“Where on earth would we go?” she asked.
Simon shrugged. “Wherever you want.”
“I couldn’t afford a fancy trip,” she said.
He gave her a hard stare. “I’m not asking you to pay. It’s all on me. Or Dover. They can foot the bill.”
“I can’t take more of your money—”
“Heather, I love you.” He sat down at his desk and turned on the desktop computer. “If you’re going to be my girlfriend, there are certain rules you’re just going to have to accept.”
She crossed her arms. “I don’t think I agreed to you bossing me around.”
“I’m not.” He frowned. “You don’t have to go on this trip with me if you don’t want to, but you still have to follow my rules.”
Her eyes narrowed dangerously. If he thought he was going to get away with being arrogant, he could forget it. “And what rules are those?”
“The rule that says I get to spoil you,” he said. “Spend an obscene amount of money on you. Shower you with gifts. Take you to all the places you’ve dreamed of going. Whatever you want, you can have. It’s about time someone took care of you.”
“Simon, you hate spending money,” she said.
“Yeah, on myself. But I’m working on changing that. Plus, I’m going to love spending money on you. Besides, you’re the reason I had the guts to invest in Dover in the first place. This place wouldn’t exist without you,” he pointed out. “So, do you want to come away with me?”
“A trip sounds nice and all, but I can’t leave Finn.” She had gone on business trips for work, but she couldn’t imagine leaving her son to go frolicking on some vacation. Even if it was a trip with Simon, she would miss Finn way too much.
“So, we bring him with us,” he said.
“What?” She paused. “You’d really be okay with bringing a six-year-old along on your vacation?”
“Sure. It could be like a family trip,” he said. “We can go somewhere that has all kinds of fun activities for kids.”
Butterflies fluttered in her stomach at the word family. She took a step closer to study him. His eyes met hers and she could see that he meant what he said. Simon was actually willing to go on a trip that would probably be frequently interrupted by a kid. Was he really thinking of them as a family? Already?
“I don’t think you know what you’re taking on,” she said. Believing that Simon could actually be up for all the things that dating a single mom entailed was utterly naïve. He’d agree to bring Finn, and hours into the trip he would probably regret it. Not that she’d blame him. Finn was a sweet kid, but Simon barely knew him. And he definitely wasn’t the fatherly type at all.
“So, let me find out. I’ll never know if I don’t try.” He paused. “Look, if you don’t want Finn and me to meet officially yet, I totally get that. I’m not trying to pressure you. I just want you to know that if Finn is important to you, then he’s important to me.”
Her throat tightened; a swirl of emotions threatened to overwhelm her. Tears pricked the back of her eyes. “He’s the most important thing to me and I want you get to know him. But Gary might not like it.”
“Will he ever like the fact that you’ve moved on with your life?” Simon asked. “Because it looks to me like Gary resents you for trying to be happy, and I don’t think that’s okay, Heather.”
“It’s not okay,” she conceded, “but he’s still the father of my child. How can I turn my back on that?”
“You’re not,” he said gently. “Moving forward with your life after the divorce doesn’t mean that you’re throwing Gary away. I think you’ve been remarkably patient with your ex-husband while he’s tried to take Finn away from you and dragged your name through the mud to do it.”
She sighed. Even with her newfound happiness she still had to deal with Gary trying to get full custody of her son. Court proceedings hadn’t been scheduled yet, but she knew it was only a matter of time before Gary dragged her in front of a judge to defend herself.