Billionaire's Secret Baby

by Eva Luxe

  “Is that who I think it is?” Harper said, coming into the dining room. “I thought I heard your voice. You asshole, you should have called and let us know you were gonna be in town so we could have taken the day off.”

  I laughed.

  “It’s him, isn’t it?” Caden asked, joining us. “I told Harper you wouldn’t be so full of shit, but I was wrong.”

  “As usual,” Harper said, happily.

  I cleared my throat and turned to Cara, who looked a little lost.

  “I wanted to show Cara where I worked,” I said.

  Harper and Caden glanced at each other when they saw Cara, and I knew what they were thinking. I’d never brought a girl here.

  “Sorry about that,” Harper said to Cara. “We’re old friends.”

  “I heard,” Cara said politely. “I’m Cara.”

  “Harper.”

  Caden introduced himself, too. Their attitudes had changed the moment they’d seen Cara and I was relieved. We always gave each other shit, but sometimes it could get a little rough.

  “Well, this is it,” Harper said, turning around. “The Spiced Cow. Welcome.”

  “Greyson helped us get this place off the ground,” Caden said.

  “It was a lot smaller then,” I said, looking around. “The kid’s area looks amazing.”

  “It does,” Harper said, beaming. “It’s attracting a lot of families now. We’ve redone the kiddies menu as well, so it’s not so hot.”

  “My kiddies menu was great,” I protested.

  “Great if you wanted their little throats to bleed,” Harper laughed.

  Caden shook his head, laughing too.

  “What do you think?” he asked.

  “Of the kid’s area?” Cara asked, and her voice was hoarse. She looked like she wanted to run away. Maybe my friends were a bit much for her.

  “About the restaurant,” I said, smiling gently at her.

  Harper looked at me and at Cara, narrowing her eyes slightly. She stepped forward and hugged Cara. Right, as if this wasn’t going to freak her out even more.

  “What’s gotten into you?” I asked Harper. She was never this forthcoming with strangers, but now that Cara was already unsure of it all, she was being weird.

  “Fuck off, I’ll hug someone if they need it,” Harper said. She glanced apologetically at Cara after swearing.

  Cara laughed at that, and it eased the tension a little. I was glad about that. I wasn’t sure what was up with Cara, but a lot had happened pretty quickly, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it was an awful lot to take in. She was in a new city after having flown for the first time, our relationship was moving forward really quickly, and Harper and Caden weren’t everyone’s type.

  “How did you two meet?” Caden asked.

  I glanced at Cara.

  “A friend and I went hiking at Snake River Canyon in Idaho,” she offered. “We were two girls with no idea how to put up a tent, and luckily Greyson and Perry were there to rescue us.”

  “If anyone knows how to camp, it’s Greyson,” Caden agreed.

  I glanced at Cara and wondered if she was thinking about sex in that tent.

  “How did you both end up there?” Harper asked.

  “I live in Twin Falls, the city right there,” Cara said. “I was home, practically.”

  “But I didn’t know that,” I added. “And we didn’t exchange contact details before we left.”

  Caden shook his head. He knew that it was because I didn’t get attached, but obviously this time everything was different. I told them about how I chipped my tooth, dragging out my story and making fun of myself, before Cara took over and got to the point where I’d come into the dentist office. She laughed about how I’d looked with a badly broken tooth.

  “Greyson doesn’t look all that sophisticated with all his teeth,” Caden said. “I can only imagine what that was like for you Cara. Scary!”

  “Asshole,” I said to him, and we laughed. Cara shook her head. She would get used to this, eventually.

  “I can’t believe that you guys met again like that, by chance,” Harper said. “I mean, what are the odds?”

  “I think it was meant to be,” I said, and I glanced at Cara. She looked away and I couldn’t tell if she was blushing, or if something was wrong. An unsettled feeling grew in my stomach. I was beginning to think something was wrong, even though she had said everything was fine. She was definitely different today. I didn’t know what was up, but she wasn’t herself.

