Billionaire Baby Daddy: A Second Chance Romance

by Lara Swann

  “Well…I don’t know where she is.” Her tongue darts out to wet her lips. “But you found me. I’m Nikki.”

  “I’m looking for Cassie.” I repeat, trying to speak more clearly this time. I’m not sure whether she’s stupid, or I’m just not getting the words out right. I wasn’t looking for her. I don’t even know who the hell she is.

  “I was just getting changed for the jacuzzi - a bunch of us girls are heading there.” She continues, still not getting my point. “You could come join us, if you like.”

  “No, thanks.” I shake my head, then regret it a moment later.

  God damn, how much have I had to drink?

  “Are you sure?” She leans forward, her hand coming to rest on my arm, then squeezing it as she giggles and looks me up and down. “Oohh, you feel amazing. I bet you’d look great without a shirt on.”

  I take a step back, feeling strangely awkward and trying to work out whether the slight nausea might be alcohol related. “No, I’m just looking for Cassie.”

  “Maybe she’ll be there!” She suggests enthusiastically, and I frown as she links arms with me and starts walking towards the back of the room - where large glass doors lead outside, I realize.

  That doesn’t sound like Cassie, but…maybe someone there will know where she is. Better than stumbling around the house.

  I shrug and give in, and as we get outside she leans in closer with a giggle. “You should definitely join us - Beth’s parties usually end with a little skinny dipping, you know how it goes.”

  She grins at me, and I resist the urge to comment that didn’t sound too different from the barely-there bikini she’s wearing at the moment.

  When did girls like this start irritating me so much? I swear I’ve dated plenty of girls just like Nikki before.

  Maybe it’s the alcohol. At least the cooler night air is helping clear my head a little.

  The sound of giggling and squealing ahead gives us a direct path to the jacuzzi - which my guide elects to take, in favor of an actual path that avoids the grass and flowerbeds.

  “Nikki! There you are!” Beth grins as we approach, then squints at me. “…and, Josh? What are you doing together?”

  Nikki. That’s her name.

  I glance around the jacuzzi to find a lot of mostly-naked girls holding colorful drinks, but no Cassie. As expected.

  “I’m looking for Cassie.” I repeat, yet again.

  “Well you’re not going to find her out here.” Beth says. “She never joins us for these things.”

  “But now that you’re here, why don’t you join us, Josh?” Nikki smiles at me, leaning full-on against my body now.

  I try to extract myself without accidentally hitting her or sending her flying, and shake my head.

  “Have you seen her?” I ask instead.

  “Dining room?” She suggests. “I think she wanted to stay and talk to Mom.”

  That sounds even less likely than finding her out here.

  Nikki pushes a glass of something into my hand, and I raise it towards Beth without thinking.

  “Happy engagement.” I give her a sardonic smile and take a long sip. “Thanks.”

  Champagne, I think.

  I thought all that was finished?

  Not too surprising that Beth found some more.

  I shake my head to try and clear it, then shake Nikki off to pouting and far too many complaints, turning to try and find the dining room.

  Where I’d fucking started.

  All because, for a few precious minutes, I’d wanted to take a fucking leak.

  God-damn it.

  At least now I have champagne.

  I take a sip of it to remind myself of that as I stumble back through the garden and into the house.

  Fuck sobering up. I can look out for Cassie just fine while fucked up.

  Just as soon as I find her, anyway.

  I’m walking down the hallway to what I hope is the dining room, when I finally bump into her coming around the corner towards me.

  “Thank fucking god.” I push her back against the wall and pin her there, half the drink she’s holding spilling onto the floor. It’s the sort of thing that looks like it’s meant to be sex on the beach, but smells like it’s pure alcohol instead.

  “Josh. What…” She blinks slowly at me. “…are you doing?”

  I freeze as I realize exactly what I’d been intending to do - push my body against hers and take her mouth in mine for a heart-pounding kiss. The sort of thing we’d both been semi-awkwardly avoiding all evening. Which made looking out for each other hard as fuck, too.

