AFRICAN AMERICAN URBAN FICTION: BWWM ROMANCE: Billionaire Baby Daddy (Billionaire Secret Baby Pregnancy Romance) (Multicultural & Interracial Romance Short Stories)

by Carmella Jones

  "I had fun last night," James said, not sure what Cesar was getting at entirely. But he was getting the hint that he wanted more than one night. The question was, could he handle what he asked for. While James wasn’t looking for the rich, billionaire boyfriend, he had been looking for a shifter. Most would consider his being rich a bonus, but money brought a lot of troubles.

  "James, whatever this chemistry is that's going on between us, I think it can last. Sex with you is amazing, and you accept my shifter side. You already know that I'm a domineering ass at times, and it seems you can get past that. You will stand up to me when needed. You bring out a part of me that I can't share with anyone else most of the time. You asked for it, eagerly," he said and cupped his cheek as he looked down at him. "It would be easy to fall in love with you. I'm not trying to pressure you, or rush you. I just want a chance to let this go where it goes."

  "I think I can handle that," James said. Cesar’s amber eyes were lighter than normal, a sign of his intense feelings right now. James was already starting to learn to read him. He realized that, when he looked at him, he wanted to know everything about him. "But, I have a few conditions."

  "Okay, I'm listening. I won't make promises before I hear what they are," he said and raised his brows together.

  "No secrets. We have to communicate and talk. You have a high-stress job where people will throw themselves at you because of money. I'm not the jealous type. I'd be able to trust you as long as you tell me everything. Even when I don't want to hear it. I can handle the truth better than feeling like there are secrets between us." James nodded as he spoke. "Second, you have to agree to shift for me occasionally. I want to see it, to touch you when you're in your other form. I find it enthralling, and it's a part of what I find attractive about you. I suppose this falls under the ‘no secrets’ request."

  Laughing, Cesar leaned down and kissed him “Fine, I can live with all of that, but I have a condition of my own."

  "I'm listening," He said breathlessly after he pulled back from the kiss.

  "That when you love me, you're not afraid to say it. I want you to be honest with me about your feelings, and what you're thinking. I can't make educated decisions if I don't have all the information. Simply put, information is my specialty. Unlike a computer where I can figure everything out by looking at code or running programs, human relationships are far more complex. I'm not a mind reader, which means your bluntness is one of the things I like the most about you." He rubbed his knuckles against his chin. He resisted the animal urge to push him back on the counter and have his way with him until the conversation was over.

  "I can do that. I think this is the start of a beautiful relationship," James whispered to him as he leaned forward and put his hand against his chest.

  Kissing him back, they both ended up late for work.

  Born of Fire

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  Chapter 1

  The circus was coming to Perri, and all the streets were abuzz with gossip and hype and excitement over the prospect. Ralph had never seen nor heard of anything that could get an entire town of twenty thousand people as excited as when the Barnabus Circus posted their fantastical, multicolored flyers around town and erected their huge harlequin tent in the fairgrounds.

  Every street cafe he passed, every group of gossipers on the street, and hell, even the local feed store clerks, everyone wanted to talk about the circus. “Did you hear, Old Barnabus got a new act for his circus. I heard it was a dragon!” “No, surely not a dragon. Dragons can’t be caught, much less tamed.” “Well, I’m sure there’s something unusual about Barnabus’ new act!”

  No matter who it was--someone was talking about the Barnabus Circus. Granted, this was nothing new. Every five years, the famous circus made its transit across the country of Yarn, setting up in any city that had enough people to make a stop profitable. Though they didn’t always set up in Perri, it was about the third time in Ralph’s living memory that they had.

  For as long as Ralph could remember, the Barnabus Circus was the end all, be all entertainment attraction in the entire country of Yarn. From sea to sea, a more fantastical show could not be found--or at least, that’s what the posters always advertised, and the carnival goers rarely, if ever, begged to differ.

