“You wanted to see me, sir?”

It was strange entering the CEO office through the main door instead of from the side entrance. I saw Blake several times a day when I used his private suite to pump, but this was different. That was a nice man doing something kind for the single mom. This was the CEO of the entire company summoning me.

“Come in,” he said without looking up from his computer. “And call me Blake.”

I took advantage of the fact that he was typing on his laptop and wouldn’t catch me staring at him. It was a rare pleasure; he had his suit coat off, and his white shirt was open at the neck. The sleeves were rolled up revealing muscular forearms with a smattering of brown hair. His skin was tanned, so clearly he didn’t spend every second in the office, though he appeared to.

What kind of things did he do in his free time? I didn’t have the slightest clue though it was evident he spent some time in the gym. Was he on a sports team? Did he play video games with his buddies on the weekend? Those seemed like far too normal pastimes for someone that handsome. That rich. His family was worth a fortune—my new coworkers gossiped about it all the time.

They didn’t know much information about him personally, though, and I had to admit I was curious. Too curious. I had a baby. A baby with a missing father.

I faltered a few steps from Blake’s desk. My stomach dropped as my thoughts turned to Zorro. What it was like being in his arms. How we’d genuinely connected. He was the man I should be thinking about, not Blake. Zorro was kind, handsome, considerate, and most importantly, he was Zoe’s father. I shouldn’t be thinking about anyone else until I’d found him. If I ever did.

“You can come closer than that.”

Startled, I looked up. Blake’s deep brown eyes were on me now. He nodded his head, indicating one of the chairs in front of his desk. I sat down and crossed my legs, looking at the back of his laptop to keep myself from staring again.

“How are you?” he said.

“Fine, sir. I mean Blake.”

“You don’t need to…?” His eyes went to the door of his private suite, and I bit back a laugh. He was adorably clueless when it came to absolutely everything about babies.

“I’m good.”

“Good,” he said, echoing me, looking relieved. Which was funny—he didn’t seem like a man who’d shy away from talking about female anatomy under ordinary circumstances. A few times, I’d caught him looking at me in a way that made shivers dance across my skin. It had to have been my imagination-a man who looked like that could have any woman he wanted. Doubtful he’d pick an employee who had a baby.

“I’ve got a project I’d like you to help me with. Did Vera explain it to you?”

“No, sir. Blake.” Damnit, why couldn’t I remember that? He was such an impressive figure in a suit. Authority radiated off of him. But I remembered the way he’d held me yesterday when I’d been so upset. I’d thought of him as a regular man then. There had to be some way I could talk to him normally without going to either extreme—a sobbing mess or an awed underling.

“This corporation hosts a lot of meetings and conferences. We have our own in-house food production, but for big events, sometimes I prefer to order food from specific restaurants and have their staff cater the event.”

I nodded as I listened to him. Catering was something I knew about, given that it used to be my job. Before Zoe. Before Zorro.

“Vera usually deals with that,” he continued. “Occasionally, though, I like to try out new places that we can use. What can I say,” he said with a grin. “I like good food.”

He patted his stomach, but it was a wasted effort. I’d bet my car that he had at least six-pack abs under his shirt. I’d seen the way he moved and the way his dress shirt flattened against his stomach. Not that I was supposed to be noticing those things about the CEO.

“There’s a new Italian place I’m considering for an important meeting next week, a get-together of several other CEOs, both friends and rivals. The spread has to impress, so I want to check the restaurant out. And I need you to come and take notes.”

“Of course,” I said. Talk about a dream assignment! Eating at a fancy restaurant with a gorgeous man? Count me in. “Anytime.”

“Good. We have reservations at six.”

“Tonight?”

“You just said anytime.”

Oh. Right. I had. “I—I have to pick up my daughter.”

He leaned back in his chair and steepled his fingers together. “From daycare?”

“From the sitter.” I tried not to let disappointment leak into my voice. The image of him sitting across the table with one of the other women on his personal staff was a disturbing one.

