My Surprise Secret Baby (Romance Box Set)

by Lexi Wilson

  She didn’t say anything, instead going up the stairs and vanishing into her room.

  Natalie had been acting strangely, to put it lightly. Ever since her party and the conversation we’d had that night, she’d been…distant toward me.

  But it wasn’t as if she was in the mood to talk about it. And I wasn’t going to push her.

  I made some breakfast, drank some coffee, and enjoyed the nice weather out on the balcony, the view overlooking the city. Damon messaged me, sending me pictures of all the action I’d missed. They were the usual shots of the guys drinking, girls on their laps.

  When I was younger, nothing would’ve sounded better, and I’d have been kicking myself for missing a night like that. But seated there, enjoying the Sunday morning, sipping my coffee and taking it easy, I knew I’d made the right call.

  I passed a little more time with some work, taking breaks to read the paper. But around noon, before lunchtime, I couldn’t resist the urge to call Amber.

  After grabbing the card, I took my phone, leaned over the balcony railing and dialed up her number.

  It rang and rang, and for a moment I thought she might not answer. Maybe she’d blown me off, not wanting to deal with some random dude gunning for a date after the night she’d had.

  “H…hello?” Someone picked up, and the voice on the other most certainly didn’t belong to Amber.

  It was a kid.

  “Uh, hi!” I said, not having expected this. “My name’s, um, Nick.” OK, I wasn’t the best at talking to kids. Not like I had much experience with them.

  “Hi, Mr. Nick.”

  “I’m…looking to talk to Amber. Is she there?”

  “Amber?” she sounded confused.

  Holy shit, I considered. Had she given me a fake number?

  “Oh,” she said, as if remembering something. “She’s in the bath. I’ll tell her to call you.”

  “OK, uh, bye.”

  “Bye.”

  And that was that. The whole thing had been more than a little surreal. Why had some little girl answered the phone? Was Amber a mom? If so, her agreeing to a date would’ve meant she wasn’t with anyone - making her a single mom.

  I didn’t mind any of that, of course. And as soon as I tucked my phone back into my pocket, I was more focused on Amber in the bath.

  It was so easy to imagine her in the water, suds forming around her body, her breasts glistening with wetness. It was enough to make me rock hard all over again.

  Then the phone rang, snapping me out of my trance. It shook in my pocket and I pulled it out so quickly it nearly flew out of my hand.

  I recognized the number. It was her.

  “Hello?”

  “Hey!” she said. “Is this Nick?”

  “Sure is.”

  “This is Amber. Sorry about all that confusion – Jamie likes to pretend to be my secretary when I can’t get to the phone.”

  “No worries,” I said. “She did a good job.”

  Amber chuckled. “Anyway, she wasn’t wrong about me being in the bath. I still need to get ready and make lunch and all that, but I wanted you to know I’ll be free to talk later if you want to give me a call this afternoon.”

  “Sure, and thanks for getting back to me.”

  “Of course. Talk to you soon, OK?”

  “Sounds good.”

  We hung up, and the sound of her voice flowed through my thoughts. It was so…fucking sexy, just like everything else about her.

  Amber, despite me only knowing her for a little while, already had a hold on me I could barely understand.

  Hell, it almost scared me.

  But that all was pushed out of my head when I glanced inside to see Natalie coming in through the front doors, and I realized she must’ve left without me even noticing.

  I stepped into the house, Natalie taking her usual seat at the kitchen bar.

  “Hey!” I said, trying to sound extra chipper. “What’s up?”

  She gave me a side-glance. “Nothing.”

  “You run out and do some errands?”

  Natalie sighed. “Something like that. Why?”

  I shrugged. “I dunno – just making conversation. Where’d you go off to?”

  And I was serious when I’d said it. Really, I just wanted to chat. Where she’d actually gone didn’t really make much difference.

