The Billionaire's Baby 3: A Single Dad Romance Read online

  Table of Contents

  The Billionaire's Baby 3

  Copyright

  Book description

  1 - Jude

  2 - Hollie

  3 - Jude

  4 - Hollie

  5 - Jude

  6 - Hollie

  7 - Jude

  Filthy Billionaires Sample

  mASSterclass Sample

  The Billionaire's Temptation Sample

  The Billionaire's Baby 3

  LILA BELLA

  Copyright © 2017 by Lila Bella. All rights reserved worldwide.

  No part of this publication may be replicated, redistributed, or given away in any form without the prior written consent of the author/publisher or the terms relayed to you herein.

  All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

  ***

  The Billionaire’s Baby

  When they find out who I am, they always want to know what it’s like to f*ck a billionaire. Screw that. I’ve got a kid to take care of.

  It’s true what they say: money can’t buy happiness. I can’t trust anybody, especially not all these gold diggers lining up outside my office. I don’t need another bimbo as my secretary–I’ve had more than enough already.

  No. This time, I need someone who can take care of what I cherish the most in this world: my baby girl. My new nanny is the only good thing that happened to me and my daughter ever since my ex-wife left me.

  But here’s the problem: I want her. She’s the most beautiful, most desirable woman I’ve ever seen–and I’ve seen a lot! I can’t risk it all. Giving in to the temptation could ruin everything... but I can’t help it: I’m falling for her.

  1 - Jude

  “Are you Jude Black?”

  I was greeted at the police station by a short female officer with a hardened look on her face and a body that I assumed was all hard muscle. I certainly wouldn’t have wanted to meet her out on the street somewhere.

  I always thought of myself as being in pretty good shape, but she looked like she could bench press at least two of me without breaking a sweat.

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  I stood up and offered her my hand as she entered the room where I sat waiting to hear about what was going on with Hollie. She looked down at my hand and offered a humorless smile, making it obvious she didn’t intend to be friendly.

  I smirked. It was cute, watching her cop an attitude with me and knowing, all the while, that I could still hit her harder with a single phone call or donation than she ever could have dreamed of hitting me with those little fists or any of the toys she carried with her.

  “I have a few questions about what happened today. Would you mind stepping back here with me?” She stepped aside and held her arm out to draw my attention to a small hallway leading into the station.

  I narrowed my eyes, imagining what each room might have been. I didn’t like the looks of it.

  I could imagine being led into an interrogation room or something of the sort, and that felt too much like being locked up or officially questioned in connection with a crime, when I didn’t even know what crime had been committed.

  “I only have a few questions. It’s not an official interrogation or anything like that. We just need to clear up some things about what happened in the park this afternoon.”

  “I have some questions about what happened today as well.” I crossed my arms, in case it hadn’t been obvious before that I wasn’t interested in playing nice.

  My driver had called to tell me what had happened as everyone was being carted off to the station. All he’d seen was the police surrounding Hollie, Violet, and our security detail.

  They handed Kaylee off to Marie, and arrested the other three. He’d tried to tell me something else, but I was already hanging up and getting in the car to head to the station.

  The officer, who hadn’t yet told me her name, looked around the room, as if trying to figure out if we could discuss the situation in the presence of everyone sitting around there.

  No one really seemed to give two shits about her, anyway. They all had their own drama, obviously, or they probably wouldn’t have been there.

  “I guess we can discuss it here,” she finally said.

  I bit my tongue, preventing myself from saying what I was thinking, which was that she damn well better be willing to talk about it in front of people at the police station, especially after they had felt it appropriate to humiliate my nanny, her guest, and a member of my security team in front of everybody and their dog at the park.

  If they could make a scene like that in a public place, she could surely talk to me about it in this little room.

  “We got a call from your ex-wife…” she started.

  “Ex-fiancé,” I corrected her.

  “Yes, your ex-fiancé called to complain that she believed your daughter had been kidnapped from your home. She stated that you had not been allowing her to see the child, and that she was concerned that it was because you were trying to cover up the kidnapping.”

  She spoke in a reserved tone, possibly out of respect for my privacy, despite being in what amounted to a waiting room. But despite how important she thought she was… the other people weren’t paying one bit of attention to her anyway.

  “So, what did you do to verify any of this information before pouncing on my child and her nanny in the park?” I did nothing to guard my words or lower my voice, letting it boom off the walls in the tight little room.

  “We investigated the matter, and the woman in question admitted the baby she was escorting in a stroller was your ex’s daughter.”

  “So she admitted to being the child’s nanny,” I said. “Did you even attempt to reach out to me to ask why Marie hasn’t been to see her daughter? Did you attempt to verify why this young woman and her friend were walking with my daughter in the park? Did you listen to what my security team member had to say before you took him down and cuffed him? Did you look at the files on Marie—the ones you have here in this police station —to see why she hasn’t seen her child in the last month or two?”