  The sole reason that Ralph had to rely on hearsay for so many years to confirm whether or not the Barnabus Circus was all it was cracked up to be was due to the price. Being a farmer, the ten shillings that were asked for a seat was a bit too much for him to possibly ask his parents to spare for a simple night of entertainment. After years meticulously saving from odd jobs, though, Ralph finally could afford to go see what all the fuss over the circus was about, and he’d never been more excited.

  On the night of the circus, Ralph dressed in his finest, which wasn’t saying much. He had a clean flannel shirt that his mother had just made for him, and new brown cotton pants that had been carefully starched and creased. These were things that he would eventually break in on the farm, but they were new now, and that was all that mattered.

  Upon entering the city, he saw a veritable rainbow of elaborate dresses intermingled with dashing tuxedos and suits milling around the fairgrounds and funneling into the brilliant circus tent, everyone set aflutter with excitement for the evening. Ralph, though he was very much out of place in this crowd, confidently strode in. The chauffeur, a dapper looking fellow to be sure, gave him a quizzical glance, but ultimately led Ralph to his seat.

  Ralph didn’t let himself be too bothered by the strange gentleman, and instead allowed himself to splurge yet further tonight by buying some peanuts from a wandering vendor while he waited for the show to begin.

  “It looks like it’s true! There’s a real life dragon that will be shown today!” a woman’s voice from behind Ralph said. He moved a bit in his seat to look around the dirt pit that the circular stands of the circus were surrounding, but there was nothing there yet apart from some props. On the far side, however, there was a huge wooden door, painted with vibrantly colored question marks, suggesting that it was a mystery.

  “That’s just a rumor, it hasn’t been confirmed,” a man’s voice replied to the woman, making Ralph even more anxious. He munched on the peanuts he had bought earlier until the tent fell silent when a rotund looking gentleman in a fine black waistcoat began walking from one of the side doors of the stadium to the center stage. The hush was so pronounced that Ralph felt like the noise from his cracking of the peanut shells was unacceptable, and so he stopped eating for the time being and paid attention to what was going on in front of him.

  “Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls! I welcome you to the twentith annual Barnabus Circus. I am your lovely host, Barnabus, and tonight I have a lovely treat for you all. Tonight, you will be astounded, astonished, and amazed! It has been three long and bleak years for the lovely people of Perri since last I graced your doorstep, but tonight! Tonight, my good people, your eyes will be treated to some of the most amazing, astonishing, wonderful, fantastical things that they have yet feasted upon! Three years, my good people, is all the time in the world for an old circus to pick up some new tricks. So please, sit back, relax, and enjoy the circus!” Barnabus said. Though a small man, his voice boomed in the tent, and everyone felt as if he were standing right next to them as he made his pronouncements. Not only that, but his sheer enthusiasm was almost a tangible thing, and Ralph felt his heartbeat increase as his excitement mounted. The crowd began to cheer, and Ralph was on the edge of his seat.

  In the pit where Barnabus stood, a fog began to roll in. This fog was not an ordinary fog, but it was a thick blue fog that soon swallowed up the pit into a faceless and featureless void of blue swirls. Ralph’s jaw dropped as he saw this fog envelop the pit, but soon a wind from seemingly nowhere dispersed the
bluish smoke and a gaggle of harlequin clowns took the stage.

  Some clowns were on unicycles, one was riding a bucking bronco, still more were on tight ropes, but a general purpose soon emerged in this crazy mess. These clowns were on a mission to throw pies at one another, and soon Ralph was in tears laughing. Following this act were some gymnasts that did feats of flexibility and agility that defied the mind. Then were tightrope walkers and acrobats. Following that act were flame eaters, and so on and so forth. Ralph couldn’t even take his eyes off the performance long enough to fuss over his food, he was so entranced by the amazing and death defying stunts before him.

  Just as he was sure that the acts must soon be coming to a close, Barnabus once again took the stage with his loud and booming voice. “Now, ladies and gentlemen, you may feel as though you’ve had a good show. If you have, give me a shout to let me know!”