  It worried me. We didn’t have enough of a foundation to guarantee getting through anything that came our way. Sure, what I felt for her was real, and she had to feel something for me since she was here in Seattle with me. But I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was missing something.

  I tried to ignore it and rejoined the banter. Cara was smiling again, the moment of confusion had passed, but I couldn’t get rid of the hollow feeling in my gut.

  “I have to take care of a couple of things in the office,” Harper said. “Cara, do you want to come with me?”

  Cara nodded and she glanced at me. I smiled at her and she smiled back. Surely, everything was okay. She followed Harper, and I watched her as she walked away. She was shorter than Harper, physically smaller. I wondered if they would be friends, or if my friends were just too weird for her.

  “Come on,” Caden said, and sat down in the closest booth. I joined him, leaning my elbows on the table.

  “Don’t say it,” I said.

  “You can’t tell me not to. I have to do it.”

  “I’m not settling down. I’m not getting married. This isn’t what you said.”

  Caden laughed. “I just saw how you looked at her, man. This is a lot more than fucking, ‘my friend’. A. Lot. More. I’m going to tell you I told you so, because I did.”

  I shook my head, laughing.

  “Yeah, fine. Whatever.” I couldn’t argue with Caden about it, because he had said that I would be next, and here I was, falling for a woman I couldn’t get off my mind.

  “She has to really be something if she got your attention,” Caden said. He knew how I felt about women, how I never got attached, or did anything more than what my body needed in the moment when it needed it.

  “She is,” I said. “She’s different from anyone I know. She’s incredible.”

  Caden whistled through his teeth. “That’s a big word.”

  I nodded. “I know, I’m worried we’re moving too fast.”

  “How long have you known her?”

  I explained to him what our situation was.

  Caden shook his head. “Harper and I fell just as fast. We were engaged in no time, remember?”

  “That’s different,” I said. “You were pretending. You were already halfway there because of it. And you knew Harper for a year before that. This isn’t like that at all.”

  “Maybe not,” Caden agreed. “But what I’m trying to get at is that it doesn’t matter what your situation is. If you’re right for each other, it just works and there’s nothing you can do.”

  I nodded, looking around the restaurant.

  “What do I do?” I asked.

  “Keep doing what you’re doing now. Keep pursuing her. If it’s meant to be, it will be.”

  “And if it’s not?” What if I really fell for Cara and she ended up walking away from me? I was starting to worry about heartbreak, because that was where it was headed for me, but I had no idea if she felt the same. After last night I had thought we were on the same page, but after how she was in the car, I wasn’t so sure. I wanted to sit down and talk to her about it. We had to have a conversation about where we were headed if we were going to carry on like this. But I couldn’t do it now, and those questions were burning in me now.

  When I looked up, Caden was studying my face.

  “What?” I asked.

  “You care for her, don’t you?”

  I nodded again. I had never thought I would say it, but the truth burned in me and I had to
get it out.

  “A lot. In fact, I’m starting to think I’m in love with her.”

  Chapter 22

  Cara

  I followed Harper to the office. I liked her. She was weird, but in a way that made me feel comfortable around her.

  Harper had flaming red hair and she wasn’t scared to say what she thought or to rip on Greyson. I could see how she and Caden belonged together as well. Now that I’d met them, it made sense.

  “This is where the magic happens,” Harper said, opening the office for me. “I run this place from here.”

  “It’s a beautiful restaurant,” I said.

  “I started as a seating hostess, can you believe it?”

  I nodded. “Greyson told me.”

  Harper sat down on the edge of her desk.

  “So, how far along are you?”

  My blood drained from my face. How the hell did she know?

  I shook my head. “With what?” I tried to act like I didn’t know what she was talking about, but my voice was thick.

  “Cara, I saw it the moment you walked through the door. You’re pregnant, aren’t you? And the way you panicked when Greyson commented on the kid’s area tells me he doesn’t know. Am I right?”

