Millionaire Best Friend: A Secret Baby Romance

by Natasha L. Black

  I felt a measure of glee when I was finally able to kick him out and throw the rest of his stuff out after him. It stayed like a hum buzzing in my head as I watched him at the window plucking his clothes and other belongings up out of the grass. I walked away just before hearing the door slam closed. The amplified feeling drained out of me when I heard the car pull away.

  Sinking down to the floor, I clutched the papers harder in my hands, and the tears came.

  It was gone. All of it. My entire inheritance, gone. All the money my mother had worked so hard for her entire life, gone. One of the very few links I had left to her, gone.

  Now I had to deal with the reality that I had to figure out what to do next. It wasn’t just about the money being gone. This was an upheaval of my whole existence, and I had to figure out how to rework my life.

  I had never relied on it. That was my nest egg, my safety net that protected me in case things went completely wrong.

  I dropped my head back against the door and let out a breath. Maybe there was a way I could get it back.

  2

  Nick

  I was just coming back into my office after lunch when my phone alerted me to a new text message. I sat down behind my desk and got myself situated before I checked it. It was from Lindsey, and before I even read it, I had a feeling I knew what was coming.

  Come over for dinner tonight? The message read.

  I let out a groan, happy nobody was in the office with me to hear my reaction. My best friend had been hounding me for more than a week to go over to her place for dinner. Actually, it wasn’t even her place. It was my older brother Vince’s place. She had started spending a lot more time over there recently, which was exactly where my issue lay.

  I don’t know, I messaged back. I have a lot going on with work and everything. I might be working late.

  Her answer came almost instantly, and I could almost see her leaned against her bar, holding her phone and waiting for my response.

  Just something quick. Nothing big and elaborate. If you have to work late, we’ll eat late.

  It wasn’t that I had a problem with Lindsey and Vince being together. The idea of my best friend and my big brother being involved might seem strange for some people, but I thought it was great. They fit together perfectly.

  It didn’t even bother me that they were going so fast in their relationship. I figured there wasn’t much point in delaying too long or dragging their feet. It wasn’t like they were teenagers. They were old enough to make their own choices, and once they knew, they knew. It didn’t make sense to slow things down and move through the stages of a relationship gradually just because it was what was expected of them.

  And it wasn’t that I didn’t want to see them. I enjoyed spending time with both of them, and it had been a while since we’d spent any time together. I loved Lindsey and her son. Remy was a fairly new addition to my life, at least in terms of spending time with him. Up until recently, Lindsey had been keeping him a secret from everyone but me. I was the only person who even knew she had a son but didn’t spend any time with him. It wasn’t until a nasty custody battle with her ex that she let other people in, and he started spending more time with his mother, and, by extension, the rest of us.

  Getting a chance to hang out with them, and with my brother, was appealing. Which was the only reason I was considering taking her up on her offer for dinner. The truth was, as much as I wanted to spend time with them, watching them play out their new role as a happy little family was a bit difficult for me. In fact, it had gotten sickly sweet enough to make it hard to be around them for long.

  My label as the last of the Freeman brothers to remain single didn’t exactly help the situation.

  First Merry came along. A young, driven social media consultant and marketing expert, she burst onto the scene of Freeman Racing and instantly clashed with company owner and oldest brother, Quentin. The friction didn’t last long. Somewhere between overhauling the company’s social media presence and establishing events that took the fans by storm, she and Quentin fell in love. A baby and wedding quickly followed, and now they reigned over the compound together.

  While all that was going on, our youngest brother, Darren, shocked the family by falling in love with a woman who already held his heart. Kelly, a brilliant mechanic, showed up from Canada looking for a new life… and the father of her toddler daughter, Willa. She found both at the complex and now had another Freeman wedding in her near future.

  But it was Vince that really surprised us all. His head was always buried in work. As the CEO of Freeman Racing in addition to owning several businesses throughout Charlotte, there was plenty of it for him to do all the time. But Lindsey needing help made him come up for air and he never turned back. The girl he always thought of as his kid brother’s friend suddenly looked different to him, and the rest was, very recent, history.

  It left me. The only brother not to stick with the family and work at the complex, and now the only brother not to be linked up with a woman. My parents actually handled me wanting to find my own path in my career and go into investments well. They understood I needed to do what was right for me and find what would make me happy. Just like my father did when he built Freeman Racing.

  Mom most certainly took it better than she had been taking me staying single. Up to her eyeballs in babies, weddings, and new daughters, she was in her element and gleefully happy. All she needed was the full grand slam. And she wasn’t being subtle about it. She’d been making plenty of noises about me following my brothers’ examples. According to her, it was time for me to settle down.

  I didn’t understand the push. In my mind, she should be happy. Three out of four was a good record, especially for such a short time. She should be enjoying the outcome. Even if she wasn’t happy about it, she should find a way to accept it and stop prodding me about it. I wasn’t ready for the whole family thing. There was plenty of time ahead of me. If, and it was a big if, I ever decided to jump into domesticity, I would do it when it was right for me.

  But I couldn’t really avoid everybody until then. Puffing out a breath, I picked my phone up and read Lindsey’s messages again. I sighed and answered.

