One Night with the Billionaire (A BWWM Romance)

by Tiana Cole

  Yesterday she screamed and cried, cursing David for believing she would try to pass of another man’s child as his. Then she remembered that of course he believed it. She’d already accepted half a million dollars for one night inside her body. Her original sin.

  But today she didn’t care about any of that. After wallowing, because that was the only word to describe her moping, junk food binging and crying jags, she’d made a few tough choices. The semester was almost over and if she hurried, she could transfer and finish her degree at a four-year college. A plan her mama was certainly not behind.

  “I still think you’re being hasty, leaving town like a thief in the night,” she said with a grumpy harrumph.

  “I’ve thought about it plenty and this way I can get far away from Lex and put distance between everything else. The only thing missing is you, Mama.”

  “Well, I don’t follow no cowards around so you can count me out.” Tonya shook her finger at her daughter. “You didn’t do a thing wrong, why should you leave?”

  She took in a long breath and released it. “I would probably leave anyway, Mama. This is just a little sooner. If you won’t come, at least live in the house. Please.”

  “I’m just fine where I am. I ain’t letting fools run me out of town.”

  “Good. Me either. I’m going to get my degree and get a job someplace else.” She was sad that she wouldn’t see her mother every day, but she was happy to have a plan that would give her distance from…everything. “Now I need to get to my final. Bye, Mama.”

  When she emerged from her second final several hours later, Ebony felt a new sense of right. Of newness. The tests were simple, or she’d studied enough to know everything, so she felt confident she’d enter a new school on the right foot. Her smile was bright and genuine for the first time in almost two weeks, and she soaked up the sunshine as she walked towards the registrar’s office.

  “I still want you to be my woman, Ebony. I’m not giving up on you.”

  Her shoulders dropped, not even an inch, and she kept walking. She felt Lexington beside her. “You really should give up on me.”

  “Nah, I need a piece of that sweet ass. We can go to my car right now, or I can tell the neighborhood—excuse me, the old neighborhood for you—that you came into some loot.”

  “Go right ahead, Lex. I don’t care.” She wouldn’t be around long anyway. As soon as the transfer came through she would find housing and move so she could settle in and find a sitter for Kim. She screamed out when he reached out and grabbed her arm, squeezing hard enough to hurt. “Let go of me, Lex.”

  His laugh was angry. Bitter. “Oh, I don’t think so, Ebony. I told you I’m gettin’ a piece of you. One way or another.”

  Calling on the self defense classes her mama had made her take in her church’s basement, Ebony stomped on his foot and punched him twice, stepping back to avoid the rush of blood from his nose. “Please, Lex, just leave me the hell alone.” She stepped over him and continued on to the registrar’s office.

  Ebony walked out of the registrar’s office forty minutes later with several official transcripts in her backpack and a smile on her face. Screw Lex and screw David, and that stupid stalker actress. She was getting the hell away from her life. Her steps were much lighter as she made her way through the campus and walked to her bus stop. A woman walked toward her and for some reason it set her on edge. As the woman got closer she noted her eyes. The same eyes as her daughter. “I have nothing to say,” she told her, and kept on walking.

  “I hear I have a niece,” the woman called out, trying to keep pace with Ebony.

  She shook her head. “You’re mistaken and I think you know that.” The last thing she needed was another skinny white woman accosting her. “It was a big misunderstanding. Just forget it. Forget me. Forget everything.” Ebony slid between the closing bus doors too quickly for the woman to follow.

  She watched her familiar smirk as the bus pulled away and Ebony had to smile. David’s sister was as beautiful and as spunky as he was. And she was sure it wouldn’t be the last she’d see of the young woman. She was sure persistence was a family trait. Her little girl was proof of it. When she stepped off the bus later, she groaned. “Seriously?” Why does the universe hate me?

  “You didn’t think I’d be that easy, did you?” Sarah laughed. “I just looked up the bus route and I caught up to you in no time.”