  “I’m…keeping you right here. Where I can see you.” I finally say, expressing the other half of that desire instead. “You got lost.”

  “Noo…” She shakes her head, frowning as she sounds it out. “You’re the one that ran off.”

  I frown. She might be right about that.

  “What are you doing here?” I ask instead.

  “Hiding from my Mom.” She tries to roll her eyes and giggle at the same time, and it ends up with her slumping back against the wall.

  I catch her, and then she’s stumbling into me instead. The warmth of her soft curves press up against my body, and I’m not complaining in the slightest. I smile at her, wrapping my arms around her shoulders as I lean into the hug and bury my face in her soft hair. Whatever scent she’s put into it tantalizes me, mixing with her own unique scent and making my cock twitch with interest. It’s getting fucking hard to contain that now.

  “Did you just sniff me?” She asks, her voice muffled by my chest.

  “You…smell good.” I murmur, stroking through her hair.

  “You mean…of…booze?” She cranes her neck to look up at me, laughter dancing in her eyes.

  “Can you not tell how much I like that?” I raise my champagne glass to make the point, and she stares at it for a moment, everything processing slowly.

  Then we both dissolve into laughter, giggling stupidly in a way I definitely hope she doesn’t remember me doing tomorrow.

  It takes a long while for us to get our breath back, without making each other laugh again - and somehow, in the course of it, the rest of our drinks disappear. I hope most of it was just onto the floor. But…there may have been a few toasts to how much we love booze. Maybe.

  “C’mon.” I finally say, breathing heavily and leaning back against the wall for my own support now. “Let’s go and see if there’s some of that fucking health food left - might help a little.”

  She grins lopsidedly at me and accepts my arm to support her as we start walking, very slowly, the hall around me spinning slightly.

  “No, no, no!” She says a few minutes later, as I try and turn down the next hallway. “It’s not that way!”

  I squint at her, not entirely sure she knows what she’s talking about, but more relieved to abdicate responsibility for the directions than I am concerned.

  She gets us lost, but probably not as lost as I would’ve, and by the time we make it to the dining room I’ve either sobered up a little, or the champagne has hit my head and made me think that I’m now coherent and thinking straight.

  I’m surprised to see several of Cassie’s family gathered there chatting - Maria, Mark and Henry. And from the way she groans next to me, Cassie seems equally surprised.

  I give them all a cheery wave and ignore the way their conversation becomes slightly stilted as I try and guide Cassie over to the table of food.

  “Oh, there’s loads left.” I say, feeling a sense of achievement. “I’d say I’m surprised, but really…who wants to eat this shit?”

  “Joshhh!” Cassie says, but she’s mostly laughing.

  I grin at her, and grab a couple of rolls, pushing one into her hand. Those should soak up some of it.

  “Ohh my god, this is so good.” Cassie moans in appreciation, and I immediately picture her making that noise under me. With her hands clawing at my shoulders, her head thrown back and…

  Fuck. Stop tha
t shit right now.

  I shake my head and take a bite of my own roll.

  It’s fairly dry, almost-stale bread - but right now, I can see her point. And hell, if it makes her sound like that, then it’s got my vote for one of the best things ever.

  “I’m…gonna go find us some water, Caz.” I say eventually, after my vision has evened out a little.

  I feel able to walk again, and figure out how to get from here to the kitchen - the next room over - without getting lost.

  She nods, still distracted by the food on the table.

  It takes me longer than I thought to find the kitchen, the glasses, the sink. I down a couple of glasses of water myself, despite my body protesting that the last thing it wants is more liquid, and start feeling a little better as I head back with a couple of glasses of water for Cassie.

  I find her standing next to the cocktail table, another glass of something in her hands, and grinning at me unrepentant.

  The worst thing about drunk-Cassie. Whatever you do to try to sober her up, she develops a taste for alcohol that’s almost relentless. She’ll down just about anything, and becomes sneaky and underhanded about finding more to drink.

