Baby By The Billionaire - A Standalone Alpha Billionaire Secret Baby Romance (New York City Billionaires - Book #3)

by Alexa Davis

  “No, you guys go, have a nice night,” she smiled at us both. Then, as she pulled me in for a hug, she finally whispered her opinion into my ear. “He’s a keeper. Don’t let this one go anywhere.”

  That made me so happy, I loved the fact that they got along. It would make things so much easier in the future. I’d made an internal promise to myself as Mom was proven right that I wouldn’t ever date anyone that she actively hated again, and the fact that both she and Nancy liked Justin had to be good. Never again would I be so stubborn as to assume that I knew better than the rest of the world.

  As we got into Justin’s car, I could tell that he was happy with the way that things had gone, too. He obviously wanted to impress my mom, and he’d done an amazing job of it. “Your mom is lovely,” he told me happily. “I had a really nice day with her.”

  “Yeah, I bet, learning all about my humiliating childhood,” I laughed appreciatively. I didn’t really mind about being the butt of all jokes when it made everyone else get along so well. “What joy!”

  “No, you were cute!” he insisted. “That adorable haircut was something else.”

  “Mom made me have that,” I replied, shoving him playfully. “Now get me home and you can make me a cup of coffee, make up for laughing at me all day!”

  “Now that is a plan that I can get on board with,” he smiled towards me. “It’s all that I’ve been thinking about all week long. Well, maybe not so much the coffee…”

  With that, my mind began to wander and I couldn’t help but think about all the things Justin was going to do to me when we go back to my place. It wasn’t often that I got the house to myself, and even less so with a gorgeous man by my side. I couldn’t wait to take full advantage of that.

  “And, if you can find a mini skirt, then even better.”

  “I haven’t had a mini shirt for years, but I’m sure I can roll this one up!”

  I loved the fact that I could tease Justin, and him me. For most of the time that I was with Billy, I wasn’t really living, just tiptoeing around on eggshells, trying desperately not to say the wrong thing. I had become so accustomed to that life that I wasn’t really sure that there was anything else out there. Now I could see just how wrong I’d been. I couldn’t have ever lived my whole like that, especially not now, knowing that things could be so much better.

  I don’t know what that was, but this was love. This was exactly what I wanted to happen for the rest of my life. This was the man that I wanted to marry.

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Justin – Sunday

  “So,” I started slowly as I cooked the eggs breakfast I was making for Annie. “Do you mind if I ask what your plans for the future are now? With regards to Boffees, I mean?”

  I hated to tackle such a serious subject so early in the morning, but now that I was in, I was all in and I wanted to know how we could make things work. This was my roundabout way of getting to that because long distance would only take us so far. Eventually, we would have to get to that, so why not look at our options now? It made perfect sense to me.

  “Hmmm,” she sipped her coffee thoughtfully, then brushed a stray strand of hair out of her eyes.

  Her natural morning look was the most beautiful of all, especially when I remembered all the things that we got up to the previous night. She was so sweet, so innocent, but so sexy, too. She was the perfect balance of the all the best things, and it made me smile to know that she was mine.

  “Well, I don’t think that I’ll be looking for any further investment,” she completely stunned me by saying. She was so ambitious before, so determined. I hated to think that I had taken that away from her. “I think what I want to do is stay here in Florence to focus on the store that I have for the time being.”

  “Really?” I gasped in shock, laying the plate of food out in front of her. “But I thought…”

  “I know, I know,” she smiled at me, taking a bite. “It was all that I ever wanted, but now… Well, now I think I might be seeing things more clearly. It isn’t just about the percentage of the business that I’ll have to sacrifice to get the money I’ll need; it’s time, too. I don’t want to be racing about from city to city, leaving Rae all the time, especially not when she starts school and she’ll have to be in one place all the time.

  “Plus, I’m loving the close relationship that I have with my mom at the moment. It wasn’t always that way, not when I was with Rae’s father, and now with my dad gone…I guess I really don’t want to lose her.”

  She smiled brightly at me, showing me that she’d put a lot of thought into her decision and it was the right one for her. I was pleased for her; she deserved to have the life that she wanted. “Also, I’ll need the time to write the rest of my books, now that I have that contract to complete.”

  I mock sighed and leaned back in my seat, staring right at her. “So I guess there’s no chance of you opening a branch in Portland, then?” I was only joking, but I couldn’t help hoping that she might just say yes. My business was there, my entire life was there, Garret was still there; I couldn’t just give all of that up so easily. Not without a lot of organization.

  “I’m afraid not,” she shrugged her shoulders regretfully. “I don’t think that Boffees would do so well there, anyway.”

  She was probably right about that one; it was the sort of place that thrived on the sort of small community that Florence offered. I couldn’t hate her for making that choice. Not when I understood it so well. After learning about her the previous night and her relationship history, I felt like I understood her a lot more, and I liked that. It made me feel special and built our bond even more. I would just have to make some changes of my own when the time came – I wasn’t trying to rush things.

  “That’s fair,” I wrapped my arm around her shoulders. “But you can’t blame a guy for trying.”

