The Billionaire's Baby (The Romero Brothers, Book 5) (3 page)

“I know that. But
I will nonetheless.”

Moments later, the
car pulled up to the front of the Mayberry Hill Family Resource Center. Amber
arrived for her first of many prenatal class visits.

 
“Thanks but you really didn’t have to
drop me here,” Amber said again to her aunt Mavis who barely spoke a word since
they had driven from the Murray Cafe.

“Nonsense. I’m
not going to have you hobbling about town like that, alone. You’re getting
bigger every day!”

Amber felt uneasy
and rubbed her belly again. Aunt Mavis and Amber never really got along, though
Mavis was Amber’s mother’s sister.

Amber knew why
Mavis was treating her this way. Mavis was head of the Women’s Reading Group at
the Mayberry Hill First Movement Church, and Amber, being unwed and pregnant,
just didn’t sit too well with her aunt—or her aunt’s group.

Well, Amber had
always been the careful one. She only had one real boyfriend with whom she’d
been intimate. Unfortunately, he turned out to be the king of jerks. They had
lived together and were supposed to get married. But Amber quickly learned that
he wasn’t what he pretended to be when they’d first met. He was cruel, lying
and cheating on her and she was all too glad to end her relationship.
Sometimes, things didn’t work out the way one intended. But Amber was going to
make the best of her life—regardless of what others thought of her.

Amber never
wanted to be alone. And it wasn’t her preference to be a single parent.
Heaviness and pain swirled through her body at the thought.

 
“It should be the father of your child
here with you. Where is he?” Mavis asked rhetorically, her lips pressed
together in a thin line. The expression on her face, as often was the case, was
stony. She was never one to mince words. Ever.

“I told you, Aunt
Mavis. It’s a nonissue. I’m not getting into it again. He’s not in the
picture.”

“It’s obvious he
isn’t. You should feel ashamed going to these classes alone.”

Amber rolled her
eyes and shook her head. She’d learned to try to ignore her auntie’s criticism
and harsh words. She’d read in one of her self-help books that sometimes you
can’t control how a person treats you but you can control how you feel about it.
Amber thought she was solid in deflecting her aunt’s rude
demeanor
but there had been times, especially while growing up, when it sank into her
soul and tore her up. Who knew if that’s why Amber spent much of her childhood
being an anxious basket case with low self-esteem. Amber ended up being
cautious of others and afraid of being hurt so she often kept to herself.

Amber was just
grateful her aunt took her in when she lost her family or else she would have
been forced into an orphanage. Still, that was no excuse for Mavis’s rudeness
at times.

“I don’t know if
I’ll be alone, Aunt Mavis. I’m sure I’m not the only single parent in this
class.”

It was Amber’s
first time taking the prenatal class at the suggestion of her obstetrician. But
she was okay with that. She enrolled late, though she was fortunate to join at
all since another couple had dropped out of the class.

Amber made her
way out of the car and slammed it shut. “Thanks again, Aunt Mavis. I’ll catch a
bus back to the café when I’m done.”

Amber proceeded
into the building and searched the signs looking for Room
15A
on the main floor. She found it and saw the orange glossy poster: Mayberry Hill
Family Center Prenatal Class. When she made her way towards the door, her heart
came to a screeching halt. Standing a few feet away outside another door that
was marked Conference Room
16A
was a tall, dark and
deadly handsome young man looking sexy in his tailored business suit. The man
was talking on his cell phone until she came into his view. He promptly told
the person on the other end he would have to call back and ended his call to
look her square in the face.

Jules Romero.

“Amber?” Jules
said cautiously. It was the way her name slid off his smooth tongue, so silky
and deep. Oh, his voice got her each and every time. It had been a while since
she’d seen Jules. And he looked hotter than Amber remembered. He sported an
Italian-designed dark blue suit with a navy blue silk tie and he filled it out
so nicely with his broad shoulders. Those Romero men predominantly had athletic
builds. Her friend Venus was married to one, Jules’s brother Carl, the youngest
mayor to ever run the town.

In fact, it was
her friend Venus who had introduced Amber to Jules.

“H-hi, Jules,”
she stuttered, caught off guard as she tried to keep her voice from wavering. His
sexiness had always overwhelmed her.

Amber’s heart
hammered in her chest and a quiver surged through her body at his delightful
presence. The man was sexy as hell and always caused that stirring reaction
inside her body. The truth was, she’d always been aroused by Jules Romero.
 

Jules’s beautiful
eyes drifted to her bulging baby bump. His dark, sexy, brown eyes widened a
fraction.

“I know
,
it’s good to see me again, right? You just didn’t think
you’d be seeing so MUCH of me.” Amber grinned, trying to bring some
humor
to the situation.

This was Jules
Romero.
Jules hot-as-heaven Romero.
They first became
friends when her friend Venus was in trouble, then Amber and Jules were a
couple but that didn’t last long enough. Jules wasn’t ready to commit and she
wasn’t ready to have sex—yet.

Jules’s sexy lips
curled into a sweet grin and Amber’s heart melted. God, he was stunning to behold.
Her baby’s feet tickled the inside of her belly with some swift kicking
movements just then. Butterflies also tickled her midsection.

“That’s not what
I meant,” he answered in his richly deep voice, cocking a brow. “But, you look
beautiful, Amber. Congratulations. I didn’t know you got married. How many
months are you?”

He said she
looked beautiful. What a thoughtful thing to say to a pregnant woman who felt
as if she was growing like a gigantic watermelon. That thought was soon
squashed by a painful reality. He was wrong about the being married part.

“Oh, I’m…six
months.” Amber’s stomach lurched; she felt pain squeeze her heart. “But I…I’m
not married.”

