Page 27 of Billionaire's Frenemy

I laughed, but she just kept looking at me.

“What?” I asked, totally confused.

“The aquarium,” she repeated. “I’ve got to get the tanks on order, but I need to see the size of the space, so I know which ones to go with.”

“Laura, I literally have no idea what you’re talking about. Is this something you and Willow talked about?”

“No, your mom said—”

“No,” I said, drawing the word out. “Uh-uh. No aquarium. And please don’t take directions from my mother anymore.”

“Hey, guys!” Willow said brightly, walking in and hugging Laura then me. “Do we have a vision for the room?”

“Sure do!” Laura agreed, smiling at Willow. “You look so beautiful. I can’t wait…” She cleared her throat. “Anyway, yup, we’re all set on the safari. The baby furniture for the nursery is due in tomorrow, so I’ll have one of the guys come and set it up for you.”

“No, I got it,” I said. “I’m going to build the furniture.”

“No,” the women said together, both of them staring at me.

“What?” I laughed. “I’m the dad here. I’ll set up the crib. It’s a rite of passage.”

“Jameson, you’ve never built so much as a card house,” Willow said, touching my arm softly.

“I’m part owner a construction firm,” I reminded both of them. “As is your husband, Laura.”

“Yeah, but you don’t do any of the actualbuilding,” Willow said firmly. “Let’s just have the professionals do this, okay? I mean, our baby is going to sleep in it.”

“I’m not going to hurt our baby,” I promised. “Fray will come over, and we’ll all do it together. It will be good practice for him.” She still looked unconvinced, so I changed the subject.

“Mom tried to get Laura to build an aquarium in one of the rooms,” I said, my tone as shocked as I could make it sound.

“Ooh!” Willow squealed, clapping her hands. “That will be so cool. Come on, Laura. Let’s go pick a room. I’m thinking saltwater. We can hire someone to take care of that, right?”

I stared after them, unable to believe what I’d just heard. After all of Willow’s bitching about my mom interfering and overspending, she was going to let my mother install a saltwater aquarium in our house.

But, on the plus side, it sounded as if I wouldn’t have to talk to my mother after all.

Thirteen

Willow Tate-Should-Be-Cassel

“Jameson!” I screeched from the living room, bent over at what used to be my waist. My knees buckled, and I could barely keep upright while I clenched the back of a club chair.

Fuck, fuck, fuck, this hurts like a mother…

Where the hell was that man? This was not happening. I still had two weeks. I still had to pack my hospital bag. I had a clownfish delivery coming today… And now, I had a puddle of water at my feet, and I was soaked. This was not how they wrote about it in books. Total bullshit.

“God damn it, Jameson,” I screamed. “Get in here, or I’m freaking leaving you!”

Not that I could leave if I wanted to, I couldn’t even walk, which was why I was bellowing for him. I didn’t think I could move from this spot without falling as pain clamped around my middle and radiated outward. I mean, I knew childbirth was painful but, sweet Mother of God… I needed the drugs. All the drugs. Stat!

“What?” Jameson panted, skidding into the room. He took one look, and his eyes went wide as if he’d encountered a scene fromThe Shiningor something. Of course, my position, my white-knuckled grip on the chair, the amniotic fluid all over the marble floor, seeping toward the Oriental rug, gave him a clue.

“Oh my God,” he gasped, going white.

“I swear to God, Jameson, if you faint and leave me alone in this, you’re going to be living in the pool house.”

“It’s time?” he asked, clearly trying to gather himself. He looked faint.

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