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

by Allen, Jewel

  And here Lara was, snuggled against him.

  It was all he could do to not tip her chin up and kiss her.

  He wouldn’t, of course, not with the children around. And even without the children around, Lara had told him in no uncertain terms to leave her alone.

  Lizzie scooted off Lara’s lap and joined Mick on the floor with the toys. She was done with the book, apparently.

  Lara leaned away, and Michael pulled his arm back.

  Despite all of his resolutions and her protestations, he reveled in her sweet scent. He’d been kind of disappointed that she’d taken out her braids, but the silk of her hair was equally alluring. And the feel of her body nestled against him was enough to drive him to madness.

  She kept her face turned away from him, and then she cleared her throat. “We’d better get ready for the day,” she said.

  He didn’t answer and just watched as she scooted off the bed and stood.

  She was sure determined to reject him at every turn.

  Which was just as well. If only he didn’t ache to hold her so much.

  “I’ll touch base with Kalinga,” Michael said, anxious to get out of close quarters with Lara. He left the room and expelled a huge sigh.

  Kalinga met Michael in the lobby with his trademark smile.

  “What’s next, my man?” Michael asked him.

  “We will go on a morning safari at Chobe.”

  “Do you expect to see animals?”

  “Oh yes, definitely. If we are lucky, we might be able to see lions.”

  “Great. The children will be happy, I’m sure.”

  Kalinga peered into his face. “Are you all right, Doc?” he asked. “You seem exhausted.”

  “I didn’t sleep very well last night.”

  “Love problems?”

  Kalinga’s words startled him. He was more observant than Michael gave him credit for.

  “The lady from dinner last night give you trouble?” Kalinga asked.

  “Oh.” Her. “No. No troubles from her.”

  “Good. I like Miss Lara.”

  Michael chuckled. “You do, huh? I do too. If she would have me.”

  “She’s wonderful with the kids. She’s beautiful, too. What seems to be the problem?”

  “She wants us to wait.”

  “For what, Doc?”

  “To date after the safari.”

  Kalinga scratched his head. “Why wait? You could be dead tomorrow.”

  “Well, I hope not.” Michael winced.

  “I mean, if people love each other, then why not act on it?”

  “She wants us to trust each other first. And then we can act on it.”

  “I am sure we can find you an adventure or two where she has to trust you. That should help, Doc.”

  “Let’s not get too adventuresome, Kalinga,” Michael said, grinning. “We want everyone to be safe.”

  “Yes, that’s a good idea.” But Kalinga went away with a conspiratorial smile. Michael wished now that he hadn’t said anything to him.

  When Lara and the children came out, Michael scooped Lizzie up and gave her a piggyback shoulder ride.

  “Ready to see more elephants, kids?” he asked.

  “‘lephants!” Lizzie giggled.

  Mick nodded, his eyes shining.

  Michael was almost afraid to look at Lara. He felt self-conscious around her. He snuck a glance, and he thought he saw a smile hovering over her lips.

  The thought of her lips made him think of the kiss that she insisted should never have happened.

  Sighing to himself, he moved with the group to the curb where Kalinga had parked the Rover. He put Lizzie in the back seat and waited for Mick and Lara to climb in. As she passed him, Lara’s gaze lingered on his lips. As though scalded, she averted her eyes.

  Could she be feeling what he felt too?

  He shut the door and went around to the passenger seat. Out the resort they traveled, past little and bigger towns with that same haphazard feel as the first one they had stopped at on the way to Chilwera. As they slowed toward what looked like the opening of Chobe National Park, there were two little animals along the road. They looked like pigs, just mangier.

  “Wild boars,” Kalinga said, stopping the car.

  Michael took a few shots, and then they were moving once again. At the park, Kalinga got out and took care of the permit. Then he had everyone transfer into a vehicle with an open top. As with the boat, Michael sat in the back seat while Lara sat in front of him with the children.

  At eight in the morning, it was still a bit cool. Lara rubbed her arms.

