The Billionaire Bachelor's Surprise Baby: A Billionaire Romance (11 page)

“I’m glad he wasn’t.”

“Me too.” He kissed Mason’s head. “Nothing is going to change.”

Maybe not for him, but with Aimee back in the picture, things were definitely going to change for me. No matter how hard I tried, all the scenarios I played out in my head all ended the same way. Aimee was Mason’s mother. I was his father’s girlfriend.

“She’s not taking him,” he said. “I’ll never let that happen.”

Even if Kyler got full custody, Aimee would still be in Mason’s life. That wasn’t a bad thing, but I couldn’t help but wonder how I’d fit in.

“Let’s not think about it tonight,” I suggested. “Mason is safe, happy and secure with you. Aimee is going to see that.”

“Even if she doesn’t, my mother will see to it that Mason stays with me. I need Paulie to get whatever he can on her just as insurance.”

“Do you really want to keep him from her? She is his mother.”

“You don’t think I should fight for him?” The muscles in his legs tensed beneath my head. “You can’t possibly think she’s the better choice.”

“Of course I don’t.” That wasn’t what I had meant at all. “I see how much you love him. I never want to see the two of you separated. It’s just that...” This was such a touchy subject. “I don’t want you to have any regrets when he gets older. I believe there is room for both his parents in his life. The more people who love him the better, right?”

“I agree.”

“But?”

“I can’t get over the way she left him. Every time I think about it, I’m furious. He deserves better and I’m going to make sure he gets it.”

“As long as you’re in his life, he’ll have everything he needs.”

“As long as
we’re
in his life.” He grinned at me. “I can’t do this without you.”

“You won’t have to,” I whispered.

I
paced the family room floor, annoyed I even had to entertain the idea of Aimee. She left Mason for reasons I still wasn’t sure of. I hoped Paulie could shine some light on where she had been and who she had been doing it with.

This added stress wasn’t needed. I was supposed to be in New York next week but there was no way I was traveling three thousand miles away from Mason and Jenna with Aimee lurking around. If I couldn’t move the meeting, I’d have to take them with me.

“You need to relax.” Jenna came up from behind me and placed her hand on my shoulder. “I’ve been watching you wear out the floor for ten minutes.”

“I’ve been thinking.”

“You don’t have to worry. Your mother has everything under control.”

“I just have a lot on my mind.” I peeked into the portable crib and focused on Mason. “He’s getting so big. He seemed so tiny when Aimee put him in my arms for the first time. Now he’s almost sleeping through the night and he’s so alert.”

“They do grow fast, don’t they?” She stood by my side. It was natural just the three of us. “No matter what happens he’ll always be your son and you’ll always be in his life.”

“I want you with us too.”

“I’m not going anywhere.” She rested her head on my shoulder. “So much has changed in these past few weeks. I never thought I could be this happy. I’d been living in a funk until I met you.”

“I haven’t forgotten about my promise to you.”

“I don’t need that promise.” She kissed my cheek. “There’s a lot more to life than I thought. Now that I have the two of you, I’ve put things into perspective.”

“Good.” I kissed the top of her head, breathing in her berry scented shampoo. “I’m happy you’re happy but I made a few calls.”

“You did?”

I didn’t want her to think I was ready to have a baby with her. There were days I still didn’t believe I was Mason’s father. That thought was staggering. We didn’t really know one another that well, but I knew her better than I knew Aimee and I made a baby with her. Anyway, I could see she was probably thinking the same things I was by the nervous look in her eyes.

“That was thoughtful of you but...” Her rocking from foot to foot confirmed my suspicions. 

“Hey.” Pulling her to me, I stroked her back. “I’m not trying to rush you or anything. I know I said before that your future baby doesn’t have to be with me.”

There’s only one baby daddy for you whether you know it or not.

“I went to high school with this guy, John Cassidy. His father is a fertility specialist. A prominent one in San Francisco.”

“I know who he is.”

“John and I were on the track team together in school. He’s a doctor now too. I called him last week and talked a little bit about you.”

“About my issue?”

