I straighten my shoulders. Draw a deep breath. Speak the truth. “I would say that you have an amazing daughter and an incredible son. Maybe you ought to focus a little bit more on them.” I take a beat, hoping to give weight to my last words. “Because she’s amazing in spite of you, not because of you. Have a great day.”

I walk away, letting Claude know he can see her out. That’ll make him happy, since he’ll be doing his job.

I need to do mine too. The job of being a great boyfriend.

Once I’m upstairs in the office, I make phone calls. I pull strings. I call in favors.

“Can we get that done by the end of the day?”

The woman on the other end hems and haws. “That’s going to be hard.”

“I’d really appreciate whatever you can do to rush this.”

“I’ll do my best.”

I don’t want to wait to give this to Sabrina. I want to give it to her tonight.

When I hang up, my phone rings, her name flashing on the screen. I answer immediately, and she asks if I have time to meet her.

“Absolutely.”

34

Sabrina

I can’t help but grin when I see Flynn at the coffee shop by his office.

Here he is looking business handsome in dark jeans and a simple white-and-green-striped button-down that doesn’t look like it costs a million bucks. It looks like it costs maybe sixty or seventy dollars and I kind of love that he doesn’t have to flaunt anything except his big brain. I do like that part of him.

We order tea and coffee and grab seats at a small table.

“What are you smiling about?” he asks.

“I was thinking about your big brain.”

“I was hoping you were thinking about my big dick.”

“Trust me, I’m thinking a lot about that too, but right now I’m thinking about something else.”

His voice is kind when he says, “Is it your mom? She stopped by this morning.”

A bolt of tension slams into me. This is my nightmare—my gold-digging mom fishing for Flynn. “What? She stopped by to see you?”

Please say no, please say no.

He reaches across the table for my hand. “She asked for money.”

I gasp, covering my mouth with my free hand. A fresh, hot wave of embarrassment crashes over me, threatening to pull me under. Mortification has a new definition—me. Flynn detests being used. I can’t bear that he might have thought I played a part in her appearance. “I’m so sorry. She showed up this morning out of the blue. I had no idea she was going to do this. I didn’t tell her to find you.”

“I know.” He squeezes my hand. “It’s okay, Angel. I told her no. In fact, even when she tried to pretend you’d sent her over, I knew she was lying. I didn’t fall for it.”

Pinching the bridge of my nose, I shake my head. “This is a new low for her.”