  Michael leaned over and asked, “Are you cold?”

  Her lashes veiled her eyes. “I’m okay,” she murmured. “Thanks. I’ve got these two to keep me warm.” She pulled the two children close.

  “Here,” Michael said, handing her his windbreaker.

  She hesitated and then accepted it. “Thanks.” She draped it over her shoulders, but it kept slipping. Michael reached over and adjusted it in place, his fingers lingering on the fabric.

  “The park is a broad-leaf savanna,” Kalinga said. “It gets more water than the usual ecosystem. It’s not fenced at all, so animals are free to come and go as they please.”

  “Do the elephants ever rampage through the neighboring towns?” Michael asked.

  “It’s not been a problem, though occasionally, there is a bad apple. You may have heard of some incidents on the news. But it is rare.”

  In the bush vehicle, they came to a clearing where there were some tough-looking old gray buffalo with unique curved horns curving up like a fake wig.

  “The Cape Buffalo,” Kalinga said. “They’re grumpy old bulls who are retired.”

  “I saw an Asian water buffalo in Thailand,” Lara said. “Do people use these buffaloes for farming too?”

  “They’re unpredictable,” Kalinga said, “so we don’t domesticate them.”

  Up ahead, creepy-looking birds sat on branches of what looked like a dead hollowed-out tree.

  “Are those vultures?” Michael asked.

  Kalinga shook his head. “They are Marabou storks. They aren’t vultures, but they act like them, digging through the landfills. See their dark wings and white ‘hair’? That’s why they’re called undertaker birds.”

  Kalinga parked so Michael and Lara could take photos. The birds eyed them intently.

  “Creepy,” Lara said.

  Through the drive, Kalinga pointed out antelope-like impalas. Mongooses darted into the brush. Baboon moms sat in the shade of bushes, their babies holding on to their underbellies.

  “Bye, baby,” Lizzie said, waving at the wide-eyed monkeys.

  A sudden stream of impala overran both sides of the road. Dozens and dozens of them.

  And that was when they came upon the herd of elephants. Other vehicles were already stopped along the dirt road. Two elephants rolled around in a watering hole and wrestled. Smaller elephants followed their mothers like a comical circus performance. Despite all the shots Michael was taking, none of the elephants seemed bothered by it.

  Except for one. He was a young-looking elephant, about half the size of the larger ones. He reminded Michael of when he and Jim were growing up and his younger brother liked to act all tough. Usually, Michael would grab Jim and give him a noogie.

  This young elephant planted his feet and made squeaky little trumpeting noises. And then he turned back to the herd before trumpeting some more.

  “He’s a punk,” Lara said, laughing as her eyes met Michael’s.

  For a second, he couldn’t breathe. Her smile faltered as he willed her to not look away.

  Michael had missed her. He wished he could hold her again. Was she thinking of their kiss too?

  Mick pulled on her arm, and the moment was lost.

  Michael shouldn’t think of her romantically. Not if she didn’t want him to.

  The vehicle rumbled on, their next stop taking in a herd of giraffes.

  “H
oly cow, they look like clones of each other,” Michael said.

  “No spot is the same,” Kalinga said. “Each is like a fingerprint.”

  Kalinga drove them in a loop around the park, driving for a few minutes by the water. He gazed at the sun overhead.

  “We are running out of time,” Kalinga said. “Most animals are not going to be as active this time of day. I had hoped to show you lions.” He froze. “Speaking of which...”

  Michael’s blood thrummed with excitement at the sighting of a pride of lions behind a tree.

  “Kitty!” Lizzie said. Before anyone knew what she was about, she climbed out of their safari vehicle and jumped onto the ground.

  Chapter 22

  Lara quickly switched into mama-bear mode. She jumped out after Lizzie, whose little legs were already carrying her past one of the trees. Behind her, Michael must have also left the vehicle. She could hear his boots crunching through the underbrush and debris.

