Chapter 1

Will

I was still getting used to living in this apartment. It was so different than the one my wife and I had shared with Avery. This one was definitely smaller, which was okay since I had to take care of it on my own, but it still didn’t seem to hold the charm that Megan had put into our place. I may have been a billionaire, but she’d never wanted a designer. She had always had her own sense of charm and appeal and made our surroundings feel like home. I looked around the empty walls and shelves, and I figured maybe it was time to enlist some help. But not at that moment. I had a business dinner to get ready for since it was only a few hours away.

I walked past Avery’s room and peeked around the corner to watch him play with some of his toys. He had a vivid imagination, and now that he was five, I was going to start getting him some toys that really started pushing his brain a bit. I smiled and walked into my office, where I sat down to go through the notes at my desk for the business dinner. I opened my file and looked down at the papers, immediately seeing parts that needed to be changed. I slapped my palm against my jacket breast pocket, attempting to find my pen, but it wasn’t there. I never could seem to keep pens, even the really nice ones I got as gifts.

I opened the bottom drawer, but my supply had been depleted and I had forgotten to order more. I sighed, pulling open different drawers of the desk and shutting them again with no luck. I stood up and walked over to the corner table and slid open the small single drawer. As I reached in to pull out a pen, I stopped and looked down at an old picture of my wife, Megan. She had been dead for almost two years, and there wasn’t a day that went by that I didn’t think about her. When I met Megan, she was stunning, with long, strawberry-blond hair, freckles, and the kind of smile that would melt any man’s heart. I fell for her immediately, and she for me, and it didn’t take long before we were dressed in white, saying our vows.

Being without Megan was more than difficult, and with the two-year anniversary of her death coming up, I was trying desperately not to think about her. That was pretty much impossible since every time I looked at Avery, I saw Megan. She used to keep me calm, remind me not to get ahead of myself, and she always made sure I left home with a pen. It was her thing. When I lay in bed at night, I thought about her, missing her lying next to me in her cute little nightgown with flowers printed across it. I hadn’t been with any woman since her death, and I was okay with that. I never wanted to disrespect Megan’s memory, especially not by bringing strange women in and out of the house and letting Avery see that. With or without Megan, I was hellbent on teaching Avery how to be a good man, how to treat women well, and how relationships were supposed to be.

I walked back over to the desk and sat down, staring at the files in front of me. I pushed Megan out of my mind, knowing I needed to be strong for my son and my always attention-grabbing career. Being the CEO of a big engineering software development firm was a lot to handle, and I couldn’t afford to constantly get distracted. I looked up as Avery rounded the corner, flying one of his toy planes through the air and making shooting noises as he landed it on my desk.

“Hey, buddy,” I said, wrapping my arm around him and kissing him on the top of his head. “I was just going to come talk to you.”

“About what, Daddy?”

“About tonight and how Daddy will have to work,” I replied.

“Aww, man,” he said, pouting. “I hate when you work at night.”

“I know,” I replied. “But I have a really important business dinner.”

“I could be your assistant,” he said, standing tall.

“I appreciate that, and one day you will grow up to be my partner—even better than an assistant,” I said, “but for now I think it will be best if you stay at Grandma’s house. It will just be for one night, and then I’ll come back and scoop you up.”

“Will I get to ride the fast train?”

I chuckled. “Yep. All the way there and all the way back. It’s much quicker than trying to drive through the city and then off to Grandma’s house. What do you think?”

“Well,” he said, looking up at the ceiling, “I mean, I really like being around Grandma. She always gives me cookies and tells me really good bedtime stories. Last time she let me stay up until nine at night to finish a movie. She said I could be a big boy for the night. And if I get to ride the train there and back, then I guess I’m okay with it. But I want snacks packed in my bag because the train food is yuck, and I want to bring my stuffed bear with me.”

“You are quite the negotiator.” I smiled. “I have taught you well. All right, if those are your demands, then I accept.”

“If you’re going to be doing business tonight, do you really need to be doing business now?”

I looked at Avery and the sad look on his face. He just wanted to spend time with me. I had been busy with work recently and hadn’t had a lot of extra time. I let out a deep breath and smiled at Avery, closing the file.

“Would you like to go get ice cream?”

“Yes,” he said excitedly.

“Good,” I replied. “Go get your shoes on, and we’ll go over to that soft-serve place you like in Manhattan.”

“Awesome,” he yelled, running from the room.

