Page 42 of Billion Dollar Baby Deal

“I suspect you’ve seen the story by now?”

“Only just,” Noah answered. “Look, I don’t know who leaked this photo but theNovashoot was coming out tomorrow.”

“You best hope it still does. The whole point of this was to display you as a family man.”

“I know—”

“You put in eighty hours this week and it reflects poorly on you.”

Noah was caught off guard. “You expect me not to work?”

“All I’m saying is that you should be taking care of your pregnant fiancée. Make it look like you’re prioritizing her and the baby. Take some time off, play the family man. Do whatever you have to do to fix this or you can kiss that promotion goodbye.”

“You got it, Dad. I’ll talk to you later, okay?”

Richard didn’t bother with goodbyes; he simply hung up the phone.

Noah curled his hand angrily around his cellphone. Play the family man? It couldn’t be that hard. His own father was the master, after all, and Richard didn’t have a paternal bone in his body.

He thought about what his father had said. Make itlooklike you’re prioritizing her and the baby. Richard didn’t give a damn about Sophie or his future grandchild. But he had been right; this would reflect badly on him.

What could Noah do to fix this? Just taking time off work wasn’t enough of a statement. No, he would have to be seen out and about with Sophie, spending time with her and showing his involvement. He had to do something that would prove his commitment to his family. Find a way to paint her in a better light and not as his social-climbing mistress.

Plus, taking some time off would only allow him to keep his promise to Sophie about being there for her.

He felt horrible, praying she hadn’t seen the tabloid yet, before he could explain. She wasn’t used to this level of publicity, let alone the negative kind. He wished there was something he could do to forceFlavorto retract the piece. But there was no point; the damage had already been done.

Noah thought about his hand on her stomach that day at the photoshoot. It had really hit him then, that there was a child growing inside her.Their child.

A feeling of protectiveness came over him.

How was he going to be able to protect Sophie from these things? Keep her and the baby safe?

He had an idea.

* * *

A few hours later, Noah met Sophie for cake tasting.

Surprisingly, he was in a great mood. He couldn’t remember the last time he had taken time off from work. He still had to make arrangements for his absence but was already looking forward to it. Having a small vacation would only make his promotion more fulfilling when he returned full-time.

By the look on her face when he arrived, he knew she hadn’t seen the article yet. Suddenly, he wasn’t sure if he was happy to be the one to break the news.

He had been running a few minutes behind. Sophie was already seated with the woman who ran the bakery when he walked in, an array of cakes laid out before them.

“Sorry I’m late,” he said while taking his seat.

“No worries, we haven’t started yet,” Sophie assured him.

The bakery owner went over all the different types of cakes, pointing to the names attached to the toothpicks in each slice. Then she proceeded to show them some photos of previous wedding cakes she had made in the past.

Sophie agreed that they would need to order more than one cake due to the size of the guest list. They decided to keep the main cake small, just for their family and friends, and have a larger one for the rest of the guests.

Sophie stated that she wanted the fondant to be a baby blue with white roses and lace decorations. Noah had no objections. He was happy to see that she was getting more involved with the planning.

The baker left them to taste-test on their own, assuring them they were welcome to take the slices home, but Sophie refused, saying they needed to start crossing more things off the list.

Sophie offered Noah a fork and they dug in, commenting on each one and rating them out of ten. Sophie kept a pen and paper beside her to mark down all their favorites.

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