Baby Love: A Bad Boy Billionaire Romance (22 page)

Ten minutes later I had the propane fire pit roaring and I was wrapped up in a soft blanket. The sun was just setting as Zane returned with a bag of marshmallows, two mugs of cocoa, and a wire hanger. “I would have never guessed that Liz would have a single wire hanger in her entire house,” I confessed.

Zane handed me my cocoa and bent the hanger until it was in a straight line. He impaled a marshmallow on the end and held it over the flames. “I thought we’d roast some now before the kids come out and eat the rest of the bag.”

“Good thinking. You’re going to make a great dad with that kind of foresight,” I said.

Zane stared into the flame, carefully turning the marshmallow to roast it evenly. “I was wondering when we were going to talk about that.”

“Talk about what?” I asked. But I already knew what he meant.

“Us being together-together. Not just dating. As a real, honest couple. As…parents to our two girls.”

I pulled my feet underneath the blanket. “I’m still not sure I trust you, Zane. We still haven’t even talked about that last appointment or what’s going on with your health.”

Zane nodded and lit the marshmallow on fire for two spectacular seconds before blowing it out quickly. He handed it to me. It was the perfect roast: golden brown everywhere with a charred hat. The inside was heated all the way through to gooey perfection; the outer shell crinkled and pulled away from the soft, unblemished insides.

He took a deep breath before speaking. “My dad had an aneurysm in his late twenties. I barely even remember him. My older brother died my last year in the NFL. Same thing. Same age as my dad. The doctors didn’t realize that it was hereditary, otherwise they might have been able to prevent it with my brother. So with me, I’ve been going for brain scans five times a year. The appointment you heard about, the one that made you break up with me? They found some shadows that were suspicious. Nothing big enough to do anything about yet or anything. But they’re keeping an eye on them.”

I nodded, licking my sticky fingers. “So they
can
do something about them?”

“Yeah. Once they’re a bit bigger; they go in and put a clip next to each of them. It takes care of it. The clips rarely fail, but there’s still a chance.”

I stared at him over the fire. “You know it wasn’t exactly the health problem in and of itself, right? It was the dishonesty. It was you withholding that from me. These are things I have a right to know about.”

Zane set down the wire coat hanger and took my hand in his. “I want you to be there for everything. I want you to know about everything from here on out. No secrets. No lies. But you should know there is a real risk that I won’t make it another couple of years. This will always be something I have to live with. I want your eyes open to the possibility that I won’t always be here the way you three need me.”

I put my hand on my stomach instinctively at the word ‘three.’ “It’s a lot for me to think about, honestly. I’m still not ready. I want to keep dating you like we’ve been doing. No pressure. Just being together. That’s all I want.”

Zane squeezed my hand and kissed my marshmallow-covered lips. “I love you, Rachel.”

We were interrupted by the arrival of all five boys. “We have ideas!” Three of them yelled. Then they all started talking at once and over each other. The tiniest boy, his diaper fixed and his coat on, walked over to the marshmallow bag to help himself.

We declared all five boys the winners. It was ice cream for everyone.

An hour later, after making the boys race each other in backyard sprints, they were miraculously exhausted and ready to fall into bed. Zane shut the final bedroom door with a sigh of relief.

I was leaning against the hallway wall with my arms crossed. “Exhausted yet?”

Zane smiled and took me into his arms. I looked up into his blue eyes. “Never,” he said. “Let’s have ten children. We can totally handle this.”

I rolled my eyes. We walked back downstairs, holding hands as Liz fell through the front doors of the house, dropping her keys and purse onto the floor and stepping out of her heels. “Rough night?” Zane asked.

“I need more wine,” Liz said. She wandered past us into the kitchen. “All the boys asleep?”

“Yup,” Zane replied.

“You two aren’t allowed to leave until I’ve had adult conversation with two people who aren’t complete ego maniacs.”

I collapsed onto the sofa and Zane sat next to me. Liz appeared with two wine glasses and a full bottle. “I hate venture capitalists. Why did I just put myself through all of that? What possible motivation could I have had to do that?” She sat back with her full glass of wine and looked around the spotless living room. “This place isn’t a pigsty. How is that possible? Did you hire a cleaning service? Not even my nanny manages to leave the place spotless after he’s been alone with the kids for an entire evening.”

