Irish Billionaire's Unwanted Black Baby (BWWM Romance)

by Ciara Cole

  Rachael shook her head merrily. “No. But it could be any time soon because Sean keeps bringing up all these plans. He’s as excited as I am, maybe more.”

  “You are so lucky, Rachael,” sighed one of the girls who overheard them. “Sean is the best boss ever as well as criminally hot.”

  “Thanks, Pam. I feel lucky,” Rachael said with a dreamy smile. “When I first met Sean, he struck me as that aloof yet caring kind of guy. He’s also the greatest romantic and makes me feel like the only woman in the world.”

  “You make him sound perfect,” Moira said. “But then I guess he is. Looks, money, success…”

  “He’s more than the sum of all of those things,” Rachael objected, wagging her finger at Moira. “I care more about what’s inside than whatever physical attributes, fame or riches he represents. Sean totally is the best guy and father a girl could ask for.”

  “No one can blame you if you let yourself believe that,” Moira murmured, her tone now cooled of its usual warmth.

  Rachael almost reared back, surprised by Moira’s response and how her face seemed to curdle. Before Rachael could ask what she meant, Moira suddenly rose and excused herself from the group, saying she needed some air.

  The others went on with enjoying themselves, not really noticing anything amiss. Meanwhile, Rachael slowly felt her festive spirits dissipate. For some reason, Moira’s words got to her. The next moment, Rachael was on her feet and heading outside after Moira.

  Moira was pacing the bar’s pavement, fingers shoving through her hair in agitation. She spun around quickly when Rachael joined her.

  “Are you okay?” Rachael asked calmly. “I feel like you’re stressed with your upcoming departure. If it’s so difficult, why can’t you just stay?”

  “Trust me,” Moira said with a huffy laugh, “I don’t think Sean would relish that.”

  “You sounded mad the way you talked about him. You guys are still friends, aren’t you?”

  “I wouldn’t say that,” Moira muttered. “Not in the way we used to be, anyway. But it doesn’t matter. Look, I’m sorry I seemed short with you back there.”

  “It’s okay. I mean, I don’t really know where it’s coming from. I always felt Sean’s been nothing but great with you. He’s never said even one mean word…”

  “Seriously, can we lay off about how awesome Sean is, how spotless?” Moira suddenly snapped, making Rachael miss a beat.

  “What…why would you say that?” Rachael shook her head in confusion.

  Moira let out an angry sigh before she slowly deflated. “I apologize. Again. I’m just acting crazy. Oh, I don’t know.” She averted her gaze for a moment, and then seemed to mutter to herself, “Fuck it.” Then she looked up at Rachael with resolve.

  “There’s something you should know. Something I wanted to tell you for weeks but…I didn’t want to ruin things between you and Sean,” Moira said with gravity. “You seem so happy to be engaged, and it would have been easier for me to just look away. But hearing you go on and on about Sean like he’s some saint makes me sick and guilty at the same time. Maybe that’s what’s really been eating at me all this while.”

  Rachael was just staring at her. “What exactly is it you’re trying to tell me?”

  “It’s about me and Sean,” Moira said heavily after a few moment’s hesitation. “We slept together.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  Rachael’s head hurt so much. She moaned as she tried to move her head to look at her surroundings, and it only made her wince when the pain throbbed strongly through her brain.

  “About time you woke up. I made breakfast for Leila,” a familiar voice said. Sean walked into the bedroom.

  “Oh no! Why are you here?” She felt like shit! She gingerly sat up on the bed while fighting the urge to hurl. Just what happened last night?

  “Poor thing—can’t handle drinking, can we?” Sean said as he handed her a mug. “Honey water is great for hangovers.”

  Rachael set the mug down, scowling as he leaned forward and rubbed her back.

  “Not now, Sean!” she yelled right before rushing to the bathroom and then throwing up.

  “We’ll talk when you’re done, and it will be a good conversation over breakfast,” Sean stated and then walked out.

  Rachael washed up and tried to look presentable while fuming at Sean. She still had the furious look on her face when she walked downstairs to see him smiling at her. How could he be so happy?

