Playing Pretend: A Single Dad Secret Baby Romance Read online

  Copyright © 2019 by Katy Kaylee

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

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  Contents

  Playing Pretend

  Description

  1. Delainne

  2. Delainne

  3. Delainne

  4. Delainne

  5. Delainne

  6. Eric

  7. Delainne

  8. Eric

  9. Delainne

  10. Eric

  11. Delainne

  12. Delainne

  13. Eric

  14. Delainne

  15. Delainne

  16. Eric

  17. Eric

  18. Delainne

  19. Eric

  20. Delainne

  21. Delainne

  22. Eric

  23. Eric

  24. Delainne

  25. Delainne

  26. Delainne

  27. Eric

  28. Delainne

  29. Delainne

  30. Eric

  Epilogue: Delainne

  Playing Pretend

  A Single Dad Baby Romance

  by

  Katy Kaylee

  Description

  “You pretend to be my fiancée for this wedding, and I’ll protect you from your step-brother.”

  I mean, what could possibly go wrong! Until…

  Well, let’s just say I wanted to say goodbye to virginity, and then I wanted to feel his hard, chiseled body, and then I wanted to be a part of his life – forever!

  He’s from military – a sexy, single dad who needs a baby sitter for his six year old.

  I’ve never done this before, but there’s always a first time.

  The problem…his charm steals my heart every time I look at him, his smile takes my breath away and his touch makes me beg for more.

  And now, I’m starting to see a future with his daughter and him.

  Please tell me we’re just playing pretend and my situation won’t change anything.

  Not even my chance to have a baby with him…

  Delainne

  Rifling through a bunch of receipts, I pursed my lips tightly as the thin, yellow papers became see-through and confusing. My eyes ached from staring so hard, but I ignored it as I set them in their appropriate piles.

  If there was nothing else I could do, my organization skills were exceptional- and it’d take nothing less than perfection to fix this mess.

  “Delainne-“ The fine hairs on my back stood up at the call, and I glanced over to watch my boss lean on the frame leisurely. Donald’s face screwed as he scrunched his nose, and he crossed his ankles before speaking up again. “Would you be able to fill in for someone on the job tomorrow? It’ll be a piece of cake- just planting flowers. Think you can handle that?”

  “I- I would prefer not to…” My heart threatened to clog my throat, and fire licked my cheeks as Donald arched a brow quizzically. “I mean… I’ve never… I haven’t planted anything… like, ever.”

  “I wouldn’t have asked if I could get someone else. Jason’s mom fell and broke her hip, and I was already going into this job shorthanded. I understand it’s out of your comfort zone, Delainne, but it’ll just be this once.” My unease over something so simple as planting flowers must’ve been written on my face, and Donald sighed heavily. Sauntering into the small office, he kicked the door shut before seating himself across my desk.

  Rolling my lips between my teeth, I had nothing to say to that, and my boss rubbed his palms harshly against his jeans. Leaning back in my chair, I tore my eyes off him to stare at my lap, but the silence didn’t stretch long. Anxiety curled in my gut and tightened my chest, and blood drummed in my ears underneath the deep, strong voice that filled the concrete box that was my office.

  “I hired you without asking any questions, and I’m not trying to use it against you or leverage you or guilt trip you, Delainne… but the fact of the matter is that I want to get this job done in one day. It’s simple. All you have to do is dig a hole, put the plant in, and cover it with soil. Three hours- that’s all I need from you.” Holding my breath as I glanced up, the ache around my eyes grew more intense at the expectation in Donald’s gaze. “I know it’s a lot, but I’ll be there.”

  “… Okay…” Forcing the word past the dense lump in my throat, I jerked my head in a nod as I twiddled my thumbs in my lap. My boss smiled, satisfied, and I licked my lips heavily before parting them. “I’m sorry… I’m not- you know- I’m not usually so…”

  “Don’t be sorry, Delainne. I don’t blame you, and I wouldn’t have asked unless I had no alternative.” Slowly standing, Donald’s smile morphed in sympathy, and my lips twitched upwards weakly. “I appreciate you going out on a limb like this.”

  “… Donald-“ Stopping him from opening the door, I gulped harshly when he twisted to watch me under furrowed brows. “It was my step-mom’s son… I know- I know it could’ve been a lot worse, and I’m sorry it’s affecting my ability to work for you.”

  “It’s okay, Delainne. I would never hold that over you, and you do a fabulous job for what I hired you to do. Just because you don’t want to take on extra duties doesn’t mean you’re failing or it’s ‘affecting your ability’.” Disgust at myself bubbled up in my throat like tar, but Donald only smiled sympathetically. “I’m not going to ask questions, but if you need help- you can come to me, Delainne.”

  “Thank you.” Only casting me one, final, smile, Donald left my tiny office, and I leaned back in my chair to heave a gust of a sigh. My mind flew to my interview with him, and images flashed behind my eyelids when they shuttered shut. Leaning my head back, I gripped the arms of my seat with white-knuckle tightness as anxiety flooded my veins.