  “Is it any of your business?” she asked, setting down her tablet and turning toward me. “See, this is exactly what I’m talking about. I can’t even run out of the house without you prying.”

  I raised my palms and stepped back. “Whoa, whoa, kiddo. You can do whatever you want – I’m just checking up on you.”

  “But that’s just it – I don’t need you to check up on me. I’m a grown adult and I don’t need an older brother watching over my shoulder to make sure I’m staying out of trouble.”

  “It’s not about that!” I said. “It’s just me caring about how your day went and wanting to see what you’re up to. You know, if you lived with friends they’d be asking the same thing.”

  “You’re not getting it. You’re not getting that I want live on my own and not having to deal with people checking in on me.”

  She got up and grabbed her things.

  “Just…leave me alone!”

  With that, she stormed up the stairs and went to her room, slamming the door behind her.

  What the hell?

  I got that she wanted to be able to do her own thing. And I got that there was definitely something going on with her that she didn’t want me to know about. But that, whatever it was, had been far more than I’d deserved.

  Was Natalie really up to something? It was so fucking strange.

  And I’d been good to her – didn’t think that there was any reason for her to act that out of line.

  I dropped onto the couch and flicked on the TV.

  A sister out of control and a stripper on my mind.

  Talk about a turn of events I hadn’t been expecting.

  Chapter 7

  AMBER

  I was alone.

  I couldn’t believe it.

  Mom had taken Jamie out for the afternoon, and likely evening, and with the whole “not having a job” thing I had my first Sunday free in as long as I could remember.

  It was almost a little overwhelming.

  Hell, it was really overwhelming. No sense in pretending otherwise.

  The bath had gone a little ways to untangle my nerves, but I was still in a bad state about being unemployed. I hadn’t even told Mom about it.

  And then there was the whole Nick thing.

  The guy was cute as hell, no sense in ignoring it. But was dating really where my mind should’ve been?

  Work. I needed a job. I went into my bedroom and dumped all the cash from my purse, counting it out. Once that was done, I took my secret shoebox from the back of my closet and opened it up, the box was full of cash, mostly random singles and fives that I hadn’t had a chance to sort through.

  I took all of the money and counted it out. And the situation was…dire.

  I had enough money to get by for the time being. But if there’d been one thing I’d learned as a single mom, it was that living was expensive. I’d have to pay for everything Jamie needed, plus Mom. It wouldn’t take much time at all before I was chewing into Jamie’s college fund just to make ends meet.

  I had to find something – anything.

  Luckily, I had a degree. It’d been one of the few good decisions I’d made over the years, and it’d be my only advantage when looking for a career.

  But there was still the matter of not having any experience. And I was pretty damn sure not a single respectable establishment would take a chance on a woman who’d spent the last several years dancing.

  I had to try. What else could I do, fail Jamie? Fail Mom?

  Not an option.

  Towel still wrapped around me, I opened up my closet and sifted through my clothes, taking out a halfway decent pantsuit along
with some matching heels. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d had to dress up “nice” for anything. Even my interview at Diamonds had required a certain kind of dress that most definitely wasn’t “professional.”

  Once I was ready to go I printed out my most recent resume and hit the road. I wasn’t sure where exactly I was going to apply, only that actually being out there and pounding the pavement would be tons better than stewing in the house.

  I drove past the nearest library, my eyes locking onto the building. On the entrance I spotted a small sign that read “now hiring.”

  The library – it was perfect. It’d be a steady paycheck, decent benefits, and reliable enough to fit it around Jamie’s schedule. Without a second thought, I pulled into the parking lot, took one last look at myself in the rearview mirror, and got out.

  The day was bright and warm and I felt full of purpose. I strode into the library like I owned the place, stepping into the cool, quiet interior and marching over to the front desk.

  “Hello,” I said to the trim, middle-aged woman there. “My name’s Amber Wax.”

  She looked me up and down like she didn’t know what to make of me.

  Had I done something wrong?

