Kissed and Missed (Daddy Issues #2)

Chapter 16

16

HONOR

“ I ’m sorry. I tried to stop him.” Sophie’s rushed apology comes through the half-opened hotel room door, but my question of what the hell she’s talking about evaporates as the finely carved wood is pushed further open and I find myself staring into the grim face of my father.

“Oh.” I sigh, stepping aside to let them in, mentally thanking my lucky stars that Julian is in a board meeting in the next room and won’t be subjected to the interrogation about to take place.

Sophie hands me a stuffed overnight bag. “Here, I brought you some essentials.”

“Oh! Thank?—”

“I’ve hired an independent PR company,” Dad announces the moment the door closes fully. “We’re not going to let him control the narrative, Honor. You need someone working in your best interest, not his . How do you know this man isn’t throwing you under the bus?”

It’s difficult to keep myself from snapping. Bossy might as well be Bram Vogel’s middle name, and walking in here with a plan he expects everyone to accept without question is just like him. “Julian wouldn’t do that, Dad.”

Predictably, he ignores this completely. “They’ll be calling you in the next hour to set up a meeting. I’ve also booked you another room downstairs.”

Losing patience, I open my mouth to argue back, however, Sophie beats me to it. “You’re steamrolling, Bram Cracker.”

My exasperation is temporarily overshadowed by horror. “Are you kidding me, Sophie June Nelson? Bram Cracker ? That’s disgusting.”

My best friend shrugs, utterly unabashed. “We’re adorable.”

I shudder but decide to move past it in the interest of getting them out of here before Julian’s meeting finishes. “I’ll speak with them, alright? But I’m not promising to go along with whatever strategy they have. For what it’s worth, I think Julian’s people are some of the best in the country and?—”

“And they’re Julian’s people,” Dad interjects coolly, folding his arms over his chest as his eyes scan the suite, obviously searching for the man who got me into this mess. “I don’t trust this guy, Honor. You barely know him. You’re half his age.”

I let out a hard, disbelieving laugh as I gesture to Sophie. “ Excuse me? Pot? Kettle?”

Dad’s jaw snaps together, and he glowers at me. Ordinarily, the two of us are on the same page, and I can’t remember the last time we had it out like this. “That is a completely different situation.”

“Is it?”

“Okay.” Sophie holds up both hands, stepping between us with an apologetic wince in both directions. “Let’s all sit down? Take a deep breath? You guys do realize you’re forcing me to be the voice of reason here? Doesn’t that seem irresponsible?”

Neither of us moves. “Where is he?” Dad demands.

“In a board meeting,” I reply, determined to keep calm, “and he isn’t a bad person, Dad. We got to know each other when I was stuck in California, and we kept talking after I left. Believe it or not, this was a long time coming. He didn’t mean for it to get out so soon, and neither did I, but now that it has, we’re going to figure it out together . Together is referring to me and Julian, by the way. Not Bram and Bram.”

Dad looks like he’s on the brink of a furious retort when the phone ringing in my pocket draws all of our attention. I pull it out, and all three of us stare down at the name on the caller ID.

“Hi, Len.” I put her on speakerphone. “You’re on?—”

“Heads up,” she interrupts, “I think Dad is on his way to ambush you.”

In the quiet of the hotel room, her voice carries clearly over to where Dad and Sophie are standing. He raises an eyebrow and calls, “Hello, Lenora. Thank you for the solidarity.”

“Fuck. Well, sisters before misters, Dad! Sorry!”

“Okay,” Sophie says again, clearly hell-bent on bringing this conversation back into neutral territory, her voice determinately bright. “We came, we told her, now we need to go to work. Remember, Bram? It’s donut day! We can’t miss donut day!”

Dad glances at her, his expression softening slightly, then, with obvious difficulty, drags his eyes back onto me. “I trust you, Honor, but time is of the essence here. We can’t allow his people to control the narrative you’ll live the rest of your life by.”

What he’s saying makes sense, but at the same time, so does every single thing Julian’s team has presented to us so far. They seem dedicated to getting us out of this with as little lasting damage to our reputations as possible, and I trust Julian.

My heart flutters as the truth settles in, that I really do trust him.

Wow.

“I’ll speak to your people, Dad,” I manage at last. “If they have any concerns about the plan Julian’s team has put forward, I’ll take it under advisement.”

A nerve twitches in Dad’s forehead, but eventually, he nods. “Fine. You’re an adult,” he says in way of acceptance. Then, because he must be able to sense my poorly concealed frustration, offers an apologetic grimace. “It’s a lot, Honor. I’m trying here, but I can’t say a relationship scandal with a billionaire is something I thought I’d have to help my kid through.”