  I’ll be there after work. But I’m not going to be able to stay for long.

  Yay! The answer came seconds later. That’s fine. You don’t have to. We’ll just be happy to see you.

  Ugh. There it was. “We.” There was no longer a distinction between Lindsey and Vince, apparently.

  It was both convenient and inconvenient for them that I played dual roles in their lives. As Lindsey’s best friend and Vince’s brother, I was a built-in third wheel. Remy made that easier, rounding everything out and turning visits into family gatherings rather than just a couple and an extra. But when he was spending time with his father rather than with Lindsey, I was on the third wheel. They could both have one of their closest people with them by extending just one invitation.

  But her best friend and his brother being only one person did have a certain drawback to them. They couldn’t hook me up with myself. She couldn’t tell her best friend that her boyfriend had a single brother, and he couldn’t tell his lingering single brother his girlfriend’s best friend was single. I came all in one package.

  Setting my phone aside, I noticed a headache beginning behind my eyes. I reached for my coffee mug, but it was empty, so I got up for a refill before diving back into my work for the afternoon. It included a couple of meetings and a nearly endless stream of emails, calls, and paperwork.

  Nothing but glamor was coming from over here.

  I was headed for the promise of fresh coffee when my office door opened. I paused and watched a woman step in. She was beautiful but looked sad and worried.

  “I’m sorry to just come in,” she said.

  Shaking my head, I set my mug down and crossed the room to shake her hand. “It’s alright. Nick Freeman. What can I do for you?”

  Her expression twisted, her eyes darted to t
he side, and she let out a short exhale as she seemed to wrestle with some sort of internal debate. She wriggled her shoulders and stood up a bit straighter before meeting my eyes again with a determined look.

  “I need you to help me find a way to undo what my ex did and get my money back,” she said.

  It was firm, straightforward, and unflinching. But it told me just about nothing. I had so many questions and thoughts of what I was going to do after getting the nagging need for coffee out of my mind.

  “Come on in,” I said. “Can I get you a cup of coffee?”

  She nodded and closed the door behind her before stepping further into the office. “That sounds good. Thank you.”

  I went back to the coffee bar and pulled open the cabinet lined with bags of coffee. “Do you have a favorite flavor?”

  She looked at it and lifted her eyebrows. “Wow. That’s some serious commitment.”

  There were few things in my life that word could apply to, but apparently coffee was one of them.

  “Everybody is entitled to a vice.”

  “What are you having?” she asked.

  “A limited-edition grind from my favorite roaster. S’mores flavored.”

  She shrugged, the sad expression on her face not changing. “What the heck. I was a Girl Scout. Lay it on me.”

  I scooped the fragrant grounds into the machine and dispensed two cups. Augmenting hers with her requested cream and sugar, I carried the mugs over to the desk, handed her one, and invited her to sit down.

  “So, tell me your story.”

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  A Note from the Author

  Thank for you taking the time to read my latest release.

  I hope you loved reading my story, as much as I enjoyed writing it.

  It would mean the world to me if you could take some time to leave a quick review for this book. Reviews allow me to understand how my readers truly feel, and they keep me improving to be better.

  I appreciate you supporting me, thank you so much.

  - Natasha L. Black

  Books by Natasha L. Black

  Freeman Brother Series

  Millionaire Boss

  Millionaire Daddy

  Millionaire Crush

  Millionaire Hero

  Forbidden Lovers Series:

  Billionaire Boss

  Date Your Brother’s Best Friend

  Falling for my Enemy

  Forbidden Crush

  Damaged

  Complete box set below:

  Forbidden Lovers: A Contemporary Romance Collection

  Secret Daddies Series

  His Secret Baby

  CEO’s Secret Baby

  Boss's Secret Baby for Christmas

  Daddy’s Secret Baby

  My Ex’s Secret Baby

  Bad Boy’s Secret Baby

  Complete box set below:

  Secret Daddies: A Contemporary Romance Box Set

  Alpha Male Collection:

  Forbidden Daddy

  Redemption

  Protecting Her

  Saving Sky

  Protecting Sasha

  Complete box set here: Men in Charge

  Reverse Harem/Ménage Collection:

  Double Dirty

  The Cabin

  Double Trouble

  Training the Rookie

  Cuffed to my Roomies

  Complete box set here: One Lucky Girl

  Fake Marriage Collection:

  Pretend You’re Mine

  Pretend I’m Yours

  Let’s Pretend

  Faking It

  Complete box set here: Playing Pretend

  Other stories you may enjoy:

  Back To You

  Brother’s Best Friend

  Forbidden Protector

  Sweet Tooth

  Connect with Natasha L. Black

  Natasha L. Black is an Amazon Top 100 bestselling author. Dreaming and fantasizing ever since she was a young teenager, her love of writing flourished from a very early age. After working for 15 years as a veterinarian, she now follows her passion in writing for a living. She currently resides in a lovely country home in a rural area of Dallas, writing steamy novels to fulfill her readers' desires.

  Want to contact me? Please e-mail me at: contact@natashablackpublishing.com

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