  Ebony was not amused. “I don’t need any threats or promises or whatever. You can tell your brother …or whoever, that I’m done.” She waited to make sure her words sank in and walked. She wouldn’t go home, not while David’s family lurked around.

  “Stop. Please.”

  “Dammit. What?”

  Sarah held up her hands. “I’m not the enemy here.”

  “That has yet to be determined.” She crossed her arms and waited.

  She laughed again. “You’re funny, Ebony. Can we talk?”

  She nodded and the woman followed her into Joe’s Joe, a local coffee shop. Both women placed their orders and sat. “What are we talking about…?”

  “Sarah.” She stuck her hand out. “I’m David’s younger sister, Sarah Henderson.”

  “Ebony Angel. But I’m sure you already knew that.”

  She shrugged. “I knew enough to find you at school.”

  Of course. They had money and that meant they’d probably already dug deep into her life. “Good for you.”

  She smirked but didn’t respond. “David told me what happened, but I don’t think you’re lying.”

  “You can’t possibly know that.” The woman had an agenda, she was sure of it. “So why are you saying it?”

  Sarah shrugged. “Because in his drunken stupor he told me the whole story, without a filter. The truth is harder to ignore.” She sipped her latte and sighed. “I think he’ll regret the time he missed because he’s being an idiot. I don’t have to be an idiot.” She gave a toothy smile.

  “What does this mean?”

  “I’d like to meet my niece.”

  Ebony shook her head. “I don’t think that’s a good idea. As long as David believes he doesn’t have a child, I’m prepared to act that way.” She didn’t need to divulge any extra information to David’s sister.

  “Nope, not good enough. Can I see a picture?”

  Ebony had to grudgingly admit—to herself, at least—that she kind of liked Sarah. She had a fire in her that Ebony related to. “Fine.” She opened her phone and pulled up an album. “Here she is.” Ebony watched closely as Sarah looked at the photos starting the day Kim was born and spanning the past four months.

  The woman gasped and brought a hand to her mouth. “Oh. My. God. Ebony!” Sarah looked up at her, tears shimmering in her eyes. “She’s beautiful with those curls and that adorable mouth. And those eyes. Those are Henderson eyes.”

  She did the only thing she could do, and nodded her agreement. That was part of the reason she’d brought her tablet to her last meeting. She was so certain that one look at the photos of Kim and he would know without a doubt she was his daughter. Those gorgeous, exotic eyes that she couldn’t escape, especially now when she so desperately needed to.

  “I guess my idiot brother didn’t see these?” Ebony shook her head.

  “We didn’t get to that.”

  “You’re a cool customer, Ebony. My brother’s physical description of you was spot on, of course.” She rolled her eyes affectionately. “But the rest of you. I’m beginning to think he doesn’t know you at all.”

  Ebony shrugged, because that didn’t really matter. At least not to her. Not anymore. “No reason he should. I don’t know him all that well either.”

  “So what is it that you want, Ebony?”

  “Nothing.” Not from David, or his sister or any other person entity associated with the Henderson family or Henderson Corp.

  “Nothing at all?”

  “Well, I would like one thing.” She saw the brief flash of some indescribable emotion in Sarah�
�s eyes but it was gone as quickly as it had appeared. But Ebony knew what it was. Sarah expected her to ask for something, namely money.

  “Well?”

  “I would like for you and your brother to leave me alone.”

  Her gold swirled green eyes went large in surprise. “I like you, Ebony. And I am desperate to cuddle this little cutie, so, unfortunately, I can’t leave you alone.”

  “I can’t make you, but you should know I plan to leave the area soon. So stalk me while you can.”

  “What? You can’t leave! David will never forgive himself.”

  “That’s not my problem, Sarah. If you have a card or something, I’ll consider letting you meet Kim before we leave.” She took the card Sarah handed her and left the café, circling the block several times just to make sure the red luxury car was long gone.