  Donald needed a secretary, and I was the only one that responded to the ad. I’d just come into town three days earlier; I didn’t even have a place to live, and I had no money. When I arrived for my interview, he didn’t bring up my personal life even once- he didn’t even ask me if I’d relocated, or why I hadn’t put an address on the employment form.

  Maybe he knew I was running… the way he treated me, and the things he said, certainly pointed to that assumption.

  Now, more than four months later, Donald had helped me get an apartment, a credit card, and a bicycle for transportation. I owed him as more than just my boss, and a faint, grateful smile tilted my lips. The good feelings about my boss were squashed pretty quickly, though, and my mouth twisted into a deep frown.

  If it wasn’t for Greg, I never would’ve met Donald or come to this absurdly large, sprawling, dense city. Shaking my head furiously, I forced back my thoughts about my step-brother to focus on my computer screen. Glancing between the receipts and the glowing box, I flexed my fingers taut before poising at the keyboard.

  The day flew by quickly, busily, until the lunch bell rang, and I leaned back in my chair to swish myself side to side. The old, overused seat squealed lightly, but I ignored it to take in how much work I’d done. On my desk, the tall pile of receipts was half it’s size, and a satisfied smile stretched my lips.

  My office was nothing more than a concrete box at the back of a massive warehouse, and I opened the door to get blasted with the smell of dirty, mulch, and sweat. Thick, metal rib plates shielded the three dozen employees from the harsh sun of midday, held up by girders 50 feet tall. Gantry cranes slid on rail heads that allowed them to reach every inch
of the floor, and one couldn’t help but be impressed.

  Donald was the manager for the site, but the company itself was international.

  Heading for the break room, I raked my hand through my hair absently as voices rose from the forest of pallets and equipment. Anxiety tightened my abdomen, and I sped up to grab my lunch from the refrigerator before anyone noticed me. Holding my breath, I pulled open the plain, steel slab that served as a door before glancing over my shoulder.

  The break room itself was nice- more than just four concrete walls and a concrete floor. There was a stove, a couple of sinks, microwaves, and three refrigerators- everything needed to feed three dozen employees easily. Apprehension thrummed through my on my way to the nearest refrigerator, and I soaked up the cold that surged towards me when I popped the seal.

  “-s Friday, after all, so why shouldn’t we go out for drinks? We’re not part of the road crews, so we don’t have to work tomorrow.” Prickles shot down my spine at the confident, deep voice, and I snatched my plain, black lunch box with clammy palms. Straightening to close the refrigerator door, I forced my muscles to move as a pack of bodies shuffled in my direction. One of the men that worked inventory noticed me first, and he smiled broadly before breaking off from his friends.

  “Hey- Delainne. How are you today? I didn’t even see you come in.” My eyes widened as uncertainty slammed into my gut, and I held my lunch box to my chest tightly. Carl was his name, and his dull, blue eyes sparkled with expectancy under a cap of salt-and-pepper hair. The moisture fled from my mouth, and the silence ticked on into discomfort until my brain managed to fire off a command.

  I ran away- the only thing I seemed to know how to do. Critical stares weighed down my body and slumped my shoulders, but I slipped out of the break room to shirk the sensation. My face tingled from cold, and my heart thundered wildly on my way back to my office. In such a huge space, I could hear the distorted mumbling from the break room; the wall stretched ten feet, but no higher.

  “What’s wrong with me?” Bitterness dribbled from my tongue once I was in the safety of my office, and I sat down heavily to groan. Setting my lunch box on my desk, I rubbed my face and eyes hard as I struggled to remember a time when talking to people was easier.

  Even before my dad married my step-mother, I had a hard time with socializing; it’d only gotten worse from that fateful day onward.

  My step-brother was a year older than me, but he was different. Ever since the day we met, I hadn’t liked him, and that dislike had only intensified over the years. Now, at 19 and cripplingly introverted, I was alone because of my step-brother, and my dad didn’t even know what had happened.

  Rather- what could’ve happened.

  “God- I need help…” Longing to go home clutched my chest and formed a dense ball in my throat, but I pushed it away viciously. I couldn’t go back, I knew. This was my life now, and I had a duty to myself to make this the best situation that I possibly could. If nothing else, I had a job, a good apartment, and Donald.

  Determination and resignation seared my chest, and I inhaled deeply to calm myself. I’d never been afraid of my step-brother, but he made me uneasy for nearly a decade.

  I had my chance to run away, and I did. There was no other way to go but forward. And that means trying new things… like gardening. Maybe I’ll like it.

  Delainne

  “You look good this morning, Delainne- I expected you to be green in the face.” Blushing furiously at Donald’s jibe, I only shook my head as he held open the truck door for me. His slick, wide grin and twinkling gaze gave his joke away, and I wordlessly climbed into the cabin with a lightness suffusing my chest. Swiftly shutting me inside to hoist himself into the drivers seat on the other side, Don cast me a sidelong glance before speaking up. “So, how are you?”

  The seriousness of his tone warmed my blood, and I licked my lips heavily as the truck roared to life. Twiddling my thumbs as nerves gnawed at my gut, I kept silent while Donald backed out, and the truck gave a shrill beeping to fill the quiet. My mind flung back to this morning, and a small smile tilted my lips. I’d woken up with a good feeling; maybe it was just because of the surprising amount of sleep I’d gotten, or it was something else, but I wasn’t questioning it.

