7- Daddy Without Knowing It
1377 Words
“This is the last time,” Parker muttered as she balanced a laptop bag over one shoulder while trying to keep hold of Luca’s hand.
“You said that last time,” Luca replied cheerfully.
“I meant it this time.”
“You meant it last time too.”
Parker sighed.
He wasn’t wrong.
His elementary school had unexpectedly closed for the day after a burst water pipe flooded several classrooms, and Sophia had been called into an emergency meeting with Theo.
There was no babysitter.
No backup plan.
Only one option.
Bring Luca to work.
“You have exactly three rules,” Parker said as they stepped off the elevator onto her firm’s executive floor.
Luca held up three fingers.
“No running.”
“Good.”
“No touching important stuff.”
“Excellent.”
“And no asking lawyers if they’ve ever been to jail.”
Parker narrowed her eyes.
“You remember.”
“I learned my lesson.”
“You absolutely did not.”
He grinned.
“No.”
She couldn’t help smiling back.
“Come on.”
⸻
For nearly an hour, Luca was the picture of perfect behavior.
He colored dinosaurs at the small table in Parker’s office.
He quietly munched on crackers.
He even entertained himself by building tiny paper dinosaurs out of sticky notes.
Parker almost believed she’d survive the day.
Almost.
Then her office door opened.
“Ready for the strategy meeting?”
Maxton stepped inside carrying a stack of contracts.
His words died the moment he noticed the little boy sitting on the floor.
Luca looked up.
“Oh.”
Maxton blinked once.
“I didn’t realize we had company.”
Parker stood.
“My babysitting plans fell through.”
“I can be very professional,” Luca announced.
Maxton looked at him.
“Can you?”
“No.”
A laugh escaped Maxton before he could stop it.
Parker noticed.
It was the first genuine laugh she’d heard from him since he’d walked back into her life.
It sounded… familiar.
Luca stood and marched confidently across the room.
“I’m Luca.”
“I remember.”
“I’m five.”
“So I’ve heard.”
Luca nodded.
“Mom says you’re helping with the big case.”
“I am.”
“You wear a lot of suits.”
Parker closed her eyes.
Please don’t…
Maxton glanced down at himself.
“I guess I do.”
“Why?”
“Because I have meetings.”
“My teacher has meetings.”
“Does she?”
“She wears cardigans.”
Silence.
Parker bit the inside of her cheek.
Maxton looked strangely thoughtful.
“So… maybe I should buy a cardigan?”
Luca nodded seriously.
“I think you’d look friendlier.”
Parker laughed.
Actually laughed.
She quickly covered it with a cough.
Too late.
Both boys looked at her.
Boys.
The thought slipped into her mind before she could stop it.
One grown.
One small.
Both wearing the exact same amused expression.
Her chest tightened.
“Well,” Maxton said, “I’ll consider expanding my wardrobe.”
“I think blue would be good.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
⸻
An hour later, Parker was buried in contracts.
She barely noticed Luca wandering around the conference room.
Until—
“Hey.”
Maxton frowned.
“Where’s my pen?”
Parker looked up.
“The black one.”
“The Montblanc?”
“Yes.”
She scanned the table.
Nothing.
Maxton checked his jacket pocket.
Nothing.
Then—
A tiny giggle came from underneath the conference table.
Both adults slowly leaned over.
Luca sat cross-legged beneath the table, proudly writing in his dinosaur coloring book.
With Maxton’s expensive fountain pen.
Parker’s eyes widened.
“Luca!”
He looked up innocently.
“What?”
“That’s not your pen.”
“I borrowed it.”
Maxton folded his arms.
“Borrowed?”
“I was going to give it back.”
“When?”
“When I was done making the T-Rex purple.”
Maxton stared.
Then shook his head.
“I’ve negotiated with crime syndicates.”
Luca blinked.
“I think you’re scarier.”
Parker covered her face with one hand.
“I’m so sorry.”
To her surprise, Maxton crouched beside the table instead.
“You know…”
He held out his hand.
“I usually don’t let anyone borrow this pen.”
Luca carefully placed it back into his palm.
“Sorry.”
“It’s okay.”
Then Maxton reached into his briefcase.
He pulled out another pen.
A nice one.
Not nearly as expensive.
“This one…”
He handed it to Luca.
“…you can keep.”
Luca’s eyes grew huge.
“Really?”
“Really.”
Parker looked up in surprise.
Maxton simply shrugged.
“He likes pens.”
“He likes stealing them.”
“I borrowed it,” Luca corrected.
Maxton smiled.
“Right.”
⸻
The meeting was delayed after lunch.
One of the executives hadn’t arrived yet.
Which left Parker reviewing documents.
Maxton answering emails.
And Luca…
Growing bored.
Very bored.
“I’m bored.”
Parker didn’t look up.
“I know.”
“I’m really bored.”
“I know.”
“I’ve reached maximum boredom.”
Maxton closed his laptop.
“Maximum?”
“It’s very serious.”
He looked around the conference room.
Then noticed a small cabinet against the wall.
He walked over and opened it.
Inside sat several board games left behind from previous corporate family events.
One caught his attention.
Chess.
“No.”
Luca wrinkled his nose.
“Too hard.”
Another.
Checkers.
“Boring.”
Finally—
Connect Four.
Luca gasped dramatically.
“Now we’re talking.”
Maxton set it on the table.
“You think you can beat me?”
Luca grinned.
“Oh yeah.”
⸻
Twenty minutes later…
Parker looked up from her paperwork.
“…Did you just lose?”
Maxton stared at the game board.
Luca threw both arms into the air.
“I WIN!”
“I noticed.”
“You said you were good.”
“I thought I was.”
“You are not.”
Parker couldn’t stop laughing.
“I can’t believe you lost to a five-year-old.”
“I underestimated him.”
“You underestimated me,” Luca corrected.
“Apparently.”
Luca climbed into the chair beside him.
“Want to play again?”
Maxton looked at him.
Then smiled.
“I do.”
So they did.
Again.
And again.
Each game filled with playful trash talk.
Tiny victories.
Loud celebrations.
For the first time in years…
Parker watched Maxton simply exist.
Not as the feared Sutton heir.
Not as the intimidating businessman.
Just…
Maxton.
The boy she’d once known.
The man she still couldn’t stop loving.
Her heart ached.
Because this—
This should have been their life.
⸻
Late that afternoon, Dominic stepped quietly into the conference room carrying another folder.
He stopped just inside the doorway.
No one noticed him.
Maxton and Luca were sitting shoulder to shoulder, studying the Connect Four board with matching expressions of concentration.
Parker was watching them with a softness Dominic had never seen before.
Then Luca laughed.
Not loudly.
Just enough to make him throw his head back.
As he laughed, he rubbed the back of his neck with his left hand.
Dominic’s attention shifted to Maxton.
A few seconds later, Maxton did the exact same thing.
The identical unconscious habit he’d had since they were teenagers.
Dominic frowned.
Coincidence.
Maybe.
Then Luca smiled.
A crooked grin that pulled more on one side than the other.
The exact smile Maxton wore whenever he was genuinely happy.
Maxton looked at the little boy and smiled back.
The same smile.
The same tilt.
The same expression.
Dominic’s brow furrowed.
“That’s weird.”
Maxton looked up.
“What?”
Dominic kept his eyes on Luca.
Then back to Maxton.
Finally, he said quietly,
“You two smile the same.”
The room fell silent.
Parker’s heart slammed against her ribs.
Maxton looked at Luca again.
Really looked at him.
This time, his gaze lingered just a little longer.
As if seeing something…
Someone…
…he couldn’t quite explain.
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