My answer was tapping on my shoulder. Whirling around, I expected to see Caden standing behind me. Instead, I stared up at someone else entirely and nearly fell backward.
“Ava!”
“You need to ask Daddy first, huh?”
The smirk on her face reminded me why I didn’t tell her about Caden. Then I realized something. Ava was here.
“What are you doing here? Why are you here? Why are you not in Europe? Where is Miles?”
Oh my God, did he propose, and Ava said no? Did they fight in Paris? Did they break off?
Trying to get a glimpse of her hand, I craned my neck, but I couldn’t see anything because Ava was wearing gloves. She reached out her gloved hands and touched my cheek to get my attention.
“Ray told us that you’re on the ground floor with Des and Samuel. I’m here to visit my favorite nephew. I’m not in Europe because our flight landed this morning, and Miles is upstairs helping Ray preparing pizza.”
“Miles is upstairs?”
“Yes, Miles is upstairs.”
That was a good sign, right? It must be good because I couldn’t imagine Miles being here if Ava said no. Still, I couldn’t just ask her because if he didn’t propose, it would open a can of worms.
“But why are you back so early? You were supposed to be in Europe until the end of the month?”
“Honey, it is the end of the month.” Ava stroked my cheek. Then she patted it and laughed. “Yeah, I guess a Daddy could make you can forget which day it is.”
“Umm…”
Blinking, I stared at my aunt and tried to remember what day exactly it was. It was ten days from the deadline for the edits for my new book. Today was Wednesday because on Wednesdays, Caden left early to meet up with his partners. Then we agreed that Sam would come over on Wednesday to have a look at the ground floor. I also knew that Robert's parole hearing was on the twenty-eighth, and that was tomorrow and…shit. Ava and Miles were supposed to come back on the twenty-seventh, which was today.
“Oh my. So, when can I meet this Daddy of yours?”
“What?”
“Whoever it is, he fried your brain. I need to meet him.”
Fried my brain? Blinking, I cleared my throat and shook my head. “My brain is fine. Thank you very much.”
“You forgot that we would be coming back today. And since you forgot, whatever your Daddy did to you, it must have been good.”
Instead of saying anything, I shrugged. What Caden did was more than just good. It was amazing. He was everything I ever wanted in a Daddy and so much more. But Ava was the last person I wanted to admit that to. Well, because…God, she was my auntie. Auntie would never let me live it down. She was right, sending me to the Rainbow Room. To prove me right, Ava grinned like a lunatic and ruffled my hair. Trying to turn the conversation in a different direction, I looked up at Ava.
“How was Europe? Did you have fun?”
“It was amazing. But I’ll tell you everything when we eat. Then I want to hear everything about your Daddy.” Ava held out her hand to help me off the floor. Then she looked at Des and frowned. “Wait. You’re not his Daddy, right?”
Giggling, I looked over to Des to see his reaction. I’d never seen him so shocked, but then he burst out laughing.
“I like Henry, but I see him as a sweet nephew. So no, I’m not his Daddy.”
Des was friendly and funny, but he was more of a fun uncle, not a strict Daddy. Looking over at Sam, he probably thought the same because he seemed to find the thought of Des being my Daddy hilarious. When he caught me looking at him, Sam started to laugh again. Ava touched my shoulder, and I looked back at her.
“So, it’s not Des. What about Ray then? Why is he here?”
I could have told her the truth. But right there and then, I decided that it would buy me some time to avoid further interrogation.
“Ray’s making pizza.”
“Yes, I saw that, smartass. But what is he doing here?”
“Umm…He wanted to make sure that I have pizza and not eat too many sweets.”
There. That wasn’t a lie, because Ray had said that we should eat the fruit first. Okay, until Des used the candy to get my attention while I made notes for Sam. Glancing over at Sam, I saw him frowning and shrugged. I just wasn’t ready yet to tell Ava about Caden. Because as soon as she knew about him, she would interrogate him. Shit. She could make a CIA agent blush with her methods. God, I needed to warn Caden. A tap on my shoulder had me looking at my aunt again, and not only was the smirk back, but there was also a scary twinkle in her eyes. Yup, I needed to warn Caden.
“Let’s go upstairs then. I think I’ll need to talk with Ray.” Ava ruffled my hair again before she looked around. “What are you guys doing here, anyway?”
“I’m renting out the ground floor to Jakob and Sam. They need a place for their office.”
“Oh my. Getting more social, finding yourself a friend, and a Daddy…” Ava grinned and did the eyebrow thing again. “Looks like I should go on vacation more often if that gets you out of your shell.”
“I’m perfectly fine in my shell.”
But my protest was halfhearted because Ava was right. It was nice to have a friend like Sam. Not to mention Caden was the best thing that had ever happened to me, and I loved having him in my life. But that didn’t mean I was ready to change my whole life.
Stepping into the elevator, I saw that Sam and Des were watching me. Sam looked curious but was frowning. Des had a goofy grin on his face. He was enjoying that Ray was about
