Not Another Billionaire (Not Another Romance)

by R. L. Kenderson

  I was panicking about our forthcoming conversation. I was feeling insecure because he hadn’t come over last night, and it was a Monday. I wanted it to be last Friday before Seth ever left.

  I was so lost in my own thoughts that I almost missed the woman sitting at my desk.

  “Oh, hello,” I said. I didn’t recognize her, and I hoped she wasn’t someone who was digging around in my stuff when all she had to do was ask me for something.

  The woman had long blonde hair, which she whipped over her shoulder at the sound of my voice.

  I didn’t know what I’d expected, but it wasn’t the grin showing on the woman’s face.

  She stood up and hugged me. “Oh my God, it’s so nice to meet you,” she said.

  “Um, it’s nice to meet you too.” Except for one thing. “And you are?”

  She laughed, the sound melodic. “You’re so funny. I’m Jill.”

  I was taken aback. “Oh. Jill.” Seth’s assistant. His regular, full-time assistant.

  “Oh gosh, did Seth not tell you I was coming back early?”

  “No. I’m sorry. I would have gotten my stuff out of the way if I had known.”

  She waved off my apology. “It’s no bother.” She shook her head. “And I should have known to tell you myself that I was coming back. I just asked him last night when he came over if he’d told you. I could have sworn he said yes, but you know how men are when they have their mind on something else.”

  Seth had gone to her place last night. And I could only guess what the something else was.

  I think I’m going to be sick.

  “Yeah,” I said. “Do you know where Seth is?”

  She sighed and shook her head. “It’s a good thing I’m back because that man doesn’t tell you anything, does he? He left town again early this morning.” She rolled her eyes. “I feel like he’s always busy with something.”

  My heart was pounding, and my vision wasn’t so good.

  “Oh my,” Jill said. “You look like you could use a chair.” She pushed hers toward me. “Here, sit in mine.”

  I collapsed onto the leather, closed my eyes, and took a couple of deep breaths. But all I kept hearing was how Seth had gone to her place. He’d lied to me.

  If Jill wasn’t so nice, I would punch her in the face.

  Although she seemed as if she knew nothing about me besides me being his temporary assistant.

  “How long have you known Seth?” I asked.

  “We’ve been together for over ten years. Can you believe it?”

  Ten years? It was worse than I’d thought.

  I shook my head because I couldn’t form any words.

  “How was it while I was gone?” she asked. “I heard you got to go to San Francisco. How was that?”

  I gave her a thumbs-up.

  “I love going to California, but I did get to do something a little more exciting. Do you want to see?”

  Since I wasn’t sure my legs would hold me up yet, I nodded because it was the polite thing to do.

  Jill picked up her phone, swiped a few times, and showed me a picture of a newborn.

  Oh shit. I’d forgotten she’d been out on maternity leave. Does Seth have a baby with her?

  I felt like I was going to throw up again.

  She slid through quite a few pictures, and I couldn’t tell much. The baby was a newborn, but as the images showed him starting to get older, I couldn’t stop the sinking feeling in my gut.

  I wanted her to keep going but to also stop and not show me one more photo.

  So, when she did pause and look at me, I wanted to scream.

  “Did Seth go and visit John while I was gone?”

  I nodded.

  “Oh good. Sometimes, I would have to bug him to go, and I was so worried he wouldn’t. And I didn’t put it in my notes for you because it’s so personal.” She leaned forward. “Not everyone here knows that his old partner hanged himself and left Seth to find him.”

  I thought I’d stopped breathing. That was what had happened with his old partner? And he never told me? I’d practically had to prod him to tell me John had died.

  Jill put her hand on my shoulder. “I’m glad he had someone like you to fill in while I was gone. I know he really liked having you here.”

  You wouldn’t be so glad if you knew that I was sleeping with him, lady. And, yeah, he liked having me here but not enough to open up about John, not enough to tell me you were coming back, and not enough to tell me he was already in a relationship, apparently.

