Boss's Accidental Baby: A Billionaire Small Town Second Chance Romance (Secret Love) Read online

  She stood up and wrapped her arm through mine. “Okay, lead the way. I'm excited!”

  Several hours later, after we'd returned to the hotel room, Acacia demanded to take a bubble bath. So I set her up in the Jacuzzi and took the opportunity to get some other work done. It was around that time that I turned my phone back on and received quite a few text messages from my PI. He said to call him and that it was urgent.

  “Hey, sweetheart, I need to make a few business calls so I'll be on the balcony. Are you going to be okay while I'm out there?” I asked Acacia, sticking my head inside the bathroom.

  She was in the middle of making herself into a bubble Santa and I chuckled fondly. “Oh, I'll be absolutely fine; you enjoy your phone calls. But don't take too long! I'm going to need cuddles when I'm done with my bath!” she demanded, gathering bubbles into her hand and then blowing them across the bathroom at me.

  “I love you, sweetheart. Don't inhale too many bubbles; that can't be good for your body,” I teased on my way out.

  “I love you, too!” she hollered as I opened the balcony door.

  I called my PI and he picked up on the second ring.

  “Took you long enough to call me back. I have a lot to tell you,” he said in a huff, and I heard papers rustling in the background.

  “I'm sorry. I was out with my girlfriend all day. Get on with it,” I ordered, leaning against the railing.

  He cleared his throat. “Well, I watched your apartment as you told me to and a young woman in all black walked around it several times, as if she were casing the place. I think she might be trying to figure out how she can break into it; she might even be Acacia's stalker.”

  “Did you call the police?” I asked and smiled at Acacia when I caught her naked form through the glass door. She spun around in a circle and then bent over seductively with a smile.

  “I didn't. No probable cause for them to arrest her yet. Unfortunately, and I hate to say this, I think our best chance of putting her stalker away is for Acacia to be in danger. And she will likely try again when you get back from LA. But I will be nearby the whole time, just in case,” he explained and then apologized.

  I looked at Acacia, still teasing me and making goofy faces at me through the glass door, and my heart skipped a beat. “If anything happens to Acacia, I'll kill her myself, so you better not screw up,” I threatened before hanging up.

  23

  Acacia

  It had been a couple of days since we came back from LA and Kit had been acting weird and incredibly on edge, and he’d refused to let me do anything by myself. At first, I sort of thought it was him being overprotective of me because I was pregnant, but tonight he had been acting extra weird. So I decided to confront him about it.

  “Okay, what is going on with you? Did I do something wrong or?” I demanded as he set dinner on the table.

  He looked at me taken aback and then sighed as he sat down. “You didn't do anything, sweetheart. I'm just worried about your stalker, is all. We haven't heard anything in a while and I have a bad feeling about it. What if she tries to hurt you and the baby? And what if she succeeds?”

  I tilted my head at him. “She? How do you know that it's a she?”

  He leaned forward with his fingers linked on the table. “I didn't want to tell you this because I didn't want to worry you about it, but my PI saw a woman casing the place while we were in LA. He said that he thinks she is your stalker and that she might try and break in.”

  “What?! You should have told me! Did you tell the police?” I exclaimed, standing up quickly.

  He stood, too and walked around the table to me. “Calm down, sweetheart. Stress isn't good for the baby. And I know that I should've told you about it when I found out. But I didn't want to stress you out because of the baby. No, the police haven't been called and they're not going to be. My PI told me not to because if we want her to go to jail, then we need to make sure that she is caught with probable cause.”

  I sighed angrily and took a step away from him when he tried to pull me into his arms. “No, that isn't fair. You can't keep me in the dark to protect me! What if I had been alone and unsuspecting?”

  Kit's eyes narrowed and he bit his lip. “I wouldn't have let that happen. Even when I'm not here, you're never alone, sweetheart. My PI is always around, and he is an ex-marine with a black belt in several forms of martial arts. I'm not stupid enough to leave you alone without protection while there is a stalker out there.”

