Fresh: A BWWM Secret Billionaire Romance (12 page)

T
heir conversation floated
up the staircase.

"Jimmy, I came over earlier. There was this crazy dark-skinned girl who told me that you two were married and were having a baby together. It was insane."

"She's not crazy. That's my wife."

There was silence.

"Your wife? But she's...so...fat. And short."

What a bitch.

"She might be kind of short, but you shouldn't call her fat. She's having a baby."

"How do you even know that the baby is yours? Did you get a paternity test?"

Jimmy said, "No, and I am not going to ask for one. I trust her. I know her.“

"Jimmy, you have a lot of money. How do you even know that she's not making this up so that she can get a share of your company? Did you get a prenup."

"I don't need a prenup. Her dad gave me a billion dollars' worth of stock to marry her."

My heart plummeted straight into the ground. No.

"That explains a lot." They stopped talking. I put on one of Jimmy's shirts. I didn't want to be naked, but I didn't have the time to go into the bathroom and choose an outfit. I needed to talk to Jimmy pronto. I got down the stairs just in time to see the two of them kissing.

I felt like a lightning bolt struck me in the heart.

"Oh, sorry, didn't see you there." Mary Jo's voice cut me like a knife. I clutched my heart, which had a big hole in it.

"How could you?" I whispered. The two of us had been just about to go at it upstairs, and now he was downstairs with her. "We've barely been married, and you're already cheating on me."

"I didn't have anything to do with it. It was her. She jumped on me."

Mary Jo laughed. "Don't even pretend that you didn't want it, Jimmy." She gripped his dick. "I know that you did."

I blinked and ran out the back door. I heard Jimmy run behind me, then there was a scuffle. I ran faster.

The cold air hit me in an icy blast, but I kept running outside. That's all I was. My dad had traded me to this stupid guy who fucked me and knocked me up. Totally. I guessed that I should be flattered that I was worth this much money to him.

It was the company. I felt my breath coming in harsh gasps. I had exercise asthma, and the cold Wisconsin air was not helping.

I headed towards the old house. At least in there I wouldn't have to look at Jimmy's stupid face.

I heard pounding footsteps behind me, and I tried to run, but it was hard. The cold grass seemed somewhat frozen, and it was hard to run on it. It was hard, but it also gave. Jimmy caught up with me.

"Hey. Hey. Let's talk about this."

My breath came out in gasps. "I can't talk right now."

"We can figure this out."

I put my hands on my thighs and gasped. "I actually can't talk."

He realized that I was fighting for breath. "Oh my god!" He threw me over his shoulder. I closed my eyes. This was nothing like when he had taken me up the stairs earlier, when I thought that we were going to make love. This was pure survival. I let my body go limp on his, and I let him carry me back into the warmth.

When he put me down inside of the mansion, he demanded, "Are you insane? Do you have a death wish?"

"No. I just have asthma."

"Where is your inhaler?"

"In my purse."

I heard him race up the stairs to get my purse from my things. He gave me my inhaler, and I did two puffs on it. I tried to let it sink into my throat and lungs, and I felt them get a little looser. I could breathe again, though it was still a little labored.

"Jesus Christ." He ran a hand through his hair. "Don't ever do that again."

"You aren't the boss of me." I stood up, then I quickly sat back down. My body did not like the change of position. I was dizzy and nauseous, and pregnant women threw up enough, thank you kindly. "Why didn't you tell me that my dad had paid you a billion dollars to marry me? Jeez, Jimmy, how are you supposed to be my husband if you constantly lie to me and cheat on me?"

"I didn't cheat on you."

"We've been married for a day, and you're already kissing some other girl."

"That was a show that Mary Jo was putting on for you. She kissed me. I didn't kiss her."

"I didn't see you pushing her away."

He sighed. "We were high school sweethearts. We broke up a long time ago, when we went to college. I stayed here so that I could live at home. She went to study in Edinburgh, Scotland. She was engaged."

I blinked. "And then?"

"It didn't work out, for some reason. She came home, and I tried to be nice, you know. She would come over and bake me cookies, and it was nice to have a little company. There aren't too many people out here."

"You could very easily move into Madison, Milwaukee, or Chicago. I'm sure that your mother would be happy to see you."

"My mother was raised in Chicago. I was born here. I belong here. I run my business empire out of Madison."

"Empire? Just how much money do you have."

