The Billionaire's Baby (The Romero Brothers, Book 5)

by Shadonna Richards

  Amber still looked hot as hell. He hadn’t been lying about that. And man, it took all the will power he had not to gaze at her voluptuous breasts. Holy! Was it him, or did they swell three times their normal size from what he could remember about her?

  Jealousy zapped through him again regarding this mysterious man who got Amber pregnant. Why the hell wouldn’t she tell him the father’s last name? Why was she protecting his identity? Why couldn’t Jules have been the father? When he could produce kids? Oh well, missed opportunity.

  He should be grateful at least he was still considered a stud in bed by the girls he’d dated since breaking up with Amber. Nothing since the accident affected his sex. Gracias A Dios! In fact, he felt his erection tingling just now that was very bad timing.

  As he peeked through the glass, he saw Amber introduce herself to the class. He surreptitiously glanced inside through the doors, though not standing directly behind the door so anyone could see him.

  He noticed that everybody in that class had a partner—except Amber. It looked as if they were about to perform some breathing exercises. He often sponsored classes offered at the fitness facility he ran with his brother Carl, before he became mayor. He was focusing on acquiring new facilities, while his deputy ran the fitness center. There must have been about a dozen couples in the classroom, Jules assessed, still glancing in. One woman had a motherly figure beside her; the rest had what looked to be the baby daddies at their sides, holding their waists as they sat on the carpet. But Amber was alone. Gazes around the room seem to penetrate her.

  Jules’s heart muscle tugged just then. He felt deeply sorry for her. Amber looked a bit sheepish in her facial expression. It looked as if the color had drained from her face. Not good. Not good at all. He even caught a pregnant woman whispering to her partner and then gazing back at Amber. The class must have encouraged women to bring their partners. It appeared to him that Amber was trying to put up a brave face or a brave front, by the way she tilted her head up slightly and hugged her chest. And that expression on her face? Oh, he knew it all too well. He had studied her like a charm back when they had dated for that brief period of time.

  He turned his face to the boardroom and agonized over what to do. His heart burned in his chest. He pulled his smartphone from his breast jacket pocket and dialed his assistant. “Take over for me. I’ll be gone for a little while. Remember, we’re not going all in without the daycare center. That’s part of the deal.”

  “Sure thing, boss.” It was a good thing he’d trained Brenda, his executive assistant and coordinator in this merger, to handle his affairs while he was busy with other projects. She was a gem.

  It looked as if Amber could do with a friend. Not like he was busy or anything, he grinned to himself and rolled his eyes.

  Jules opened the door and strode inside to the surprised stares of the group. Did they recognize him? Probably not. It was probably the way he was dressed, not exactly ready to do floor exercises in a room with pregnant ladies and their partners.

  “I’m here with Amber,” he announced to the instructor.

  “Oh…um…wonderful.”

  Amber’s face lit up and a huge smile of appreciation rested on her beautiful soft lips. Okay, it wasn’t the way he planned his day. But heck, some things were worth more than money and this was one of those moments.

  CHAPTER THREE

  Adrenaline pumped through Amber’s body as excitement coursed through her veins. Overwhelming emotion fluttered inside her chest. Jules had offered to be her partner for the workshop, even though he had prior commitments.

  Though she vowed after her crazy ex, she’d never have a man in her life again, she was grateful like sin to have Jules by her side right now. Really thankful.

  Amber would never forget this moment as long as she lived.

  “Now,” the resource nurse started, “as you know, this is a very special session for moms and dads. The topic of this session is: Parenting Together. Many of you may wonder why a father is important or two parents during the process of childbirth. In this case, dads, the most important thing you can give your partner is support. Just to be there. Nothing is more important than emotional support during this time. Making sure that mom’s needs are tended to. The baby, most of all, is the focus and mom is carrying your precious bundle, or bundles, of joy and she really needs that extra care. It is a wonderful, and in some cases, overwhelming journey to bring a baby into the world.”