  Maybe they weren’t really in a relationship. Maybe I was jumping to conclusions.

  “Do you have any more pictures?”

  Jill laughed. “Oh, yeah.” She held up her cell again and flipped through the images. The further she went, the more the baby looked like Seth.

  “He’s…beautiful,” I managed to say.

  “Thank you.” She hugged her phone to her chest. “We named him Declan Seth so that he could be named after—”

  I jumped up from the chair and almost knocked Jill over.

  This time, I really was going to be sick. I barely made it to the restroom before I threw up.

  It seemed that Seth had a thing where he dated his assistants and got them pregnant.

  And nothing would probably ever happen with him because he was a rich guy. I should have listened to my instincts when it came to a man with money because, now, I was starting a business and going to have a baby. Alone.

  I used toilet paper to wipe my face, rinsed my mouth out at the sink, and left the Bradford Group without even taking my stuff. I never wanted to see the place again.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Tessa

  TWO MONTHS LATER

  Alexis and I stood, arm in arm, outside The Purrfect Café & Bakery and watched as my brother put up a Grand Opening sign.

  “I can’t believe today is the day,” Alexis said.

  “Me neither. We couldn’t have asked for better weather.”

  It was fall in Minnesota, so the trees were red, yellow, and orange, but the weather was relatively warm for the time of year.

  “Cold enough for people to want coffee but not cold enough for them to stay home.”

  I laughed. “We can only hope.”

  Zack looked down from his ladder at me. “How does that look?”

  “It’s crooked,” I told him.

  “Still?”

  “She’s teasing you, Zack,” Alexis said. “It’s flawless.”

  My brother narrowed his eyes at me. “You’re lucky I’m up here and you’re down there.”

  I waved him away. “You wouldn’t hurt me.” I tugged on Alexis’s arm. “Come on. Let’s see how they’re doing inside.”

  Once through the door, I couldn’t help but stop and admire the place. It was everything I’d dreamed it would be. We had a state-of-the-art espresso machine, a beautiful bakery case, and six cats who needed homes. It was perfect.

  One of the cats, a calico named Spice, rubbed up against me at the same time I noticed Elizabeth sitting at the counter, looking sad.

  I picked up Spice and made my way over to my friend. “Hey, are you okay?”

  “Yeah, I’m fine,” she said but didn’t look at me.

  I followed her gaze to where Isabelle was talking to Sebastian, Bree’s cousin who’d just moved back to Minnesota.

  “Is everything alright?”

  Elizabeth looked at me and sighed. “Yeah.” She smiled. “But even if it wasn’t, this is your big day. Not mine.”

  “Hey, you’re important. Alexis and I couldn’t have done this without you.” And I wouldn’t have made it the last two months, missing Seth, without them either.

  Seth had called and messaged me after I left the Bradford Group. He had gotten to his new destination on the trip I hadn’t even known about, and he’d told me he was sorry he’d had to leave so soon.

  I didn’t respond because I didn’t want to get into it with him. I erased his texts, ignored his calls, b
locked his phone number, and deleted his contact information.

  A couple weeks later, I got my last paycheck and a glowing recommendation. I’d quit the temp agency that same day.

  No job was worth the heartache because I hadn’t realized how much I cared about Seth until I found out he didn’t care about me.

  My only regret was not telling Jill that her boyfriend and the father of her child was a snake. I’d thought about going back and telling her, but it wasn’t worth the risk of running into Seth.

  At least, not at this time. After the baby was born, there was a chance I’d feel differently.

  I rubbed my belly. I was just hitting my second trimester and thankfully not showing. My friends knew, and so did my parents and brother. But I hadn’t told anyone else as of yet. And I still didn’t know if I was going to tell Seth.

  I knew it was the right thing to do, but I didn’t want his money or child support. And I was afraid with his money, he’d be able to take the baby away from me.

