My Father's Boss (The Family Affairs Series) Read online

  My Father’s Boss

  Fiona Davenport

  Copyright © 2022 by Fiona Davenport

  Cover designed by Elle Christensen.

  Edited by Editing4Indies

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Created with Vellum

  Contents

  My Father’s Boss

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Epilogue

  Epilogue

  About the Author

  My Father’s Boss

  When one of the partners requested his daughter do her internship at his law firm, Beau Trahan reluctantly agreed. He didn’t want a high school student underfoot, but her dad was one of his top lawyers. The last thing he expected was to see Isabella Ford on her first day and want to make her his.

  All it took was one look for Isabella to fall for her father’s boss. She was afraid of how her father was going to react when he found out that she was in love with Beau…and that she’d been lying to keep their relationship a secret.

  Prologue

  Beau

  I stared out the window in my office at the Miami skyline while I half listened to Stanley Butler, my accountant, as he rattled off numbers for our upcoming budget meeting. He was leaving on his honeymoon in two days and wanted to make sure I had everything I needed.

  He usually worked out of one of our smaller offices closer to the small town of Fentonville, where his new family lived. So when he came to the headquarters, it was usually for important business.

  Yet I wasn’t paying much attention. I’d been feeling restless lately, less interested in work. Which was shocking, considering I’d been a workaholic since I had my first job at fourteen. My dedication and hard work were how, at thirty-eight, I had an established law firm with a highly coveted clientele and was a very rich man.

  I’d begun to wonder if I should have been more interested in dating. I hadn’t thought about having a family before, so I wasn’t sure what had prompted me to consider it recently. I still wasn’t sure if it was truly something I wanted. At almost forty years old, I was set in my ways and comfortable with my life. I wasn’t a fan of change or anything that upset the careful balance of my life.

  “Well, I think that’s everything,” Stanley said as he stood from his chair, drawing my full attention. “I’ll be back in two weeks. But if you need anything while I’m gone, my stepdaughter, Magnolia, will have my contact information.”

  I frowned. “You’re going on your honeymoon, Butler. I doubt your new wife would be very happy to share you with me or anyone else. Focus on your wife and have a great time.”

  Stanley grinned—a look I’d never seen on him until he met his fiancée. Stanley had always been on the stodgy side, conservative and rather boring. Since meeting “Bunny,” as he called her, he’d seemed lighter, more relaxed…happy. “You’re right,” he agreed with a nod.

  “I’m sorry I won’t be able to attend the wedding,” I said regretfully. I had a business trip with a client in the middle of a messy lawsuit who needed hand-holding.

  Stanley waved off my concern. “We completely understand.” Then he approached my desk and leaned over to shake my hand before leaving my office with a spring in his step.

  A small smile curved my lips as I shook my head. He really had become a sap. Did I want to be a love-sick fool too? No woman is worth that.

  I turned my chair to face the darkening sky once more, but a knock on my door had me swiveling around again.

  “Come in,” I grunted when I spotted Ellis Ford, one of my senior partners, standing there with a couple of thick black folders with the firm's logo printed on the front. “Have a seat.” I gestured to one of the tufted leather and wood chairs facing my desk. Once he was situated, I rested my elbows on my desk, steepling my fingers. “What can I do for you, Ellis?”

  “I have a favor to ask.”

  Ellis was my top attorney—almost as good as me and worked just as hard. He’d more than earned a favor, even with the large bonus I added to his salary every year. “Name it.”

  “My daughter, Isabella, is a senior in high school and in her last semester. She has to complete an internship to graduate, and the one she’d lined up just fell through.”

  I had a sinking feeling I knew what he was about to ask.

  “I was hoping she could fulfill the requirement by working here a few days a week until the end of the semester.”

  It took a lot of effort, but I managed not to let my annoyance bleed into my expression and kept it neutral. The last thing I needed was a kid running around underfoot here. Disrupting everything.

  I wasn’t exactly a kid person—another reason I wasn’t seriously considering settling down. Not that I’d had much experience with children. I had no siblings, and neither had my parents.

  However, Ellis was worth the trouble. I’d just make sure his daughter stayed out of my way.

  “Sure,” I intoned.

  Ellis smiled. “Great. Thank you. She’ll start in a month.”

  I nodded, keeping my mouth shut so I didn’t change my mind and blurt it out.

  “She’s smart, a straight A student. She’s also very detail-oriented and a fast learner. I was thinking we could assign her to a junior associate. Someone who could help her learn some paralegal work.”

  Excellent idea. “She can work with Kevin.” He was young and wet behind the ears, but he’d been top of his class at Harvard, was determined to rise in the ranks, and worked his ass off. He’d have more time to show her the ropes and get some help preparing for his big case coming up in three months.