  Chapter Ten

  Late at night when David didn’t want to think about the two women dominating the empty spaces in his mind, he couldn’t get rid of them. Now, in the cold light of day, he couldn’t seem to get either of them on the phone. Sarah was doing something foolish like trying to teach him a lesson, he was sure of it. But Ebony, he didn’t understand her game. Finally, his curiosity had gotten the better of him and he’d called to find out her end game.

  And she hadn’t answered. She hadn’t picked up and she hadn’t returned any of his calls. For all he knew she hadn’t listened to his messages. “Dammit.” He buzzed for his assistant. “Find Sarah and tell her to come see me. Now.”

  “Right away, Mr. Henderson.”

  He was sick of the damn games. Between Ebony and Sarah, he was close to tracking them both down and setting them straight. Sarah had taken it upon herself to over schedule him out in the community, and today he would be headed out to a ribbon cutting for a homeless shelter Henderson Corp. had donated to before the first building burned down. Anything was better than sitting in the office and being ignored.

  “You bellowed?”

  “Sarah. Where have you been?”

  She shrugged but avoided his gaze. “Busy.”

  His gaze narrowed. “Busy doing what, exactly?”

  “Working and living life. You know.”

  She was lying and they both knew it. “So, something you shouldn’t. You’re not meddling in my life, are you?”

  She shook her head, blonde locks swaying gently. “Nope.”

  “What are you up to, Sarah? Don’t make me put a security detail on you.”

  Her eyes went round with excitement and she started to do that little seat hop thing that meant she was excited. “Oh my goodness, David, she is so adorable. You have to see her!”

  “Who?” But Sarah didn’t hear a word he said, she just continued to babble.

  “And she’s so smart, like crazy smart. And those eyes, they are just too cute for words.” She gushed until she presumably ran out of breath.

  “Who in the hell are you talking about?”

  Her smile vanished. “Your daughter, you moron.”

  “What? You’ve gone to see her? What is wrong with you, do you want me to end up in court?” It was unbelievable that she had gone behind his back. “At least now I know why she hasn’t called me back. She’s got her claws into you.” He leaned back in his chair as though he didn’t have a care in the world. “What have you given her?”

  “Nothing, you jackass. I had to track her down, beg to see my niece and promise not to tell you or it would stop.” Her green gaze seared his. “All because you’re an idiot.”

  “Oh, right, I’m the idiot. Did you meet her charming boyfriend? The real father of her child?”

  Sarah gave him that look that said poor stupid bastard, and he didn’t like it at all. “You mean the guy who is basically stalking her? Which I only found out because I’ve been stalking her. He waits for her outside class, the restaurant where she works, sometimes he approaches and sometimes he just follows her. Always watching.”

  “You’ve what?”

  “You heard me,” she said without apology. “She’s super diligent about people following her home and I’m guessing he’s the reason. You know, the guy she supposedly slept with and made a child. Him.”

  He sucked in a breath at the thought of Ebony at the mercy of a guy like that. “Is she alright?”

  A blonde brow cocked in his direction. “You don’t get to ask that question, big brother. I will tell you though that she took him down good last week. You would’ve been proud.”

  His mouth curled into a smile. Ebony was a feisty woman, that was for sure. He wasn’t at all surprised that she could take care of herself. “Good for her.”

  Sarah looked at him carefully. Closely. Too closely. “You really don’t care, do you? All this time I thought you just hadn’t realized your feelings or that you were honestly a good guy. But you don’t care at all.” She stood and left his office. Leaving him alone. Again.

  A state of being David was quickly growing tired of. Didn’t care. What a joke. He cared too damn much and that was exactly the problem. Caring about a woman he couldn’t trust was a stupid move guaranteed to end up with him hurt and probably a few million poorer to boot. No, being alone was better than being played for a fool.

  And if he said it enough, eventually he would believe it.

  ~

  “I just don’t see why you need to be gone for so long.” With her arms crossed, Tonya gave her daughter a hard stare.

