by Nikki Ash
Knocked Up: a Secret Baby Collection
© 2021 All rights reserved
Nicole Blanchard, Kaylee Ryan, K Webster, Nikki Ash, Lacey Black, Jacob Chance, Kelsey Clayton, J.D. Hollyfield, Rebecca Jenshak, CoraLee June, Heidi McLaughlin, Lauren Runow, Micalea Smeltzer, Jenika Snow, Marley Valentine, and Misty Walker.
Cover design: Nicole Blanchard
Cover photograph: Shutter Stock
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. This collection of books contains material protected under International and Federal Copyright Laws and Treaties. Any unauthorized reprint or use of this material is prohibited. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by an information and retrieval system without express written permission from the Author/Publisher.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Contents
Author’s Note
Finding Prince Charming by Nikki Ash
Quarterback Keeper by Lacey Black
Spark by Nicole Blanchard
My Ruin by Jacob Chance
Calm the Storm by Kelsey Clayton
Truth and Lies by J.D. HollyField
And One by Rebecca Jenshak
Hideaway by CoraLee June
A Piece of Us by Heidi McLaughlin
My Favorite Mistake by Lauren Runow
Every Other Memory by Kaylee Ryan
Between the Lines by Micaela Smeltzer
Meant to Be by Jenika Snow
Snapshot by Marley Valentine
Doctor Daddy by Misty Walker
Miss B by K Webster
About the Authors
Author’s Note
Settle in and get your fill of sixteen NEW secret baby stories where hidden secrets are revealed and couples that were once separated are reunited. Each story guarantees cuteness, sexiness, lots of love, and of course a HEA.
This collection includes stories from USA Today bestselling authors Nicole Blanchard, Kaylee Ryan, Jenika Snow, Marley Valentine, and K Webster. Nikki Ash, Lacey Black, Jacob Chance, Kelsey Clayton, J.D. Hollyfield, Rebecca Jenshak, CoraLee June, Heidi McLaughlin, Lauren Runow, Micalea Smeltzer, and Misty Walker.
100% of the proceeds from this anthology will go to Project Linus: www.projectlinus.org
Finding Prince Charming by Nikki Ash
Fairytales don’t start out with a happily ever after. Neither does real life. Sometimes you have to struggle first before you find your Prince Charming.
- Unknown
Chapter One
Natalie
Eight Years Old
“Once upon a time there lived a little…” My mom stops speaking to cough and I wait patiently for her to continue. Her coughing lately has gotten worse. I’ve asked her to go to the doctor, but she tells me she’s fine.
I reach over across my bed and grab a tissue for her. When she wipes her mouth, blood smears the tissue. “Mom, are you okay?” I ask nervously. Something has to be wrong. Coughing up blood can’t be good.
“I’m fine, baby,” she says, a fake smile spreading across her lips. “Now, where were we?” She opens the book back up and starts over again. “Once upon a time there lived a little girl named Natalie.”
I grin every time she says my name. One day, when I was little, we were walking through the mall to buy me some new shoes, when I came across a little store that sells books with names in them. The nice lady selling them found my name and, surprisingly, my mom bought it for me.
It took a lot of begging, but when we got home, I got her to read it to me—because at the time I wasn’t old enough to read. It’s about a little girl who sets off on a journey through the magical but evil woods to find her Prince Charming. She escapes all of the scary and bad obstacles standing in her way and makes it to the beautiful, enchanted castle, where she finds Prince Charming waiting for her. He scoops her up into his arms and tells her he loves her and they live happily ever after. From the first time I heard the story, it became my favorite.
“Why doesn’t the prince leave his castle to look for the girl?” I ask Mom. “She has to go through all the bad stuff alone. Why didn’t he just ride into the woods on his horse and save her?”
She sets the book down and glances over at me. I could easily read the story myself now, but she insists she reads it to me every time she’s not high and there are no men in her bedroom—which seems to be a lot lately. The truth is, I’m too old for this book now, but I love my mom reading to me, and I love how the story makes me feel like a princess who’ll one day escape these horrible, evil woods.
“Because the prince didn’t know she was coming,” she says. “And she didn’t know the prince was waiting. He was her surprise after the long, scary journey.”
“I want a prince,” I admit out loud. A man who is kind and sweet, who will hug me and kiss me and give me a beautiful castle to live in. And if I found him, I would tell him my mom has to live with us too.
“One day you’ll find your Prince Charming,” Mom says, “and when you do, you’ll live happily ever after.”
“What if I don’t find him?” My stomach drops. Or what if the man I find is like the gross, mean men who are always sleeping in my mom’s room?
“Then you will find your own happily ever after.”
Chapter Two
Natalie
Nineteen Years Old
“Yeah, baby, just like that. You’re so fucking good to me.” Weston thrusts his dick down my throat. I choke and gag, saliva dripping down the sides of my mouth. It hurts, especially with the belt tight around my neck, but I don’t stop him because I know it’s what he likes. He likes to be rough, and I like him. I like the way he looks at me like he needs me. I like that when he comes here, he always picks me. He tells me he loves me and that I’m good to him.