  Amber’s heart melted. Of course, she could have done this all alone, but the resource nurse was right. Carrying a live human being within her and having to give birth one day was an incredible experience. Life transforming. What had she been thinking? There was nothing like having emotional support by your side. Amber took a quick glance around and saw most of the couples snuggling up to each other.

  She glanced at Jules who seemed to be listening intently to the instructor, his arm extending across her back in a supportive position. He seemed to be really taking this all in. Oh, what she would give for him to be the father of her child. Just the mere thought that he wanted to be there to lend her support meant the world to her.

  Amber felt her baby swiftly kick about in her belly at that instant. A warm smile crept on her face. She hadn’t notice that Jules’s attention had turned to her. He was grinning from ear-to-ear.

  “I think our little one agrees,” he said, gesturing to her belly. He must have seen Amber’s abdomen stretch while tiny feet pressed against the inside of her abdominal wall.

  Amber smiled but then her smile was replaced with the look of astonishment. Did Jules just say, our little one?

  Jules snaked his arm around Amber and gave her a loving squeeze. A jolt of electricity pumped through her body. Her baby also gave her a pleasant bounce kick below her rib. It seemed as if mom and baby were both enjoying Jules’s presence and support. She’d never felt the baby so active.

  Amber was tickled inside by this overwhelming show of affection. There was a spark in the air. A connection that was indescribable between the two of them—all three of them. She didn’t quite know what it was. The faint delicious scent of Jules’s aftershave delighted her nostrils when he took one hand and unbuttoned his suit jacket to get more comfortable. His aroma was so pleasurable. It had been a while since she’d inhaled the sexy scent of a man. Since she’d inhaled Jules’s sweet essence. It was as if they’d never broken up and they were quickly bonding again—this time over her unborn child.

  Ignore that feeling, Amber. You’ve sworn off men, remember? Look at what Rex did to you in the end. It starts off sweet and charming and then…

  But if she were honest with herself, she’d realize that Jules and Rex were two completely different specimens. She should have had Jules as her first love, not Rex the Jerk.

  But who was she to question Jules coming to her rescue at just the right time? She would have been so alone—felt so inadequate during this special session today. Of all the prenatal sessions in this program, she had to start with this one. The class that required two parents to be present—or at least a supportive partner for the mom.

  During the remainder of the session the instructor guided the couples through loving support techniques, a labor and delivery/birth refresher, comfort measures, parenting together, practice runs on changing the diaper on a lifelike baby doll and coordinated pushing during labor.

  Amber felt a fluttery sense in her chest and her internal temperature climb at the thought of having Jules by her side during the class. It was a delight to see him fumble with the practice baby doll, attempting to change its diaper. Amber giggled at times when he pulled his usual funny faces that always got her going. The endorphins rushing through her blood at that time were a pleasant muscle relaxant that Amber really needed. Before Jules came into the classroom, she’d felt herself tensing up again—her nerves had taken hold of her. But not now. She was more relaxed and felt more comfortable than she’d been in a long time.

  “Man, I hope the re
al deal is not going to be as awkward,” he commented and she smiled at his response. The other dads were also having a hell of a time getting it right. Changing the diaper for a pretend newborn the way the instructor had demonstrated.

  Amber admitted she missed Jules’s quirky sense of humor. Rex was always the serious type with an ulterior motive to everything whenever he did lighten up. Rex just never knew how to have sincere fun. Right now he would have made her feel like an idiot if she had screwed up in the diaper-changing lesson in this workshop.

  At times Amber gave Jules a sheepish grin and appreciative smile. “Thank you,” she’d said so many times, whispering in his ears as she watched lovingly while he proceeded to pat the doll’s back gently.

  What a full session it was turning out to be.