  I stepped to the side so that I stood between her and the rest of the room, effectively cornering her and blocking her easy exit through the door leading into the rest of the building.

  “Sir, I hope you understand, with these kinds of calls, we can’t be too cautious,” she said, defending the actions of the officers.

  “Apparently you weren’t cautious enough. Now, I came down to pick up my people and my daughter.” My voice continued to bellow. I wasn’t interested in hearing more excuses from this nameless officer.

  “That’s another thing,” she said, and now she sounded almost scared. Her tone told me that whatever it was she wasn’t telling me was a big deal.

  “I’m sorry? There’s more?” I turned my ear toward her as if I hadn’t heard her, raising both of my eyebrows to let her know I wasn’t amused by the prospect of there being more problems.

  “Come with me, Mr. Black.” She started down the hallway, leading me behind her, and I was left with no choice but to follow.

  Unlike before, she didn’t hang around long enough to let me argue. She simply started walking so that I had to fall in line behind her. I didn’t like the sound of her ‘another thing’ comment.

  Now it felt like there was a weight on my chest making it hard for me to breathe, as I followed her to a room off to the side of the hallway. It was a small office, devoid of any personal touches. It looked like it wasn’t even in regular use.

  There was, however, a lady who looked like a detective sitting behind
the desk. She stood up as the officer led me into the room. Unlike my escort, she held out her hand and introduced herself.

  “Mr. Black? My name is Charlotte Ellis, with Child Protective Services. Please, have a seat.” She took a step back and held a hand out to the chair in front of the desk.

  “What’s going on? Why am I talking to Child Protective Services?”

  I looked back and forth between the two women as I took my seat. They both had somber looks on their faces, as if the news they had to share was that bad.

  “Mr. Black, an unexpected complication occurred during our investigation.”

  “You keep referring to what you did as an investigation, but I don’t think you really understand how wrong you are. This spectacle is hardly an investigation.”

  “During the incident in the park, Marie Jennings, the mother of the child, escaped custody.” She said it with a kind of finality that told me her words should have really meant something to me, though they didn’t.

  “I guess you should be out there looking for her instead of harassing ‘the child’s’ father and the people he has looking after her, huh?”

  I made quotation marks with my fingers in the air when I said ‘the child’ emphasizing their impersonal and bureaucratic manner of speech.

  “She has the child with her, sir.”

  “What? You mean to tell me that instead of checking out one bit of this mad woman’s claim that I was keeping her from seeing ‘the child,’ you were so busy humiliating and injuring the people who actually were caring for my daughter that you let this crazy bitch run off with her? It should be documented here that she abandoned Kaylee—oh, that’s right, ‘the child’ has a name, it’s Kaylee—Marie abandoned Kaylee a couple of months ago. I reported her disappearance, and there was supposedly an investigation to find her at that time, something you would know had anyone lifted a finger to check out her crazy story.”

  “I understand you’re upset, Mr. Black,” the lady from Child Protective Services started to say as I stood up.

  “You have no idea how upset I am. Now, I’m going to collect the people you harassed today so that we can get out of your way and let you begin the work of finding my daughter. Apparently, some half-wits with the police department assisted in the kidnapping by detaining those employed to protect her. Brilliant.”

  “As soon as we’ve finished with our questions, they’ll be released.”

  I looked down at the officer, who positioned herself between me and the door, as if to try to bar my exit.

  “I would recommend releasing them now, before I make a phone call and have everyone involved in this fiasco released right along with them. You do realize who I am, don’t you?”

  I cocked an eyebrow and looked both of them in the eye, turning from the officer at the door to the lady behind the desk and back.

  I didn’t usually like being the guy that threw my weight around like I currently was, but I felt like they weren’t leaving me too many options.

  They were obviously feeling very self-important, possibly due to their positions, but we lived in a world where money carried a lot more authority than titles. Putting money in the right hands had given me more power than I usually needed, but it was good for times like these.

  “I’ll bring them right out, Mr. Black,” the officer said with a heavy breath. “Please wait out in the lobby.”

  “Thank you. I know the way. I wouldn’t want to delay you by asking you to walk me out.”

  I walked past her, leaving her fuming against the door, and leaving the lady from Child Protective Services standing behind the desk with a dumbfounded look on her face. I headed back down the hallway, walking through the door into the lobby where the same people were still waiting.

  I had no idea why they were there, and I didn’t care. All I cared about was getting them to release my people so we could start working on getting my daughter back.

  While I stood there waiting, my text notification went off in my pocket. A few of the eyes in the room turned in my direction.

  We weren’t supposed to have our phones on us or whatever, but I didn’t expect to have any more trouble, the police department had already giving my attorneys plenty of ammunition with the rampant incompetence they had demonstrated in the park.

  I pulled the phone out and read the text on my screen.