  I’m not even mad as I walk over to her, just amused at the familiar antics. At least I’ll have a story or two to tell her in the morning.

  “God, what the fuck is this?” I ask as I take the glass of murky brown liquid away from her. I think I could get drunk from the fumes.

  “Some…drinks…” She gestures at the table, then giggles and skips away from me as I try to hand her the water, spinning in a circle.

  She gets dizzy immediately, and her feet quickly become tangled. I grab her before she falls, pulling her against me and supporting her weight.

  God, that was easier when simply touching her didn’t make my heart jump.

  “C’mon, Cassie…” I start.

  “Hey—!” She says suddenly, hitting my chest. I wince - not because it hurts, but because it’s a good indication of how much she’s had to drink. “You…do want kids…reeeeallly, right?”

  I freeze, my eyes instinctively glancing across to where Maria and Mark are talking. They definitely heard that.

  “It’ssss jusst…” Cassie slurs slightly, her eyes trying to focus on me. “Y’know…”

  Fuck.

  I know this is Cassie asking - not the act we’ve been playing at, but a real question. And she wants a real answer - my real answer.

  But there’s no way I can have a conversation with real-Cassie here - and I have to shut her up.

  I glance across to see Mark and Maria’s conversation faltering, even as they try not to obviously look over at us.

  The only thing I can do is continue the act. It’ll be convincing, that’s for sure.

  “We’ve been over this, Cassie.” I say, deliberately irritably. “And…now…isn’t the time to talk about it.”

  “Buuut—” She frowns, looking confused - at least partly because she’s struggling to keep up with what I’m saying.

  “You always get like this when you’re drunk, it stops you thinking straight.” I huff, very aware of my audience. “It’ll be different in the morning.”

  She squints up at me, still leaning heavily into my chest.

  “Soo…you…don’t?” She asks again.

  “No.” I repeat, cursing the need to respond so definitively about it right now. “I don’t.”

  Her expression shifts from that puzzled concentration to obviously hurt - and more than a little confused. She pushes away from me, stumbling a little, and I refuse to let go entirely, continuing to support her weight.

  My stomach twists and I wish I could take it back - that could tell her here and now that yes, of course I want children. I couldn’t imagine life without them. I want to wipe that hurt from her face and reassure her, but that would defeat the whole point.

  I’m not even looking over at the completely silent other side of the room. Right now, I can’t face seeing anything similar on their expressions either, even if that had been the point of it.

  “Well..okay…” She says, her brow furrowed as she doesn’t quite meet my gaze. “Thats…fine, then.”

  Her tone makes it obvious it’s not fine, but also that she thinks it should be.

  “Why don’t we talk about it tomorrow?” I say, trying to make it obvious that they’ll be something more to say then, but knowing she’s not in a state to pick up on it.

  Cassie just shrugs, and I sigh.

  “And…maybe we should head to bed now, too.” I say, looking her up and down.

  She’s obviously near to her limits, and the emotional turbulence isn’t helping her either. It’s late and I at least feel well and truly done with the evening.

  “I…” She frowns, pushing away from me again. “I’m…still hungry.”

  I let her stumble towards the other table, pushing the glass of water into her hand as an afterthought and checking to make sure she has the balance for it.

  She does, and her expression makes it clear enough she also needs the space between us for a bit, so I stay hovering around the drinks table.

  Which only makes the atmosphere in the room tense and awkward. Maria and Mark are barely talking, and with Cassie’s obvious discomfort and the silence between us, I find it hard to just stand there, sip water and watch.

  It lightens a little as Cassie starts working her way through the table of food, and I’m slightly relieved that it might sober her up a little. She’s still not really looking at me, but at least with the food and her alcohol-fogged mind there’s a good chance she won’t dwell on what we just talked about. Or at least, she’ll forget about what she’s feeling uncomfortable about for a while.

  If tonight goes anything like any of a dozen others.