  The entire tent broke out in shouts and hoots and cheers at the prompting. Though Barnabus was small from Ralph’s vantage point, Ralph could still see a smile slither onto his face from beneath his pencil mustache. When the cheering died, he started again. “Yes, you may think that you’ve had a good show, but the best was saved for the last. Now, I will open the mystery door. You can all find out for yourself it the different things you’ve heard about what special treat I might be bringing you is indeed true.”

  The door, at Barnabus’ prompting, began to creak open. The whole room fell silent, their anticipation almost tangible as they waited with bated breath to see what would come out of the gaily painted mystery door. At first, all that could be seen was wave of smoke pouring from the door and two bright yellow eyes starring in from the darkness. The stands shuddered slightly as the massive creature’s clawed paws stomped as it made it’s way into the centre of the ring. As the smoke simmered down, the creature stood in full glory in front of the audience. It was indeed a dragon. A Wyvern from the mountains. His body was covered in glistening emerald scales, his limber legs showed the muscles and power of a proud beast, but it wasn’t all glitter and gold.

  “Dragon!” Barnabus called to the beast, a proud smile sneaking onto his lips “Give the audience you’re most gracious greeting.” The dragon’s yellow eyes turned down to the circus master, hesitating only for a moment, before lifting himself onto his hind legs, craning his neck as he opened his mouth a little to give a bellowing call.

  Ralph was amazed at what he heard, he didn’t even cover his ears like some of the other members of the audience. This creature was beautiful, but something seemed off. As he stared up at the majestic beast, he could see his wings were chained together, unable to open them up to give flight. His mouth was restricted as well, a chain running around it to stop it from opening up too much. Ralph as unsure of how to react to all this, so he merely continued to watch the ever questionable spectacle.

  With his order followed, the dragon came back down onto all fours and soon began starting his routine. It started with basic instructions like a dog being trained. Sit, lie down, roll over, play dead. It seemed to give the audience a bit of a giggle as the mighty beast rolled onto it’s back and stuck it’s tongue out. After that though, there were more serious stunts to perform.

  Even though his mouth was restricted, the dragon was still able to produce short bursts of fire. He put on quite the show, using his fire to display beautiful spiral effects, using smoke to make shapes and patterns in the air and on top of that, using the fire to light up rings for other animals to jump through and perform tricks in.

  The dragon performed for around forty five minutes, being ordered around, whipped occasionally, like most circus animals were, and maintaining complete obedience throughout the show until he was taken away by one of the female assistances and the trapeze act took their place.

  It certainly wasn’t an easy job, but the dragon had little choice as it was lead back to it’s cage where he would remain until the show tomorrow. His chains were tightened and he was left alone in the dark, along with the tigers and other predators who had paid their dues for the night.

  After the curtains closed on the show, Ralph began to make his way out, but as he was following the crowd, he couldn’t help but let curiosity get the better of him, and so he slipped away from the flow of the crowd and ducked off to where he saw some clowns shuffle off to. Of course, he had to be careful. By closely sticking to the walls, he was able to get past most of the performers--the human ones anyways--and work his way back to the predator’s din.

  Ralph wasn’t the only human around though. By the dragons den, two of the circus staff came up and left bits of raw meat on a plate just outside the dragon’s cage.

  “Go on! Eat up, dragon!” The taller man called, and the dragon lifted his head, trying to poke his muzzle out of the cage to try and get the food. The staff merely laughed at his attempts, and just left the food out of reach.

  “Stupid beast,” The smaller man chuckled, and walked out of the room with his friend. The dragon was left on his own, whimpering as he laid his head down and just stared at the food. He was starving. This was a horrible place, but he hoped he didn’t have to bare much more of it.

  Ralph couldn’t believe that the humans were treating a creature as majestic as the one he was looking at so poorly, but he was determined to help. Once the staff left, Ralph moved towards the dragon cautiously, so as to not startle him. “Don’t worry, I won’t hurt you,” Ralph said softly, stating his intentions though he didn’t really believe the dragon could understand him. Then he carefully pushed the food inside the dragon’s cage so he could eat.