  “Lizzie,” Lara said, her heart racing as Lizzie kept going, undeterred. Lara and Michael reached her at the same time, Lara clutching her to her chest with relief while Michael backed them away.

  A lioness stood, her ears alert.

  “Don’t make any sudden movements,” Michael said. “We don’t want them to give chase.”

  Lara nodded, wary of the lioness and aware of Michael’s arms around her shoulders as they slowly retreated to the vehicle.

  Ahead, an official-looking four-wheel-drive car pulled up alongside their safari vehicle where Mick and Kalinga waited.

  A man in a beige uniform exited the four-wheeler, walking over to Kalinga. Kalinga’s eyes darted to Lara and then the officer.

  The officer turned slowly and hooked his fingers onto his belt loops. He wasn’t smiling.

  “Passports, please,” he told Lara and Michael.

  Rattled, Lara produced hers. Michael pulled his out too.

  The officer glanced at Lizzie. “And hers?”

  “In her luggage at the hotel,” Lara said.

  “We must be tough on tourists about restricted and unrestricted land,” he said. “If you will please come with me.”

  Lara looked at Michael and then Kalinga for guidance. Kalinga merely said, “Please, follow the officer. I can keep Mick with me.”

  Mick would have none of it.

  Michael and Lara each carried a child to the park officer’s vehicle. Lara’s heart pounded. What would happen to them now?

  They leaned against the vehicle, and Michael reached for her hand, startling her. He squeezed it. “It’s going to be okay.”

  She wanted to believe him. But when a few minutes turned to a half-hour then to another half-hour while the officer talked to someone on the phone, Lara started to worry. What about the lion pride lurking in the bush?

  Kalinga tried to get out of the Rover, but the officer pointed his gun his direction and told him to get back in, which Kalinga obeyed promptly.

  Michael put his arm around Lara and Lizzie. Lara leaned into him for strength, the tension from the other day abating. She allowed her heart to soften, to open itself up to Michael. They needed each other, and more than just at this moment, faced with the unknown.

  The poor children. Mick clung to Michael’s leg and hid partially behind it. Even in his young age, he sensed the gravity of the situation. Lara pictured the officer handcuffing them and driving them to the park office where they would have to answer questions in a little dingy room with a one-way mirror.

  “I didn’t even get good photos of the lions,” Michael said.

  “That was the last thing on my mind,” Lara whispered.

  The officer got off the phone and had to raise his chin to address Michael. “You will have to come with me to the precinct to be questioned.”

  “Come on, Officer,” Michael said. “Can’t you just let us go? Our children are tired and hungry...”

  Lara’s heart leaped at his use of the word “our.”

  The officer flashed him a distasteful glance. “I am sorry if our methods here don’t match what you are used to in America.”

  “May we sit in the back of your vehicle?” Michael asked.

  “No, you may not.”

  So they leaned against the dusty vehicle for another hour, the children churning up dust as they played at their feet. Finally, the officer decided it was okay to let them go back to their vehicle. But not without a little kickback. Lara watched with distaste as the man opened his hand and Michael put dollar bills in it.

  As they got back to the Rover, Lara trembled from delayed shock. She felt Michael’s hand on her shoulder. “Are you all right?” he asked.

  She touched his hand and turned, nodding.

  He reached up with a finger and trailed it along her cheek. It was a small, simple touch, but it put a little zing through her body.

  Chapter 23

  Michael glanced with pleasure at the sight of Lara and the children at dinner. After that little incident with the park officer, he was thanking his lucky stars they hadn’t gotten arrested. He could picture all four of them huddling in a cell, the children crying for Jim and Jane.

  Despite what Michael thought was a breakthrough in their relationship, Lara was back to being reserved. The first time she got animated was talking about the Zimbabwe president being deposed after decades of being in power.

  “I asked Kalinga about it,” she said. “He told me we should be okay going into Zimbabwe, but it makes me nervous.”

  Michael raised his brow. “I haven’t heard much about it.”

  “The military wants to put the vice president in the president’s place,” Lara said.

