The Billionaire’s Stubborn Lover (The Maxfield Brothers Series Book 3)

by Leslie North

  Carolina’s back ached when she finally straightened up, and she blew out her breath and looked apologetically at Nathan. “Sorry. ‘Now’ and ‘no’ have been her favorite words all month. I’m desperately waiting for her to latch on to a new one.”

  He stepped forward and stretched out his hands. Hesitantly, Carolina relinquished claim to Carlita and watched as her toddler settled comfortably in Nathan’s arms. The baby’s mouth opened as she reached up and touched his face. Something about that made her happy, and she immediately giggled.

  “Okay,” Carolina said with a smile, ignoring the sudden happy bubble in the pit of her stomach. “Let’s go inside and get our table.”

  Julio handed her the diaper bag then took his mother’s hand, and Tamara took his other hand. Together, they followed Nathan across the parking lot. The kids learned at an early age that the one place they were not allowed to act up was the parking lot. No matter how upset they were or how badly they wanted to throw a temper tantrum, it had to wait until they were safely at home. Then they could let off as much steam as they wanted.

  The restaurant was crawling with kids. Wearing a bright red hat, the hostess looked like she’d snapped several hours ago. There was no expression on her face as she showed them to their table.

  Nathan quickly and easily secured Carlita in the highchair, and Julio longingly looked at the jungle gym.

  “We order first, and then you can go play,” Carolina reminded him. “Do you want your own pizza all to yourself or do you want to share with your sister?” Julio frowned at his sister, and then Carolina shook her head. “I don’t even know why I bother to ask. Pick out your toppings.”

  She turned her attention to Nathan. “How about you? Do you want your own pizza or do you want to share?”

  A beautiful smile spread across his face, lighting up his eyes and doing dangerous things to her emotions. “Depends on what you like on your pizza.”

  “Pepperoni, bacon, and extra cheese,” she said instantly.

  His eyes widened and he stared at her. “How do you stay so thin?”

  “I run a restaurant and chase three kids around all day.”

  The waitress arrived with a big grin plastered across her face. “Welcome to Pete’s Pepperoni. What are we having today?”

  Carolina nodded to Tamara. “Pepperoni and mushroom,” she said instantly. “And a glass of milk.”

  “Good girl. Julio?”

  “Extra extra cheese. And a coke,” he said with a toothy grin.

  “Julio,” Carolina said in a warning voice as she narrowed her eyes.

  He slumped in his seat and frowned. “Milk,” he said grouchily.

  “And we’ll take a large pepperoni, bacon, and extra cheese,” Nathan ordered. “And in the spirit of things, I’ll take a large of glass of milk with that.”

  Carolina laughed. “I’ll take a milk as well. Thank you. And can I get a kid’s milk for the little one here?”

  The waitress nodded and scribbled everything down. Carolina looked at Julio expectantly.

  “May I please be excused to play?” he asked formally.

  “You have ten minutes. Set your watch and make sure you stay with Tamara.” Her two oldest jumped up and raced towards the jungle gym.

  “They’re good kids,” Nathan said softly. “You’re doing a good job.”

  “It’s a family effort,” Carolina admitted. “Tamara’s father split from me before she was even born, and Angie and my mother stepped in to help out. Within a year, I was pregnant with Julio and married again. That marriage actually worked out for a few years, but eventually...Carlo was next. He was a good man, and he helped raise Tamara and Julio, and of course, we had Carlita.”

  Nathan studied her. “I feel like you’re telling me all this to prove a point.”

  She smiled and reached out to stroke Carlita’s cheeks. “It’s no secret that I have three kids from three different men. There was a time when I was a true romantic. That was three kids ago. No sane man wants to get involved with me, and that makes me wonder what’s wrong with you.”

  “Ouch,” Nathan winced, but with a laugh. “I think you actually hurt my feelings. I like kids.”

  “Uh huh,” Carolina scoffed. “You make that abundantly clear whenever you’re around Angie.”

  “I said I liked kids. I didn’t say that I liked pregnant women.”

