him up. He’d been a mess that night, and I’d spent the whole time watching him sleep so he wouldn’t choke on his own vomit.

There were some dark times after Yvonne died, and I am probably one of the only people in his life who really gets it.

I’m glad I was able to help him through it.

I don’t bother changing before heading over to Richard’s, just wearing the same pair of tailored gray slacks and the blue, silk, button-up shirt I’d worn to work.

I like to switch it up now and again, not always wearing suits. I didn’t have any clients to meet with today, so I dressed how I wanted instead of how I was expected to dress.

I’m not thinking about much of anything when I pull up in his garage, and when I ring the doorbell, I expect him to answer like he always does.

Instead, I look down at Olivia, his daughter and the woman who most recently had my dick in her mouth and her pussy, and I can’t help but startle, stumbling backward one step.

I haven’t seen her in weeks, months, and although I think of that night often, particularly when I take myself in hand, I’ve tried to push the fact that it was Olivia Carter out of my mind.

I guess you can’t run from the devil.

I take a deep breath and plaster my most professional smile on my face. “Olivia. Good to see you.”

“You look nice.” She looks me up and down, and if I’m not kidding myself, there’s a hint of lust in those bright, green eyes of hers.

“You look lovely, as always.” I take her hand and brush my lips across her knuckles.

She flushes, and I grin, proud of myself.

Richard walks up behind her, and I drop her hand as if it’s caught fire.

“Seb, glad you could make it. Olivia will be joining us.”

Could have given me a heads up.

I don’t say it, though, because what good reason could I have for not wanting to attend a dinner with Olivia and her father? This is completely normal. Totally, super normal.

I’m fine. I’m not acting weird or staring at Olivia too much.

In fact, I try not to look at her at all, but she sits next to me at dinner even though there are twelve other seats.

She bumps my knee with her own, and I grit my teeth, looking down at the veal and melted leeks on the plate.

“Looks wonderful. ”

“Solis always does an amazing job.” Olivia leans against me, bumping her shoulder with mine, this time.

Has she always been this touchy ?

I keep having to tell my dick to stand down.

I clear my throat. “How did you find your chef? Thinking of getting one for myself.”

Richard raises an eyebrow at me. “Thought you liked to cook?”

I shrug. “Getting lazy in my old age, I guess.”

“How old are you, anyway, Sebastian?”

“That’s Mr. Ashford to you,” I tease, and she snorts out a laugh, eating her veal. “And a gentleman doesn’t reveal his age.”

“He’s forty-three,” my traitor best friend pipes up.

“Forty-two,” I say through gritted teeth, and Olivia looks at me with some surprise.

“I wouldn’t know except for the silver in your hair.” She touches my temple.

I shudder and pull away, her touch doing things to me I wouldn’t want her father to know about.

“Why don’t you dye it?”

“Aging is a privilege not everyone is afforded.” My mind goes to a different pair of eyes, these ones blue as a summer sky.

My heart aches in my chest at the mere thought of Sophie, and Richard gives me a pained look, but I smile, waving my hand to dismiss his worries.

“You’re right about that,” he says quickly, as if to change the subject.

Olivia is looking at me rather curiously.

Richard looks at his plate. “I miss Yvonne every day.”

Olivia sighs. “Me too. She would have yelled at us for eating baby cow.”

We all laugh, and the mood is lightened at least a bit .

Richard smiles sadly but then changes the subject.

“How are things going between Titan and Carter Holdings? Everyone getting along?”

Olivia stiffens, but I keep calm.

“Everyone seems to get along. Especially Dominic and Olivia,” I drawl, and Olivia glares at me.

If looks could kill, I’d be one dead man.

Her father’s eyes shoot to hers.

Shit.

Maybe I revealed too much.

I suspected that there was some type of history between Olivia and Dominic from the way he talked about her, the way he looked at her, and vice versa. It was none of my business, though, and maybe I shouldn’t have teased.

Guilt feels hot at the back of my head.

“You’re working with Dominic? Dominic Hayes?”

“He works for Titan. Not me.”

“He’ll work for you after the merger.”

“Then it’s a good thing we’re not together anymore.”

I blink.

I didn’t know they were fully together. This sounds like less of a casual fling than I thought it was.

“Good,” Richard mutters, and suddenly there’s tension in the air.

I clear my throat. “Olivia and I get along swimmingly.”

She looks up at me with a slight grin. “Sure.”

Sure? What’s that supposed to mean?

Why do I feel suddenly irritated?

I roll my head around on my shoulders.