  Michael blinked. “And that’s something to worry about?”

  Her expression tightened. “It’s a pretty big deal. The vice president wants to rule the country instead. If that were to happen in America, we’d have a constitutional crisis.”

  She was lovely when revved up. Michael was tempted to keep her going just to tease her.

  “Happens here all the time.” He shrugged.

  “But it doesn’t mean we should just give up on it.”

  Michael dished up another helping of the delicious chicken stew they were having.

  She closed her eyes and sighed. Opening her eyes once again, she smiled. “Sorry, I feel bad for them. Kalinga says his family is affected by all this.”

  Michael covered her hand with his. “I understand. I’m worried too, believe it or not.”

  Her glance fell to their hands, and she blushed.

  Reluctantly, he pulled away. He wished he could hold and reassure her that he would do everything in his power to keep her and the children safe.

  He took a bite of the stew, the soft meat delicious in the curry-like juices. As worked up as she had been, Lara hadn’t been eating, but now she did so. She took a bite and closed her eyes in rapturous joy.

  “Wow, this is delicious," she said. “Children, try some.”

  She dug into it some more, giving Lizzie and Mick little bites with their spoons. Like a mom feeding her baby birds. Soon, they abandoned their custom pizza. Between the three of them, they wiped Lara’s plate clean.

  They were so cute together. He watched them with a lump in his throat and then looked away.

  Why couldn’t Michael have not just the children in his life, but Lara as well?

  Chapter 24

  At dinner, Lara wiped her lips with her napkin, her gaze meeting Michael’s over the children’s heads. Not for the first time this week, he left her feeling dizzy and breathless. She’d been hard on him after their kiss because she was running scared.

  She talked about trusting him, but what she really feared was herself. How could she be a good mom or wife with the kind of childhood she had? How could she commit to a relationship when all she’d seen growing up involved heartbreak and hardship?

  She averted her eyes and fussed over Lizzie, who was trying to get a slice of her pizza. Lara was grateful for the diversion.

  A
s they finished eating, one of the servers announced, “Ladies and gentlemen, you are invited to watch the San, our native bush people. In fifteen minutes, please join us at our outdoor fire pit and have a seat.”

  The children, who were languishing a bit from the day’s exhaustion, perked up from their pizza slices.

  “What’s bush po-po?” Lizzie asked.

  Michael smiled. “It’s bush people. People who live here. They’ll dance for us.”

  Lizzie’s frown still remained.

  Lara brushed the little girl’s hair back and smiled. “Go ahead and finish, sweetie, so we can watch the show.”

  “I’m done,” Lizzie said.

  “Don’t you want your pizza?” Michael asked.

  “Uh-uh.” Lizzie hugged her stuffed hyena.

  “And you, Mick?” Michael turned to him.

  Mick stuffed the pizza crust in his mouth and beamed with bulging cheeks.

  “I guess you’re done,” Michael said dryly.

  They walked in the direction of the fire pit, and the African sky opened up to them as they got farther from the resort’s lights. Michael and Lara, holding the children’s hands between them, gazed at the sky.

  “Amazing,” Lara whispered.

  “Wouldn’t it be nice if we could see this sky back home?” Michael said.

  “It’s there.” Lara leaned her head further. “We just couldn’t see it.”

  “I wonder if we see a different sky where we’re at in America since we’re in the southern hemisphere.”

  Lara’s chest tightened with wonder. “Maybe.”

  “Look, a shooting star!” Mick pointed.

  “Good job,” Lara said, catching the tail end of the star. “That was cool.”

  The other guests were already seated around the fire pit in a sandy little amphitheater with camp chairs set up in a circle. A family scooted down a few seats to make room for Lara and her group.

  The San people, seated around the fire and talking among themselves, were petite and skinny, wearing animal hide for clothes. Dust covered their bodies and bare feet. There were four men, three women, and two children about Lizzie and Mick’s ages. The men wore loincloths around their hips, and the women wore short togas cinched at the waist.