The Billionaire's Baby 2: A Single Dad Romance Read online

  “Decidedly not,” I agreed.

  “Like I said, though, you have to be careful with that. If you’re too restrictive or don’t allow her to see Kaylee at all, the word kidnap might get thrown around, and you don’t want that.”

  He pointed his fork at me again and nodded as he continued eating. I dug back into my lunch at the same time, giving myself some time to process what he’d told me.

  I knew I didn’t have anything to worry about unless she took legal action, but I tried to assure myself that, like he’d pointed out, I had a strong case on the abandonment issue.

  “I’ll get back to you once I get a little more information. Or, maybe I’ll have one of the family attorneys give you a call.” He clapped a hand on my back as we left the bar to go back to work.

  “Thanks. Yeah, have one of them call me.”

  “Alright, man. Don’t worry about it. She’s too crazy to pull anything off in court. If she tries to take this before a judge, he’s liable to throw her in a mental hospital or something man. She’ll be leaving that courtroom in a straightjacket, after they remove all the pens and sharp objects from the room, of course,” he laughed.

  “I hope so.”

  “I tried to tell you the bitch was crazy, but you insisted on wanting to marry her and raise a family. Thank God she ran off before you two got hitched, man. You dodged a bullet on that one.”

  “I’m starting to think it was more like a boomerang, and it’s coming back around,” I said with a shrug.

  “You’ll be alright as long as you play it smart. I’ll have the guys call you.”

  We shook hands and pulled each other in for a one-armed hug, patting each other on the back, and then we were done, heading in opposite directions to our cars.

  I had a driver waiting for me in one of the parking spaces along the sidewalk. He took me back up to the office. I still had a full afternoon ahead of me, despite feeling wiped out by my lunch.

  I ran into my secretary in the elevator on the way up. We were getting back from lunch at the same time. She held the door for me so I didn’t have to wait for the next one.

  “Hey, have you been keeping up with the call logs?”

  I leaned against the wall of the elevator with my hands behind my back and kept my eyes on the numbers going up to our floor.

  I didn’t want to draw attention to her reddening cheeks by looking at her, though I saw them out of the corner of my eye. I pretended to wait for her response.

  “Mostly,” she said with a fake cough, like she was clearing her throat.

  I sighed, making my disappointment clear. I still didn’t look at her.

  “To be fair, Mr. Black, you’ve never asked to see them. I honestly think that was the first time you asked me about the call log.”

  The elevator doors opened on our floor, and we started walked toward my office. We walked side by side down the hallway.

  She walked like she knew she was in trouble, like she expected me to unload on her once we made it to her desk.

  “You’re right,” I told her when we got there. “From now on, make sure you document the time of each call, who it was, and what they wanted. If they don’t tell you what they want, or tell you they want to hold for me, put that down instead.”

  “Do you want me to go through today’s calls and make sure they’re all listed?”

  I had to think about it. Part of me wanted to say yes, but I knew there would likely still be some inconsistency in trying to catch up from memory. I shook my head.

  “Start tomorrow. There’s no point in doing all that extra work today.”

  “Thanks, and I’ll make sure I do that.”

  She smiled, relieved that I didn’t let her have it. There was nothing to let her have. Like she said, that was the first time I had ever asked her for the log.

  I never followed up to make sure she was keeping up with them. I never needed them. It was that situation I’d discussed with Lane at lunch, that one time I needed something.

  I went back in my office with a few minutes to spare before my next appointment, so I went ahead and phoned Hollie. I needed to let her know what was going on. She was my first line of defense around Kaylee.

  “Hey, you. It’s a surprise hearing from you. Is everything okay?”

  “Well, that’s what I’m calling about. Where are you?”

  “We’re at home right now. My friend Violet is here with us. She’s been playing with Kaylee all day.”

  “That’s good,” I smiled. “I’m glad you’ve got someone there with you. Hey, my ex called this morning.” I sat forward with my elbows on my desk.

  “I’m sorry?”

  “Kaylee’s mom. It’s probably nothing, but we’ve got to make sure we’re being extra careful and vigilant for a while.”

  “No doubt. What did she say?” I could hear the worry in her voice. I didn’t want it to turn to panic. I wanted to convince her everything was okay.

  “She made some threats, and it was a lot of bravado, you know? Anyway, it’s okay if Violet is there, but do me a favor and stay home, would you? If you need anything this afternoon, send one of my people out to get it for you. We need to limit Kaylee’s exposure. The last thing we want is her mother coming up and trying to… to, um, you know, to do something crazy.”

  I had trouble getting the last few words out. I didn’t want to think about what she would have done if she had seen them out.

  She didn’t know I had a nanny, so there was no telling how she’d react if she found out by running into her in public. The result of that meeting would have been unimaginable.

  “Got it. We’re fine here, don’t worry. You’ve got people watching the house, right?”

  “Yeah, that’s not a problem,” I assured her.

  “Then, there’s nothing to worry about. I’ll call you if we need you, though,” she said, and I got a sense she was telling me to worry about work and let everything else take care of itself.

  “What’s your friend doing for dinner tonight?”