  Ugh. I couldn’t think about that now.

  I shook off any sad thoughts and focused on the good news of today.

  And when the door opened and Pru walked in with the stools I’d ordered, it gave me something else to do.

  “Thank you for picking these up,” I said to her, taking one of them from her.

  “You’re welcome.”

  “Is the third one in your car?”

  “No. A nice gentleman helped me bring the last one in.”

  At the word gentleman, my heart skipped a beat, but the man walking into the café was no one I’d seen before.

  Isabelle made a sound and came bouncing over to us. “You made it,” she said to the guy.

  He smiled at her. “I did.” He looked at me. “I hope it’s okay that I’m here. I’m willing to help. Just put me to work.”

  “Thank you for the offer,” I said. “But Isabelle hasn’t told us who you are.”

  Isabelle blushed and waved her hand. “Everyone, this is Jamie…the guy I’m seeing.”

  The room erupted in cheers until the sound of a loud bang made us all turn and look.

  Elizabeth was picking up the stool she’d been sitting on. She held up her hand. “Sorry. Don’t mind me.” She set it under the counter and went out the back door.

  “What’s that about?” Pru asked me.

  “I don’t know, but she seems sad today.”

  “I’ll go have a talk with her.”

  “Good idea.”

  “Can I put those away for you?”

  We turned to see Sebastian standing there.

  “Thank—” I started to say when Pru cut me off.

  “What are you doing here?” she asked.

  “Pru. Sebastian was kind enough to come and help today.”

  She curled her lip. “I meant, what is he doing in Minnesota?”

  Sebastian grinned at her. “I live here.”

  “Ugh,” Pru said with an eye roll. She snatched the stool out of my hands and took it over to the empty counter.

  “Jeez, she doesn’t care much for you, does she?” I said to Sebastian.

  He shrugged. “I’ll grow on her.”

  I doubted that, but then again, I didn’t know what the animosity between them was about. Besides, I had a grand opening I needed to worry about.

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Tessa

  Several hours into the grand opening, everything was going smoothly. In my mind, I’d always pictured a line of people waiting to get in, going around the corner, but in reality, it was more of a steady flow, which made it a lot easier to keep the customers happy.

  I finished ringing up a customer and was putting their money in the cash register when the next person stepped up.

  “Hello. Is there something I can get for you?” I asked without looking up.

  “Two lemon cupcakes, please.”

  I froze.

  I knew that voice.

  I finished sliding the bills in the right slots and looked up, coming face-to-face with Seth…who was holding the baby boy from Jill’s pictures. The baby looked so much like him.

  It hurt my heart to see this, but it also made my hormones go, Look, he’s a good daddy. He also looked sexy as hell in his jeans and T-shirt. Man, oh man, did I miss him.

  “Hi, Tessa.”

  I couldn’t do this. Not here and not today.

  “Paisley?” I called.

  She was only a few feet away, speaking with a customer.

  “Yeah?”

  “Can you come take over for me? I need to step out.”

  “Sure.”

  Thank God for amazing friends.

  Paisley walked around the corner, and her eyes widened when she saw Seth but only for a second. She managed to compose herself right away. “What can I get you?” she asked him.

  “He wants two lemon cupcakes.”

  Her eyes darted to me and back to Seth. By now, she had heard the whole story of Alexis bringing the cupcakes to work.

  “I’ll be back in five,” I told her, hoping she knew it might be longer than that, depending on how long Seth stuck around.

  I slipped off my apron and headed for the back of the store. It was where we kept a room just for the cats’ litter boxes and where the office was.

  “I’ll be right back,” I heard Seth say behind me.

  I picked up my pace, but he caught up to me and put his hand on my arm.

  “Tessa, please, can we talk?”

  I slowly pivoted. “Today? Now?”

  “You blocked my phone number. I knew you would be here today.”

