Chapter Three
chapter three
RYDER
“Chunk, we’ve gotta go!”
“Yummy!” Addie calls back.
Of course she would pick today to sleep in. The one time I forget to set my alarm, and I have an early meeting to get to.
And is she fazed? Hell no. The only thing she cares about is that I’m letting her munch on fruit chips for breakfast since we’re running late and I don’t have time to make her anything.
I grab her diaper bag and my briefcase and then scoop my little girl into my arms so we can get out of here.
She munches on the chips all the way to the office, and I make a mental note to ask Cynthia to feed her a better breakfast. It’s crazy how one change in a schedule can throw the entire morning off.
When we arrive, since employees park in an attached garage, the private elevator takes us straight to the second floor, and I haul ass toward the childcare center, already five minutes late for my meeting. Thankfully, my assistant is buying everyone breakfast to hold them over until I arrive.
But when I plow through the door, instead of Cynthia waiting to take Addie from me, a woman I don’t recognize is standing there. Straight brown hair with honey highlights, sun-kissed skin. And when our gazes clash, I freeze in my spot, taken aback by eyes so strikingly blue that they remind me of my pool in the summertime—warm and refreshing.
“You must be Mr. Du Ponte,” the woman says with a smile that shows off her straight white teeth and a single dimple in her right cheek. “And this little girl must be Adeline.”
My checking her out stops abruptly the moment she speaks because, one, I’ve never seen this woman before so how the hell does she know who my daughter and I are? Two, why is she calling my daughter by that name? The only person who’s ever called her by her full name was her egg donor. And three, despite being annoyed and running late, I can’t remember the last time I noticed, let alone was instantly attracted to, the opposite sex. And that scares the shit out of me on many levels.
“Who are you?” I ask, holding my daughter a little tighter even though she’s wiggling to get down.
When the woman flinches in response, I realize I spoke too harshly.
After taking a calming breath, I say, “I’m sorry. It’s been a crazy morning. I’m Ryder, and this is Addie . Is Cynthia here?”
“Cynthia quit unexpectedly to move across the country with her fiancé,” Ana says, sauntering through the door with Kingston on her hip. “This is Kira. She’s been hired as her replacement.”
I whip my head around to look at Ana. “Is she qualified?”
I don’t give a shit how gorgeous she is. My daughter’s safety comes first.
Ana glares. “Of course she’s qualified. Jeez, what’s your deal this morning?”
“Addie actually slept in, and I forgot to set my alarm, so I’m running late for my meeting.”
I turn toward Kira, who’s still standing there. Only now, she looks extremely uncomfortable.
“I’m sorry,” I repeat. “I was taken by surprise.”
“It’s okay,” she says, her smile reappearing, but not as bright and without the dimple. “I can take Addie for you so you can get to your meeting.”
She extends her arms, and I know this is the part where I’m supposed to hand my daughter over to her, but something in me prevents me from doing so.
Since I started bringing Addie to childcare, it’s always been Cynthia. It took a while to trust her with my daughter, and now, just like that, I’m supposed to hand her off to a stranger. This is the shit they don’t talk about in all those damn baby books.
“Mommy! Look at the babies!” a little girl squeals, bouncing on the balls of her feet.
“Who’s this?” I ask in confusion because, holy shit, a few days of working from home and everything has changed.
“This is my daughter, Violet,” Kira says, placing a protective hand on her daughter’s shoulder.
“I’m four!” The little girl, who looks like an adorable mini version of her mom, holds up five fingers, and Kira’s smile reappears, that fucking dimple popping back out.
“Minus one,” Kira says, gently pushing a single digit down.
“Minus one,” Violet parrots.
“She’s too cute,” Ana says with a laugh as she heads down the hall with me following even though I’m more than late for my damn meeting and I should’ve handed Addie over to Kira already.
But seriously, would it have killed Ana to warn me about all these changes? She knows I thrive on routine. It’s the only way to keep my sanity intact.
When we arrive at the playroom, Ana puts Kingston down, and he crawls over to the toys. Violet follows him and plops down, showing him a puzzle.
“I’ll only be working a few hours today,” Ana tells Kira. “If my husband comes by to grab Kingston before I’m done, he can take him.”
“Sounds good,” Kira says. “And he’ll have his ID, correct?”
“Yes.” Ana smiles warmly. “And if you need anything, you have my number. I’ve submitted to get you a cell phone, but until then, you can use the landline.”
“Thank you. Helen and Joy did a great job of showing me around the past couple of days, so I think everything should run smoothly. Thank you again for this opportunity.”
