Billionaire Single Dad

by Claire Adams

  “You have a boyfriend?” I asked with an eye raised.

  “Not anymore,” she replied as she leaned in to kiss me.

  If I had been a man looking for a girlfriend, Kendra’s situation wouldn’t have been ideal. Fortunately, I wasn’t a man looking for a girlfriend, at least not on that evening. I needed a nice girl’s company for the night and Kendra fit the bill just fine. I didn’t need to talk to someone, and I certainly wasn’t looking for a long-term commitment.

  I leaned in to kiss her – partly just because I really didn’t want to talk about her love life and partly because I needed a little primer before bringing her to bed. This girl was obviously eager to get back at her ex-boyfriend, and I was more than happy to oblige her with an evening of fun.

  When we burst through the doors to my house, I had my shirt half unbuttoned and my body still throbbed with desire. Kendra’s hands made quick work of unbuttoning my pants as we kissed and we finished undressing each other on the way to the bedroom.

  Her lips pressed roughly against me and her hand moved forcefully up and down my body when we reach the bed. She wanted me so badly that she probably would have taken me without any protection, but that wasn’t how I rolled. As much as I loved a good one-night stand, I always used protection.

  “Just a second, babe,” I said as I reached into the side drawer.

  “Your house is so big. You are so big. I can’t wait to have you,” she said as her hands started to play with her breasts.

  It was obvious this girl was a wild one. I watched her as she grabbed herself and moved in front of me. She reminded me a bit of a woman who worked on a pole for a living, but I wasn’t about to ask her if that was what she did.

  “Those are some beautiful breasts you have there.”

  “Oh, I know. I just got them a few months ago. Do you like?”

  “Yep,” I said as my mouth wrapped around one of them and I pressed her back onto the bed.

  There needed to be less talking and more action. I didn’t invite this girl to my house to have a long, thoughtful conversation. I invited her to screw her – and that was exactly what we were going to do.

  I let my tongue tease her nipple for a little bit while I unwrapped my condom and slid it over me. There was no need for a long evening of teasing; this girl was obviously primed and ready to go.

  Our bodies moved together in a furry of thrusts and moans as we both let out the sexual tensions built up inside of us. It was a relief to have a woman who seemed so readily accepting of the one-night stand option. Most of the women I brought home really seemed like they wanted to move things into a relationship era as they talked about their lifelong goals and dreams before we made love.

  Not Kendra, though; she and I had barely spoken a few sentences to each other before she was ready to fall into bed with me. I wasn’t judging her; it was a fun night for me, just not something that was going to go past that evening.

  By three o’clock in the morning, Kendra was dressed and we were out front waiting for the Uber I had ordered for her. She wrapped her arms around me and kissed me before sliding into the black leather seat of the vehicle.

  “Thanks for a fun night,” she said and blew me a kiss.

  There was no need to respond. I simply waved her goodbye as the car pulled out of my driveway. A sigh of relief came over me, and I made my way back to my bedroom and into my extra-large shower. The rainforest showerhead was pounding my back with warm water in less than five minutes, and I was fast asleep shortly after that.

  There wasn’t anything better than one-night stands. I had a fun evening of sex with no consequences and was still back to sleep in a reasonable amount of time. I didn’t have to buy the girl presents, meet her parents, or make compromises on where we should go for boring dates.

  Of course, there was a downside to dating women with no intention of moving a relationship forward.

  The emotional connection of a real dating relationship could be very mutually beneficial. I was eager to give it a try again with Dating the Rich. Even if I just found some stable women to go out on dates with, it would give me the opportunity to practice my real-life dating skills. I hadn’t really dated since I was in my early twenties. I didn’t call what I did with the women from clubs dating; it was more like primal need fulfillment.

  Chapter Three

  Delilah

  “What are some good interests I have?”

  “You want me to tell you your interests?” Mattie laughed as she looked up from across the cubicle. “I don’t know. Wait, why don’t you know your own interests?”

