The Billionaire's Sextape: An Adult Billionaire Romance (13 page)

              “Martha?” Delilah asked, and James realized that she actually knew very little about his family.

              “Oh, Martha is like my second mom. She was my caregiver when I was younger. My mom died and Martha looked after me. She was the cleaner back then, but she was so good at caring for me that she became my nanny. Then we discovered that she was incredible in the kitchen, so she became our cook too.

My dad hired a new cleaner. And, I don’t know, I guess she’s just so much a part of the family now that even though I’m not there, she has still stayed on. She makes the best food in the world and is one of the best people I know.

She’s going to freak out when she sees I made a cake. My dad kind of just thinks I can do no wrong and is totally oblivious to the fact that I’m using all of his money on parties. But Martha is not blind – she knows what I’m doing. It’s hard to hide anything from her.”

              “Which means she’ll know all about me.” The concern in Delilah’s voice was obvious.

              “Yeah, she will. But so does my dad. And they don’t care. As long as I’m happy.”

              “She sounds lovely, James.”

              “She is.”

When they arrived, James held onto the cake as if it were his baby while Delilah rang the doorbell. This was the first time that he was ever bringing home a girl. He’d been with far too many girls to count, but none of them had been for long periods, and none of them had seemed the type that he could bring home. He felt slightly unsettled that the first time he bought a girl home, she wasn’t even his girlfriend.

Martha opened the door and ushered them in. She oohed and aahed over Delilah before she even looked at James.

              “Oh, aren’t you a pretty young thing. I’ve heard all about you. And don’t you worry about a thing. We are not here to judge. Life can be cruel at times. I’m sorry to hear about your parents and all the hardships that you went through. I’m so glad that you met James and that you’re making him so happy.”

James could see that Delilah had already fallen in love with Martha. It was hard not to. He loved the fact that Martha had just come straight out and spoken the truth to Delilah. Most people would rather spend all night pretending as if they didn’t know a thing. But this was so much better. Now Delilah knew where she stood, and he could see that she had visibly relaxed.

Martha turned to him. “Ah, you bought dessert. Thanks, my darling. Let me take it from you. Oh, wow! This is fancy! You didn’t have to bring anything so fancy, James. You know you don’t have to prove anything to this family. Just a regular chocolate cake would’ve been fine. But it is lovely. Thank you.”

              “No problem,” James said and beamed at her.

              “He made it himself!” Delilah blurted out. Then she looked at James, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to shout that out. But I’m just so impressed by you right now, I feel like telling everyone. In fact, I’m surprised you are not telling everyone. If I made this, I don’t think I would be able to shut up about it.”

Martha laughed, “Oh, my dear. This boy is telling you fibs. He didn’t make this cake. Are you crazy? This boy can’t even boil an egg. Trust me – he got this from some fancy shop, and he’s trying to pretend like he spent all day slaving over it. I know him well enough to know when he’s tricking us. But he can’t fool me.”

              “I thought so, too. I mean, look at him, he’s too pretty to know how to make cakes.” Delilah laughed at her own joke and Martha joined in. James stood between his fake mother and his fake girlfriend and found himself blushing. “But Martha, I actually believe him. Seriously – I believe him. If he didn’t make it, then he’s a damn good liar.”

Martha squinted her eyes at James. “Okay, then – tell me everything. Tell me how you made it. I still don’t believe a word of this tale, but I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt. But I’m only doing this for the lovely Lilah, so you better have your story straight.”

James launched into the whole story about how he had to run to the shops to get his ingredients, as well as all the bakeware, to how he had made the cake. He ran through the ingredients and the baking instructions and surprised himself by how much he remembered. He remembered it so well that he could probably remake the whole thing right there if he had the ingredients on hand. Suddenly, he realized that both women were staring at him.

              “What?” he asked.

              “You made this!” Martha said breathlessly. Then she looked at Delilah, “Oh, you really are sent from heaven, aren’t you? I am literally bursting with pride right now. I’m going to have to take a photo of it so that I always remember this moment. I’d say the cake is too pretty to eat, but we all know that we’re going to be digging in after dinner.”

              “Oh, you two have such little faith in me.”

              “And he made a proper breakfast for himself. Bacon and eggs. The lot!” Delilah blurted out again, the pride oozing out of her voice.

              “Well, look at that. I think you may have found your vocation in life,” Martha said to him.

              “What do you mean? Vocation?”

Martha grinned at him. “I mean, dear boy, that all my years of cooking for you have paid off. You must’ve actually learned a few things from all those years of sitting in the kitchen with me. I had no idea that you were watching me so carefully. I have a feeling you didn’t even know that you were watching me so carefully.

But, as it turns out – you might actually be better at this than I am. Now, we can see you’re brilliant at baking – of course the taste test is still to come – but next I want to see how good you are at cooking. I will be giving you my lasagna recipe, and I want you to invite me over for dinner soon.”

James was startled, “Your recipe?! But what about your secret ingredient?”

              “That can be our little family secret. So, do we have a deal?”

What had James gotten himself into? “We have a deal.”

Just then, James heard his father walking down the stairs. He had a distinctive way of walking that was impossible to miss. It was probably just the type of shoes he wore that made that sound on the wooden floors, but it made it impossible for him to sneak up on anyone.

Which had always been a good thing for James, who was often sitting in the living room looking up things he didn’t want his father to see on the internet. It was different with Martha who liked to walk barefoot in the house and would glide by unexpectedly.

“James! You’re here!” his father said as he approached. Then he watched as his father noticed Delilah and went up to her first. “And you must be the lovely Lilah. I’m Jason. It’s wonderful to meet you.”