“Maybe she wouldn’t mind watching your baby for longer. I could pay—“

“No,” I said in alarm. He’d already given me access to his private suite—I wasn’t about to let him pay a babysitter as if we were a couple. Besides, Hazel wasn’t just any run-of-the-mill sitter. She’d do whatever I asked because she was a wonderful woman. It didn’t seem right to ask her to do even more. She already went above and beyond by treating Zoe and me as if we were her own flesh and blood. Like Jana.

Jana! Maybe she could go pick up Zoe. But then I remembered she was at some kind of teacher conference today and wouldn’t be back until tomorrow night.

“Call her. Maybe she won’t mind.” Blake’s words were mild, but something about the tone reminded me that I was talking to my CEO. It had sounded like an order.

He pushed the phone on his desk a few inches toward me, but I shook my head, pulling my phone out of my bag. I stood up and walked a few feet away, toward the sofas on the other side of the room. Seeing those reminded me of when Blake had walked in on me half naked that first day. That thought made my cheeks redden as Hazel answered.

Quickly, I explained that my boss wanted me to work late. As I suspected, she said it was no problem to keep Zoe for longer, but I wasn’t entirely sure that was true. Watching a baby all day was extremely tiring. I had six months’ worth of proof of that fact. Hazel was three times my age—she had to be exhausted. But she’d never admit it.

“Don’t worry about it at all. Zoe and I are fine. We’re about to make cookies. Well, I am. She’s going to supervise, so we’ll both be spending our evening with our bosses.”

I chuckled at her joke. Hazel and Zoe would be okay, but still… this still felt like an imposition. Or was it that I was apprehensive about going somewhere with Blake? That thought came out of nowhere, and on its heels were additional concerns. I was wearing a black skirt and a floral, button-down shirt. Not exactly proper attire for a fancy restaurant. Not proper attire to dine with a man who looked like a Greek god, either.

Thanking Hazel, I hung up the phone, facing Blake. He’d obviously been listening in to my side of the conversation.

“I’ll have a car out front at quarter till. See you then.”

Yes, he would. Whether it was a good idea or not.

* * *

“I love these mushrooms,” Blake said. He popped another one in his mouth, and his eyes closed in enjoyment.

“Me too,” I said.

“Add it to the list.” He somehow managed to open his eyes and wink at me at the same time. Oh. Right. The list. I was supposed to be taking notes. Trouble was, Blake didn’t seem very interested in dictating anything. So far, after forty-five minutes of trying an incredible array of delicacies, I’d only filled a dozen or so lines in my notebook.

I had to admit the food was first rate. And so was my dining companion. I may have been underdressed, but he fit right in with his black suit that probably cost more than the dress I’d worn at the ball.

Oops. Thinking of that always made me feel guilty that I shouldn’t be enjoying another man’s company when I still hadn’t found my masked stranger. The man who’d given me Zoe. Despite that concern, I was still enjoying his company, and unless I was very much mistaken, he was enjoying mine as well—which was something of a novelty.

The past half year had all been about parenting for me. Cleaning up messes. Dashing to the store for diapers wearing sweats and holding a screaming baby. Putting my hair in a ponytail because I hadn’t had time for anything else. Needless to say, none of that seemed to draw in men. Not that I had time for them anyway.

But right now, thanks to Hazel’s kindness, I had a gorgeous man in front of me—which still felt surreal. To anyone passing by, unless they noticed the notebook, this probably looked like a date. I knew better, and Blake knew better, but still, this was the first thing in a heck of a long time that even appeared date-like. An image of Zorro and me in the greenhouse, sharing the bottle of wine, that magnificent Latour, flashed through my head. I pushed it aside. He wasn’t here. I wished he were, but he’d vanished. There wasn’t anything I could do about that now.

“Try some of this cheese.”

Blake held out a white cube with darker swirls in it. I wasn’t sure what it was, but everything I’d tasted so far had been utterly delicious. Leaning toward him, I opened my mouth. He placed the cheese on my tongue, and for a moment, his index finger grazed my bottom lip. Warmth radiated from the spot he touched. Suddenly, I wished I could close my lips around his finger and taste him. Tease him. Too bad he wasn’t on the menu.

