Last on the List (Wait With Me #5)(6)

“What’s a Zaddy?” Dakota asks with a wicked smile on her face. “And why did you say it with your nose wrinkled like that?” She giggles, her shoulders hunching up under her ears.

“’Cuz you gotta say it like that for the full effect.” I inhale and close my eyes before adding, “A Zaddy is a hot, intelligent older man who knows how to handle business inside and outside the bedroom. A little dominant. A little naughty. Makes you wet just thinking about him, and you low-key want to have his baby.”

“That’s really specific,” Dakota sputters, and my eyes pop open to see her face contorting with hysterics.

I swallow thickly. “Sorry, I’ve been reading straight smut the past six months, and he checks a lot of Zaddy boxes. Did you know we have a famous erotic romance author who lives in Boulder? Her name is Mercedes Lee Loveletter. You need to read her books.”

“Cozy…focus! You’re calling your new boss Zaddy!” Dakota exclaims and throws a pillow at me, laughing. “You are so screwed!”

“I know!” I say, shoving my face into the pillow to scream. “I basically felt like a pervert during the entire interview. I don’t even know what I said. I think I said…why do more when you can do less?”

“You used your new life philosophy in an interview?” Dakota looks horrified.

My cheeks flame with mortification. “It just stumbled out, okay? I could feel his hot, blue eyes staring at me the whole time I was talking to his daughter.”

“My God…what are you going to do around him all summer?”

“Nothing, obviously,” I snap defensively. “He’s rich, so I’m sure he’ll be busy and gone most of the time. Also, he looks like a guy who only bags size zero hot models who look like you. I bet he took one look at me and was like, she looks more like a cart horse than a racehorse…she’s hired!”

“Shut your fucking face. You’re gorgeous.”

“Trust me, I’m not fishing for compliments!” I argue. “But I’m a nutritional overachiever, and that type isn’t typically a number-one draft pick for rich assholes like him. Do you see anything about a girlfriend online? Maybe he’s taken, which will shut my libido down real quick.”

Dakota does a quick scan. “No obvious girlfriend in any of his Instagram photos. But look at this picture.” She turns her phone to me and shows me a photo of him and Everly at some beach. He’s wearing those tiny floral men’s trunks that hug his muscular thighs.

I snatch the phone out of her hands as my eyes zero in on his abs. “What kind of dad bod bullshit is that?”

“Right? He really does look like a Ken doll. Hopefully a bit more anatomically correct but a total Zaddy body, nonetheless.”

My head snaps up to my best friend. “You just learned that word.”

She shrugs. “I’m a quick study.”

I glance back down at the photo and lick my lips. His dirty-blond hair is that effortlessly sexy cut that’s trim on the sides with natural waves on top. I didn’t realize how long it was during my interview because he had it smoothed off to the side. But blowing in the beach wind like it is in this photo, looking artfully mussed with his smiling eyes all crinkly is positively mouthwatering. My hands itch to run my fingers through it.

“Is taking this job a big mistake?” I ask, my voice feeling thick in my throat.

“Why would it be?” Dakota inquires, clearly having no idea of the dirty thoughts going through my mind.

I hand her phone back to her. “Because I’m going to work for a hot, single dad billionaire who represents corporate greed and everything I hate in life?” Not to mention I’m not sure I’ll be able to stop my vivid fantasies from living rent free in my imagination.

“He’s not a billionaire,” Dakota corrects. “He’s only a millionaire. You’re going to be fine!”





“This looks great, Bettina, thank you,” I proclaim, standing in the small kitchenette of the guest cottage located on the backside of my property.

Bettina is my house manager and tends to all things domestic for me. She picks up her cleaning supplies and makes her way out as I walk a couple of steps over to the large sliding glass doors on the backside of the house. It overlooks Boulder Creek that lines about two hundred feet of my property. There’s a small, sandy beach area that Everly used to love to play in when she was little. I haven’t been back here in years.

This cottage used to be a boat house until a few years ago when I had my brothers turn it into one of those tiny houses that were all the rage on TV. This structure is only five hundred square feet, but with vaulted ceilings, lots of windows, and shiplap on the interior walls, it’s bright and airy and feels more like a luxury cabin. I installed high-end appliances, custom cabinetry, and even a small soaker tub with a waterfall showerhead in the bathroom. It might be tiny, but it has everything you’d ever need. The sleeping area even has a king mattress. Hell, I’d live out here. Seems a lot simpler than the eight thousand square feet house I currently live in…by myself most of the time.

My brothers did that remodel for me as well. The three of them work under my father’s construction company. They specialize in house flipping and remodels all over the Boulder area.

My dad had expectations for me to take the wheel when he retired, but I never pictured myself working on job sites for the rest of my life. As soon as I started business school, I knew I wanted to carve my own path in life. Something that required a suit and tie every day in an office setting. And when my franchise consulting business took off in my twenties, that all but secured the fact that I wasn’t going to have an active role in the family business.