Worth More Than Money

by Lexy Timms

  I grimaced at the memories.

  “Now, you’ve come into Williston, you’ve punched a guy in the face at my work, and I’m not sure I even have a job if I go back there now. That job was offered to me as a favor to my brother, and I’m not sure Trey will give it back to me after what you pulled.”

  “You have a brother?” I asked.

  The second the question left my lips, I knew I’d made a mistake. Michelle sighed and shook her head, then tossed her gaze back out the window. We knew nothing about one another. Nothing that mattered, anyway. Whether she wasn’t comfortable telling me or didn’t feel as if I cared enough to listen, that point didn’t matter. What mattered was the fact that there was a good chance I was going to have a child with this woman, and I was chasing all over the country after her without knowing a damn thing about her.

  “Please come to Napa with me. At least until the baby’s born, Michelle. I promise there will be no strings. No sex. No requirements of any sort. I’ll treat you with respect, you’ll see all the best doctors, and you’ll give birth in the best facilities. You’ll have your own room. Hell, your own corner of the damn house. If you want to get a job, I’ll help you find one. If you don’t want a job, I’ll keep you comfortable.”

  “Then what?” she asked.

  Her face turned back to mine and caught my gaze.

  “What happens after the baby comes, Gray? What then?” she asked.

  I honestly didn’t know how to answer that question. I still hadn’t shaken the voices. The small whispers at the back of my mind were still constantly telling me she was using me. That she would take my money. That this child wasn’t really mine.

  And sometimes, they grew louder and louder, until it was all I could think about.

  “I know this child is yours,” she said. “But, hypothetically speaking, what if it isn’t? What if I do have it wrong? What if, by some insane torture devised by an entity somewhere that doesn’t give a shit about a lowly girl like me, this child is Andy’s? Hm? You’ve spent all that money and all that time on a child that isn’t yours. Are you going to want that money back?”

  Fuck. That statement did nothing to quell the voices in my head.

  “I can’t live on temporary forever, Grayson. One thing I do know is that this child is mine. I know it’s yours as well, but you aren’t banking on that truth, so I won’t speak to it. But this child is mine. I’m growing it. Which means I get a say in what happens. You can’t uproot me from the only job I have to provide for my child simply because you don’t think my job is good enough for a kid that you aren’t fully convinced is yours.”

  “When the child comes, we’ll figure out some sort of agreement. We’ll tackle it then, okay?” I asked.

  “No,” she said. “That isn’t good enough. I’m not sure what you aren’t telling me, but you speak as if I’m not going to be raising this child. If I go with you and just stay comfortable until I give birth, I’m not earning any money to raise this child with. I still won’t have a permanent roof over my child’s head. I can’t risk all that on the idea that you might agree to take care of me—maybe, maybe not. Depending on if the mood suits you.”

  “That’s isn’t what I’m—”

  “You’ve left twice,” she said flatly.

  “I’m not leaving you again.”

  “Until the baby comes. And then what? I’m going to head back to Williston with a child to raise?”

  “No,” I said.

  “Am I going to live with you and try to be one big, happy family?”

  I bit down onto the inside of my cheek to keep from answering. Deep down, I really wanted to believe she wanted to raise this child. Not just take me for my money and live off my wealth while raising it. My heart longed to believe she was different. My soul craved the idea that she wanted to be a mother to a child that was possibly ours. I raked my hands through my hair. I felt myself losing traction with her. I thought she’d be happy coming with me to Napa. Living a life of luxury. Not working and putting her feet up for a change.

  But here she was, once again destroying my expectations.

  And I had no idea what to do with it.

  “Say I go with you,” Michelle said.

  My head whipped up to take in her determined eyes.

  “Say I agree to this. Will I have a say in anything? Or do you simply plan to keep me prisoner for the length of my pregnancy?”

  “Why the hell would I keep you as a prisoner?” I asked.

