Behaving Badly in Vegas (Vegas Love #3)

4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Hunter

What had I done?

The girl looked barely old enough to be legal. She was a living doll. Something almost too pretty to play with but tempted you to mess up her perfection. Skin smooth as porcelain with pink heart-shaped lips and big blue eyes with long lashes that blinked up at me. Dark hair fell over her shoulders in long waves that nearly reached her waist.

My dick twitched with desire and that pissed me off. Now wasn’t the time to fantasize about fucking the nanny.

I scribbled my address on the back of a business card and thrust it at her. “Five o’clock. Don’t be late.” Then I turned to my father. “Can I speak to you? Alone.”

“Of course.” I followed my father to his office. I hadn’t walked this hall in over a year. In some ways, it felt strange; in others, it felt like home. I was always supposed to be here. I was the son—albeit illegitimate—of the great Edward Dorsey, hotel mogul. It was my birthright .

I had to give it to my mother. When she decided to sleep with a married man, at least she chose well. I’d hit the bastard jackpot. She could have slept with any bum in Vegas. Instead, she landed a multimillionaire turned billionaire.

The only thing that stood between me and my destiny was Trent. I tried to remove him from the equation, but that plan backfired spectacularly, costing me the position of CFO and landing my ass behind a desk at a bank. My skin prickled every time I thought about it. No matter what I did, I’d never be as good as my half brother.

Once inside his office, my father faced off with me. “I don’t appreciate your disrespect to your mother.”

I rolled my eyes. “Not this again. Rose isn’t my mother. My mother didn’t give two shits about me.”

He puffed out his cheeks in frustration. This was an argument we’d had many times over the last twenty-five years. “She’s your mother for all intents and purposes. Rose raised you from the time you were a toddler. You’re her son, not by blood, but by choice. I put this family in a bad situation and risked my marriage, but she handled it with grace and loved you as her own.”

The bad situation was me. “I beg to differ. She never treated Trent and me the same. He was always the favorite.”

“Maybe because you walked around with a chip on your shoulder. She tried, she really did, but you fought her at every turn. You intentionally pushed her away with your bad attitude and devious behavior. You made a difficult situation even harder.”

Now I was the difficult situation . And he wondered why I rebelled so much. There was no way I’d win this battle with him, so I moved on to more pressing issues and finally took a seat. “We’ll have to agree to disagree. However, I wanted to thank you for helping me out with Carina. I’m not too much of a man to say I freaked out when she showed up on my doorstep.”

My father visibly relaxed at the change of topic and sat behind his desk. “I can imagine. I remember the day I found out about you. It may seem like your world is crashing down, but soon enough, you’ll see what a blessing it is.”

My father and I always had a decent relationship. He stood up for me, even when I made it impossible, but this was the first time he’d called me a blessing. The pent-up anger that’d been sitting in my chest finally dissipated. “I don’t know anything about being a dad.”

He chuckled. “None of us do. Trust me, it’ll come more naturally than you think. You’ve always been a quick learner.”

Wow! Two compliments in one day. That had to be a record. Who knew it would take a baby to mend our fences? “I don’t know about that. Mrs. Hadley, my next-door neighbor, has been doing most of the work.” When Carina showed up, I called my dad, and his lawyer got us in front of a family court judge the same day. Because my name was on the birth certificate, he gave us the option of taking Carina home with us or putting her in foster care until the paternity test came back. If she was really mine, I didn’t want her staying with strangers. Rose volunteered to take Carina, but I not so graciously declined. Mrs. Hadley was the obvious choice for me, she’d raised three children of her own and had six grandchildren. I generously compensated her, but it wasn’t a long-term plan. We paid beaucoup bucks to expedite the paternity test, and now, four days later, she was officially mine, hence the need for a nanny.

The nanny. God, I was an idiot. I should have interviewed a dozen different women to find a qualified caretaker, but I’d been so pissed at Rose’s meddling that I hired the first person available. If it didn’t work out, I’d find someone to replace her. It was that easy.

My father folded his hands and leaned on his desk. “I’m glad you came to me when you needed help, Hunter. Despite the reasons why, I’m hoping we can use this opportunity to rebuild our relationship. I miss having my son around.”

I raised my eyebrow. “Missed me so much that all you can offer me is a junior position in the financial department?”

He sighed. “I know it’s not what you wanted, but you broke the trust and sanctity of this family. What you did to your brother not only humiliated him but Gia too. It also put the reputation of this company at risk.”

It was bad, yet I’d never admit how low I sank. “Let’s not make a mountain out of a molehill.”

“It was a mountain, regardless of what you think. It wasn’t fair to Trent, and it certainly wasn’t fair to Gia. She’s your brother’s wife and she’s damn good at her job. We’re lucky she didn’t decide to walk away because she’s a major asset to Mystique.”

Fine. I got it. I fucked up big time. “Point taken, but a junior position?”

My father tapped his fingers on the desk. “Things are changing around here. I haven’t announced it yet, but I’m retiring. Trent will be taking my position. If you want to move up in the company, you need to make amends with your brother. And his wife. Show some good faith and then we’ll talk.”

Fuuuuck! Kissing my brother’s ass was at the very bottom of my priority list. “Fine. I’ll take the junior position and prove myself. You know that I should be CFO. It’s the only acceptable option.”

“You do that. Nothing would make me happier than having my two sons running Mystique together. If you’re serious, you’ll make a genuine effort to make it work.”

“I will.”

I was serious. When I worked with Trent before, it was a game. I purposely did shit to push his buttons and enjoyed the fuck out of it. Nothing gave me more pleasure than to watch his blood pressure rise to the point that his fists clenched. I loved seeing him try to hold it together when we both knew he wanted to bash my face in.

When Gia started working at Mystique, it only upped the ante. My crude comments about her set Trent on fire. Yeah, I crossed a few lines into sexual harassment territory, but it was only because I suspected Trent had a thing for her. What better way to irritate your brother than to put the moves on the woman he desired but couldn’t have?

It wasn’t personal with Gia. I had no beef with her. She was gorgeous and competent. Unfortunately for her, she became a pawn in a long-standing feud between two brothers .

Unfortunately for me, that pawn married Trent. I never expected her to stick around after I recorded them having sex and sent it to everyone in the office. The woman had more chutzpa than I gave her credit for.

I’d let Trent punch me in the face again if it meant getting my job back at Mystique. Gia, however, would require a bit more finesse. You know what they say about scorned women. No… she was going to make me crawl and beg for forgiveness.

Luckily, I had a secret weapon and as of today, she was officially mine. No one would be able to resist her. Maybe it made me a piece of shit to consider using my daughter for my own benefit, but I’d never been accused of having high morals. I’d be a fool to not use every weapon at my disposal. Nothing was going to stand between me and my destiny.