by Lexi Wilson
I sighed. “Sex, maybe? A relationship? Probably not.”
“Why not?”
“Who am I supposed to have a relationship with?”
Jacy stared at me, slack-jawed. “Are you serious right now?”
“Yes. Why do you think I’m not?”
“Because you’re missing the most obvious option in the world?”
I groaned. “Which is what exactly?”
“You go out with the guy you sucked face with on Friday night, obviously!” Jacy threw up her hands in disgust. “Come on, Morgan. Buy a clue.”
“You don’t understand,” I stared at her. “I can’t go after Daniel.”
“Why the hell not? He’s hot, and he’s obviously into you.”
“He’s my boss.”
She rolled her eyes. “So what? Plenty of women date their bosses. As long as you both are into it, I don’t see the problem. Consenting adults and all that.”
“He’s also a billionaire. Don’t you think that should figure into things?”
Jacy burst out laughing, then stopped after a few seconds. “Oh, wait, you were being serious about that, weren’t you?”
“Yeah, I sighed. I didn’t get why she couldn’t understand where I was coming from.
“Okay, explain how a man being a billionaire is a bad thing?”
“People naturally are drawn to people like themselves. He’s not going to want someone like me, not really. At most I’d be a distraction.” I shook my head, “And I’m not interested in being someone’s distraction. Not saying I’m looking for my next husband, but I’m not interested in just a little fun, and if we’re not going to be doing something serious, and things don’t work out, it’ll just be awkward at work, and for what? And Jacy, the pay and benefits are really good, there’s no way I’ll be able to find another job as good as this one.”
“Okay,” Jacy said, sulking in her chair. “But if you’re ignoring a fantastic man like this, I don’t want to hear you complaining about how all the good guys are taken.
I sighed and picked up my mimosa. “Deal.”
Later that night, as I slipped under my covers for bed, I couldn’t help but think about the kiss. My insides clenched, and my center pulsed with need. I couldn’t date Daniel. I kept telling myself that, but that didn’t mean my body understood.
I drifted off to sleep, hoping I wouldn’t be thinking about him when I woke up.
Though when I opened my eyes and saw him standing above my bed, I was somehow not surprised. Without even having to think about it, I said, “This is a dream, isn’t it?”
Daniel smiled. “Does it matter?”
It was just about then that I noticed that dream-Daniel wasn’t wearing a shirt, revealing a firm chest and a six-pack stomach. I knew he worked out every day and spent his Sundays hitting baseballs at his club, so I wasn’t surprised.
I licked my lips as I grew wet with need. I wondered for a moment if I was wet only in the dream or also in real life as well. It didn’t matter, and at the moment I didn’t care.
Guilt-free. That’s what this was. There wasn’t a real man to worry about, nor a job to threaten. Instead, I could lust after what was nothing more than a figment of my imagination.
I hopped out of bed.
“Take off your nightgown,” Daniel said.
I yanked it off with hesitation, but my cheeks grew hot under his hungry gaze.
“Do you know how much I’ve thought about you?” he said, stalking his way toward me. “How much I’ve wanted to be inside you?”
This isn’t real, I tried to remind myself, even though it felt and sounded that way.
He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me in for a searing kiss, his eager tongue pushing into my mouth. My breasts flattened against the hard planes of his chest, and the sensation overwhelmed me.
His hands skimmed my shoulders, then down my sides. I shivered under his touch.
His hard manhood tented his underwear and pressed against my center. My breath grew ragged.
“Do you want me inside you?” Daniel whispered into my ear.
“Yes,” I panted.
He gently pushed me back onto the bed, with a grin. His fingers slipped underneath the waistband of his pants.
“I think you’ll like this,” Daniel said.
I licked my lips, ready for the great reveal. I was sure his manhood was as impressive as his fortune.
My eyes snapped open, and I jerked up at the sound of my phone ringing. I shook my head and stared into the darkness of my room. This was reality—dark, empty, and alone.
I groaned and fell back on my bed. How would I face Daniel after a dream like that? I had to work later.
I shook off my confusion and grabbed my phone. A 3 AM call? Whoever it was better have a damn good reason for calling me in the middle of the night. I didn’t recognize the number, but it was local.
“Hello?” I answered, yawning.
“You need to tell him,” a woman said on the other end of the phone, her voice panicked.
“What? Who is this?”
“Daisy.”
“Daisy, what’s going on?”
“I can’t get a hold of my brother. I tried calling his landline, but he won’t answer, and I don’t have his cell number.”
“Just calm down. What’s wrong?”
“I’m at the hospital. I’m in labor.”
Chapter 11
Daniel
My ringing cell phone snapped me out of my sleep. I groaned and rolled to my side. Given the very few people who had my number, I never ignored my phone, even at night.
A company with international interests didn’t always run regular business hours. Ignoring a phone call to get a good night’s sleep could end up costing me hundreds of millions of dollars.
