Complete Bliss (a Her Billionaires novella #3) (5 page)

“Oh!” she said, looking at Mike. “That’s not the reaction I expected.” When had this turned into a conversation about having another baby? She thought she was going to spend the next half-hour convincing them to come to Jeddy’s and talk with Darla’s boyfriends.

He shrugged but said nothing. Dylan turned and gave him an arched eyebrow.

“You want another one? Already? Thirteen months of interrupted sleep, colic, teething, and no time alone with Laura isn’t enough for you? You masochist.”

Laura felt the hair on her arms and neck begin to prickle. The nasty undertone in Dylan’s voice made Mike’s hackles go right up, and she hated when both of them argued. It was rare—most of their sarcastic comments were tossed back and forth in jest—but this one had so many layers to it that Laura felt a dangerous sense of calm pour over her, one of those moments when everything you know can turn on a dime.

“And what about the pure joy of watching our daughter come into the world, of cutting the umbilical cord and watching her settle on Laura’s chest, of smelling her little baby head and being the only one who knows how to rock her the exact right way to get her to sleep? And the sleepy milk burps that always came with a happy smile afterward? Watching her grin at you, her eyes lighting up when you held her? What about snuggling with her on the couch and knowing that you’d helped to make an entire human being, a new life that will go out into the world and make it a better place if you raise her right?” Mike’s words flowed over Laura like a waterfall. He’d never—
ever
—spoken for so long or with such emotion.

Dylan’s jaw hung quite low.

Mike went on. “When she crawled, we all cheered. When she took her first bites of solid food, we were there. When she started saying ‘Mama,’ we were jealous.”

“You were?” Laura interrupted.

Both men looked a bit embarrassed. “We’d read in the baby books that ‘Dada’ was more commonly the first word, so…” Mike explained. 

“I half expected her first word to be ‘Jeddy’s’ or ‘Madge,’ because we took her there so much,” Dylan added. 

Laura squashed a laugh because Mike’s eyes were blazing. He wasn’t done yet.

“And now Jillian is babbling and happy and wandering around on those fat little legs, arms in the air, so curious about the world and open and eager. She’s the best teacher and the most wonderful embodiment of pure love I have ever seen in my entire life.” Mike’s voice was choked with emotion, eyes glistening, and Laura stood, went to him, and gave him a hug.

“So yeah,” he ended with a ragged sound, “I would love another one.” Mike pulled away from the hug and, with soulful eyes, regarded Laura tenderly. “Not until you’re ready, of course. But if you did tell me you’re pregnant, I would be thrilled.”

“Shit!” Dylan shouted. “We’re late!” All three of them turned to look at the clock, and Laura made a squealing sound of alarm. He was right. There was no need to clean the cabin—Mike’s resort crew would handle that—but they did need to tidy and bring their own belongings out of there. The cabin was used, occasionally, by resort guests (
sex items were carefully removed
), so they had to do a quick check of everything and get out. 

Five minutes later, Laura marveled at how quickly they had all acted, and as the Jeep rumbled down the rutted dirt road back to their home, she let Mike’s words rattle around in her head. It wasn’t that she didn’t want another baby—she was an only child and had always wanted siblings, and was determined to give Jillian at least one. Right now, though, she didn’t feel ready. Maybe in a year? There really wasn’t a timeline.

Mike didn’t demand an answer, and Dylan was in the back seat alone right now, staring out the window, his jaw locked so hard it might as well have been a safe at Gringot’s.

He
clearly wasn’t ready for more. She knew he adored Jillian—loved her to pieces, in fact—but she also understood what he had said. Being bone-weary and at the constant ready to attend to a child’s needs in its first year was an experience she would rather not relive right away. And pregnancy! The joy of swelling with new life, the feel of a growing baby inside her—that was all amazing.

The ballooned legs, the polyhydramnios she’d experienced, and all the aches and pains, along with morning sickness, made her want to be pregnant again about as much as she wanted to listen to Josie talk about data plans for the office.

“There’s no rush, is there?” she said softly, not quite realizing the words were out of her mouth until they were. The sound of the Jeep’s tires on the rocky road may have covered her voice, because maybe Mike didn’t hear her.

But he did.

A slow smile split his lips, cheeks shining with a warmth she loved so much. He patted her knee. “No. Never a rush. I’m not really ready, either. But if you were pregnant right now, my reaction wouldn’t be negative.”