  “It still could have happened,” I murmured, crossing my arms as tears formed in my eyes. “And you should have told me about this, the second it happened. Not three days later when I pulled it out of you.”

  He took a step toward me again and this time I let him pull me into his arms. “I'm sorry, sweetheart. It won't happen again, I promise. Just please forgive me for trying to protect you in the wrong way. Let's just sit down and have dinner like we planned. And then I'll run you a bubble bath.”

  “Fine. But only because a bubble bath does actually sound really nice,” I agreed, sniffling as I looked up at him.

  Kit pulled my chair out for me and pushed it back in as I sat, and we had a nice dinner together like we always did. We talked about the baby and how exciting our next appointment would be – the appointment where we’d find out the gender. He ran me a bath after dinner and even sat in the bathroom with me while I relaxed.

  “You know, we aren't going to have too many more nights together alone. Our little bean is going to take up so much of our time,” he commented as he rubbed the soles of my feet.

  I smiled at him warmly. “Yeah, but think of all the memories we are going to make. Baby's first words, his first steps, teaching him how to do all of the important things in each age group. Embarrassing him when he brings home a girl...”

  He laughed. “We'll bring out the baby photos, just like my parents did with me and my brothers. And he'll be so angry with us, but his girlfriend will appreciate seeing him as a child. Hell, she might even start thinking about being a part of our family. But we'll put our foot down on them having unsafe sex and marrying before college.”

  I scrunched up my nose and splashed him. “Hey, I don't want to think about my baby having sex or getting married or even going to college right now! He's going to be my little boy forever!”

  Kit smiled fondly at me. “You're already in mama bear mode, aren't you?”

  I blushed and sank further into the bubbles. “Maybe.”

  “Well, I think it's hot. You're going to be such a great mom; you know that, right?” he commented, leaning into the tub to kiss my lips softly.

  I felt sad and insecure all of a sudden as tears welled in my eyes. “I really hope so. I don't want to fail our child or you.”

  He held my face and looked deeply into my eyes. “Acacia, you aren't going to fail either one of us. I know you're scared and most likely have all of these anxious thoughts running through your head right now, but I know you. And I know that you're going to be a wonderful mother! You may not believe me because I have a biased opinion, but you have to at least trust me enough to know I wouldn't lie to you.”

  I jutted out my lip in a pout. “Fine, you're probably right. But I'm still going to worry about it! At least until the baby is off on his own, and honestly, probably afterwards, too. I mean, we're responsible for his development! What if we mess him up and he doesn't get everything he wants out of life?”

  He smiled and caressed my cheek. “With parents like us, he will turn out a fine, upstanding young man with the world stretched out before him. We will make sure of it and when he is successful in whatever field he decides to pursue, you'll look back on this moment and realize that I was right. You're a great mother.”

  I had finally fallen asleep that night, wrapped up in Kit's arms, when I heard a loud crash and glass shattering. It sent my heart into overdrive and I immediately shook Kit awake and shushed him when he spoke too loudly.

  “I think someone is breaking into the a
partment,” I whispered, looking at him through wide eyes.

  He got out of bed quietly and went to the closet, and he came back out with a metal box in his hands. I watched as he opened it and started assembling what looked like a handgun.

  “What are you doing?” I whispered anxiously. “Why do you have a gun?”

  He looked at me grimly. “It's for protection. I've had it for years. LA isn't exactly the safest place to be and I brought it back with us when I found out about that woman. I'm sorry if it makes you uncomfortable; we can talk about it later.”

  I bit my tongue to keep from arguing with him and scurried out of bed when he started heading for the living room. Wherever he was going, I was going because he made me feel safe.

  He had his hands positioned on the gun in a way that felt professional and I wondered how much practice he had with it. But it also made me feel safe in a way I couldn't explain.