  “I’m filling out a fake profile with my information so I can test the coding I used for the updated personal interests section. Just help me out here. What do I do that’s actually interesting?”

  The last thing I wanted to do was put up an actual dating profile. I didn’t want to date anyone, and I was certain of that. But the errors were bugging me and in order to get the coding to work, I wanted to test it out on a page that I could manage.

  Working in information technology was harder than I had ever expected. I learned something new every day, though, and I liked the challenge of my work. There weren’t too many jobs out there where you could literally reprogram a whole company’s livelihood and then hang out in the free lunch room over a mocha cappuccino.

  Dating the Rich was a fabulous place to work. We had free food everywhere in the building. We could take as much time off as we wanted, although we didn’t get paid for it, so I never used it. We also had a gym downstairs and a massage therapist that came to the office once a month.

  The only thing I didn’t like was my current supervisor, but those guys turned over so quickly that I knew someone else would take his position soon and I just had to tough it out for a bit.

  “Hmmm, besides horribly boring art shows? I don’t know, you do a lot of things. Volunteering, working with your son and his school, all your running stuff…can you put that stuff in there?”

  “Yep, I’ll add my love of cat sweaters, too, just for fun.”

  “Ha, yep, I’m sure that would totally get the millionaires to love your profile. That’s just the type of woman they are looking for: lonely cat lady.”

  “It’s not a profile to actually meet guys. I just need to test if everything is working, I’ll make it private again soon,” I said as I flipped my monitor around to show Mattie the profile I had set up so far. “You know, I swear I’ve fixed this error a dozen times and every time I think it’s totally good, I log in and it’s not.”

  “If you don’t want people to respond to that profile, you shouldn’t have put that amazing picture of you on there. Damn, Del; that’s hot. Where was that taken?”

  “On the beach after Spencer passed away. Spencer’s parents took me and Connor on a vacation. They are truly the best in-laws in the world. I’m so lucky to have them.”

  “That is one kick-ass body you’ve got there, lady. I’d kill to look that good in a bikini. You should just walk around in a bikini. I mean, if I looked like that in a swimsuit, I’d just wear the damn thing to work.”

  “It’s called running, Mattie. I ask you to come with me all the time and you always refuse. I’m only in shape because I used running as my only form of therapy after Spencer passed away.”

  “Oh, I don’t want to exercise. I meant I’d actually kill someone if they’d just give me some abs,” she laughed loudly at her own joke. Mattie’s laugh boomed through our office and soon everyone had turned their heads toward us to see what was going on.

  I loved her humor, though. Having her there with me over the years had been a big source of inspiration. She could turn even the dreariest of days into one where we were both laughing so hard we were crying. It was a special talent, that was for sure.

  “Get back to work,” our angry manager grumbled as he stuck his head out of his office.

  “One of these days he’s going to move on and we will get a decent manager,” I said softly. “I really thoug
ht he’d be sick of this job by now.”

  “I know. I mean, what kind of man is that angry all the time? He is working at a match-making website. It’s not like we have a super stressful job or anything like that. You’d think that some sort of happiness would be a requirement to get a middle management job around here. All of the upper management seems so happy all the time.”

  “Maybe he’s grumpy because he works here. You know what I’m saying? He needs a girlfriend and working here and being reminded that he doesn’t have one just makes him sad.”

  We both giggled as we turned back to our computers and continued working. No matter what code I put into the social interest section, I continued to get errors throughout the morning. I reloaded several versions of the code and even read the entire code line by line as I tried to fix my error. It was exhausting.

  By the time lunch rolled around, I was in the middle of a pure frustration fit. Coding for our clients’ profiles was my main area of work. I had to fix this error before I could continue on to test any other issues we were having. As I was about to walk away from my desk for lunch, an instant message window popped up on my screen.

  IM from Brandon: Do you accept?