“I just don’t think—”

He squeezed her knee gently. “Just tell me you want Jillian to have a sibling.”

“Of course I do! You know I’ve always wanted at least two. I don’t want her to be an only child.”

He nodded. “I know. We’ve talked about it. I just…needed to hear it again.” His eyes flicked over to her and then returned to the unstable road, but in that split second of eye contact she saw all she needed.

Love. So much love a pair of eyes couldn’t hold it all.

And maybe one child couldn’t hold it all, either, though that thought seemed so silly to Laura. Of course one child could be enough. It had been enough for her mother. For plenty of people. 

But not Mike, it seemed.

A cold thought of such alarming clarity hit her between the eyes. It felt like a tiny little pinprick of pain so startling it traveled down to her heart.

Another baby.

Was Mike afraid Jillian wasn’t his, and that was why he wanted more? Was this about jealousy or competition, or…something unnamed?

The glow of their happy afternoon began to fade a bit as reality intruded on her thoughts. The heat of their skin against hers had been so immediate just moments ago. And now…

She had to think. Not just feel. Not just touch.

As they pulled into the driveway, Cyndi played with Jillian on the giant swing set Mike and Dylan had installed last month. Their baby was perched at the top of the slide, Cyndi’s protective arms on her waist, and as Jillian’s fat little hands waved in the air, Cyndi guided her down. Jillian’s face tipped up to look at Cyndi, and those baby hands clapped with joy, cheering herself on for her great slide victory.

Suddenly, all was right in Laura’s world.

Josie

“What in the hell were you thinking sending my boss to me to talk about my sex life!” Darla screamed in Josie’s ear. Pulling her smartphone back from her head, she stared at it, fully expecting Darla’s holographic image to appear in spectacular, angry form.

“It was a perfectly reasonable suggestion,” Josie retorted. “Perfectly reasonable because you two are in these crazy threesome relationships, and you’re both struggling.”

“Struggling?” Darla roared. “I’m not struggling with Joe and Trevor!”

“You meet Joe’s parents yet?”

Fuming silence was all Josie got from her niece.

“I didn’t think so,” Josie added. “And Laura’s got her own set of problems with Mike and Dylan—”

“Problems? Problems? You mean you can find yourself not one, but two billionaires, have their baby, live in luxury with them, and spend your time opening a crazy business for weirdos like me, and have problems? Nice life. What kind of problems does Laura have? Whether to buy lavender-scented car fresheners or verbena-scented car fresheners at Whole Foods?”

“Meow.” Josie’s arched tone said more than the single word. 

Darla backpedaled, fast. “You won’t tell her I said that, will you?” she said in a panicked voice. “Because I like Laura. A lot. And I don’t think she’s spoiled. That not what I mean. I know she worked hard and had a degree and a job before she met the guys and oh my God, Josie, say something, because if Laura’s on the line with you and just heard me say that I am going to die from—”

“No, dumbass, she’s not here. But you have some learning to do. Just because someone has a ton of money doesn’t mean their problems go away. In fact, sometimes you end up with more problems.”

“I’ll trade.”

“Hah! Anyhow, you guys should meet. Lunch at Jeddy’s sounds like fun.”

“How do you know what we’re doing?” Darla asked with suspicion.

“Because Laura asked me to be there,” Josie answered matter-of-factly. Being asked wasn’t a surprise, but what Josie had in store for Trevor, Joe, Mike, and Dylan sure would be. First, she’d asked Laura if she thought the plan was worth it. Laura agreed. Now, on to Darla…

“You’ll be there?” Relief flooded Darla’s voice. “Thank God.”

“And I need some help from you,” Josie added.

“Help?”

“Laura’s going to get Mike and Dylan to come, too. Just to hang out and have a meal nearby. I think you should bring Trevor and Joe.”

“Why?”

“Because it’s like meeting an albino moose.”

“You just lost me. You on something? Because the last time I heard someone talking about albino moose it was Joe, who licked some piece of handmade pressed fair-trade paper from Mexico that had some LSD or something on it, and soon the whole world went albino and he was—”

Josie cut her off. It was a well-developed skill. “No. What I mean is, if you heard about an albino moose in a zoo, would you go see it?”

“Maybe.”