“Oh?” He seemed a
bit caught off guard, which was unusual for Jules. She remembered how brave and
take charge he was when his brother Carl had a hell of a fight running for
mayor amid scandal and a dirty campaign by his rivals and then there was that
whole mess with her friend Venus who ended up marrying Carl during the
scandal—as a diversion at first but then it all worked out for them.

Well, talk about
a swift kick in the gut. Jules could not believe his eyes or his ears. Amber
was pregnant? And single? Despite the sad look in her eyes, her skin had a
healthy glow to it. She stood wearing Lycra exercise pants and long-sleeved
t-shirt. The air conditioning in the building was cold so he figured that was
why she was dressed covering everywhere. But then again she was always
conservatively clad, rarely revealing much skin. Always dressed in long sleeves
and long pants or skirts.

Heck, she didn’t
even let him go to second base. Which he respected. Though from her kisses, he
could tell she was highly sensual and would make a great partner in bed.

God, he could
kick himself for not holding on to Amber—for making sex a priority back
then. He liked Amber a lot—possibly even loved her—but he just
wasn’t into having a serious relationship at the time…and Amber wasn’t ready
for sex at the time.

He could not
control the heaviness that settled in his body.

“You’re not
married?” Jules was stunned. It killed him inside that she’d chosen someone
else to get “intimate” with. But the guy didn’t even have the decency to marry
her. Call him a bit old-fashioned where babies were concerned, but he’d always
been raised that a man should do the right thing and marry the mother of his
child. Period. And from the time he’d known Amber, she didn’t seem like the reckless
type. She appeared much too prim and proper to get
herself
knocked up outside of marriage. Heck, had he been wrong about her? He thought
they’d had good chemistry for the brief period they were an unofficial couple. Amber
was the first girl he couldn’t even get between his bed sheets and now she was
with someone else?
WTF
! Jules was baffled as sin.
He’d seen the way her body reacted to his when they were cuddling in the past.
She wanted him as much as he wanted her. Yeah, he was baffled all right. But he
suspected there could be more to the situation.

“No,” she said
quietly, looking off into the distance. He thought he caught the look of pain
flashing in her beautiful dark brown eyes. She was a pretty girl and
soft spoken
, yet hard working. He remembered the time she’d
worked her butt off overtime to help his sister-in-law Venus when she was in a heap
of trouble. Amber had worked at the embassy but got fired after breaking some
rules for the sake of helping her friend. She was a girl with guts when it
counted.
A woman who put her neck on the line to save a
friend.
Talk about
honor
.

 
“So are you engaged?” Jules probed
further. Something in his gut urged him on. He was damned curious. He didn’t
see any ring. He really wanted to know if there was a guy in the picture. He
hoped the dude that had the
honor
of impregnating her
was at least around. Then a sinking feeling entered his body when he glanced at
the door sign again. Why the heck was she going to a prenatal class seemingly alone?

“Why the twenty
questions?” she zinged him, arching her brow playfully. He could tell she was
trying to be brave but tried not to push it, but damn, he was so fascinated by
her, always had been.

“Why the
avoidance?” he shot back, a warm amusing smile on his face.

“I’m not with the
father. I’m single. I…I have a class to go to.”

“Oh, sorry to
hear that,” he said, instinctively. Regarding Amber’s delicate condition, he
was really sorry to hear that she was alone in all of this. “Do I know the
guy?” Jules couldn’t help but ask pointedly. “Your ex?”

“No. I doubt
you’ve met Rex. It’s no one you know.”

“Rex? There must
be a thousand
Rexes
around here. What’s his last
name?” he asked nicely, arching a brow. He tilted his head to the side.

“It’s not
important for you to know, Jules.” Amber grinned and rolled her eyes.

Okay, he wasn’t
getting anywhere with this. Amber probably knew Jules well enough to know he
could find out if he really wanted to and then he’d give the guy a piece of his
mind, leaving Amber pregnant and alone like that.

“Well, I don’t
want to keep you. Though, I’m sure they won’t mind you being late this week.
You have a good excuse, being with child and all.”

“Well, it’s my
first time going to this class. They had a space free up. I’m surprised to see
you here.”

“I have a
business meeting. I’m in the process of acquiring this place.”

“You are?
Congratulations.”

“Thanks but the
deal’s not done yet.” A gnawing ache entered Jules’s gut.

What had he
missed out on? He could have been the father of Amber’s child. He was foolish
for not wanting to commit to her before. Now she’d gone and gotten pregnant by
some other dude. He wondered if Rex was really the guy’s first name. Amber
seemed so protective about his identity.

 
“Well, it was nice running into you
again, Jules. You’re looking well, as usual.” Amber smiled appreciatively then
opened the glass door to the classroom.

And that was
that. Door closed. Conversation closed.
For now, anyway.

Just as Jules
turned to go back to the boardroom across the hall, something pulled his eyes
back to the classroom. He swung around, curiosity getting the best of him, and
peeked inside the glass door.

Amber still
looked hot as hell. He hadn’t been lying about that. And man, it took all the
will power he had not to gaze at her voluptuous breasts. Holy! Was it
him
, or did they swell three times their normal size from
what he could remember about her?

Jealousy zapped
through him again regarding this mysterious man who got Amber pregnant. Why the
hell wouldn’t she tell him the father’s last name? Why was she protecting his
identity? Why couldn’t Jules have been the father? When he
could
produce kids? Oh well, missed opportunity.

He should be grateful
at least he was still considered a stud in bed by the girls he’d dated since
breaking up with Amber. Nothing since the accident affected his sex.
Gracias A Dios!
In fact, he felt his erection tingling just now that was very bad
timing.

As he peeked
through the glass, he saw Amber introduce herself to the class. He surreptitiously
glanced inside through the doors, though not standing directly behind the door
so anyone could see him.