  “Now there’s my beautiful Rachael. By the way, Susan already took Leila off to the park. Take a seat while I get you some waffles.”

  Rachael squinted at him. She couldn’t have them simply play along like nothing had happened.

  Slowly, the culmination of last night’s event played out like a mental movie. Moira. Blurting out about sleeping with Sean. Saying it happened that night Sean drove her home in her car when she was a little sick.

  “I invited him in for some tea, and we got to talking. Things got a little heavy, and somehow, we ended up in bed together. We woke up the next morning, and he felt so terrible about it. Made me promise not to tell anyone, and then he left to go to you, leaving me feeling so dirty and used.”

  Rachael gasped. She remembered that night! Remembered waiting and wondering why Sean hadn’t been back yet. Before Rachael could give a response, someone ran up to them on pounding steps before an unmistakable voice called out, “Don’t listen to her, Rachael!”

  Rachael and Moira turned round to see Sean, who’d just come down from his car parked beside the road.

  “What are you doing here?” Rachael gasped.

  He shoved his hands through his hair. “I felt weird about letting you go with them—especially because of Moira since I guessed she might pull something like this. I see I was right. Good thing I rushed down to make sure things were okay.”

  “Oh my God. It’s true, isn’t it? It’s all true!” Rachael cried out. “That’s why the next morning, you showed up at my house and asked me to marry you!”

  Rachael couldn’t believe this man! He’d felt guilty about what he had done, and that’s why he’d rushed over and tried to cover things up with a marriage proposal. Rachael had been so foolishly happy, she’d clean forgotten about the fact he never came over the night before.

  “Moira is lying, Rachael. I would never cheat on you. I swear,” Sean said vehemently.

  “I knew you’d say that.” Moira shook her head and brought out her phone. She clicked on the screen and then held it out to Rachael. The snap showed Moira and Sean in bed, Sean shirtless and asleep beside the naked Moira while she took the selfie. Sean groaned angrily and clutched at his forehead as if he was about to go insane.

  “This can’t be true. No!” Rachael cried, grabbing her chest in shock.

  Moira sighed deeply. “I know how you feel. Like your whole universe just imploded on itself, right? It’s the same way I’ve been feeling, knowing that Sean and I have always had feelings for each other, but because of you and his daughter, he had to make a choice to suit everyone else but me. I never seemed to count, did I?”

  Rachael kept shaking her head and mumbling in shock. She couldn’t believe it. That everything with Sean was a lie. That he was a fraud?

  “Rachael, you have to trust me,” Sean said, turning sharply and grabbing Rachael’s shoulders, but she just looked dazed.

  “You don’t have to think your life is over because of this,” Moira said with a shrug to Rachael. “You’ll pull through like you always do. After all, look how far you made it. Even after your father threatened to cut you off if you didn’t get rid of the baby, you stood your ground. You made it this far on your own, so don’t go thinking you can’t face life without Sean.”

  “You’re right, I…” Rachael began only to stop short. “Hold up. How did you know about that part with my father?”

  “What?” Moira blinked.

  “I’ve never talked about it with anyone, even Sean. The only time I ever mentioned it wa
s in my email. The one I sent to Sean’s inbox all those years ago that no one claims to have seen!”

  A hush fell on all three, with Moira’s face showing that she couldn’t seem to think up a good answer fast enough.

  “Jesus Christ. It was you,” Sean said in shock, staring at Moira. “You saw that email, didn’t you?”

  “Don’t try to pin your mistakes on me, Sean!” Moira protested wildly, coming back to life as she glared at Sean.

  He only shook his head at her. “I’ve been an idiot not to see it. That you’ve been sabotaging my relationship with Rachael. Now it all adds up. You lied about not seeing the email—and you’ve probably also been lying to me all these years that you could never find out anything about Rachael.”

  A disgusted sound escaped his thinly pressed lips. “To think I knew you’ve always been infatuated with me, yet I enabled it only as a favor to Connor and because I felt sorry for you.”

  “Sorry for me?” Moira’s face curdled as she glared at Sean. “How dare you pity me! You always treat me like a slag, and I hated you for it!”