“Yes and he said he’d run your condition by his dad. His father is very popular all over the country. It takes a year to get an appointment with him, but because they know me he agreed to research your situation.” Had I taken this too far, too soon? “If you want.”

“Even though I’m not ready to have a baby?”

“I thought if they could answer some of your questions it would put your mind at ease. You could focus on today and not worry so much about the future. When the time was right you’d have your answers.”

“Ah huh.”

“I realize this isn’t something you want right now, but I made you a promise and I’m going to deliver on it. At the very least, maybe Dr. Cassidy could answer some questions and address your concerns.” I wanted more than anything for our futures to intertwine but I couldn’t rush it. “When you’re ready get me your records and I’ll put them in the right hands. Ask your dad about Dr. Cassidy. I’m sure he knows his reputation.”

“Thank you.” Her words came out in a gentle whisper.

“You don’t have to think about this right now. Just let John and his father work on it. I’ve been researching. There are medical advances every day. This is going to work out. Trust me.”

“Your optimism is one of the qualities I love about you.”

Love?
Were we going down that road? I had feelings for her. Deep ones. Shit, I envisioned having kids with her. Love wasn’t a word I used freely. Hell, before Mason I didn’t know it was possible to feel so strongly for another. Then Jenna came into my life and my carefree, ‘I hate commitments’ lifestyle changed. Maybe I did love her.

“Jenna, I...” The sound of the doorbell stopped my impromptu confession.
Fuck!

“Do you want me to get it?” She took my hand. “Give you a minute to settle down?”

“No.” Taking a calming breath, I headed into the foyer. “We’ll answer it together.” I couldn’t imagine life without her by my side. No matter what happened with Aimee, I could get through this as long as I had Jenna.

***

Aimee stood by the portable crib, staring in, but she didn’t attempt to pick Mason up. Jenna nudged me and nodded. I stepped toward her and lifted Mason into my arms. When he smiled at me all of my anxiety over this visit seemed to fade into the background. I laughed when he blew spit bubbles at me. Leaning in, I rubbed noses with him. I loved when he woke up from a nap, refreshed and pleasant. When I looked up both Aimee and Jenna were staring at me. Jenna had told me before that sexy men with kids made ovaries explode. Or something like that.

“What?” I hugged Mason close to me. “I missed him.”

“I did too,” Aimee said. “More than I thought I could.”  She caressed his cheek. “He’s so big.”

“He’s doing well,” I told her. “He’s healthy and happy.”

“He looks it,” she said.

“Do you want to hold him?”

She nodded.

Handing him over was harder than I thought. I didn’t know why. It wasn’t as if he would be leaving with her. I just had an unsettled ache in my stomach. Like I was betraying the kid or something.

“Mason.” She kissed his head. “Mommy is so sorry.” Aimee looked up at me. “I really am.”

“Why don’t you sit down?” I pointed to the chair by the patio door. “If you hold him up he likes looking out the windows. Jenna takes him out every morning and afternoon to look at the birds and the butterflies.”

“Okay.” She carefully sat down, propping Mason over her shoulder so he could stare outside. “He holds his head up so well.”

“He likes that too.” Jenna pointed to the saucer chair with the built in toys. “We just started putting him in there last week for short periods of time. He likes bouncing around.”

Aimee didn’t acknowledge Jenna and that pissed me off. Didn’t Aimee realize Jenna provided a sense of normalcy for Mason? Of course she didn’t. Taking Jenna’s hand, we sat on the sofa together. When Jenna tried to escape my hold, I held tighter, placing hers in my lap.

“He’s doing so many new things since the last time you saw him.” I slid my phone out of my pocket and read the lengthy text message Paulie had just sent me. It took him twenty-four hours but he got me what I needed.

“Is everything okay?” Jenna patted my knee, drawing me away from that very interesting text.

“Who’s Evan?” I asked Aimee.

“What?” She shifted in her seat.

“You heard me.” I held her gaze, daring her to look away. “Is he the reason you couldn’t keep Mason?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She rubbed Mason’s back. “Evan had nothing to do with my decision.”

“But you were living with him for a brief time?”

“So?”

