It Must Be Love (Love #1)

Chapter Two

Nigel

You know those ridiculous dreams where everything is all fuzzy and you can't really tell what's going on but it seems fantastic and you just never want to wake up? I was having one of those now, I didn't really know what was happening since it was all just a big blur, just as the dream was starting to become clearer I felt little hands slapping the side of my face and there went the dream, poof gone. When I opened my eyes I saw a frowning Kayla, I stifled a yawn then sat up and she immediately crawled onto my lap.

"Daddy I hungry" she mumbled burying her face in my chest.

"Well, morning to you too." I said tickling her sides and she giggled.

These were my favourite moments of being a father, seeing my daughter laugh and be happy. It made all the sleepless nights and struggles worth it. Sure my family helped where they could and offered support but most of the time it has always been Kayla and me.

"Go downstairs, I'll be there in a few minutes." I said and she jumped off then ran out of my bedroom. It was then that I noticed that it was just after 6am, an hour before we normally woke up to get ready. I flopped back onto the bed and groaned, I was exhausted. I eventually got up remembering that leaving Kayla alone for too long was a bad idea since the girl was so damn mischievous, I yawned then went into the bathroom, brushed my teeth and headed downstairs to make breakfast.

"What are you in the mood for today?" I asked when I found her on the kitchen floor surrounded by Lego blocks.

"Pizza." She mumbled distractedly, her focus mainly on the tall thing she was building in front of her.

"Cornflakes it is."

"But I want pizza." She got up grabbing my hand and looked up at me with doe eyes.

"No" I said laying down the law, "You can't have pizza for breakfast. Don't give me that look, I'm not falling for it, not this time."

Twenty minutes later I was bent over the oven pulling out the once frozen Margherita pizza, ready to serve it for breakfast. I fell for the stupid puppy dog look again, I shook my head disgusted with myself twenty nine years old and I couldn't say no to a toddler. I put a slice of pizza on her plate and was rewarded with a dazzling toothy grin.

After breakfast I put her in the bath then went down to clean the kitchen and do the dishes which took less than ten minutes. I went back into the bathroom and it looked like a rain storm had struck as there was water all over the floor, the bathroom rug was soaked.

''Daddy!'' Kayla squealed when she saw me, ''I look like Santa!"

I chuckled shaking my head, she had put the bubbles on her face which looked like a beard, the girl really was a creative little thing.

"Yeah baby, you look like Santa." I told her and she beamed at me.

The rest of the bath was spent with her splashing about and happily chatting about all she learned at school yesterday. We spent a good few minutes arguing about what she'd wear, she wanted to put on last year's Halloween costume which was a red body suit with The Flash logo on it, eventually she let it go and put on the jeans and t-shirt.

I left her downstairs watching cartoons as I took a quick shower, got dressed in a charcoal suit and a white shirt with no tie, I hated those things because they felt pretty restrictive. I got back downstairs, packed Kayla's lunch and soon we were out of the house, into the car and headed towards her school. I dropped her off and got to the office with eight minutes to spare.

The door to my office opened as soon as I sat down behind my desk, my brother Nick came strolling in with a smug smile on his grin. Nick was three years younger than me and he was honestly my best friend. He and I ran the company together since my father decided to hand it over to us as he retired early and travelled the world with my mother. Hamilton Industries was a company that we had built from scratch with my dad, it started with one small hotel and now it was twenty three worldwide as well as six shopping malls. I was extremely proud of our achievements, I wanted Kayla to have a life where she didn't have to struggle for anything and I was glad that I'm successful in providing for her.

I scowled at him, "Don't you knock?''

''Why?'' he scoffed, ''It's not like I'd be walking in on you banging someone.''

Before Tracy and I started dating, I was your regular playboy. Different girl every month, all of them wanted a go at the successful black man who was going against all the stereotypes of black men only being able to be successful if they were a rapper or athlete. I had a huge chip on my shoulder and a large amount of guilt I still carried around me like a suitcase at what had happened to my best friend in college, but that all changed when I met Tracy who was a Harvard freshman at the time. She had applied and gotten a summer internship at the company and played hard to get till finally, the chase was over and she was mine, we dated for two years till she walked out in the middle of the night leaving me with our baby.

I hadn't dated or been interested in any woman since then, my mother being a psychologist and all said that it was more because of insecurities and trust issues that had arisen due to Tracy's departure, while I insisted that I just didn't want to expose Kayla to a string of women and nothing to do with me putting myself out there again or whatever else.

''What do you want Nicholas? I'm actually quite busy.'

"Well, dear brother aren't you just welcoming." he replied sarcastically. "I actually came to talk to you about opening a second hotel here in Boston." He pulled out one of the chairs and sat down.

''The financials are looking good and the survey we did came back positive. Reginald told me about having to turn back people because the hotel is full at most times.'' Reginald was the manager of The Hamilton, which was situated here in Boston.

''Yeah I think that would be a good idea, we need to run it by the board and do some intensive studies and we can go from there.'' I replied with a nod.

"Good." Nick said then grinned, "How's my little terror of a niece doing?" I couldn't help the smile that formed on my face when he brought up Kayla.

"She's doing well, a tooth fell out a few ago and she was excited when the 'tooth fairy' came."

''The tooth fairy?'' He scoffed, ''Parents need to stop lying to kids''

My office door opened again and in strutted Jenifer Monroe like she owned the place. Jen was a beautiful raven head Latina with a fiery temper and the biggest of hearts.

"What is with the people in this family and not knocking?" I questioned eyeing the two of them and that's when I saw a nasty grin growing on her face.

"Aw, hear that Nick? He thinks of me as family." she snapped giving him a pointed look and he scowled at me then looked down avoiding her gaze and I chuckled.

The two have been together since their junior year of high school and Nick still hasn't asked her the question that every women wants to be asked, despite all of Jen's hints.

"And Nigel, I didn't see the point in knocking it's not like I was going to walk in on you with some girl." She said and Nick burst out laughing but stopped immediately when he saw the look she directed at him.

"Oh come on! I wasn't that bad.'' I defended, my past wasn't something I was proud of but these two were largely exaggerating it.

''You were.'' They said simultaneously

"Anyway, I came here for something." She said, taking a seat next to Nick.

''Nooo'' I gasped dramatically and she rolled her eyes.

''I need a favour.'' She suddenly gave me a sweet smile ''My cousin, Ava was supposed to arrive tomorrow but instead she's coming later today and I can't fetch her from the airport because Nick and I have a meeting with a potential investor."

Jen worked in finance and was damn good at her job, sure she got it straight out of college and as a sure display of pure nepotism but she worked hard and proved that she belonged here as much as anybody else, regardless of how she got the job.

''I would ask the driver, Wilson but he just left an hour ago because his wife was in labour so ... Please pick Ava up, pretty please with a cherry on top.'' she pouted giving me the puppy dog eyes she had so skilfully passed onto my daughter.

''Fine'' I mumbled and she grinned, thanked me then walked out throwing Nick a look.

''Those puppy eyes got you didn't they?'' He chuckled.

''Always do man, they always do''