Damaged Secret Daddy

Damaged Secret Daddy A Forced Proximity Second Chance Romance Callie Stevens Copyright © 2023 by Callie Stevens 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. Contents 1. Grayson 2. Lillian 3. Grayson 4. Lillian 5. Grayson 6. Lillian 7. Grayson 8. Lillian 9. Grayson 10. Lillian 11. Grayson 12. Lillian 13. Grayson 14. Lillian 15. Grayson 16. Lillian 17. Grayson 18. Lillian 19. Grayson 20. Lillian 21. Grayson 22. Lillian 23. Grayson 24. Lillian 25. Grayson 26. Lillian 27. Grayson 28. Lillian 29. Grayson 30. Lillian 31. Grayson 32. Lillian 33. Grayson 34. Lillian 35. Grayson 36. Grayson 37. Lillian Accidental Baby For My Brother’s Best Friend Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Also by Callie Stevens Chapter 1 Grayson I hate traveling. Absolutely hate it. I hate the endless flights, though I don’t mind the champagne in first class which I always imbibe in. It calms my nerves and I love the taste of it. I hate the hotel rooms, even though they’re six-star hotels, the predictable continental breakfast with the waffle maker that I don’t know how to use. It’s not like I’m not grateful that I have the money to splurge to stay in luxurious hotels and take first class flights or my private jet, but it’s just that it becomes… monotonous. It’s like I’m living the same day over and over, some kind of endless time loop. “What do you expect, since you haven’t gotten laid in God knows how long?” my best friend Lox said after a night out when I’d complained to him after turning down three different women. “Why should I bother? It never lasts,” I replied, and Lox snorted out a laugh. “That’s the point, Gray. It doesn’t last, so you don’t have to worry about it.” I remained silent. Lox didn’t get it. He never would. He went through several girls a week. Loxton didn’t understand what it was like to be in love and have it all taken away from you. I sigh heavily as I wait for everyone else in first class to get off the plane, not wanting to get caught in the hustle and bustle. I’m traveling with only a carry-on since I’ll only be in town for a day, settling a deal for my family’s company. I’m on the board of my father’s company, a chairman, and I do a lot of the legwork. My father doesn’t like to leave his home office, which makes it my job so he doesn’t have to leave it very often. I focus on work and work alone, which explains why Loxton clowns me for not picking up women. But I learned a while ago that women are a waste of time. They’re just distractions, and I don’t need to be distracted. I have a plan, and that plan is what’s most important to me in life. It may not have always been that way, but that’s how I feel now. Once upon a time, I thought my life would be different. Fuller, happier, a loving one. But then… Well, the past is in the past and I refuse to think about it. It doesn’t matter, anyway. Now I’m focused on getting out of my father’s company. I want to be successful in my own right, without the nepotism of having the last name Whitlock. I’m tired of people thinking I get by without working hard. I’m smart and I’ve worked my whole life to earn the position I was supposedly born into. Unlike my best friend, I actually care about the image I present to the world. And though Lox is my best friend, that doesn’t mean I want to be lumped in with him and what he does, so I hate seeing the scrolling words beneath our pictures in the news stating: multi-millionaire playboys Grayson Whitlock and Loxton Breckwood partying the night away at Hollywood Hills. Especially, since most of the times, he is the one partying, and I’m just there occasionally , and even then, I only stay for a bit. The two of us couldn’t be more different. Lox and I both grew up with money, but he chooses to float along in life without pressing forward and having ambition. I don’t want to just slide by in life because I grew up rich, and I want to make my own way in life, outside of my last name. Being Grayson Whitlock isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. It’s a lot of work, despite the lazy playboy fame attached to my name. I look around the airport, barely remembering the name of the town I’m in. It’s somewhere in upstate New York, thousands of miles away from Los Angeles where I live. My parents settled in Hollywood, but I didn’t want to settle down in a gated community. Instead, I live downtown, and I love it. I like the city sounds late at night, the trains. They lull me to sleep. I don’t mind the constant background noise. It’s the silence I can’t bear. The thought of having to listen to myself think when I’m alone. Upstate New York is a lot quieter than my city, or New York City, for that matter. It’s snowing and I sure hope that the rental car I’ve reserved has snow chains. I’m not used to snow, living in balmy California, so I hope the car does most of the work traveling on the ice. Luckily for me, the snow isn’t too bad, and I’m able to navigate to a nearby diner because my stomach is rumbling something fierce. I haven’t eaten before boarding the plane, and I’m paying for it now. Despite all the money I grew up with, I’m not a picky eater. In fact, I prefer eating simpler, homemade cooked meals. Sometimes,