Page 46 of The Billionaire's Christmas Baby Surprise

“A surprise?” Max pivoted away from her with a derisive sound that cut straight through Billie’s chest and into her heart. “You’ve gotthatright.”

Billie opened her mouth to apologize, then shut it. The pregnancy was no more her fault than Max’s, and she wasn’t about to say she was sorry about the baby. The baby was a Christmas miracle, even if the timing wasn’t ideal.

“I know,” Billie said instead. “I was shocked, too. But after I had a little time to think about it?—”

“How long have you known?”

“I just found out this morning. Come on, Max.” She reached for him. “I know we didn’t plan this, and the timing isn’t great, but can’t this be a good thing?”

“Billie.” Max stepped back, out of her reach. “Maybe for you it can be, but I can’t be a father. I can’t. Not now, probably not ever.”

Billie felt his words as another blow to her heart. “What doesthatmean? You aregoingto be a father, whether you’re ready or not.”

“It means I’ll support you and the baby,” Max said. “Anything you need, you’ll have. I can provide child support, pay for the best schools, anything. But that’s it.”

“What?” Billie felt tears prick at her eyes now. “You won’t have anything to do with the baby? Or… or with me?”

“I can’t, Billie.” Max eyes were filled with real regret, but it wasn’t enough to counteract what he was saying.

“I can’t believe you.” A tear spilled from Billie’s eye, and she wiped it away angrily. “You could be a father if you wanted to be. I know you could. You’re a good man, Max. You wouldn’t be like your dad.”

“I would.” Max shook his head. “I can’t do this. I’m sorry, but I need to go.”

“Don’t. Please. Let’s talk about this.”

But Max shook his head again. “I’m sorry.”

With that, he turned sharply away from Billie and went to the door, where he slid on his shoes and took his jacket. Billie stood, her heart aching, as he reached for the door handle… and hesitated. A moment passed. He looked back at her, and Billie saw that his eyes were filled with sadness. Then, very slowly, he pulled the door open and left.

When the door closed behind him, Billie let her tears fall. She found herself sobbing so hard that she had to sit down. The intensity of her emotions was unexpected. She liked Max, of course she did. Over the past month, they’d grown close, and she’d come to both trust and respect him. Last night, when they’d kissed at the party, she’d even begun to wonder if she could love him. But they hadn’t known each other all that long, not really, so she shouldn’t have been this heartbroken that he’d left.

There was the baby, though. Billie rested a hand on her stomach, which was still flat. From outside, there was no way of knowing that she was pregnant, not yet — but inside, everything had changed. Slowly, Billie regained control of her emotions and wiped her tears away.

“It looks like it’s you and me, kid,” she whispered to her stomach. Immediately, she felt silly — her high school biology class was enough for her to know that the collection of cells in her uterus couldn’t hear her yet. Despite that, she still felt comforted at the thought that she wasn’t in this alone.

As much as it hurt that Max wasn’t going to be a part of her life (or the baby’s), Billie knew that she could do this. She had to. She would doanythingto make sure her child had the best life possible, even if she had to do it on her own.

Taking a deep breath, she went to fill a glass of water. As she entered her kitchen corner, she noticed that the takeout Max had brought was still sitting, untouched, on the table along with the two plates she’d gotten out of the cupboard. The sight was enough to make tears well again, but Billie didn’t let herself cry. No matter who had brought it, no matter how sad she was, the food smelled good. Plus, she was eating for two now.

Alone in her small studio, Billie sat at her table and ate the sandwich and salad Max had brought for her. In another container, there was a slice of cherry pie, which she ate as well. Perhaps Max had meant for this to be a special meal. Before finding out about the baby, he’d certainly seemed interested in pursuing a relationship with her.

That didn’t matter now. Billie savored each forkful of the pie, then threw away the containers and cleared up the table. As she put the leftover paper napkins in a drawer for later, she noticed a small box sitting on the table. Her heart thudding, she opened it. Inside, nestled on a piece of tissue paper, was a pair of earrings adorned with tiny Christmas trees. A small note in Max’s handwriting read,Merry Christmas, Billie. Thanks for the plane.

Tears welled again as she closed the box. Max had gotten her a present. Somehow, the fact that he’d made time to go out and shop for her made all this so much worse. She couldn’t let herself sink into sadness, though. Pregnant or not, heartbroken or not, it was still Christmas, and she still had a lot to do to make sure the kids got their gifts.

Everything else — her excitement about the baby, her sadness about Max, her hope for the future, her heartbreak — could all wait for later. And hey, maybe work would serve as a distraction from everything that was going on in her life.

CHAPTER 19

MAX

From Billie’s apartment, Max went straight to the office. Sure, it was a Sunday. Yes, no one else would be there. But that didn’t matter. Max’s work was waiting for him, and he could lose himself in numbers and reports and approvals until thoughts of Billie disappeared from his mind.

Or that was the hope, at least.

As he’d expected, he was the only one in the building on this frosty pre-Christmas Sunday. He went straight to his office, where he switched on his space heater (the building’s heating system didn’t work Sundays, either), and powered up his computer. A flood of tasks appeared on the screen, from emails to be answered to pings on the messaging system and documents he’d saved for later. Usually, that would be enough to push any thoughts of life outside work out of Max’s mind, but today it wasn’t.

Instead, he kept seeing, over and over, the look of hurt on Billie’s face when he’d told her that he wouldn’t be a part of her or the baby’s life. She’d looked so shocked and so sad that Max hadwanted nothing more than to pull her into his arms and tell her that everything would be all right.

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