  Okay, he had me there, but I didn’t want to do this right now. I looked around the room, trying to figure out what to do. I could tell him we’d meet later, but I knew I would ruminate over it the rest of the day. If we talked right here, right now, I could get it over with.

  “Fine.” There was an empty table, and I went to sit down.

  Seth sat across from me, and the baby on his lap immediately slammed his hands down on the table and made cute baby noises.

  I couldn’t help but smile at the little guy, and I realized he was going to be my baby’s half-brother. That seemed unreal.

  “Okay, what do you want to talk about?” I asked Seth when he didn’t say anything right away.

  “First things first. I’m sorry.”

  I snorted. “What for exactly?”

  Seth opened his mouth, but then the baby reached back and tried to grab Seth’s face. He sighed. “Hold on.” He picked up his phone, hit a button, and put it to his ear. A few seconds later, he said, “I need you to come in here and get your kid. He’s a menace.”

  My jaw dropped.

  Seth had said it in a joking tone, but that didn’t matter. I couldn’t believe he’d talked to the mother of his child like that.

  He laughed at something and added, “Next time, I’m charging you money when you ask me to babysit.”

  This was so different from the Seth I knew. A man didn’t babysit his own kids.

  Maybe this conversation would be easier than I’d thought. I was feeling less hurt and more relieved with each word he spoke. Maybe I had dodged a bullet.

  He hung up the phone, and I was about ready to tell him that he was an asshole to Jill when she walked in and scooped the baby up from the table.

  “Declan, are you being a troublemaker?”

  The baby laughed.

  “Sorry, Seth. We didn’t realize we were outside, talking that long.”

  “It’s okay,” he said.

  Between this whole exchange, my head was going from one to the other. Why wasn’t Jill mad at him? And the more I thought about it, why was she okay with him sitting and talking to me?

  I was just about to tell Jill she had nothing to apologize for when someone came up behind her and pulled the baby from her arms.

  The man stepped around Jill, and I gasped.

  The guy looked so much like Seth that they had to be brothers, and for a moment, I though
t they might be twins with different haircuts.

  The man noticed me and said, “You must be Tessa.”

  I nodded slowly.

  “I’m Dex.”

  I held my hand out. “Hi, Dex,” I said in a daze. “You must be Seth’s brother?”

  Dex shot Seth a look. “Holy shit, man, do you not tell this woman anything?” He turned back to me. “Yes, I’m his brother.” He put his arm around Jill. “And this one’s husband.” He pulled his arm from Jill and tickled the baby’s stomach. “And this guy’s daddy.”

  So many things clicked into place. Why Seth had gone to Jill’s after his flight. He’d actually gone over to his brother’s. And the baby looked like him because he was the uncle. It also explained the joking tone when he was on the phone. He’d been teasing his brother, not talking to the mother of his child.

  At this point, I felt like everything I knew had been turned upside down. Kind of like it had the day I walked out of the Bradford Group.

  “We’ll leave you two to talk,” Dex said as he and Jill walked away.

  “So, Jill is married to your brother?”

  Seth smiled. “Yeah. I introduced them to each other. They named Declan after me because of that. His middle name anyway.”

  If I had known this, it would have made my life a lot easier a couple of months ago.

  “Why didn’t you tell me about your brother?”

  “I don’t know. We didn’t talk about our families a whole lot.” He shrugged. “I always had a sense that you had an expiration date on our relationship, and that’s why we never talked about things like that.”

  I cleared my throat and looked away.

  “But after you left the company, I realized that I didn’t want things to end. I wanted to be with you even if you weren’t working for me.”

  “Is that why you never told me about John?”

  He looked surprised.

  “Jill told me he died by suicide, but whenever I’d asked you about him, you’d shut me down.”

  “Because I feel guilty.” Seth leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “John and I were gaining momentum with our new business when a company came to us about advertising. The company was big, so I was excited. Not only would they be able to pay us well, but if they used us, it would also get our name out there.”