Daddy Plus One: A Single Dad Secret Baby Billionaire Romance

by Brooke Valentine

  “We’ll see,” she said, giggling.

  *****

  “Are you ready?” Aiden asked Cat when they returned to the resort the next day. “I think the guys did a pretty good job weeding out bad apples, but you never know if somebody in here might get a little irate. Also, Kellen was instructed to inform the new hires who I am, but he has no idea I’ve already hired you since we have yet to talk. Though he’s well aware that I intend to, so it shouldn’t be much of a shock.”

  Cat nodded. “I’m not so worried about Kellan or Declan, it’s my domestic staff I’m concerned about. Some of them might assume I got hired just because you and I have been canoodling. That’s just the sort of mean-spirited thing most folks would believe, and I’m likely to catch some crap over it.”

  “Feel free to replace anyone who tries,” said Aiden, giving her hand a squeeze. “Come on, let’s head in. I want you to go right up onto the platform and sit down with Declan until you’re introduced. When you are, you can simply say a few words about looking forward to heading up the department and invite everyone to come and speak with you about the scheduling process. You’ll be able to use conference room four, and I’ve already asked Mindy to set up the necessary paperwork and computer systems. I’ll be able to help out sometimes, but I also need to help Declan with scheduling the divers, lifeguards, boat operators, and other outdoor activity types so you’re going to be pretty much on your own. This is your ball game, sweetheart. You can run it any way you like, just as long as you cover all the bases.”

  “Aiden, calm down, will you?” Cat chuckled. “I know you’re excited to get started, and probably worried about mistakes, but everything will be okay. I promise.”

  “Sorry. I always get like this at important events,” he admitted, blushing slightly.

  Cat grinned and gave him a tug, bringing him with her into the conference room where everyone was currently assembled. Hand in hand, the two of them mounted the three steps and sat down beside Declan. Kellan raised an inquisitive brow, and Aiden merely nodded. It was understood from this that Cat had been hired according to their plans.

  Looking out on the audience, Aiden could see that some of the people in it were confused about his presence on the stage, and he couldn’t blame them. At this point, the divers believed that Declan was the administrative head of recreational activities, and could easily discern that Miss Addison must have been hired to run the domestic side of things, but Scott Ward’s presence had no meaning for anyone yet.

  However, Aiden was unconcerned since Kellen would explain to them shortly. In fact, it looked like he was about to make his announcement now. “Ladies and gentlemen, your interviews are complete, and each and every one of you has already been approved by your esteemed new employer. Mr. Whitney, if you please?”

  Smiling, Aiden stood up and stepped over to Kellen, taking the microphone from him. The murmur of the people who looked on was gratifying and just a little amusing as he brought it to his lips. “Hey gang, that’s right. I’ve been with you this whole time. Sorry for the deceit, it wasn’t meant to hurt anybody. I simply decided I needed to immerse myself in the experience, maybe be better able to understand each and every one of you. In any case, now here we all are, ready to embark on our new adventure together. My three heads will be interviewing each employee separately to establish scheduling and go over the rules and regulations each of them will have going forward—though I believe one is too newly established to have created any. Miss Addison?”

  “Yes, Mr. Whitney, that would be correct,” Cat nodded, coming to his side. “I believe I’ll need to find out all of your expectations first. However, I have been told that all the domestic employees are meant to adjourn to the fourth conference room so we can begin the process of scheduling. I’d like to do this in small increments if possible. To that end, I will first wish to have all of the maids. We will go there directly from here. Kitchen and laundry staff, please remain available so that you can be summoned when we are through. Thank you.”

  “Declan? Did you wish to address the recreational staff?” Aiden asked.

  “I did indeed, sir,” he nodded, and Aiden handed him the microphone. He turned to Cat and brought her with him back to their seats. The pair of them sat companionably, but by mutual unspoken discretion they kept their hands to themselves. After Declan’s little speech, Kellan reclaimed the microphone.

  “Great, that’s it for this party, then,” he told everybody. “Maids to the fourth conference room, front desk, you’re here with me, and Declan’s staff please follow him to conference room three. Have a great evening everybody.”