  She threw back her head and laughed. “That’s probably the truest statement any man will ever make. So how is life at Duncan Enterprises?”

  “Weird. Odd. Good. I’m still not entirely sure what to think. After everything that happened between all of us, it feels strange to be working together. It was as though the different divisions were made for us, with Stephen handling Construction, Gabe Real Estate, and me Architecture and Design. It’s almost as if Duncan planned it that way, but that’s impossible.” Laughing to himself, Carolina watched him drink his milk as if it were a beer before he realized it. Looking at the glass, he set it carefully down.

  “Despite the fact that we really haven’t seen much of each other in ten years, they still treat me like the little brother.” He laughed harshly, as he reached for the glass again, but set it back down. “Sometimes, I wonder what I’m doing back here, if they’re still insistent on treating me that way.”

  “I used to get snippets from Angie, but she’s been increasingly busy lately. I have a feeling that has something to do with the owner of my building.”

  “Tensions are high and it’s more than William Wells,” Nathan admitted. “Stephen and Gabe are better at the politics of the business. I’m the more creative type, and the more stressed I am, the less creative I get. They’re upset with me, and I’m upset with them. It’s not a great situation.”

  “You’re brothers. You should be used to that. Angie and I used to fight all the time. She was the control freak. Bonita was always the good sister, and Anita spent more time with my brothers than she did with us. So that left Angie and me, and we butted heads constantly.” Carolina smiled at the memory.

  “It’s one thing to fight within the family. It’s another thing to fight within the business. Thankfully, we don’t do that very often. Well, at least not in front of others. In so many ways, we’re a lot alike in that we all want to be right.”

  Stretching his arms, he then clapped his hands, rubbing them together. “It’s good for me to get out. Gets my juices flowing.”

  Carolina felt desire curl within her belly. Shifting a little in the seat, she bit her lower lip. “So you’re using me to get your juices flowing?”

  “Do you have a problem with that?” he asked huskily.

  “Pizza!” Carlita suddenly screamed and pointed her finger.

  The waitress showed up with their pizzas, and Carolina immediately looked towards the jungle gym. Julio and Tamara were already heading to the table. “Wash your hands,” she said as she pointed to the bathroom. “I’ll cut your pizza for you.”

  “You didn’t answer the question,” he said when the kids ran to the bathroom.

  “I didn’t think I had to.”

  5

  He’d kissed her goodnight, but it was nothing more than a peck on the cheek. Still, she couldn’t get that contact out of her head. So, when he called her early in the morning, she picked up immediately.

  “I’m up early to get the kids ready for school. What’s your excuse?” she teased as she pulled some clothes out of the dryer and dumped them in the basket. If she were lucky, she’d be able to fold them before she walked Julio and Tamara to the bus stop.

  “I haven’t actually slept yet. Something got me going last night, and I worked the hours away,” he said huskily.

  Even though no one was around, she still blushed. There hadn’t been anyone in her life since Carlo, but no one, not even Carlo, had stirred her like Nathan did. “Got you going, huh?’ she asked as she cleared her throat.

  “Mom, where’s my purple shirt? I wanted to wear my purple shirt today!” Tamara yelled from th
e top of the stairs.

  In a panic, Carolina straightened and turned her head slowly. Closing her eyes, she prayed that Tamara hadn’t woken up Carlita, but the damage was done. In two seconds, the toddler started wailing.

  “That’s my cue,” she said apologetically. “I’ve got to go, Nathan.”

  “Meet me at Fisherman’s Wharf tonight when you get off work. We’ll walk the kids around,” he said quickly.

  Carolina was about to say no. She’d barely processed the first date, and she didn’t think jumping right into a second date was a good idea, but as she opened her mouth, she heard a loud crash from Julio’s room.

  “Just once, I want my mornings to go smoothly,” she growled as she threw the basket down. “Fine. After work.” Throwing her phone on the clothes, she vaulted up the stairs to make sure her son was okay.

  Julio stood in the middle of the floor with his gaze steadily on the floor. Behind him, the shelf that was home to some of his action toys was on the floor. “Baby, are you okay?” Carolina asked him, rushing over.

