Single Dad Billionaire

by B. B. Hamel

  I bend down and unstrap her from the car seat and lift her up into my arms. She’s a healthy looking child with a cute little smile and light blue eyes.

  And she definitely needs to be changed.

  I start looking around and notice a smaller bag tucked in behind the car seat. I put Alexa back in the seat before opening the bag up. Inside are a few changes of clothing and some fresh diapers, which is a relief. I don’t know where we’d find diapers this late.

  “What’s that?” Logan asks, staring at me.

  “Looks like a diaper bag,” I say. “She needs to be changed.”

  “Changed?” He looks like I just told him that Alexa is part lizard person.

  “Changed, like, her diaper,” I say to him, standing. “Do you know how to change a baby?”

  He shakes his head. “I’ve never even held a baby before.”

  Shit. I shake my head, frowning. I know I have to make a choice right here and now. I look down at Alexa, and she’s just so cute. I look back at Logan, and he’s clearly in over his head. I know this man can be a tough boss sometimes, even impossible to work with, but he obviously needs help.

  “Come on,” I say. “I’ll show you. Grab that car seat and follow me.”

  He does as I ask without a single comment. Normally he has lots to say, but apparently he’s too much in shock to question anything right now.

  I carry the bag and he carries the car seat. We head back into the conference room and I direct him to place the seat down on top of the table. I spread out a little blanket that’s inside of the bag and lift Alexa out of her seat.

  “Watch carefully,” I say to him. I take Alexa out of her little baby pajamas before rolling her up and removing the diaper. Logan stares the whole time, a little wide-eyed, as I clean Alexa off and get her in a new diaper. When I’m finished, I put her pajamas back on.

  “Simple,” I say to him, lifting Alexa up into my arms. “Right, little girl?”

  She smiles and burbles a little bit, but obviously she’s exhausted.

  “How do you know how to do that?” he asks me suddenly.

  He’s looking at me a little strange, and it sends an odd thrill down my spine. It’s like he’s really looking at me, really seeing me for the first time. I don’t really understand it, but it makes me feel good, really good.

  “My little sister is twelve years younger than me,” I say. “She was a little surprise. I helped change her and watch her when I was a kid.”

  “That must have been hard,” he says.

  “Not really. I didn’t mind. She’s family, after all.” I cock my head at him and he’s still staring at me. Alexa is practically sleeping in my arms. “Uh, stupid question, but you don’t have a crib, do you?”

  He shakes his head, coming back to reality. “No crib,” he confirms.

  “You need to put her to bed,” I say. “And tomorrow, there’s a lot of stuff to get.”

  He stares at me blankly for a second. “Like what?” he asks finally.

  “Diapers, formula, a crib, probably a changing station, maybe a diaper genie, you know, baby stuff.”

  “Baby stuff,” he repeats, and I can tell he’s not taking any of this stuff in.

  I don’t know what to do. Logan is clearly not equipped to deal with this. He obviously doesn’t know the first thing about taking care of a baby. I can’t exactly leave Alexa with him, because he wouldn’t know what to do.

  Then again, this isn’t my problem. I just work with him. Logan has enough money that he can buy whatever he needs for Alexa and then some. He could hire ten nannies if that’s what he wanted.

  But right now, he can’t do any of that. It’s too late for him to find someone to help, and stores aren’t open for him to buy what he needs. I don’t want to get involved in this, because I can already tell that it’s a bad idea, but he needs help. And this baby needs someone to watch her.

  He watches me for a second before taking a deep breath. “Everly, I’m going to ask something of you.”

  I bite my lip, already knowing what he’s about to say. “I’ll help,” I say quickly.

  The relief is evident. “I need to make some calls. I don’t… I don’t know what I’m going to do.”

  “I understand. I’ll help, but just for tonight.” I hesitate for a second. “Do you have a cardboard box?”

  He cocks his head. “Why do you need a box?”