  “This…this is a library,” she said. “Lower your voice, please.”

  At that moment I realized that, after years of working at Diamonds, I’d totally forgotten what it was like to not have deafening music blasting in your ears at work.

  “Shit, I mean ‘shoot’.” Cussing, that was another thing. Stripper tended to have some pretty dirty mouths.

  “Anyway, Ms. Amber Wax,” she said, giving me another skeptical look up and down. “Something I can help you with?”

  I smiled broadly. “Sure is! I’m here about the clerk position.” I handed her my resume and she took it, taking the glasses handing from her necklace and placing them on her face.

  “I…see,” she said. “Well, come over here and let’s have a chat.”

  She said something to the other older woman working behind the desk – she gave me a skeptical look, too.

  “I’m Sheryl, by the way,” she said as we walked to a quiet corner of the library.

  “Nice to meet you, Sheryl.”

  We sat down and she took another look at my resume.

  “OK…So, tell me why you think you’d be a good fit for our humble library?”

  “Well, when I went to school I majored in English. I love to read - always had a book in my hands when I was a kid.”

  “Is that right?” she asked. “What’ve you read recently?”

  My mind drew a blank. “Um, well, I haven’t really had a chance to read much. I’m a mom, and my Mom lives with me and I kinda have to take care of her, too. Hey! She kind of reminds me of you, actually.”

  Gladys gave me a look, as if not sure what to make of my comment.

  “Because she’s old?” she asked.

  “Um, not…that’s not what I meant.”

  God, I was really bad at this.

  Another look at my resume. “Work,” she said. “I see here you graduated a few years ago, but there’s nothing in here since then. Have you been employed at all since graduation?”

  “I sure have.” This was the moment of truth. I had to tell her just where I’d been working. “I...was working as a dancer. Up until yesterday.”

  Her eyes lit up at this – not the reaction I was expecting at all.

  “Oh, a dancer?” she asked, clasping her hands together. “That’s so lovely. What kind of dancing? Ballet? Tap?”

  Oh.

  Misunderstanding.

  “Um, no,” I said. “Not ballet or tap. A different kind of dancing.”

  She was confused. “Cheerleading?”

  “No…the, um, exotic kind.”

  “I don’t understand. Exotic? Like belly dancing?”

  It would’ve been cute if it weren’t my future on the line.

  “No...though you can involve your belly if you want. It’s more the sort of dancing where you don’t wear much clothing. And where men stick dollar bills in your underwear.”

  OK, so maybe that was a little too blunt of a way to put it for old Gladys. But it got the message across.

  “You mean…you were one of those dancers that took off her brassiere for men and showed them your bosom?” She was clearly scandalized.

  “Yes and no. I danced for men, sure, but this brassiere stayed on. I don’t show the girls to just anyone.”

  Another blunt answer. But hey, if she was going to know about my job history, she might as well know about all of it.

  “That’s…that’s something else,” she said, taking off her glasses and setting down my application as though it were radioactive.

  “But I’m ready for something new,” I said. “I’ve known in the back of my mind for a long time that I couldn’t be doing this forever. And I’ve got a little girl to worry about – need to be a good role model, right?”

  “And you think you can just swap out ‘exotic dancing’ for being a librarian?”

  “I’m a fast learner, and I did awesome in school. I promise that if you were to just give me the chance I’d show you I can be exactly what you need. I’ll do whatever it takes, work whenever you want. Just please, give me a chance.”

  Gladys locked eyes with me, those watery blues giving me the judgement of a lifetime.

  “Sorry,” she said, shaking her head as she passed me back my resume. “But we’re a family establishment.”

  My gut sank. Really, I had a bad feeling about it from the moment I’d sat down with her. But hearing her so bluntly tell me I wasn’t good enough because of my past…that was something else.

  “How about you at least hold onto my resume?” I asked, pushing it back over. “Maybe you’ll change your mind?”

