Vegas Baby: A Bad Boy's Accidental Marriage Romance Page 5

  But if she pawned the ring, that brought up an uncomfortable question. She had to know that we were married then, or at least she was married to someone, so why would she bolt? Did she have an abusive ex? Was she already married? A student immigrant who had overstayed their visa? She was young, so I supposed that was a slight possibility.

  Either way, I was going to get my answer. I shot off an email to my secretary to find me a flight that would get there before the end of the work day and got ready to finally re-meet my mystery bride.

  ***

  The flight wasn’t that bad, and neither was finding a cab to get to her work. I guess I had to hope that she worked a regular nine to five, otherwise she wasn’t going to be there, and her coworkers might tell her about the tall, rich man who came to check on her.

  Not to mention, what if they didn’t let me into her workplace? I knew some places could be crazy about visitors and the like, requiring badges and for guests to be checked in, so I guess I hadn’t thought this one through.

  I guessed I would just have to hope that she was there; it was too late to turn back now. I was going to find her, and I was going to get divorced!

  The cabbie dropped me off at a car rental and I went about picking the best car I could find given how I only had another hour and a half before the work day was over. Once I was all settled into something big and sleek that fit my style, I was driving off to my destination.

  It was a standard office, just like I had googled, and I walked right into the lobby. I tried to put on my best professional but stern look instead of the anger I was feeling course through me, but I wasn’t quite sure on how successful I was.

  I was still figuring out how I was going to explain to that I needed to see her, but my problem was sorted as I approached the receptionist’s desk only to see Nicole sitting right there!

  She hadn’t finished turning to me yet, so I continued to close the space between us until I was right at the desk. When she did finally look to me, her eyes went wide, her jaw dropped, and all the color drained from her skin.

  “Hello, Nicole.” I said as pleasantly as possible. “I’d like a divorce.”

  She stared at me for several moments, her mouth opening and closing in horror. I waited for her to collect herself, and when she did her voice was hardly a whisper.

  “Can I speak to you outside?”

  “Sure,” I said, taking a step away. Although I knew that I wasn’t here to hurt her, she had no idea. For all she was aware, I was a pissed off man coming to get revenge for a maybe-scam that she had pulled.

  She stood, quickly walking around the desk. The first thing I noticed was that, although she looked tired and upset, she still was quite beautiful. But the second thing my eyes focused on was her slightly round, somewhat protruding belly.

  While she could have just gained weight, the rest of her body looked much of the same. Except for her breasts, which also looked like they had gotten bigger. There was a slight sort of glow to her cheeks, and even her hair seemed shinier.

  Holy crap.

  She was pregnant.

  Chapter Nine

  ~Nicole~

  I couldn’t believe.

  I couldn’t freakin’ believe it.

  I had been working so hard and taking care of things on my own for almost a quarter of a year, I finally felt like I was maybe kinda getting on my feet, when suddenly James from Vegas arrived at my desk.

  It wasn’t fair! It had been hell getting here from Vegas and doing the whole interviewing and hiring process again. Not to mention buying a car, getting settled and finding what benefits and help there were so I could make it to my first paycheck. It had taken weeks and weeks of busting my butt through near debilitating morning sickness and catty coworkers before things had settled into a sort of routine, and now here James was, ruining all that again.

  My stomach practically fell out of the floor to Australia and for a moment I couldn’t breathe. He was standing there, looking intense and imposing, and suddenly words didn’t have meaning anymore. What if he started screaming and security had to remove him? I was sure I’d be sacked because of that. Or what if it got out that I was shammed married? One thing I hadn’t expected about the Midwest was that half of the people you worked with expected you to uphold their good, Christian morals while the other half just wished you’d pipe down so they could focus on their work.

  “Can I speak to you outside?” Was the only sensible thing my brain could supply, as if it needed loading time to comprehend what had just happened.

  Thankfully, he agreed, stepping back to give me some space, and exited the building with me, so that my coworkers didn’t catch wind of what was going on and start their own rumors. If there was one thing that I had learned about office life, it was that people loved to start drama where there didn’t need to be any.

  I looked up at him once we were outside, my stomach twisting. He was probably so angry! I probably shouldn’t have run but what if he had pressured me to give up my bab-

  Oh no.

  Oh no.

  Somehow it had slipped my mind that he didn’t know that I was pregnant. But now he had to, and that was definitely not a good surprise.

  “I’m sorry!” I said as soon as we were stopped.

  He held up his hand, breathing deeply like he was trying to control his temper. “You’re pregnant, aren’t you?”

  “…yes.” I said slowly.

  “Is that why you ran?”

  “Yes, and no.” I took my own gulp of air and tried to order my thoughts. “I ran because I didn’t think I could ever find you again, and I knew that I might be pregnant. I couldn’t live as a single mother in Vegas, but I’ve had a few cousins who lived here so I thought I could come here.

