Total pages in book: 59
Estimated words: 53516 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 268(@200wpm)___ 214(@250wpm)___ 178(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 53516 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 268(@200wpm)___ 214(@250wpm)___ 178(@300wpm)
"Have you figured out who the baby mama is yet?"
I groaned. "I really wish you wouldn't say it like that."
"One-night lover?"
"No," I grunted. "I don't know who the hell J is, and no matter how much I try to jog my memory, nothing is coming to me." I could've opened the envelope, which probably contained answers, but I wasn't ready yet.
"Dinner!" Rosalee's voice rang out through the kitchen window, punctuated by a distinct slam, which meant I probably needed to apologize for my bad behavior.
"And just who is that?" Nate asked with far too much amusement. "Are you holding out on me, baby brother?"
Without chopping wood to distract me, I dropped down on the chair where I usually sat to enjoy the sunrise with my morning coffee or the sunset with a cold beer and sighed. "Nothing to tell. It's the nanny." I gave him a quick rundown of Rosalee's dramatic entrance into my life and my cabin.
"Oh, the nanny, huh? She sounds sexy. Is she hot?"
I said nothing at first and pinched the bridge of my nose as I searched for restraint. "None of your damn business," was what I'd finally come up with.
"Wow," he guffawed loudly. "She's that hot, huh? Interesting. Did you order her from some type of sexy nanny catalog?"
"I called the number you gave me, Serenity Woods. Now, drop it." Why his teasing was pissing me off more than usual, I couldn't say. Then again, I was a grumpy asshole most of the time, so Nate wasn't bothered.
"Well, now you've piqued my curiosity even more, and I can't wait to meet her."
"Dammit, Nate." My hands shook with anger. "This isn't a joke. It's my life."
Nate sighed heavily. "You think I don't know that? I told you Triple Horn would eventually lead to trouble. You'd have been better off just hiring a pro. Or having a one-night stand like normal people do."
"Yeah," I growled at the point he'd made regularly since I told him about my monthly trips to the sex club. "Well, most one-night stands just want a quick missionary or doggy style." And unfortunately, I needed more than that to get off.
"If you want it rough and kinky, then maybe consider, I don't know, a committed relationship where you can get that whenever you want it. With strangers, there's always this risk. Besides, I thought only the people who ran the club knew your private information."
I sat up taller at Nate's words. "I hadn't thought about that." I hadn't been with the owner, Samantha, or any of the girls who worked at the club, so how did this person find me?
"You ever considered that someone knows who you are and this is a money grab?"
"Not until just now." Until that moment, I'd been confident that my identity, and therefore my wealth, was a secret. "Shit. Rosalee found an envelope underneath the baby's carrier."
"Rosalee is the nanny?" I appreciated that he was no longer laughing.
"Yeah. She's been damn insistent that there had to be some kind of details provided to me, and she found them." I should be grateful, and maybe later, I would be. Right now, I was still just angry and frustrated. And attracted.
"Why in the hell haven't you cracked open that envelope yet, Xavier? I know you've shrugged off your corporate persona and attire, but that killer instinct? That cynicism that made this place a success? Come on, brother."
"I don't have an answer." The truth was, if I opened it, I would find out the truth, and maybe I wasn't ready for it yet. "What do I do, Nate?"
"First, you open up the damn envelope and read every word on every single sheet of paper in there."
"Yeah," I sighed.
"Then, no matter what the paper says, you take that little girl, get a paternity test, and do it quickly. If you are her father, use the power of your wealth and your name to expedite custody, just in case the mother comes back looking for some kind of payday." He scoffed. "If she found you, she knows who you are. She probably thinks she'll let you get attached and then show up to get you to pay her to stay away."
"Damn, that's cynical even for me." It was unheard of for my brother. He was all bright sides and optimism.
"Well, trust me, I have a bit more sympathy for your cynicism these days."
"That sounds like a story."
"One I'll tell you when I come up to meet my niece, once you have confirmation she is my niece. And a name."
I laughed, feeling lighter after my brother's counsel. "Thank you, Nate. This was just the kick in the ass I needed."
"It's what I'm here for. And do me a favor."
I held my breath because Nate's favors could be something simple, like a charity donation, or something more complicated, like our mother's dinner party. "What is it?"