Page 33 of Marrying the Billionaire Single Dad

She fixes me with a steady gaze that reminds me all too much of my mother. It's probably why I rebelled so much growing up, enough to give up a well-paying position and take off with an almost virtual stranger to the other end of the world... Eek, stop that, don’t blame your parents for your lack of a career. I mean, I did want to be a nanny. I love kids, wouldn’t have come this far if my natural child whispering instincts hadn’t kicked in when I was younger. It’s just, I want more. Children of my own, a chance to pursue my creative aspirations. Gah! Stop that self-pity.

"You can’t blame me, the man practically invented headline news with his crazy antics—"

"Until he didn’t."

"Right." He did go quiet for a couple of years, then bounced back with his disastrous albums. Hold-on-a-sec... "The time when he disappeared from the news, when he was supposed to be off the grid, composing his next release—"

She nods.

"What happened during that time?"

"Not my secret to tell."

"And his daughter?"

"He mentioned his daughter to you?" She frowns.

"Why? Doesn’t he talk about his daughter to people?"

"Not to strangers—" Her features clear. "Oh." She looks me up and down. "Oh, so I was right then."

"I don’t like the sound of that Oh." I half chuckle. "And what do you mean, exactly, by that?"

"No, no, don't mistake me, my dear." She closes the distance between us, grabs my hand, "This is good, Julia."

"It is?"

Yep." She nods. "Very, very good."

"I… Umm, you’re making me nervous, Meredith."

"Don’t be." She smiles, and her features light up. "You have no idea how much progress you’ve made with him."

"Progress?" My head begins to spin. "What do you mean?" What the hell did I miss? Why do I get the feeling there’s something very obvious that I’m not getting?

"I mean, he’s invited you home, someone outside of the Seven." She taps her foot on the ground. "That’s a first."

Oh! "He never invites anyone else home?"

She shakes her head.

"How about the women he’s seen with?"

"All a front."

"Really?"

"They were nothing special, not like you."

"Not like me?"

"He asked you home, didn’t he?"

"Not exactly." I glance at the door. "Considering he didn’t let me in."

"He will. It’s only a matter of time."

"What if I don’t want to continue being associated with him?"