  She kissed me lightly on the lips and rested her forehead against mine, allowing me to see deeply into her eyes. As I gazed upon her, I knew that she was the obvious choice, and that it’s be easy to uproot everything for her. Sure, there would be challenges along the way, I wasn’t being naïve about it, but knowing what was waiting for me on the other end would make it all worth it.

  “Now,” she smiled brightly. “I don’t know what your plan is for the day, or when you have to go home, but I’m about to go and pick up Rae from Mom’s if you want to come with me.”

  I felt so honored that she would even ask. It must have been so hard for her to trust me around her daughter, even more so than other moms, but she had, and that had to mean that I was something incredibly special to her. It was just lucky really that Rae liked me, too, because I had the strong sense that I would have been out on my ear if she hadn't.

  “I would love to come!” I agreed happily. “But I was hoping for five more minutes with you first.” I wiggled my eyebrows suggestively at her, and she giggled at my request.

  “Oh yeah?” she decided to play it innocent, which made me join in with the laughter. “Why’s that? What could you possible need five minutes for?”

  “Oh, go on then,” I grabbed her arm and pulled her up onto my lap. “Let’s go wild, and make it ten.”

  ***

  Rae was absolutely full of beans as we picked her up, telling long and complicated tales of what she’d gotten up to with her grandmother.

  That made me appreciate Annie’s need to stay in Florence even more; how could she take away the small amount of family that Rae had from her? I hadn't asked because it didn’t seem right to, but it didn’t seem like the rest of Rae’s father’s family were involved in her life, either. It was just her and her mom.

  “So, how are things?” Annie’s mom asked me discretely as she went off to pack up her daughter’s belongings. “Annie looks happy.”

  “Things are good between us,” I told her as a proud joyful feeling filled me up. “I’m really glad that we’re finally where we are.” I wasn’t sure how much she knew, but I got the impression that they s
hared everything these days. “I feel bad for when I wasn’t exactly…perfect, but I hope now that she’ll give me the chance to make up for it.”

  “Trust me, when Annie lets you in, it’s for good.” She nudged me playfully. “You’re the lucky one.”

  “Oh, I know,” I insisted. “I feel lucky. She’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me, and I hope you know that I’ll never do anything to hurt her.”

  “Believe me, I know. You would be out the door in an instant if I thought you would.”

  To know that I had her approval felt really good. To know that she thought I was worthy of her daughter made me feel like maybe I just might be, and I knew then that I wouldn’t ever let her down.

  “Thank you, I really appreciate that,” I told her warmly. “And you must all come up to Portland some time to visit…”

  “Ah yes, that must be causing you both some issues,” she replied knowingly, hitting the nail right on the head. “Have you any plans for the future?”

  “Well, it’s too soon right now,” I tried to answer her diplomatically, but she shot me a look confirming that she wasn’t buying that at all. “Okay, so I have been thinking about it a lot, and although we both have ties to each place, Annie has a daughter and that overrules everything else. So eventually, I’ll find a way to come to Florence.”

  “Wow, that’s a massive sacrifice. You must really adore her.”

  I love her, I thought, but I didn’t say that part aloud. I simply nodded instead. I didn’t want anyone else to know how I felt before Annie did. It was all about finding the right time to say it.

  “Come on, Justin!” Annie eventually yelled, breaking our conversation apart. “I think Rae might just about be ready now.”

  As Rae argued with her, we both chuckled quietly and said our goodbyes. In that moment, it hit me how much I didn’t want to leave, and it wasn’t just for Annie; it was for everything. I didn’t just have stuff waiting for me in Portland: I had friends and a readymade family waiting for me here, too. It wouldn’t be anything of a sacrifice – if anything, it would be a privilege.

  I drove Rae and Annie back home in a relative silence, wondering how I could fast forward my plan to mostly retire from the company early so that I could make the move happen. I was going to have to train someone up to be a manager, someone that I really trusted to keep everything going well, and that would take some time. But it wasn’t impossible, so if I focused on that…

  “What are you thinking about?” Annie asked, resting her hand on my leg.

  I bit my lip and shot her a look. Could I tell her? Would it freak her out to know how seriously I was taking all of this? “Just the future,” I decided to tell her semi evasively.

  “Yeah, I’ve been thinking about that, too,” she replied virtually silently. “It’s a tricky one, isn’t it?” Clearly my questions this morning had got her thinking. “But we’ll find a way to make it work, right?”

  I looked at her, then in my rearview mirror to see Rae sitting there happily singing away to herself. This would work somehow, I would find a way. But I couldn’t tell her any of my plans just yet, in case it didn’t work out. The last thing that I wanted to do was disappoint her. “We’ll find a way, don’t you worry about that.”

  As I dropped them both off at home, I felt like my heart was being torn from my chest. If I didn’t have so much to go back for, if I didn’t have a meeting with my brother’s lawyer in the morning, plus a load of business meetings to catch up on all week long, then I would have just stayed with her. I could tell that she wanted me to from the saddened look in her eyes, but she wouldn’t ask. There was one thing that Annie understood well, and that was responsibility.