"Enough that the billion that your father gave me isn't even a tenth of my net worth."

My eyes popped as wide as they could get. "You have an eleven-digit net worth?"

He rubbed the back of his neck. "On good market days, yeah. I mean, once you get enough money, your accountants cannot really evaluate your precise net worth.”

I leaned back in my seat. "That's a lot of money. I'm pretty sure that's more money than my dad has. I know Dad has billions, but I don’t think it’s ten or over.”

"If you're truly rich, you never know how much money you have. You know that."

I smiled. "Daddy gets irritated because he can lose more in a day than most people make in their entire lives."

Jimmy shrugged. "It's part of the game. Will you forgive me?"

I sighed. "I want to go home. Wisconsin is too cold for me. Honestly. It's not good for the baby if I asphyxiate in the air out here. Maybe I should come back in the summer.” Maybe I should come back when Mary Jo moved away or died. I was ashamed of my uncharitable thought, but there it was.

"That's true." He rubbed his chin. "Do you want to go live with my mom? It seems like you hit it off.”

"No, Chicago isn't that warm. Isn't there lake effect snow and stuff?"

"Yeah, there is." He rubbed his eyebrow. "Should I send you to Hawaii?"

I looked at the thermometer. It was 25 degrees in April, and flakes of snow were drifting downwards and sticking to the window before melting.

"Yes."

I
jolted
awake when the jet landed in Hawaii. We had to refuel in Los Angeles to make the trip out. Hawaii was much further away from the mainland than most people thought.

True to his word, Jimmy had booked me one of those little cabins in Kauai. My little baby bump was getting more and more pronounced every day.

After lunch, I went shopping in one of the stores, and I bought a bunch of Liz Lange maternity wear. I could still fit into my looser clothes, but I knew that in the months to come, I would need much larger clothing.

When I was bored after shopping, I called my best friend Andrew.

"You'll never guess what happened today."

"What?"

“I found this amazing restaurant. When you come here, if you ever make it out to Hawaii, you should try it.”

“Really? What makes it so good?”

“It has very fresh fish.”

“We have fresh fish in DC.”

“Yeah, but this fish is better.”

“I doubt that it could honestly be better.” He sounded like no fish could ever be better than ours.”

“It is.” I smiled. “You're just going to have to see when you come here.”

“Ok.”

“When will that be?” I tried to keep my longing out of my voice.

“I have no idea. Some of us have jobs, you know.” Why did everyone say that to me? Did it seem like I never worked?

“Ok.” I did not bother to hide my disappointment. “I’ll talk to you later.”

“Bye.”

I did not tell him that I was getting lonely here by myself. It was a very lovely landscape. I went swimming, even though the beaches were kind of rocky and scary.

Still, it was nice to be on my own. I was hardly ever alone in my old life. And definitely at first in Wisconsin, complete silence helped. But as time went on, I missed companionship. Here in Hawaii, there were plenty of people, but I did not know any of them. Everybody I knew had a job back home.

After my first day, I became an avid snorkeler. The water was clear, and the fish were tropical. It was beautiful to swim around with my face in the water. It was hard for me to learn how to snorkel at first, and I kept breathing in water. However, after a while, I got used to it.

I went out each morning and bought a new swimsuit. It was funny, because I was chubbier now, but I wore more bikinis. When you wear a bikini, it doesn't hold in your huge maternity bump. However, it did not need to.

I went to that fabulous restaurant for fish every time. One night, I noticed at dinner that the fish smelled kind of weird. Most of the time, very fresh fish do not smell at all. But this night, the fish smelled worse than the fish that they kept on ice at Madison’s farmer’s market.

I woke up that night hurling my guts out.

I
stumbled towards my bathroom
. I had vomit on the bedspread, but at least that would give them a reason to clean it. I hurled once on the tile before I could get to the toilet. As I tried to walk past my vomit, I fell and hit my head on the marble countertop.

That was all I knew for a while as my vision went black.

W
hen I came to
, I wondered why my head hurt so much. I opened my eyes to see the cabinets under the sink. Why did I go to sleep in the bathroom?

It came back to me. I had vomit in front of me. There was vomit on my legs. I had the worst of a hangover, but I hadn’t had fun with alcohol.

I stood on shaky legs and went to the shower to hose myself off a little bit. I thanked the stars above that I had had an adventurous time in college and knew how to clean myself up.