“Could you give me a ride home, Sebastian?” she asks sweetly, all of a sudden, and I frown.

“You didn’t bring your car?”

She shakes her head. “Had Roland drop me off. I haven’t been feeling well. ”

Richard makes a distressed sound in the back of his throat. “What’s wrong, honey?”

She smiles at him. “Just food poisoning. Bad grocery store sushi.”

He wrinkles his nose. “That’s why I don’t eat American sushi.”

I chuckle. “Got to remind us about your years in Japan, don’t you?”

“It was the nineteen-nineties. And your mother...”

Both Olivia and I groan.

It’s a story we’ve both heard a million times, and Olivia and I both look at each other, smiling.

My heart seems to beat an extra couple of beats, and it startles me.

No .

I push all thoughts out of my mind and focus back on Richard’s story, which I could recite myself.

“And then she tipped the waiter a hundred bucks,” Olivia finishes for him.

Richard laughs, his face a little flushed from conversation and wine.

I notice that Olivia hasn’t drunk a drop and wonder if she regrets the other night.

She certainly hasn’t followed up about it. Part of me is a little disappointed that she hasn’t.

I wouldn’t sleep with her again, of course.

I mean... if she were anyone other than Richard’s daughter, I wouldn’t think twice about asking her for an encore...

“Penny for your thoughts.” Richard jolts me out of my thoughts.

Not for a trillion dollars.

“Just thinking. Lots of work stuff going on up here.” I tap my temple.

“Must be hard for your one brain cell, rattling around.” Olivia chuckles, and I roll my eyes at her but can’t help but smile.

“Nice to have you both over,” Richard says at the door, and Olivia hugs him, kissing his cheek.

I shake his hand, and he pulls me into a one-armed hug.

“Drive safe. You've got precious cargo.”

Guilt rushes through me.

If he had any idea what we were doing two months ago...

I can’t look at him while I think about it, so I look away.

“Don’t be a stranger,” he warns as we get into the car, and I wave at him.

I glance over at Olivia, and she’s just looking up at me with alarmingly innocent green eyes.

What is going on with her?

We drive to her place, and she just hums along with the radio, not speaking the whole way home.

“What’s going on with you?” It comes out more accusatory than I intended.

“What do you mean?”

“Back there. You were acting weird.”

She shrugs. “I was acting how I always act. You were acting weird.”

“No, I wasn’t.”

“Yes, you were.”

I frown. “Explain.”

She chuckles. “You’re a flirty person, Bash. You flirt with people like you breathe. But you barely spoke to me tonight, and you didn’t say anything inappropriate. It’s unlike you.”

I shift in my seat as we pull into her quaint little apartment complex. Her whole apartment building is about the size of my penthouse.

We sit in the parking space for a long moment.

“Come in for a nightcap?”

I glance at her, ignoring the way my heart races. “I thought we agreed that the other night was a one-time thing.”

“Are you saying no?” She just looks at me coolly, and I swallow hard.

Fuck.

“No,” I mumble, and get out of the car, following her up the stairs.

I make a pointed effort not to look up her skirt. Give me a medal.

“Vodka or tequila?”

I blanch. “Neither.”

“It’s all I’ve got.”

“Fine. Vodka and orange juice, if you’ve got it.”

She smirks at me. “A screwdriver. You’re old.”

I groan. “Don’t remind me.” I pause. “If you’re saying I was different tonight, so were you.”

“Was I?” She doesn’t seem concerned, pouring a hefty amount of vodka in a glass and then filling it with ice and orange juice.

She doesn’t make one for herself.

“Mhm. You were leaning against me, all touchy. All flirty .”

She giggles. “Don’t like the tables being turned?”

“Didn’t say I didn’t like it. Made me kind of nervous, around your father.”

“Are you really afraid of him?” She looks up at me with curiosity.

I huff. “Afraid isn’t the word I would use.”

She grins. “You really are. That’s so funny. Daddy wouldn’t hurt a fly.”

I once saw him break a guy’s nose just for hitting on Yvonne, but I don’t tell Olivia that.

“I’m not afraid, I’d just rather not have my face broken.”

“Then he can’t find out.”

“Can’t find out what?” I frown at her, and she laughs a little.

“Is that why you didn’t want to do it again?”

She turns and opens the freezer, turning back around to put a pint of ice cream down on the counter.

“Not exactly.”

“Then why?” She pouts, her bottom lip pink and inviting. “Don’t you think I’m pretty?”

“Don’t be stupid.”

She scoffs. “You really know how to talk to women.”