  In the living room, we could hear someone rifling through drawers and cursing under their breath. I followed the sound with my eyes and saw a hooded figure in the corner of the room, a small pool of light cast on the cabinet where Kit kept his important files. This person was tossing papers all over the floor and slamming drawers when they didn't find what they were looking for. They must think we're not home, I thought and tried to keep myself quiet as I followed Kit toward them.

  Once we were a couple feet behind this person, Kit pointed the gun at the back of their head and cocked the gun. “What are you doing in my house?” he asked loudly, causing that person to whip around quickly.

  “Don't shoot!” she shouted, holding up a butcher's knife with a shaky hand.

  Kit's shoulders tightened under my hands and he sighed heavily. “Jenessa? What the hell are you doing here? And going through my files? What exactly are you looking for?” he asked, the gun still firmly trained on her.

  “You know her?” I asked, taking a step away from them.

  “This is my ex-girlfriend,” Kit stated, without turning around to look at me. “She must have followed me from LA when I came back. I bet she's the one who's been sending you all of those threatening texts, too. She faked a pregnancy to try and trick me into marrying her, and when I found out she was lying, I got a restraining order against her.”

  “I never faked being pregnant!” she shouted, taking a step toward us. “I lost the baby and you know that!”

  Kit stood his ground. “No, you weren't ever pregnant, Jenessa. The doctor confirmed it when I took you in. In fact he told us both that you couldn't conceive a child. And you know that violating your restraining order gets you into a lot of trouble, right? So why are you here?”

  I took a step away from them and slowly crept my way toward the living room light, remembering Kit's words before we went to bed. If something happens, my PI told me to flash the living room lights three times and he'd come running.

  “I came to see you, Kitty-kat! You left LA without even saying goodbye to me and then I saw that you were with this… this slut… it made me so angry! And I heard through the grapevine that you're having a baby together. That should have been our baby!” Jenessa shouted, taking another step toward Kit.

  “You can't be here. If the police found out that you violated your restraining order they could put you in jail. Do you want to go to jail, Jenessa? And on top of that, you broke into my apartment. And you've been going through my files! Were you hoping to find the order and destroy it? Because I have copies, and the original isn't even here. So you wasted your time,” Kit threatened, taking a step back.

  My back hit the wall and I quickly flipped the light switch three times consecutively before leaving them off again. I worried that what I had done was the wrong thing when Jenessa growled angrily and lunged toward Kit, flailing the knife around. She narrowly missed slashing his arm, and in his attempt to dodge her, Kit lost his hold over his gun. I watched as it slid across the floor under the couch and then looked back at Jenessa.

  “What did you do?!” she shouted at me when she missed Kit completely and started advancing toward me.

  I slid my back down the wall toward the bedroom with my hand up. “I didn't do anything, I swear! Just don't hurt me or my baby!”

  She looked at me with crazed eyes as she advanced toward me but didn't get too far when Kit came up behind her and looped his arms through hers and brought them behind her. And I watched as she also lost grip over her weapon, dropping it to the floor. “Let go of me!”

  “I won't let you hurt her or our son!” he shouted, struggling to keep her flailing arms out of reach.

  I took the opportunity to flash the lights again and this time left them on just as an incredibly tall, very muscular man came bursting through the front door. He lay eyes on Kit struggling to keep Jenessa in his hold and came to his aid.

  “What the hell took you so long?” Kit snapped as the man pushed Jenessa's face into the carpet with his knee in her back.

  “I'm sorry, Mr. Harrison. I called the cops on my way up here, and someone left quite a few heavy objects against your front door,” he informed, glaring down at a struggling Jenessa.

  A few moments after the PI had come in, a few officers came in after him and apprehended Jenessa. They asked Kit what seemed like a hundred questions, none of which I could really hear over the ringing in my ears. I sat on the couch with a blanket wrapped around me, just watching as Kit handled everything, as if everything had been happening in slow motion. My stalker was Kit's old psycho girlfriend, and they got her? So we're safe now, right? My baby is safe? I wondered as I watched the cops slowly leaving the apartment.

