The Boss's Secret: A Single Dad Undercover (Bossy Billionaires) by Layla Valentine & Ana Sparks

Author:Layla Valentine & Ana Sparks [Valentine, Layla]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-05-17T18:30:00+00:00

CHAPTER 13

MILES

Of all the ballet schools in all the towns in all the world…

Perhaps I should have predicted this. It wasn’t as if Chicago was full of ballet schools. If given half a second’s thought, I might have considered the possibility that Katherina's teacher was April.

That’s a damning thought. I let Max take over at work, dominating my focus. He partitioned my life between Griffin & Co. and home, with the division favoring the company. While Katherina lived in my heart, I let her slip from my mind whenever I left home.

I petted her dark hair as she hugged my legs, feeling guilt for what a distant father I’d been. I’d come from a meeting with Jared, rushing to the ballet studio when the nanny once again left me in the lurch. The first ounce of shame arrived when I had to ask what the address was. In the six months since she’d started, I’d never once picked up Katherina from ballet lessons.

After cutting our meeting short, I left Jared at the C-suite to race across town and pick up my daughter. Breathless and perturbed, I ascended the stairs expecting to find her waiting impatiently. Instead, I found April keeping her entertained, the two seated against the wall when I arrived at the studio’s front door.

With Katherina’s little arms wrapped around the backs of my knees, I stared over at April as she stood. Of course I couldn’t see my own expression, but I’d seen a deer frozen by headlights and assumed the looks were one and the same. Yet my surprise didn’t rob me of the ability to appreciate April’s leotard and tights. Their skintight fabric accentuated her lissome figure.

“I didn’t know—” she began.

“Yeah,” I replied awkwardly. “I suppose I should have figured—”

“Funny coincidence.”

“Yeah.”

She scratched the back of her neck. “That’s a fancy suit.”

“Oh, yeah, well, I was getting some new headshots. You know, for the website and such, but the photographer ran late. Sorry about that. Thanks for keeping Katherina company.”

“Katherina,” April repeated with a touch of puzzlement. “She goes by Nina here.”

I peered down at my daughter, now standing alongside me with her shoulder bouncing against my thigh. Nina. I hadn’t heard her called that in two years. Only her mother used the truncated version. I didn’t think Katherina remembered, but the discovery sent a pang of sadness through my chest. A connection existed between Katherina and April, one that helped fill a void for Kath— for Nina.

“I didn’t know you preferred that name,” I said to her.

She craned her neck to look up at me. “It’s just easier to say,” she replied, but her eyes averted as she said it. It was more than that, of course, but she didn’t want to expose herself. The astonishing complexity of a four-year-old’s emotions.

“I’m sorry I was late, kiddo.”

“It’s okay,” she reassured me.

Still, I wanted to make it up to her. “How about I take you for some ice cream to make up for it? How does that sound?”

She beamed and nodded.

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