I’d finally been able to tell her about working for her dad as well, although the nature of my projects was still classified. The very, very nice nest egg I’d built us had soothed some of the sting out of that secret. However, only a handful of others knew about my position and projects. My focus remained on building a life with Gracie, and I didn’t want headhunters and whoever the fuck else buzzing around me like annoying bees. And if anyone made Gracie feel like she was keeping me from greater things, I would end them. Because nothing, nothing was more important to me than her and our future family.
I thought we’d left all the omission and deception behind us, but now it felt like she was the one keeping secrets.
The door opened, and I growled at the intruder in warning.
“Are you going to tell me what you’re working on?” Jonah asked as he dropped onto an empty chair beside me, completely disregarding my clearly anti-social mood.
I gave him the side-eye before returning my attention to my computer screen. If he had been anyone else, I would have bitten their head off for asking me about a project before I was ready to share. I hated rolling out half-baked ideas. I always insisted they be fleshed out to a certain point before bringing them to my team.
However, Jonah didn’t hover, which told me this visit was about something else. I found a stopping place and made a couple of notes, then sat back in my chair and turned it to face him. “Cut the bullshit. What’s up?”
“Do you use that kind of language with Grace?” His tone vibrated with annoyance, and his eyes narrowed dangerously.
He clearly had a bone to pick with me about something, and while I was in a shitty mood, I decided not to push his buttons. “Seeing as how you are the only other person in the world who loves Gracie almost as much as I do, I’ll refrain from my usual snark about the things I say to my girl in private.” Much. I decided not to push his buttons much.
Jonah’s lips pinched for a beat before he grunted, “What you say to and around my Grace is between the both of you until you make her cry, Hudson.”
I scrambled to my feet in shock and shouted, “What the fuck? Gracie cried? Who made her cry? I’m going to kill them!”
My boss sighed and leaned back, crossing his arms over his bulky chest as he studied me. “It wasn’t you?”
“Fuck no!” I practically dismissed him from my mind as I shut down my computer and began to gather my things. Although, most of my belongings were left at the front of the building before the first security checkpoint. Not even standard headphones were allowed to be taken in and out of a building like this since theoretically, they could be fashioned into a recording device.
“Seems odd that she would cry over the sight of a wedding dress if you weren’t the cause of it,” he mused. That brought me to a halt before spinning around to face him.
“A wedding dress?”
Jonah nodded in confirmation and added, “Penny said they walked by a bridal store on 5th Avenue and she pointed at a dress she thought Grace would like. But Grace burst into tears instead.”
I didn’t wait around for more information. With a careless wave, I was out the door and on my way home.
When I arrived, I sprinted up to the third floor and burst into our suite. “Gracie? Baby?”
Silence greeted me.
I didn’t find her in our rooms, so I jogged down one floor to the master suite where London slept and knocked loudly.
“Come in.”
I pushed open the door and stuck my head inside, my eyes doing a quick sweep and finding my girl curled up on an overstuffed chair with London, munching on popcorn from the bucket situated between them.
“You’re home early,” London observed as she pointed the remote at the big flat screen and turned it off.
My eyes were glued to Gracie as I approached, inspecting every inch of her face as if I’d find remnants from her earlier tears. “Your dad dropped by my office,” I murmured to her.
Gracie’s brow knitted, and she cocked her head to the side. “Am I supposed to infer something special from your boss stopping by your office?”
I stopped in front of her and unlodged the bucket, handing it to London. “He wasn’t there as my employer, Gracie.” I grabbed her hand and pulled her to her feet. “More like my future father-in-law.” I used the phrase with a pointed tone.
Gracie paused in the process of putting her arms around my neck. It was so subtle I almost missed it, and I probably would have if not for the meaningful look she shared with London. “Other than the visit from my dad, how was your day, babe?” she asked brightly before pressing her plush lips against mine.