Accidental Baby: A Billionaire Secret Baby Romance

by Lara Swann

  I’m definitely not mentally up to it.

  It won’t be awkward if I leave.

  It’ll just be an awesome night to remember. Your first ever one-night-stand. Nothing to get in the way of that memory. No complications.

  That’s what settles me.

  This was crazy, carefree and wonderful - and that’s all I want.

  I carefully sneak out of the bed, watching to make sure Damien doesn’t stir, before carefully gathering my things together.

  I hesitate by the door one last time, taking a long look at the man who just gave me enough material for every fantasy I might ever want to have, while the stupid part of me wishes I didn’t have to leave.

  That, if anything, tells me how much I do need to. I’ve never done this before. I can’t allow my long-relationship-oriented brain to get confused.

  So I slip outside quietly and make my slow way back to Vicki’s apartment, half-hungover from the cocktails…and half from fucking amazing sex.

  Chapter Five

  Damien

  “Please tell me this isn’t you.”

  I look up from the new photos on my sister’s blog to see Katy walking through my open office door - a long-suffering expression on her face and a newspaper in her hand.

  She drops it on my desk, some of her long brown hair coming loose from the ponytail she keeps it in as she cocks her head at me and spins the paper around so I can see the article.

  The headline reads ‘Paddle Boat Joyride & Crash!’ and there’s a vague outline of a man that Katy’s pointing to that could maybe resemble me, if you really thought about it. Unfortunately, Katy is the one person who’s known me long enough not to have to think about it.

  “You and those idiots didn’t go out and do this after I left on Friday night.” She says, making it a statement but giving me an intently suspicious look anyway. With one hand on her cocked hip, it’s something that she’s become very good at since she had children.

  “Well…”

  She groans, slumping back into the chair opposite.

  “I paid for the damage.” I say, trying to be soothing. “More than that, actually, and they won’t be pressing charges. So…”

  Plus, it was kind of fun…

  I mean, not so much the crash. Though that was hilarious. But who knew paddle boats could be so much more fun after a few drinks and a little midnight ride?

  “So, nothing.” She glares at me. “This is not the sort of thing we need right now, Damien.”

  “Well, if you’d stuck around a little longer…” I grin at her, still in far too good a mood to let this bother me.

  That was one of the best weekends in a really damn long time. Though the paddle boat was only part of that. A rather small part, considering what happened the next night.

  And I figured she’d end up finding out about the crash. Katy has a knack for that.

  “So I could babysit you and the random frat guys you bought drinks for?” She raises an eyebrow.

  “No, so we could go out and have some fun together. C’mon, Katy, we’ve spent years working for this - surely we get to have a little celebration—”

  “We did have a little celebration—”

  “Okay then, a big celebration. Go out, a night on the town, think about something other than work and responsibilities for once. Yeah, those frat guys might have been idiots - but at least they know how to have fun, which is something we never seem to have mastered!”

  I take a breath and Katy pauses, looking at me. I didn’t quite mean for all of that to come out the way it did.

  “I have fun.” She says, but it’s softer now, and I don’t like the concerned tone to her voice. “I just don’t need to go crazy, party all night and crash boats to do it.”

  I run a hand through my hair. “I didn’t mean to crash it, okay? I just wanted to go out and do something, you know? And I worked it all out - so where’s the harm in having a little fun?”

  My eyes drift back to the screen and the group of girls grinning there, holding up crazy-looking drinks in an old wooden bar somewhere in rural Africa.

  Her fingers tap on the newspaper again. “Here’s the harm. We can’t afford to have you getting a reputation for crazy partying and idiot behavior, just because you’re suddenly looking for cheap thrills and a good time.”

  I glance back down at the paper.

  “You’re the only one who would even know it’s me in that blurry picture, Katy.”

  Even the paper says ‘unknown daredevil’. It also mentions that when they reached out to the paddle boat operator, they confirmed there weren’t going to be any charges.

  “This time.” She shakes her head. “That doesn’t make it okay.”

  “And how many times has this even happened?” I blow a slow breath out. “Look, I’m sorry about Friday. But this deal…it could change everything for us, Katy. You can give me one wild night of celebration.”

  I just won’t tell you about the second, even-more-wild night of celebration. Then again, the only headlines that one made were in my life.

  She gives me a long look, but gradually sits back in the chair with a sigh.

  “Yeah, it could change everything, Damien. But didn’t anyone ever tell you not to count your chickens ‘til they’re hatched? Stop celebrating a deal that isn’t even signed yet, idiot.”

  “As it turns out, my Mom always told me I could do anything I set my mind to. So it might as well be signed already.”

  She rolls her eyes, but I see the way they soften, too.

  “That’s a low move, dick.” She says, huffing out a breath as she pokes at me. “Seems wrong for me to argue with your dead parents.”

  I grin. Yeah, she’s right, it is. But after all this time, it’s not difficult for either of us to mention them. The bitter pain faded into a low ache a long time ago, and though I doubt that will ever entirely disappear, it’s not a bad ache. Bittersweet, if anything. And I decided right from the beginning that I’d rather be able to talk about them - any which way I want - than try to pretend that car crash had never happened.