  But then her body core temperature plummeted when she realized Jules was there just to save face. What would she do when the actual due date arrived? It was one thing to plan everything but now seeing how happy all the couples looked in that session and feeling the warmth and support of having Jules by her side, even though it was a prenatal class, caused her muscles to tighten at the thought of not having him with her. Funny thing, even if the father of her child was present, Amber would not feel the same as having Jules by her side. Jules was lovable, warm and had one heck of a sense of ice-breaking humor. He would crack a joke from time to time to get her to loosen up or lighten up, or say something witty and charming to melt her defences.

  Amber appreciated the fact that Jules was a natural at this. He was affectionate and protective over her. He always was. That’s why it ripped her to shreds when she had to part ways with him before they could become intimate. She really didn’t want to but she couldn’t risk him finding out about her. It would have been all too painful to go through—at least that’s what she believed at the time—thanks to her deranged ex. Talk about making the wrong choice!

  “Breathe deeply, Amber,” Jules coached, his soft, low voice mellowing inside her. He gave her another affectionate squeeze at her side and she gushed.

  “Thanks.”

  “Now, I know you have something on your mind; you look far away,” he continued, whispering to her discreetly.

  Then she turned to him and gasped at his boyish grin. His smiles were always infectious and she smiled in response. Suddenly, whatever Amber was thinking about was wiped clear out of her mind at that moment.

  “That’s better,” he said. “And don’t let me catch you holding your breath like that again. Our little guy needs as much oxygen as he can get.”

  She chuckled. “Okay, Jules. I’ll try to remember.” Amber noted that Jules referred to her baby as “our little guy” again. Of course, Amber realized quickly that couples were seated close to them. Was Jules just keeping up the pretence that he was the baby’s real daddy? Or did he really mean what he said? Of course, he could not have. The baby wasn’t his and he knew it.

  A sinking feeling settled inside Amber. Gosh, she had no idea how emotional this session would be for her.

  Jules didn’t know what had gotten into him all of a sudden. His mind kept obsessing over Amber’s well-being and how she would cope bringing a child into the world alone. What was she thinking? She’d left him to be with some lowlife who didn’t even have the decency to stick around? If Jules ever got his hands on that creep! Why was she keeping his identity a secret? He could probably figure it out with the help of his agency but he decided to let it rest—for now.

  “Hey, you look as if you’re in a different world,” Amber commented, as she gathered her bag and her sweater off the table.

  The prenatal session had just finished and the rest of the couples proceeded to make their way out of the room.

  “Oh, it’s nothing,” Jules lied. What was he going to say to her? That he was royally peeved that she’d left him for a deadbeat? Some Rex without-a-surname guy. The guy’s name might as well have been John Doe. Jules would never have left Amber to attend prenatal classes on her own or removed himself from the picture if she was carrying his child. A guy not sticking around for the mother of his child was just plain wrong in so many ways.

  “I’m glad you were able to make it today, Mr. Murray, I presume?” The instructor extended her hand to shake Jules’s as they made it to the door to leave.

  “Murray?” he said without thinking. Great. Amber’s surname was Johnson-Murray. The instructor assumed that he was Mr. Murray!

  He was about to correct her but caught the look on Amber’s face. Too much information. “Call me Jules,” he said, shaking her hand.

  “Thank you, Jules,” Amber said later. “I really didn’t want to get into the name business right now with the nurse.”

  “Well, I’ve read somewhere in the world, some men take on the woman’s name when married. I sure as hell didn’t think I would be one of them.” He chuckled.

  She playfully rolled her eyes and shook her head. “It’s only for the class, Jules. I’m sure she won’t remember you as I doubt she’ll see you again.”

  Jules froze.

  Something pulled internally and it had nothing to do with his early morning workout that day. Never see him again. Was Amber seriously going to finish the rest of the sessions alone? He couldn’t explain what the heck zapped into his body right then and there but something moved him to want to stick around Amber, to make sure she wasn’t going to do this whole childbirth thing alone.