“Of course. I think you’re going to fit in just fine here.” Ana glances at me. “Don’t you have a meeting to get to?”
Right on cue, my phone buzzes—no doubt, it’s Julie, asking where I am—and Addie whines, wanting to be let down so she can play with her friend.
“I’m only going to be a couple of hours,” I tell Kira, setting the diaper bag on the nearby counter. “Nobody can pick her up but me.”
“Got it,” Kira says,
“And if there are any issues …”
I pat my pockets, looking for a pen, but before I can find one, she says, “I have your cell and office number as well as your direct line.” Her patient eyes meet mine, and she places a hand on my arm. “I’ll treat her like she’s my own, I promise.”
She smiles warmly at me, and there’s something in her look that instantly settles my nerves. I don’t know this woman, and this is going to sound crazy, but I can feel it—she means what she says.
“Thank you,” I murmur. “She didn’t have breakfast …”
“I’ll get something in her belly.”
“Okay, thanks.”
I walk over to Addie and give her a kiss on the top of her head while she bangs the puzzle pieces and ignores me. And then with one more look back, I head to my meeting, telling myself that today is the same as every day. Sure, the childcare has a new teacher—with mesmerizing blue eyes and a smile that could brighten even the darkest skies—but nothing has changed.
Yet, as I go through the motions of my Monday morning meeting, my brain can’t stop thinking about Kira—those eyes and that dimple and her soft, warm goddamn smile—and I can’t help but feel like, somehow, everything has changed.
“… bake me a cake as fast as you?—”
“Dada!”
The moment I step into the playroom, my little girl spots me and comes toddling over, everyone and everything else forgotten. There’s no better feeling than seeing the look in your child’s eyes when they’re happy to see you.
My stomach knots in memory of Nora signing over her rights and walking out the door without so much as a backward glance. There’s no amount of money in the world worth not being able to hear my daughter’s laughter, see her smile, and smell her sweet baby scent every day. I’ll never understand how Nora and my mom were able to walk away so easily or how my dad could go days, sometimes weeks, without seeing me, but I’ll do everything in my power to make sure Addie never feels as unwanted as I did.
Kira glances up and smiles at me, her eyes twinkling with happiness, and all my negative thoughts are shoved back into the box I keep hidden deep within me. A part of me was hoping I was playing up the chemistry I felt toward Kira this morning, but as she walks over, I know I wasn’t. She’s just as beautiful as I remember. But unlike this morning, when I was taken by surprise, I’ve had time to mentally prepare myself. To put up a wall to keep her charm away from me.
Ana and Julian say I’m too young to be this cynical, but they haven’t experienced what I have. I’d be a damn fool to let another woman into my and my daughter’s lives so she can wreak havoc on our hearts. And I might be a lot of things, but I’m no damn fool.
“Hey!” Kira says as I scoop Addie up into my arms. “How did your meeting go?”
I blank for a moment, lost in my thoughts, but quickly remember I mentioned I was late for my meeting this morning.
“Okay,” I tell her, trying to keep it short but polite.
“That’s it? Okay?” She scrunches her nose up adorably. “Was it good? Bad? Productive? Did you figure out the answer to world domination?”
I choke out a laugh. “It was productive. But unfortunately, world domination was not tackled. Maybe at next week’s meeting.”
“I look forward to hearing about it,” she says with a wink. “Addie here didn’t dominate the world either, but you should’ve seen her jamming out during our dance party. Girl has rhythm.”
Kira reaches out and runs her fingers through my daughter’s short blonde hair, and Addie smiles at her, clearly already enamored by her new friend. Everyone says she looks like me, right down to the same hazel eyes, but she has Nora’s blonde hair while mine is brown.
“Where’s your daughter?” I ask, noticing she’s without her mini.
“She’s playing with the kids her own age in the other room. She loves babies, but she loves the big-kid playground more.”
She playfully rolls her eyes and laughs, and I remind myself that I need to keep my distance from her. Her smile is too sweet, her laugh too melodic—a recipe for heartbreak.
“That’s good,” I choke out. “We need to get going, but, um … we’ll see you on Wednesday.”
“Okay,” she says with a nod. “Bye, Addie. Have a good night with your daddy.”
Addie waves happily to Kira as I grab her diaper bag and run for my life, wondering what the hell has gotten into me.
It’s just because I haven’t gotten laid , I tell myself.
It’s been a while, and my dick is feeling neglected.
But later that night, when the house is quiet, I pull up porn, hoping to relieve some tension. When I blow my load, it isn’t the chick getting fucked on the screen that draws it out of me, but the gorgeous brown-haired, blue-eyed woman with the dimple in her cheek who has captured my attention.