I clap my uncle on the shoulder, and he nods at me as I pass him and follow my father out of the room.
“I’ll come by as soon as I’m done here and collect Molly,” I tell him.
“It’s fine, Son. We’ll drop her home later. We can keep her for the night if you like? You’ve been working hard. Maybe you need a night to yourself?”
I shake my head. “Thanks, but that’s not necessary.”
My father studies me, waiting to see if I’ll say anything else. It’s not a Thursday. Not the one night of the week that he or Sinclair have always looked after Molly for me ever since she came into our lives. The one night of the week where I leave my parental responsibilities outside the door of my suite at The Lanceford hotel, before fucking away all thoughts of lost family members, cardboard boxes found after midnight, and ex fiancées.
Thursday nights I tuck it all away and let loose. I’ve lost count of the women who’ve aided in the soul numbing process that I need to function. Lost count of the number of condoms I’ve come inside, then tossed out with the trash, hoping it’ll help.
And it does… for a while. Because after each release, I’m granted another six nights of just about keeping my head together.
For Molly.
My father has always known where I go those nights. He gets it. My sister doesn’t. She despises any mention of The Lanceford. To her, love is the one thing that can keep us going after what happened. The love of family. The love of a newpartner. Hence her insistence of hiring Halliday to be my father’s dating coach.
But she’ll have to accept that my love for Molly is all I need. Because I hate every thought of romantic love. Romantic love tells you they can’t cope with the daughter who’s appeared in your life. Romantic love leaves at sunrise. Romantic love is conditional.
A father’s love isn’t.
I walk my father to the elevator, saying goodbye, then return to my office to call Fabienne.
“Cara?” I ask, doubling back as an after-thought and stopping at the front reception desk. She should work from Arabella’s office next to mine while she’s filling in. But since one of the front desk staff has been sick, she’s been positioned here to assist.
“Yes, Mr. Beaufort.”
She bats her lashes at me in a way that tells me she’d have no problems performing any task I ask of her while she’s working here. It hasn’t escaped my notice that her shirt is getting unbuttoned more each day. Slowly revealing a glimpse of perfectly smooth, tanned skin, and the hint of a pert cleavage and athletic figure. Exactly the type I go for. Elegant, slender, polished.
“Did you arrange the delivery like I asked?”
“Yes, sir.” She taps something into her computer and reads the screen. “Delivery was made at six this morning.”
“Six?” I echo. A burst of annoyance flares inside me, and I purse my lips. “Very well.”
“Anything else I can do for you, Mr. Beaufort?” Cara asks.
“No,” I bark. “Just make sure you tell me the moment Miss Miller calls, please,” I say, striding away.
8
TATE
“It smellslike he’s got a huge dick.”
I pull the apron away from my nose and scoff as Ashley gives me a suggestive smirk.
“It smells of laundry, you doofus,” I cry, my shoulders shaking as I try not to laugh at her expression.
“A guy whose laundry smells like that has to have a giant dick. There’s no way he doesn’t.”
I shake my head at her, but as I tie the freshly laundered apron around my waist, I get another waft of the scent that puffed like a cloud out of the Beaufort Diamonds box this morning when I’d opened the courier delivered package.
I left his office in such a rush yesterday to get back and continue my shift that I forgot my apron. My cocoa covered apron with a small tear in one of the ties. Only for it to be delivered back this morning in time for my shift, mended, and smelling…
Like the laundry of a billionaire with a giant dick.
I brush my hands down over the soft fabric that’s been pressed to perfection. I don’t think it’s ever looked so good. It’s better than when it was new. And Ashley’s right. Thescent coming off it is… a subtle version of the man himself whom I spent nineteen minutes with yesterday. Well, technically no more than ten. Most was spent with his adorable daughter.
