Her Billionaire Single Dad (Her Billionaire CEO, #8)

by Allen, Jewel

  In the visor mirror, Michael caught Lara biting her lower lip. Michael didn’t mind using a bush, but he suspected it was hard for girls.

  Kalinga pointed the girls one way, and the guys the other. There was no cover to speak of. Well, there were little bushes, but hardly enough to hide an adult person. He tried to not look the direction of Lara and Lizzie but saw a car was approaching from the other direction. Minutes later, Lara returned with Lizzie, her eyes cast down, looking mortified.

  They had to repeat bushy-bushy at least a half-dozen times between the two children.

  Driving on another hour or two, Kalinga slowed as they approached a small building in the middle of nowhere.

  “This is the Namibian border,” Kalinga explained. “We will check in here first. No photos, please. But we have real toilets.”

  “Thank goodness,” Lara murmured.

  Michael flashed her a sympathetic glance.

  Lizzie was asleep and stayed so, even as Michael unbuckled her. Lara glanced at him with admiration in her eyes, causing a warmth to spread across his chest.

  A line snaked a couple of times into a little building with multiple windows of border officers processing papers. As they waited, Lizzie woke up grouchy and crying, wanting her mommy. Lara offered to carry her, but Lizzie was inconsolable. She wanted her mommy and no one else, and Michael didn’t know how to explain why that was not possible. Mick held Lara’s hand and, with wide eyes, watched the people lined up.

  At the window, Lizzie’s cries got even louder.

  “The children’s birth certificates please?” the female officer asked, not looking at Michael.

  Michael felt in his pocket, the one that normally carried his wallet, but it was empty.

  Oh no. Where was it?

  If he were to lose those documents, they wouldn’t be able to travel from border to border. Africa had a law where children needed to have their birth certificates with them. This policy was in place to combat trafficking.

  Michael tried the other pocket, and there they were.

  His forehead broke out in a sweat at his relief.

  Next, the officer asked for his passport. He produced it and watched with bated breath as she glanced at the documents carefully.

  “Sir,” she said, “your documents are irregular.”

  Michael stiffened. “What?”

  She didn’t answer and instead turned to someone else. That someone else was helping a customer in the next booth.

  Michael stood there waiting, worried, when he felt Lara’s hand on his arm.

  “What’s wrong?” she asked.

  He glanced at her hand, her touch calming him. “I don’t know.”

  The lady officer turned back to him. “I’ll go ahead and stamp it. I didn’t see this paper.”

  It was the judge’s order for Michael’s guardianship.

  “Thank you.” Michael breathed easier.

  “Two children under seven. Now yours to take care of.” The officer eyed him curiously.

  “Like my own,” Michael murmured. He felt Lara’s eyes on his profile. He turned and was surprised to see awe in her eyes before she averted her glance.

  Until then, he’d felt as though the children were just his wards. But of course, they were more than that. They were his children now.

  Done with the nerve-wracking interviews, they made their trips to the bathroom. Afterward, Michael found Lara outside, waiting with the children. She offered him a little bottle of hand sanitizer. As he handed it back to her, their fingers touched, a small enough caress, but his eyes flew to hers with a little jolt.

  “Thanks,” he murmured.

  “You are very welcome.” She lowered her eyes and put the bottle in her purse.

  Finally, when they reached the next town, Michael breathed a sigh of relief. They’d survived the African highway. Now it was back to civilization.

  Or at least the African version of civilization.

  “Would you like to stop here for lunch and a real bathroom?” Kalinga didn’t have to ask twice.

  They stopped at a convenience store that sold slushies. Mick asked Michael if he could have one, but after Michael bought him one, the boy made a face.

  “Too sweet,” he said.

  Michael ended up finishing it. For lunch, they had meat pies from a food stand that were a delicious mix of spicy and sweet.

  “This is seswaa,” Kalinga explained.

  To use the bathroom, they paid a few local currency coins in a little basket to a woman with friendly eyes.