  “Perfect,” Ellis said as he relaxed back in his chair. “I’ll let him know. Izzy only has a full class load on Tuesday and Thursday, with morning classes on Monday and Wednesday. So she’ll be here by eleven on her half days, then back for a full day on Fridays.”

  I shrugged. “Whatever she needs. Kevin will be ecstatic for the help. He’s been asking me, but we’re short on admins and paralegals.”

  Ellis smirked and shot me a knowing look. “You won’t even know she’s here.”

  I raised an eyebrow, amused with his intuition. “I suppose we’ve been working together long enough for you to know what I’m thinking.”

  “Sometimes,” he chuckled. “You certainly don’t give any hints with your expressions. Then again, that’s what makes you the best lawyer in Miami. But I know how you hate change and disruptions.”

  “True,” I agreed. Then, happy to have something to change the subject, I pointed at the folders he’d set on the chair next to him when he took a seat. “The Lowe case?”

  Ellis nodded and picked them up, handing one to me and opening the other on his lap.

  For the next two hours, we went over a particularly difficult case that we were litigating. Once he left, I tried to work for a while but gave up when I couldn’t focus.

  Something about Ellis’s daughter being here was itching my brain, but I didn’t have the first clue as to why. I shrugged it off, sure that I’d more than likely never even meet her and resolved to put her out of my mind permanently.

  1

  Isabella

  I’d been so worried to tell my dad about my internship falling through. I needed it to graduate, and I thought he’d be disappointed in me. I’d been surprised when he’d told me not to fret about it because he’d find me something else.

  I hated to let him down. My dad was a bit of a perfectionist, which was probably a big part of what made him such a great lawyer. But that also meant he expected a lot from his only child—me.

  I earned straight As, participated in plenty of extracurriculars, and was the captain of the cheerleading squad. I had racked up more than one hundred volunteer hours and scored a fifteen hundred on my SAT. All signs indicated that I’d be accepted to every college I applied to. I was on track for great things, or at least that was what my dad liked to tell me.

  What I’d never shared with him was that I had no desire to go to a fancy school and earn a specialized degree. He wouldn’t understand why I was looking forward more to what came after my education—falling in love, getting married, and building a family. I wanted to earn a degree, but I was happy to go to a local community college because what I wanted most was to stay home with my kids like my mom had done with me.

  But ever since my dad had gotten me an internship at his office, all he’d been talking about was how I had the chance to discover if I might want to go to law school after college. As I followed him into the building where he spent at least ten hours a day unless he was in court, he was going on about it again. “This is a great chance for you, Izzy. The paralegal you’ll be helping was top of his class at Harvard Law. He can give you tips about the campus.”

  I’d gotten my acceptance letter to Harvard in mid-December as part of their Restrictive Early Action program. I didn’t have to give them my answer until the first of May, but my dad already had it in his head that I was def
initely going there. He hadn’t pushed for me to reply to them yet because I was waiting on decisions from a few other Ivy League schools.

  “I know this is a great opportunity, Daddy. Thanks again for talking your boss into letting me do my internship here.”

  His gaze darted toward the Mercedes parked in the spot closest to the door. Lowering his voice, he said, “Try your best to stay out of his way. You’re the first high school intern he’s allowed in the office, and he didn’t seem thrilled by the idea when I asked.”

  I came to an abrupt stop, my eyes widening as I stared at him. “Why are you just telling me this now? I would’ve found something else if I knew your boss didn’t really want me here.”

  “I didn’t want you to worry about it too much over the past month. You had more important things on your plate like making sure you kept those grades up during your last semester. Ivy League acceptances aren’t a sure thing until after you’ve registered for your first semester.” He patted me on the back before nudging me forward.

  “Yeah, but now I’m freaking out right before I start my first day,” I muttered as I followed him into the building.

  “You’ll be fine. Kevin will keep you so busy, you probably won’t even get the chance to meet Beau.” He flashed me a reassuring smile.

  I made a mental note to avoid his boss at all costs. I didn’t want to do anything to mess up my dad’s position here when he’d worked so hard to become a partner. “If things go horribly wrong today, at least I’ll have the entire weekend to recover from the embarrassment before I come back on Monday.”

  “Nothing is going to go wrong,” he insisted as he led me toward a cluster of desks. “Isn’t that right, Kevin?”

  A young man in his mid-twenties jumped out of his chair and nodded. “I’m sure it is, sir.”

  Kevin was exactly as I’d pictured him in my head when my dad told me who I’d be working with for my internship. His brown eyes were earnest as he stared at my dad. His brown hair was trimmed short, there was no hint of a beard on his face, and he was wearing a three-piece suit. He had Harvard Law written all over him and was the male version of what my dad hoped I would be in eight years. Maybe if I’d had a brother like Kevin, he wouldn’t have been pushing me so hard to follow in his footsteps.

