Page 18 of A Daddy to Love

But I was restless. I wasn’t old like grandfather. I had a life to live. So much energy. It had taken me four years to get up the nerve to go out to a gay bar. And now, two nights later, here I was. The most beautiful guy wanted me.

It all seemed like a dream. Suspicion threatened. What if somehow Truce knew who I was? What if none of it was real?

I tossed and turned the night away. I was bad for not obeying my new daddy, but I couldn’t sleep. Not soundly. Not peacefully. I sucked on a binkie for a little while but even that didn’t help.

It was dawn before I finally slept. I didn’t wake until late in the morning and missed breakfast. But my staff was used to it because sometimes I stayed up all night.

When I dragged myself downstairs, a lunch buffet of sandwich makings was all set up. I grabbed a huge plateful of food and took it into my TV room.

I tried to watch cartoons and eat but I couldn’t focus. All I could think about was Truce. What would I wear tonight?

I looked up the restaurant. It was a nice one so I prepared an outfit that was less showy than my usual. I studied the GPS to see how long it would be drive there. I didn’t want to be late.

By mid-afternoon I was dressed in my shiny black shoes, tailored black pants and a long-sleeved button up shirt. Purple. I couldn’t avoid being somewhat colorful.

I decided to leave early and drive around for a while, try to cool off my nerves. I said bye to Sorel who got a funny look on his face.

“What’s up?” I asked. “I’m just going out again, that’s all.”

“Sir, I thought you had dressed for the meeting. Because of the choice of purple for your shirt, I brought your black suit jacket and dark purple tie.” He brought his hands from behind his back and held them out to me.

“Meeting? What?”

He dropped his shoulders. “You forgot? I’m sorry, sir. I thought that was why you dressed up. I should have reminded you. The board for TBI meets tonight.”

I jumped from the couch. “Is it the last Friday of the month already?”

“Yes, sir. Donny has already brought the limo around.”

I had forgotten. I owned TBI, a corporation that paid me a substantial annuity split to twice a year. But I didn’t run it. I didn’t have any duties except to show my face once a month at their board meeting, then go out to a five-star dinner with the richest of the rich. Many on the board had known my grandfather for years. They were always polite. But I didn’t talk business with them. Nothing would change if I wasn’t around. It was only my money and ownership that meant I often had to sign off on big deals.

I stared at the jacket and tie, my mouth going dry. “I can’t go. I have other plans.”

Sorel’s lips curved in a soft smile. “You’ll have to cancel those other plans. You know they’ve planned a merger. You need to sign off on it. This was the date set a long time ago.”

“I can’t.”

“You can’t?”

I shook my head. “I didn’t remember and I made other plans. Important plans. But I could go in next week and sign.”

Sorel shifted foot to foot like he did when he worried about everything being just right. “What time are your plans for, sir?”

“Six.”

“The meeting is at 4:30. You could go and maybe be a little late for your other plans, couldn’t you?”

I lowered my head and kicked at the hard floor. “Those meetings can go for hours.”

“I can get Richard on the phone for you.”

I didn’t answer as Sorel turned away. He set aside my tie and blazer to take out his phone. He was talking in seconds to the president of TBI, then turned and held out the phone to me.

As I put it to my ear, Richard was already babbling. “Kairo, you already agreed to this. The merger will fall through if all the paperwork isn’t done by tonight. Then we’re taking the execs from both companies out tonight to celebrate. I already emailed you all the details several times.”

“Why am I signing last minute?” I asked. I didn’t have a head for all of this, but I’d learned common sense from Grandfather. If someone was rushing you into something, maybe there were reasons you didn’t know about.

Richard talked faster than I could keep up. “You never come in, not that you’re required to. We know you attend the last of the month meetings so we planned the final signing for then. We have special pens. Everything set up. I sent you emails and texts. You agreed. Why aren’t you coming? Are you sick or something? This will throw everything off if you don’t show. The company could lose hundreds of millions.”