Christmas Baby for the Billionaire (South Shore Billionaires 1)

“There’s a rooster in my kitchen!”

Tori froze. Oh, God, was he angry? She pressed her hand to her chest and pursed her lips, letting out a slow breath. Up until now, he’d been so easygoing. It was one of the things she liked about him. But his living space... It didn’t fit with the Jeremy she had spent time with so far. It was colorless and without humor. Without life. She puckered her eyebrows. That made no sense. How could decor have a sense of humor? But it was how she felt just the same. He was larger than life. His apartment was...prescriptive.

She went into the kitchen and prepared herself for, at the very least, an annoyed Jeremy.

He was staring at the ceramic rooster she’d bought, sitting in the middle of the counter. She suddenly felt a wave of irritation sweep over her. All she’d done was add a few holiday decorations and buy a stupid knickknack. He didn’t have to be so...cold. It wasn’t like him, or at least the Jeremy she knew.

Maybe the problem was she didn’t know him at all.

“Your place is boring, Jeremy. You needed a conversation piece, and I got you one.” She put her hands on her hips.

His head swiveled and he stared at her for a long moment, and then the most surprising thing happened. He started laughing. A low chuckle, almost despite himself, and her lips twitched. Then harder, and she tried really hard not to laugh back. But when he let loose and bent over, laughing himself silly, she couldn’t help it. She started laughing, too, until they were both breathless.

“A...a...conversation piece,” he choked out, still laughing. “A rooster. Oh, my God.”

Oh, goodness. He was too adorable right now. And not mad. She didn’t know what he was feeling, not really, but he wasn’t mad at her, and her relief was great.

The oven timer dinged and she took a deep breath. “I have to stop laughing so I can take that out of the oven.”

“What is it?”

She looked at the rooster, looked at Jeremy and said, deadpan, “Chicken.”

That set them off again.

It wasn’t that funny. Maybe the stress of the last few weeks was getting to them.

She got the casserole out of the oven and put it on the stove to cool. Jeremy had finally stopped laughing and leaned over her shoulder to look at the dish. “Hmm. Not familiar. But it smells good.”

“It is good. You wait and see.” She slid off the oven mitts and turned around. He was close to her, so close her heart started a pitter-patter that she both loved and hated. “Do you really hate the decorations?” She wanted the truth now that the awkwardness had passed.

He shook his head, his gaze sobering. “No, I don’t. I just wasn’t prepared.”

“For what? Christmas?”

“For it to look like home.”

The pitter-patter turned to solid thumping. “Why? Why shouldn’t your home look like a home?”

“I don’t know. And this... Look, Tori. I’m just overwhelmed. I came home to you today. To an apartment with holiday decorations and a woman pregnant with my child and a home-cooked meal. I have no idea what to do with that.”

How cold had his life been?

“You must have had Christmas trees.”

“Not like this. Not...for me. You did this for me, didn’t you?”

She nodded slightly.

Ignoring the hot casserole dish behind her, he put his hands on the edge of the cold stove and leaned in to kiss her. Really kiss her, with not only skill but with enough emotion that she turned to mush. Could they make this work? He hadn’t responded because he was overwhelmed. Because he’d been floored by the idea that someone had done that for him... Her heart broke a little for the lonely boy he must have been. And now he was kissing her as if she’d given him the moon. She’d spent no more than he’d spent on tea yesterday, but she felt as if she’d given him the world.

It would be so easy to fall in love with this Jeremy. Not just the man who’d been a fantastic lover in the summer sun, or the guy who’d treated her like a princess yesterday, but this man, who let her glimpse his heart. Who could be absolutely tender with her when she needed it most.

His body fit so perfectly against hers, even with the baby between them. Over the last week she’d seen a difference in her bump, and the recent snug waistlines had given way to full-on showing. With Jeremy kissing her like she was something precious, and his baby growing within her, she felt both incredibly feminine and extraordinarily powerful in such a beautiful, natural way.

He’d given that to her. And it was worth more than some artificial tree with a few lights and bows.

And when he broke the kiss and hugged her, she felt herself slipping further under his spell.