Page 32 of Marrying the Billionaire Single Dad

"Hello there." She smiles. "Were you visiting Damian?"

"Umm," I hitch my backpack over my shoulder, "I’m still visiting him." I shuffle my feet.

"Why don’t you come on in?" she nods toward the house.

"He, ah, asked me to wait in the greenhouse."

"The greenhouse?" She glances over to the structure at the far end of the yard, then back at me. "Hmm." She scrunches up her forehead. "He didn’t want you to come in, huh?"

"He didn’t," I confirm. "Is that normal?" I ask. "I mean, clearly, you are allowed in…so…"

"I’m the assistant to the Seven, so I came by with some papers for him to sign."

"Right. I’m Julia…Julia Andrews."

"Andrews?" Her forehead wrinkles.

"I know…" I grumble. "No relationship to the actress, at all, or to Julie & Julia, or to Juliet from Romeo and Juliet."

"Of course, not. You’ll get your Happily Ever After, unlike her."

"I will?"

"Of course, dear." She holds out her hand, and I take it. "I’m Meredith, by the way."

"Nice to meet you, Meredith." I release her arm. "Guess I should be going along then."

"Julia," she calls after me, "don’t be too hard on Damian."

"What does it matter what I think about him?" I turn.

"Just a..." she looks me up and down, "just a feeling." She studies me a moment longer, then finally says, "Just give him a chance, okay?"

I prop my hands on my hips. "Why is it that all of you women seem to think he needs to be handled with kid gloves?"

"That’s not what I meant; quite the opposite."

"Oh?" I step toward her. "Explain."

"He’ll push you away, ensure that you hate him because of his actions."

"I already do," I inform her.

"It’s all a front." She leans in closer. "The incident, you see... It didn’t break him."

"It didn’t?"

She shakes her head, "He managed to survive it. In fact, he made a complete recovery, after therapy. It was what happened after that, which snapped his confidence."

"You’re joking." I chuckle, "I haven’t met a more obnoxious, more over-the-top alpha than Damian ‘Big D’ Savage."

"Big D?"

My cheeks warm. "Just what the media calls him."

"The media?"

"Yeah." I wave my hand. "You know, what I read about in the tabloids on social media…"