Page 25 of Accidental Theirs

He snorts. “Bring a six-pack, and we’re talking.”

I chuckle and hang up the phone, nerves rolling over me and making my shoulders stiffen.

I don’t know why I’m nervous all of a sudden. It’s not like I’m meeting the family of some poor girl I’m dating.

Early after Sophie, I made that mistake a few times, and it never ended well. Parents didn’t like me, especially when I emphasized a casual relationship.

I don’t do anything other than casual, so I just stopped meeting families. Or friends. I stopped going on dates that didn’t start and end in my hotel room or the penthouse.

It got lonely, so I’m glad that Richard invited me over.

Isn’t it kind of weird, though? The timing? What if Olivia called him or something? Told him I flirted with her.

Did I flirt with her? No more than usual.

I swallow hard, slowly locking the office and going to the garage.

It only takes about twenty minutes to get to Richard’s place. It’s a little brownstone close to downtown, close to Carter Holdings. Yvonne had always wanted to be close to the office.

I smile when he opens the door.

It still smells like cherry and vanilla, like Yvonne is still there picking out the candles and air potpourri.

Richard’s pale green eyes, so much like Olivia’s, are warm when he looks at me and even warmer when I hold up a six-pack of his favorite imported beer.

“A man after my own heart.”

“Don’t propose to me, Richard. I don’t want to have to break your heart.”

He snickers and takes a beer from me, popping it open with his keychain bottle opener.

He gives the first one to me and pops open the second one, sipping from it.

I put the rest of the beer in the fridge, noticing there’sstill a six-pack in there with four left from the last time we spent time together.

It’s good to see that, especially at this time of the year.

Yvonne passed away this month a few years ago, and usually, booze was in short supply at the Carter household around this time.

I’m proud of him, but then again, he’s got Olivia to worry about, and he’s always kept it together for her.

Which is among the many, many reasons that I shouldn’t have flirted with his daughter the other night. I’m disgusted with myself for even thinking about her.

I’m not going to think about her. Not for one more minute.

“How’s Olivia doing with the merger?”

I wince at the sound of her name, swallowing a big bite of the lamb chops his chef had prepared for us.

“You’d really have to ask Damien.” I pause to take a sip of my beer. “He works a lot more closely with her.”

“Maybe, but he’s close-mouthed.”

“Are you calling me a gossip?”

“If the shoe fits.”

I snort out a laugh. “All right. Well, I talked to her the other night at the mixer. She seemed a bit nervous but otherwise fine.”