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Baby by a Billionaire
Book 3 in the Slade Billionaire Brothers Series
An Excerpt
Mark
“What a day.” I sigh and pick up the bottle pouring myself a few fingers of whiskey.
We had decided to acquire a struggling company and the owners were making the contracts a living hell. Sitting down, I look at the rain coming down and my mind turns to Lily.
In the last four months, anytime I’ve got time alone my mind turns to her. I searched for her after she left. I went to the bar and they said she had given her notice and quit. Hell, I hadn’t even taught her last name and no amount of bribing was going to get the manager at the bar to give me information. Defeated, I’d gone home and resigned myself to just having that one incredible night.
Sure, I tried to go out with other women, but she was the bar to which I compared all others, and they just didn’t match up. It was stupid to be this into a woman I met for a handful of hours.
A knock at the door has me setting down my glass and rubbing my temples. It felt like a brass band had taken up residence in my head.
“Who the hell wants something from me now?” I grumble and wrench open the door.
My mouth drops open and my heart starts to race. There she is, standing on my porch drenched from the rain and looking miserable. It’s as if I conjured her out of nowhere.
“Lily?” I ask, blinking a few times to make sure she isn’t a figment of my imagination.
“Hi, Mark I’m sorry to bother you but can we talk?” She gives me a little smile and I come to my senses.
“Yes, come in, you’re drenched,” I say opening the door wider and letting her in. She stands in the foyer making a puddle on the floor while not looking at me. She must be in trouble. I don’t care if the mafia is after her, she has walked back into my life and this time I’m going to convince her to stay in it.
“Do you want some dry clothes?” I ask and she sniffles a little and nods.
“Come on let’s get you something dry and a hot drink, then we can talk.”
She stops, “Why are you being so nice to me? I left you in the middle of the night with just a note.”
I smile at her, “I looked for you. We can talk about all of that once you’re warm and dry.”
She just shakes her head as I lead her into the master, pulling out a pair of sweats, warm socks, a t-shirt and a hoodie.
“The bathroom is through there, you’re welcome to take a shower. I will go make you some hot tea, or hot chocolate?” I ask her. I know I sound like a giddy child, but I can’t believe she is here.
I should be angry she walked out on me, but I can’t bring myself to feel anything other than excited.
“Hot chocolate sounds nice.” She won’t look at me. I know she is in trouble of some kind and coming to me for help. It warms my heart that she would think of me. Maybe she was just afraid? She did say in the note that she didn’t think our worlds would work together. Could she have changed her mind?
“Thanks, Mark really. For everything,” she says quietly, looking down at her hands.
“Just call out if you need anything.” I rush out of the room, shutting the door and moving down to the kitchen. Hot chocolate happens to be one of my favorite things in the world.
Pulling out a saucepan to melt the chocolate in my mind is racing around trying to think what has happened to her. The manager at the bar was fiercely protective and kept saying that Lily was a good girl, making me think that she isn’t into anything bad.
She will tell me when she come out, I tell myself as I throw myself into making my signature gourmet hot chocolate. It keeps my mind off the thought that Lily is in my bedroom, in my shower and will be wearing my clothes.
A fierce wave of possessiveness comes over me. I want to protect her from whatever trouble has brought her here.
“Hey Mark.” I hear her soft voice just as I’m pouring the hot chocolate into cups. I add a flourish of whipped cream and then look at her with a small smile.
“Feel better?” I ask, and she nods.
“Is there somewhere I can dry my things?” she says, her arms full of wet dripping clothes.
“Sure, let me have them, I’ll go throw them in the dryer.”
I take her clothes and hurry across the house, throwing them in the dryer and turning it on before racing back down the hall as if I’m terrified, she is going to disappear.
“This hot chocolate is amazing,” she says, her upper lip white with the whipped cream from the top.
“It’s an old family recipe,” I say as I reach out and wipe the cream from her lip.
The feel of her skin under mine is electric and it is all I can do not to crush her to me and tell her that I don’t care that she isn’t rich or that she’s a debutante, I want her now and forever…..