  Both Sean and Rachael stared wide-eyed at Moira as she finally shed her façade, her face displaying rage like no other.

  “You know what?” Moira went on with an unpleasant smile. “I’m glad I saw the email and deleted it, because now it makes me know I was part of making you both suffer!”

  “Like you’re trying to make us suffer with your lies about you and me sleeping together,” Sean said calmly. “For the past few weeks, I’ve gone crazy thinking how the whole fiasco of that night went down. But I’ve figured it out now, after this.”

  Sean didn’t bother continuing to talk to her but instead turned and directed his words to the speechless Rachael. “Sweetheart, it was all a big ruse. Moira invited me up to her apartment, and when we went in, she brought me some tea, and we talked. I don’t even remember anything until I woke up the next morning, shirtless and under the covers with her.”

  He sent Moira a hard glance before facing Rachael again, gently grabbing her shoulders. “My only conclusion is that she must have slipped some kind of drug in my tea, and that had me out till the following morning. Oh, she acted all casual and told me I’d fallen asleep, and that I’d looked too exhausted for her to wake me and instead, she let me sleep it off at her place. As to being in bed with me, she said she’d felt too sore to take the couch and hoped I didn’t feel uncomfortable with the fact we’d shared a bed. She assured me nothing happened, and of course, it didn’t,” he said with a furious huff.

  “Because I wasn’t that out of it not to know for a fact that absolutely nothing went down that night. I can bet my life on that,” Sean finished, gazing deeply and imploringly into Rachael’s eyes.

  Rachael drew in a long breath and shrugged off his hands from her shoulders. She spun to Moira, who looked more insolent than remorseful.

  “I trusted you,” Rachael said. “You made me think we were friends and you cared.”

  “Friends?” Moira said with disdain. “Oh yeah, I think I did start to like you at some point. But you just had to always act so smug because you had Sean all to yourself, bragging with your big fat diamond ring and the fact you had him wrapped around your finger. It was disgusting!”

  “Shut the hell up, Moira! You’ve done enough damage, and still you dare to feel self-righteous?” Sean barked. “You have no idea how fucking glad I am you resigned, and I can’t wait to finally see the back of you.”

  Moira laughed in his face with a sneer. “That’s fine with me! Like I care about you, her or yer bastard kid! I’ll be glad to be gone!”

  Rachael didn’t remember too much of what happened then because her vision went black. All she could think of was Moira had gone for her kid, and Rachael went crazy. She charged at Moira, grabbing her hair while punching her in the face. Sean tried to pull her away from Moira, but Rachael had such rage for the green-eyed witch.

  “Let me go, you crazy bitch!” yelled Moira.

  Rachael went on pounding at Moira, who could barely throw even a punch with her flailing hands. “You shouldn’t have come for my man!” Rachael shouted. “He told you he wasn’t into you, but you wouldn’t listen. So now I’m going to teach you why you should’ve listened. And last but not least, don’t ever in your life come after my kid!”

  “Our kid,” Sean cut in, trying to grab her waist while Rachael spared him a deadly look. She reluctantly let Moira go as Sean dragged her back, while the others from the bar started pouring out after finally noticing the commotion.

  “Now run off before I really beat your ass. What I did was just a warning,” Rachael said to Moira. “Don’t let me set eyes on you again.”

  “You’re crazy! I’m pressing charges!” Moira shouted as she rushed off down the street on her clattering heels.

  Back to the following morning, Rachael was fuming over Moira’s threat.

  “Listen, just calm down and relax,” Sean said as Rachael muttered about not being scared of the police. “If she does anything about pressing charges, I’ll be happy to bring up the fact she drugged me to the police and have her argue her way out of that.”

  “Go home, Sean.”

  She was still so pissed off at him she couldn’t see straight.

  “Rachael, why didn’t you tell me about your father cutting you off? Was it true?”

  The switch in the topic had Rachael stopping short. After some moments, she shrugged and reluctantly replied. “He didn’t exactly say he’d cut me off, but he vowed not to pay for my tuition if I kept the baby. He kept to his word, and I was the one who had to put myself through college. I held down all kinds of jobs just to make it. My mom Susan was a great help, especially with taking care of Leila.”