  “For the baby to sleep in. We’ll put some blankets in there and keep her next to the bed.”

  “You can’t put a baby in a box,” he says, a little surprised.

  “Sure, you can. Do you have any better ideas?”

  He hesitates. “I have some in storage we can use.”

  “The cleaner, the better.”

  “Follow me.”

  We head down the hall and around the corner. He leads me into his personal apartment, and I can feel my heart hammering in my chest as I cradle Alexa in my arms.

  His apartment is beautiful, which is what I expected. It’s immaculately clean, modern, and expensively furnished. Everything looks like it belongs in a museum or in a magazine.

  “Wait here,” he says. The main area is an open floor plan that’s part modern kitchen and part beautiful living room. There’s an incredible view of the city out his windows, with no other buildings in sight, which means nobody can look in even if they wanted to. I stand at those windows and stare out at the gorgeous view as Logan disappears into the back.

  Alexa fusses a bit and I know she just wants to sleep. “It’s okay, sweetie,” I whisper to her, rocking her softly. “We’ll get you down soon. I know it’s late.”

  I shouldn’t stay over here. I don’t even know what I’m doing in Logan’s apartment, holding his baby. He seems to be getting his faculties back together after the shock of finding out about Alexa, but he still doesn’t know a thing about babies. I can help him overnight tonight, just this once, and tomorrow he can hire people to him figure this all out.

  I can just keep telling myself that I’m doing it for the baby, not for Logan. Somehow, that makes it a little bit easier.

  Logan comes back a few minutes later with a pretty big cardboard box. “Perfect,” I say. “Now we need blankets.”

  He disappears again and returns with some very soft blankets. We carry the box into the living room and line it with the blankets before I slowly place Alexa down on her back in the little soft nest.

  She wriggles a little bit, but she’s obviously going to fall asleep. We watch her together for a second. I glance at Logan and he has a strange look on his face.

  He looks back at me and nods. “Thank you, Everly,” he says. “I’m going to make some phone calls. Do you mind?”

  “No, that’s okay,” I say, feeling awkward. “I, uh, I’ll just keep an eye on her.”

  “Make yourself at home. Whatever you want. Feel free to make yourself something to eat or to get changed into something from my closet if you want.” He turns to leave but pauses and looks back at me. “I really appreciate this, Everly. And please… I think it goes without saying, but this is a very personal matter.”

  “Of course,” I say quickly. “I wouldn’t dream of telling anyone.”

  He nods, satisfied. “I appreciate it.” He turns and leaves the room.

  I watch him go for a second, at a total loss.

  I’m standing in Logan Ray’s personal apartment, watching the baby that he just found out about, and apparently I’m allowed to wear his clothes. I don’t know what to think. This is the craziest situation I’ve ever been in.

  And yet… I want to be here. I want to help Logan. He may be a hard boss, but he’s clearly at a loss, and he needs someone to help him. I can be that person, at least for now. Besides, if I’m lucky, Alexa will sleep most of the night anyway.

  I head into the kitchen to make myself something to eat, all the while keeping an eye on little sleeping Alexa.

  3

  Logan

  “Wait, slow down. There’s a w
hat in your living room?”

  “A baby,” I repeat, a little slower this time. “She’s asleep in a box.”

  “In a box,” Richard repeats. “Why is she in a box?”

  “I don’t know,” I say, exasperated. “Everly said that would be fine.”

  “Who’s Everly?”

  “She’s the marketing person working on my shelter,” I say. “Richard, who cares about any of that? Did you hear me? There’s a baby in my apartment.”

  “Okay,” he says slowly. “Tell me what happened.”

  I repeat the story, starting with staying up late to work with Everly, and ending with our leaving Alexa in the blanket-lined box.

  Richard doesn’t say a word, but I know he’s already calculating what to do next. He’s my oldest friend and my personal lawyer, although right now I just need someone to tell me what the fuck to do.