  Kaylee is safe with me. Let no one know you received this message. When you’re available, we need to talk. You can reach me at this number.

  She didn’t have worry. I wasn’t going to tell anyone here that I’d received a text from the woman who had my child. I was going to find her myself and take my daughter back I wasn’t interested in playing any games with the police department.

  I stuffed the phone back in my pocket, neglecting to respond to Marie’s message. She knew I’d read it though.

  Something told me she already knew exactly where I was, though it was possible she was only making an assumption based on what she’d done that afternoon. It was pretty safe to assume I would have been at the police station after all of that, I figured.

  “Jude!”

  Hollie came out first, throwing her arms around my neck when she saw me. I could see the relief in her eyes, but I also saw the tears she’d cried because she’d lost my daughter. I hugged her tight. It wasn’t her fault.

  “They told me what they did,” I told her.

  “I’m so sorry.” She pulled back from our embrace and looked me in the eye.

  “Don’t be. You did nothing wrong today, but we’ve got to start trying to find her.”

  Violet and Craig, my security guard, were released behind her. Once they were all returned to me, the nameless little officer came out behind them to try to say something to me about their release, or trying to find Kaylee, or something else stupid, but we didn’t listen.

  I turned and took everyone outside while she was still talking behind us. While she still thought she had time to run her mouth, we had to get busy and find my daughter.

  2 - Hollie

  “Again, I’m really sorry about what happened today.”

  “Thank you, but if there’s anything I can do to help, let me know.” Violet shook Jude’s hand and gave me another hug before leaving us standing at the top of the steps leading up to his house.

  “Are you okay?” He put an arm around me and turned to walk me inside.

  “I’m fine, but what are we going to do about Marie and Kaylee?”

  No, I wasn’t fine at all. I’d been accosted by the police and publicly accused of kidnapping, and Kaylee had been taken from me, pulled right out of my hands. Now she was gone.

  How was I supposed to feel? I had no idea. All I knew was how I did feel, which was like shit. I had failed Jude, and Kaylee. I had failed myself.

  Without his daughter, there was no need for me to even be at the house, and I expected him to tell me that at any moment and send me home. But he didn’t. Instead, he was taking me inside like everything was fine.

  “We’ll figure it out,” he assured me as he led me into the family room.

  I closed my eyes, tears streaming down my face, and shook my head. I couldn’t go in there. I couldn’t look at the empty crib, knowing that she was gone, even if only temporarily.

  I felt responsible for what happened that afternoon in the park. I couldn’t have it thrown in my face like that.

  “Hey, everything’s going to be okay,” Jude said, rubbing my back in an attempt to comfort me, but I was inconsolable.

  “No, it’s not going to be okay,” I said, shaking my head vigorously and turning to leave the room.

  “Hollie.”

  He followed me as I hurried through the kitchen and around to the stairs leading up to his room. I closed his door behind me and threw myself onto his bed, burying my face in the pillows like I was an upset teenager.

  I wanted it to go away. I wanted him to fire me, to come in the room angrily screaming at me for my incompetence, and sending me packing. I felt
that horrible for what I’d done.

  “Hollie.” He opened the bedroom door and stood in the doorway for a moment, staring down at me, spread across his bed with a pillow tucked under my chin, clenching it tight and holding on for dear life.

  “I’m so sorry, Jude. I don’t deserve to be here anymore, and I understand if you want to let me go.” I spoke to the wall in front of me, not daring to turn around and face him.

  “Hollie, this is not your fault. Something like this was going to happen no matter what we did.” His weight came down on the bed as he sat down and put a reassuring hand on my back.

  “But if I hadn’t insisted on taking her to the park today, on getting her out of the house so much.” I rolled over to face him. His hand moved from my lower back around to my stomach.

  “You were doing what I hired you to do; you were looking after Kaylee. You weren’t alone. You did everything right. Who was to know that she was going to pounce on you with the police like that?”

  His hand slid back and forth across my stomach, calming me, soothing me. He was saying he was there with me, and that everything really was going to work out fine. His confidence boosted my own.

  My eyes met his, and I could see no anger in them. He wasn’t mad at me for what had happened. It was as if he really thought I shared no blame in the events at the park.

  I tried to share his confidence—I really did—but I couldn’t. I was confident that he didn’t see how I had done anything wrong, or that he at least didn’t want me to think I had.

  He leaned down and kissed me. It was a long, tender kiss. Our lips, closed, pressed against each other with something other than lust, I thought.

  It felt like devotion, like he was trying to tell me he wasn’t letting me go because I was more than his nanny. I couldn’t believe what I was feeling.

  I took him in an embrace and pulled him down on top of me. He slid his arms underneath me and held me against him in the bed. He parted my lips with his tongue, reaching in to explore my mouth again, like he had so many times before.

  I arched my back underneath him as the intense connection we shared began to form into desire again. I could feel my body wanting him, begging me to let him inside me again.