  Aiden caught Cat’s hand as she stood to leave. “I’ll see you by the time you’re scheduling for laundry,” he told her, kissing her fingers.

  “Will you need to approve everything?”

  “If it gives me an excuse to spend more time with you, of course I will,” he said, winking at her. “Now move, lady.”

  FOURTEEN

  For the next two weeks, things were going great. Cat got everyone scheduled, and assigned employee rooms to seven members of her staff. The rest of them were all local people, and at least three of the seven who weren’t intended to get a mobile home together within the next month or so. Aiden was able to spend most of his time with the divers bringing in more of the damaged coral, and the only real trouble the pair had was deciding if Cat should take one of the employee rooms for herself or throw caution to the wind and move straight into his condo.

  “I told you already, I don’t think I should live with you until after your divorce,” she insisted once more as the grand opening loomed closer. “You need to get all of your ducks in a row, and besides, right now I’m better off to stay on site until we make sure about just how cohesive the staff really is, you know?”

  “Well, we’ve still got two days before we open the doors,” Aiden said, sighing. “How about if you spend them with me there, and we’ll do something normal. The best way to know if we’d be good together is to just spend a normal, average weekend together and see how that goes.”

  Cat giggled. “You mean like, laying around with the TV on and snacking on Friday’s leftover pizza? That kind of normal?|”

  “Yeah, and we could even wear sweats and raid the refrigerator at midnight.”

  “I’m down,” said Cat, smiling. “Just let me go get my purse out of the office, and then I’m all yours.”

  “I love the sound of that,” Aiden said, grinning broadly. “I’ll go bring the Porsche.”

  Cat skipped up the stairs and into the main hotel, then hurried toward the back office. Ellen, who had been hired as one of the new front desk staff, had been asked to man the chair each of the last three days in case anybody came in to ask about reservations or called with questions. Kellen had trained her and provided her with everything she would need to know, and she looked calm and content at the moment.

  “Say Ell, how’s it going in here?”

  “Everything is great. The phone has been quiet, and the website is pretty much tending to itself,” she replied. “Looks like I’ll be sitting quiet until it’s time to go home.”

  “I’ll see if Kellen will let you knock off an hour early if you’d like,” Cat offered. “I’m headed that way.”

  “Oh no, I’m good. Thanks though.”

  Smiling, Cat stepped into the back half of the building and through the door marked ‘office’. “Oh, hello Kellen. I’ve forgotten my purse,” she said as she headed for her desk. “Who is your friend?”

  “Mrs. Whitney,” replied the blonde as she got to her feet, revealing a superior height and a toned body Cat could only dream of obtaining herself.

  Cat looked her over curiously. “Really. And what is your business at the resort, Mrs. Whitney? I was under the impression you and your husband were—well, not having any discourse. Did you not just tell the world he was frighteningly cruel to you?”

  “Tabloids,” she scoffed. “They never do get a story correct, do they? Yo
u must be the woman Aiden hired to run domestics I suppose?”

  “Yes, Cat Addison, ma’am,” she nodded. “Did you let Aiden know you would be here?”

  “Not at all,” she smirked. “I’ve come to apologize, actually, for the frightful way I’ve been acting over the last month or so. You wouldn’t happen to know where he is, by any chance? Kellen has told me it’s likely that you would.”

  “Oh yes, I certainly do,” Cat replied stoically, not letting on to her rising ire. She still wasn’t quite sure where to direct it as yet, and so she held it all in. “He’s just gone to the garage, I believe. But I’m quite certain he’ll be soon driving over here.”

  “Wonderful,” she said, and her smile was insincere as she took Cat’s hand. “It was a pleasure meeting you, Miss Addison. I hope you will enjoy working here.”

  “I’m quite sure that I will,” Cat replied, picking up her purse and casting Kellen a glare as the woman headed for the exit. She decided to discreetly follow her.

  Aiden was just reaching the bottom step as his wife stepped through the door, and his smile fell away just like magic as he glanced past her and spotted Cat. He frowned at her apologetically before he met the other woman’s eyes.

