The Billionaire's Baby (The Romero Brothers, Book 5) (10 page)

“Well, why
shouldn’t he be in a good mood?” Toni chimed in. “Venus told me all about you
and Amber, Jules. That’s very good of you. I hope you two get back together,
especially after that horrible boyfriend of hers left her with that baby she’s
carrying.”

“Gramps!”

“What? Well,
that’s why she’s been accompanying you to our family dinners lately, isn’t it?
You two have something going, isn’t that right?”

“Toni,” Shelly chimed
in. “Leave Jules alone. You’re always on about these boys being in a relationship.”

“Oh, not just any
relationship, Shelly dear.”

And just like
that, in unison, the entire group said at the same time, “It’s all about
marriage. Marriage is the building block of a healthy relationship.”

Toni looked
stunned and taken aback. He growled playfully under his breath. “That’s not
funny.”

“No offense,
Gramps, but you do sound like a broken record.”

“A broken record?
There’s nothing broken about me here. I’ve never given up on finding true love
after your dear grandmother passed away many years ago. It took me five tries
but look how happy I am with dear Shelly.
If I can do it in
my late seventies, by God, what about you handsome, successful boys?
Look at Antonio and Lucas and Zack and even your brother, the mayor, Carl. Come
on now. You, Dion, Troy and Alonso need to get going. Life is too short to live
alone. “

Jules’s heart
pounded in his chest. A sinking feeling slammed into his gut. He wanted so
badly to be a daddy—one day. He just took it for granted that he always
would be. He’d been so great with Amber in the past and now?

Even if they got
back together she could not have a biological child with him. Yeah, it was a
blessing that she was pregnant. It just wasn’t his child. He drew in a deep
breath and tried to hide the hurt and pain circulating in his blood.
The sheer disappointment with himself not listening to his
grandfather in the past.
He should have acted faster with Amber. If only
he had been ready then to make a commitment to her.

Maybe then,
before Jules’s accident, they would have been married and had a family. But
man, it sucked to be wrong. He was typically never wrong about anything. But he
looked around and saw how happy Antonio was with Lucy and their little guy
Alexander and how Lucas and Maxine had a pretty little girl Mary-Louise. Zack
and Blue had Jefferson, and Carl and Venus just gave birth to their second son,
Christopher, who was only a couple months old.

Of course, Amber,
who was also a friend of Venus, visited the estate in the last week to see
Venus and the baby and no doubt got to
talking
about
Amber staying at one of Jules’s spare condo suites. Yeah, it was hard to keep a
secret around the Romero estate, or Romero city, as the land their grandfather
owned that happened to be a huge chunk of the city of Mayberry Hill was often
dubbed. Jules shouldn’t be that surprised that
rumors
flew fast to his grandfather’s ears about Jules and Amber.

Jules shoved his
hands in his pockets and proceeded to leave the study before his emotions got
the best of him. He knew his family was only trying to be their usual playful selves
but it wasn’t helping. Turmoil raged through him.

“What’s wrong, my
boy?” Toni called out.

“Nothing, Gramps.
I’m just heading out for a little fresh air. I’ll be back. Got to make a quick
call,” he told them.

When he walked
out at the front grand marble entrance, he made his way down the stone pathway
through the front garden and who did he see coming up the pathway? Carl.

“Well, Mr. Mayor.
What brings you to this humble part of town? Where’s Venus?”

“Venus is at a hair
appointment.”

“Oh, cool. Listen,
Carl. I’m glad we’re meeting out here. I need to ask you something.”

“Sure, what’s
up?”

“I see how you
get along with Tristan, even though he’s…well, you know, not your biological
son.”

“Yeah?”

“Well, do you
feel any different about…?”

“What exactly are
you trying to say, Jules?”

Jules drew in a
deep breath. He really didn’t want to tell anyone. But he had to open up to
Carl. He just had to.

“If I tell you
something, you’ve got to swear you won’t mention a thing. Not even to Gramps. I
don’t want him getting all worried.”

“You know I’m
good to go, bro.”

He told Carl
about the results of the accident.

“Man, why didn’t
you say anything before? Jules, I’m real sorry.”

“Hey, it’s
nothing to be sorry about. It is what it is. And besides, nothing’s set in
stone yet.”

“Man, that really
sucks! But you’ve had a few girlfriends since the accident,” Carl noted.

“Oh yeah. My sex
life hasn’t been altered after the accident. Oh, I’ve got no trouble fulfilling
the lovely ladies in
that
department!”
Jules grinned. “Amber and I broke up long before that accident but I’ve dated
since then. You know that.”

And it was true.
Jules had no trouble securing hot dates and a mutually fulfilling sex life with
whoever was his current girlfriend. Of course, Amber was the only “girlfriend”
he
hadn’t
slept with even though they
were friends long before they officially dated briefly.

Jules and his
brothers often spoke frankly about sex, their sex lives and all kinds of stuff
so this conversation was no different.

“Well, that’s
good to hear. So what’s troubling you, then?”

“Well, the girls
I dated since the accident understood I wasn’t the marrying type and they were
okay with it. As was I.”

“But Amber is the
one you think you want to spend the rest of your life with?” Carl tried to
clarify.

“Correction. I
don’t think I want to spend the rest of my life with her. I know I do. I’ve
just been a bit distant around her, intimacy wise. God, she turns me on and I
know she feels the same way about me, but in her condition, I just want to give
her space.”

“Well, I can tell
you hormones can get real crazy for some pregnant women.”

“I know. Anyway,
I just feel that because of what the doc said-”

“So doc thinks
you’ll be shooting blanks or something?”

