Behaving Badly in Vegas (Vegas Love #3)

6. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Hunter

Something was seriously wrong with me. My goal was to keep things professional. To, for the first time in my life, not make a complete mess out of something.

Carina deserved better. She deserved someone who would put her needs ahead of their own. Her mother already failed, so the burden fell on me. I wasn’t prepared for that type of responsibility.

If I needed confirmation of it, all I had to do was look at my actions over the past couple hours.

Dollface? I rubbed my hand over my face. Jesus Christ. Just because an idea flitted through my mind didn’t mean I should vocalize it.

She was my goddamn nanny, not some chick I picked up off the street for a night of fun. We wouldn’t be going out for expensive dinners, hanging out at a club or cuddling on the couch eating popcorn and watching Netflix. We weren’t friends or fuck buddies. She was the hired help, and it would serve me well to remember that .

I should have taken Rose’s advice and hired Ms. Peters. I needed a Nanny McPhee, not a modern-day Mary Poppins. The girl looked so sweet; I wouldn’t be surprised if bluebirds sprang from her purse and fluttered around her head. Or maybe that was Snow White. Cinderella? Sleeping Beauty? It didn’t matter. The point was I’d hired a goddamn fairy princess to care for my child.

A fact my dick noticed as well.

At least I made one decent decision by putting Carina and Charlotte on the opposite side of the apartment from my own bedroom and office. With any luck, I’d avoid seeing her too much.

Stomping to my office, I pulled out the letter and birth certificate left with my daughter. Charlotte’s question about her mother had been plaguing me since the day she showed up. I picked up the card from my father’s attorney and angrily punched the numbers into my phone.

It rang half a dozen times before he answered. “What can I do for you, Hunter?”

He knew what I wanted. I’d asked the same damn question since our first meeting at the courthouse. My father warned me about being prickly with Sam Steinberg. Said he wouldn’t put up with my bullshit. For what I was paying him, the high-priced attorney should have been willing to dig through a mountain of bullshit. I didn’t care if he had to use a spoon.

However, he was the best of the best, so I tempered my annoyance. “Have you found her yet?”

Sam Steinberg sighed. “We don’t have a lot to go on. There are literally thousands of women named Jennifer Johnson.”

“Jennifer Ann Johnson,” I reminded him.

“You do realize Ann is one of the most common middle names for a woman?”

Actually, I didn’t, but it shouldn’t have been a surprise. Nothing in my life had ever been easy, so why wouldn’t I have created a baby with a woman with the most unoriginal name ever. It couldn’t have been Adeline Garopoulis or Natalia Kovalenko. No, that would have been way too easy. Jennifer Johnson was about as common as it got .

“Did you check The Sapphire Club?” I told him that’s where I met Jennifer, though I didn’t know her name at the time. Chances are she wouldn’t have given me her real name anyway. I left out the part about paying her ten grand for sex.

“We did.”

“And?” His vague answers made my blood boil. Was he purposely trying to irritate me?

“All they confirmed was she worked there about a year ago.”

I growled. “Can’t you compel them to tell you something? Surely, they have an address, tax information, something.”

“Mr. Dorsey, I can’t compel them to tell me anything. I’m a lawyer, not the damn FBI. Besides, a gentleman’s club primarily deals in cash. I wouldn’t be surprised if they didn’t keep any records on her.”

“So now what?” I asked, leaning my head in my hand.

“I’d suggest a private investigator. Rudy Mendosa is the best. He’s a goddamn pit bull when it comes to missing persons. Never stops until he gets his man… or woman… in your case. I need to warn you though, he’s not cheap.”

“Of course, he’s not,” I grumbled.

“If you want this woman to sign parental termination papers, then he’s your guy. Otherwise, the process will take a minimum of six months.

Six months? Six months of waiting for her to show up unexpectedly. Six months for her to change her mind. Six months for her to waltz in and take my daughter away.

Regardless of the fact that Carina was a complete surprise, I’d already decided I wasn’t letting her go. I pulled up the camera on my phone that sat over Carina’s playpen. She was zonked out on her back in clean pajamas, her tiny lips barely parted. No one thought I was a suitable father, least of all me, but Carina was mine and I’d do what I could to provide her a good life.

“Text me his number. Thanks, Sam.” I ended the call before he could reply, but I thanked him, so there was that.

This entire situation had my dick in a twist. I’d been fine living my life alone with an occasional woman to share my time. Since Carina arrived, I decided to reconcile with my family and reclaim my place at Mystique. I also had a twenty-four-seven roommate in the form of a nanny. I enjoyed my solitude, and I’d barely had five minutes to myself over the last four days. Everybody was in my goddamn business, and it made me more surly than usual.

My phone buzzed with an incoming text from Sam, giving me the contact information for the private investigator.

Even though it was after seven, I had no problem calling him. Of course, he didn’t answer which made me more annoyed than I already was. I left a curt message with a callback number. I was used to getting what I wanted when I wanted it. All this waiting around pissed me off.