“If you owned an albino moose and heard about a second one, wouldn’t you go see it?”

“Well, sure, because that would be so rare that—
ooohhhhhh
. I get it.”

“Good. Because I was about to pull out the hand puppets and leotards and do an interpretive dance to explain.”

“You don’t have to get pedantic.”

“Can’t help it.”

They both laughed.

“You have any idea how hard it’s going to be to convince Joe to go to Jeddy’s and sit at a table with two other guys who do what we…do? He can’t even tell his mom we’re dating.”

“What about Trevor?”

“I’ve met his parents. Nice people. We all met up at some town concert and walked around eating ice cream. They think me and Trevor met at an online dating site.”

“There’s a lie.” Josie’s words were true, but she knew they stung Darla. 

“If you count being a fangirl as ‘online dating,’ it kinda works. They don’t know anything more than that.” To Josie’s surprise, Darla wasn’t defensive. A little sad, though. It made Josie even more determined to make sure Laura and Darla talked. 

“He won’t tell them the truth?”

“Would you?”

Josie tried to imagine calling her mother, Marlene, back in Ohio and explaining she had two boyfriends. At the same time. No, really—at the
exact
same time. 

“Uh, no. But then again, with my mom, I’d probably get some story about how she’d had five men at once, and exactly which holes you can use for—”

“
Lalalalala
I can’t hear you talking about Aunt Marlene that way!” Darla shouted. 

“You asked.”

“Question retracted.”

Josie let out a long, slow sigh, the kind you can only release openly with someone who knows you inside out.

“I know that sound,” Darla cracked. “That’s the sound of Mama going to get the belt.”

“Aunt Cathy never whipped you!” Josie protested, knowing this was all a joke.

“No, but she’d pull out Daddy’s belt and tell me that if he was alive my ass would be tanned.”

“And then what did she do when you didn’t listen?”

“Huh,” Darla uttered, the phone popping with the force of her sound. “I don’t know. I always obeyed. I think I figured if she was calling on the belt of a dead man to get me to do what she wanted, I’d better do it.”

They shared a chuckle, and then Josie returned to the matter at hand. “You need to get Joe and Trevor there. They can eat pie with Mike and Dylan.”

Darla made a choking sound. “Excuse me?”

“Get your mind out of the gutter, Darla Josephine Jennings. Not that kind of pie. Jeddy’s may have some weird things on the menu, but they haven’t come up with a flavor
that
savory.”

“Pussy Pie has a ring to it,” Darla said through laughter.

“People would think they were baking strays from the alley behind the restaurant.”

“I’ve eaten in some dive joints here in Boston that probably are,” Darla muttered.

“Quit stalling!” Josie insisted. “Get Joe and Trevor to meet you there. Laura’s doing the same with Mike and Dylan, and then we’ll—”

Two strong, muscled arms wrapped around Josie’s waist as Alex appeared from behind, her ass nuzzling up to an alarmingly large sign of how happy he was to see her.

“Hey there,” she said in a low voice. “I’ve missed you. And I can feel how much you’ve missed me.”

“You coming on to me, Josie? ’Cause that’s a new low.” Darla’s voice had gone flat.

“Hi, Darla!” Alex called out, then kissed a trail of little pecks from Josie’s ear to her shoulder. “How’s it going?”

“Josie’s crazy!” Darla shouted.

“Oh. Good. Everything’s normal,” he said, hands sliding up Josie’s front, finding her breasts like they were made of iron and he had magnets in his palms. 

“No, I mean
crazy
!” Darla insisted. “She wants me to get Trevor and Joe together with Mike and Dylan!”

“Quit screaming,” Josie said, distracted by what Alex was doing and by Darla’s shouts through the tinny phone speaker. “I’ll put you on speakerphone.”

Darla came through loud and clear as Alex spun Josie around for a deep, warm kiss. “Together! The four of them!”

“You’re setting the four guys up?” he murmured in Josie’s ear. “That’s…inventive. Good things come in fours?”

Josie hit his pec through the stained scrubs he wore. After a typical twenty-four-hour shift he showered and changed at work, but had come straight home this time. She looked at the clock. More like a thirty-three-hour shift.

“Why are you covered in—ah, God, is that blood? And you smell like rancid amniotic fluid.”

“How do you know what that smells like?”