  “I can provide for myself. It might not be glamorous like the life you lead, but it’s possible. In fact, a lot of children are raised in less-than-glamorous lifestyles and go on to be wildly successful. Like you, for starters.”

  I clenched my jaw and locked my gaze with hers.

  “I’ve got a job, so long as they don’t fire me for the little stunt you pulled tonight. I don’t need you to come in and rescue me.”

  “You can’t possibly work in a place like that, Michelle. Those men were two clicks away from throwing you over a table and pulling your damn shorts down. And I’m not just going to leave my child in the middle of fucking nowhere.”

  “It’s my child as well, Gray. You aren’t the one that gets the last say in all this. You don’t get to dictate my actions simply because we didn’t wrap it up.”

  “You didn’t have an issue following my lead up until this point. What’s the problem now?”

  “The problem is you left without me. Again.”

  “I don’t want our child to be stuck in a place like this, Michelle!”

  I stood and let the sheet slip from my body as I walked away from the table.

  “And neither do I!” she exclaimed. “I don’t want my child to be stuck in a place like Williston. Or Stillsville. But I sure as hell don’t want to be thrust into the beautiful landscape of some fantastical mansion with a vineyard in the damn backyard and then be cast back out again, Gray! I’m done living that life. I’m done with the rejection and always being tossed out like garbage!”

  “I didn’t toss you out on your ass like Andy did,” I said, as I turned around.

  “No,” she said, as she stood. “You simply left me behind without so much as a second thought.”

  “I just told you I can’t get you out of my damn head!”

  “Yet you still left! Don’t you see how fucked up that is!?”

  I started picking my clothes up off the floor and pulled them onto my body.

  “What are you doing?” I asked. “We aren’t finished.”

  “Whether you like it or not, I’m running this show now. Because you’ve been running it for a month and a half and you ran it into the damn ground, and took me along with it. Come hell or high water, Grayson MacDonald, I will find a way to provide a good life for my child.”

  “Our child,” I said.

  “Do you even believe that?”

  She wrapped her apron around her waist as I stared at her with a steely glare.

  “Exactly,” she said, with a snicker. “You want to fight like it’s your child when it means you have the upper hand. But once you don’t have control, it’s suddenly not yours.”

  “Michelle, that isn’t—”

  “We’re done with this conversation.”

  “No we’re not,” I said, as I reached out for her arm. “This is our child, and I get a say just like you do in how this works.”

  “Oh, so you don’t need a paternity test anymore? You’re going to slap your name on the birth certificate as daddy and live this fun new life you fucked your way into?”

  “This is my body, Grayson. And it’s my future you’re screwing around with. I don’t care if I dig myself into debt I’ll never be able to climb out of. I’m taking care of this child the way I see fit, and I’ll send you the paternity test in the mail. If you can even remember me by then.”

  Then she stormed out of the room and made her way down the stairs.

  I let her go and didn’t even bother chasing after her. I stood at the tops o
f the steps, butt naked, and watched as she slammed the front door behind her. I could talk with her again tomorrow, now that I knew where to find her.

  But come hell or high water, that woman was coming back with me to Napa Valley.

  No matter what it took to convince her.

  Chapter 16

  Michelle

  I tossed and turned all night. Ever since I got a cab and went back to work, I’d been berating myself for giving into my desires and sleeping with Gray. Again. I should’ve known better than to get out of that car. I should’ve known better than to go with him. I should’ve tossed his ass out in the parking lot and left him to get beat. But there was something about him that made me weak. Something about his body that had me hooked. Like a drug. The second he pinned my hands above my head and looked down upon me with those eyes of his, I couldn’t help myself.

  But all of that shit afterwards, especially the way he had said it, sobered me up very quickly.

  Thankfully, I hadn’t lost my job. For now. But that didn’t mean it wouldn’t eventually happen. That meant I had to save every single penny I earned last night. I felt sick to my stomach and just wanted Gray to go away. To leave me alone and never come back.

