“James Skye calling for Rich.” That was all it took for me to be connected to one of the wealthiest men in Florida. Sometimes it was unbelievable to think that I had that kind of clout.
Richard Ralls’s voice hit my ears through the speakers of my Range Rover not a second later. “Jamie, my boy. How are you?”
I made a left onto my street, suddenly itching to get to Harper. She’d crashed into my life like a comet 18 months ago. After the initial shock had worn off, she’d become the most important person in my life. “I’m all good. Thanks, Rich. How are you?”
“I can’t complain, son. What can I do you for?” Richard cut straight to the chase.
I hesitated. It wasn’t something that I did very often, but Richard and I had gotten close over the last two years. He had become something like a father to me. I hated that I had to have the discussion that I was about to have with him. But at least I had the balls to talk to him myself instead of having my agent do it.
“I need to talk to you. As soon as you’re available.”
“Sure thing, James. I can’t see you today. I’m out of town. I’ll be back first thing in the morning. Come by tomorrow. I’ll make time for you anytime. That good for you?”
Fuck yeah. “Sure, Richard. I’ll drop by tomorrow morning.”
I felt like a complete douchebag. Richard was a good guy. He had given me a chance when I needed one. Maybe I should stay with the team without asking for more money.
Harper’s warm eyes flashed in my mind. As did my own dreams.
No. I couldn’t stay for nothing more. I had to provide the best I could for Harper. And I wanted a ring more than I needed a friendship. Even if it was a friendship that I valued more than almost anything.
He clicked off the line just as I pulled into my cavernous garage. If you’d have told me two years ago that I’d have a house out in the suburbs near the beach, complete with a swing set in the backyard and a swimming pool covered in a child safety net, I would’ve laughed my head off. And then probably have kicked your ass all the way to next Sunday.
That was exactly what I had though, all thanks to the little girl with the bouncing dark brown curls, my exact shade, and hazel eyes careening towards me.
I dropped to my knees and opened my arms, grinning like an idiot as my baby girl flung her skinny arms around my neck and hugged me tight.
“Harper!” Mrs. Watson’s voice called out from the doorway where she watched us, shaking her head with a slight smile on her face. “Every darn day. At least we’ve taught her to wait until the engine shuts down.”
“I wouldn’t have it any other way, Mrs. W.” I smirked as I scooped Harper up and carried her to the kitchen.
“I know, Mr. Skye.”
I sighed. I’d been trying to get her to call me James since day one, but she refused. Apparently, it “simply isn’t the way things are done.”
Mrs. Watson had been trying to teach Harper to stay seated until she’d finished her meal, but whenever she heard the Rover, she bounced off her seat and half-ran to the garage. Just as she had that day.
“How’s my girl doing?” I cooed as I took a seat next to her, accepting my own lunch from Mrs. Watson. One of the perks of having a full-time nanny who had three children and six grandchildren of her own was that she cooked like a real mom and loved cooking for us.
Of course, when I’d first started shopping for a nanny, I had been inundated with girls in their 20s with big tits and fine asses throwing themselves at me. Ryder and I had some fun during the process, but I quickly realized it would never work, hiring one of them.
Enter Mrs. W. She was perfect in every way. She loved Harper like she was her own, and at 55
, she had zero interest in fucking me. If anything, despite her formality, she treated me like a son and called me out when I was full of shit.
Needless to say, she’d had to call me out often. Especially in the early days. I’d barely been 22 when a girl who had looked vaguely familiar had rocked up on my doorstep with a ratty car seat and a baby with my hazel eyes peering up at me.
“Her name is Harper,” the girl had said. “She’s yours.”
A ton of bricks dropped on my head out of nowhere while a freight train crashed into me and cartoon birds circled my head.
One look at those hazel eyes though, flecked with gold just like mine, and I knew that she was telling the truth.
“I, uh, I guess you’d better come in then.” I’d said stupidly after eternity had passed, and my voice box had started functioning again.
The girl stepped into my bachelor pad, a modern penthouse overlooking the ocean that I’d been renting at the time. She thrust the handle of the car seat into my hands and proceeded to tell me exactly what had happened on my 21st birthday.
Ryder had hosted one of his epic parties for my birthday, and I’d woken up the next morning with hazy memories of a brunette with a rocking body and an eager tongue. She had been gone by the time I hauled my ass out of bed after noon the next day, and I’d never heard from her again.