  “Then I guess I win, right?”

  “Dick.” She mutters again, then sighs and leans back. “You do actually know this deal could still fall through, though, right?”

  “It’ll be fine.” I give her a slow smile, picking up the stress ball I keep on my desk and idly playing with it. “Have a little confidence, Katy.”

  “I wish I had half your confidence.” She shakes her head, but there’s a wry smile tugging at her lips.

  “If you did, you’d be running this place without me.”

  She laughs, and I know we’re back on even ground. “Not likely - that’s too much work for any one person. No, sticking to the day-to-day operations suits me just fine. I’ll leave the big, ambitious gambles, high-powered deals and risky visions to you.”

  “How kind.” I grin back.

  “Just don’t screw it up.” She adds, attempting to look serious again. “I’m counting on this deal to put my kids through college, you know.”

  “What happened to not counting chickens ‘til they’re hatched, again?” I ask, innocently enough.

  She rolls her eyes at me, but it’s obvious how much this deal is putting her on edge as she stands up and leans her hip against my desk, too wound up to sit still. I get it, being this close to something this big…the adrenaline can be hard to take. Especially for someone like Katy, coordinating our daily operations and thriving on the steady pace of it. She’d be the first to admit she’s never had the temperament for this sort of thing - and I’m the one that thrives on it. The excitement, the adrenaline, the potential…I just see the upsides, where all she can think about are the risks.

  It makes her invaluable at what she does, but when something like this comes along…it’s understandable that she’s a little edgy.

  “After it’s signed.” She continues, looking down at me from her perch on my desk now. “Sure, you can do whatever you like. We both can. If you wa
nt to hang out with dumb college kids and live the party lifestyle you’ve never had then, hey why not - you can even go and do the whole college experience thing if you like.”

  There’s something in the way she says that - and the knowing way she’s looking at me - that makes the comment hit a little harder than I’d like.

  Is that what I’m doing? Trying to live the period of my life I missed out on?

  “But until then…behave, Damien. I’ve been looking up this guy - and yeah, Prestige Trust is owned by one guy - and I think we need to tread carefully.”

  “Oh?” I look up at that, my focus sharpening immediately, even though Katy’s default position is always ‘careful’.

  Sure, I might have a casual attitude when I’m talking to Katy - but when it comes to actually making this deal, I’ve got the familiar adrenaline and excitement coursing through me.

  This is serious - for Katy, our business and me. And if she’s found something that could help…

  “This is old money, Damien. About as old as it comes here in the States - maybe even older. They have a hell of a lot of overseas investors.”

  I nod, none of that new.

  She folds her arms and looks at me, her expression turning serious too.

  “This deal is a great opportunity - for both them and us - and if we put some of the tech we’ve got behind our app into running a platform for them, they could have a serious trading advantage. Which could lead to a lot of interest from other firms in what we’ve developed, as soon as they start finding out about it.”

  “Mm, I know. I was the one that put that plan together.”

  “Yes - but just because they’d benefit from this doesn’t mean that they’re going to like you when you go over to set it up, Damien. And from what I’ve heard about the CEO - about Mr. Thompson - he’s got the sort of pride that he’d turn down a deal like this for that reason alone, regardless of the money it could make him.”

  I frown. I’ve never failed to charm potential partners, suppliers, distributors…anyone, really.

  Katy continues as if she can read what I’m thinking. We’ve been working together long enough she probably can.

  “They’re not like the other guys you’ve talked to in Silicon Valley - in fact, from what I’ve heard, they’re going to despise those sort of people. Our sort of people. Don’t forget, these guys have worked for years in a prestigious, hierarchical environment to get to where they are - and as much as they want to use our success, I’m pretty sure they resent us for it, too.”

  My frown deepens.

  “What makes you—”

  “I know a couple of people who’ve been burned by trying to work with firms like Prestige, so I went digging. And what I found tells me we need to be careful, Damien - you need to be careful, while you’re negotiating with these guys. Just know what you’re walking into - they’re an old, super conservative firm with old money clients. Mr. Thompson is a stiff, formal, family-values type guy who expects to be respected simply because of the decades he and his firm have been around.”

  I can’t help it, my nose wrinkles at the idea. Katy is right - these aren’t my sort of people. Not at all.

  I run a hand through my hair and nod.

  “Okay. Noted. Thanks for the warning.”

  “That’s why this sort of thing makes me nervous, Damien.” Katy taps the newspaper article again. “They won’t like how young and successful you are, but they know about that. They’re obviously willing to talk anyway. But any little thing - but this sort of thing? If they start thinking you’re some idiot party boy too, the deal is over. Done.”

  I glance down at it again and sigh. Okay, I see her point.

  I cover her hand with my own and look up at the dark brown eyes that feel like they’ve been with me for my whole life. Sure, she’s gotten bossy and a little serious since she had kids, but she’s always looked out for me - and Emily.