  In the end, I had to literally force myself to drive away, and as I did, I allowed my mind to wander.

  I thought about how difficult all of this was for me, with Garrett, and how it must have been so much worse for Annie. If I was worried about the family reputation, then I couldn’t even begin to imagine what it must have been like for her. And, with a newborn baby to attend to, as well.

  Sure, I wasn’t experienced in what life was like with a baby, but I could only imagine that it was a never ending chain of someone relying solely on you for everything. No sleep, no real rest, stress every second of every day…plus that nightmare on top of it? That prospect was too unbearable for words.

  How did she manage to fit everything in? I couldn’t wrap my head around how she’d actually managed to do it all without super powers, it was amazing.

  She was an incredible woman, the absolute best – and now she was mine, and I would never ever let her go. She wasn’t just beautiful and smart, like I’d first assumed when I met her; she was brave, too. Powerful and strong. Just the sort of woman that I needed in my life.

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Annie – Monday

  “What the hell?” I muttered to myself as I reached Boffees to start work. I’d picked up Rae with Justin by my side, then dropped her off with Nancy so my head was all over the place anyway, but this was totally unexpected. I glanced at my watch, just to check that I wasn’t really late, but I was on time. Something was going on here – I just needed to figure out what it was.

  “Annie!” Tony yelled above the crowd. “Look, guys, she’s here. Everyone, look!” He sounded far too excitable for my liking, it made me very suspicious.

  “Erm, what’s going on?” I asked curiously as a blush filled my entire body. I wasn’t used to so much focus on me all at once, and it was making me a bit uncomfortable. “Why are you all here?” I trailed off, hating that I was basically criticizing people for coming to my store, but I really was confused.

  “We all got advanced copies of your book,” Jan told me happily, handing me her copy to examine. My heart raced as I trailed my fingers over the glossy cover, my dream becoming a reality. “Justin got the publishing company to send all of your best customers a copy, and we’re all here for you to sign it.”

  “I read it last night,” someone else piped up, a face that I barely recognized. “It’s absolutely incredible. I couldn’t put it down.”

  “Wow, thank you,” I replied a little breathlessly. “I…I really don’t know what to say.”

  I unlocked the door to let people in, and started to carry on as normal, but no one would let me have it. One of the ladies took over making the hot drinks for everyone, someone else took control of the register, while everyone else crowded around me to ask me all the questions that they had about the book.

  “When did you write it?”

  “Are you writing more?”

  “What will happen in your next book? Will it be based on the same characters?”

  “How do you find time to write it all?”

  “Are the characters based on real people?”

  I did my best to answer everyone as honestly as I could, except for the part about the characters being based on anyone. I didn’t want people to know that Mary Ann was loosely based on myself, because that would just lead to more very awkward questions – the sort I wasn’t in any sort of position to answer.

  She was her own character, of course; after a while she took on a life of her own, but her internal pain, the fact that she felt blamed for something she hadn't done, the fact that she wanted to kill the male character in the story…that was all me at the time. I laid everything out about what I felt on paper as a form of therapy for myself. It actually worked in a way because it helped me to make my way through a lot of my feelings.

  Instead, I chose to focus on the future and the possible plot ideas of the second book, just to give the people of Florence something else to talk about, which luckily they seemed to love.

  As I scribbled my name across the pages of the book, feeling much more like a celebrity than I thought I ever would, I felt good about what I’d written in that book. I hadn't really thought about it at the time of writing it, I assumed that I was only writing it for myself, but now I could see that I might actually be able
to touch other people in a strange way, and I liked that.

  It made me want to do the same again. What I wanted was to make other people happy and hopeful, so that would be the core of my next plot, however it came out.

  “There she is,” a familiar voice burst through the doors of Boffees, making me smile before I even looked up to catch his gaze. “The published author, congratulations.”

  “Hi there, Roy,” I grinned happily. “I know, all of this is a bit crazy isn’t it?”

  “Oh, I don’t know, I always knew that you had it in you.” He took his drink off someone and came to sit with me. “You are going to sign my copy, right?”

  My head was all over the place as I signed his book, admittedly feeling just a little bit silly. It was one thing to do it for people who seemed to be fans of my work, but for a friend…well, that was too bizarre for words.

  “I can’t believe Justin did this for you,” he told me quietly. “He really is something else, isn’t he?”

  “I know, and I’m really grateful to you for telling me to stick with him; things are much better now,” I told him smilingly. “I wasn’t sure that you were right for a time, I thought that you were just sticking up for your friend, and I tried my best to move on. But it didn’t work. I never lost any of my feelings for him.”

  “I know it isn’t going to be easy taking on Justin with his baggage, but honestly, he really is a good person. I meant it when I said that.”

  “Yeah, I mean this thing with Garrett is difficult for me, you know that as well as I do, but I think I can do it.”

  “Thank you. I really do appreciate that,” I glanced around, glad that everyone else had finally broken off into their own groups of conversation now, leaving us both alone. “But I’ve told him now anyway, so things are much better. I feel like I can be more myself with him. I feel like he understands me.”