Page 51 of Christmas with the Denton Billionaires

" I was planning on commuting back and forth while I was working on getting the ballroom set up for the gala.”

Mitch shook his head. “In this weather? No. It’d be safer if you stayed here at the hotel. Plus, you’ll have everything you might need here.”

“Okay,” she said, trying to imagine how that might look.

“The hotel is equipped with cribs, blankets, formula, and more,” Patrick said.

“Great. It’s settled then. Can you call for some of…everything? Have it sent to the penthouse.”

Patrick nodded and started to leave, but Mitch snapped his fingers. “Ah. Almost forgot. Could you send someone up from housekeeping to pick up these clothes for dry cleaning?”

“I’ll take them with me,” Patrick said as he reached for the clothes. He wrinkled his nose. “I definitely don’t miss the baby puke stage with the boys.”

Once it was just her and Mitch and the baby in the office, Jules sent Mitch a stricken look. “What now?”

“Let’s go up to my penthouse. We can get settled in there with the baby.” Mitch led the way down the hall to an unmarked elevator door. He punched in a code and then shoved his hands in his pockets. “I insist that you stay here as well.”

“At the hotel?”

“Mmmm. Unless you’re against it, I have a guest suite in the penthouse that you can use. You’ll be more comfortable than in one of our rooms. Assuming we have any availability.”

She blinked a few times, letting the news settle into her. The elevator doors swept open, and he ushered her inside while the proposition cycled through her.

Sleepover with the hottie billionaire during a freak snowstorm and an unexpected baby?

Yeah.

Why the hell not?

6

JULES

The elevator doors swept open twenty floors above the lobby and Mitch gestured for her to step through.

But she couldn’t move—not right away, at least. The sight of the penthouse in front of her stole her breath, and all she could do was stare. A white, glittering foyer greeted them, a wide hallway leading toward enormous floor-to-ceiling windows that overlooked Manhattan.

She’d lived in this city her entire life, but she never tired of seeing it from high up. The view was gorgeous. The suite was gorgeous. Thismanwas gorgeous.

“Come in, please,” Mitch urged, snapping her out of her trance. She drifted forward, gaze bouncing off all the interesting facets of his penthouse. The sleek steel accents against the black countertops she glimpsed walking past the kitchen. The blue and gray rug in the living room, which matched the blue and gray blanket lying messy on the couch, as if he’d spent the night there watching Netflix.

After being warned away from rich men and the trappings of wealth for most of her life, her mother would have been dismayed to learn that she was here, of all places. Smack dab in the middle of a billionaire’s penthouse, actively being swept away by his trappings of wealth.

“Your place is incredible,” Jules breathed, hating that she sounded as awestruck as she felt. Mitch didn’t even act self-conscious. Why should he?

“Thanks. I love it here.” He led her toward the windows, where a small cluster of slate-gray armchairs nestled around a low wood table. “Please sit. Make yourself at home. This is your home, too, as long as you need it to be.”

Jules was about to thank him when a buzzing noise sounded through the penthouse. Mitch hurried around a corner, and a moment later she heard the dull undertones of another voice and then footsteps. A hotel employee appeared a moment later, rolling a crib behind him. Mitch carried a wooden changing table, which he set down in front of the windows.

“Where did he…?” Then the baby started fussing, as if she could sense that her necessities were here.

“There’s a service elevator off the kitchen,” he explained, arranging the changing table while the employee made another trip to get more baby things.

“Wow. So your workers can just stop in and make a surprise visit?”

“Oh no,” he said. “There are very strict rules for the use of the service elevator. It will never open unless I allow it.”

“Interesting,” she said, unable to fight the grin as she looked around. This was like being on a different planet altogether. This was a modern-day Victorian mansion, Manhattan style. “I clearly don’t live in a penthouse attached to a hotel, so please forgive my ignorance.”

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