  He silently nodded his head, and she narrowed her eyes. “How did that shelf fall?”

  “I don’t know,” he said with a shrug.

  “Julio Jesus Valdez, did you just lie to me?” She folded her arms and glared wrathfully at her son.

  “It’s not my fault!” he burst out. “Tamara hid my Batman somewhere last night, and I climbed up there to see if she hid it there. It was an accident, but it was totally her fault.”

  Carlita’s piercing shrieks interrupted them, and Carolina sighed. “We’ll talk about this later. Go warm up a bottle for your little sister while I find Tamara’s purple shirt. We can’t be late for the bus today because I don’t have time to drive you to school.”

  “Are we going to have breakfast?” he asked as his eyes widened in panic. Carolina laughed and pulled her son in for a hug. “We are never going to skip breakfast. Don’t worry about that.”

  Much happier, Julio grabbed his book bag and bounded down the stairs.

  Luckily, Carolina was a pro at crazy mornings. She had all three children fed and the older two ready for school, Carlita safely tucked away in her stroller, and Julio and Tamara at the bus stop by the time the bus pulled up.

  It wasn’t until she waved her kids off that she realized that she’d agreed to a second date with Nathan.

  “Sneaky bastard,” she muttered, but there was a smile on her face as she rushed back to her car.

  A few hours later, the lunch crowd was hungry and impatient and she was knee deep in boxes that needed to be stocked, and there was no one to unload the boxes except her.

  Still, she was in a good mood. Business was good, and she was looking forward to seeing Nathan that evening although she wouldn’t admit it.

  Cutting open the first box, she pulled out the cans of beans and began to put them on the shelf. Before she could open the second box, another voice rang out through the back of the restaurant. “What have you done with my restaurant?”

  Her eyes widening, she threw open the door from dry storage and stared out. “Momma? What are you doing here?”

  “What do you mean what am I doing here? It’s my restaurant! Why have you reorganized the line for take-out? Why is the office such a mess? And why are the menus in plastic now?” From her wheelchair, Maria folded her arms and glared at her. Gloria, the older woman slowly working through the prep list at the table, froze with a look of pure panic on her face.

  Counting to ten, Carolina took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. “Momma, you haven’t been here in a few months. I made some changes to things to help them go a little more smoothly. With the exception of the office. That’s completely my fault.”

  “I don’t like it. Change it back.”

  “Momma, where is my child?”

  “She’s with Bonita. She’s a little fussy this morning. Did something happen last night to upset her?” Maria asked accusingly.

  Carolina rolled her eyes. “Momma, I’m glad that you’re here. I’ve been trying to get you to come in for a while now. Why don’t you put on an apron and help out in the kitchen?”

  “Don’t you tell me what to do, Carolina. I am your mother!” Maria snapped.

  “Fine. Tell me what you’re doing here,” she said exasperatedly.

  Maria wheeled her chair back and grabbed a clipboard from the table. “This is a list of things that I don’t like about my restaurant. When you’re finished restocking, you can start fixing things. I want them all done before we close tonight!”

  “Are you going to run the floor?” Carolina asked expectantly. She would love it if her mother would get back to work. It would give her something to do so maybe she would quit worrying so much.

  Maria clenched her jaw and nodded shortly. “Fine. You’d probably ruin that anyway!”

  Carolina’s mouth dropped open at her mother’s insult, and she shook her head angrily. As Maria rolled out to the front of the house, Carolina looked over the clipboard.

  She wanted the beer sorted alphabetically rather than by type. All the files in the office needed to be organized. The entire kitchen had to be shuffled around, and apparently she didn’t like how Carolina was posting the schedule.

  “You want a different type of soap in the bathroom? Really, Momma?” Carolina said with a huff. Gloria stared at her, and Carolina shook her head. “This is absolutely ridiculous.”

  Stalking back to dry storage, she practically tore open the next box and glared at the bags of rice instead. Just before she could dig in, her phone rang. Pulling it out of her pocket, she glanced at the screen and immediately smiled. “I figured you’d be sleeping by now.”

