“As he wasn’t like his brother they treated him differently. Dylan has always felt the pain from that, and when he first came into his money they asked him to pay off their debts, because, as his parents, they believed they were entitled to it, for raising him. To me that’s simply something parents do. Most don’t go asking for money afterwards, in payment for all the money they’ve paid out, as it was their choice to have a child in the first place. Dylan never asked to be born.”
“No, they don’t.” Mary shook her head. “Dylan told you that?”
“Yes, and I had it confirmed by his sister Abigail, because she was there at the time. She told me more than he did, actually. I think he still feels guilty for not giving them the money they asked for. Now, though, I truly believe he made the right choice. Had he paid off those debts the first time I’m certain they would have believed they could get however much they wanted off him for any reason whatsoever.”
“Instead you’re going to be able to claim money off him for child support, if something does happen between the two of you.”
“We’ve had a lot of conversations about that.” Tiana shook her head. “He keeps pushing for me to take more than I’m comfortable with, because he wants to look after both of us if something should happen, but I know I can look after myself. I’m still working, and I’m going to keep working when the baby comes. I will be cutting right down, but he knows better than to convince me to stop entirely. I’m not going to rely entirely on him, just in case something does happen between the two of us. As much as I love him I can’t know what the future may hold, and I’m not going to take more from him than I have to, and we are committed to co parenting out child in that situation.”
***
The phone rang, and Tiana answered it. “Hello?”
“You are epic.”
“What are you talking about, Abi?”
“I take it you haven’t seen the interview yet.”
“No, I haven’t.”
“You rocked it in a way none of us could have done. Mary was amazed by you, and how certain you were that you weren’t going to accept more money from Dylan than you were comfortable with. How did she manage to get the figure out of you?”
“Asking so many times I couldn’t keep ignoring the question. I don’t think she believed me when I told her what I would need to raise my child if something did happen between Dylan and I that led to the two of us splitting.” Tiana shrugged. “I never got into this for the money. I did it because I truly like him.”
“Good.” Dylan walked into the kitchen grinning, and held out the magazine. “It’s about time he found someone like you. How about we go out for coffee sometime next week? I want a chance to properly get to know you before the baby arrives.”
“I can do that. I’m working afternoons next week, so I should be able to make it one morning.”
“Then I’ll see you Wednesday?”
“Yeah, that works.” Tiana smiled. “I’ll see you then.” As always Abigail hung up without saying goodbye. “That was your sister congratulating me.”
“Considering what I’ve just read you deserve it. You convinced Mary you weren’t a gold digger, and she says in the interview how much she liked you. I think we might have fixed things.”
Tiana shook her head. “I still can’t believe your parents would be willing to do something like that. You’re a businessman, not a celebrity.”
“Abi and I talked about it after they did it. She thinks they did it for the money, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they did. Giving interviews like that about anyone who happens to be in the public eye is good money.”
“It’s all over now, though.” She stepped forward and kissed him. “I’ve been looking at baby stuff online. It’s all so expensive.”
“You can have anything you want.”
“Stop that.” Their eyes met and he laughed. “You know me better than to think I’d be willing to be anything, just because I can. I’m thinking about looking into getting something secondhand, as long as it’s in a safe condition, because that way I’ll be giving the money to people who probably need it, rather than corporations who don’t.”
“If that’s what you want to do I’ll back you. Maybe we should call Mary, and tell her you’re buying secondhand baby stuff. That should really go with the tone of the piece she wrote.”
“Dylan…”
“I was kidding.”
“Good. I’ve done my bit, and I want to focus on making us as strong as we can be, before the baby arrives.”
“You’ve already done it.” He kissed her. “I love you.”
She smiled. “I love you too.”
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Carrying The Billionaire’s Baby
By Joanna Jacobs
Champagne. Vanessa remembered drinking far too much of it, celebrating a successful party, and then… no… it couldn’t have been. Slowly, doing her best not to make the bed move too much, she rolled over, to find he was laying next to her. Great. Fortunately he seemed to be fast asleep, if the snoring was anything to go by. The last thing she could ever have imagined doing was ending up sharing a night of passion with him. It wasn’t as though she hadn’t read all about him. Marco, playboy billionaire, but then weren’t they all playboys when they had that much money. Carefully, just in case he woke, she slipped out from under the covers, and went hunting for her clothes. Every time he stopped snoring, even if it was just for a second, she found herself turning to look at him, to make sure he was still asleep. When she finally had all of her clothes on she left his apartment, and his bed, far behind her.
At least Vanessa didn’t have to deal with going out the door of his building. Her car was parked in the lot, so she could just drive it out, without anyone seeing her leave in the same clothes she entered in. That was the highest level of classlessness as far as she was concerned. She pulled on a sweater, her arms covered in goose bumps from the chilliness of the morning, before making her way out of the car park, and onto the street. Knowing she wouldn’t have to see Marco again was a relief. The very thought of having to talk with him after what had happened made her feel nauseous. From what she could remember the sex had been good, probably good enough to go back again if she was that sort of person, but she wasn’t. She had no interest in spending more than one night with him.
