Forgotten Stranger: A Billionaire Boss, Single Dad Mystery Romance

by Peters, Liz

  She looked up at him. In the dim light, shadows played over her face, Mason wished she could stay here with him in this house forever. Her arm brushed against his, making goosebumps rise on his skin.

  He couldn’t help it. She was so beautiful. He had told himself that he needed to take a step back so he didn’t chase her away, but he couldn’t stop himself from leaning forward. Her eyes fluttered closed in anticipation.

  The light brush of their lips was far sweeter than the harsh, bruising kisses they had shared the other night. Mason lifted his hand to cradle the back of her head and deepened the kiss, feeling her eyelashes brush against his cheeks.

  This was far more intimate than anything they’d shared so far. When they had slept together, it had been all exploding tension and confused feelings as they rushed through sex before they could think too much about it and change their minds. This was a different connection, slow and soft and affectionate.

  Suddenly, Raine pulled back with a gasp, her eyes wide and shocked, her cheeks flushed.

  Mason cringed. He hadn’t meant to do that. “Sorry,” he began, but he immediately realized he shouldn’t have said anything. The sound of his voice jolted her out of her shocked state, and she jumped off her stool, backing away from him before fleeing the room. He heard her running up the stairs.

  Shit.

  Mason groaned and let his head fall to the counter with a thump. They had been having a very nice moment, sharing their pasts, cultivating an actual relationship, and he had ruined it. He wondered if she would be as skittish around him tomorrow as she had been the other morning.

  It was so important to him that he did everything right with Raine. So why did he keep screwing up like this?

  Chapter 12

  “Sorry.”

  As soon as the word came out of Mason’s mouth, Raine was on her feet and out the door. She didn’t wait to see if he said anything else or if he was coming after her. She just knew she had to get out of there and away from him. Dashing up the stairs and into her room, she slammed the door closed, knowing he would never invade her privacy by opening it. Her heart racing, she leaned against the closed door.

  She listened closely, waiting to see if Mason would follow her upstairs, but she heard nothing. Too late, she remembered Oliver, and she hoped she hadn’t woken him in her hurry to get away from his father.

  Eventually, she realized that Mason hadn’t followed her and probably didn’t intend to come upstairs soon. Letting out a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding, Raine backed away from the door and flopped onto her bed.

  She couldn’t believe she had responded to his kiss again. This one had been even more powerful, all gentle persuasion and sweet promises. And, even worse, a large part of her wanted to walk down the stairs and kiss him again.

  Raine cursed herself, staring up at the ceiling. This thing with Mason was getting way out of hand if a simple kiss could affect her so strongly.

  But she just couldn’t pull herself away from him anymore. She wanted to hate him for taking her son—except she didn’t know anymore if he’d even had a part in that. He had seemed honest in his reactions to her story, and he’d seemed so genuine when he’d told her he was glad she was here with him and Oliver… either he had no idea Oliver was her son or he was a damn good liar. Plus, she wanted to maintain a professional relationship with him since he had hired her to do a job (A little voice in the back of her mind reminded her that their professional relationship had ended the moment she’d slept with him.), but all these feelings kept getting in the way.

  Raine rolled over and buried her face in her pillow. She wanted to scream.

  She really needed to sort this all out.

  * * *

  Mason did not look surprised when she came down the stairs the next morning and asked politely for a day off.

  He just gave her a half-smile. “I’ve already called in sick.”

  She didn’t think he intended for her to feel bad about that, but she did.

  “Where are you going?” Oliver asked curiously from his place at the kitchen table.

  “Not far,” Raine promised him, ruffling his hair. “I’ll probably just visit my mom and dad. One day, I’ll introduce you to them.”

  “Really?” Mason asked, raising an eyebrow.

  “Yeah,” she said, smiling slightly at him.

  She picked up her bag and hesitated for a moment over the keys, wondering if it was presumptuous to take his ex-wife’s car after what had happened.