  Michael got out of the bathroom with Mick ahead of the girls, so they waited by the window. Across the street from the gas station, a woman with white hair sang karaoke.

  As Lara came out of the bathroom with Lizzie, Michael observed them from afar. Lara held Lizzie’s hand, and they were laughing about something. They were opposites—Lara with her light-colored hair and Lizzie with her darker—but they could have easily passed for mother and daughter.

  He felt a lump in his throat for Lizzie, who would not grow up knowing her biological mother. In just a short time, though, Lara had filled that maternal role on this safari. Except for that little aberration on the plane, Lara had been nothing but kind to them.

  The children were falling under her spell.

  He couldn’t blame them. Michael certainly was. Even with his measure of precaution to avoid this, he could ignore Lara about as well as he could ignore the karaoke singer outside who was now singing a popular American country song, of all things.

  Kalinga welcomed them back with his effusive smile. “Would the sir and miss want to see the shops before we finish our day’s drive past Maun?”

  Michael deferred to Lara, whose eyes leaped with excitement.

  “Sure,” she said.

  Kalinga directed them down the sidewalk to a short strip of stores around a plaza. Michael counted at least four beauty salons. As they passed by, his nose picked up strong hair-chemical fumes. A woman came out of one of them and approached Lara. She said something that Michael couldn’t catch.

  Lara turned to Michael, sounding eager. “She wants to know if I want my hair braided. And Lizzie’s too.”

  “Up to you,” he said.

  Lara glanced back at the salon. “I wondered about the time.”

  “The time is for us to do with however we please.”

  Her smile widened. She got down to Lizzie’s level. “Do you want to go with me to have our hair braided?”

  “Like a doll?”

  “Yes.”

  Lizzie blinked, hugging Doggie closer without answering.

  “You don’t have to,” Lara assured her. “But I will, okay? Do you want to come with me or wait out here with your Uncle Michael?”

  “Come with you,” Lizzie said, raising her arms to be carried.

  Lara picked Lizzie up and told Michael, “See you in a bit.”

  Mick tugged at his arm. “Where are they going?”

  “Lara is having her hair braided.” Michael noticed a playground. “Want to play over there?”

  Michael sat on a bench to watch Mick, but from his vantage point, he could see Lara and Lizzie too. Lara was smiling at the women in her sweet open way and taking her seat in a swivel chair. Michael had difficulty tearing his gaze away, but eventually, he did.

  It wouldn’t do to stare at the nanny as though he were a lovesick fool.

  Chapter 13

  Lara entered the small space, maybe ten by ten, and was overwhelmed by the smell of chemicals. One wall opened for some cross-ventilation, which didn’t help much as there was no breeze passing through. She worried about Lizzie, where the little girl would sit, but Lizzie was content being held by Lara.

  Her stylist sat them down in front of a mirror propped against a wall. “Very pretty hair,” the woman said, her gentle hands touching Lara’s hair.

  “Thank you.”

  “Your husband is a handsome man,” the woman said.

  Lara’s eyes sparkled in the mirr
or. “He’s not my husband.”

  “Oh.” The woman’s face fell. “With two beautiful children? Tsk. He should make you his wife.”

  Lara smiled to herself, and Lizzie snuggled closer.

  It was sweltering in the salon. Lara’s face prickled with perspiration. “What’s your name?” she asked her stylist.

  “Peaceful.”

  “I love the names here,” Lara said.

  “It is a good way to honor your potential,” Peaceful spoke in a pleasing cadence. “And yours?”

  “Lara.”

  “I’m Lizzie.” The little girl’s head came up, grinning at Peaceful and revealing a missing tooth.

  Lara’s heart contracted with affection.

  Her future stretched before her. In a few days, she would no longer be babysitting Lizzie and Mick. Would no longer see Michael.

  Her body tingled at the memory of Michael stretched out on the bed, watching her.

  No, it couldn’t possibly work. He was a world-renowned ophthalmologist who globe-trotted. Surely, if she were to pursue a post-law career, she’d have to stay behind in New York, working at her office while he traveled solo...