“Fuck,” he roars, coming down my throat. “I love you so fucking much.” I take it all, then lick him clean, waiting for what he wants me to do next. It’s hard to breathe, and I can feel the belt chafing against my throat and neck, but I don’t complain. When I do, he gets upset.
“That was so good, baby,” he croons, granting me a smile. “One day I’m going to steal you from here and you’ll be all mine.” He runs a finger down my cheek, and I smile the best I can. I shouldn’t want him, shouldn’t want this. But I crave the attention he gives me… even if it hurts.
“Turn over on your hands and knees,” he demands, his grin morphing into something darker, more sinister.
I do as he says, but when I turn over, the belt tightens along my windpipe. Black dots appear in place of my vision. “I can’t breathe,” I rasp out before I can stop myself. Immediately, I regret it, because Weston doesn’t like when I talk back.
The next second the belt tightens to the point I can’t breathe at all, at the same time something hard enters my body. I try to scream for him to stop, scared that I’m going to die, but he doesn’t. At some point, my body gives out, but before it does, my last thought is, I don’t think Weston Hightower is my Prince Charming.
I wake up in a soft bed. My entire body hurts. But I’m still alive. So, ther
e’s that. I glance over and see Dr. Fox sitting next to me. “Good, you’re awake.” She grants me a soft, sad smile.
“How are you feeling?” another feminine voice asks. I look over at Cecilia. She’s the madam of the bordello I work at.
“I’m okay,” I tell them both, not wanting to complain. After my mom died when I was eight years old, I was bounced around from shitty foster home to shitty foster home, until I ran away at sixteen, where I spent the next two years selling my body on the streets of Las Vegas to earn barely enough money to feed myself.
One night while I was looking for a man to fuck—and pay for my dinner—I met Giovanni Valentino. He didn’t fuck me, but he did pay for my dinner, and then he offered me a job at La Stella Gentleman’s Club. It’s a high-end bordello. Only the beyond wealthy and influential can even be considered for a membership here. We’re given a room and clothes and are fed the best food. We’re also paid really well. I love it. It’s like living in my very own castle—even if there’s no Prince Charming in sight.
“Did he force you?” Cecilia asks. I can see it in her eyes, even though she sounds like she cares, I know she doesn’t. She’s fake as hell and, if given the opportunity, will fire me in a heartbeat. She’s obsessed with Giovanni, even though he’s made it clear he can barely stand her, and if it were up to her, this bordello would be shut down so all the attention could be on her.
Yes, I think to myself, but I need this job… “No,” I choke out, shaking my head. “I agreed to it.” Cecilia looks at me like she doesn’t believe me, and Dr. Fox sighs, but neither of them argues.
As Dr. Fox is going over the damage Weston inflicted on me, Giovanni saunters in, concern and anger etched in his features. He asks how I’m doing, and the doctor explains to him all my injuries.
It’s bad… really bad. Apparently after I blacked out, Weston didn’t stop. And now I’m out of commission for the next several days. I hold my breath, waiting for Giovanni to tell me I’m fired, but I’m shocked when he looks me in the eyes and says, “I made sure he was punished, and he’ll never be back here again. Take a few days off and get some rest, okay?”
Tears fill my eyes. I’m thankful he sent away Weston, but with that, reality hits me. He wasn’t my Prince Charming. He won’t be taking me away to his castle, and we won’t be living happily ever after.
“I want you to speak with Dr. Simone before you go back to work,” Giovanni adds. Dr. Simone is a therapist the women who work here are required to see. I’m not sure why he wants me to see a therapist, but I nod in agreement.
“Natalie, how are you doing?” Dr. Simone asks. We’re sitting in the living room in the east wing, where the escorts who work here stay.
“I’m okay.”
She nods. “Now tell me the truth.”
I laugh softly at her bluntness, then do as she asked. “My body has physically healed, but in a weird way I miss Weston. I know I shouldn’t. I know it’s unhealthy, but he was the first man to ever tell me he loves me. To see me as more than an escort…”
“Weston is the man who hurt you?” she asks.
“Yes.”
“Do you believe a man who loves you would want you to be in pain?”
I think back to the years I watched my mom with all those men. They all told her they loved her and every one of them hurt her. Then, I think about the book she used to read me when I was little. The prince hugged her and kissed and told her he loved her, but he never hurt her. But that’s just a story, right? Fiction. This is real life, and in my life, men aren’t princes and they don’t treat women like princesses.
“I don’t know,” I tell her truthfully.
“Then, it seems we have a lot of work to do.”
Chapter Three
Natalie
Twenty-Three Years Old
“Natalie! There you are.” Nico walks over to me. “We’re expecting special guests tonight. When they arrive, they are to be treated like royalty.”