  “I was hoping we would find each other again and I could give you your ring back, but I haven’t been able to find a place to live yet and I can’t afford the security deposit, so I’ve been living in my car. Last week someone broke into it and I had to get the window fixed and replace my phone for work, so I had to pawn your ring to cover it.

  “Look, I know what I did wasn’t mature, but I have no idea who you are or how you’d react. I had no idea if you’d try to force me to get rid of my child! I did what I thought was best and I am so, so sorry if that hurt you. I will sign the divorce papers or whatever else you need. You don’t have to-”

  “Hold on,” he said sharply, cutting me off. “You’re living in your car?”

  “It’s just what I need to make due for the moment. I’ll get back on my feet, don’t worry.”

  “I…just…I-” He shook his head and looked just as flustered as I was. “This is a lot to process. Maybe we can go to lunch, talk this all out?”

  Wait, what? He was being peaceable about this? I had to admit, he was surprising me pretty hard. I expected a lot more yelling and swearing, but so far everything had been pretty amicable.

  “Uh no, it’s past my lunch break and I can’t just leave work.” I tried to think of a compromise since he was being so gracious. “But I can do dinner if you’re willing to wait until I get off at six.”

  “Yes, that would work. Just…” he gave me a look that was somewhere between reproach and hope. “Please don’t run.”

  “I won’t.” I answered sheepishly, my mind trying to catch up with the speed at which everything was taking place. “That was a special circumstance, I promise.”

  “I hope so,” he said before turning around and walking off.

  I stood there a moment, just trying to calm my breathing. I couldn’t believe that in just a few short moments, my life had been turned upside down again. Geeze, my luck was like a rollercoaster and I never knew where the hell it was taking me.

  I realized that I needed to get back inside before my coworkers noticed that I was missing. I didn’t want to get reprimanded by the boss the moment that I had gotten out of my probationary period. I had the feeling I was already on thin ice for being pregnant, even if they didn’t say so di
rectly due to legal reasons.

  Rushing back in, I sat behind my desk with my heart pounding a million miles per minute. But even with all the adrenaline flowing through my system, I still felt a bit of relief.

  The maybe marriage that I wasn’t sure had or hadn’t happened had been weighing on me heavily for months. I didn’t like leaving things up to chance or being uncertain about anything, so the confirmation was pretty nice -as was the revelation that James just wanted a divorce.

  I guessed that was just the best I could hope for, given the situation. Then again, we hadn’t had dinner yet. Maybe he would pull out some real whammies then.

  I guessed I would have to wait and see.

  Chapter Ten

  ~James~

  I was still reeling from the news, wondering if I was dreaming and somewhat hoping that I was.

  I couldn’t believe she was pregnant. When she confirmed that she was, it was like my entire world had shifted. Suddenly, there wasn’t just her, me and the divorce, there was a child involved.

  Well, a potential child.

  I was still one hundred percent sure I wanted the divorce, but I was already remembering why I had clicked so strongly with her in the first place. She just had this sort of presence to her, a sort of honest eagerness that I didn’t encounter so often. It helped that she was also ridiculously beautiful and had a sense of humor too.

  I couldn’t deny the fact that something in her rounded belly and slightly widened hips made me want to protect her, and that which was growing inside of her. Was it the man in me, wanting to guard his offspring? Or was it something else? I didn’t know. And I didn’t think it was important that I knew why, just that I would.

  While my relationship with my parents had been alright, we had never been close, and when they passed it was a sort of matter of fact cycle of life sort of thing. I didn’t want a kid to grow up like that. I wanted them to know that they were loved, cherished, the light of someone’s life. Even if I wasn’t with their mother, I would still be a provider, be part of their life and ready to help them whenever they needed.

  I was so deep in thought, that time passed much more quickly than I had anticipated, and before I knew it, it was time to pick Nicole up again. Had it really already been an hour and a half? I felt like I hadn’t come to much of a conclusion even though life was definitely demanding that I make one, and quickly.

  I pulled up to her work at 6 pm on the dot, and she was out a few minutes later, looking around covertly as if she was afraid of someone seeing us. I couldn’t help but wonder why she was so dodgy around her coworkers, but I guessed that would be something I would find out as I talked to her.

  She got in the passenger’s side and quickly buckled up. It was noticeably awkward, and for a few minutes I had no idea what to say.

  “Are you sure the child is mine?” Were the first words out of my mouth and I regretted them instantly.

  “Yeah,” she said with a sigh, not seeming offended in the least. “The first time I’ve had fun in over a year and I certainly got all the consequences. But like I said, you don’t have to worry about it. I’m fully prepared to look after our little bean on my own.”

  I nodded, not saying something one way or the other, my mind still too full and shocked to figure out what I needed to do. “Do you have a place where you’d like to eat?”

  “Do you like Italian?” She asked. “There’s this cute little place call Rizzo’s that has the best cannelloni.”