  Not unless she traveled with him.

  Whoa, Lara. Way to make a leap there. Lara yanked her thoughts from that direction and focused on the present.

  Peaceful gently brushed Lara’s unruly curls until they calmed and then applied a fragrant oil that gave it sheen. She took a fine-tooth comb and began parting Lara’s hair.

  Lara could have easily fallen asleep. Peaceful’s movements were soothing. Hypnotic. Her fingers were deft, braiding fast and efficiently. Soon, one half of her hair was an orderly set of cornrows, while the other half was still wavy and fluffy. Her head looked as if it had been shaved on one side.

  Lara felt exposed. Her face was angular, still young, but the effect of the past decade working at a stressful job showed. A little furrow formed between her brows. She had a slight squint, as though anticipating small legalese on thirty pages of notes.

  Funny, that was her reality until recently. Snooze alarm, drag self out of bed. Shower, dress for success. Skip breakfast. Catch the subway. Walk with other suits into the building of doom. Jockey for power among four female partners and four times as many male ones. Wrangle clients and briefs and papers and details...

  Energy drained from Lara just from thinking about it all.

  She was glad, ecstatic to be away from all that.

  Peaceful’s fingers worked swiftly. She was almost done with the other side of her head as well.

  On Lara’s lap, Lizzie had fallen asleep.

  Sweet, sweet baby. Orphaned at such a young age. What would it be like to lose your parents at four? Did Lizzie realize where her parents were?

  And then Peaceful was done. “Well?” she asked, gazing at Lara as though prepared to flinch. “You like?”

  Lara’s eyes shone in the mirror. She looked different, as though she had been unveiled as a predator. A lioness. Her eyes had never looked so huge. She wouldn’t be able to hide behind her hair. Exposed and powerful, all at the same time.

  “It’s...fierce,” Lara said, “but I love it.” She wondered what Michael would think. A delicious anticipation thrummed through her body.

  After thanking and tipping Peaceful, Lara carried the still-sleeping Lizzie and went in search of the boys. They were easy to spot around the monkey bars. A tall white man and his blond charge in a group of black children.

  As Lara approached, Michael glanced up, and the air between them seemed to spark. His eyes took her in, transfixed.

  “Well, hello,” he said.

  “Hi,” she said, turning shy.

  Michael approached her from the monkey bars, calling for Mick to come. “Want me to carry her?”

  “Sure.” Lara handed off Lizzie’s warm body, heavy from sleep.

  “You look stunning,” he said as he shifted Lizzie in his arms. “Like...never mind.”

  Lara stifled a smile. “Like who?”

  He blushed. “Like Bo Derek in that old movie, 10.”

  “Is that good or bad?”

  “Good. She was beautiful. Is.”

  “I don’t think I’ve seen it,” she said.

  “Like I said, it’s an old movie.”

  “She had cornrows too?”

  He nodded, looking mysterious with a smile pulling up one side of his mouth. “Coming at the camera from the beach.”

  In the car, as Kalinga pulled back into traffic, Lara googled Bo Derek cornrows.

  Ha, the resemblance was uncanny.

  No running on the beach in a swimsuit like some sex symbol for her, though.

  She tapped Michael’s shoulder, and he turned, his lips awfully close to her hand.

  For a moment, she couldn’t remember what she was about to say.

  “I googled 10,” she said.

  He blushed like a schoolboy caught in mischief. “And?”

  “And I’m flattered you’d think I’m beautiful like that.”

  “Well,” he said, his gray eyes piercing hers, “you are.”

  Chapter 14

  When Lara had emerged from the salon with her hair in braids, her lovely vision rendered Michael speechless. He’d offered to carry Lizzie as an excuse to stop himself from staring at her. She was a lovely woman, but this hairstyle transformed her into goddess status.

  His gaze had lingered along her smooth jaw, exposed now with her hair in braids.