“And he wasn’t the same man you were sleeping with when you were pregnant with my son?” I reread Paulie’s text to make sure I had my facts straight. This was just perfect. My mother was going to have a blast with this worthy information. “That would have been Seth Sharp. What happened to him?”

“Why are you interrogating me?”

“I’m trying to get the whole picture.” I stretched my legs out. “You didn’t think he was mine, did you?”

“I...” She shook her head. “After we ended things I got back with Seth. We dated in high school. Shortly after we got back together I found out I was pregnant. When I told Seth he was so excited.” She glanced at Jenna. “Can we discuss this in private?”

“Anything you have to say can be done so in front of Jenna.” I informed her. “I don’t keep things from her.”

“Oh, right, since she’s your girlfriend.”

“She’s much more than that.” As far as I was concerned she was the only mother Mason would ever need. “Especially to him.” I motioned toward my helpless child.

“How dare you,” Aimee hissed. “Don’t insinuate that she’s his mom.”

“Kyler didn’t say that,” Jenna said. “Maybe these questions could be answered another time?”

“No.” There had to have been a reason Aimee hadn’t come to me when she found out she was pregnant. She liked my cash flow too much. If she thought there was a chance Mason was mine she would have been here. I was certain of it. “When did you realize Seth wasn’t his father?”

“Part of me knew from the beginning,” she admitted. “But Seth was so eager to be with me. I knew you would never want me that way. You said you didn’t do relationships but clearly that was a lie.”

“I didn’t back then,” I confirmed. “Things change, people change. Seth couldn’t handle the responsibility?”

“My pregnancy wasn’t easy. I was hormonal, scared and I could have treated him better. He left before Mason was born.”

“That’s why my name is on the birth certificate, but it doesn’t explain why you didn’t contact me once you had him. Why did you wait two months?”

“I thought I could do it on my own but my mother started pressuring me to go after Seth for child support. She said I was too young to have a baby and I couldn’t take care of him on my own. I couldn’t do that to Seth. Once I saw Mason I knew he was yours. When I reached out to you that first time and you wanted a paternity test I didn’t know how I was going to explain that to my mom or Seth.”

“That’s when you met Evan.” According to Paulie’s detailed timeline I put the pieces together. “Let me guess, Evan didn’t want kids.”

“He plays football for UCLA. We’re the same age and I thought he would be the one.”

Hell, she was a real piece of work. She dumped her kid for a guy she’d just met.

“I thought it was going to work out, that’s why I left Mason with you. You’re older and you have a ton of money. At the time I thought it was the better choice.”

“At the time?”
No fucking way am I letting you change your mind now
. “What happened to Evan?”

“He’s in college. The star football player. He’s young and not into commitments.”

Jenna uncrossed her legs and shifted in her seat. I was certain all this talk about how Aimee could leave her baby for a guy she had just met must have made her sick. It infuriated me.

“Don’t look at me like that,” Aimee insisted.

“Like what? I shouldn't judge you? I thought you left him here because you were overwhelmed. Jenna thought you were going through some sort of depression. I knew you were young. I lay in bed night after night providing you with a thousand excuses for how you could leave him.” I stood and paced the room, trying to keep my anger in check. She left him for a guy. Who does that? “He’s amazing. Perfect.”

“I know,” she whispered.

“No, you don’t.” When I raised my voice Jenna cringed. “You should have come to me when you realized you were pregnant with my child. I would have helped you through your pregnancy and made sure you had everything you needed.”

“It’s easy for you to say that now but you tossed me aside without a second glance. I was a few weeks of fun for you.” She tried to soothe Mason when he began to fuss. “You never even bothered to find anything out about me. Who I was, where I came from. You didn’t even know my real age.”

“Because you lied to me.” She would have been off-limits if I had known how much younger than me she was. I curse myself every day for being such a dick when it came to women.

“Ky.” Jenna stood. “If you two are going to discuss things I’d like to feed Mason. He’s getting restless.”

“No,” Aimee said. “I didn’t get to visit with him that long. I can feed him.” She looked to me. “We don’t need to talk about this now.”