Page 43 of The Billionaire's Secret Heir

Chapter Thirteen

Beckett glanced at his watch for the tenth time in as many minutes. He was on a conference call, but he wasn’t really listening. He was imagining Becka’s face when she saw the new stuffed pig he bought for her. She thought pigs were hilarious. Or maybe she just thought Beckett making pig sounds was hilarious. Either way, she was getting a new stuffed pig. He’d also ordered Madi new running shoes, since she mentioned wanting to get back in the habit. His assistant Beth would be picking them up before he left for home.

For the first time since Beckett started working at VDKI, he felt a pull to go home at the end of the day. Actually, the pull stayed with him throughout the day as his thoughts kept circling back to Madi and Becka. By the time late afternoon rolled in, the pull shifted into a strong yank. He felt itchy and restless at his desk and couldn’t sit through meetings. Delegation stopped being a dirty word. His assistant Beth hadn’t pressed him, but had a continual look of disbelief on her face, as though waiting for the punchline of a joke she didn’t understand.

Beckett didn’t fully understand it either. It had been almost two weeks since Madi said yes to being his girlfriend. Two weeks of rushing home to have dinner with her and Becka. Two weeks of evenings out by the pool with Madi after Becka was asleep, talking about everything and nothing before a reluctant goodbye at the end of the night.

This would have been about the expiration date for his past relationships. By this point with Ava, he felt nothing close to what he felt for Madi. Beckett had never experienced this level of emotion or the way it spun him silly. He dealt in control. It had earned him the successes that he had. Now as control slipped away, Beckett found himself torn between loving the exhilaration and hating the power that Madi and Becka had over him.

He knew he would need to figure out what his role would be in terms of discipline and actual parenting, but for now, he would have given Becka anything she asked for. She said sit and he sat. She asked him to play with dolls and he played with dolls. She demanded that he read to her and he read. Never had an adult ordered him around this way. Even as a child, he hadn’t obeyed his father so well as he did this little girl. His little girl.

The thought still amazed him when he woke up in the morning. He’d never dreamed about being a father, never considered really what it meant. His every day suddenly looked completely different because of this small person who would be a part of the rest of his life.

The rest of his life. For a man who had never committed to anyone for longer than a few weeks—other than Ava—Beckett felt thrilled by this idea, rather than terrified. It was like something shifted in the very makeup of his body. He was a father. Everything changed.

And then Madi. He couldn’t have seen her coming. She snuck up on him with her understated outward beauty. A woman with more flashy good looks or who wielded them like a weapon—he would have been prepared and had his defenses up. But Madi didn’t strike him when she walked into the conference room. It wasn’t until he moved closer to her and noticed the beautiful changing brown of her eyes and then got a glimpse of her humble strength that she hooked him. A total sneak attack, one that she hadn’t even intended.

He could see the surprise in her face when he told her how he felt. His heart thumped at the memory. She didn’t believe that she was beautiful. He could sense her insecurities. Not false humility, the way women sometimes fished for compliments. Madi truly didn’t see herself the way that Beckett did, which only made him resolve to show her more.

It also made him wish that he could erase his past. He had never really thought twice about the life he was living before, other than the fact that it felt empty. Beckett hadn’t been looking for fulfillment, at least not the lasting kind. It was simply what he knew, what everyone did. Other than Graham, who was always that angel on his shoulder, telling him that he shouldn’t be living that kind of life. Now he wished that he could have a different history.

Though she tried to hide it, Madi obviously hated hearing about his relationships—if they could be called that—with other women. He knew that Madi was different, but with a past full of other women, he didn’t know how he could show her. Other than to do everything differently. He had been spending more time praying, just asking for help to be a better man, the kind of man who could be a father to Becka and worthy of someone like Madi. He resolved to take the physical side at a snail’s pace and to spend time getting to know her better, making her feel cherished.

The last two, obviously wouldn’t be hard. It was all he could do not to go overboard buying her gifts and doing things for her and Becka. The guest house had been just the start, but she protested it was too much, so he was trying to keep things small. For now. When she mentioned that she loved Chai lattes, he was up before work, zipping to Starbucks and back every morning to bring her one. This meant getting up earlier, but it was completely worth it to start off his day seeing them.