I grabbed the phone, trying to blink the fatigue out of my eyes. 3:05 AM? It was even earlier than I ever thought.
My eyes narrowed at the caller ID, and my heart kicked up. Morgan? She had my number. That didn’t surprise me, but there was little reason for her to call me directly at night.
“What is it?” I answered, now totally awake.
“Your sister,” Morgan said.
“What about Daisy?”
“She’s in labor at the hospital. She called me. She tried to call your landline but said you didn’t wake up.”
I turned the ringer off on my landline at night. Any business contact would use my cell number.
“Okay,” I said, slowly taking in and letting out a deep breath. “Well, we’d been expecting this, so no big deal, I guess. She’s at one of the best hospitals in the county.” I glanced around my darkened room, which was illuminated by only the faint light of my phone and the nightstand clock. “And I’m sorry, Morgan.”
“Sorry?”
“Sorry for setting it up so that my sister had to call you in the middle of the night. I should have given her my direct number once we got closer to the due date.”
“It’s not a big deal.”
“Yes, it is. That was inconsiderate on my part, and thanks for being such a good assistant.”
“You’re welcome.”
“I guess I’ll head there right away. I’ll also call Daisy to let her know I’m coming.”
“Is there anything you need from me?”
I laughed. “This is a personal matter. I shouldn’t have had my sister calling you to get a hold of me to begin with. When you get to work later, go ahead and clear out my schedule for the next couple of days just in case Daisy needs me at the hospital for whatever reason.”
“Of course.” Morgan yawned.
“Feel free to sleep in a little. It’s not like your boss will be in today.” I disconnected the call and let out my own yawn.
Of course the baby would come in the middle of the night. Then again, considering my world, I supposed there was always a good chance of the baby coming at an inconvenient time.
My niece had decided to arrive a few days early, but that wasn’t that
surprising. I’d made a point of not scheduling anything significant the days preceding or after the due date just to be careful. I was well-positioned to help Daisy step into her first real responsibility.
I stretched and shook my head. I needed to get moving to the hospital. Even though I frequently got frustrated with Daisy, that didn’t mean I could ignore my own duty. My sister was my responsibility, so the baby was my responsibility as well.
For the first time in a long time, I felt a little hope. Once Daisy saw the baby with her own eyes, everything would be different. I was sure of it.
Five hours later, I stared down at a document on the black desk in front of me. I was numb and cold. Was this a dream? No, it wasn’t, no matter how much I wished it was. I would have settled for a nightmare, anything but the harsh reality.
“What’s this paper?” I said. “I’ve signed so many.”
“It’s an unusual situation, Mr. Brown.”
“I would certainly hope so, given what happened. Now answer the damn question.”
The hospital administrator on the other side of the table shifted uncomfortably, rubbing his hands together. “We appreciate your cooperation in all of this, but before we can release the baby into your care, we just need you to sign a few additional waivers.”
My eyes narrowed. In other circumstances, some anger might have flared up, but I was too drained to care at that point.
“Let me remind you that your sister already signed waivers acknowledging that things could go awry, and thus the hospital has no liability for her death.”
I snorted. “Dying in childbirth? What the hell is this, 1885? I should have flown her to some warzone in Syria. She probably would have gotten better care there.”
“Mr. Brown, I can assure you, we—”
I silenced him with a glare. “Just shut up.”
He swallowed and averted his gaze. I wondered if he was used to being able to push people around. This time they had screwed up. They’d let the sister of a billionaire die. He had to know that I had the legal and financial resources to crush this hospital if I were so inclined.
The only reason I wasn’t tearing this place apart with my bare hands was that their quick C-section saved the life of my niece. For now, I just needed to get out of this place.
“I’ll sign whatever I need to take the baby home,” I said.
“Just to verify again, the father isn’t in the picture? She didn’t let us know ahead of time. So we didn’t know what to put on the birth certificate.”
“No. I don’t believe he’s still around. It doesn’t matter. Just give me all the paperwork I need to sign. Don’t worry. I’m not going to sue your hospital if this was an honest mistake or out of your hands.” I leaned forward and lowered my voice. “But know this, if I find any indication she died because of incompetence, my lawyers will carve through these documents like napalm in a dry forest. Do I make myself clear?”
The administrator nodded, swallowing again.
“I’m glad we understand each other.”
An hour later, I stood outside the viewing window of the nursery. My niece lay there alone and asleep, wrapped in a blanket. Tiny. Vulnerable. I didn’t know if it was merciful or cruel that the baby girl would never know her mother.
I scrubbed my hand over my face. I had my issues with my sister, but she didn’t deserve to die from an aneurysm during labor. Everything I’d been told suggested she had an underlying condition that just hadn’t been detected before. At least they’d saved the baby.
My mind was a blur and my emotions on overload. The baby had to stay in the hospital for a couple of days for observation, but then she’d be coming home with me, which meant I had more than a few things I needed to buy. I didn’t even know where to begin. I’d been giving money to Daisy to take care of that.