When I felt up to it, I turned off the water and called the desk.

“Hello, reception.”

“Hello.” I looked at the clock. It had been several hours. “Do you have anybody at the resort who can give medical attention?”

“Why? What’s the matter?”

“I slipped and bumped my head. I also kept vomiting earlier.”

“We have a doctor on staff. Give me your hotel room number, and we’ll send him up right away.”

I gave the lady my room number, and I went to change into clean clothes. I would have to rinse out my clothes later. I also needed to call housekeeping, since there was a terrible stench in my bathroom, but it would wait.

My doctor was very prompt. I heard three sharp raps on my door. He must have run, because he was panting as I opened my door.

“I heard you were sick?”

“It’s not urgent, doctor. I just hit my head a little. I think I got food poisoning.”

“I see.” He went to the bed. “Sit down, please.” He pulled over a chair, and he shined a little flashlight into my eyes. His face got close to mine.

“Tell me how you hit your head.”

“I slipped in the bathroom. I threw up.”

“I see. So you threw up before you slipped, or you slipped and then threw up?”

“Both. When I came to, there was vomit in front of me.” The room still smelled like it.

“Hmm.” The doctor eyed my bulge. “And you’re pregnant.”

“You can tell?”

“Yes. I did some time as an OBGYN.”

“Okay.” I blinked. Why did all the doctors I met know all about pregnancy? I really needed to study up on it more.

“You have a concussion.” The doctor did not sugarcoat it. “You need to be observed tonight to make sure that it’s not serious. Is there anybody who can wake you up every two hours?”

I looked down at my slightly wet legs. “No. I’m here alone.”

I looked up. The doctor was frowning. “I hate to admit you to the hospital when you aren’t very ill, but you need to be observed tonight. Do you think you can sleep in a hospital bed?”

“Okay.”

I
closed
the browser on my laptop. As fun as it was to play Bloxon for the millionth time, I needed to rest.

My phone rang.

“Hello?” Who even knew that I was in here?

“I heard you ended up in the hospital.”

“I did.” It was Jimmy’s voice. He didn’t go for any small talk. “It’s not a big deal. Just a little concussion, that’s all. Just a big klutz.”

Jimmy was quiet. “I’m coming.”

“No, Jimmy, you shouldn’t. You still have your deal to close. I know how important it is to you.”

“Screw this deal,” he hissed. “You’re far more important.”

I was hearing a weird double echo, because his voice was bouncing off of the walls and coming out from the phone. I took the phone away from my ear and looked at it, but the volume was normal.

A man walked into my room, and my heart stopped.

“You’re here.” I put my hand over my heart, which was going crazy looking at him. He came for me, because I was sick.

“Nothing could keep me away from you.”

Tears filled my eyes. “Nothing but Mary Jo and a business deal.” I didn’t actually know if I wanted him here, given the way that we had parted before.

He sighed and touched his eyebrow. “I’m sorry about all that.”

I couldn’t muster much anger, seeing him come for me and the baby in the hospital, totally leaving behind everything that he’d been working on.

I reached my hand out for his, and I squeezed it. “I’m so glad you’re here.”

He leaned in and kissed my nose. “I love you.”

I gasped. That was the first time that I really felt like he actually loved me. Not the first time that we made love. Not the time when he proposed. This, showing up out of the blue, when I hadn’t even called him, was an act of love.

“How did you even know where I was, anyway?”

He smiled. “I have my ways. Your dad says hi, by the way.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Okay.” My mind spun. My dad had always been overprotective. He probably had someone tracking me. Daddy needed to back off now that I was a married woman, but I had to admit that it was nice to have Jimmy here. I would deal with him later.

Jimmy touched my stomach.

“And how’s little Jimmy Jr.? Okay?”

“Yup. The doctors said the baby was just fine. It’s just me that feels like death. What are you going to do if the baby is a girl?”

A flash of fear covered his face. “I have no idea what to do with a baby girl. I can deal with a baby boy. I know what it was like to be a little boy…but I have no idea what to do with a girl.”

I smiled at him. “I’m sure you’ll be a great dad.”

I yawned.

“You should sleep.” He kissed my cheek. “I’ll be right here.”

I was out of the danger zone, but it was nice to have Jimmy by my side. I fell asleep with his big hand in mine, sure and happy that he loved me.