  “That will do then.” I nodded and plugged the name into my car’s dashboard GPS, driving off in the direction that it described.

  Both of us tried to make small talk in the car, but each attempt floundered. So much was whipping through my head, I couldn’t help but wonder if I was going to get a headache from all of the work. While I was still processing the shock that I may or may not have a child of my own making running around the Earth in less than six short months, I could also see more flashes of the time Nicole and I had spent together. Her golden skin against my paleness, her breasts bouncing as I thrust into her. It was an appealing set of images, even if they were entirely inappropriate considering the situation.

  Thankfully, it was a short drive to the little Italian place, and it actually had its own parking lot with available spaces, something that was pretty rare in both Vegas and my city. I found one close to the side of the blue building, then parked.

  I walked around the car, intent on holding Nicole’s door open for her, but by the time I’d traveled around, she was already out and on the ground. She was stretching a bit, her hands high above her head, and that pulled the fabric of her shirt that much more snuggly around her baby bump.

  It was quite small, as far as I knew, but then again, she was just coming out of her first trimester. I found myself wondering what that meant. Did the baby have nails? Hair? Did it know her voice but not mine? That thought upset me, but I quickly shoved it down so that I wouldn’t have to think about why.

  I walked up to the hostess and she showed us to a booth in the back. It was like the universe knew that we had important things to discuss and had given us a break considering the mess we were in.

  Almost immediately after we sat down, a server came up to us, laying down napkins and glasses of water. I ordered us a fairly standard appetizer and a gin and tonic for myself, then sat back to see what Nicole had to say.

  “I’m keeping it,” she blurted, eyes wide and I could see her pulse rushing at the side of her neck. “I know I mentioned it before, but I want you to know that there is nothing you can do to make me change my mind. You don’t have to be in its life, but it’s going to live, one way or the other.”

  I nodded slowly. “And that I understand. While this baby is not planned for me, and certainly not going to be a convenience, I would never try to convince you to do otherwise.” I paused for a moment, realizing her mini-speech had left me with a question. “But why ‘it’? Do you not know the sex yet?”

  She shook her head, looking down as her cheeks flushed red. “No. I’m uh, a little behind on my prenatal visits. Setting up a primary care physician that takes my insurance has been hard, so I’ve been going to a free clinic.”

  “Well that won’t do.” I shook my head, trying to put everything in perspective. I felt like I had just been handed an obscenely long to-do list and I was still struggling to get to know the language to understand it. “Look, I’ll be honest and say I don’t know if I’m ready for something like this in my life, by I do know that if you’ve made the decision to keep it, we need to make sure that we take care of it.

  “Just because I want a divorce, doesn’t mean we can’t get to know each other and figure this out. I mean, we got along plenty well enough in Vegas. There’s no reason we can’t interact more and get a feel for if we want each other in our lives.”

  Some of her shocked look faded, but mostly she just seemed confused. “You’d really be up for that?”

  “Why not? According to everything I’ve learned from this lawyer, none of the process is very fast. And considering that I’ve only had two hours to digest the idea that there might be a mini-me coming in six months, I need some more time to think.”

  I felt like if this was any other woman, she would have started crying, or accusing me of being heartless, or cold. But Nicole just sighed in relief and practically collapsed her top half onto the table.

  “Honestly, that sounds amazing. I’ll admit, I’m scared. And keeping you from the baby seemed wrong, but I had no way to get in touch with you. I tried the internet a couple of times, but do you know how many successful business men there are named James?”

  I actually chuckled at that, the first bit of humor that I had felt since I had first opened my email. The sound seemed to put Nicole even more at ease, and she looked to me gratefully. It reminded me so much of her expression back in Vegas that I had to fight for my body not to start responding.

  “You know, I haven’t been able to go out like this in ages.”

>   That gave me pause. I had glanced at the menu and everything was under fifty dollars. In fact, the cannelloni that she had ordered was only fourteen. Was… was this what it was like for those who weren’t as economically blessed as me? While I knew that being poor was certainly hard and uncomfortable, I guess that I had never really thought about it in every day terms. But the thought of not being able to afford a meal that was less than twenty dollars was flabbergasting to me.

  “I’m glad I could oblige,” I answered, feeling the mood relax between us.

  Somehow, with the important, stressful matters now out of the way, we were able to loosen up and talk again. Surprisingly, she asked about my business and if any important updates had happened since Vegas, and I found out about her childhood.

  Well, not much about her childhood. She was open about some things, like silly stories and embarrassing growth spurts, but when it came to her parents, or her school, or even childhood friends, she was unusually tight lipped. It piqued my curiosity, but my mind was so full of everything else that had happened that I tucked it into the back of my mind to worry about later.

  And she was right, the food was absolutely delicious. We both ate our fill and when it came time for dessert, we shared a decadent piece of triple chocolate cake.