Page 11 of Doctor Billionaire's Surprise Baby

"You know, I'm not totally sure, but I think it's something I'm going to talk to Simone about."

Austin looked at me, incredulously.

"What? You haven't' talked to her yet? I thought you had gotten to that point after our last discussion."

"No, man. There's so much at stake. I've been mulling it over but I've just asked her to meet tomorrow night. And, in the process, making it super awkward with Simone at the office. Have you noticed?"

"Yeah, I've noticed you two haven't been chatting as much. But I thought it was because you had spoken to her and that's why it was awkward. Why all the weirdness now? Have you done something else?" He hit me in the shoulder with a floppy arm. He always tried to lift too much.

"I don't know how to explain it, but I've been staying on the friendship side of the relationship for so long. Asking her to marry me is firmly stepping over into territory I've been avoiding for… well, forever."

"Simone's a beautiful girl. Smart, talented…, man, she's the package. But… I do know what you mean. I mean, we've all known her as Seth's sister and not a girl we're gonna fool around with. She's going to be in our lives for a long time. Seth's a bro. So yeah. I get it, but I guess I didn't think about it like you've had to."

"Yeah, so that's the problem."

"Not to mention you're probably not used to actually opening up to someone."

What? How was Austin reading my mind? I looked at him with wide eyes.

"Oh, come on. You've always been like that. It comes to daily surface stuff, you're all in. When we talk about deeper stuff, you're the first one that clams up. This is taking you out of your comfort zone. I can appreciate that. You just gotta take your time and learn to open up. You might like it. Ha, you'll be Hugo our little flower." He mockingly held an imaginary flower and started picking off its petals.

I boxed him in the shoulder, we laughed, and I walked toward the free weights.

But yeah, he was right. Totally right. Taking this relationship to the next level meant that everything about me had to change.

And the sad thing is, I'm not sure I'm ready for it.

After the workout, we were all showered up and headed to the lounge. Logan was there, waiting. His longer blond hair was always making the girls swoon.

"Hey punks. What took you so long? Taking your time to look pretty?" Logan was always up for a laugh.

"Yeah, Hugo was taking too long with the mascara," Dom teased.

"Hey, don't complain, Dom. You eventually got to use it." I try to give it back when I can.

We ordered our meals – nothing fancy and everything just replaced the calories we lost – and I have to say that my heart was full. This was famiglia, of the strongest kind. We chose to be there for each other. Of course, I had no one else, being the foreigner. Seth had his small family and the rest with their family attachments, but I don't think I would be the only one to say that we felt bonded by more than our jobs and F2. We had been through so much and I had to pause for a couple of seconds to soak in the moment.

Dom tapped his fork against his glass as if to make a momentous announcement. We all turned toward him.

"F2 is treating everyone to this supper tonight because we have just made yet another amazing win in the markets today. Let's just say we could each buy a penthouse in Manhattan any time we want."

"WTF, man, are you serious?" Logan's eyes were huge.

"Serious. We've not had many losses since we started our investing and now that we made our first…" he leaned in and whispered, "billion," he sat normally as we were all a little dumbfounded, "let's just say, we have a lot of latitude to do whatever we want, personally and professionally. You know what they say, once you make the first billion, the second one comes pretty quickly."

I knew that the investment company was doing well, but this well? I couldn't ever have imagined it. I had to hand it to Dom, who loved analyzing all the numbers and who was our group's main contact with the managers of our funds. We all raised our glasses to the announcement, but also trying to stay a little low-key in the lounge. The guys dissolved into discussing the stocks that were doing well, but even though I was extremely happy with the news, my mind was on something else.

"You ok, man?" Austin asked. He was always pretty connected to how everyone felt. Dom and Logan stopped their bantering to look at me.

"Oh yeah, really good. Well, maybe this is a good time to just say thanks to you guys. For everything." They all started mockingly being touched. "No, I mean it. I don't have family here and in reality, even when I'm with my own family I don't feel this kind of support. And I just wanna say thank you."

Now they genuinely looked touched and a little speechless. Austin stood up to give me a huge hug, which signaled Dom and Logan to do the same. I'm sure the other patrons were looking at us strangely, but god, it felt good.

"Hey, what brought this on?" Dom asked, always wanting to get the details. "Have you made a decision regarding your green card idea that we talked about? Have you spoken to Simone?"

I shook my head. "No, not yet. But I've decided to talk to her. Finally. We're going out for dinner tomorrow night and I'm really, how do you say it? Shaking in my shoes."

The guys chuckled. "Boots, bro. Boots. But good try," Logan corrected me. I had been trying to learn the english vernacular ever since I came, years ago, to sound like a local, but sometimes I still got it wrong. They were always accommodating and I was glad to provide the entertainment.

---