I sat stewing. Patience was not my strongest virtue. Actually, I wasn’t sure I had any virtues, but patience certainly wasn’t one of them.

A quiet knock came at my open door and my head popped up. Charlotte stood there in the dark hallway on her bare feet. “I’m sorry to interrupt.”

“What do you need, Miss Bently?”

She tiptoed into my office and stood with her hands clasped in front of her. “Two things actually.”

I rolled my hand for her to get on with it. “Did you want me to guess, or are you going to tell me?”

She bit her bottom lip in a way that made me want to nip it between my teeth and then work my way down beneath her dress. I should have insisted she wore pants or maybe bought her a uniform. That would have solved my inconvenient attraction to the brunette. She barely had any tits, but the dress she wore clung to her boobs like a second skin before it fell down her body and skimmed the floor. It wasn’t sexy per se, but it had my dick standing at attention nonetheless.

“I was wondering if there was a baby monitor or if that was coming tomorrow as well?”

It was a logical question and showed a sense of responsibility. “It’s on an app. Hand me your phone.”

She placed her phone in my outstretched hand. “Things have changed a lot since I babysat last. I was looking for a walkie-talkie type thing. ”

I quirked an eyebrow at her. “And when was the last time you babysat?”

“Ten years ago,” she said sheepishly. “I was fifteen.”

Jesus. She was older than I thought but still young. “Are you sure you’re capable of caring for my daughter?”

She nodded like a bobblehead. “Totally.” She cringed at her choice of wording and straightened her shoulders. “I mean, absolutely. Give me a chance.”

“I don’t give second chances. If you fuck up, I’ll send you packing so fast your head will spin. Am I clear?”

“Crystal.”

I downloaded the app on her phone and entered the username and password, then wrote them on a sticky note and stuck it to the screen before handing it back to her.

Charlotte pulled the note off and stared at her phone. Her lips tilted up as she watched Carina sleep. “So beautiful,” she whispered.

That was my sentiment exactly. Standing in my dimly lit office with her dark hair partly shading her face that glowed from the phone screen, Charlotte was pure perfection. She wasn’t just pretty. Pretty was an understatement that didn’t do her justice. The girl was a stunner.

“Do you have a boyfriend?” The question in my head slipped out without permission.

She tore her eyes from the screen. “Huh?”

“A boyfriend? Do you have one?”

Charlotte pushed her hair behind her ear and shook her head. “No, no boyfriend.”

I tapped my fingers on the mahogany desk. The thought of her wrapped around another guy, sharing kisses and whispering secrets, sent needles up my spine. “No fuck buddy or special friend?”

She scrunched up her face. “Not at the moment. Why? Would that be a problem?”

Yeah, it would be a fucking problem. “I don’t want my daughter around a bunch of fucking randos, that’s all.” That wasn’t it at all, but it was as good of an excuse as any. “Don’t bring guys to the apartment. If you need to scratch an itch, you’ll have to do it somewhere else.”

Even in the dim light, I could see the indignation in her eyes. “Okaaay.”

“I’m serious. This apartment is a no-fuck zone.”

Charlotte’s mouth twisted to the side and her nostrils flared. “No offense, Mr. Dorsey . But if I wanted to be treated like a child, I would have stayed at home in Colorado. Who I fuck is none of your business. I would never bring a man here, but that doesn’t mean I won’t be fucking someone. Don’t you worry… I’ll be sure to get a babysitter when I want to scratch an itch , as you so eloquently put it.” She turned to leave.

I stood and leaned on the desk. “Don’t you dare walk away from me when we’re talking.”

She spun back around. “Oh, is that what we’re doing? Talking? Silly me”—she smacked her temple with her palm—“I thought you were giving me a lecture on chastity. You may be my boss, but you don’t get to control my life!”

“If it affects my daughter, I do!”

Charlotte stomped back over to my desk and leaned on the opposite side, mimicking my stance. “I would never, and I mean never, do anything to harm Carina or put her at risk.” She raised a finger and shoved it in my face. “You know, everyone told me not to take this job and I’m beginning to see why. You’re a tyrant and a jerk face.”

“Jerk face?” I laughed. “I thought I’d been called every name in the book, but that’s a new one.”

“If the face fits…” She shrugged her shoulders.

All the tension drained from my body. Somewhere between being called a tyrant and a jerk face, she’d earned some respect. “I’ll get you a list of acceptable babysitters to use if needed. Do not take advantage of my generosity.”

“I won’t. It’s smart to have a backup plan. I’d also like a list of emergency contacts in case I can’t reach you.”

I jotted down a quick note. “Done.” It was something I should have thought of myself .

“Thank you.”

“What was the other thing?”

“Huh?”

“You said there were two things you needed. What was the second thing?”

“Oh, I was going to ask you if you wanted me to make you something to eat, but I’ve decided you haven’t earned the right to my cooking yet.” She shrugged her shoulder. “So, I guess you’re on your own.”

I stood there and stared after her like an idiot as she sashayed out of my office.

Food was the last thing on my mind, but I was hungry, nonetheless.