Chapter 2 Harrison
Harrison stood in the center of his office at Oasis, watching the security monitors as the early evening crowd began filtering into the club.
The bass from the dance floor pulsed faintly beneath his feet while synchronized lights flickered across the screens and high-end bottles clinked behind the bar.
Normally he would have been completely focused on the rhythm of it all, but tonight his mind was somewhere else.
Harrison was a man who thrived on order and precision. He had spent years building his reputation as someone who saw everything before it happened, and he knew every rhythm of his business, every face on his staff. Because of that, he also knew when something in his territory felt… off.
He adjusted the cuff of his tailored jacket and glanced at the clock on the wall, realizing that for the first time in months he had no interest in staying through the midnight rush.
A restless energy hummed through him, sharp and persistent, pulling his focus toward the north side of the district where the lights were softer and the pace slower.
Toward Seven Stones.
He didn’t have a reservation or any real business reason to be there, but the image of Kelsey Kincaid had been lingering at the edge of his thoughts for days. He had seen her at the last few city council meetings and noticed the way her shoulders had begun to set in a rigid line.
Kelsey usually carried herself with effortless grace—sharp, confident, composed—but lately there had been something else in her movements. Something strained. Something restless.
Harrison was a protector by nature, and he had developed a quiet instinct for when a woman was beginning to fray at the edges, even when she was doing a damn good job hiding it from the rest of the world.
He grabbed his keys from the desk and left the office, nodding once to the bouncer as he stepped out into the cool night air.
The drive to the restaurant was short, though it gave him just enough time to question why a woman he barely knew had suddenly taken up so much space in his head.
They moved in the same social circles and shared the same group of friends, but Kelsey had always kept a professional distance he had respected.
He knew the truth about her brother. Barrett had told him everything—the violence, the years of quiet cruelty, the final attack in the alley behind the restaurant.
Every time Harrison thought about it, the same cold fury settled deep in his chest. Leo had been a monster, and Kelsey had been forced to call him family.
But Harrison knew something else about her, too—something she probably believed was well hidden.
Through his connections with the other Daddies in their circle, he knew that beneath her polished business exterior was a little girl who craved the exact kind of structure he lived to provide.
When he pulled up to the curb outside Seven Stones, he stayed in the car for a moment, studying the building through the windshield.
The gold lettering on the window caught the glow of the streetlamps, and the restaurant itself looked elegant and carefully maintained—exactly what he would expect from someone like Kelsey.
Everything about the place reflected the high standards she held herself to.
He stepped inside, greeted immediately by warm light and quiet conversation. The dining room was busy, service smooth and professional, everything running with the quiet efficiency of a well-managed establishment. From the outside, Seven Stones looked like a flawless success.
Harrison bypassed the hostess stand with a polite nod and moved toward the bar instead, where he could take in the entire room.
He wasn’t there to eat.
He was there for her.
He saw her before she noticed him, and the sight sent a sharp surge through his chest.
Kelsey sat at the bar in a sophisticated blouse, her hair pinned into a perfect knot at the back of her head while she watched the restaurant with calm authority, like a queen surveying her kingdom.
To anyone else she would have looked like a successful owner taking a rare break, but Harrison saw something else.
He saw the way she held her spine perfectly straight, as if she were bracing herself against something unseen. He saw the watchfulness in her gaze as she tracked every movement of her staff.
A woman carrying too much.
A woman who believed it was her responsibility to hold the entire world together.
Savannah passed by her and said something that made Kelsey smile. The warmth looked genuine enough to anyone watching, but Harrison found himself wondering what that smile looked like when the lights were off and no one else was around.
He stepped further into the room just as the door closed behind him, the faint breeze following him across the floor.
Kelsey felt it.
He saw the exact moment she noticed him. Her head lifted, and their eyes met across the bar.
For a single heartbeat the air between them seemed to tighten, charged with something unspoken.
Harrison didn’t look away. His gaze remained steady on hers, and he felt the pull immediately—primal and certain.
She swallowed before offering him a polite nod and turning back to her drink.
Composed. Elegant. Controlled.
Exactly what the world expected her to be.
But Harrison suddenly wanted very badly to see what lived beneath that carefully constructed armor.
He turned to the bartender. “Whiskey, Neat.”
Keeping his back to her while the drink was poured gave him a moment to settle his own reaction. He knew she was a little, and he knew she valued her independence, but the thought of providing the structure she didn’t even realize she was missing had already begun to take root in his mind.
He took a slow sip of the scotch, the warmth spreading through his chest while the quiet hum of the restaurant surrounded him. Even without looking at her, he could feel her awareness of him.
It stirred something ancient inside him—something dominant, something possessive.
Harrison had spent his life being the man who stepped in when leadership was needed, and with sudden clarity he realized he wanted to be that man for Kelsey Kincaid.
For the next twenty minutes he remained at the bar, quietly observing as she managed the room with sharp efficiency, answering questions, checking tables, and keeping everything running smoothly. Yet there was something lonely about the way she held herself.
He saw her check her watch and heard the tired sigh she gave when a server approached with another question. She was always working, always performing, always making sure everyone else was taken care of while she sat alone at the bar.
It was a role Harrison understood well.
But it was not one he wanted her to carry forever.
He wanted to be the one who told her when the shift was over, the one who took the keys from her hand and led her home.
The intensity of the thought surprised him, but he didn’t pull back from it. Harrison was a man who knew what he wanted, and once he set his sights on something he pursued it relentlessly.
He finished his scotch and set the glass down with a firm click against the marble bar before standing. He didn’t look at her again as he turned to leave.
He had seen enough—enough to know the spark between them was real.
Now he simply needed the right moment to see if she was ready for the kind of protection he was prepared to offer.
Outside, the cool night air hit his face, and he felt more awake than he had in months.
As he walked back to his car, a quiet sense of purpose settled over him. Oasis was successful, his empire solid and his reputation secure, but something had always been missing.
Men like Barrett and Archer had already found it.
A little girl of their own to cherish, protect, and guide.
Harrison started the engine and glanced once more at the gold lettering on the window of Seven Stones as a quiet promise formed in his mind.
The next time they met, things between them would be different.
He was a no-nonsense man. A stern Daddy.
And sooner or later, Kelsey Kincaid was going to learn exactly what it felt like to be truly looked after.
As he pulled away from the curb, his thoughts were already turning toward the cookout at Archer and Cassidy’s house. It would be the perfect opportunity—relaxed, casual, and free of the professional barriers that normally stood between them.
The other Daddies would be there, and Harrison intended to make his presence in Kelsey’s life very clear.
He wasn’t interested in a casual fling.
He was looking for the woman who would belong to him.
And he was fairly certain he had just found her.
The hunt had begun.
And Harrison had never been a man who liked to lose.