Accept My Baby: A Billionaire BWWM Single Parent Pregnancy Romance (14 page)

She
knew he was right but it sucked all the same.

*****

“
I
was about to send out a search party,” Emilia said when Amanda
walked into the apartment. She could smell something delicious
cooking...or was it baking? She smiled as she walked into the
kitchen. “Brett has been blowing up my phone and email.”

“
I’m
fine,” she said in a soft voice.

“
And
Brett?” Emilia asked and Amanda shrugged.

“
He
is being an ass because I told him I was pregnant.”

“
You
what?” Emilia asked, surprised.

“
I
did...and I just needed to have some time to myself.”

“
Some
time alone with Rafael you mean,” Emilia said as she wiped her
hands on the front of her apron.

“
Same
difference,” Amanda said, walking towards the fridge. She got a
pitcher of lemonade and put it on the counter before she poured
herself a drink. “Something smells good.”

“
Chicken
cordon bleu and you are playing ‘avoid the subject’.”

Amanda
rolled her eyes as she took a sip of her lemonade.

“
No,
I’m not,” she said, sounding a little more defensive than
she would have intended to be.

“
Well,
the two of you are spending more and more time together lately.”
Emilia untied her apron and pulled it off. “I’m assuming
things are looking up, right?”

Amanda
smiled.

“
Yeah,
I guess they are.”

Emilia
suddenly gasped loudly.

“
That’s
a genuine smile, isn’t it?” she asked as she pointed at
her best friend.

Amanda
walked out of the kitchen and towards the living room with Emilia
following closely behind.

“
Okay,
dish,” Emilia said when she noticed another smile on Amanda’s
lips. “I have not seen you this happy in...years!”

Amanda
took another sip of her lemonade.

“
I
think I am happy...like truly happy. I had kind of forgotten what
happy feels like.”

“
Great
feeling, huh?’ Emilia asked as she sat next to her and Amanda
nodded.

“
The
best,” she said, laughing.

“
You
got laid, didn’t you?” Emilia pointed out. “You
dirty, dirty girl.”

“
Yeah,
I did and it was amazing!”

“
And
what about...the situation?”

“
I
told him about it,” Amanda said.

“
Everything?”
Emilia asked.

“
Yeah,
everything. About Brett, Sienna, the baby...even about the joint
house ownership.”

“
And?”
Emilia pressed.

“
And
he is actually excited about the prospect of being a father.”

“
Wait,
what?” Emilia asked as she looked into Amanda’s eyes.

“
Yeah
as far as he is concerned, Brett is out of my life and he is...he is
all about moving on. With me,” Amanda said.

“
I’m
happy about that but are you sure you should be moving on so soon
after the whole Brett thing? I mean, after my whole debacle with
Charlton, you told me that I should not be in a hurry to move on.”

“
Yeah,
I remember but I have not technically been with anyone for the last
two years...I had a roommate, that’s all.”

Emilia
took a long deep breath.

“
I
don’t want you to get hurt again,” she said, taking
Amanda’s hand in hers. “And I told you the guys in Europe
move really fast.”

“
They
really do move fast but that’s just it.” She looked at
Emilia and sighed loudly as she put a hand on her tummy. “I
don’t really have the time to chill out and wait.”

“
What?
You are tying to get a father for the baby?” Emilia asked and
Amanda shook her head.

“
No,
I guess I just needed help to figure out what to do.”

Emilia watched as
Amanda took another sip of her lemonade.

“
So,
we’re keeping the baby?” Emilia asked excitedly and
Amanda shrugged.

“
You
better be ready to deal with a whole lot of mood swings and
cravings.”

“
That’s
okay. I am a great cook...an amazing one at that.”

“
So,
we’re really doing this, huh?” Emilia asked and Amanda
nodded.

“
Yes,
we are,” she whispered.

Rafael
could feel the tension when he walked into his parents’ house.
He looked around as he made his way into the huge mansion. He had
noticed that every family member’s car was upfront and then
some.

“
Welcome
home,
signore
,”
Giorgio, the family butler said when he took Rafael’s jacket
leaving him in the navy blue slim fit suit he had on.

“
Giorgio,
always good to see you,” Rafael said smiling.

“
Good
to see you too, sir,” Giorgio pointed out.

“
That’s
a whole lot of cars upfront,” Rafael started. “Is there
something going on in here that I forgot about?”

“
Your
family has company for dinner tonight,” Giorgio said and Rafael
forced a smile.

“
Do
they now?” he started and Giorgio nodded. “Okay, I better
get in there, right?”

Rafael
could almost immediately smell something wrong. There was no reason
why his parents would keep the fact that they would be having people
over for dinner a secret unless it was some kind of ambush. The last
time something like this had happened, his family had staged an
intervention for his ‘obsessive partying’ as they had
called it.

“
I
didn’t know we had guests,”
he
wondered as he made his way down the hallway.
“This
is going to put a major dent in my plans.”