  “Brynn? What are you doing here?”

  “Aiden, darling, I’m so glad I’ve found you at last,” she said breezily. “Your staff here seems quite pleasant and helpful. Could we talk, please? I believe I’ve made a terrible mistake, and I would like to set things right between us if you will let me.”

  “I’m sorry, but I believe that you included a restraining order in your divorce paperwork,” he said in an offhand manner. “You shouldn’t be here.”

  “I’ve asked my lawyers to cancel the proceedings,” she said then. “I don’t think a divorce is what this marriage needs. If you’ll have me, I’d like to start again.”

  “Just like that?” he scoffed. “I don’t believe a word of it. What are you up to, Brynn?”

  “Nothing, my darling husband,” she said, laughing. “I’ve booked one of the executive suites for myself and five of my friends. They should be arriving sometime on opening day. Unfortunately, until then I’ve nowhere to stay. Did you not tell me you’d gotten yourself a place?”

  “I’ve gotten myself a place, yes, but it has nothing to do with you,” Aiden said with a scowl. “Go in and tell Kellen of your booking. You can stay in your cabin a couple of days early. And as for the divorce, I have every intention of honoring your request for it, if not for your unreasonable claims on my pocketbook. You and I have nothing to say to each other. Cat? Were you coming?”

  “Cat?” Brynn gasped, looking behind her and spotting Cat herself. “Oh, Miss Addison, I did not realize you were there.”

  “Excuse me, please,” said Cat, holding her chin level and retaining her dignity as much as possible. “Aiden and I were just going into town.”

  “Yes, so I see,” she said, scowling. “I hope you enjoy yourselves.”

  “That is our intention,” Aiden replied. “You have a pleasant evening.”

  Cat stepped past the irate looking woman and followed Aiden back to his SUV. She was frowning the whole way, while her back was to Brynn, but as soon as her face was visible to him she tried to paste on a smile, fake though it may be.

  “Don’t pretend for her, Cat,” Aiden sneered. “She’s not worth your effort. I’m curious to find out what’s set her off this way. It wouldn’t surprise me if her lawyer informed her she would be unable to force half of my income from me, and now she’s trying to find some way to get back into my good graces. That’s just the sort of heartless, gold digging tactics she’s used over the past seven years in her bid to dominate.”

  “She strikes me as a most unpleasant person when she doesn’t get her own way,” Cat had to agree. “The type of person I don’t prefer to turn my back on, if you know what I mean? Are you sure you want to leave her with the full run of the property?”

  “Don’t be silly, Cat, she’s not going to do anything stupid here,” Aiden scoffed. “Especially not if she’s trying to salvage anything.”

  “But you did just tell her you weren’t going to,” Cat pointed out. “She strikes me as somebody who could be quite spiteful. I’d feel a whole lot better if you told the staff to keep an eye out, just in case.”

  Aiden smiled. “You sound like you care or something.”

  Cat chuckled. “I care about you,” she said, playfully punching his arm. “And also, I’d kind of like to keep my job. If she does anything to ruin the resort that also goes right down the drain.”

  “Cat, you know I’d just hire you somewhere else if you wanted me to.”

  “Well sure, I know, but any of those places wouldn’t be so close to my dad, and probably wouldn’t even be in the Keys,” she said, sighing. “It’s just so damned beautiful here, I’d have to have to move.”

  “Listen to all this morbid talk,” said Aiden with a shake of his head. “I’ve known Brynn for seven years, I think I can safely say she’s not the sort of person who would destroy the property on purpose. She can be cruel, but she’s far from stupid.”

  “For your sake, Aiden, I hope so.”

  FIFTEEN

  After a brief trip to get groceries for their weekend of normalcy, Aiden and Cat arrived at his condo and quite normally carried in all the bags, which Cat proceeded to empty while Aiden went into the living room to see what was on the television.

  “Cat, do you like horror movies?” he wanted to know.

  “Scary, not gory?” she wanted to know.