  Was it because he knew then that his chances of having a biological child were practically slim to none? He didn’t know why but he felt connected to Amber’s child and reconnected to Amber. They definitely had a strong chemistry before their breakup. He knew that now. If they didn’t have that special cosmic magnetic reaction in the first place, they sure wouldn’t be able to rekindle their feelings for each other so quickly after meeting up again, would they?

  “Where did you park?” Jules asked her before continuing farther down the hall. He wanted to walk her to her car, at least before returning to the boardroom.

  “Oh, I’m taking the bus to the café. You know, the Murray Café.”

  “Taking the bus? In your condition?” He remembered she’d gone back to working for her family-run business, the Murray Cafe, the joint her deceased parents willed to her that her aunt had taken over for her until she was of age. He wanted to ask Amber why she wouldn’t take time off from working long, stressful hours at a busy café to nurture her body and the miracle growing inside her. But heck, he was a man, what did he know? He only knew that if she was still his woman, she’d be pampered and catered to, not the one doing the catering.

  “Jules, plenty of women take the bus while pregnant. We don’t break, you know!”

  He excused himself before swiping out his smartphone and dialed his assistant. “How did it go at the meeting?” he asked Brenda. “Good. I’ll be back shortly. I’ve just got to drop a friend somewhere.”

  Today’s meeting was more of an orientation to the facility. Jules had already been there and had instructed his assistant, whom he trained impeccably well, to oversee things while he had urgent matters to tend to.

  “I’m taking you to the cafe.”

  “Jules, no. I don’t need you to take me. I’ll be fine. Really. You did enough by sticking around for the class. I’m good. Really.”

  “I don’t think so.”

  Just then, Amber bent over, a look of horror on her face. “Oh, God!”

  “Amber, what is it?” Jules reached over to hold her.

  She did not look good at all. Her skin paled.

  “Are you all right?” the instructor asked as she came rushing out of the classroom. She’d apparently heard the commotion outside the door.

  Amber could barely speak. “I’m okay. Just a sharp pain,” Amber told the instructor.

  “I’m taking you to the ER,” Jules said in a finite tone. His heartbeat sped a mile a minute in his chest. What was with him? He’d only just seen Amber for a couple hours today after so long but already his feeling
s for her had resurged from the last time they’d been together.

  “Good. She needs to see a doctor,” the instructor agreed, her countenance concerned.

  Jules was all too prepared to drop whatever the heck he was doing. This looked damn serious. Amber was his top priority right now. He would take her for medical attention right away!

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Later, Jules stood by Amber’s side in the ultrasound room at the hospital, pacing frantically like a nervous father-to-be. Yeah, right. As if he was baby’s father. Trouble was, he sure felt like it. Since Amber was already more than six months gestation, they had admitted her to the floor as a precaution. Soon after that, she was taken down to have images done to ensure the baby’s position was okay.

  What the heck was Jules doing? Agreeing to be there for Amber? Was he losing his ever-loving mind? He swore business would be his only focus right now. So why was he so drawn to helping Amber? He’d make sure she was okay, then he’d leave her be.

  “Okay, now. We’re just going to have a look at the baby, Mrs.…?” the tech said, as she walked into the room.

  “Ms.,” Amber clarified. “Ms. Johnson-Murray. But Amber is fine.”

  Jules didn’t know what got into him just then but he felt irked at the thought of Amber being a Ms. If it were up to him, she’d be a Mrs. His missus!

  She should be Mrs. Jules Romero. He kept his tongue restrained while the tech proceeded to prep Amber for her test.

  Support. That was what she needed, right? Support. That’s what he’d just learned in that unexpected prenatal class he’d just attended.

  The room was dark and Jules observed the monitor by the stretcher that he’d helped position Amber on.

  “Move a little closer to me, hon,” the tech instructed Amber. “Good. Now turn slightly to me.”

  Just then, the tech helped Amber to pull up her shirt a bit to apply some gel.