I thought about going over to her place but then decided against it. I’d rather just buy new things than deal with the emotions of going through my dead sister’s things. Eventually, I’d have to handle that, but it could wait, or I could hire someone to handle it for me.
The nice thing about money was that sometimes it bought you emotional distance in situations such as this.
Ripping myself away from the baby, I tried to figure out my next move. For the first time in a long time, the weight of a situation bore down on me, threatening to crush me. I glanced at my watch. Hunter would be at his coffee shop.
Morgan. I needed to talk to her as well. I needed a woman’s input. I told her to sleep in, but I could only hope she was already up. I couldn’t handle this situation without the help of my assistant.
I pulled out my phone to make some calls.
Hunter stared at me blankly, disbelief on his face. “I’m still having trouble believing it.”
Morgan sat in silence behind him, a pained look on her face, but there was something else there as well, a deep hurt I’d never seen. It surprised me, honestly, because unlike Hunter, she hadn’t known Daisy that well.
I was grateful that no one else was in Hunter’s shop. I confirmed the absence of other witnesses with a glance.
“Daisy’s dead,” I stated blankly. “And there’s nothing I can do about it. I’ll start making arrangements for the service, but that’s not the more important thing.”
“What is?” Hunter asked.
“My niece,” I said. I shook my head. “I’ve never thought much about kids. Never even wanted kids, really. I never expected I’d have to take care of a baby. I don’t even know the first thing to do. The baby needs to come home in two days.”
“And you’re going to keep the baby?”
I looked down at my hands. “She’s my family, and I made a promise. There’s no way I’d give her to strangers. What should I do?”
“A nanny,” Morgan said, breaking her silence. “I’ll start researching right away. You don’t have financial restraints, so I’m sure we can get someone very qualified ASAP. You can contact them right away, and get some things set up. I’ll clear out and reschedule everything you have for the next two weeks so work isn’t a concern.”
I nodded. “Thank you. I appreciate that.”
She pulled out her phone and started tapping away, presumably looking for a nanny.
If I’d had any doubts about whether she was a great assistant, she was proving herself right then and there. Helping me handle a baby dropped into my lap wasn’t something I would have ever even thought she’d might need to handle.
Now, though, Morgan was throwing herself into my personal crisis with the utmost professionalism. It took a major load off my shoulders.
Hunter rose and headed toward the door.
“Where are you going?”
“I was just going to flip the CLOSED sign.”
I shook my head, standing. “Don’t bother. You still need to make money, and given all the calls I’ll need to make, it’s probably better if I do this from my office.”
“Just let me know if you need anything,” Hunter said.
“Thanks, I appreciate it.”
Morgan offered her phone to me. “I think you should try calling this company.”
I glanced down at the screen. The words blurred together for a moment before I concentrated. I didn’t have the even the beginning of a clue about what to look for in a nanny company, so I’d take her word for it.
As far as hiring the nanny went, I just needed to make sure they could start soon and that they could handle newborns.
Morgan was right. I wasn’t some struggling teenage mother; I was a billionaire. I could afford to pay premium wages for quality help in a hurry.
I trudged toward the hallway leading to the elevator. “I’m going to head up to my office now. I have a nanny to hire.”
Chapter 12
Morgan
I sat at my desk, my hands shaking as I tried to type up the list of baby supplies for Daniel. Daisy’s death made certain things a practical necessity.
For one thing, no mother meant no breastfeeding.
So the baby would need formula, but she’d also need several different types in case she had problems with normal formula. The last thing the poor little thing should be put through is being hungry while Daniel or some nanny rushed to the store to buy more formula because she didn’t like the taste or couldn’t handle the ingredients in what they had.
The more I thought about it, the more I also thought the baby would need different brands. Ignoring allergies and intolerances, different brands had their own formulations, and a baby might love one brand, but hate another because of the most minor of differences.
I tapped away, finding the products online and then putting them on the list. I then added notes to explain why he might need what I was recommending. It was my own way of adding a little bit of baby education in an easily digestible format.
How much did Daniel even know about kids? Had he bothered to read any books about pregnancy or infants? I doubted it. For all his grumbling, it was clear he’d expected his sister to take care of her baby, even if she needed his money to do it.
I’d been pregnant. I’d had a baby, even if I’d lost my baby so shortly after birth. I understood that most people in America didn’t live in some old-fashioned tight-knit village, and a lot of the support that people took for granted in the past might not be available to everyone.
I knew all too well the kinds of things Daniel would need at his place to take care of a baby, or at least to support his nanny taking care of one. If I made sure the first few weeks and months were handled, that would give Daniel the time he needed to get up to speed, especially given that he’d have help.
So many questions popped into my mind. Would he even want something like a co-sleeper? Did he want a baby monitor with a camera or just one with sound?
I needed to focus and concentrate on what was needed right away. A lot of people obsessed with buying everything they might need because money was an issue. At least with Daniel, that wouldn’t be a problem.