  “Gory as hell,” he replied. “I can find something else.”

  “Thank you.”

  When Cat entered the living room at last, she came bringing out two glasses of soda complete with ice and straws and set one next to Aiden. He cast her an appreciative smile. “Now see, there’s my point right there. Brynn never would have done that.”

  “Hmm?” Cat asked, sipping on her straw as she settled herself at his side. “What, she didn’t even bring you a drink when she got her own?”

  “She never got her own,” he scoffed. “She has a cook, a maid, and a butler to order around, so why should she bother to do it for herself?”

  “Somehow, I get the feeling the mood’s been put off,” said Cat, frowning.

  “The hell if it has!” Aiden protested. “I’m not going to let that woman ruin this relationship too. I’ve found a fairy tale movie. Do you like those?”

  Cat giggled. “Of course.”

  “Well, this one doesn’t contain the handsome Legolas, but it will have to do.”

  “Aiden, don’t be jealous of a poster,” she chuckled. “Listen to you.”

  “I’m not jealous,” he refuted. “But why’d you put it up in your bedroom at the resort?”

  “Well, because I love the story, and because the wall needed some decoration,” she snorted. “That is the usual reason for posters. Didn’t you know?”

  “I don’t mind that you have him at all,” he explained. “I’d just rather you would have him on the wall over here, that’s all. I don’t want you anywhere near Brynn while she’s around.”

  “You could always just kick her out,” Cat pointed out.

  “We’re not divorced yet,” he sighed. “She’ll only tell any officer who arrives that she has as much right to be on this land as I do, and until that damned paperwork goes through she would be right. But maybe that’s the whole point! Do you think she is here hoping to start a fight? Get more grist for her insane tabloid story? How she wanted to ‘make things right’ but once again I wounded her to the core?”

  “I don’t know her well enough to judge, unfortunately,” Cat told him. “Maybe we should give her enough rope to hang herself and see how it goes.”

  “Yes, that’s all well and good, but what happens if on the way down that rope wraps around me too?” he complained. “I was hoping all of this would just go away, Cat. That my lawyers would talk to hers, they’d see reason and accept my o
ffer of a severance payment plan of some kind, and I’d never have to tolerate that woman or her scheming ways afterwards. She’s up to no good, as sure as I’m sitting here.”

  “Are you sitting here?” Cat scoffed. “I thought you were still about a mile away.”

  Then, Cat resolutely set her drink down on the coffee table and took his too. “Fairy tales are all well and good, but I think what you need right now is something else entirely. I know just how to get your mind off this whole thing.”

  Aiden caught on right away, and his frown turned into a smirk. “You do?”

  Cat traced her fingers along his bicep, and he flexed, making her chuckle. She said, “I’ve barely had a chance to be in this arms today. Why don’t we start our weekend off the right way?”

  “It sounds like a great idea to me,” Aiden grinned, capturing her hand and bringing it up to his lips. He kissed her fingers, and the heat of his breath sent a little thrill right down Cat’s spine. It amazed her, but the more she touched the man, the more she wanted to. Heat pooled between her thighs just thinking about what they were about to do.

  Smiling, she got up and started to head for his bedroom, but as he got up Aiden stopped her. “Do you know something, sweetheart? I don’t think we’ve broken in the breakfast nook.”

  Cat blinked. “You’re kidding, right?”

  Grinning wickedly, Aiden shook his head no. He twisted her back around, kissing her soundly as he scooted her in that direction. Cat giggled as she felt the low circle strike her in the backs of her thighs. Their tongues twined as the stood there, and then she felt him reach down and tug her skirt upwards. She gasped into his mouth when he fingers slid into the sides of her underwear and began to pull them down.

  “Such a naughty billionaire,” she told him playfully. “How will I ever keep a straight face if we’re here with company?”

  “I’m not above a bit of snickering,” he said as he grasped her by the hips and flipped her around so that she was facing the nook and couldn’t see what he was doing, but no doubt it was bound to be something kinky. She heard his zipper, and the distinctive noise of his pants dropping down, followed by him kicking them off to the side.