  “I don’t know, why?” I heard her turn away from the phone for a moment and ask her. Then, she came back. “She doesn’t have any plans. Why, what’s up?”

  “Tell her she’s staying for dinner. I’ll have my cook whip up something for all of us, and I want to meet her anyway.”

  I felt like I needed to know who was hanging around my daughter, especially with her mom threatening to take her from me. I needed to make sure everyone knew I was keeping an eye out.

  “Hey, you’re staying for dinner,” I heard her tell Violet. “Yeah, you’re going to get to meet him. He probably wants to meet you since you’ve been hanging around Kaylee, and I get that. It’s cool.”

  I chuckled while I listened to them. I could barely hear Violet in the background, but I got the idea of what she was saying.

  I could tell she was a little nervous about being told I wanted her to stay for dinner, but Hollie wasn’t giving her a chance.

  “Hey, I need to get back to work and tell my people to be a little more vigilant since Marie is back around and acting as crazy as ever. I’ll see the two of you in a few hours.”

  “You got it. We’ll be here.”

  I hung up the phone and drummed my fingers on my desk. It was going to be hard to get back to work with Marie’s threats on my mind.

  At the same time, it was work that would take my mind off it, and that was what I wanted. Everything was under control, I told myself.

  3 - Hollie

  “I’m going to be late getting home tonight, Hollie. I’m sorry. I’ve got a late meeting lined up. I’ll make it home as soon as I can.”

  “That’s okay. We’ll make do.”

  I tried to sound pleasant and hide the disappointment I felt. The last time he’d been home from work on time to eat with us had been the night he’d asked Violet to stay for dinner.

  Things seemed to go well that night, but ever since, he’d been working late. I tried not to let it get to me. After all, I was o
nly the nanny, and he didn’t owe me an explanation for working late.

  He didn’t owe me anything in a personal sense, but there was still a nagging suspicion that something was wrong.

  I called Violet, but her phone went to voicemail. Her hours at work had shifted, so she wasn’t available as much either. I didn’t leave her a voicemail, knowing she’d call or text when she got off.

  “It looks like everyone’s too busy for us, huh, Kaylee?”

  I put the phone down and picked her up. I’d started trying to hold her more and to be a little warmer with her. I didn’t know if we were bonding or not, but we were at least tolerating each other.

  I took her into the kitchen and put her in her little highchair. It was almost time for dinner, and I usually fed her first so I didn’t have to worry about her being hungry while I took my dinner.

  We had finally established a routine, and it made all the difference in the world. Everything was so much less stressful, and most of the time, things went pretty smoothly for us.

  “Looks like it’s going to be you and me for dinner, kid,” I told her as I went to grab her food and formula from the kitchen.

  She laughed and smacked her hands on the tray on the front of her highchair. She seemed pleased it was only going to be us.

  Then again, she could have been happy I was talking to her. I didn’t know. All I knew was that she wasn’t crying, and that was good enough for me.

  “Hey, Hollie, Mr. Black told me he’s not going to be home for dinner tonight. Do you need anything before I go?” The cook poked his head into the kitchen from the back of the house.

  “No, I’ll grab a sandwich or something.” I shook my head.

  “I make a mean club sandwich, if you’d like,” he suggested.

  “That sounds good, but maybe another time. Maybe for lunch one day. Go on home. I can handle dinner without burning the house down.”

  “Alright, you and the little one have a good night, now. Oh, I can’t wait until she’s old enough for me to start cooking for her. She’s going to eat nothing but the best.”

  His eyes sparkled as he waved at Kaylee. Then, with his hearty smile still in place, he tapped on the wall to let me know he was leaving.

  “He’s nice… and the only one who really talks to me,” I told her. “Nobody else barely says a word to me. At least you can’t talk yet… what is their excuse?”

  I probably should have felt silly talking to her like she was an adult, or at least an older kid, but she was the only person I had to talk to most days.

  The rest of the staff avoided me, and if they couldn’t, they would at least avoid conversation with me. Violet had been pulling more hours at work, so she wasn’t available. And I didn’t know what was up with Jude.

  “Have you talked to your daddy recently?” I asked Kaylee, wrinkling my nose.

  She didn’t know what I was saying. She smiled because she was eating her favorite food, and I was talking to her in a cute voice.

  At least Vi had shown me how to connect with her before throwing herself into her work. I understood why she was doing it, though. She needed the money.

  “Well, when you do talk to him, tell him I need to talk to him, okay?”

  I winked at her, and she giggled. I’d grown to love the sound of her laughter. It was the sound of pure joy and happiness. Plus it was oh so much better than the non-stop screaming and crying I’d dealt with before getting Violet’s help.

  After her dinner, I decided I didn’t want to make a sandwich. I wanted to wait to eat until she was in bed. I bathed and rocked her, and eventually, she passed out for the night.

  I carried her upstairs to the nursery, put her in her crib, and came back downstairs with the baby monitor. Grabbing a bowl of cereal, I plopped down in front of the TV.

  I’d watched everything on Netflix that I was going to watch. I was caught up on all of my TV shows. I’d read more books from his shelves than I’d ever read when I was in school, and I’d even downloaded a bunch onto my tablet, and read all of those as well.

