Page 24 of Playboy Billionaire's Secret Baby

He shakes his head hard. “You aren’t listening to me, Lexi. This isn’t about me. This is about you. You went and ruined everything by having a child with someone else. I don’t know how I’m supposed to feel about that. It makes me feel stupid…so fucking stupid, and I hate it.”

I roll my eyes in frustration. I’m not here to pamper Frederico and blow up his ego. Why does he assume that everything is all about him? It’s sickening.

“Frederico, my son has nothing to do with you. What I do with my life has nothing to do with you. Just because we’ve had a couple of dates, and we’ve fooled around a couple of times, does not mean you get to dictate what happens. I can’t believe you think you’re so important that I would put my life on hold for you, for two years, during which time we haven’t talked.”

He doesn’t need to know that I have put my life on hold. I haven’t dated anyone else in the last couple of years, but that’s been linked to James, not him.

“I just can’t believe that no one told me this.” He rakes his fingers through his hair, clearly enraged. “I can’t believe it was all kept a secret. That’s fucked up. We just had a great date, and an amazing night together, just for me to find out that you’re a liar.”

“Aliar?” There’s no way I’m taking that. “I don’t owe you anything, Frederico.”

The way he’s making me feel is horrible. It’s like I’m two feet tall, just a piece of dirt to trample on at any given moment. It was a bad plan to go anywhere near him. I never should have gone on the date last night. It was walking into danger, which is why I was hesitant in the first place. It’s why I froze. If Allegra hadn’t turned up, I never would have made it. That might have been the best outcome for us all. This is a real mess.

He doesn’t know that James is his, but this reaction is utterly dreadful as it is. Thinking I have a child with someone else has made him react in a crazy negative way. I can’t begin to imagine what it would be like if he knew the truth.

I need to get out of here as far away from Frederico as I possibly can. I know we share friends, but I don’t think there is any need for our paths to cross again. I definitely need to trust my gut more in future, because I should have known. There is no way this could have ended well. Fuck, my heart is breaking because James is such a wonderful kid. He deserves so much better than this. He deserves the world.

Frederico is pacing up and down like I’ve done something to personally attack him. I back away, shaking my head. The worst part is that I don’t think he even sees what he’s doing. He is so locked into how he believes this affectshim– if he doesn’t think James is his son, then it doesn’t have any impact at all – that he hasn’t even looked my way. I don’t seem to count here.

“I’m going,” I spit out as I grab my belongings. “Don’t contact me again.”

Frederico doesn’t say anything, but the look he gives me is heart breaking. I don’t want to feel anything for this man right now. I’m the hurt one here, but I can feel what he’s sad about. The loss of what could have been an amazing relationship. It’s slipping through our fingers like grains of sand. But realistically, there is no way we could make this work. Not when he can’t see past himself and his own selfishness.

A man like that will never give up on his playboy lifestyle. I have to accept that and Frederico does as well. I’m a mother, and I’m not here to be messed around. If it’s like this, we can’t even have all the fun that Allegra promised me. It’s over.

“I can’t believe this is happening,” he finally declares. “It’s so messed up, don’t you think?”

I shake my head, trying to escape the conversation. It’s done. Yes, it’s messed up, but we have both made it that way. Me, by keeping secrets, and him by acting like he has a claim over some part of me. How dare he? We really haven’t spent enough time together for him to be acting that way. It’s insane. He must see that. He will… anyway.

“None of this should be happening, Frederico,” I tell him darkly. “This is why I was hesitant to go on a date with you. I told you last time we were together that I couldn’t date.”

“Because you lived so far away.” He throws his hands in the air in frustration. “You didn’t mention anything about a child. I would have remembered that.”

“Yes, and it would have changed your mind about me completely. You wouldn’t have even asked me out, which just shows what you think of me.”

Frederico’s expression remains frustratingly blank. He doesn’t even know what I’m trying to suggest. He sees me as less than a woman because I have a child with “another man”. That definitely isn’t the sort of judgment I need in my life.

“Forget it,” I say with an irritated tut. “It doesn’t matter. You don’t know what I’m saying, so let’s just leave it there. Like I said, I need to get out of here.”

I give him one more second, just in case he wants to rectify his words, but he doesn’t. He says nothing. Absolutely nothing at all. Fuck, he really doesn’t get it. Well, now I can tell Allegra that I tried, and it didn’t work. Frederico and I can’t do anything now; it’s just a nightmare. Our personalities clash, and we don’t have the same morals and values. If he can’t see past the fact that I’m a mom, he is not worth my time. He isn’t worth me even looking his way.

I wish I could have found that out without shattering my heart into a million pieces in the process. It’s so painful now; each step I take makes my body feel like it’s rattling with agony. No man has ever had such an impact on me. Maybe because he was my first, or perhaps because he’s the father of my child… These feelings have more to do with that rather than him as a person, although there’s no denying that he does make me feel good when we’re together. No doubt about it.

Angrily, I brush the tears away as I exit the condo, annoyed at myself for even getting emotional over Frederico. Right now, after the way he just acted, he doesn’t deserve my tears. He deserve nothing from me. I won’t waste another moment on him, never mind another tear. That isitfor us. It’s over.

Chapter 16

Frederico

Idon’tsayanythingas I stand on the outskirts of Adam and Allegra’s dinner party. As much as I’m supposed to be here to socialize and have a good time with my friends, I really don’t feel like I’m in the mood for any of this. I even tried to tell Adam that I wasn’t going to come, but he shot the idea down. He wouldn’t let me back out. He doesn’t think it is such a big deal that things have gone wrong with me and Lexi. He assumes it’s just that she has a child, which puts me off.

That isn’t the case at all – not that I’m keen on raising another man’s child – but my issue lies more in the way Lexi treated me. The way she sees me actually. She didn’t even stop tothinkthat I might actually have feelings for her. It was just another one night stand for her. Just a “bit of fun”. I wouldn’t have arranged a date for a bit of fun with her. So, I remain on the outskirts, scowling with a drink in hand. If Adam wants me here, then fine, but it doesn’t mean I’m going to join in the festivities.

Lexi isn’t here yet, but Iknowshe’s going to turn up soon. There’s no way Allegra would have a big party like this without her best friend. So I’m on edge, just waiting…

Fuck. I can sense the tension in the room shift as Allegra walks into their open plan dining room with guests behind her. I don’t know if it’s justme, or if everyone else can sense it too, but Lexi is here. She’s finally arrived to make this day so much harder for me. And she isn’t alone. The woman behind her looks like an older version of her. I presume this is her mother; and then there’s the young boy hanging at her feet.

I swallow hard. I don’t want to look at them because it’s way too hard. But at the same time, I can’t look away. It doesn’t matter how hard I try, but there’s a magnetic pull, and I can’t resist staring at Lexi - and her family. It doesn’t help that she’s as beautiful as ever in her sweetheart neckline top, and summery skirt with her hair twisted in loose curls. It doesn’t make it any easier that her smile absolutely lights up the damn room. As she looks at her son, I see a side of Lexi that I’ve never seen before. An unbounded love shines across her face. I have to admit that I can hardly breathe. Wow, she’s stunning.

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