Billionaire's Secret Baby

I tried again and again. Finally, after an hour or so I started to get the hang of it.

When I left I was amazed at how much better I felt about things. I did feel more confident, more secure, and for the first time in a while I felt really peaceful about life in general as if it was no big deal. It was brilliant for peace of mind.

Chapter 5

Mason

I was bored shitless.

But I kept the stiff smile on my face as best I could while I trolled around the large banquet hall shaking hands, schmoozing, and more or less kissing ass of people in the wealthy elite of our fair city. It should have been a good time but I just wasn’t in the mood for any of it. I wanted to go home and spend time with my son or read a good book after he went to bed, maybe have a few scotches, and mainly just be lazy and quiet tonight. I often longed of those days. I didn’t get them very often anymore, but it was mostly because I refused to turn down things like this.

It was good for business to attend these types of functions, but they were so painfully boring that I was ready to tear my hair out at the end of the night. I’d known about the Briar’s Club Annual Banquet Ball to raise money for PETA for a few months now. It was on my calendar, I was ready to give my donation and smile for the picture of me giving that donation, and I was even ready for all of the business schmoozing that would go along with it—but I still hated it.

Yet, it was part of the job.

I think it would have been better if I hadn’t attended alone. Most everyone was with a significant other, or at least just a fun date. I was swinging solo and this was a conscious decision I’d made. I could have asked someone out, I could have asked someone out especially to this function and they would have probably said yes, but I wasn’t ready even to do that. I had debated it heavily, and now I was wishing I’d just picked someone to ask. Hell, I could have asked Jessica. She was a friend of mine. We’d started as business partners a few years back on a few ventures and had remained pretty good friends. We were much too different for anything romantic to ever develop, but we were good friends. She was attractive and smart. I was actually surprised she wasn’t here. Hell, she was part of the business community, the wealthy elite, and she’d been invited, but she’d been wise enough to turn it down.

“You got to try those little hot dog things that are going around. They are excellent. Hell, I’ve had five of them.”

The voice speaking from behind me was Brandon Myers. I’d been friends with him for a few years now. I turned around and shook his hand, happy to see a familiar face.

“How’s it going?” I asked.

“Good. Yourself?”

“Not bad. I thought you were out of the country?”

“Nah,” he shook his head. “I got back from Nepal last week.”

“Great. You should have dropped me a line.”

“Been too busy,” he replied. It was then that I noticed the pretty woman coming up to him. She was carrying a drink and smiling as if she’d had a few already but was very adept at keeping a solid composure while drunk. Impressive.

“You’ve met Sylvia?” Brandon asked.

“I haven’t had the pleasure,” I said reaching to take Sylvia’s hand as she offered.

“Charmed,” Sylvia said. Yep, she was used to this jet setting crowd alright. But she wasn’t a member. I could tell. Was she used to being arm candy or did she just have a specific type of man that she dated? I didn’t want to make those kinds of assumptions but she was far from being the first woman that I had seen in that type of lifestyle.

“What about you? I don’t see your lovely lady of the evening,” Brandon said. He noticed that already. Fuck.

“Yeah, it’s just me tonight.”

Brandon’s eyes raised and then almost rolled as he ran with this leverage. “It hasn’t been that tough for you lately, has it? You do have to take a break and have some fun.” He turned to Sylvia. “This guy crushes it on the business front. He is worth so much money he can practically print his own.”

“Practically,” I said with a shrug. I hated talking about my money. And a lot of people were jealous of the early success I’d enjoyed. It was ok. They could hate all they wanted. I was used to it.

“That’s interesting,” Sylvia said. She couldn’t have cared less. Good. I was bored with this conversation and this whole party.