Page 30 of Let Me Love You

“Thank you.” I nod at each of the team members before blazing out of the conference room. Martha rushes after me, saying something to my employees that I don’t hear.

Serenity and Summer stand in the hallway about fifty feet away. The little girl zooms around her mother with her arms out, acting like an airplane. Martha gives me a nod before heading in the opposite direction, toward my office.

When Summer catches sight of me, she squeals and says, “Bubba!” The nickname still warms my chest.

“Hello, Miss Summer.”

She barrels toward me and wraps her tiny arms around my legs. “Is this where you work?”

“Yes.” I bend down so I’m eye level with her. “If I’m not with you and your mother, I’m here.”

“What do you do? Mommy used to take care of sick people. Do you take care of sick people, too?”

“No, I run a technology company.”

Summer scrunches up her eyebrows. “Technology?”

I press my lips together to hold myself from laughing. Just like with how she couldn’t say bubbles, she butchered technology. It sounds more like “technowagy.”

Serenity chuckles and goes to her daughter. “Yes, baby. They make things like phones and computers.”

“Ohhhh,” Summer says, drawing out the single word. “That sounds boring.”

I can’t hold back the laugh that bursts out. I always appreciate honesty, and kids are the bluntest people to exist. “It’s boring to most people, but I love it here.”

Even as a child, I was gifted when it came to making things most adults couldn’t. There was zero hesitation for me when my father told me I’d one day take over Barlowe Technology. It was the next logical step for a child prodigy, right?

“Can we eat our food now?”

“No. We can’t pull Victor away from work. We already interrupted a meeting,” Serenity says, eyeing the conference room. “I’m sorry. I should’ve called you first, but Summer wanted to see you for lunch.”

One of my employees steps out of the room and heads toward the bathroom. When he spots us, he practically gawks. I’ll never understand why people find my personal life so interesting.

“You never need to call me. I love surprises.” I look between Serenity and Summer. “Did you bring food? I’m famished.”

Serenity bites her bottom lip, and my eyes narrow in on the movement. She only wears light blue jeans and a light jacket, yet she’s still the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen. I swallow as she keeps her lip sucked in behind her teeth.

For the next year, I’m the lucky bastard who gets to call her my wife. Even if it’s in name only.

“We grabbed some Italian food from a restaurant like two blocks away,” Serenity replies, pulling me back to the present.

The word food makes my stomach rumble so loudly Serenity’s eyes stray to my abdomen.

“Fantastic.” I scoop up Summer and swing her around in circles until she’s screaming in joy. Her pure laughter wraps around my heart and warms me. “Let’s go up to my office so we can enjoy it in private.”

“No. I didn’t know you were in a meeting. When Martha told us to follow her, I didn’t realize.” Serenity steps forward and places a hand on my arm. Her skin sears me through my suit jacket almost as if she burns the material away. She pulls back immediately as if I burned her. “We can just go home. Summer wanted to see where you work, and now, she’s seen it.”

“But Mommy!” Summer latches her arms and legs around me. “I want Bubba.”

Serenity closes her eyes and pinches the bridge of her nose. “He’s busy. We’ll see him later tonight as long as he comes home before your bedtime.”

“It’s okay, ladies. I have an entire hour to eat with you.”

Serenity’s green eyes pop back open, and she eyes me. “We’ll be out of your hair in thirty minutes. Your meeting sounds important.” Then she lifts her right arm and shows me a bag that slipped my notice until now. “I hope you like what I picked.”

She reaches out for Summer, and I hand her over. Serenity juggles the food in one arm and her daughter in the other like it’s a practiced maneuver she does every day. I’ve never thought about having a child before—mostly because I never found a woman I imagined having one with—but being here with Summer, it makes me think what if?

My heart swells at the thought I get a whole year of being her stepfather.