  “Cassie!” The loud voice goes straight through my head, and I wince as the door opens. “There you are. We didn’t finish our chat.”

  Cassie and I turn around at the same time. Unlike Cassie and I, Adelaide doesn’t seem like she’s had much to drink - maybe her voice is a little louder than usual, but that could just be her.

  “I’m…done talking.” Cassie shakes her head, holding onto the table for balance as she stares her mother down.

  Adelaide folds her arms as she approaches her daughter, and ignores that comment entirely as she continues, only lowering her voice a little now that she’s right next to Cassie.

  “I told you, I’m concerned about you, Cassandra. I think you’re working too much - it’s all you seem to do! I mean, have you thought about the rest of your life, how this career of yours is going to impact—”

  Cassie deliberately turns away from her, staring at the table of food instead, but she doesn’t pick anything else up and I’m pretty sure she’s not seeing anything in front of her.

  “I mean, Beth is engaged now. Just look at what your sisters are doing. Don’t you feel that you’re missing out, that something’s gone wrong somewhere?” Adelaide continues, and my blood starts to rise just from the snippets I can hear from where I’m standing.

  “I’m fine, Mom.” Cassie says firmly.

  It’s the weary resignation there that gets me. It doesn’t even feel like an argument - just Adelaide’s forceful opinion pummeling her in a way that she’s obviously used to enduring.

  “I don’t think you are, Cassie - I’m not even sure you know what fine is, or should be, and—”

  I push away from the table I’m leaning against, walking towards them.

  Fuck this.

  Cassie might be used to listening to the barrage of words and just ignoring it, but I’m not willing to. And she’s not exactly in the best state to take it well, anyway. Even if she can hide it from her Mom, I can tell that it’s starting to get to her.

  I don’t get a chance to say anything as I approach - Adelaide looks over to me and smiles widely, as if my appearance proves her point.

  “Josh, there you are - talk to Cassie for me. Don’t you worry about how much she
’s working, and this crazy career she wants to pursue? It can’t be nice for you, having her busy and tired so much of the time, and—”

  It takes me a moment to recover from the ridiculous assumption that I’ll take her side in this, but once I get over my disbelief, I give her a wide smile, reveling in the chance to shut her up.

  “Not at all, Adelaide - hell, it’s a good thing, really. Just think of what she’ll earn when she’s done with med school - enough to support us while I’m trying to break into acting, that’s for sure!” I put my arm around Cassie and kiss her temple, looking between them both with an oblivious expression.

  Cassie freezes beside me, just staring for a few long moments - she knows how much I detest other actors that do precisely that, and I’m pretty sure even as an act, she’d never expected to hear those words from me.

  Just shows how much I put into my acts, I’m sure.

  Then she dissolves into laughter, her Mom staring at us in utter horror. Her hands clutch at me and the table for support as she almost doubles over, and I know she’s just thrilled with that response - and what it’ll make her mother think.

  “Oh…Josh…” She’s gasping, her head resting against my chest now as I try and hold her upright one-handed.

  I look down at her with a wry smile, even as I wonder whether she’ll say something to give us away in this state.

  “Well, it’s been a lovely day, Adelaide. Thank you so much for organizing all this - Beth seems very happy.” I say pleasantly. “But I think it’s time for us to crash now - you know Cassie, she can’t hold a little champagne for anything.”

  Adelaide doesn’t say anything, still staring at me, her mouth opening and closing.

  I tilt my head towards Cassie and raise a brow. “Bed?”

  Tears are running down her cheeks from laughter, but as happy as it makes her seem, I can sense the edge of hysteria too it. This evening has messed her up a little - probably largely because of her Mom - and I want to get her away from all of that.

  Cassie nods against me, still gasping for breath, and I give Adelaide a quick nod before I guide us towards the door - completely ignoring the hostile way she’s looking at me.

  “I can’t…” Cassie tries to breath in between bouts of laughter on the way back to our room. “…believe…you said that.”