  But my heart? My heart wanted everything to work out.

  And I was beginning to hate myself for the first time in my life.

  “What the hell, Mich?”

  I cringed at the sound of Nick’s voice as he came into the kitchen.

  “Why in the world did you leave in the middle of your shift last night? Trey called in a fucking frenzy wondering if I could come help him with the bar because his new hire ran out with some guy. What the hell?”

  “I’m sorry,” I said, with a snicker. “But that guy? It was Gray.”

  I turned around and looked into my brother’s stone cold face.

  “What?” he asked flatly.

  “Gray followed me to Williston. And by the way? I had to throw Gray him out because he punched a guy in the jaw for throwing me over his shoulder and sticking his fingers up my ass.”

  “What!?”

  “Yeah. So the next time your buddy Trey calls, tell him to tell his patrons that they can’t fondle his staff,” I said flatly.

  “What the hell happened last night?”

  I bit down onto my lower lip and shook my head. I couldn’t tell him everything. Not about the sex or about how a part of me still wanted Gray despite everything he threw at me last night.

  But I needed someone to talk to about the other stuff.

  Someone to confide in and help me sort through it.

  “After Gray slugged the guy, I got him out of there before he got his ass beat. We went back to his room at that bed and breakfast? You know, the expensive one?”

  “Did he say something to you?”

  “And for your information, I did go back and finish my shift. Not that it excuses leaving. But it did give Gray and I a chance to talk.”

  “How did that go?”

  My brother’s voice softened, but I knew it wouldn’t be that way for long.

  “Not—perfect,” I said.

  “Mich.”

  “He wants me to come back to Napa Valley with him so he can take care of me until the baby’s born.”

  “That doesn’t sound horrendous. Though it’s a little over the top. He could take care of you here so I could be here to help as well.”

  “I asked him what would happen after the baby was born and he couldn’t tell me. He was talking to me as if I was just going to hand the child over to him and leave without a second thought. He said he didn’t want his child growing up in the middle of nowhere, and I said I didn’t either, but he wasn’t running this show simply because he has more money than me. But apparently, that’s what he thinks.”

  “Did he say that?”

  “Nick, he doesn’t even believe this child is ours.”

  “What?”

  “Yeah. He doesn’t. He’s fighting me every step of the way and wanting to whisk me off to Napa Valley with him, and half the time he doesn’t even think the child is his. He wants all of the control and none of the responsibility if this child turns out to be anyone else’s. And it’s not. I know it’s not. He told me it wasn’t kosher for me to work in a place like that pregnant, and while I agree with him, it’s not his to dictate.”

  “You’re right. It’s not,” he said.

  “It’s not his place to tell me what to do about anything. He’s left me twice, Nick. Twice. Once because things were just done, and a second time after he commanded me to stay put. He called me a gold digger and a manipulator. Accused me of coming after his money and all sorts of disgusting things. And now, he thinks coming back and trying to be all chivalrous is supposedly supposed to make this all better!? He didn’t ask me to come to Napa with him. Not the first time. Before I put him in his place? He commanded it. Demanded it. Saying some bullshit about me not having issues following his lead before. So why is this any different?”

  “He asked you that?”

  I watched my brother’s fists clench at his sides as blood rushed his face. I knew he was ready to beat the piss out of Gray. I knew that anger in his eyes.

  “No man is going to intimidate my sister. Not even a billionaire, do you hear me? You aren’t going anywhere with him. Not if you don’t want to, and not if I have anything to do with it.”

  “I appreciate your support, but I don’t want to have to go up against Gray and his billions if you beat the shit out of him before he leaves,” I said. “I just—that’s why I left work, and that’s what happened. Then I returned to work. I wasn’t even gone an hour. And quite frankly? Trey owed me that after having his nose stuck in his damn phone instead of taking care of his staff.”

  “Trust me, I’ll be talking with him about that,” he said flatly.