When her phone rang she jumped, before answering it. A voice she really didn’t want to hear first thing in the morning filled the car, and she didn’t realise she’d tuned it out entirely until they were waiting for an answer, which meant she had to admit to not listening. “I’m sorry, Fran, it’s a terrible line. Can you repeat that?”
“You were meant to be in early this morning, Vanessa, and it’s long past the time you were supposed to be in. No one’s happy with you right now.”
“I can’t imagine they are. Can you tell Caroline I ended up spending longer with Marco than expected? Hopefully that’ll mean we’ll get a nice bonus from him, because he did seem very happy with everything I did for him. Unfortunately that did mean a far later night than I was expecting, so I’m going to be about half an hour longer, and I really am sorry for this.”
“Marco?” Vanessa hated the tone of Fran’s voice. “Exactly what happened?”
“Just some conversation about how well the party went, and how happy he was with it all, and he mentioned the fact he will probably be using us again in the future.”
***
Having a missed period was bad enough. Vanessa could have put it down to the fact she sometimes didn’t when she was incredibly stressed out, but it was the sickness she was feeling in the mornings that told her it was definitely something more. That sickness was the whole reason she was sitting in the doctor’s waiting room, hoping she was wrong
, because if she wasn’t… no, she was going to cross that bridge if she had to, not before. “Vanessa Kingston.”
Standing, Vanessa made her way over to the door the doctor was holding open. As they stepped through it all she wanted was to find out she wasn’t pregnant. She’d been taking her pill the way she should have been, so she shouldn’t have been able to get pregnant, and the very thought of her being one of those few women who found that it didn’t work as well as it needed to seemed impossible. Breathing deeply, attempting to calm herself, she prepared herself as best she could for getting it all over and done with, and they were sitting down for her consultation long before she was ready for it.
“Good morning, Vanessa. How can I help you?”
“I need you to do a pregnancy test.”
“Have you done a home test?”
“Yes.” Seeing it change had almost been too much for her. “However I do know that they can sometimes be wrong.”
“The last hope of someone who doesn’t want to be pregnant.”
“How likely is it that the test was wrong?”
“Do you want the honest answer to that question?”
“I think I need to hear it.”
“Good choice.” The doctor sighed. “It’s very unlikely for one of them to be wrong, especially if you’ve been dealing with any other symptoms of pregnancy. Have you?”
Vanessa could bring herself to say the word, so she nodded. “Having a test done here would put my mind at ease.”
“Then that’s what we’ll do. Obviously you know how this all works, so I need you to go pee in this and then come back to me. It won’t take long to know for certain.”
“Great.” Was it? She took the bottle the doctor was holding out to her. “What happens if I can’t pee?”
“Then you’ll have to come back later with the sample. Knowing as soon as possible does help, because then you can decide what you’re going to do about the pregnancy.”
Nodding, Vanessa made her way into the ladies toilets, grateful she’d made certain to drink as much as she could before she stepped into the doctor’s office. She was already determined the best thing she could do, for her career and for herself, was have an abortion, because she didn’t want to be raising a baby, especially some playboy billionnaire’s baby, by herself. It was likely he’d have to pay child support, if she pushed for it, but she didn’t even want that from him.
***
Walking into the office with the knowledge she was pregnant was one of the most difficult things Vanessa had ever done. It became a hundred times harder when she realised Marco was sitting in Caroline’s office. All Vanessa wanted to do was go into her own office and hide, but then Caroline gestured for her to go into that office instead, and Marco turned to look at her. When their eyes met it was the easiest it had been to remember the night the two of them had spent together, their bodies intertwined, which really wasn’t what she needed, so she pushed the thought aside as she put on her professional face. Feeling less certain than she ever had done before she walked into Caroline’s office.
“Hi, Caroline.”
“How did you appointment go?”
That really wasn’t something Vanessa wanted brought up in front of Marco, but there was nothing she could do about that. “As well as can be expected.” Her eyes met with Caroline’s. “I need to go back in about a week with my decision.”
“You’ve already decided, though, haven’t you?”
“I think I have.” Dropping the subject was for the best, before Marco, if he even would, picked up on what they were actually talking about. “What did you need me for?”
“Marco was very pleased with the work you did on his last party, and he was asking for you to take on the next one for him.”
Looking at Marco really wasn’t a good idea, but Vanessa couldn’t stop herself. She could see them together again, his white fingers stroking through her dark hair, making her feel wanted for the first time in far too long. Annoyed with herself she pushed the thought again. “I don’t think I can, unfortunately. I’ve got too much on to really take on such a huge job.”
