Read Mom for the CEO's Daughter for Free Online Page A

hadn’t been involved that long—
    Unless you counted the year they worked together.
    Kara did.
    Sadness seized him. He hadn’t wanted to hurt her.
    But he had. He knew he had.
    That’s why she’d left.
    But he had a four-year-old daughter to care for. He couldn’t go chasing after her. Which was probably a good thing, since he didn’t want what Kara obviously wanted. “So, what should we do this afternoon?”
    Stacy shrugged. “I don’t care. Maybe watch TV.”
    Even his daughter missed her. With his own heart aching and the future yawning before him like a big, black blob, he couldn’t cheer her up any more than he could cheer himself.
    He put Stacy to bed around eight that night and meandered out to the deck. Memories of Kara standing next to him at this railing rolled through his brain. Her innocent trust killed him. Why couldn’t he trust her in return? Why couldn’t he even try to trust her?
    A picture of waking beside her formed in his head. More beach trips. Less working and more breakfasts, lunches and dinners with her and Stacy. A real life.
    His heart tripped over itself in his chest. Life with her would be so wonderful. But hoping for a future was one thing. Actually getting it was another.
    â€œYou should go get her, Daddy.”
    He swung from the deck railing to see Stacy standing just outside the door.
    â€œIt’s not always that easy, Pumpkin.”
    â€œWhy not?”
    â€œBecause…” He stopped. He could envision their life together so clearly in his head. He could picture them getting old together—
    Getting old together? He’d never been able to picture himself and Stacy’s mother staying together forever. But he could imagine himself and Kara together—forever.
    He trusted her.
    He trusted her!
    And he was only kidding himself if he thought he wasn’t in love. He was. Stacy was right. He should go after her.
    But he also knew he’d hurt her. Humiliated her. Embarrassed her.
    Why would she ever take him back?
    ***
    When Kara stepped into her private office at Fulton Everything on Monday morning, she realized staying on as Gabe’s assistant wasn’t an option.
    The big double-door entrance to his office was right behind her desk. How could she sit there for ten or twelve hours a day, bantering with him, knowing he didn’t even want to try to love her?
    Hideous. That’s how.
Humiliating
.
    Pushing the week’s worth of mail aside, she sat and started her computer to compose her letter of resignation. She didn’t want him to come home and talk her into continuing to work with him. Loving him when he had been oblivious to it had been bad enough. Loving him when he knew she loved him would be hell. If he hadn’t pitied her before, he would now, and she refused to spend her life that way. Pathetic. Sad.
    She typed the letter quickly, put it on his desk, grabbed her purse and pulled out her cell phone. What she needed was a real vacation. By herself. Before she got another job.
    With a few clicks, she found an app that gave a direct route to Charleson. She paused. Was it wise to go back to the town where
he
had a beach house? She should probably pick another location.
    Busy scrolling through maps, she walked out of her office, down a hallway, into the busy hub in front of the elevators. Weaving through and around groups of chatting people as she looked at her phone, she ran into someone.
    Strong hands steadied her. She looked up to apologize, only to realize she’d walked into Gabe.
    She glanced down. “Sorry.”
    â€œI’m sorry, too.”
    The remorseful tone of his voice was a bit of overkill for a simple collision. She peeked up into his pretty blue eyes.
    â€œI know I hurt you.”
    Oh, God! No. Was he about to apologize again, in front of everybody, and to explain why he didn’t love her?
    Now she wouldn’t just have personal humiliation to deal with.