And even if he was—that wasn’t what I should be ordering. I had a baby. A job. That meant eating healthy if boring food. Not rich, decadent food. If Blake were edible, he’d clearly fall into the latter category. Though in his dark suit with his flashing brown eyes, he looked pretty damn edible to me. Damn.

“So tell me about yourself.”

Ugh. I hated questions like that. There were so many directions I could go, and I didn’t want to head toward any of them. “I’m twenty-five. I work at Hollister Holdings. In the CEO’s office, in fact.”

His eyes gleamed as he grinned at me. Oh god, had I made him think I wanted to play? Or worse, flirt? He was my boss. A fact that I’d just tried to remind him of.

“And how’s that working out for you?”

“So far, so good.”

“What’s your boss like?”

“Competent,” I said instantly. “In-charge. A strong leader.”

His smile widened, and his chest visibly expanded with pride. I almost felt bad about what I was going to say next. “Her name’s Vera. You’d like her.”

Blake blinked twice and then chuckled. He raised his glass of a deep, rich red into the air and clinked it against my water glass. No wine for me until I stopped nursing. “She is a treasure, I’ll give you that. But what’s her boss like?”

“He’s… umm…” I wasn’t sure what to say to that. In the first place, I didn’t know how I felt about him. In the second place, I didn’t want to encourage him. Despite his statement that this was a business dinner, it truly felt like a date. And that was one thing I couldn’t do right now, even if I wanted to. I had a baby to raise. A baby with a missing father—a fact that made me feel guilty every time I admired the way Blake’s muscles moved under his shirt. Every time he said something that made me smile. “I guess I don’t know him that well.”

“Yet,” he said instantly.

“Yet?” I echoed, less certainly.

“Well, you’re off to a good start. You’ve known him for just two weeks, and you’ve already woken up next to him.”

I frowned at his phrasing. Or at least I tried to frown. But I had to admit, it was funny. Reluctantly, the corners of my mouth tilted upward.

Blake looked encouraged. “And he’s already seen you without your clothes on.”

I froze.

He didn’t appear to notice. “That makes you two practically dating, doesn’t it?”

My hand shook as I plucked my napkin off my lap and placed it on the table. “No, it doesn’t.”

Hastily, I stood up. Blake immediately stood as well. “Are you okay?”

“I need to go,” I said, and did just that, grabbing my purse.

He caught up to me by the bar. “Penny, what’s wrong?” He clutched my arm, but I twisted out of his grip.

I headed toward the front lobby, and Blake walked with me, matching my steps. “What’s wrong?”

Did he really not know? I glanced around. There were two greeters at a station by the door, but they were carefully not looking in our direction, giving us space. I spoke in a low, rapid tone. “Do you know the only thing more humiliating than having a strange man see you undressed? Having your boss see you like that. And do you know the only thing more embarrassing than that? Having him bring it up again.”

His eyes were troubled. “I’m sorry. I didn’t think.”

Looking at the floor, I weighed my response. I couldn’t say ‘obviously’ to my boss even if I wanted to. Maybe he hadn’t meant to embarrass me, but damnit, he had. For two weeks I’d done my best to suppress that humiliating memory. Otherwise, I would’ve completely shut down whenever I saw Blake.

He’d done so many thoughtful things since then. Allowing me the time I needed to pump. Giving me the use of that beautiful room. Chatting with me several times a day after I used it. He was the CEO of the company, so that meant I couldn’t shut him out, not if I wanted to keep my job. But more than that—I’d thought he was a nice man. Until he said that, so… casually. As if it hadn’t been one of the most mortifying things that had ever happened to me.

“Penny.” His voice was low, and he waited until I looked up at him. “I sincerely apologize.”

I nodded. It was the only concession I could give him at the moment. The humiliation was too fresh.

“I’m serious,” Blake said.