  I shook my head. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  Harper tipped her head to the side, and I knew she knew I was bluffing. This wasn’t going to happen. I didn’t know how she had figured it out so quickly, but she knew exactly what was going on and she wasn’t going to let me off the hook. Two seconds ago I’d admired her ability to speak up. Now I wished she didn’t have that quality.

  “You can tell me,” Harper said, gently now. “I’m not going to rat you out. But it’s a big burden to bear alone, and from the way I see you looking at each other, you’re not willing to walk away from Greyson without sharing the news at all.”

  Shit. It was like she knew exactly who I was.

  I took a deep breath and tried to keep it together. I suddenly felt like I was going to cry. The hug Harper had given me made sense, now. I had been panicking about exactly that when she had hugged me, and I had thought it was strange. Greyson had apparently thought so, too. I appreciated Harper so much right then. I hardly knew her, but she was so nice to me it was hard to believe she meant anything other than what she said.

  “It’s all so much to deal with,” I admitted. “I’m already in over my head and I haven’t even dealt with anything, yet.”

  Harper nodded. “I can imagine. Does anyone else in your life know?”

  “Only my best friend.”

  “It’s hard to carry it all when you’re in it completely alone.”

  She was right, of course. It was difficult, and the more time that passed, and the closer Greyson and I got without me telling him, the worse it all became. Rachel had told me it would be harder, but every time I had thought to do it, the timing had been wrong. And now that Greyson had made it so clear that kids would only tie him down, there was no way I could tell him without fearing he was going to lose his shit completely.

  “I’ve known for a couple of weeks,” I said. “I’m maybe about six weeks along. I’m not sure.”

  “You still have time before you show. Are you going to keep the baby?”

  I covered my face with my hands. These were the things I was supposed to focus on. I’d been ignoring the facts, because it had been easier than facing them.

  “I don’t know,” I said. “I didn’t plan for this. I’m a planner and my life was laid out perfectly. But if I think about giving the baby up, I just can’t stomach it.”

  “So, you have to tell him, then.”

  I nodded. “I can’t stomach that, either. I wanted to, so many times. But I don’t know how to tell him. I wanted to, last night. But he doesn’t want to be tied down. I don’t even know what he’s hanging around me for. A child is just going to mess things up for him.”

  Harper shook her head. “That’s for him to decide. It’s not your life, it’s his. You can only decide what you want. And he deserves to know.”

  “I know,” I said. I knew very well that he deserved to know. And if I hadn’t known that it was the right thing to do, Rachel had made it very clear as well.

  “He’s not going to bite,” Harper said. “I’ve known the guy for a long time. He looks all bad ass and has a tough exterior but he’s all mush on the inside. I’m sure you’ve seen glimpses of it.”

  I thought back to how gentle he was with me, how he relished the small things and how materialism meant nothing to him if he couldn’t touch the things that really mattered.

  “I have,” I said.

  “Talk to him then. You’ll feel better, and as soon as he knows, you won’t be in this alone anymore. Even if you don’t end up together, he’s not just going to ditch you, or his child. He’s a good guy.”

  That only made it worse. To think that I screwed up a good guy’s life was so much worse than it would have been if I had messed up the life of some shithead.

  “I don’t know when to tell him,” I said.

  “You’ll know when the time is right.”

  I nodded, but I didn’t agree. It was easy to say, standing on the outside looking in. But even if I found the right time, it would still be scary as hell, and I didn’t know if I had what it took to talk to him about it. I still didn’t know how he would take it, and it scared me. Everything about this scared me.

  “It will be fine,” Harper said, hopping off the desk and giving me another hug. When she let me go, she suggested we head back to the dining room and I agreed. She had called me back here to talk to me about the pregnancy, obviously. She hadn’t needed to take care of anything.