  A knock came at the front door and I drew in a deep breath. It was probably Trey, coming to talk with me or something. I was ready to grovel for my job. To pick up extra shifts for free if it meant I got a second chance. But the second I whipped the door open, my face fell flat.

  “Of course, it’s you,” I said.

  “Michelle,” Gray said. “Good morning.”

  “Not anymore it isn’t. What are you doing here?”

  “I’ve come to try and persuade you to come to Napa with me.”

  “Hey Nick!” I exclaimed.

  “Who’s at the door?” my brother asked.

  “I’ve got someone you might want to meet,” I said.

  I eyed Gray with a flat face as Nick came out of the kitchen. He walked up behind me and stood in the door, fixing his eyes on the man in front of me.

  “Gray, this is my brother, Nick. Nick, this is Gray,” I said.

  I heard Nick squeeze the edge of the door so tightly the wood cracked under his touch. Gray’s eyes bounced to his hand before falling back to my gaze, then he drew in a deep breath.

  “We need to talk,” Nick said. “Why don’t we step out onto the porch, Gray.”

  I closed the door and shut them out of the house, but I stood there to listen as my brother lit into Gray. He told him that I deserved to be treated with respect and to be heard, or there would be consequences. I heard Nick threaten him, telling him that his money couldn’t touch the skills the military had ingrained into him for a living. I grinned, letting Gray stew in the moment before I opened the door, pausing my brother’s harsh words in his tracks.

  “I think I can take it from here,” I said.

  “And one more thing,” my brother said. “I will protect my baby sister and her child at all costs. No matter what. So whatever plan you’ve got rolling around in your head, know you’ve got me and my entire squadron watching your every move. And I won’t hesitate to kill you if it means making sure they’re okay.”

  “Nick!”

  “I will protect my own.”

  Gray’s voice sent shivers down my spine. He stood toe to toe with a military man who could rip him limb from limb and not on
ce did he flinch. My eyes darted between the two of them as they bucked up to one another. Stood in defiance of one another over a single person.

  Then, I felt a hand come down onto my shoulder.

  “Come with me,” my mother said.

  “What?” I asked.

  She pulled me away from the door and shut it before she dragged me into the kitchen.

  “Mom. What the—what are you doing? I don’t want to leave Gray out there with Nick.”

  “Have you lost your damn mind?”

  I furrowed my brow as my mother shook her head.

  “You’ve hooked a rich man who wants to take you to his luxurious mansion in Napa and you’re telling that man no?” she asked. “Are you an idiot? Have I taught you nothing?”

  I frowned deeply at my mother as I backed down the hallway slowly. Apparently, she had been listening. And apparently, she was exactly the kind of woman Gray was afraid of.

  “He’s loaded, and you should take advantage of that. It gets you out of here, and who knows? Maybe his home’s big enough for all of us, his extended family.”

  I furrowed my brow at her in disbelief.

  “I’m not going to be told what to do with my child, Mom. Not by anyone.”

  She rolled her eyes and I wanted to smack them right out of her face.

  “So you’d rather struggle for the rest of your life because of your pride rather than take some hot ass man up on his offer to provide everything for you?” she asked. “Really? Don’t you want the best possible life for your child? For yourself? Money can give that child a better life than you ever could, and you know it. That man can give that baby a better life than you ever could.”

  “Money isn’t everything!” I exclaimed.

  “Do you want that child growing up like you did? Huh? You’ll be barely eating and just scraping by while working three damn jobs and never seeing the child? Is that what you want? Some ramshackle house pieced together with duct tape and prayers? Putting out pots when it rains so the damn floor doesn’t mold out from underneath your fucking feet!?”

  I watched tears rise in my mother’s eyes, and for a split second I thought she cared. I could’ve sworn I saw her caring. Felt her caring for my situation. She rolled her shoulders back and blinked her eyes, relieving herself of the tears before she wiped them away.