  Luckily, his cable service included music channels, so I could at least put on something to listen to.

  The house had become too quiet at night. We talked, played, laughed and cried so much during the day that when night came and she was in her room, I was plunged into utter silence.

  It was the kind of silence that felt more like a vacuum, as if all the sound and energy in the house had been sucked out. And I had been left to sit downstairs alone night after night, enduring the lonely quiet.

  There were nights when he came home after I went to bed, or after I passed out on the sofa in the family room. There were other nights when he would come home and keep to himself, eating quickly and heading right up to bed after dinner.

  Either way, I felt like we hadn’t talked in ages. He hadn’t touched me in a couple of weeks. Whatever had been happening between us had abruptly stopped.

  I didn’t know if there was another woman, or if something was going on with his ex-fiancé, or what, but there was nothing going on with me anymore. And he wouldn’t talk about it.

  Any time I tried to approach him about it, he told me he was just ‘busy at work.’ It seemed unlikely that he would be so busy all of a sudden.

  He came in while I was putting away my bowl. He slammed the door as he entered the house, and he jerked his tie out from around his neck, cracking it like a whip. He unbuttoned the top button of his shirt and took off his coat, throwing it and his tie on the table.

  “How was work?” I asked in a low voice.

  I winced when he turned to look at me, glaring with those angry eyes. I had a pretty good idea how work had gone, and I felt pretty stupid for thinking he’d been lying about the time he’d spent there.

  He let out a harsh breath, and I could have sworn I saw smoke come from his flared nostrils as fire licked his lips. He started walking towards me.

  “How was work? All the nights I’ve spent at the office, working on this deal, and tonight was the big meeting. Tonight we were supposed to set everything in motion and reap the rewards of the last couple of weeks. And what happens? They back out. They get there, and let us go through the whole thing one last time, and when we present them with the contract, they look at us and back out.”

  He stopped right in front of me, pressing himself against me, my back to the sink. I braced myself, not knowing what to expect when he raised his hand.

  But he put it behind my head and pulled me to him for a kiss. His lips locked around mine, and his tongue pushed my mouth open, invading it, probing it, filling it. I let go of the counter and grabbed his shirt, pulling him to me.

  What I felt pressing against me between his legs didn’t feel like anger. It felt like pure lust and desire. I started grinding my hips against him right there.

  “I’ve been starving for you,” he said, his lips still brushing against mine.

  “Shut up and kiss me,” I told him, pressing my lips back to his.

  He pulled me away from the sink and thrust me against the opposite counter, pressing himself against me from behind. In here?

  I looked around to make sure there wasn’t anyone watching. The house was silent other than the sound of his belt hanging loose from his pants behind me.

  He jerked my underwear down and pulled me back, ramming himself inside me. I exploded with pleasure at his touch.

  We should not have been fucking in the kitchen; yet, he had me bent over the counter, pulling on my hips and jabbing me with his cock. I cried out, but he put his hand over my mouth to muffle the sound.

  I wrapped my lips around his middle finger, sucking it into my mouth. I could be quiet, but I was going to tease him at the same time. He panted behind me, groaning as he pumped himself deep into me.

  I pushed my hands across the counter, allowing myself to lean down further, pressing my breasts against the surface while he thrust me against the edge of the counter each time he rammed into me from behind.

  I c
ouldn’t speak with his finger in my mouth. All I could do was moan, which I did constantly while he filled me with his shaft. He put his other hand on my back and held me down against the counter, holding me mostly still while he fucked me.

  “You feel so good,” he breathed behind me. “Oh, I’ve missed you.”

  I moaned into his palm in response. He’d pulled his finger out of my mouth and held my mouth in his hand.

  We weren’t quiet in the least. His belt dangled from his pants. We were both panting and moaning.

  He would occasionally say something, and then there was the sound of his hips slapping against mine, and my body hitting the counter.

  He was angling into me in such a way that the underside of his shaft was running right along my g-spot, and I could feel how wet I was getting around him. I could feel my muscles trying to tighten down on him as the pleasure he made me feel began to turn to ecstasy.

  I reached back, as I started to get closer, and I placed my hands on the sides of his hips, holding him place while I started pressing my hips back, grinding against his cock.

  “Fuck, I’m cumming,” I breathed, moving my face so I could speak around his hand. I pressed against him and held myself still until my body started to quake as ecstasy rolled through me in waves.

  He started pressing against me harder, too, holding himself tight against my hips. I could feel his cock growing harder, thicker inside me, as he neared orgasm.

  He pushed harder, forcing me against the counter so hard it was starting to hurt. I could feel him about to cum and he was starting to grunt behind me.

  He jerked back, pulling out of me, and he pushed my shirt up on my back. A moment later, I felt his hot seed spilling onto my back, right above my ass. I could hear the relief in his voice as he worked himself out of his shaft and onto my skin.

  It felt so good to hear his satisfaction as he came onto me. My body, still feeling the subtle tremors of ecstasy, started to relax against the counter as he finished. He grunted one last time behind me, and I felt him move away.