  “I’m good. It’s going to be a good day- I can feel it.” Confidence strengthened my voice, and I nodded to myself before tearing my eyes off the smooth, fake leather dashboard. Donald’s bushy brows shot up, and his smile became more genuine. “This’ll be a good day.”

  “I’m glad you’re feeling so confident. For once, I’m kind of glad that I’m not allowed to split up road teams.” The shrill beeping stopped when Donald jerked the gear, and I rushed to put on my seatbelt. Glancing through the window at the back of the cabin, I licked my lips heavily as the second truck came up on our rear. “By the way, you do know that you’ll get extra pay for this, right, Delainne?”

  “Ehm- no… I didn’t know that-“ Carl drove the truck behind us, and he tossed me a wave and a smile when he noticed me looking. Whipping around, I pursed my lips tightly before realization slammed into me. “Why am I getting extra pay? How much?”

  “You’re doing a job that’s not yours. It’s only today, but when it’s over, you also have to go back and do your normal duties. When I realized that I’d have no choice but to enlist you, I called and found out about the policy. Non-labor employees are compensated pay for labor tasks.” Easily maneuvering to pull out of the huge, gated lot, Donald shrugged carelessly as surprise drenched my expression. “I’ve never been in this situation before since taking over. Anyway- it’s just time and a half since it’s the weekend. Nothing crazy.”

  “… That’s a lot for me, you know, Donald.” He hummed in acknowledgement as we headed away from the road that led straight into downtown. Gratitude gripped my heart, and I inhaled deeply through flared nostrils to hold it. “I’ve always been pretty good with money, I think. My dad let me work for him since I was, like, 13, so anything I wanted, I had to use my own money for.”

  “What did your dad do?” The harmless question drew a heavy sigh from me, and I raked my hands through my hair. Protected from the sweltering heat of mid-summer, I gathered up the long waves to tug and stretch the band on my wrist. For once, thinking of my dad wasn’t painful, and I smiled as pride blossomed in my chest.

  “He’s a CEO of a small chain of furniture stores. I’ve always been good at organizing and stuff, and he knew it. After my mom died, he made sure that I was always doing stuff to keep my mind off it.” For a long, tense second, I didn’t realize what I’d said, and I stiffened as my head whipped to the side. I could see it all over Donald’s face that he hadn’t expected me to reveal anything about myself, and I held my hand up before blurting out unsteadily. “It wasn’t sudden or anything- she… she had stage 4 small cell lung cancer when I was 8, and we- we really didn’t have that great a relationship, anyway.”

  “Uh- so… what about college? Did you ever think of going for a degree?” Mercifully bypassing my word vomit, Donald flexed his fingers against the wheel, and the GPS activated to speak up robotically. Staring at the map on the tiny screen, I nibbled my lips furiously as my heart lodged in my throat. The hotel we were heading to was wedged between downtown and the suburbs, and I wasn’t sure how to answer him as I let that thought distract me.

  “I thought about it… but I don’t think I would go. My step-mom always badgered me about how important a college education is… I think it was just because she wanted me out of the house.” Glancing over tentatively, I went quiet as I gauged Donald’s reaction, but the fact that it hadn’t changed at all sent surety sweeping through me. “My dad is pretty wealthy, and I think she did it out of genuine worry that I’d end up being a spoiled brat… just- the way she went around it wasn’t the best. She also forced her son to go to college and take on student loans, and he dropped out in his second semester, so that wasn’t the best impression, either.”

  “Is this the sam
e son that made you run?” Automatically looking over my shoulder at the truck behind us, I scanned my coworkers hastily. They couldn’t have heard Donald, but that didn’t stop the disquiet sensation that speared my chest.

  “Yeah- I mean… yes… I’ve never liked him, and he just gave me this creepy vibe. When he said he loved me and tried to kiss me, I ran- I just couldn’t shake the feeling that if I stayed, he would do something else.” Even now, disgust skittered down my spine and across my cheek where Greg’s lips had grazed my skin. “My dad thinks he’s a loser but not unredeemable, you know? So, I just didn’t tell anyone. I packed up and hopped on a train, and then some busses, and this is where I ended up.”

  “You did the right thing, Delainne.”

  “I know.” Answering quickly, I shook my head free of the dark cloud that seeped into the crevices of my brain. “I haven’t- I haven’t really talked to anyone… I left my friends- my dad- everything. I just took a bunch of clothes, cell phone, and my wallet… and, no offence, but you’re my boss- it’s unprofessional to bring my home troubles to work.”

  “It’d be unprofessional if it wasn’t dangerous, Delainne. There’s a huge difference. I’m your boss, yes, and it’s my job to make sure that you’re okay to do your job. Beyond that- it’s the right thing to do. If you need someone to talk to about it, you can come to me.” Ducking my head in a nod, I smiled as I stared at my lap, and Donald spoke up again- his voice gruffer and harsher. “I’ll never be able to understand, but I’ll have your back.”