“We can move some of them around.” Vanessa could hear the smile in Caroline’s voice. “Marco, from what he said, would like to have a number of parties in the near future, and it would be good for you to take on something like this, for the future.”
Biting hard on her lip Vanessa turned to look at Caroline. “My decision is made. I don’t need the extra work for any reason.” She brushed a hand through her hair as she tried to work out how to get herself out of the mess she’d found herself in. “Maybe, this time, we should give someone else a chance. If Marco prefers me I’d be happy to take on the next jobs, but he might like someone else more than he liked me.”
Caroline nodded, and Vanessa tried to ignore the speculation in her eyes. “That’s true. What do you think, Marco? Would you like to experiment with another planner?”
Keeping her eyes on Caroline would have been the best thing to do, but instead Vanessa glanced at Marco. She could see the wonder in his eyes too, which was definitely not a good thing, especially when he looked between the two of them in such a way she was almost certain he knew why she was trying to keep her distance. “Would you be willing to talk with me about this, Vanessa?”
Knowing there was no right answer didn’t make it any easier. Talking to him would mean attempting to hide the truth from him, even though she had a horrible feeling he already suspected something, but avoiding him would make it so that he definitely suspected something. Sighing, she nodded. “I would be.”
“Good.” Standing, he gestured for her to follow him. “We’ll be back soon, Caroline.”
“Take as long as you both need.”
Marco led Vanessa to her own office, which he must have remembered from when she was working on his previous party. For a long time both of them were silent, staring at each other, and the only thing Vanessa was certain of was that she wasn’t going to say anything until he did. “You’ve been ignoring my calls.”
“I’ve been working.”
“You seem to work twenty-four hours a day and seven days a week if that’s the case.” He shook his head. “I understand what happened wasn’t something you wanted, but it did happen. I just wanted to make sure you weren’t planning on doing anything stupid.” He glanced down at her stomach. “Or doing anything without talking to me first.”
She laughed. “I have no interest in selling a tell-all story about the night I was stupid enough to fall into bed with you.”
“As pleased as I am to hear that I don’t think that’s the issue any longer, is it?”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Don’t lie to me.”
“Honestly, Marco, even if there was something I needed to tell you I definitely wouldn’t be doing it here. This is my place of work. You’re here, apparently, to have some more parties planned, and I’m really not open to taking on those jobs.”
“We worked well together.”
“Up until the point we had far too much champagne and seduced each other.”
“That wasn’t a bad thing to happen.”
“Maybe it wasn’t for you.” She brushed a hand through her hair. “I made the decision I wasn’t going to return any of you calls because it was the logical thing to do. I think, from now on, we need to keep our distance from each other.”
“I disagree.” He looked at her stomach again. “Why did you go to the doctor?”
“You have no right to ask me that.”
“Are you carrying my child?” Another question with no right answer. Vanessa didn’t want to lie to him, but she also didn’t want to tell him either. Unfortunately it seemed as though her silence was enough of an answer for him, because he nodded. “In that case I think we need to talk away from here about what the next step is going to be.”
“There’s no need. My decision is made.”
***
When the doorbell rang Van
essa knew exactly who it was. Sighing, because she really didn’t want to have to deal with him, she made her way over to the door and opened it to find Marco standing there. “We need to talk.”
“No, we don’t.”
“The baby inside of you is half mine.”
“Yes, but you’re not the one who’s going to be carrying it, and then raising it, so there’s nothing for us to talk about.” She stared at him. “I doubt you really want a child to mess up your happy life.”
“I have to admit I’ve never really wanted children.” He brushed a hand through his hair. “Can I come in? I really don’t want to have this conversation on the doorstep.”
Vanessa stepped back to let him in. Marco stopped in the middle of her living room and turned to stare at her. When their eyes met she flashed back to their bodies pressing together again, which was something she really needed to stop happening to her. “I’m not having the baby.”
“Why not?”
“I’m not ready for a child, Marco. To be honest I’m not really certain I even want children, and I definitely don’t want to be a single mother, which is what will happen if I have this baby.”
“No, it’s not. I’m not saying this is what I wanted, but I was involved in what happened to create the child you’re carrying, and if you were to carry the baby to term I would be happy to share custody with you. We wouldn’t need to be a huge part of each other’s lives, if you didn’t want us to. I just think co-parenting would make this all much easier. Obviously I’d pay for everything you need throughout the pregnancy.”
“You aren’t going to be able to change my mind. Having an abortion is the best thing I can do for the child. I don’t want them to have two parents who never planned for them to be a part of their lives.”
“Unplanned pregnancies happen all the time, Vanessa.” He glanced at her stomach. “Have you really thought about having me there to help? I know what you thought. You believed I’d be keeping my distance from this whole thing, but that isn’t what I want to do. I want to be a part of this. I want you to give me a chance to show you I can be more than people think I am.”
The Alpha Billionaire's Unexpected Baby: A Billionaire BWWM Pregnancy Romance Page 13