Page 43 of Baby For The Billionaire Silver Fox

“Yes, go get yourself some,” I grunted, showing my frustration with her and her games.

Nicole just shook her head and shoved the muffins at me. “She’s a piece of work, isn’t she? Just hand me the dog food, and I’m outta here.” She crossed her arms, looking annoyed.

“The hotel was full last night, so I let her stay in my guest room. She’ll be at the hotel for the rest of her stay—however long that is, I don’t know. Believe me, nothing happened.”

I handed her the bag I had ready next to the door. “Nicole,” I said tightly. “She’s trying to fuck with you. You know that, right?”

“Of course I do. My question is, why? It’s not like you and I have a relationship. We’re friends, for God’s sake.” She hugged the dog food bag to her chest and whirled around.

“Nik,” I called after her retreating back. “You may say we’re just friends, but you know it’s more than that.”

“Go to hell,” she said loudly.

“We’ll discuss this later.” It took a lot to anger me, but right now, I was mad at both women—the one who wanted to worm her way back into my life for who knows what reason, and the one I wanted to be with, without the wall she’d erected between us.

“Mandy, get dressed and get going. I have to get to work.”

“I need a nice hot shower first,” she pouted, looking at me suggestively to see if I might join her.

“I have to leave for work in five minutes,” I bit out. “You need to leave.”

“But Daniel, I can’t possibly be ready that quickly. I can shower, do my hair and makeup, and then let myself out.”

I remembered how long it always took her to get ready. I wasn’t sure why she needed to do all that stuff to herself. She was a natural beauty and didn’t need to bemade up.

“Fine. But that doesn’t mean you get to lounge around. The cleaning crew will be here in an hour, and I want you to be out before then.”

She smiled like a cat who’d licked the cream. She hummed on her way to take her shower.

As I gathered my stuff up to leave, I noticed she’d left the bathroom door cracked open. I shook my head. We were going to have a talk. What was she really doing here? She was married to someone else now, not me. Yet, she was as clear as she could be without words that she wanted to get in my bed.

I took my motorcycle, even though there was a definite chill in the morning air. Maybe that would cool my temper.

- 15 -

Nicole

Whatabitch, I fumed as I drove back to Nana’s. In fact, I was so mad I passed the house and just kept driving. Buddy was in the car with me, and he was happy about the continued ride. He had his head out the window, smelling all the smells, content with his life at the moment.

I finally headed back and parked the car at the curb in front of Nana’s. I reached over to scratch Buddy’s head. “It must be nice being a dog, huh? No complications. You take what you get, and you’re happy about it. There are no surprise babies that you have no idea how to raise without screwing them up or men you think you’d like to spend your life with but can’t even let them know you care. There is no rejection or a lack of love.”

I leaned over so he could slobber his wet kisses on my cheek. “You know you’re loved, right? I do love you, big guy.” I started crying, and Buddy cocked his head in distress. He licked my tears as best he could until I finally stopped.

God, were these pregnancy hormones at work? I felt so confused and tried to sort out my feelings.

I was pissed that Mandy was trying to manipulate Dan. I know he could take care of himself. He was a grown man, after all. But he’d been married to her, and they had a history. He had memories with another woman that was not me. And there it was—I was jealous. I was furious at her and jealous of their past relationship. And I was furious with myself for being jealous. Plus, I couldn’t help wondering if he was as over her as he was leading me to believe.

I wanted to know what had happened between them, why they’d gotten divorced. But that wasn’t really any of my business. I needed to back off from this whole situation—from Dan. Shit. I felt like someone was playing ping pong in my brain, and it was exhausting.

“Come on, Buddy. Let’s go for a walk and get rid of some of these uncomfortable feelings. I’m sure we’ll feel a lot better afterward.”

It didn’t work. I still had the same mindset after the walk. At least Buddy was happy. We went upstairs, and I let him get up on the bed. “Don’t ever let Nana see you doing this.” I crawled under the covers, and we both took a nap.

“Nicole! Nicole, are you up there?” I heard Nana yell. I looked at the clock and noted I’d been asleep for a while. I stumbled out of bed and peeked my head out the door.

“I’m here. What’s up?”

“Dan is here. He needs you. He’s bleeding.”

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