Chapter 1 - The Innocent Proposal
“You’re too handsome to be alone,” my six-year-old daughter told the coldest billionaire in Manhattan. “You should be my daddy.” I thought she’d just gotten me fired, until Adrian Kane asked her one question that made her reveal the secret I’d spent years hiding.
That morning, bringing Mia to work had been my only option.
My nanny’s apartment had flooded before sunrise. My mother was stranded in Atlanta, my best friend was stuck in Denver, and I had a board presentation I couldn’t miss.
At thirty-three, I was a senior creative director at Blackwell & Reed. My boss, Adrian Kane, was the thirty-six-year-old billionaire who had turned the company into a powerhouse.
Brilliant. Controlled. Intimidating.
And handsome enough that noticing felt professionally dangerous.
“You stay right here,” I told Mia after settling her in my office with coloring books, crackers, an iPad, and Gerald, her stuffed elephant.
“No wandering.”
She nodded solemnly. “What if adventure finds me?”
“It won’t.”
I should have known better.
Ten minutes later, I was called into an emergency board meeting.
Eighteen minutes after that, I returned to an empty office.
My heart dropped.
“Mia?”
Nothing.
I rushed into the hallway, already imagining every possible disaster.
Then I heard laughter.
Adrian Kane’s laughter.
I followed the sound into the executive wing and stopped cold.
Mia stood outside his private office while Adrian crouched in front of her, laughing so hard he had one hand over his mouth.
Half the floor was watching.
Then Mia pointed at him.
“You’re very handsome,” she said. “And tall. Mommy likes tall men.”
“Mia!”
She turned toward me, delighted.
“Mommy! I found you a husband.”
I nearly died on the spot.
“I am so sorry, Mr. Kane.”
Adrian stood, but instead of looking angry, he studied my daughter.
Then he crouched again.
“Mia,” he asked quietly, “why do you think your mother needs me to be your daddy?”
Her smile faded.
My stomach tightened.
“Because Mommy cries when she thinks I’m asleep.”
The hallway went silent.
“Mia, sweetheart, that’s enough.”
But she shook her head.
“She says she doesn’t need my daddy anymore. But sometimes she looks at his picture and cries.”
Adrian’s expression changed.
Then Mia reached into her backpack.
“I brought the picture.”
Every muscle in my body locked.
“Mia. Don’t.”
But she was already pulling out the photograph.
Adrian glanced down.
The color drained from his face.
Then he looked at me.
“Where did you get this?”
My heart stopped.
May you like
Because that photograph was taken seven years ago.
And Adrian Kane knew exactly who the man standing beside me was.