I laughed and shook my head, looking over at the drawer where Megan’s picture was. I took a deep breath and pushed down the pain, standing and clicking off the office light. Work could wait another hour. It wasn’t going anywhere. When we were leaving, we passed the neighbors’ daughter, Ella, in the hallway. I almost didn’t recognize her in her tight jeans and Harvard T-shirt with her long dark hair and perfect skin. She was not the awkward teenager I remembered from when I moved in.

“Ella,” I said happily. “You’re home from Harvard. How are you?”

“Oh, hi, Mr. Scott,” she said, smiling.

“Please, call me Will,” I replied, taken aback by her beauty. “And you remember Avery.”

“I do,” she said, smiling at my son. “And yes, I’m home for spring break. I had the option to stay, but I really missed New York and my family, so I drove back home a couple days ago.”

“How is school?”

“It’s hard.” She laughed. “But I didn’t expect Harvard to be a cake walk. All in all, I really love it, but I do have to admit that a week away is nice. Oh, and I was going to stop by your place this evening to talk to you.”

“You were? Have you changed your mind and decided to go into engineering so you can come work for me after graduation?”

She laughed. “No. My major is still in education. I wanted to let you know that if you need anyone to watch Avery over the next week, I can babysit any time. It’s almost impossible to work while going to Harvard, and I like to make a little money on the side so I’m not racking up bills on my dad’s credit card all the time.”

I chuckled. “Understandable. I’m sure your father appreciates that.”

She smiled. “I’m sure he does, too.”

“Well, if you’re interested,” I replied, “I actually have a really important business dinner tonight. It’s with some clients I just can’t put off, and the event has been planned for quite some time now. I have a nanny who helps on a regular basis, but she’s out of town this week. I was going to take him over to my mom’s. We were going to leave in an hour or so. She lives in Hudson, in a nice little neighborhood over there. The biggest issue with that is the two-hour train ride—both ways. He was going to have to spend the night there because by the time I’m done with the meeting, he will already be asleep. There’s no point in waking him up to take a two-hour train ride back home in the middle of the night. So, having overexplained all that, if you have time, I’d love to have you sit tonight.”

She laughed. “Okay. Yes, definitely. What time do you need me to come over?”

“That’s awesome,” I said, relieved. “We’re going to get ice cream, and I have to get ready. How about six?”

“That’s perfect,” she replied. “Are there any allergies or anything I should be aware of? I know kids change as they get older.”

“Nope. Just his ‘allergy’ to broccoli,” I said.

“Well, I guess that means no broccoli ice cream,” she said, looking at Avery.

“Yuck,” he said, making a disgusted face.

We parted ways, and I took Avery to get ice cream, reminding him to behave himself with the babysitter. He was always a good kid, so I really wasn’t worried. When we got back, it was around five, so I jumped in the shower and got ready for the dinner. It was a black-tie event, so I had to get my tux out, something I hadn’t worn since my wife was alive and we attended the Christmas ball with the company. I had to admit, though, I looked pretty suave in it.

When Ella knocked on the door, I let her in. We both stood still, shocked, in the entryway, staring at each other’s attire. She was wearing tight black spandex pants, a tight cropped shirt, and a long sweater over the top. I, of course, was wearing my tux. She was obviously dressed for comfort, but she looked insanely sexy.

“You look nice, Mr. Scott,” she said, smiling.

“Please, call me Will,” I replied. “My number is on the fridge. Call me if there’s an emergency. I’ll call the house phone when I’m on my way back.”

“All right.” She smiled as I headed for the door. “Have fun and land the big deal!”

I paused when she said that. My wife used to say that to me every time I left for a meeting. I shook the thought from my mind and headed out the door. I couldn’t let that distract me, not this time. However, distraction seemed to be the name of the game. Even though the dinner went off without a hitch, I couldn’t stop thinking about Ella in that sexy-ass outfit and how it had hugged her body perfectly. I was still thinking about it when I got back to the apartment. I tried to divert my eyes every time she walked past me while cleaning up from the fun they had.

There was just something about her that made me feel unhinged. I wanted to take her right then and there in the living room, but I had to be in control of myself, right? Maybe I could use a little distraction with the anniversary of my wife’s death coming up. Ella was a woman, and not just any woman. She was incredibly intelligent, had this rocking body, and all the visions of her being a little girl were gone. Maybe a woman was just what I needed to remind myself that I was a man—and to help me move on from my wife. Maybe Ella would fit that bill perfectly.