Second Chance Daddy

Second Chance Daddy A Brother's Best Friend Billionaire Romance Aimee Bronson Copyright Copyright © [Year of First Publication] by [Author or Pen Name] All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher or author, except as permitted by U.S. copyright law. Contents Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapter 20 Epilogue The End Chapter 1 KaylaIt wasn’t him. The thought picked at my sanity, slow and deliberate, as my chest tightened from anxiety and excitement. But who was that man walking across the street? A bouncy little girl with her dark hair in a ponytail clasped his right hand as she was nibbling on a cookie. He bent down slightly to say something to her and she looked up at him with a huge grin that scrunched up her cheeks. She nodded at him excitedly and handed him her cookie, perhaps in surrender to whatever offer had just been made. The man accepted it with a smile. My nose was nearly pressed against the glass pane of the driver’s side window in my car, as I tried to get a better look at them. They were a bit too far to make out much detail in their profile as they walked down the sidewalk. But then, the mystery man looked up. And oh my God, it was him. A cold sweat broke out across my forehead and I felt my cheeks warm and go pink. My breath was fast and shallow, leaving moisture on the window. He looked exactly like I had forever imagined he would look all grown up. Tall, lean, gorgeous chestnut brown hair that was tied up in a bun that should have been hideous but really worked for him. A slight crinkle around his eyes–the color almost matched his hair–that was proof of his constant smiling, laughter, and general happiness. That smile. As beautiful as the first time I saw it. It was genuine, warm, and could draw anyone into his orbit. Just crooked enough to make him look like he might actually be real. He still dressed the same as I remembered. Fashionable and colorful. He had always been so playful in life and in his wardrobe. He wore a pink button-down shirt and I could see that there was a small pattern but couldn’t quite make it out. I couldn't help but notice that his jeans hugged him in all the right places. It might be strange to recognize someone so clearly after not seeing them for nearly ten years, but I could never forget that face. There weren’t enough days in my life for me to erase the memory of him. I tried to tell myself again that it wasn’t him and I couldn’t tell if I was hoping I was right or hoping I was wrong. But I knew, deep in my bones, that it was him. What was he even doing in Redenville, anyway? He left our small town in Ohio like a thief in the night, never to be seen again. I forced my body to pull my face away from the window and rested my temple on the steering wheel, heaving a sigh and letting all the breath out of my body. What was with this traffic?I glanced at the time on the dash. Great, I was going to be late.There was never traffic in this town. Roads were wide open and drivers generally had a steady hand and good traffic manners. But apparently that all changed today. The summer was always road construction time and even in this small town, it could cause some delays in the town center.But I didn’t need traffic or ghosts from the past making me late today. I needed to be on time; we were accepting five law students for internships in the District Attorney’s office. It didn’t help that I was late from the start after sleeping through my alarm. I really needed to stop staying up so late watching terrible movies and aimlessly scrolling through my phone. As I stared at the brake lights ahead of me, my brain suddenly registered a conversation I overheard my brother James having on the phone when we were at Nana’s yesterday. I wasn’t eavesdropping. He just had absolutely no discretion when it came to the volume of his voice on the phone. His voice boomed against the walls like a judge’s gavel. Nana swore it raised her blood pressure. But James didn’t know how to lower it. I wasn’t even sure he tried, or cared to try. Yesterday, he said to someone on the phone, “I can’t believe you’re finally back, bro. You've been missed.” I hadn’t thought much of it at the time. James had a lot of friends who came and went.But what if… I mean, James was his best friend. James had seemed really excited about whoever he had been talking to, which told me it wasn’t just our cousin who was home from Harvard for break or Aunt Janice who lived in Chicago now. I couldn’t really think of anyone else who would elicit such a reaction from James. I felt my face burn even hotter. I was not that little lovesick girl I was. “Get your shit together, Kayla,” I said out loud, as I pulled down the visor to look in the mirror. As I stared at my reflection, I reminded myself that I was a grown-ass woman with a great career. I was an attorney. I worked in the District Attorney’s office. I had big goals, and I knew I was going to achieve them all. He left a decade ago. He didn’t matter to me anymore. I took a long drink of water from the bottle that sat in the cup holder, thanking