  The sight must have been amusing because Mason laughed. “Raine, just take the car.”

  “Right,” she said. She felt foolish as she swiped the keys off the table. “I’ll be back before dinner.”

  With a cheerful “Bye!” from Oliver, she headed out the door. She was glad she’d be taking the car; it would be much easier to get to where she wanted to go.

  Contrary to what she had told Oliver, she was not going to see her parents. No, she planned to go to the hospital to track down Dr. Monroe.

  She wouldn’t get any peace until she got to the bottom of this mystery. How could she hope to have any sort of relationship—even a friendly one—with Mason if part of her was always suspecting him of having stolen her son?

  In fact, how could she go on with any part of her life until she found out the truth?

  Dr. Monroe was the only person who could give her answers now.

  The drive to the hospital was quiet, so unlike the drives to and from the school with Oliver chattering in her ear. Raine still felt bad that she was skipping out on Mason and Oliver today, but she had to take care of this once and for all.

  It was easier for her to enter the hospital this time. She didn’t even stop at the front desk, heading straight up to Maternity. There was a nurse at the desk this time, clicking away at something on the computer, and she looked up with a friendly smile as Raine approached.

  “May I help you?” she asked.

  “Yes, I need to see Dr. Monroe about an urgent matter,” Raine said, hoping to sound important. “Is he here today?”

  “He’s here; I’ll page him for you,” the nurse said kindly. “What was your name?”

  “Raine Hart.”

  The nurse nodded and Raine stepped away from the desk. She was nervous, and her hands shook at her sides. Unlike the last time she was here, however, she wasn’t leaving without getting the answers she wanted, no matter what those answers were.

  Her resolve almost faltered when she turned at the sound of footsteps and saw Dr. Monroe striding toward her. His hair had started graying and a few more wrinkles lined his face, but he was otherwise exactly the same as he’d been when he sat in her hospital room and told her that her baby had been stillborn, that they had been lucky she hadn’t died, too.

  Unexpected anger flared in her chest. Had he lied to her? Had he kept her son’s true whereabouts secret all these years? And if he had, for what reason?

  Wait, she reminded herself. She hadn’t heard him out yet. It was time she stopped jumping to conclusions.

  “Raine, it’s been a long time,” the doctor said with a small smile, reaching out to shake her hand. “You’re looking well.”

  With a start, Raine realized that he had meant it. She had noticed that she had been looking healthier since she had started working with Mason and Oliver. She found herself smiling.

  “I found a purpose,” she said vaguely.

  “Good,” Dr. Monroe said. “Now, the nurse said you wanted to see me about something urgent?”

  Was it her imagination, or did he look nervous?

  She glanced at the nurse at the desk. “Can we talk privately?”

  Dr. Monroe nodded, frowning, and led her to a cluttered office. A picture on the desk showed him standing with two children and a beautiful woman in the snow.

  “My family,” the doctor said, following her gaze. “We went skiing four months ago.”

  “Looks like fun,” she noted, looking at the joy on their faces.
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br />   She could see other evidence of his children around the office: scrawled crayon drawings, several pictures of wide grins, and a misshapen coffee mug one of them had obviously made in a pottery class at school with “DADDY” written on it in large, childish letters. Raine thought to herself that he must love his children very much.

  A man like this, a man who had a family—who had children—he adored… would he really do what she thought he had? She shook her head to clear away the questions. She was still jumping to conclusions.

  “Sit, please,” Dr. Monroe offered, gesturing to a chair in front of his desk as he sat in his own comfier chair. “Tell me what’s on your mind, Raine. I have a little time before my next appointment.”

  “Thank you,” Raine said. She hesitated. “This entire story is going to sound crazy.”

  “I’m sure it’ll be fine,” Dr. Monroe laughed.

  “Well, it started when I came across Oliver and Mason Parker a few weeks ago,” she began, watching closely for his reaction.

  His amusement abruptly faded. Something flashed across his face, too fast for her to decide what it was, and he leaned back in his chair.