  “I doubt it,” she said. “Have a nice day, Ms. Wax. And maybe check Hollywood for some…places that are more your speed.”

  That was it. She went back over to the front desk, sharing some likely unkind words with the other woman there, both of them taking a very judgmental look at me as I rose and left.

  Soon I was back in my car, shaking my head as I reeled from the defeat.

  But I wasn’t about to be deterred. Sure, maybe the library hadn’t been a good fit, but try to let that stop me. I pulled out onto the road and scanned everywhere for my next stop.

  And man, did I give it my all. I went to restaurants, grocery stores, offices, dropping off my resume left and right. A few places honestly seemed like they might give me a shot. But the moment they say the massive blank space in my work history and asked what I’d been up to since I’d graduated, I knew I was sunk.

  When I’d been satisfied with my humiliations for the day, I decided to head back home and at least try to enjoy my evening off. Sure, I had the evening free because of losing my job, but it was still something.

  Once back home, Jamie still out with Mom, I kicked off my heels and dropped onto the couch. And the moment I did, a text message arrived.

  A text from Nick.

  “Hey. What’s up with you?”

  I smiled as I read the text over. Sure, he was just some guy I’d met the day before, but at least the idea of talking to him was more appealing than dealing with my unemployment.

  After giving it a moment of thought, I called him up.

  He answered after a couple of rings.

  “Howdy,” he said in that deep, sexy voice.

  I laughed. “’Howdy?’ I never took you for the Texas type.”

  “Just my preferred way of greeting, is all. What’s going on?”

  “Not much. I told you I’d call you back, so here’s me doing that.”

  “Alright, so it sounds like your secretary’s up to the job.”

  Jamie. Now, I wasn’t embarrassed at all about being a single mom – it was my most important job in the world, after all. But I knew that when Mom gave me shit about how hard it’d be to find a man while having a kid, she wasn’t wrong.


  So, there was a good chance Nick might hang the phone right up at the mention of my little girl. Fuck him if he did, but that didn’t mean it’d be pleasant.

  “She is,” I said. “And she does a pretty good job – when she doesn’t get distracted by TikTok, that is.”

  He laughed. “Anyway, I wanted to see if you were busy tonight.”

  “What’d you have in mind?”

  “A drink. Me and you. My treat.”

  I thought the matter over. Really, after the day I’d had a night out with a handsome man actually sounded pretty damn nice.

  “And where would this drink-treat of yours happen?”

  “Where are you in the city?”

  “The Valley. Van Nuys, to be specific.”

  “OK, then I’m not too far away. How about I pick you up in an hour, and we can come back to my neck of the woods for a drink? I know some places with great views of the ocean.”

  “Deal. Except I’ll drive – not big on men doing all the heavy lifting.”

  He chuckled. “Fair enough. How about six at the Sun Room?”

  “I’ll see you then.”

  “And I’ll be looking forward to it.”

  When I hung up the phone I had a big smile on my face – I couldn’t help it.

  I had a date. Silly as it was, I couldn’t wait.

  Chapter 8

  NICK

  I was seated at the outdoor bar of the Sun Room, the weather still perfect, the sunset about as picturesque as they came for California, oranges and whites and purples draped over the ocean.

  It was my usual spot for a quick drink. But that night I really, really had the urge for more than a “quick drink.” The situation with Natalie was weighing heavily on my mind, and she hadn’t come home to set things right.

  There was a rift between us – I could feel it.

  So, I was hoping the date –or whatever it was- with Amber might be a nice distraction. I took a sip of my beer, watching the sun dip lower and lower beneath the waves.

  “Never gets old, does it?”

  I snapped into the moment, turning in the direction of the woman’s voice.

  It was her.

  Amber was gorgeous as ever, dressed in a pair of skin-tight jeans, that she looked positively poured into. Her sneakers were a clean white, and up top she wore a light little black tank top, one that clung tightly to her tits.