  Chastising himself from his wayward thoughts, he resisted the urge to fiddle with the mirror to sneak another glance at Lara.

  If only she were really his wife...

  Who would want to marry him? He would be gone so much, traveling the world, while his wife cooled her heels at home with the children and the family dog.

  Even as he thought this, he imagined Lara waiting at home for him. She’d have her own career too, he was sure. She couldn’t possibly let the grass grow under her feet while waiting for him. Lara with her braided hair, greeting him at the door with an eager kiss...

  Kalinga stopped the car, jarring Michael out of his daydream.

  By early evening, Kalinga had spirited them away to their next lodging. They plunged into the heart of what seemed like a forest and emerged into a landscape with flat land and ribbons of water sprawled as far as the eye could see.

  “The Okavango Delta,” Kalinga said before turning into a driveway toward a congregation of buildings enclosed behind a fence. It looked like a jungle where Tarzan could jump out at any moment, except this was the real deal.

  “Welcome to Sanctuary Chobe Chilwero Resort,” a woman in a white pantsuit greeted them as they entered the resort’s main building.

  “Hello,” Lara said.

  In her braids, she looked like she belonged to this wild country. Michael’s eyes followed her as she walked ahead of him, and Kalinga gave him a knowing smile.

  The children scampered off to look more closely at the taxidermied animals in the lobby. Lara followed them while Kalinga accompanied Michael to check in. There was never an issue with any of the impeccable staff communicating with Michael, but he let Kalinga do his work. Their driver put in a good word for their group, that the staff treat them as though they were royalty.

  Kalinga gestured to two valets waiting by the side and told Michael, “They will take you to your room, and I will meet you all in a little bit.”

  The two valets led them to two rooms this time, separate luxurious jungle-style cabins adjacent to each other, Lara in one with two little beds and Michael with his own. Michael wished they shared the same suite. He liked the family atmosphere and commotion with the kids around.

  Truth be told, he liked having Lara around.

  Michael unbuttoned his sleeves and rolled them up, stretching from the long car drive. He could already feel his blood pressure lower even further. What a trip of a lifetime this had been. He thought of Jim and Jane, those two adventurers. Knowing them, they wouldn’t have stayed at a place li
ke this. Probably would have backpacked with their kids and camped under the stars.

  Why didn’t he?

  Well, for one, he wanted to make sure the nanny had accommodations that didn’t involve just a tent that the children could wander from. But now he wondered at the wisdom of experiencing Africa like a billionaire.

  Like he was missing out on the true African experience.

  Shaking that nagging thought, he went outside and knocked on Lara’s door. No one answered.

  “Over here,” she called out.

  He turned. The sight of her in her lovely braids by the rail, looking out upon the floodplains, filled him with secret pleasure. She was alone.

  “I hope you don’t mind,” she said, “but one of the resort employees, the children’s activities director, came to find me and offered to take the children on a little nature walk.”

  “Of course not. That’s nice of them.”

  “I suspect they’ll do a lot of extras for anyone willing to pay.”

  He grinned. “Possibly true.”

  “I was going to take a little walk, unless you needed me for something. I should be back in time for the children.”

  “Go for it,” he said.

  She gave him a sidelong glance. “Care to join me?”

  “Sounds fun,” he said, not needing further invitation. “Sure.”

  Around her neck, she carried a camera, reminding him to get his.

  “I’ll be right back,” he said. “Just need to get my Nikon.”

  Together, they set off, but soon a resort employee in beige coveralls caught up with them. He held an alarmingly huge hunting rifle. “I am sorry, sir, madam, but rules require you to be escorted out here.”

  On a post, there was a sign saying that going beyond the premises was subject to risks.

  “What’s out there?” Lara asked, her eyes wide.

  “Anything from a pride of lions to a mad elephant,” the employee said. “This is the edge of the unfenced Chobe National Park, so animals wander freely. We usually start our walking safaris right here.”

  “We won’t be going far,” Michael said, thinking of the children, “but we appreciate the escort.”

  “No problem at all.”