“We made them clean up their mess,” I explained. “And we cheated by spending the second half of the night outside by the fire pit. Kind of kept the mess contained.”

Liz smiled. “You two will be great at this. You should have as many children as humanly possible.”

I laughed.

She didn’t. “I’m serious. It’ll be the best decision of your life.”

I could feel Zane’s eyes on me. “Yeah, I’m not really interested in being a stay-at-home mom,” I said. “I’d miss the lab and office too much.”

Liz motioned to Zane. “Make him do it. He hates being at the office.”

I looked at Zane, expecting him to demur. But he didn’t. “I would be open to that.”

My jaw dropped. “Seriously?”

“Absolutely.”

I let his words fall over me, trying to absorb them. I hadn’t expected that. We honestly hadn’t had many conversations about what the mechanics of all of this would be.

Liz waved her hands. “Okay, enough parenting talk. I need adult speak.”

We spent several more hours laughing and talking as friends. But in the back of my mind were the words that Zane had said.
I would be open to that
.

It was a bit like the entire world had just opened itself up to me.

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

ZANE
      

My penthouse had been taken over by Babies R’Us. Colorful boxes filled with plastic toys, play places, bottles, diapers, and onesies littered the furniture and tables. We were getting new packages each day filled with gifts upon gifts.

Rachel was sexier than ever with her glowing curves. She was seven months along and I couldn’t keep my hands off of her. It was embarrassing for her but I also knew that she loved it. She sat on my lap, my arms wrapped around her, as she opened yet another gift. “What is a baby supposed to do with a solid-silver rattle?” she asked.

Michael scribbled furiously onto a yellow legal pad. “And who is that from again?”

“Oprah,” I answered.

Rachel shook her head. “I just don’t get it. Like, we have everything we need a thousand times over and this stuff just keeps pouring in. We can hardly move for stepping on baby stuff in here.”

A squeaking sound came from the kitchen. “Sorry, stepped on one of those French rubber giraffes,” Roger quipped. He poured hot chocolate for all of us, bringing the tray back over. “I think you could float the Titanic across the ocean with the number of those that you have hanging around this place.”

Rachel buried her head in her hands. I could tell she was getting overwhelmed. “I think we have ten cribs. Literally. Ten. Who sends a crib? And the strollers? We have literally twenty of them. And we said ‘no gifts’ when we sent the announcements out. Didn’t we, Michael?” She looked over at him.

“You did indeed, ma’am. I specified it at the engravers.”

Rachel sighed again. “And that! We had
engraved
pregnancy announcements. The decadence…it’s sick. There are so many women who have
nothing
, not even baby formula.”

I stroked her back to calm her down. “You want to donate some more money to the women’s shelter?”

She nodded. “Yeah.”

I looked at Michael. “Get it done, please,” I said. “Another hundred grand.”

Michael nodded and scribbled a reminder.

Roger opened up a package of cookies, the crinkling sound echoing around the room. “You could donate all this stuff. But like, set it up as a free store. Contact the women’s shelter and make it a private event. You could rent a space downtown, somewhere discreet. We could haul all this down there and set it up like a store but have it all be free.” He bit into an Oreo, crumbs cascading down his suit.

Rachel climbed off my lap and waddled adorably over to Roger. She bent down, took his head in her hands, and kissed him on the mouth. “You’re a genius.”

Roger had a smirk on his face. “If I come up with more great ideas do I get more kisses from the pregnant goddess?”

“Hey now,” I said, laughing. “Hands off my woman.” I stood up and grabbed Rachel to tickle her. She shrieked in delight. Her warm back pressed against my chest and suddenly I had a need for something else. “We’ll be back in a little while,” I said, scooping Rachel up off of her feet and carrying her into the bedroom. I slammed the door behind me and put her on the bed.

“Right now? With Michael and Roger out there?” But she was already squirming with anticipation. I could tell.

