Page 80 of Baby For The Billionaire Silver Fox

Dan continued to send me occasional texts asking me to call him. But I didn’t. I still wasn’t ready for him to crush me. Talking to him would make everything we almost had come to an end. Of course, it had already ended, but it would hurt so much more when he spoke the words.

You are a chicken, Nicole.

Yes, I know I am. I really am.

As I picked up my purse at the end of my shift, another text came in.

Dan: I have your dog. And you don’t get him back until you come over and talk to me. Just so you know, I can keep him forever. He’s a great dog.

Okay, I may be a chicken, but now I was mad. And mad trumped chicken. How dare he? Buddy wasmine. He was part of my life. Dan couldn’t do that.

I drove straight to his loft, fuming the whole way. He had some nerve, Mr. Military Billionaire Grocery Store Clerk. I was muttering rude expletives as I pounded on his door.

Dan opened it and ushered me in.

“Couch or kitchen counter?” he asked.

I settled on the couch and gave him a dirty look. “Where’s my dog?”

“He’s in the bedroom. Are you going to talk to me?”

“I need evidence Buddy is alive first.”

“Fuck. This isn’t a ransom like on TV.”

I was acting like a child, but I couldn’t seem to help it. I felt cornered. “You’re right, I’m sorry. I’ve got a lot of emotions going on these days, and I didn’t know I’d have to add ‘fear of dognapping’ to them.”

Buddy came bounding out to greet me when Dan opened the door.

“And I’m sorry I resorted to this. But you weren’t answering me, and I wanted us to have this conversation now, not next month, or never.”

“I was shooting for never,” I admitted, softly stroking Buddy’s fur. All the fight had gone out of me, and my shoulders slumped. “I’m not so good with rejection.”

Dan looked at me, puzzled.

“Why don’t you tell me the whole story?”

“Well… it started one dark and stormy night….” I quipped.

Dan had pulled the chair opposite the couch closer to me and reached out to pet Buddy. Our fingers touched briefly, and it felt like someone had shaken hot sauce on my insides.So much fire in one little touch, I marveled.

“You’re funny, Nik, but you know, you don’t always have to be. It’s okay to let your feelings show sometimes,” he said gently. “This right here,” he gestured around the room, “Is a safe space. No judgment.”

I looked away and collected my thoughts. I swallowed. Here goes nothing.

“I had felt kind of stuck after a relationship ended and had a crazy idea that I should try and get back on the horse, so to speak. I had a drunken one-night stand with a guy named Derek. Big mistake.”

I hesitated. “I found out I was pregnant the night before I moved here. I was in shock and denial. An emotional wreck, to say the least. I didn’t tell anyone, not even Lexi, at first. I had to wrap my head around it, learn to embrace it. I was afraid. Shit, I still am.”

Dan didn’t say a thing, he just stroked Buddy’s fur and watched my face intently.

“Then I went back to New York to tell Derek. Turns out his only input of any kind, would be the sperm he’d already donated. His name will not be on the birth certificate. It’s okay, though. I don’t want him to have any part of this baby. She’ll meet plenty of assholes in her life. She doesn’t need to know the man who is her biological ‘father’ is one too. Although I won’t keep his info from her if she wants to know.”

Now that I’d started to talk, it got a little easier. This part, anyway.

“So I decided to take another trip back to New York to tell my parents. For some reason, I thought they should know before I told anyone else. I’m not sure why, though.”

“What was their reaction?” Dan asked.

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