  She sighed heavily because they’d been over this every day for the past seven days. “I’m hoping to finish my degree there, Mama. It would be nice to get to know the town, the people and the school before then.” Even her mama didn’t know she had an interview scheduled with admissions and she would know soon if the next stage of her life would be in Berkeley. She had the grades, the internship, which was now thankfully over, and she didn’t need to worry about financial aid. That spot was hers.

  “Yeah, I know, but I don’t have to like it.” She scooped up Kim and cuddled her close. “I’m happy you’re finally doing something that might make you happy, Ebony, because I don’t think you’ve been happy for a long time. If only you could be happy closer.”

  Ebony sighed, hoping to relieve some pressure off her heavy heart. “You could always come with us.”

  “Nah.” She kissed Kim and handed her off so Ebony could feed her. “I’m fine here. I’ve got work at the bakery with that old coot Raymond and I’ve got church and volunteer work.”

  She nodded because she knew all the reasons her mama would never leave her neighborhood. She’d lived there pretty much all her life and most of her friends still lived there. The church she attended every Wednesday, Friday and Sunday was just a two-block walk, and she helped at several shelters each week. “I know, Mama, and we’ll miss you. But this, if it happens, is a good thing.”

  Tonya simply groaned before kissing her girls goodbye. “Call me when you get there. Good luck, baby.”

  “Thanks. Bye, Mama.” Ebony finished feeding and burping Kim, loaded up the car and stopped for cash. Ten minutes later she was on the expressway with her city and her problems soundly in her rearview mirror.

  Smiling as she thought about her mama’s gruff words, Ebony knew Tonya didn’t like change. She preferred everything in her world to stay as it always had and she took steps to ensure it did. It was surprising really, considering how vocally Ebony had been about her desire to leave the neighborhood behind to see the world. Tonya had never stifled her though and even now when it meant being so far away from her only child and grandchild, she supported Ebony. “Your grandmama is the best,” she said to her cooing daughter.

  “She doesn’t like change, but we do, don’t we, baby?” She smiled at her daughter, who was kicking her feet and clapping at the sound of her mom’s voice. At this stage in her life, Ebony could use change. New school. New town. New apartment. And maybe, hopefully, a new Ebony. Maybe not quite as shy and idealistic as she’d been before meeting David, but definitely not the more cynical version of
herself that came after. Somewhere in the middle. Yeah, that would be nice. To be a regular woman with even keeled emotions, instead of the bitter woman who’d learned a hard lesson about men and sex and love.

  The drive was long but it was good. Cleansing. By the time Ebony and Kim pulled into the driveway of the bed and breakfast, she was exhausted. And happy.

  Tomorrow was the start of something new. Something good.

  ~

  “This is the last time you rope me into one of these,” David growled in his sister’s ear. “Why are you here? You never come to these things.”

  Sarah shrugged and looked up at him, feigning innocence. “Just quality control, big brother. I’m here to make sure your community outreach doesn’t damage the company’s reputation. Or yours.”

  David frowned. “What the hell am I, some sort of monster?” Judging by the way his employees cowered when he spoke to them, or scattered when he entered a room, that was exactly what he’d become.

  “Not a monster, just someone a tad mercurial these days.”

  It was true. He’d been as bad as an angry bull, stomping around the office and barking orders at everyone for no good reason. He was in a funk. A big one he didn’t know how to get out of without help. But he couldn’t ask for help. Could he? “I can handle a ribbon cutting.”

  “Of course you can, big brother.” Her smile was precious but her eyes were full of mischief.

  He ignored her even though she’d stayed by his side through several speeches made by the mayor and several council members. Everyone had to pat their own backs for doing the right thing, while David would prefer no one ever knew. Except his sister had insisted. So he’d stood through the speeches, stood for photo ops—everyone wanted photos with the young billionaire—and stood for an hour long meet and greet. Arranged by Sarah.