Page 54 of The Billionaire's Accidental Daddy Duty
“Not too far.” I handed Tommy my phone so he could grab the address in the Upper West Side.
I sat back and closed my eyes. Immediately, my mind conjured images of Harper and Declan alone in that suite designed for all kinds of kinky things. I thought of his hands on her body and felt them on mine instead. How in the world was I going to get over him?
“Isla?” Tommy cleared his throat. By the look in his eyes, I couldn’t only guess he had been trying to get a response from me for a while.
“Yeah.” I sat up and scanned the streets around me.
“This is the place.” He pointed at the swanky building with a huge, canopied entrance. Beyond the glass double doors hung a sparkly chandelier over shiny marble floors—exactly where I figured someone like Nicolas would live.
“Thank you.” I beamed when I spotted Louisa’s face.
As soon as she came out to greet me, Tommy climbed out of the SUV and darted to the back of the car to get my luggage. When Louisa saw the suitcases, her eyebrows shot up in surprise.
“I promise I’m just here for a night.” I bit my lower lip.
“You’re welcome to stay for as long as you need.” Thepity in her eyes was like a kick in the stomach. She knew what had happened.
“You know?”
“I saw the tweet. But I’d like to hear your version of the story. Come on. Nicolas had a quick business trip, so we have the place all to ourselves. I’m glad you called. Now neither one of us has to spend the night alone.”
“Thank you.” I hugged her. She hugged me back, and it felt like the most natural thing in the world.
“Let’s go.” She grabbed one suitcase and hauled it toward the door.
“Thank you, Tommy.”
“You take care now.” He nodded with a genuine smile before he hopped in the driver’s seat.
He drove away as I stood there knowing that the next time I saw him, it would be from a distance while he dropped Declan off at the office. Sadly, even that small pleasure would go away after a few weeks when Declan and his new family returned to the UK.
“You wanted an older sister, now you’ve got one. Spill.” Louisa bit into her blueberry muffin.
This morning, as soon as her babysitter got home, she dragged me to the coffee shop at the end of her street, bought a bunch of pastries for us to eat with our coffees, and sat me down by the window so she could properly get all the juicy details.
Last night, I had been too tired to tell her about Declan or anything else. I was so grateful that she took me in anddidn’t ask questions at all. She simply escorted me to the spare room and left me be.
“Please don’t think less of me.” I sipped on my coffee, trying to figure out how to explain my situation with Declan.
“You slept with your boss. It happens.” She shrugged.
I stopped to gape at her, mouth open with a bear claw halfway to my lips. “How did you?”
“I’m very intuitive.” She smiled. “Also, I caught you twice looking at his profile picture online, you’re putting in double time to watch his baby, and I read the Baby Momma on Board story.”
“It’s not my baby.”
“I know that.” She inhaled. “Answer me this: are you in love with him?”
A knot tightened at the pit of my stomach. Was I in love with Declan? Of course, I was. Anyone with a pulse would be after spending a whole month with him and his baby. “He doesn’t want me.”
“Are you sure?” She added jam to her muffin then sucked the leftover jelly off the pad of her thumb. “Because I saw the picture. Both of you looked happy. And by happy, I mean I could tell you had just had sex.”
“What?” I shot a glance over my shoulder to the table behind us. If the two older women heard the “s” word, they didn’t show it. “You could tell?”
She nodded.
“He’s everything. But I can’t get in the way and ruin his chance for a real family.”