I pulled off her wool sweater and gazed at her tits and round, perfect stomach. She was glowing from the inside out. It was like her skin was filled with a thousand lights that radiated outward. I shimmied her panties down her ample, curvy ass. “Stand up,” I whispered in her ear. She shuddered and did as she was told. I bent her over the bed and ran my hands down her back, spanking her. She screamed.

I leaned down and whispered, grinning. “What happened to being self-conscious about Roger and Michael hearing us?”

She turned around, her eyes feverish, her lip trembling. “Just fuck me, Zane.”

I did as I was told, her enormous breasts in my hands as I took her from behind, feeling every groan and crashing wave of pleasure overtake my body.

When we finished, I helped her back into her clothes. “I think I need to keep you pregnant for all time and eternity,” I whispered. “I fucking love you pregnant.”

She kissed me fully, slipping her tongue into my mouth. “You can knock me up as many times as you want as long as you don’t stop the nightly foot massages.”

“We have a deal, then.” I pulled her sweater down over her head as she wiggled her arms through the sleeves. “You know what would make those nightly foot massages even easier to administer?”

“What?” she asked, a challenging smile on her face.

“If you finally moved in with me.”

Her face fell. “I told you I’m not ready for that.”

I moved my hands down to her stomach. “Rach, we’re less than two months out; within two weeks it could be any day now. You really want to have a setup for twins at two houses?”

“You can come stay with me and Callie. I really don’t want to leave my sister yet. She’s looking forward to me being there with the girls. I know she’d love to have you.” She grabbed both of my hands in hers. “And besides that, I really don’t want to move in together until we’re married.”

A smile crept across my face and I made like I was going to get down on one knee.

Rachel laughed and pulled me up. “No, no proposing. I’m not ready for that yet, either. Let’s let the babies come and we’ll see where we are. I promise I’m not shutting you down. I’m just not
there
yet.”

She wandered out into the living room. My house phone rang. I answered the one next to my bed. “Zane,” I said simply.

“Mr. Reid, you have a follow up appointment with Dr. Malcolm two weeks from tomorrow. I wanted to remind you.”

“Thanks,” I said, feeling my stomach drop. “I’ll be there.”

I hung up the phone and saw Rachel was standing in the doorway. “Roger’s already planned like half of the baby goods event. He’s got a space booked for two weeks from tomorrow. You should get out here before he starts spending even more of your money.” She saw the look of concern on my face and her expression fell. “Everything alright?”

“Yeah,” I said. I remembered that I had promised to tell her
everything.
“Everything’s just fine. I have a totally, utterly, entirely routine appointment with Dr. Malcolm that day but I can just run out and come back.” I walked over to her and gave her the deepest kiss I could muster.

I never knew when it might be the last one I would hand out.

CHAPTER THIRTY

RACHEL

“Okay, everybody, line up over here,” Roger yelled.

Roger, Zane, Callie, me, and a dozen other volunteers were huddled in the same ballroom where the
Boiler Room
episode had premiered. Over the last two weeks, Roger and Callie had been forces of nature in their separate homes, making phone calls to every one of their friends who knew a kid, had a kid, or was currently pregnant and drowning in excess baby gifts. We’d collected several thousand very gently used and brand new designer baby items.

Three hundred moms were showing up today to have the “shopping spree” of their lives.

Zane had told me he’d never seen Roger this involved in anything before. Roger was almost unrecognizable to me in his jeans and t-shirt.

Roger yelled over the crowd. “The women are probably only going to want to take one or two things. But we have a receipt checklist. Each woman
must
leave here with no less than one stroller of her choosing, one crib of her choosing, fifteen packages of diapers, ten things of wipes, three dozen onesies across six months of sizing, bottles, cans of formula, and one thing from the useless but shiny accessories table.” He gestured behind him toward the table that was covered in Tiffany baby rattles and heirloom pieces. We figured the moms could make some money selling them or find some sentimental use for the goods assembled there.

Zane stood up next to Roger. “You each have your section to patrol if the women need any help. They’re here for two hours and remember: no photos of anything. No social media. These women want their privacy and safety and we’re here to protect that. Understood?”