I finally understood what happiness felt like. I’d thought I’d been in love before, but this was different. I couldn’t explain it other than to say I wanted him to be my forever.

If I hadn’t believed him when he said it, I was a firm believer after he made love to me a second time. He took his time getting me off with his mouth and then by moving slowly in and out of me. Just thinking about it made my lady parts tingle. He lay beside me with one arm over his head, deep in sleep. So what had woken me?

The noise came again. Was that a knock?

I got to my feet, pulled on Gavin’s shirt, and padded across the dark wood floors that covered the entire apartment except the bathrooms. A louder knock came and this time I used the peephole.

My father stood on the other side. I opened the door. Good thing Gavin's shirt hung low.

“Dad.”

He smiled. “You don’t know how long I’ve waited to hear you say that.”

It had slipped past my lips without a thought. The only other family I’d had were my grandparents.

I wasn’t sure how he would take it, but I moved in for a hug. He was tall but not as tall as Gavin, so he didn’t have to bend down to hug me back.

He pressed a kiss to the top of my head. “My lovely daughter, I’m sorry if I woke you.” Then his eyes found the floor and I looked back, spotting the clothes Gavin and I’d discarded along the way in a trail to the bedroom. “It seems I’ve interrupted.”

I was mortified. Never once in my life had I’d been caught by my mother, and the second time I spoke to my father, he saw this. My face flamed.

“It’s okay. I’ve come to terms about you having a boyfriend.”

Color me stupid, but what?

He sighed. “I mentioned that I kept tabs on you guys. I saw you go to your first dance.”

I wasn’t sure how to feel about that. “You spied on me. That’s a little creepy.”

His smile turned sad. “It was all I had. I just watched from afar. If I couldn’t be in your life, I didn’t want to miss those moments.”

“How do you know it was my first dance?”

“I can’t be sure, but I kept your school calendar and found out what activities you participated in. I wasn’t there for it all, trust me. But I saw that dance: You wore a blue dress, your favorite color. I saw your prom, senior one. Your high school and college graduation and a few things in between.”

There was something forlorn about his story. How could I fault him for trying to share moments with me and protect me at the same time? I couldn’t imagine what he felt like.

“I wish you could have been there.”

“Me too.”

He pointed to the bedroom, which I’d left open. “Is he sleeping?”

I nodded, still mortified my father knew I’d had sex.

He exhaled and I remembered why he was here in the middle of the night. “It seems my brother is fascinated by you. He mentioned you told him you had a boyfriend. I guess that also helped prepare me.”

Paint me red about Gavin, but what he’d said after was worth talking about. “It’s super weird my uncle asked me out. Can’t you tell him who I am?”

“No.” The word came out with an edge of alarm. “I haven’t stayed away from you all these years to have my dad and my brothers find out about you. You would be a bargaining chip they could use against me.”

I didn’t like hearing that.

“So how are we going to handle this?”

“My father is dying. He told them about me. Alonzo is here to make sure I don’t want in on the family business. He’s not leaving anytime soon, so you have to go back to Maryland to your mother.”

“But—”

“This is not up for discussion. They could kidnap you and take you to South America to a place where you have no rights and belong to the one who controls the government, my father, or my brothers once he dies.” He stroked a hand down my cheek. “You are the love of my life. You mean more to me than anything in this world. So I have to fire you.”

I gaped.

“Don’t worry, Kelly will fight for you. She likes you a lot and sent me several emails today begging me not to do just this. So I will offer her to transfer you to a new position with my lobbyist group.”

“What lobbyist?”

“They work for my global nonprofit that fights to get the poorest people in the world food and clean water. I need someone to help with the marketing campaign and give a fresh look to the materials we hand out that are so often discarded.”

This didn’t sound like a fly-by-night plan.

“You’ve thought a lot about this.”

“I have as I poured liquor down my brother’s throat to both get information and have him out for the night so he doesn’t bother you. I’m actually relieved your young man is here, though I would have gotten a report letting me know he entered and hadn’t left.”

It was the second time he left me gawking.

“It’s a security thing. I wasn’t planning to abuse my power to pry in on your life. I promise.”

I nodded.

“So it’s going in my file that you fired me?”

“It’s for the best. It will throw the scent off that there’s anything between us. If my brother is here, who knows who’s watching. As it is, I need to leave here soon. But one more thing: The intern program in D.C. also offers housing, something we do as an added benefit. But since the address you listed on your application was at your mother’s in the area, you won’t get it.”

I puffed my cheeks and blew out a breath.

“I know at your age you want your independence. I have a place in Georgetown that’s yours.”

“But if I’m there, can’t someone link me to you?”

He smiled. “Like I said, it’s yours. I bought it years ago to give me a place to stay when I wanted to see you. It’s in your name. I didn’t want anyone to track me, either, so do with it as you like.”

Georgetown was one of the ritziest places to live in Washington, D.C.

“I can’t accept it.”

“You don’t have to. It’s in your name like I said. It’s yours, along with everything in it, including the car in the back.”

Surely I was dreaming. Okay, my father was a billionaire, but I never thought.

“Because your mother tried to keep you a secret, I couldn’t pay child support. All I could do was grant you college scholarships to make up the difference your mom couldn’t pay. I should also say I gave others scholarships too so it would look on the up-and-up. I owe you so much more than the house.”

I didn’t argue because I could tell it would be a losing battle. I’d figure out what to do with the house later. I did need a place to stay. Going home to Mom and Lee wasn’t appealing.

“Will I get to see you?”

“Not for a while. Once my brother leaves the country, maybe. Everything needs to blow over first.”

I hugged him again.

“I’m sorry it has to be this way. But you have my number if you need me. Last thing: Do not go into the office. Alonzo has a meeting in the morning if he was telling me the truth, but I don’t want you to run into him. Leave for D.C. straightaway sometime after nine. You should be good. But leave before eleven. We’re supposed to have lunch, and he might come here first. Do you need a way to D.C.?”

“Gavin.” When his brow lifted, I added, “He can drive me.”

“One day I’m going to meet this man and put the fear of God into him.” He grinned. “That is what a father’s supposed to do.”

Then he told me the code to the garage and where to find the house key in a hidden lockbox. He kissed my cheek, said goodbye, and then he was gone.

He was a good man who cared about me, and I was sure about Mom, too. He had a nonprofit to save the world. He was another superhero in my life. How lucky could I be?

I turned toward the room and thought about the man in the bed waiting for me. Yes, I was lucky indeed. I picked up our clothes on the way back to bed.

Would Gavin be happy about us going back to Maryland? He would be closer to his dad. That was a worry for him even though he tried to hide it. He’d come for me, and now we could go home.