Rugged Daddy

I had absolutely no idea how to answer that without showing too much. “I do. I just prefer not to.”

“Do you smoke?”

“No, I don’t. That’s an automatic disqualification with the agency,” I said.

“What do you do for fun?” he asked.

“I bake.”

“That’s your profession. I’m talking about fun.”

“Why can’t my profession be what I do for fun?” I asked. I watched a grin slide across his face, which was nice. This meeting seemed too much like an interrogation.

“Turning the tables for a second, I want to be up front.”

He nodded. “Good.”

“If I’m going to have a baby for someone, I want to know the man will properly care for the child I give him. I’m not handing over a defenseless child to someone who isn’t prepared to take care of that child. It’s one thing to have money. It’s another thing to be a parent.”

“Would it make you more comfortable to know I have a daughter already?”

I wasn’t sure if it did. Plenty of people with children made poor parents, my own parents were a shining example of that.

He seemed to sense my hesitation to answer. “I want to give my daughter a sibling,” he continued. “But my life circumstances have made it almost impossible for me to find a woman to create a family with. I want a lot of children. I always have. And I’m a very good father. I pride myself on it.”

It was the way he said it, the way his eyes looked at me when he said it. I knew he was telling the truth. There was sincerity to his eyes and a love the second he mentioned his daughter. The kind of love I’d craved as a child. A look of adoration swept across his features that I would’ve killed to see on my parents’ faces whenever they talked about me.

“I believe you,” I said.

“Good. Trust is a good thing to start off with.”

He sat back in his chair and folded his arms over his chest again.

Fuck, this man was hot, an incredible specimen. I closed my eyes and swallowed thickly, trying to fight off those feelings. I wasn’t in a dating service. I was trying to pair myself up with a man who would pay me to have his child.

And so far, things were going very well.

He quirked an eyebrow and I felt my cheeks flush. “Do you consider yourself a kind woman, Heather?”

“People can’t walk all over me, if that’s what you’re asking.”

“Not what I asked,” he said.

I sighed, feeling more and more awkward by the second. “I try to be. It’s difficult sometimes, but I try to be kind and fair.”

“It’s a good trait to have,” he said.

“Are you kind?” I asked.

His gaze drifted over my shoulder before he drew in a deep breath. “I’m fair. Whether or not that fairness is always kind, I’m not sure.”

I watched his eyes rake down my form once before he stood. He held out his hand as if to shake it, so I took it in stride. The second my palm slipped into his, fire ignited in my veins.

I drew in a sharp breath of air and looked up at him, watching as his eyes darkened. The shadows playing off his features made him look like a hungry beast, and it awakened something inside me that puckered my nipples against my bra.

“The pleasure was mine, Heather. I’ll call the agency soon with my decision.”

I struggled to find my voice.