“Are they famous?” I ask, clicking on my iPad, ready to take notes. Shortly after Weston Hightower attacked me, he went after his ex-stepdaughter, Aria, attempting to kidnap her. He convinced Cecilia to help him, and after Giovanni learned of her betrayal, he fired her and gave me a promotion—the new madam of the bordello. Shortly after, Giovanni moved to Italy to be with his now wife, Aria, and Nico, along with his wife, Amber, took over.
It took years of therapy with Dr. Simone, but I’ve learned that my mom was right all those years ago. I don’t need a Prince Charming. I’m working my way to making my own happily ever after and I don’t need a man to do that—especially not one like Weston, who used my vulnerability as an in to hurt me. He never loved me, and those three words he spoke were only used as a weapon to manipulate me. Thankfully that asshole is dead now, thanks to Giovanni, and can never hurt another soul.
“I’m not sure,” Nico admits. “Dad knows someone who knows someone who…” He waves his hand through the air. “You get the point. They’ve paid enough money for me to not ask any questions, and I expect you to do the same. They’re looking for a discreet good time, and I told them they can find it here. They’ll be here all weekend, leaving Sunday evening.”
“So, no background checks? How will we know they’re not bad people, or that they won’t hurt one of the women?” There’s a process here and it’s done to protect the women. To ensure their safety. And I take that seriously. Senator Hightower’s background check checked out and he was still able to hurt me before Giovanni kicked him out. “I’m not exactly comfortable letting men, who have had no background checks done, just come in here and have free rein of my girls.”
Nico sighs. “You’ve been around here long enough to know that not everything is done by the book. Dad requested this favor and I agreed. They’ve shown proof that they’re clean, and I promise you, I will have security watching their every move in the rooms.”
“Okay,” I concede.
“Thank you. There’s more. They’ve requested their photos not be taken, so I need you to confirm with the women who are willing to go in blind.”
I groan. “So, in other words, they’re all ugly.”
Nico laughs. “I don’t know. I haven’t seen them, but they’re offering to pay each woman triple their rate for their discretion. She’ll have to sign an NDA stating she won’t mention to anyone who she was with and she won’t talk about their time together.”
“Wow, they must be big time. That’s a lot of money.”
Nico smirks. “Does it make you want to add your name to the roster?”
I know he’s only joking, but my stomach knots at his words. It’s been four years since I’ve had sex. Weston Hightower was the last man I was with. After that, I changed my profile to add sex as a hard limit, and once I was promoted to madam of the mansion, I stopped seeing men altogether. My friends and roommates, Jessica and Nadine, both escorts here, bug me all the time that I need to get out and meet a man, but honestly, I’m not sure I’m ready.
“When they arrive, please see them to the main office and text me so I can meet you there,” Nico adds, without waiting for me to answer him. He knows I have no desire to ever escort again. I’ve come too far to go backward.
“Will do.”
A couple hours later, after I’ve finished speaking to the women—and have had those who are interested sign an NDA—Edgardo, one of the bouncers here, texts to let me know the special guests are arriving. I step outside to greet them and see several men exiting a blacked-out Cadillac SUV.
“Damn,” Edgardo says in awe. “Bullet proof windows.”
I try to see if I recognize any of them, but I don’t. Three of them are younger, most likely in their early, maybe mid-twenties, dressed in expensive suits. The three others who are following behind them are older, with gray hair and receding hairlines. They’re also in suits, but they’re all black, and they’re wearing earpieces. They must be their bodyguards.
The three younger ones saunter over to Edgardo and me, and I
note that they’re all similar looking: brown hair, tanned skin, all clearly toned beneath their suits. Two of them are clean-shaven, but one is sporting a few days old scruff. That guy, the one with the scruff, catches my attention. His eyes are different from the other two—cornflower blue, reminding me of Prince Charming from my childhood book. Bright and carefree, as if he has the entire world at his fingertips and he knows it.
His gaze meets mine, and he slowly rakes his eyes down my body. Usually when men do this, I feel objectified, but with this guy, it feels different. I don’t know why. Maybe it’s because it doesn’t feel like he’s checking me out as if I’m a piece of meat, but instead drinking me in, like he’s thirsty and is dying for a sip.
His eyes finally land back on mine, and they twinkle like he appreciates what he sees. A small, boyish grin curls up on one side of his mouth and my belly does some weird flip-flop thing. I take in a deep breath and break eye contact. I don’t know what’s wrong with me.
“Good afternoon,” he says, speaking up first. “My name is Liam, and this is my brother, Nate, and my cousin Jack.” He speaks with a sexy accent. His words are clear, but it’s obvious he’s not from here.
“Welcome to La Stella’s,” I say to him, extending my hand to shake his. “My name is Natalie and I’ll be helping you find your perfect companion.”
He takes my hand in his, but instead of shaking it, he brings it up to his lips and lightly kisses my knuckles. Butterflies attack my chest, making it hard to breathe, and I release a harsh breath.