  “Oh, Mattie, I’ve got a guy messaging me,” I laughed. “See what happens when I put an amazingly small bikini photo on my profile?”

  “Is he cute? If he’s cute, you need to answer him. Remember, these guys are rich. You need a rich guy in your life.”

  “It doesn’t matter. This is a fake account; I’m not going to accept the message. I don’t need anyone in my life. I’m very happy exactly where I am.”

  “Del, it’s not really all that fake. It’s your picture and your details. Just answer him. Is he cute? And, yes, you do need a rich handsome guy in your life. Hell, I need one in my life. Answer him – for me. Take one for the team, Delilah!”

  “Yes, his profile looks like he is acceptably handsome.”

  “Let me see,” she said as she jumped up and came around to my desk. “Oh, wow, Del; he’s really handsome. You’ve got to talk to him. Message him, or accept his message, or whatever you need to do. Let’s make this happen.”

  I looked around in fear that our manager would come walking past. I didn’t want to get caught using the instant messaging app on our dating site while I was supposed to be working on fixing our problems. He already yelled at us enough for no reason at all, so I didn’t want to give him an actual reason to yell at me.

  “I only have my profile up while I’m fixing this error. I really shouldn’t be talking to any of the guys on here.”

  “Why not?”

  One of the things I loved most about Mattie was her willingness to go against the norms of everything. She was so much bolder than I was. I was pretty sure I’d always be a rule follower, but I liked having her around so I could live vicariously through her and her wild ways.

  “I’m an employee here. I’m sure there are rules about us having a profile on the site. Plus, I’m not dating right now.”

  “Yes, you are. You totally brought that guy home from the charity event last month.”

  “That wasn’t dating,” I clarified. “That was a one-night thing.”

  “Oh, come on. Just say hello to the guy. What could it hurt to say hi? Everyone is heading out to lunch. Robert isn’t even around to see what you’re doing. You are flat out of excuses. Say hi to the guy.”

  Mattie reached around me and clicked the accept button on the message. Soon, another message popped up and she went scurrying back to her desk with a huge smile of pride across her face.

  “Mattie!”

  “You can thank me later when the two of you fall madly in love and you’re married to a millionaire.”

  Brandon: Hi, I’m Brandon. It’s nice to meet you.

  Delilah: Hi, Brandon. I’m Delilah, my friends call me Del.

  As I typed my reply, I looked at his profile to see who this guy was and if he was anyone I might be interested in. Even though I wasn’t really dating, there was always this little voice inside my head that said there was another right guy out in the world for me. I wasn’t sure if I’d ever find someone I could love as much as my late husband, but I still had a little hope that someday I would cross paths with a man of equal standing.

  “What’s he saying?” Mattie asked as she leaned in from across the cubicle. “Is he nice? Are you going to go out with him? I bet he’s really rich. Ask him how much money he has. Wait, no. Don’t ask that.”

  “He just said hello, and I said hello. Now go to lunch; I’m only going to talk to him for a second before I’m getting back to working on this project. I need to get this error fixed before the end of the day.”

  Mattie laughed as she grabbed her purse and headed out. We normally ate together for lunch, but she knew how I was when I had a lot of work. I wasn’t on a regular break and lunch schedule like she was, so I could always leave early if I skipped my lunch. Mattie worked in customer service and had to be at her desk at specific times.

  Brandon: That’s one hell of a profile picture.

  Delilah: Well, it got your attention, didn’t it?

  Brandon: Definitely. I was a little disappointed you didn’t have a cat sweater photo, too. I bet you look amazing in cat sweaters.

  Delilah: That was a little joke my friend and I put on my profile. I don’t actually own a cat or a cat sweater.

  Brandon: What! False advertising. I can’t talk to you if you don’t actually own a cat sweater. Man, that was a huge selling point.