  “I remember Oliver Parker,” he said. “He was delivered here. His mother was certainly loud and demanding.”

  She searched for some hint of a lie. But shutters had closed over his face and she found nothing.

  “Yeah… sorry, I was just in a bad place when I came across them, and Oliver looked like… looked like…” She cleared her throat. “He looked like he could have been my son. Then, I came to the hospital, but you were busy.”

  Raine hesitated. She didn’t want to cause trouble for Dr. Gates, so she skipped over that part of her story and instead told him how she had responded to an advertisement that Mason Parker had put online, and how she’d been working for them for several weeks now.

  “Then, I found Oliver’s birth certificate,” she confessed. “He was born on the exact same day and at the exact same time as my son, and you were the attending doctor for both births. I’m sorry, I know it all sounds crazy… but did something happen the day my son was born?”

  She had imagined this moment a dozen times and had played out any number of reactions. Maybe he’d confess now that she had caught him in his lies. Or maybe he’d deny everything. In the worst-case scenario, he’d get angry and throw her out; in the best-case scenario, he’d gently tell her how it was all in her head and send her on her way.

  Somehow, though, in all those scenarios, she’d never imagined him throwing his head back and laughing. But that was just what he did.

  Raine flushed, feeling hurt by his reaction. Everything she’d said was serious, and he was treating it like it was just a big joke.

  “Sorry, sorry!” Dr. Monroe said, still chuckling as Raine scowled. “Sorry, it’s just… I’ve seen Oliver Parker a few times, and I remember thinking once or twice that he looked like you.”

  “You did?” Raine asked, taken aback.

  “Yes.” His amusement fading, Dr. Monroe smiled sadly. “I don’t lose many children, Raine, but the ones I do stick with me. When I saw Oliver Parker several months ago, I remember thinking that was what your son could have looked like if he had gotten the chance to grow up.”

  “Oh,” Raine said, sinking low in her seat.

  “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have laughed,” Dr. Monroe continued. “But, Raine, you must know how strange it all sounds. And now you’ve followed this poor family around, believing in some conspiracy theory?”

  “It seemed…” It seemed logical at the time, she couldn’t bring herself to say.

  “I know the death of your son and your own near-death experience were hard on you, Raine, but I think it’s time for you to let it go. It sounds like the Parkers really value you. Maybe it’s time you let go of the past and start your life over with them now?”

  “I…” It did sound like a nice prospect, but she needed to be sure. “But Oliver’s documents were in my son’s file.”

  “What?” Dr. Monroe blinked, startled. “They are? And how on earth do you know that?”

  “You know, people looking the other way and all that. It’s not so hard to find out things,” Raine said, waving a dismissive hand. “But the fact is that Oliver’s information was in my son’s file. How do you explain that?”

  Dr. Monroe sighed. “This will probably surprise you, but it’s difficult to keep up with multiple births in a day. I or someone else just mixed up the folders.”

  Yes, that was a perfectly rational explanation.

  “But how were you at two births at the exact same time?” Raine countered, grasping at straws.

  “I oversaw both births,” Dr. Monroe said patiently. “I was not present at Oliver’s birth because of all the complications with yours. Another doctor did me the favor of helping Emily Parker with her birth. I just signed the paperwork.”

  Well.

  Now she felt like a royal idiot.

  That had been her last, most damning evidence. Raine felt tears prick at her eyes. Was this it? Was it over?

  “Why don’t you go home, Raine?” Dr. Monroe prompted. “I’m sorry this is still affecting you so greatly.”

  After exchanging goodbyes with Dr. Monroe, Raine left the building. It was raining now, and she stared out at the cloudy, gray sky. She finally had her answers. And all they proved was that she had, in fact, gone crazy.

  She had expected to feel angry or sad. But, as Raine stood outside the front entrance, she felt strangely free. It was as though a huge burden had lifted from her shoulders.

  Oliver wasn’t her son.

  And Mason hadn’t stolen him.