Yeah, I can only imagine the stuff he’s read online in the wake of this. I’m still pretending my social media accounts don’t exist, and have only used the internet for looking up florists or some of the prestigious names who readily accepted Julian’s last-minute invitation to the gala, drawn in by the promise of his special announcement.

“I understand.” I glance over at the door, behind which Julian is working. He promised to try and finish up early, but right about now, I’m really hoping he’s unsuccessful. “We’re hoping to have answers soon about who took the pictures. His lawyers are throwing around subpoenas and lawsuits like they’re going out of style, something will knock loose soon. I’ll let you know when it does.”

“Okay, this has been a lot of fun, but I’ve got physical therapy in fifteen minutes,” Leni’s voice comes through my speakerphone, and we all bid her a hasty goodbye before plunging right back into tense silence.

Dad scrubs his hand over his stubble, looking worried. “Call if you need anything. I’d like to be kept informed.”

I nod in agreement, but my eyes have moved to Sophie as something inside me seems to curl in on itself. “Is it bad? What are they saying?”

She hesitates. “Honestly, not as terrible as you’re thinking. A few girls who Riley cheated on you with went on their social media accounts and posted videos basically using her own words against her. I guess she told them you guys were just hanging out and had never been together officially. It’s only been a day, and people are already bored of the story. I know it seems like the end of the world, and it is shitty, don’t get me wrong, but the internet moves on.”

Some of the tension bleeds from my shoulders and I offer her a grateful smile, feeling the tiniest bit better. “Has Riley said anything about it?”

“Not a word. I’ve been checking her accounts, too.” Sophie rolls her eyes. “I mean, would you say anything if you were her? Her choices are either to play the victim and risk looking like a liar when it inevitably comes out that she treated you like shit and slept around. Or, to suck it up and say she doesn’t care and wish you guys the best, which I’m sure would go against her selfish bitch sensibilities.”

“Soph.” I wince, hating the possibility of Julian overhearing my best friend talking about his daughter like that. “Please.”

“Sorry, sorry.” Sophie reaches out to take Dad’s hand. “Okay. Come on, grumpy, you came and saw everything is fine. Donut day is waiting.” He nods reluctantly, but before they can leave, the unmistakable sound of footsteps makes my heart sink.

Damnit, we were so close .

Barely suppressing a groan, I turn to see Julian strolling out of the office he was occupying for his call, rolling up the sleeves of his button-down. “I’m sorry that it took so long. Are you hungry? I was…” He falters, words trailing off as he spots the small group lingering by the door.

“Julian, meet my father, Bram.” I do my best to sound cheerful and casual, as if this were a preset meeting, prompted by no unfortunate circumstances whatsoever. “And this is my best friend, Sophie. Whom he is in a serious relationship with.” Dad glances at me, obviously catching the not-so-subtle emphasis on this statement.

Julian recovers first. “I’m sorry we have to meet under these circumstances,” he says, holding out a hand for Dad to shake.

My father accepts the gesture with obvious reluctance and offers a single gruff word in response. “Agreed.”

“I want to assure you my team is doing everything in their power to minimize the impact this incident will have on Honor’s life.”

Dad makes a short, skeptical noise of acknowledgement. “I’ve hired an independent firm to verify your plan is in her best interest.”

If Julian is surprised, he doesn’t show it. “If it makes you more comfortable, of course.” He nods. “I’ll speak with my people and instruct them to cooperate fully with the audit.”

Judging by the look on Dad’s face, he really wants to hate Julian—and probably does—but knows he doesn’t have a leg to stand on. What is he going to say? That I’m too young for Julian? That we shouldn’t be together if it may hurt his daughter? Ha .

“Bram,” Sophie says, a little more insistently. “Come on. We need to get to work. Think of the donuts and lack of awkwardness. Doesn’t that sound nice?”

God, dating my dad aside, this girl really is the gold standard of besties. I shoot her a thankful look when Dad nods in agreement. He hugs me and makes me promise to call him when I’ve finished talking to the firm he hired. Then, they’re gone, and the moment the door closes behind them, I throw myself into Julian’s arms.

“I’m sorry,” I mumble, burying my face in his neck.

He hugs me back, and my lower abdominal muscles seem to melt as he presses his lips to my forehead. “You have nothing to be sorry for, Honor. Your family loves you, and this is a concerning situation. I’m glad your father is looking out for your best interests.” There’s a hint of worry in his voice that makes me look up, frowning.

“What’s wrong?”

Julian chuckles, and I feel warm all over as he gazes down at me, his expression full of unguarded adoration. “It’s been a long time since I worried about making a good impression.”

“When things settle down, he’ll be a lot more amiable, I promise.”

When , not if . Am I that certain of our life together beyond this? Already? Now that my initial panic about the situation has faded, it’s getting a lot harder to pretend I don’t know the answer to that.

“Come on.” He tilts my chin up to kiss me gently and releases his hold on me to take my hand, leading me out the door Sophie and my father just left through.

