Elijah: The Boss's Gift Read Free

was met with a wall of garlic and tomatoes.
    “Daddy, you’re here?”
    Around a corner, Cherry saw a brown haired girl
appear. She wore a pair of pajama shorts and a vest shirt.
    “Hey, honey,” Elijah said.
    Mindy threw herself into her father’s arms. “If you
hadn’t called I’d so be kicking your ass right now.”
    He chuckled, releasing Cherry’s hand to embrace his
daughter.
    “I saw that. You were holding her hand,” Mindy said, pulling
away and turning her attention on Cherry. “Are you my dad’s girlfriend?”
    What?
    Cherry shook her head. “No.”
    “This is a friend’s daughter,” Elijah said.
    “Which friend?” Mindy folded her arms across her chest. “Dad, if you’re
wanting to bring girlfriends home you don’t have to lie about it. She’s
beautiful,” Mindy said.
    Okay. Cherry didn’t have a clue what to say or do. Her face
was bruised, she needed a bath desperately, she’d been threatened with death,
and this girl thought she was beautiful. She really didn’t know how to handle
this.
    “My dad would have killed me if he saw the trouble I
was getting into,” Cherry said.
    “You’re wearing a maid’s uniform and you’re bruised.”
    “Again, bad
day.”
    Mindy stared at her for several minutes. “So you’re
not dating my dad?”
    The disappointment was clear to see on the young girl.
Cherry felt bad for her.
    “No, I’m not.”
    “Damn, here I was hoping you’d found a woman to deal
with your crap.”
    “Language,
Mindy.” Elijah scolded his daughter. It was strange to see.
Cherry rarely saw men telling their daughters off. She’d never had a father
herself. “Come on, I’m starving.”
    Mindy took her coat and urged her into the dining
room. “Sit, I’ll bring it all through.”
    Taking a seat beside Elijah, Cherry kept her hands on
her lap. Neither of them spoke as Mindy hummed bringing in pans filled to the
brim with sauce.
    “She makes a really good pasta sauce.”
    Cherry nodded, doubting he wanted her to talk. Her
life had taken a dramatic turn, one that she wasn’t really prepared for.

Chapter Two
     
    Ignoring his guest Elijah focused on his daughter,
asking her about school.
    “Dad, seriously, it’s boring,” Mindy said. “Serve up.”
    He stood, serving all three of them with pasta then
with the sauce and the slightly burned meatballs.
    “I’m sorry. I burned them. I needed to make sure that
the meat was cooked through.”
    “Don’t worry about,” Elijah said. Friday night was
always interesting on his taste buds. Mindy wasn’t the best cook, but at least
she tried.
    “You like to cook?” Cherry asked.
    She was another complication he didn’t want to think
about. He responded to her in a way he hadn’t responded to anyone since Mindy’s
mother. Elijah closed off the memories of Bethan. She’d been the woman he loved
more than anything else.
    “Yes, I love it.”
    Cherry nodded. “I like cooking.”
    “You do.”
    He watched Cherry as she talked with his daughter. She
wasn’t much older than Mindy, and he hated the need that Cherry inspired inside
him. They ate their food together with Cherry and Mindy talking about food. He
was surprised by how much Cherry knew, and from the look on Mindy’s face, she
was loving her already.
    When it was over, he sent his daughter off, as she had
done the cooking, and he carried the dishes through to the kitchen. He dumped
the leftovers in the trash.
    “Thank you for not crushing her heart.”
    “I’m not mean, and the food tasted okay.” Cherry took
the dishes and started to dry them up. “So what’s my job now?”
    “Clean, do whatever you want. I’m not interested in
dealing with your shit.”
    He shouldn’t be doing this. If Cherry went to the cops
he’d be in for a world of shit, but he just couldn’t bring himself to lock her
up. When she’d been tied to the chair, the fear in her blue eyes had struck him
hard.
    “I’m going to my office. Mindy will show you to