Delilah beamed at his father. He’d always had that effect on people – especially on women, who couldn’t help but feel fluttered in his presence. James knew that he didn’t have the same effect. James was younger and better looking, sure, but people didn’t look at him with the same sense of awe. His father was loved by all, and for good reason.

              “Mr. Elton, I’ve heard a lot about you,” Delilah said and shook his hand.

              “Goodness, call me Jason. I’ve always felt strange when someone says Mr. Elton – it makes me feel old. And James – keep quiet!” Then his father looked back at Delilah, “He’s always calling me old.”

James walked over and gave his father a hug.

              “Well, old man, it’s good to see you again.”

              “Good to see you too, James. You’re looking good. I hear we have a full house tonight,” his father said.

              “Yeah, Marco, Tom, and Elton are coming, and as far as I know, Elton is bringing his new girlfriend, Ashley, with him.”

His father clapped his hands, “Wonderful. This house gets far too quiet. Most of the time I’m in my office and Martha gets the downstairs all to herself. It’s nice to have guests. And I haven’t seen these boys in forever.”

Just on cue, the doorbell rang, and Marco and Tom stood at the door. They had flowers for Martha and wine for his father. James did his usual introductions. He knew that Delilah was a bit nervous, considering the last time she had met some of James’ acquaintances, it hadn’t gone so well. He’d tried to explain that he hadn’t liked the people around that table either, but he wasn’t sure if she believed him.

Thankfully, Marco and Tom were vastly different. His father had lectured him on many occasions how important it was for him to keep up his friendship with his childhood friends, no matter how rich and famous he got. And he had – but it hadn’t been hard. They were the only people that he knew who actually liked him for who he was.

              “Oh, we can’t wait to dish all the dirt on James to you,” Marco was telling Lilah.

              “And I bet there’s a lot of dirt to be dished out,” she said, and they all laughed.

              “Hey! Why do you say that? I’ve done nothing wrong,” James said.

Tom grinned, “Oh really? Well then… where should we begin…”

James laughed nervously, “Nowhere, nowhere. We can begin nowhere. In fact, we can move swiftly along from this conversation. That’s the problem with staying friends with your school friends – they know all of the embarrassing stuff. You’ll be surprised to know, dear Lilah – but I wasn’t always this handsome man before you.”

              “Oh, I’m not surprised at all,” she said.

Marco and Tom burst out laughing. “Oh, I like this girl!”

He was saved by the doorbell. Elton stood with Ashley on his arm – beaming like only two new lovebirds could. Ashley looked different from how James had remembered her – but that was probably because he always saw her in the dingy darkness of the pub, and she was always wearing her standard black uniform dress.

Now she looked casual in jeans and a t-shirt, and her hair was pulled up in a high ponytail that swung from side to side when she walked. She had barely any makeup on and a smile that went on for days.

She was still very cute and seemed down to earth. One of those girls that you get an immediate liking for. It was obvious that Elton was smitten – he couldn’t wipe the smile off his face.

              “Oh goodness, we’re the last to arrive,” Elton said nervously as he took in the smiling faces all around him. “Hi everyone. This is Ashley. My girlfriend.” That made everyone smile.
His girlfriend.
He’d obviously been dying to say that out loud.

              “Hi everyone. I’ve heard a lot about you all. I bought some champagne – I thought it would be nice to celebrate.” She held up two bottles.

              “Well, dear – I love you already. Come on in,” Martha said and took the bottles from her. Martha then hurried into the kitchen. There was a big pop as the champagne bottles opened, and everyone laughed.

              “Martha doesn’t play around when it comes to alcohol,” James said, although he knew that she was going to come out and give everyone alcohol except him. He wondered if she’d even give his friends any. To her, they were all still young school children coming home to play. But to James’ great surprise, she walked out with a glass for everyone.

She winked at James. “I guess I have to accept the fact that you’re an adult now. I know you drink like mad when you’re not around me. I’ve been trying to pretend otherwise, of course. But I know you probably want some tonight.”

              “I’ve always liked the orange juice,” he said and took a sip of wine. “But this is nice too.” They all said a cheers.

              “This house is amazing!” Ashley said and then asked if she could go on a tour. So James and the boys led the girls around the house – showing them all the rooms that they used to play in and where they used to get up to no good. The boys knew the house as well as he did. They hadn’t been around in a while, but when they were younger, they were almost a part of the furniture.

              “You grew up in
this
house?” Delilah asked, incredulous. She’d barely said a word through the tour – her eyes widening with each room that they went in. James couldn’t help but feel a sense of pride for his childhood home. He knew that it was extravagant – which was so unlike his father – but there was just something about the place that was impossible not to love.

              “I know! The lucky bugger,” remarked Elton. “You won’t believe how jealous we were of him growing up. Which is why we came over all the time. I think people used to think we were brothers. My house always looked so small when I got home from this place. I wanted to live here. I asked my mom, but she said no.”

              “You asked your mom if you could live here? I didn’t know that!” James exclaimed.

              “Yeah – as you can imagine that didn’t go down so well. I got this huge lecture about how money wasn’t the most important thing in life and how I should be happy that at least I had a roof over my head. Of course, she was right – but I was young and I still wished that I lived here. After that I kept my feelings to myself, though.”

              “It’s beautiful,” Delilah said in a whisper.

              “Do you know that you’re the first girl that James has brought home?” Tom asked. Before James could say anything, Marco interrupted, “And the first girl that his father has met.”