  “Thank you. For keeping the baby.”

  She drew her hand away from under his. “I didn’t do it for you,” she told him rigidly. “Anyway, years later my father apologized and said he regretted asking me to do something so despicable. I told him I forgave him, and as for having to fend for myself all through college, I forgave him for that too. It was tough, but in a way, I’m glad because it helped me. It made me know I could be strong enough to face up to any situation.”

  Sean exhaled deeply with remorse. “I should have told you about what happened with Moira. You know, waking up and finding her naked beside me in her bed. When it happened, I think I panicked. I scrambled out of her apartment and rushed straight to you, because the biggest fear hit me as I thought of ever losing you out of some dumb mistake that didn’t even happen. But I wasn’t trying to deceive you or make you look the fool. I always knew I’d propose and had only been trying to pick the perfect chance.”

  He took her hand again and this time raised it to his lips and kissed it. “Rushing from Moira’s house that morning, I only made enough time to go to my place and get the ring I’d bought weeks ago. Then I went straight to you, and once you said yes, I felt I could finally breathe again.”

  Rachael felt mollified that Sean had truly meant to propose and had bought the ring well in advance, and hadn’t done it all out of some spur of the moment sense of guilt for his “night” with Moira that never was.

  “We can never keep those kinds of secrets from each other,” she told him squarely. “In fact, any kind of secrets. When you said you never saw the email, I decided not to tell you about my father because I knew you’d blame yourself all the more. For getting me pregnant and having me face all that hardship on my own with a baby. Holding down three or four jobs at a time, doing even the most menial tasks at below minimum wage sometimes…when I look at Leila, I don’t regret a thing, because she is more than worth it.”

  “Absolutely. And it’s the same way you both are worth the very air that I breathe. I couldn’t survive if you told me you didn’t want me in your life or Leila’s.”

  “No matter what happened between us, I could never keep you from your daughter.”

  “I know, but she’s half of the package, and it’s going to be com
plete only with you in the picture. That’s why I’m telling you again, I truly love you and want to marry you. And not just because we have a daughter together.”

  This time, when he pulled her close, Rachael didn’t act rigid but relaxed against him.

  “I feel like we’ve overcome the worst, and now nothing can ever come between us,” Sean whispered in her hair.

  “Yes, but it would be difficult to let anyone from the outside close again.” Rachael sighed. “It’s going to take some time to get over Moira’s betrayal, and I can only imagine how you must feel.”

  She turned around to look up into his heated blue gaze. Grudgingly, she let him kiss her lips but didn’t give much of a response. Sean made a rumbling sound deep in his throat.

  “How long are you going to stay mad at me?” he asked.

  “Until I feel like not being mad anymore.”

  “And how soon is that going to be?”

  “Who knows? Maybe it will take as soon as you stop asking me so many damn questions.” Even with that, a small smile tugged at her lips, and she quickly turned round to wrap her arms around his middle. “Do you even know how destroyed I would be if anything ever pulled us apart? How badly my heart would ache?”

  She stared up into his eyes, and he grabbed the back of her neck, bringing their faces closer. “I know I don’t say it as much as I should, but damn, you’re my everything. You and Leila.”

  With those words, he kissed her again even more passionately, and soon Rachael couldn’t hold back. She moaned into his mouth and raked her fingers up and down his muscled back.

  “I want to show you how much you mean to me. Can I?” he asked.

  Rachael could only nod. Sean’s lips captured hers once more, and he picked her up by her thighs, wrapping them around his waist. He carried her back to the bedroom and lay her down on the bed. He wasted no time in peeling off her clothes, leaving her in nothing but her thong.

  He kissed his way down her body with wicked little nibbles on the way, making her moan. He turned her over on her stomach, grabbing her hips to draw her ass up to meet him. He squeezed her bum cheeks firmly before landing a hard smack on her ass. Rachael cried out in pleasure, hips rocking as he bit her thong and dragged it down her legs with his teeth. Oh wow.