  “Yeah, okay. Point taken. I want this deal as much as anyone - I’ll be careful.” I shake my head, a small smile playing on my lips. “And c’mon, it’s not like I’m the kind of guy to be out every night anyway. I spend almost all of my life right here in this office - you know that.”

  She sighs and relaxes - and it’s not until I see that, that I realize just how tense she’s been all the way through this. I get a belated stab of guilt, reminding myself I really should be a better business partner.

  “Yeah, I know.” She shifts where she’s half-sitting on my desk. “I know I’m overreacting a little, I’m just nervous. We can kick back and celebrate a bit - I’d just prefer to do it when all the paperwork is signed and finalized. But I won’t deny I felt a little wild when all the preliminaries came through on Friday, too. I get it. And it was just that one night…at least your Saturday was obviously tame enough to avoid the tabloids.”

  She grins at me, but the comment takes me straight back to Saturday night - something that’s been on my mind since I woke up alone yesterday morning.

  Images of Ava and I tangled together in bed flicker through my mind, the way she sounded under me, how tight and beautiful and good she felt. My god, that girl was gorgeous…and the sex. It’s never been that all-consuming before. I was totally addicted. Unable to stop touching her, tasting her, feeling her…even after we were totally exhausted, kissing her was still more tempting than sleep ever was.

  Yeah, tame isn’t exactly how I’d describe it.

  “Damien? Hello?”

  “Huh?” I look up, blinking, to see Katy’s raised eyebrow as I still feel the flush of remembered heat suffusing my body.

  “I said that wasn’t the only reason I came in.”

  It takes me a moment to shake the feeling and image of Ava from my mind - and I haven’t had that before with a girl, the few times a night out has ended that way. Focusing on business has never been hard for me.

  “Um, what—”

  She pulls out a folder that I hadn’t noticed from under the newspaper.

  “I came to save your ass a second time, too.”

  I lean back in my chair, linking my hands behind my head as I watch her perched on my desk. If you didn’t know us so well, the picture of the two of us like this could almost feel suggestive - but any chance of that dried up thirteen years ago, in the most awkward teenage date I think either of us have ever been on.

  My fifteen-year-old curiosity about whether I should be doing something more with the girl I was spending all my time with quickly turned into something far closer to distress. We decided friends was much better - though it took until Neil came along and swept her off her feet for that remaining awkwardness to disappear. I don’t think I’ve ever been so relieved as I was the day she came running to me to tell me all about her amazing date.

  Now, we’re more family than anything else.

  “What? Why are you looking at me like that?”

  “I’m just thinking about that date we had that one time.”

  Her mouth drops and she just stares at me for a moment, before bursting out with laughter.

  “What…why?”

  “I have no idea.” I say honestly. I think I’ve been in a weird mood all morning.

  “C’mon, Damien, now is not the time to be regretting what you passed up.” Her laughter turns into a grin and she tries to hit me with the folder. “I don’t know what is up with you today - but will you please focus.”

  “On what, exactly?”

  “On the key to those talks you’re going to in a couple of weeks.”

  I raise an eyebrow.

  “The tech director at Prestige dropped me a line the other day.”

  “Oh?”

  Since when did Katy know the people at Prestige? I’m starting to get the feeling she’s doing my job better than me at the moment.

  She nods. “Gave me a heads-up about the issues we can expect when you go to meet them. Long story short, they love our tech and want us to create a platform for their traders to use - but Thompson hates our design, branding, a
ll of it. The tech guy - Andrew - is concerned Thompson won’t want to be associated with us purely because of that. If we get the deal but lose any chance of branding, our chances of expanding this platform anywhere else are screwed - and he might not even let us implement the pure tech, if it looks bad. Apparently trusts like theirs are all about image.”

  My face screws up a little. Design and graphics and all that fancy stuff is the one thing I’ve avoided thinking about for…a long time.

  Okay, sure, I know the app looks ugly - and, damn it, it’s probably badly designed too. But the functionality has always been so good that it’s never mattered.

  “That’s on the to-do list.” I say.

  “Hasn’t it been on the to-do list for years?” Katy says, in an echo of my own thoughts. She gives me a knowing smile. “Somehow, it always manages to get bumped down that list.”

  I grin. “Functionality is more important - that’s what got us this far—”

  “Yeah, I know you. There’s always some cool new feature to work on, or bright idea that will make household investing even easier—”

  “Exactly.”

  “All that has got us to where we are today, sure, but it’s not the thing that’s going to make a breakthrough anymore. Our tech is good - we know that - but if we want to get any further, we have to look good too.”

  “You know what I think of all those flashy apps that don’t have any substance—”

  “So we’ll be a flashy app with substance. We’ve already got the substance - the hard part is done—”

  “Speak for yourself. We’ve got a team of experts in developing new features…I don’t think there’s a single user interface designer among them.”

  “Yep.” She agrees, looking pointedly at me. Okay, that might be slightly my fault too - but my priorities have worked out for us so far. “But I’ve got the answer for you there, too.”

  She pulls something out of the folder and slides it across the desk to me.

  Two-Bit Designs.

  “A marketing agency?”

  “They specialize in online design - graphics for websites and applications, user interface, all of that stuff.”