  “I snagged a couple of hours. Now, I’m going for a run to clear my head and work until our date tonight.”

  “A couple of hours?” she frowned. “That doesn’t seem very much. Why are you calling me?”

  Nathan grunted and didn’t say anything for a minute. “I don’t remember.”

  “In the thirty seconds that we’ve been talking, you forgot why you called me? You’re either lying or you need more sleep,” she teased.

  “Okay, fine. Maybe I wanted to hear your voice and didn’t want to admit to it.”

  “Well, I am mad at you,” she said as she put her phone on speaker and started unloading the rice. “You took advantage of my hectic morning to coerce another date out of me.”

  “If you’re having second thoughts, say the word and we can push it back.”

  Carolina opened her mouth to tell him that it looked like she’d be at the restaurant all night when her eyes fell on the list that her mother had given her. “She’s setting me up,” Carolina whispered.

  “Who is setting you up?”

  She took a deep breath and planted her hands on her hips. “Nathan, I will see you tonight. Enjoy your run and try to get some rest.” She hung up the phone and glared at the clipboard. When she had dropped Carlita off at her mom’s this morning, she’d also taken the jogging stroller. When her mother asked about it, she told her about the date.

  Her mother was trying to keep her working late at the restaurant so that she’d miss the date. “What is going on with her?” Carolina was more concerned than angry, but she knew she wouldn’t get any answers anytime soon.

  But nothing was going to keep her from her date. Especially, now.

  After she finished stocking, she poured another cup of coffee and tackled her mother’s list. The paperwork in the office was the worst, but she was used to cleaning up Julio and Tamara’s rooms in a whirlwind before guests came over. She put that talent to good use now and soon had the office looking tidy and business-like. During the break between lunch and dinner, she went to the store and bought new soap for the bathroom. It didn’t take very long to take care of the beer, and when she talked to the cooks, they all agreed that the new system in the kitchen worked much better.

  At six o’clock, she faced her mother. “Momma, I’m not changing the kitchen, it works better the new w
ay. And if you have a problem with that, you can discuss it with the cooks. Everything else on your list is done, and now I’m going to pick up my children and go meet Nathan for a night of hotdogs and games on the beach.”

  Maria inhaled sharply. “Carolina, we’re not done here. There are still things I want changed.”

  “Write it down, and I will tackle it tomorrow,” Carolina said simply. “Carlo is taking the kids this weekend, and I hope that you will come back to the restaurant. It will do you some good to work again.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “It means that I’m worried about you, Momma. Either tell me what is really bothering you, or stop sticking your nose in my business.”

  With her purse tucked under her arm, she left the restaurant in the capable hands of her night manager.

  Her sister, Bonita, was too busy with her own kids to question Carolina about her plans that night, so this time Carolina was only five minutes late.

  “I’m glad that you made it,” he said as he gave her a peck on her cheek as a greeting. His lips barely brushed her skin, but she shivered. If he noticed, he didn’t say anything. It only took him a few minutes to figure out how to unfold the stroller, and he snagged the toddler out of her car seat and got her situated. “What do you think? Good?” he asked Carlita.

  “No,” Carlita gurgled with a laugh.

  “No?” he said with a frown. “What did I do wrong?”

  “Bun bun!”

  Nathan closed his mouth and gave Carolina a quizzical look. “What is a bun bun?”

  Julio handed him a stuffed bunny that had one ear half torn off. “This is Bun Bun. She has to have Bun Bun when she’s at the beach. When she’s at Abuela’s, she has to have her Moo Cow. And when Aunt Bonita watches her, she needs her Tail.”

  “Tail?”

  “It’s a monkey, but she can’t say that word yet, so she calls him Tail. Don’t worry. You’ll get the hang of it,” Julio said with a smile.

  “I will?” he asked with a smile.

  “Maybe. The jury is still out.” Julio told him, his tone serious.

  “Julio!” Carolina said with a gasp. “Enough discussion. Let’s go.”