Madi had been embarrassed the first morning when he knocked on the door with a smile and the drink in hand. Her hair had been falling out of a loose bun and she’d put a hand to it self-consciously. But he loved it messy. It gave him a reason to touch her, tucking it back behind her ears. Becka seemed to wake up in a bright mood and had more energy than in the afternoon. While Madi sat at a stool by the kitchen island, sipping her Chai, Beckett let Becka order him to play or read or just follow her around, a favorite thing of hers to do.

“Come with me,” she would say, grabbing his hand and dragging him to show him something in her room or asking for a snack in the kitchen or down to the floor to play with toys.

When he had to leave for work, she would clutch at his ankles until Madi pried her off. It was the best feeling in the world, to be wanted so much. Especially by someone so sweet and good. Madi still seemed a little hesitant, even after agreeing to be his girlfriend, but Beckett planned to wipe away any doubts or fears she had. With every kiss he pressed to her cheek, every time he squeezed her hand, every small gift he bought, and kind word, he aimed to win her over and to assure her that she meant something more to him than any other woman had.

The call finally ended and Beckett practically sprinted out of his office. His assistant smiled and handed him a bag from a sporting goods store. “I picked up the shoes you asked for.”

“Thank you, Beth. I’m headed out a little early, so feel free to go home as well.”

“Really?”

Beckett realized this was probably the first time he’d ever let his assistant go home before six o’clock. Sometimes it was later. Her kids were grown, but her husband was at home. He felt a sudden pang of guilt for keeping her so late for so many years. Not once had she complained.

“Really. And starting tomorrow, I’d like you to leave at five o’clock. Unless I have something pressing or urgent and need you to stay. It won’t affect your salary, so don’t worry.”

Beth blinked and then smiled. “Thank you, Mr. Van de Kamp.”

But he was already headed toward the bank of elevators and then toward home. Which, for the first time ever, really felt like a home. It was the only place he wanted to be.

* * *

Madi washed the dishes while she watched Beckett play with Becka and tried to figure out how to confront him. It was hard to think about a confrontation about anything when Beckett was making the voices for the new stuffed pig he bought Becka. In fact, just seeing him with Becka made it hard to think about anything but her care for this man. But the confrontation wasn’t about the way he treated Becka.

From the moment he met her, Beckett seemed to slide right into being Becka’s father. Maybe even better. Madi honestly didn’t know many dads who spent as much time just being with their kids as Beckett did with her. He spent more time in the guest house than his own house these days, showing up in the mornings with a Chai latte for her, not caring if his suit got wrinkled as Becka climbed into his lap. As soon as he got home from work, he was at the door again with a giant smile and more often than not, with presents. Today he had brought Becka the stuffed pig and Madi some running shoes. Tomorrow it would probably be a gym membership, since she had mentioned wanting one.

That was what she needed to confront Beckett about. The spending. The gifts. The way she felt completely dependent on him financially. He might be a billionaire, but that didn’t mean he could keep up this pace of gift-buying. Becka was going to get spoiled. They both were. She had mentioned it to him after seeing the playground he had installed just before they moved in. The sight of it as they drove in had moved her. Physically, it felt like something in her chest shuddered and shifted. The fact that he had thought of it warmed her, in addition to all that he had done.

But it also filled her with another layer of guilt and a sense of powerlessness. Madi could never do anything to repay him, not that he would let her, but it wasn’t just about a sense of owing him or about keeping things equal. Things were and would always be horribly unequal simply because of his position. It was more that literally everything she had now in her life was from Beckett. Her income, by way of his more-than-generous child support. The guest house they lived in, which she was not only living in rent-free, but was also filled with everything from furniture to appliances. She’d even found expensive body wash and other toiletries. Plus, clothes for Becka. It made her feel treasured, but also more and more uncomfortable as time went on.

Being Becka’s nanny had given Madi a purpose. It had been a job, even if Becka was much more than a job to her. But it was an income that she earned. It had given Madi the semblance that she was taking care of herself. Now, Beckett took care of everything. Everything. A grocery delivery service had even showed up that morning, delivering more than the two of them could possibly eat in a week. Well, three—considering that Beckett now joined them nightly for dinner.

It felt wrong. Madi felt … worthless. Even as she knew that Beckett was giving her gifts to show her worth, which is more than any other man had ever done for her.

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