Jules shrugged. “Everything’s
good with me; you know I’m healthy as an ox. But yeah, there’s a possibility I
may not be able to get Amber pregnant if our relationship progresses into more and
it pisses me off. I mean
,
we’ve gotten really close like
old times this past month and a half. It’s like we reconnected all over again
as if we’d never been out of touch. There’s something between us. I really want
to make this work for us but…I think she’d like to have more kids. She didn’t
say as such, but I got the feeling.”

“I know what you
mean. But you know sometimes doctors can be wrong, right? I mean, everything’s
good with you, right?”

“Yeah. I wouldn’t
even know I might not have kids if he hadn’t told me.”

“I really think
he’s wrong. But if it’s any consolation, it doesn’t matter anyway. Family is
family. And blood doesn’t make you family.”

“Amen to that.”

“Besides, you
know I love Tristan as my own.”

“I know.”

“Well, one day he
asked me about his real father and asked how I can be a father.”

“What did you
tell him?”

“Well, I told him
in the best way I could a preschooler, that there are all kinds of daddies.”

“Good.”

“Truth is, Jules,
we both know that blood is thicker than water.”

“I know.”

“But love is
thicker than blood.”

“So true, man.”
Jules nodded in agreement. His brother Carl inherited their grandfather’s sense
of wisdom and sage advice. No wonder Carl won the mayoral election. He’d always
been one heck of a talker. “You’re right. There are people who would do things
for you that your own family wouldn’t and vice versa. Blood doesn’t make a
family. You know if Amber does give us a second chance, I would love to be
daddy to her child. But there’s so much about her she won’t let me in on.”

“Like what?”

“Well, she
doesn’t want to talk about the baby’s father. All I know is that his name is
Rex.”

Carl had a look
of shock on his face. “Why not?”

Jules recalled all
too well that Carl had been through a similar experience when Venus didn’t want
to let on to Tristan’s real daddy’s identity. Carl rubbed his forehead. “I hope
the dude is not some drug cartel or something akin,” Carl said.

Jules chuckled.
“Very funny.
With a name like Rex?
I don’t think so,
bro. He’s just not around. Besides, she said not putting a father’s name on the
birth certificate
will
mean her child will be deprived
of a father, as she was. She didn’t want her child suffering the same sort of
stigma or embarrassment in showing her birth certificate with that omitted information.”

“I see.”

Carl had already
heard about the scars that Amber was left with emotionally and physically. It
was no longer a secret. Amber told Venus and became more open about it and
started to wear more comfortable clothing for the weather, revealing some skin
appropriately instead of wearing thick sweaters and covering every inch of her
body in hot temperatures.

“Listen, I’m
going to pick up Amber. She’s at an appointment.”

“You guys really
do look good together, Jules. I really hope you guys hit it off again and walk
down that aisle. I was feeling the same way you were at one point. I thought
marriage would really tie
me down but having Venus at my side
day and night and enjoying her company
and love is amazing. And as
Gramps would say…”

“I know, I know…
It
’s better to
marry
than to burn with passion.” Jules grinned and rolled his eyes. “Yeah.
Whatever.”

“Good luck, man.”

“Thanks. Oh, and, Carl?”

“Yeah?” Carl said, turning to face Jules.

“Listen, you know I need to check out a few
things regarding that accident that happened to Amber a long time ago. You
know, when her folks were killed.”

“Yeah?”

“Well, I want to get our boys on the case,
too. She just told me the cops reopened the investigation after all these years.
I just want to make sure Amber will be protected at all costs.”

“Sure. We can get our guys on the job.”

“Thanks. She keeps having nightmares about
the past and I’m concerned. Her aunt’s a real charmer. And I don’t mean
literally. But there are a lot of things going on I don’t like. I’m pretty sure
Mavis’s constant bickering at Amber has contributed to Amber’s self-esteem
issues over the years. But if Amber is going to be part of my future I want to
make sure she’ll be always safe—from whatever it is she’s running or
whomever she’s afraid of.”

“What makes you think she’s running?”

“Well, she’s got a lot of pent-up emotions
about her past. I think her aunt really pulled a number on her with emotional
abuse. I don’t even like the way she looks at Amber now and the way she talks
to her—with no respect. Amber’s feeling
more uneasy
lately. I think she’s more worried about how her anxiety could affect the
baby’s
well-being
. She even insisted that I stay with
her at the condo. Which, of course, is totally cool with me. You know how I
feel about her. But I could see terror in her eyes.”

“Sure thing, Jules. I’ll make sure Dion gets
the guys on it. Consider it done. If it hadn’t been for Amber, I wouldn’t have
Venus. Amber practically saved her life in more ways than one. Amber is family
now. Don’t worry, she’ll be good.”

“Thanks.”

Jules knew he could always count on Carl
and his other brother, Dion. They were the closest out of all the brothers.
When Carl was in hot water, Jules was right there by his side, especially
during the scandalous mud-slinging mayoral campaign that almost knocked Carl
out of the game. Jules was there by his side.

Jules was going to make sure Amber was
protected … come what may.

Later, Amber
arrived at the main entrance French doors at Romero Manor after Jules dropped
her off. “I’ll be right back, I’ve just got to pick up something for Gramps,”
he told her before giving her a peck on the cheek.

“Sure.”

She noticed the
door was slightly ajar and thought it was odd. But Jules had already driven
off. “That’s strange.” It was late afternoon and the lights seemed to be off in
the home. Her heart thumped madly in her chest. Why was she nervous? She was at
Romero Manor, right? The home was safe if nothing more. She’d been there many
times before including the last time they had a massive family dinner to which
she enjoyed being a guest of Jules.