Free The CEO Daddy Next Door by Karen Booth Page A

Carolina? Or had he played along with the ruse of a romance with the Manhattan Matchmaker for the benefit of himself and his company? Only to put an end to it when he realized they’d gone much further than he’d ever intended?
    She’d seen so many different sides of Marcus last night, it was hard to keep up. There was no longer any doubt in her mind that a fiery, passionate Marcus was beneath his rigid exterior, but he’d built a damn fortress around himself. Had it been a necessity after his divorce? It was the most logical guess, but she didn’t have much faith in rational thought, or at least not her own. Logic said that a man with an impressive erection who had an eager and naked woman in his arms didn’t hesitate to make love to her. Either she was truly distasteful or something much bigger was keeping him from her. She’d gotten too close to him last night, and as a result, he’d banished her to the other side of the moat, pulled up the drawbridge, and retreated to his own bed.
    â€œKnock, knock.” Grace poked her head into Ashley’s office. “What a night, huh? Or should I say, what a kiss?” Her eyebrows bobbed up and down.
    Ashley should’ve known she’d get teased about this. “Please don’t give me a hard time about it. You asked for romance. We gave it to you.” Romance. Ha. More like no-mance.
    â€œI would never give you a hard time about this. Are you kidding me? The network brass love you today more than they’ve ever loved you, which is saying a lot. The ratings for the first episode tonight are going to be massive. Through the roof. They can’t wait to see the numbers on Monday so they can start raking in advertisers’ cash. There’s a whole pile of money to be made, you know.”
    Money. That was the sole silver lining. Everything else about this made her queasy. Marcus abhorred the idea of her, at least when it came to romance, and the world thought quite the contrary. She was going to get questions about Marcus for days. Weeks, maybe. She knew the tabloids well enough by now. This morning’s papers would not be the last of the kiss that blew up in her face.
    â€œI’m happy they’re happy. I hope it will help Marcus’s business and he’ll let me finish my renovations in peace.” Her voice trailed off as her eyes were again drawn to a photo of the kiss. Good God, he was sexy. Just looking at the picture made his sexiness resonate in her body, followed by a flood of rejection, sadness and even anger—feelings that did not play well together.
    â€œHold on a second. Was there not a major love connection last night? Because it sure as hell looked like it.”
    â€œLet’s just say the connection fizzled.” Her voice wobbled, betraying her intention to not let anyone know how much this bothered her.
    Grace sat forward. “Are you okay? Do you want to tell me what happened?”
    Ashley shook her head. “I really don’t want to rehash it. I’m glad that last night was good for business, but it’s going to take me some serious time to heal from it. Being rejected by Marcus Chambers is not fun.”
    â€œHe rejected you?”
    â€œIs that so hard to believe? You know how he feels about me. Last night was just the final nail in the coffin. At this point, all I want is to finish my apartment and avoid him until the day he moves back to England.”
    â€œAnd when is that?”
    She cleared her throat. “I think he has a five-year work visa.”
    â€œAshley, this is silly. I’m sure that whatever happened last night was a misunderstanding.”
    â€œNo way. This is a dead subject. Time to get whatever mileage we can out of last night and move on.”
    â€œUh, yeah, about that. The higher-ups were emphatic with me this morning. They want more of you and Marcus. They want more of this.” She leaned forward and tapped one of the