He was supposed to
meet up with Amanda at his parents home. He had decided to introduce
her to his family during dinner that evening but now things had taken
a strange turn. He could not call Amanda and cancel on her and he was
definitely not about to stand her up. He cared too much about her.

He
was barely halfway down the hallways when his brother’s
daughter Ariadne came running towards him.

“
Whoa
there,” he said as he picked her up into his arms. “Someone
is in a hurry. Where are we off to?”

“
I’m
playing hide and seek with mommy uncle Rafael,” Ariadne said in
a whisper.

“
Really?”
he asked, smiling widely. “And where are you going to go this
time?”

“
The
cellar,” she said and Rafael shook his head.

“
But
you know you are not allowed in there, right?” he asked and she
nodded.

“
But
it is the best hiding spot.”

“
Tell
you what, the cloak room is a better spot plus it’s closer,”
he whispered. “And your mommy never checks the cloak room
anyway.”

Ariadne giggled.

“
Now,
tell me, your mommy and daddy are here, right?” he asked and
she nodded.

“
And
nonna
and
nonno
,”
she said as she counted her fingers on one hand. “And
nonno
Benassi and aunt
Isabella.”

Rafael felt the color
drain from her face.

“
Aunt
Isabella is here?” he asked and she nodded.

“
Fuck,”
he almost said it
out loud. He turned around and began walking towards the cloak room.
“Tell you what, I’ll cover you up so mommy doesn’t
notice you are in there, okay?” he said and Ariadne giggled
again. She looked at him and nodded.

“
I
will win,” she said in an excited whisper.

“
Yeah,
you will,” he said, opening the door to the cloak room. He put
her down on the floor and pulled a couple of towel racks so that she
could hide behind the makeshift fortress. He winked at her before he
walked out of the cloak room and quickly made his way down the
hallway towards the living room. He could hear the polite
conversation over the clinking glasses and when he got to the
doorway, he sighed.

“
Fanculo,”
he cursed under his
breath as he looked around the room. His mother and Isabella’s
mother looked well engaged in some conversation...probably
pretentious. He could see his father and Isabella’s father
through the screen doors leading to the pool area. They were out
there smoking cigars, possibly closing the next big deal or
something.

“
Rafael,
finally,” his mother said when she saw him walking towards
them.

“
We
were beginning to think you were not going to come,” Isabella
said, smiling. She had been talking to Rafael’s brother and his
wife and as usual, her clothes were barely there. She had on a
tighter than tight bandage dress and a pair of high heeled stilettos.

“
If
I had known we had company, I would have been a little more time
conscious,” he said, forcing a smile.

“
We
thought we would surprise you,” Lola, his sister-in-law said.
“But we all thought you wouldn’t mind, seeing as to how
perfect company Isabella is.”

Rafael gave a kiss to
the three ladies and then gave a hug to his brother.

“
So,
your daughter thinks she is in a hide and seek game with you,”
he said in a soft voice.

“
Yeah,
we kind of have a time stamp challenge. The longer she hides out, the
better her chances are at a win and the more wine I can wash down,”
Lola said smiling. “Best babysitting plan I’ve had in a
while.”

“
Win-win,
huh?” Rafael said and Lola flipped her hair over her shoulder.

“
You
said it, not me,” she said as she walked back to the living
room. “But come to think of it, Alberto, isn’t it your
turn to seek?”

Rafael smiled at his
brother before he shook his head.

“
Actually,
dear wife. Today is mommy daughter time.” Alberto’s voice
was slowly fading off as Isabella walked towards Rafael. She gently
pushed off one of her long locks from her face before she looked into
his eyes. She stood in front of him for a long minute before she
wrapped her arms around him, hugging him.

“
Did
my mother put you up to this?” Rafael asked as he pulled away
from her.

“
Susanna
didn’t put me up to anything, Rafael. I wanted to be here,”
Isabella said. “She just invited my family over for dinner and
when I heard of the whole plan, I didn’t really mind coming
over. Besides,” she put a hand on his shoulder and gently ran
it down his chest getting dangerously close to his crotch. He caught
her wrist when her hand got to his waist.

“
That’s
enough,” he said.

“
What?
I just thought I would give you a sneak peak of what I had in store
for you later.”

“
You
and I have nothing in store Isabella.”

“
So,
no private dessert either?” she asked and he shook his head.

“
Isabella,”
he started before he heard his phone ringing in his pocket. He took
it out and a smile played on his lips when he saw it was a text from
Amanda.

Running a little
late. Be there in a few.

“
Rafael,
lately you have been very weird. Never texting or calling, turning
down almost every invite I send you...” Isabella flipped her
hair over her shoulder. “If I didn't know any better, I would
have thought you are avoiding me.”

“
I
am
avoiding you,” he said and she raised an eyebrow over the
other.

“
Why?”
she asked and he shook his head.

“
Isn’t
it obvious? There is someone else.”

“
What?”

“
I
tried to tell you the night of the party...”