“I know,” I said at last. “But it’s not a joke to me. And that’s what you made it sound like.”

“I wasn’t thinking about it from your point of view. I’m sorry.” He put his hand on my arm, waiting a moment to see if I’d shake him off again. When I didn’t, he guided me to a nearby chair and sat down next to me. Now it felt like it had on the bed in his office. He was a big, strong man sitting next to me, and for some reason I wanted him to hold me in his arms, stroke my hair, and tell me everything was going to be all right. Not just with this, not just with the job, but with Zoe, and everything.

But he was my boss, not my father. My own father was gone, and he’d quit comforting me long before that.

Blake’s arm twitched, and I wondered if he was thinking about how he’d held me close to him yesterday, too. After a minute, he rested his hand on his knee. “You shouldn’t feel embarrassed about me seeing you like that.”

A sharp exhalation left my lips. “Why not?

“Because you’re a beautiful woman.”

What? Seriously, had he really just said that? “So… it’s all right if a complete stranger sees a woman with her clothes off if she’s pretty?”

“No!” he said, his mouth tilting downward. “I just meant… if you were embarrassed about how you looked, you shouldn’t be.”

I leaned forward and rested my elbows on my knees, my forehead in my hands. “So glad you were evaluating me during the most humiliating moment of my life.”

“No, I wasn’t. It wasn’t like that. I just—shit, I’m doing this all wrong. Let’s reverse our positions.”

That utterance was puzzling enough to make me look up at him.

“Say it was me in my boxers and you had walked in on.”

“Okay,” I said slowly, trying—and failing—not to visualize him like that.

“Imagine yourself having two different reactions. In one, you clap your hand to your mouth, horrified. You run out of the room. In the other, you stare at me, lick your lips, and smile. For me, only the first one would be embarrassing.”

Really? That’s how he would have reacted? “Men truly are from different planets.”

“I’m beginning to see that,” he said ruefully. “I guess I thought you might be worried about how you looked.”

I shook my head and then buried it in my hands again. My voice sounded muffled when I spoke. “Would a man really not be upset to have a stranger walk in on him?”

“I doubt it. I wouldn’t.”

“Well, I would. Most women would.”

“Okay, I get it. You’re embarrassed that I saw you at all—you weren’t even thinking about what I thought about it.”

“I wasn’t…” I said, leaving the ‘but I am now’ part unsaid.

“Penny, I wasn’t trying to ogle you. Honestly. I was surprised—no one was supposed to be in my office. And not only was someone there, but she was undressed and breathtakingly lovely. I turned around as soon as my brain jumpstarted again, but in that time, yes, I looked at you. I couldn’t help it. And I noticed you were beautiful, just like I noticed that the tablecloths are silver and the carpet is navy. Those things are all obvious—I’d have to be blind not to see them.”

He hesitated, and I softened a little. He really was trying to make this better.

“I’m sorry that you were embarrassed, and I really wish you could find some way not to be. But I won’t apologize for thinking that you’re a beautiful woman.”

Emotion stirred up inside me. Frustration at him for not understanding. Pleasure at his words. Confusion over this whole situation. “You shouldn’t say that.”

“Probably not,” he agreed. “But it’s true.”

“You’re my boss.”

“Yes. And I won’t mention it again. But I hope you understand that making light of it before, and saying you’re beautiful now, I was trying to prove that you don’t have anything to feel embarrassed about. Do you believe me?”

“No. Yes. I don’t know.”

There was a long pause, and then Blake said, “As long as you’re sure.”

Turning my head away, I smothered a smile. How could he do that to me when I was still upset? The man had an uncanny ability to slip under my defenses.

“Will you please forgive me and finish the meal with me?”

He stood up and held out his hand, almost as if he were asking me to dance. From my seated position, he looked so tall, so powerful. Yet he wasn’t ordering me as my boss. He wasn’t demanding anything as the alpha male I suspected he sometimes was. He was genuinely asking. And it was clear that he wanted me to say yes.

I put my hand in his and stood.

“Yes.”