Page 32 of The Billionaire's Bad News Baby

So here he was. Walking on the beach because it was the only scrap of solace that he was able to find these days.

Elio heard the faint hum of a boat engine and looked up to see a small vessel speeding across the water towards the island. That was odd. Gianna and Isabella were already here, and Elio wasn’t expecting anyone. Unless Isabella had ordered some ingredients to be delivered…

The thought fizzled out before he could get to the end of it now that the boat was close enough for him to get a glimpse of who might be on their way to Malbia. Elio’s eyesight was good, but right now he was questioning it, because he was certain that the passenger in the boat had wild blond hair. Well, now he was just delusional. Like, really… This was bad. Other blond people existed in the world. If he was getting a glimpse of someone with a similar feature from quite a distance, mind you, and immediately wishing it was Kayla Harvey, then maybe he needed to start seeking help.

Was this a symptom of cabin fever, hallucinating people that you barely knew but had grown strangely obsessive over? Was it a symptom of something else? You could get an appointment with a therapist over the internet these days. Maybe it was something that he should start considering if he was going to keep seeing Kayla in random places where she couldn’t possibly be.

To prove to himself that he was being ridiculous, he made his way back up the beach to the dock to greet the boat right as it pulled up. But then Elio nearly fell off the dock straight into the water. It was Kayla. It really actually was. Just a few dozen yards away, he could see her clear as day, and she was looking at him too, lifting a hand in a small wave with a smile. Immediately, he was smiling too, wider and more sincerely than he had in months, and he no longer cared if he was crazy for being so excited to see Kayla here. He just wanted to live in this feeling as long as he could.

Maybe it was childish of him, but Elio expected her to jump off the boat the second it drifted to a stop, leaping out because she was too impatient for it to slow down to a reasonable speed, walking up to him to make up for lost time, not a second wasted. He hadn’t known her long, but she’d been the one to debate swimming through a storm to the mainland… Seeing her stay seated in the boat, only her head visible, made Elio slow his steps. He was being ridiculous. What was he expecting? For her to come running and jump into his arms?

Pull yourself together. It’s not like you’re alone, either.

In fact, the helmsman was the one to get out first, reaching out a hand for Kayla to take. It looked like a struggle for her to stand up, even though the water had been smooth as glass all day, the boat perfectly still in the water. Elio’s thoughts, still rattled and tumbling all over the place, got even more erratic with possibilities. Had she been hurt? Did she fall on the mainland and sprain an ankle? Break a leg even?

He snapped himself out of his fugue state, mentally cursing himself for acting like a dumbstruck little boy at a school dance, and strode forward to lend extra help to Kayla, who still seemed to be struggling to get out of the boat. Then he froze, both his body and his raging mind coming to a complete standstill as he saw why she was so unbalanced. She was pregnant. Very pregnant. At least six months pregnant.

While he stood there dumbstruck, the boat’s owner busy with making sure the boat was properly docked, Kayla looked at him with a worried crease between her brows, her hand hovering over her belly as if protecting it.

“Hi,” she said, sounding so incredibly meek that it took Elio by surprise. Where was the fearless powerhouse of a woman who had snuck onto his private island to serve him papers?

“Hi,” he said, still feeling a little numb.

Kayla took a deep breath and looked like she was trying her best to look cool, calm, and collected, failing miserably.

“I tried to call,” she said. “But you were kind of hard to get ahold of.”

Then time restarted, puzzle pieces started falling into place, and Elio did his best to keep the raging panic from reaching his face. Kayla’s eyes, those eyes he’d been thinking about nonstop for months now, scanned every inch of him, waiting for a reaction. She looked terrified.

Elio held out a hand.

“Come inside,” he said.

At that, Kayla seemed to let out a breath, a bit of her anxiety escaping along with it and took his hand. Elio led her up the dock with firm steps, his hand never releasing hers. Whatever conversation was about to happen, and he was pretty certain he knew what it was about, it could happen inside with Kayla sitting down.

CHAPTER 14

KAYLA

Elio led her into a bright living room, the windows open and the light chiffon curtains fluttering in the sea breeze. The last time she’d been here felt like a lifetime ago. She’d seen the place when it was dark and storming, not really taking in her surroundings all that much, considering she had been there to do a job and then had overstayed her welcome. But now she could take in the bright rooms, the marble floors and priceless artwork hanging everywhere in all its glory. Considering what she had come here to tell Elio, the grandeur of the place just made everything feel even more overwhelming. The feeling that had her running back to America in the first place, the feeling of being entirely alien in this world of private islands and luxury, was now coming back over her in full force. If she hadn’t been feeling sick already, then there was no hope for her now.

But Elio’s willingness to help her must be a good sign though, right? He’d had her arm looped through his for the entire walk down the dock and through the front door, and now he motioned to a plush brocade settee sitting underneath a window. Elio’s face was grim, his back straight as a ruler as he moved about and sat down next to her, his eyes so obviously wanting to look at her pregnant belly for more than a second at a time. However, he kept them firmly on her face with all of the discipline and poise of a trained businessman while Kayla’s hands hovered over her belly like self-conscious butterflies. She’d never experienced a silence quite so heavy as this one, but she was here now, and the only way out was through. She wasn’t going to waste the money her mom had so generously given her by getting back on the plane without doing what she’d come here to do. Even if, right now, eating a cheese grater piece by piece seemed more appealing.

“So,” Kayla said, desperately trying to swallow away the lump in her throat. “Um, I may as well just say what I came here to tell you, I suppose. You know, just spit it out. Rip the Band-Aid off, so to speak.”

Elio didn’t respond. He hadn’t said anything at all since they’d come inside and just stared at her with those bright blue eyes of his. Kayla swallowed one last time and, feeling like she was about to leap off of a cliff face, started talking.

“So, I’m pregnant,” she said, trying to sound as confident as possible. “That’s fairly obvious. And I tried to call you, I did. But then I realized why you wouldn’t be accepting calls from the States, because of the lawsuit, so I didn’t even bother trying anymore with that. The same with sending a letter… I couldn’t find an email address that didn’t just bounce back an automated message, so that was out.”

Elio remained silent and perfectly still. He wasn’t shouting, that was good. It had to be good. So Kayla continued on as if everything was, in fact, just fine.

“Um, but back to the beginning a little bit. I went ahead and quit my job as soon as I got back home. I actually started culinary school, like you suggested, which has been great, and then working as a server on the side. Then I found out about the baby.”

Again she paused, looking for any sort of reaction from him, even the smallest flicker, but found none. No shouting was good, right? This was going fine, even though part of her was starting to doubt that.

“So,” she continued. “That changed my plans a little bit. Well, a lot, actually, but that’s fine. Um, and then I tried to get ahold of you to tell you because it’s yours, by the way. I think maybe you’re smart enough to have figured that much out already.”

Again, Elio said nothing. Kayla was starting to wonder if it really would feel better to be yelled at.

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