  “Thank you again, officers; we really appreciate your efforts,” Kit thanked them and then shut the front door.

  I locked eyes with Kit after that and burst into tears, as if all the adrenaline had suddenly left my system and I could finally feel the fear.

  He rushed to my side and held me tightly. “Don't worry, sweetheart. We're safe now. She's going away for a long time and she isn't going to be anywhere near us or the baby, I promise.”

  24

  Kit

  “Surprise!” We cheered when Acacia walked in the front door, with Georgia in tow. She squeaked in surprise and then beamed as she looked around at all of us, her cheeks tinted pink as she set shopping bags on the ground.

  “Oh, wow! Look at all of this,” she called, walking further inside and gazing at the decorations. “And everyone is here, too. Is this why you wanted me to go shopping at eight in the morning?”

  Georgia laughed and help up her hands innocently. “I have no idea what you're talking about. I'm just as surprised as you are about all of this!”

  I smiled when Acacia's eyes landed on me. “Happy birthday, sweetheart.”

  She quickly crossed the room and embraced me tightly. “Thank you, baby. Everything looks perfect! And you got our families together again; I couldn't be happier! How did you manage to keep this a secret from me?”

  I smirked playfully. “I have my ways. Plus, a couple of inside sources that kept you occupied while I planned it all week. You almost caught me the other night, but I played that off perfectly, didn't I?”

  She stuck her tongue out at me and then laughed. “You really did, and what a surprise this is! Even though I told you I didn't want a party or anything too extravagant. I'm sort of glad you didn't listen to me.”

  People started coming up to Acacia and wishing her a happy birthday as she stood next to me, beaming and thanking them. I tried to keep her from feeling the ring box in my left pocket, the anxiety that I woke up with spiking any time she came close. She was having a conversation with her mom when I excused myself to check on dinner, kissing her cheek softly.

  Relax. She's going to say yes, you know she is. It's Acacia, I tried to remind myself as I opened the oven and pulled the pan out. She's carrying your child, too. Why wouldn't she want to marry you if she committed her body to nine months of exhaustion and sickness? Stop being so soft.

  “Need any help?�
� Jake asked as he came into the kitchen and drank from his beer. “Maybe a pep talk. You're looking a little pale, bro.”

  I cleared my throat and flipped him the bird. “I'm fine. Just a little nervous about tonight.”

  He smiled and sat down at the island. “Come on, man. It's Acacia, the mother of your child, your unrequited love from childhood, and all that sappy stuff. Stop working yourself up over nothing. If you don't, she's going to ask you if you're okay, and you might just cave and tell her. You don't want to ruin the proposal, do you?”

  I sighed softly as I cut the chicken. “Of course not. Does she look like she's having a good time out there? After the stalker incident and the break-in, she hasn't been herself some days, even after they caught that batshit woman; she still has nightmares. And I hate seeing her like that.”

  He frowned sympathetically. “It's the hormones. Everything she is feeling right now is amplified and I imagine being pregnant made the whole situation scarier. She's not just thinking about her safety; she's thinking about his safety, too. Try and imagine that you were in her shoes, even if you had the self-defense experience that you do now. Being a pregnant woman is a whole different experience.”

  “You're right. I'm hoping that she can heal from it before the baby is born. I don't want her to have that added stress on top of a newborn. Thank you for the pep talk, by the way. I did actually need it,” I told him with a laugh.

  He waved his hand dismissively. “I knew that you did. Are you sure that you don't need any help with dinner?”

  “You can help me set the table. Everything is done now.”

  The early evening turned into late evening faster than I had realized as we finished eating dinner and moved on to the cake. Acacia hadn't stopped smiling since she walked in the door, and she kept giving me such a loving look each time our eyes met. I couldn't help but smile every time I saw her face light up; it made it incredibly hard not to propose to her each time. But I had a plan and I intended to stick to it.