  The dragon certainly wasn’t expecting any company. His ears perked up as Ralph approached and he just stared at him with his big yellow eyes. This person didn’t seem like the others that had been “taking care of him”, he seemed much nicer. When Ralph pushed over the food, the dragon didn’t hesitate to eat. He lifted his mouth and finished off the slabs of meat, taking them in with just two bites, and swallowing down. At least that was something to keep his stomach happy.

  “Thank you,” The dragon spoke softly, then rested his head back down to the floor.

  Ralph jumped a bit when he heard the dragon speak, and even looked around to see if the voice was coming from somewhere else. The room was empty, though, besides the animals, the dragon, and himself. “I’m sorry . . . You can talk?” Ralph asked.

  “Yeah, of course I can talk. I’m a hundred and three years old. I learnt to talk like… a hundred years ago,” The dragon replied with a chuckle. The other humans seemed to react the same way. It must have been strange for them hearing creatures other than themselves speaking. They were quite a self centered species.

  “Oh, wow. That’s so cool. I never thought I’d see anything besides a human talk,” Ralph said, still a bit blown away that he was talking to a living, breathing dragon! He couldn’t wait to tell his mom! “So, do you have a name?”

  “Kayzer, and yours?” The dragon asked, tilting his head a little at his new human friend. This guy was very nice! Kayzer wished it was this boy looking after him instead of the mean people.

  “My names Ralph,” Ralph replied enthusiastically. “How’d you get stuck in a place like this? And are folk around here always so terrible to ya?” Ralph asked. He saw the way the carnies were treating Kayzer, and he just felt like he had to ask.

  “I was taken. It was just after the hunt when we gathered up the food. I stayed behind for a minute or two to get a drink, but before I took off I felt something go through my wings. My panicked but there wasn’t much I could do. All I can remember was seeing a lot of ropes and metal. Something hit my head and I blacked out and ended up in here,” Kayzer explained, not really fond of his tale. He wasn’t much of a fighting dragon. He was a scout, small and nimble, but what good was he as a scout if he couldn’t even fly? “These guys have treated me this way since they took me in, though. I don’t understand why, but there isn’t much I can do. I’m just an injured dragon. What can I do? I can’t even fly.”

/>   “Do you think you could fly if someone took those chains off of you? Or is the pain just that bad?” Ralph asked. He didn’t see any injuries on Kayzer, but given how dark the room was, and the height difference between himself and Kayzer, it very well could be that Kayzer had some serious injuries. Especially due to the fact that no one here seemed to care about his physical well being.

  “My wings are torn. It’ll take a little while for them to heal, but if they get better then I’ll be able to.” Kayzer replied, as he knew they could get better. Some herbs might help as well, internally and externally.

  “Oh, wow, that must really hurt,” Ralph asked, unconsciously running his hand over his shoulder and rubbing it, as if he felt the pain himself. He couldn’t believe that anyone would put another creature through this sort of torment, but he was determined to put an end to it. The problem was just how he might be able to put an end to it. If Kayzer couldn’t fly, it wouldn’t be the safest thing to try and break him out. After all, a dragon, however stealthy he was in the dragon world, would stick out like a sore thumb trying to weave its way out of a heavily populated area such as a carnival tent.

  “Yeah. It does,” Kayzer replied softly. It certainly didn’t help that his wings were tied together. He couldn’t even stretch them or spread them out. The holes were still there, but there wasn’t anything he could do to make them better. He just wanted to be free again, this was no life for any creature.

  Ralph really felt his heart go out to Kayzer, but he didn’t know what he could do to help him. The fact that something must be done was self evident, though, so Ralph pulled his pocket knife out. He could cut through the ropes binding Kayzer’s wings, at least. That wasn’t much, but it was a start to help the dragon out.

  “Turn around and get your wings as close to the bars as you can. I’m going to try and cut those ropes off, and then we can go from there,” Ralph said. That seemed almost impossible to Kayzer, or maybe it was just too good to be true. So, he managed to get himself turned around, then leaned back pressing his injured wings up against the bars, trying to angle himself so Ralph could get access to his ropes.