  I know who Jessica is. I slept with her about a year ago, which means Alexa is something like three or four months old, assuming she’s actually mine. I can’t imagine Jessica would just drop another man’s baby on my doorstep, although I didn’t think she’d drop a baby there randomly anyway. What if I hadn’t left the apartment? Maybe she rang the home bell and we didn’t hear it in the conference room.

  My head is practically spinning. I’m not the kind of man to get frazzled like this. I’m calm, cool, and collected. I don’t stress under pressure, and in fact, I typically thrive. This isn’t a normal situation, though. I don’t know a damn thing about babies and I’m far from being prepared to take care of an infant.

  “How sure are you that this is your baby?” Richard asks me when I finish my story.

  “I slept with a woman named Jessica about a year ago,” I say. “But I can’t be sure.”

  “Paternity test first, then,” Richard says. “We need to confirm it’s your baby. Next, we hunt down Jessica and we take her ass to court.”

  “Fine,” I say to him. “Good. But what about in the meantime?”

  “I’ll make some calls,” he says. “Find you a nanny to help take care of her. You’ll have to get all that baby stuff, though.”

  “Got it,” I say. “Rich, how the fuck could Jessica do this?”

  “I don’t know,” he says softly. “Do you remember her?”

  “Vaguely,” I admit. “You know me. I don’t always remember them.”

  “You sure it’s the right girl?”

  “Pretty sure,” I say. “I don’t think I’ve been with any other Jessica.”

  “Do you remember anything else about her?”

  “She’s a lawyer,” I say. “I have all her info.”

  “Good,” he says. “That’s good. We’ll be able to find her pretty easily.”

  “A fucking baby,” I say, shaking my head. I stare at the wall of my office. “If this is really my daughter…”

  “We’ll figure it out, Logan,” he says. “Can that Everly person help you for tonight?”

  “Yes,” I say. “She already said she would.”

  “Good.” He pauses for a second. “Don’t get her pregnant too.”

  I groan. “Too soon, asshole,” I say.

  I can practically see his shit-eating grin. “Never too soon for a good joke.”

  “Just make those calls for me. I’ll get in touch early tomorrow morning.”

  “Fine. We’ll figure this out.”

  “Thanks, Rich.”

  “Talk to you soon.”

  I hang up the phone and clench my fists.

  What kind of fucked up person would leave a baby alone like that? I can’t imagine what was going through Jessica’s head. Just because I’m rich, doesn’t mean she can just dump a baby on my front step. This isn’t the fucking ‘20s or some shit like that. You don’t just abandon a baby. Whether Alexa is my daughter or not, the poor fucking baby was just abandoned by her mother. She’s going to have to deal with that her whole life.

  I can’t imagine what Jessica was going through to do something like this. She didn’t even tell me that she was pregnant. If she had, I might have been able to help her before she got to this point. I suspect we aren’t going tobe able to find her very easily. You don’t dump a baby on someone’s front step and then go back to work the next day like nothing happened. I suspect Jessica is going to be long gone by the time we start looking.

  I head back out into the living room to find Everly sitting on the couch, eating a salad she whipped up from whatever I had in my refrigerator. She doesn’t say anything as I walk over to the box that Alexa is sleeping in. I crouch down and look at the sleeping infant, and I feel something stirring in my chest.

  I don’t know what it is. I’ve never felt this before. Just looking at this baby makes me feeling something strange, though, like a sense of overwhelming responsibility. I don’t even know if she’s really my daughter or not, but then again, I don’t think I’d have this feeling if she weren’t mine.

  I want to reach down and pick her up, but I know that’s stupid. I have to let the sleeping baby sleep.

  I stand up and look at Everly. I motion for her to follow me. We head over into the kitchen area together. I pull out a bottle of whisky and pour myself a glass, but she declines.

  “Well?” I ask her softly.

  She cocks her head. “Well, what?”

  “What do you think?”

  She bites her lip. Everly is a beautiful woman, and I’m so damn thankful for her right now.