  “There you are,” Greyson said, when he saw me, and he looked at me with such warmth I couldn’t help but smile. No matter what was going to happen between us, or how we were going to part after this, Greyson had the power to make me feel so good, just by looking at me.

  He was such an amazing person. I thought back to what Harper had said, that even if we didn’t end up together, Greyson wouldn’t ditch me.

  “Do you want to order something?” Greyson asked. We had come here to eat, after all. But I couldn’t think about food, now.

  “Can we go back to the hotel?” I asked.

  “Are you sure?” Greyson asked. He frowned.

  I nodded. “Yeah, if that’s okay. I want to get out of here.”

  Greyson only hesitated a second before he agreed.

  “Okay. We’ll go.”

  He said a quick goodbye to his friends before we walked out to the car. I wrapped my arms around my waist as if I could physically keep myself together. We climbed into the car and Greyson headed back toward the hotel.

  “Is everything okay?” Greyson asked.

  “Yeah, fine,” I lied.

  Greyson shook his head. “I wish you would just tell me what’s wrong. I can see you’re not okay. Is it me?”

  “No,” I said, immediately. “It’s not you at all.” In fact, it was me. But I couldn’t say that to him without him asking questions that I wasn’t ready to answer.

  “The thing is, I can’t do this,” I said.

  “Can’t do what?” Greyson asked, carefully.

  “This thing we’re doing. Whatever it is. It was a mistake coming here with you.”

  “What are you talking about?” Greyson said. “Everything has been so perfect up until now. What changed?”

  “Nothing changed,” I said. In fact, it was too much the same. Everything was so fucking perfect, but I had this big secret and I couldn’t be the one to ruin everything. “I just have to get home.”

  Greyson tried asking more questions, but I couldn’t answer him. I wanted to cry and I was scared if I spoke any more I wouldn’t be able to control it. It took me a while to swallow down my tears. When we stopped at the hotel, I reached for the door, but Greyson wrapped his fingers around my wrist. He didn’t grab me, but he made it clear he wanted me to stay.


  “I’m sorry,” I said. “I won’t be the one to ruin your life.”

  “What?” Greyson looked confused.

  “I won’t be the one to tie you down. I need to go home, and you need to live the life you planned for yourself.”

  Greyson shook his head. “Is this about my camping and the money and how I wanted to be free? You’re not holding me down.”

  I shook my head. I couldn’t tell him what was going on.

  “I don’t understand.”

  “You don’t have to understand,” I said. “You just have to let me go.”

  I pulled my arm free of his grip and he let me go. I climbed out of the car and walked into the hotel without waiting for him. I rode to the penthouse, tears staining my cheeks by the time I reached the top. I walked to the suite, my surroundings a blur, and I opened the door with the keycard I had in my handbag. In the bedroom I found my suitcase and started packing my clothes away. I had hung them in the closet with such care, moving into the fairytale life that came with Greyson. But it was time for me to leave.

  Harper had said that even if Greyson decided not to stick with me, or I didn’t want to be with him, that even if we didn’t end up together, he would never ditch me. He was a good guy. That was the problem. It was what had pushed me over the edge. She was right, Greyson was a good guy. And if he would never ditch me, even if having this baby was something he didn’t want at all, he would sacrifice his freedom to do the right thing.

  He would give up everything that meant something to him, even if it was something he didn’t want. And I couldn’t do that to him. I wouldn’t be the one that would take his life away from him. He hadn’t asked for this.

  I hadn’t, either, but I could still control it to a certain extent. I could still keep this from him completely and allow him to be the person he wanted to be, living the life he wanted to live.

  While I packed, tears streamed down my cheeks. I was done trying not to cry. I was heartbroken, I felt sick to my stomach and I was terrified of what the future held. But I couldn’t do anything other than what I was doing, now.

  I zipped up my bag and walked out the door. Greyson was still nowhere to be seen. I hoped I didn’t run into him on my way out of the lobby. I had to get out of here before he could persuade me to stay.