I blink. “Aren’t we supposed to stay in the room?”

Julian offers the two security guards outside our door a brief nod. “I want to take my new girlfriend out for a casual lunch date. It’s only downstairs in the hotel restaurant, and I’ve taken precautions.”

The place he’s talking about is a popular spot in town, the kind of place you can’t get a table at without making a reservation weeks in advance. Despite my childhood home being only ten minutes away, I’ve been here only once, for my dad’s company’s Christmas party the year I moved home after college.

In retrospect, the man asking Soph if he could get her anything from the bar half a dozen times, probably should have been a red flag.

When we enter through the completely empty hotel lobby, however, Julian is guiding me through the door with his hand on the small of my back (a move that I can’t pretend I don’t love), and the place is empty. Not a single table is occupied, and the only person in sight is the hostess, standing ready behind a wood stand.

“Good afternoon, Mr. Ballard, Miss Vogel.”

His fingers skim my bare forearm, and I blink up at him dumbly. “Are we early?”

“We’re right on time,” he assures me as the hostess gathers up menus.

“Right this way, please.”

She leads us to a plush leather booth in the farthest corner of the room. It’s the only table in the entire restaurant that’s set, and I start to get the first flickers of suspicion about this “casual lunch date.”

Numb with disbelief, I sit down across from Julian, watching the hostess pour out glasses of water for each of us. “So. Um,” I begin after she leaves with the promise someone will arrive shortly to take our order. “You didn’t, like, rent this entire place out, did you?”

Julian blinks at me, obviously surprised. “Of course I did.”

Of course he did.

I wince at the thought of how much this casual date cost. “You didn’t have to do that. I would have cooked for you. There’s a kitchen in the suite we haven’t even touched.”

With a slight smile, Julian flips open his menu. “I would like that very much, I still think about some of the things you made me in California. Some other time, though. For now, I’m afraid you’ll have to tolerate me spoiling you.”

His words, while so sweet, kind of make me want to cry. Nobody has ever treated me like this, or so unapologetically liked me . Every relationship I’ve ever had, I was the one making an effort to connect. Now, this literal dream man is doing everything in his power to show me he cares about me, and I’m the one holding him at arm’s length.

“Okay,” I say at last, my throat tight as I reach across the table to take his hand. “I just don’t want you to think you have to do things like this for me to want you.”

Julian lifts my hand to his lips, kissing the back sweetly. “I do know that,” he promises with a reassuring smile as we lace our fingers together atop the table. “Which makes me want to spoil you all the more, I’m afraid. It’s a burden you’ll have to bear.”

I let out a shaky laugh, gazing at him as I ask a question that’s been on my mind. “Can I ask you something?”

He doesn’t hesitate. “Of course you can.”

“Why haven’t you been with someone for so long?”

For the first time since we sat down, Julian’s eyes drop from my face. He stares at our intertwined fingers, looking slightly embarrassed. “Riley’s mother and I were very young when we got married. Both of us came from conservative families, and having a child out of wedlock was out of the question. It was never a happy marriage, and when it looked like my first business was going to fail, she wanted off the sinking ship.” He shakes his head with a dark laugh, finally looking back up at me. “Well, to make a long story short, the ship didn’t sink, and she felt as though she was cheated out of her share of my success.”

I’ve heard this story before, though through a very different lens. Even when she cheated on me, I couldn’t truly hate Riley, especially when my feelings for Julian grew so quickly from the rubble of my former relationship. Now, though, I’m furious with her for buying into her mother’s bitterness and greed.

“I was single for a few years after that. Well, I dated, but nothing serious,” he continues, giving my hand a reassuring squeeze. “By the time I met someone, I had become fairly successful. A lot of money was coming in, and I knew to be cautious. Even so, she seemed genuine.”

Movement to my right has me looking around to find a black-shirted waiter moving toward us, notebook in hand. “Will you give us a moment?” I ask gently and turn my gaze back to Julian when he departs immediately. “She wasn’t, though?”

He shakes his head with an embarrassed sort of smile. “Money has played a very large role in every relationship I’ve had, romantic or otherwise. After a while, it felt easier to be alone. Until you.”

Until me.

Suddenly, the few feet of table between us feels downright unbearable. Without a word, I let go of Julian’s hand and scoot around the booth to his side, wrapping my arms around him the best I can in the tight space. He fits me beneath his arm, holding me close, and my eyes squeeze shut as I feel his lips meet the crown of my hair.

The scent of his skin, the lines of his body, and the way I fit against him, all of it feels so familiar. It’s like we’ve done this hundreds of times for hundreds of days. Never have I spent much time wondering about things like fate, but I do now. I wonder if this—us—was always meant to happen, and finally I’m right where I’m supposed to be.

Falling in love with him.