  I’ve been hard on her. This community homeless shelter is something of a personal dream of mine. I want to build a shelter for all the homeless of this city, plus I want to combine it with a community center to get everyone to mix. People can help the homeless get back on their feet while taking classes and playing recreational sports. It’ll be so good for this community. The city desperately needs it.

  And I need it. I’ve made enough money in my life, more than enough. This is my dream and I’ve gone through a lot to get it started.

  She lets out a breath. “I think Chester Winterfield is going to hate this.”

  I suck in a sharp breath and knock back my whisky. I hadn’t even thought about Chester. He’s the man that I’m trying to buy an entire city block from, but it hasn’t been easy. The location is perfect and the buildings currently on the land are entirely vacant, making it the ideal place to develop. It’s also in the neighborhood that I want, making it practically perfect.

  But Chester isn’t an easy man to do business with. He’s a very conservative person and will only do business with people that have sterling reputations. Chester likes me, and thinks I’m a good upstanding man, but a baby out of wedlock is going to be a fucking problem. I can’t afford to have this deal fall through. I’ve already hired architects, started filing paperwork with the city, and we’re moving forward on all fronts with the assumption that we’re getting this land. I’ll lose a lot if this deal fails, and I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to start back up again.

  “What can I do about him?” I ask her. “You know how important his land is.”

  “I know,” she says softly, biting her lip. It’s an endearing little habit that I’ve noticed her do when she’s thinking. “He’s eccentric, that’s for sure. He doesn’t care about the buildings or the location or the money, he just wants to make sure he’s selling to someone he deems decent.”

  “And in this case, having a random baby isn’t going to be decent,” I say.

  “Right.” She nods her head once. I watch as she stretches and yawns, clearly exhausted from working so late, and yet still willing to help me in this totally insane situation.

  And suddenly it hits me. I don’t know why I even have this thought, but staring at Everly makes me realize that the solution may be sitting right in front of me.

  Everly is good with babies. She knows what she’s doing. She’s smart, gorgeous, and very capable. I’ve been pushing her hard at work lately, but she’s been consistently surprising me with how adaptable and intelligent she really is. Everly is c
apable and if anyone can pull this off, she can.

  “I think you should marry me,” I say suddenly.

  She blinks, clearly surprised. “Excuse me?”

  “Let’s get married,” I say again.

  “I’m not following.”

  I grin at her and fill up my drinkagain. “Think about it. Chester wants me to be a fine, upstanding gentleman, right? Well, imagine that this baby weren’t mine, and instead of the mother dumping her in my lap, I decided to marry a single mother to make her an honorable person.”

  Comprehension slowly dawns on Everly. “No way,” she says.

  “You can be that single mother. We’ll get married, because I can’t bear to see you raise you child without a husband. Of course, it helps that we’re in love. Chester will eat this shit up.”

  “You want to lie to him,” she points out. “I’ve never been pregnant. He’ll see through it.”

  “No, he won’t,” I say. “We can fake whatever we need to fake.”

  “Logan, that’s insane.”

  “Is it? If I don’t do something, this deal will fall through. This city needs this shelter, Everly, you know that better than anyone.”

  I can see her thinking about it, which surprises me a little bit. I totally expected her to turn me down outright.

  “No,” she says finally. “I just can’t.”

  “One million,” I say.

  She hesitates. “Dollars?”

  I grin at her. “Yes, dollars. One million dollars plus a promotion in my company to do this.”

  She takes a deep breath. “To marry you and pretend that this is my baby,” she says softly.

  “That’s right. To help make sure this homeless shelter is built. You play your role until Chester signs the papers and then you’re off the hook.”

  “Are you serious about this?” she asks me.

  I look at her for a second and feel excitement pulse down my spine. I’m not sure about anything right now, but I do know that I’m attracted to Everly more with every second we spend together. I’m starting to realize that I want her, want her badly, and maybe that’s a bad reason to get involved with her.