  She laughed, and a huge smile spread across her face, startling a couple nearby who was leaving the hospital.

  Raine knew what she wanted to do now. She wanted to go home.

  She wanted to go to Mason. Because if he hadn’t stolen her son… if he wasn’t involved in the huge conspiracy she had made up in her grief… then his feelings were genuine.

  He actually wanted to be with her.

  And she wanted to be with him. She could finally admit to herself that she was falling for him, far too fast to stop herself.

  Last night, Mason had put himself out there and admitted his feelings for her.

  Now, it was her turn to respond.

  Chapter 13

  Mason didn’t want to worry about where Raine had gone. He didn’t want to be the type of boyfriend (he grimaced; Raine had made it very clear last night she didn’t want that sort of relationship with him) that demanded to know where she was at all hours of the day.

  It wasn’t as though he even needed to know where she was. That wasn’t his main concern. He just wanted to know if she was coming back.

  Because if she didn’t come back, then he had just ruined the best thing that had happened to him and Oliver in years. He had done the thing he had sworn not to do from the start and had driven away the nanny that Oliver had come to love.

  He really was an idiot.

  “Daddy?”

  Mason looked up.

  Oliver stood in the doorway, a toy car held in each hand. “Come play? Raine likes playing with the cars.”

  “Does she?” Mason asked, hauling himself to his feet. He could attend his pity party later; right now, his son needed him.

  “Yeah!” Oliver said enthusiastically. “She always picks the yellow car!”

  “So, the yellow car is Raine’s, and I always pick the blue car, so that’s mine. And yours is…”

  “The red one!” Oliver cheered.

  Mason laughed. No matter how bad he felt, Oliver could always cheer him up. One look at his son’s smile and all his worries just fell away.

  “How come you’re not at work?” Oliver asked as the two of them sat down on the living room floor.

  Mason raised an eyebrow. Several weeks ago, Oliver had asked him why he had to go to work. Things had certainly changed in a short space of time.

  “I took a day off,�
�� he said with a shrug. “Since Raine wanted to see her mom and dad, I thought you and I could spend some time together.”

  Oliver giggled, obviously pleased and not sensing the lie. “You know, Raine said her dad was the best cook, but I think Grandma is the best cook.”

  “Well, I think Grandma is the best cook, but Raine’s dad is the best baker,” Mason said. “He makes really yummy cakes, right?”

  Oliver went quiet. He had already proclaimed the cakes and pastries that Raine’s dad had sent them the yummiest food ever.

  “Maybe,” he said, tossing his head. Suddenly, he lit up. “Did you see the dinosaur Raine made me?”

  “No?” Mason said, taken aback. When had Raine done that? “Can I see?”

  Abandoning the cars, Oliver scrambled to his feet and ran to the toy box. He grabbed a soft blue toy on top and dashed back to his father, holding it out. “See!”

  Mason looked at the toy. Raine had chosen a velvety material for the dinosaur’s skin, and, on the toy’s left foot, she had carefully sewed “OLIVER” in block letters. He swallowed. She had clearly put a lot of time and love into it.

  “I helped,” Oliver said proudly. “Raine let me pick the color and everything!”

  “The two of you did a great job,” Mason said. “What did you name him?”

  Oliver grinned. “Dino.”

  Mason couldn’t stop himself from snorting. Sometimes kids were the most imaginative creatures on the planet. And then, sometimes, they came up with a name like “Dino” for a toy dinosaur.

  Mason lost himself in Oliver’s imaginative world, but a tiny corner of his mind played his worries on a loop, noting every minute he hadn’t heard from Raine. He wished he knew what was going on in her mind.

  He knew it must be bad. She hadn’t asked for a day off before—not even after they’d slept together. Last night’s kiss must have really bothered her. He just wished he knew why.

  “Wrong car, Daddy!”

  Startled, Mason looked down. Without thinking, he had grabbed the car in Raine’s chosen color, the yellow one. He really couldn’t get her out of his head.