  “I was just telling my daughter that you have plenty of tasks for her to do while she’s here,” my dad explained, tilting his head toward me.

  Kevin nodded, looking relieved. “Absolutely, sir. I’m glad for the help.”

  “Her paperwork for human resources has already been filled out, so I’ll leave you two to get to work.”

  As my dad walked away, I found myself wondering if he’d brought home all those forms for me to fill out in advance because he wanted to make it more difficult for his boss to back out on my internship if he changed his mind. With that on my mind, my smile was weak when Kevin gestured toward the chair next to the one he’d been sitting in. “I thought it would be best if I showed you the systems we use before I give you a few things to do on your own.”

  “Sounds like a great idea to me.” I figured they couldn’t be too hard to learn since I used a ton of technology in school, but my dad had mentioned the specialized stuff the law firm needed. I sat down and swiveled my chair to see his computer screen as he walked me through the email software, messaging platform, document management system, task management software, and legal research tool they used. Once I was familiar with everything, he showed me to a desk at the end of the row.

  I spent the next hour reading through the information Kevin had provided about his first big case. By the time I was done, I had a list of about twelve questions to ask him. Pulling out the login information my dad had brought home for me last week, I logged into the messaging platform and sent Kevin a quick note to update him on my progress. Then I dived into the next task he’d given me.

  About thirty minutes later, he came over to check on me. “How’s it going, Izzy?”

  “Pretty good.” I tapped my monitor. “I think I found a couple of cases you might want to look over for possible precedents.”

  Moving close, he leaned over my shoulder to peer at the case I currently had pulled up in the legal research tool. I highlighted the section I thought would be most helpful, and he nodded after reading through it. “Good job. Send me the information for this case and the other one you found. They might be useful.”

  “Will do.”

  “You said you had some questions?”

  “Yes.” Grabbing my notepad, I ran through the first half of them pretty easily. Then I had to pull up some of his notes in the document management system to explain the rest. We were discussing the last few when a drop-dead gorgeous man strode into the room, and it felt as though all the air was sucked out. Idle chit-chat stopped, and everyone started to look very busy. Kevin took a step back so he wasn't hovering quite so close over my shoulder.

  “Who is that?” I whispered.

  I didn’t need to point at the guy for Kevin to know who I was asking about. “That’s Beau Trahan. He’s the big boss.”

  Holy crap! He was the managing partner my dad was always talking about? I’d always pictured someone much older than my dad, with gray hair, glasses, and a bit of a belly. But Mr. Trahan was nothing like I’d imagined. He was probably five to ten years younger than my dad and tall with lean muscles. His dark hair was thick and wavy, and his gorgeous blue eyes were intense as they met mine. I felt his stare deep in my core and was alarmed to find my panties getting damp. I’d never reacted to a man this way before.

  My timing couldn’t be worse. Being attracted to my dad’s boss was completely inappropriate. It totally sucked to know that he didn’t want me here. I felt as though my body was betraying me, and I crossed my arms over my chest to hide how my nipples had pebbled. The motion only made things worse since his eyes narrowed as his gaze dropped to my chest. I had the awful feeling that I would be spending the upcoming weekend apologizing to my dad for getting fired from my internship less than a few hours after it had started.

  2

  Beau

  When I left my office to hunt down my absentee assistant, the last thing I expected to find was the first woman to cause my body to react in longer than I could remember. As I stared at her, I quickly buttoned up my suit jacket to hide the evidence of my sudden arousal.

  Silky brown curls were held back with a clip on each side of her head, but little tendrils had escaped to frame her gorgeous face. Her eyes were almost the same color, except they had little flecks of amber that I imagined would sparkle when she was happy. She had high cheekbones that were dusted with pink, pouty lips that were meant for filthy things and generous tits that made me want to fall to my knees and worship them. Her waist wasn’t all that small, but the sexy curve of her hips gave her an hourglass figure that any 1940s pinup would have been jealous of. She looked to be around half a foot shorter than my six-foot-three frame, and I could tell that she would fit into my body perfectly.

  Just before she’d crossed her arms over her chest, I’d watched her nipples grow hard and poke through her white, button-down blouse. My mouth watered at the thought of sucking on those stiff peaks. And knowing she wasn’t immune to me made my temperature rise to dangerous levels.

  Hunger for her gnawed at my insides. Not only had my body stirred but it had also burst to life with a vengeance. It hadn’t taken even a split second to know that I’d do whatever it took to have that beauty writhing beneath me. And it only took another few moments for me to decide that she was also the woman I wanted a future with.

  Movement behind her shoulder caught my attention, and I reluctantly tore my eyes away from my bombshell to see Kevin standing stiffly behind her…too close behind her. My brow furrowed, and he shifted his weight nervously. Then he glanced at her, and I narrowed my eyes before taking measured steps—attempting to calm myself before I did something stupid—across the room until I stood in front of them.