Single Dad Sat Alone at the Bar—Then His Cold CEO Boss Smiled and Asked, “Will You Buy Me a Drink?”
Chapter 1
By the time Daniel Brooks sat down at the corner of the bar, he had already had the kind of day that made a man forget how old he was.
He was thirty-six.
He felt sixty.
His seven-year-old daughter, Lily, had gone to bed with a fever that morning, his babysitter had canceled at the last minute, his car had refused to start, and at work he’d spent ten hours being treated like a walking mistake by the coldest woman in the city.
His boss.
Victoria Hale.
CEO of Hale & Mercer, one of the fastest-growing consulting firms in the country.
She was thirty-nine, brilliant, beautiful, and nearly impossible to impress.
She never raised her voice.
She didn’t need to.
One look from Victoria could make an executive forget the sentence he’d been speaking.
Daniel had worked there for four years.
He respected her.
He feared her.
And, in a secret corner of his mind, he had a ridiculous little crush on her that he had carefully buried under spreadsheets, coffee, and overtime.
He would never act on it.
She was his boss.
He was a single father with a seven-year-old daughter and exactly zero room for complications.
Still, tonight, he needed ten minutes.
Just ten minutes where nobody needed anything from him.
The bartender placed a glass in front of him.
“Rough day?”
Daniel gave a tired laugh.
“You could say that.”
He loosened his tie.
His phone buzzed.
A message from Lily’s babysitter.
Fever is down. She’s sleeping now. Don’t worry.
Daniel exhaled.
For the first time all evening, his shoulders relaxed.
“Thank God.”
“Talking to yourself?”
Daniel looked up.
His heart stopped.
Victoria Hale stood beside the empty stool next to him.
She wasn’t wearing the suit she’d worn at the office.
Instead, she had on a black dress, a long coat, and her hair was loose around her shoulders.
She looked less like a CEO.
More like a woman.
Still intimidating.
But human.
Daniel almost dropped his glass.
“Ms. Hale?”
She smiled.
Actually smiled.
It was so unexpected that he looked behind her to see whether someone else was standing there.
Victoria laughed softly.
“Don’t look so frightened.”
“I’m not frightened.”
“You are.”
“I’ve had a long day.”
“So have I.”
She sat beside him.
Daniel straightened.
“What are you doing here?”
“Having a drink.”
“You don’t usually come here.”
“You’ve been following my drinking schedule?”
He choked.
“No.”
She laughed.
Then, after a few seconds, she turned toward him.
Her expression became strangely gentle.
“Will you buy me a drink?”
Daniel blinked.
“Sorry?”
“You heard me.”
She rested one elbow on the bar.
“Will you buy me a drink?”
Daniel stared at the woman who could purchase the entire bar without checking her bank account.
“You can afford your own.”
“I know.”
“Then why ask me?”
Victoria’s smile faded into something quieter.
“Because tonight, I don’t want someone to treat me like a CEO.”
Daniel looked at her.
He didn’t know what to say.
So he raised two fingers toward the bartender.
“Whatever she’s having.”
Victoria smiled again.
“Thank you.”
Daniel took a sip.
Then his phone buzzed once more.
He checked the screen.
A photograph of Lily sleeping under a pink blanket.
He smiled without realizing it.
Victoria noticed.
“Your daughter?”
Daniel nodded.
“Lily.”
“She’s beautiful.”
“She is.”
He put his phone away.
Victoria looked at him for a long moment.
Then she said something Daniel never expected to hear.
“I’ve always wondered why a man like you would go home every night alone.”
Daniel frowned.
“What does that mean?”
Victoria looked down at her glass.
“It means I’ve noticed you.”
He stopped breathing.
And for the first time since Daniel had joined Hale & Mercer, he had no idea what his boss was thinking.