  I paused our conversation for a minute while I looked through his profile a little closer. If I could have designed my ideal man, physically at least, it would have been Brandon. He was six-two with medium-brown hair cut in a trendy, short style. His light-green eyes popped out from every picture on his profile, and I was pretty sure the guy was incapable of taking a bad picture. Even the one of him crossing the finish line at the Boston Marathon had him looking epically handsome.

  Brandon: Did I lose you?

  Delilah: Sorry, I’m still here. I’m actually at work right now so I probably should get back to working…lol.

  Brandon: Then we should meet for a drink sometime?

  I froze as I stared at my computer screen. Did I want to go on a date with this guy? He was handsome and seemed pretty normal, but I wasn’t sure my head was in the right place for dating. Suddenly the whole interaction got real and I freaked out. No, I wasn’t ready to go on a real date. I couldn’t handle that.

  Quickly, I closed out of the window and went back to work without replying to him. I clicked my profile back to hidden so no one could message me or see my profile. I was just going to have to fix my error without the active profile on there. I certainly couldn’t risk him messaging me and me having to explain why I had just disappeared.

  My hands shook as I tried to type the code fixes into the computer. With adrenaline rushing through my body, I had to stop and sip some water while I cleared my head a little.

  I pulled a family photo out of my wallet and tears started to pour down my face while I looked at how happy Spencer and I were when Connor was born. There really hadn’t been any happier moment in my entire life than when they placed my son in my arms with Spencer right there by my side.

  My stomach churned with guilt over just talking to Brandon. Logically, I knew that I wasn’t cheating on Spencer. I’d had a few men in my bed since he had passed away. None of them had sparked such a rush of emotion as my brief conversation with Brandon, though.

  Brandon seemed to be a normal guy who I actually would have dated before I met Spencer. He obviously had a decent job, since he had paid for a premium membership on our website, and I noticed he had a full consultation coming up with our Director of Love. Those meetings were only for truly elite clients, so Brandon had to be at least a millionaire if he qualified for that meeting.

  Beyond his financial stability, he was really handsome, funny, and liked to run as much as I did.

  Guilt wasn�
��t really a logical feeling for me to have since my husband had been gone several years, but maybe it was because I hadn’t met a guy I actually wanted to date before. The men in my life over the last couple years had been what I liked to refer to has place holders. They stood in for what I needed at the moment without pushing a relationship agenda.

  The problem was that Brandon was on a dating website: he actually wanted a real relationship with someone and I had responded to his messages. My stomach continued to churn as I went back to figuring out my coding error on our profiles.

  “It looks like it didn’t go well,” Mattie said as she came back from lunch.

  Her face drooped apologetically as I tried to explain what had happened. The conversation had gone pretty well. The problem was that I hadn’t mentally prepared myself to have a good conversation with an emotionally available man. My spur of the moment decision had me swirling with emotions.

  “It was all right. I’m just not ready to date.”

  “You are ready! Don’t even tell me this. Come on now – Connor is in school; you’re doing great at work. It’s time for you to get out on the market for real. Like an actual date where you have a drink and eat some food.”

  “I’ve had a drink with guys before,” I protested.

  “Standing at the bar while they flirt with you and convince you to go back to their place, is not dating.”

  “I know, I know. I just don’t think I’m ready.”

  “Okay, let’s assume you’re right. When will you be ready? What exactly are you waiting for?”

  “I don’t know. Isn’t it too soon? I don’t want to fall in love with some guy and look like the horrible widow who rushed out to find a second husband.”

  “Del, it’s been four years. I guarantee no one is going to say you rushed out to find a husband. Hell, even Spencer’s parents tried to fix you up last Christmas. If your own late husband’s family is trying to find you a guy, that’s a clear sign you have a green light for dating.”

  I had to laugh at the memory of Mary and Steve trying to fix me up with their accountant. They had invited him to a New Year’s Eve party that was a couple’s-only party, then they invited me. The poor guy ended up sitting next to me and talking about my son’s pre-school mishaps all evening long. I certainly wasn’t a fascinating date.