Billionaire Baby Daddy

“Emma, honey,” I said, hating what I was about to do but knowing that it was necessary. I settled her back down on the bed, holding her hands between mine and looking into her eyes. “We're not going to leave Daddy,” I told her. “It's going to be just like in all your stories. You and Daddy and I are going to live in this castle forever. We're going to live happily ever after.”

Emma sniffled. “We are?” she asked.

“Of course, we are,” I said firmly. I hated lying to her, but I didn't know what else to do. “Daddy loves you so much. He doesn't ever want you to leave.”

“Does Daddy love you, too?” she asked.

I swallowed hard, trying to push back my own tears. It wasn't that I wanted Andrew to tell me that he loved me. I wouldn't have believed him if he did. At the same time, when she asked it like that, it was heartbreaking to think that Andrew didn't love me, that he might never love me.

All I wanted was to promise Emma that Andrew and I were madly in love and that we were going to be together forever. But that was one lie that I couldn't bring myself to voice.

“Daddy loves you best,” I told Emma, hoping that would be enough for now. Sure enough, Emma giggled, settling back against the bed. “Okay,” she said. There was a knock on the door, and she clapped her hands in delight. “Daddy!”

I forced a smile onto my face, even though I still felt a bit heartsick over Emma's worries. “And the hero returns,” I said.

Andrew laughed as he came to join me by the side of the bed. “I don't know if I'd call myself a hero,” he said. “But I do know a pretty good story about a hero. You want to hear it?”

Emma nodded vigorously.

“All right,” Andrew said, pulling up a chair so that he could sit beside me.

He was close enough that our knees touched, and he caught my hand where it rested in my lap, stroking his thumb lightly across my knuckles as though sensing my distress.

I only hoped he hadn't heard the conversation Emma and I had just been having, but he gave no signs of having done so.

He proceeded to make up a story about a mighty knight named Orinoco, who used the magic of the IPO to get the “magical capital power,” which he needed to destroy the goblins of the “Poorly-Run Competitor Firms.”

Emma was all smiles by the end, and she quickly drifted off to sleep. I watched as Andrew tucked the blankets around her and then bent to kiss her forehead. Then, he turned towards me, a smirk on his face, and nodded towards the door.

I trailed after him into the hallway. “What a great story,” I said teasingly.

Andrew stuck his tongue out at me. “Well, the audience seemed to like it, anyway.”

“It's always work with you, isn't it?” I asked, unable to keep the sad note out of my voice.

“My work is very important to me,” Andrew agreed, nodding seriously. He caught my hips and pulled me close to him, fixing me with his piercing gaze. “But I'm making some changes. I had a meeting today with the executives, and I told them that I'm not going to be working as many hours from here on out. There may even be whole days that I take off from work! And they're just going to have to fend for themselves.”

I blinked at him, shocked by the declaration. “Really?” I asked.

“Don't get me wrong, I'm still a workaholic,” Andrew cautioned. “I'm not going to dro

p everything just to spend more time with Emma and you.”

“Of course not,” I said quickly. “I wouldn't dare think that.” But I couldn't keep the smile off my face. “At least you'll get to enjoy this house of yours a little more often.”

“Hmm, yes,” Andrew agreed. “I was also thinking that maybe you and I could set up a date-night.”

I could only stare at him for a moment. Then, I giggled. “You really don't seem like the kind of guy who sets up a date-night,” I said seriously. “Unless it's Friday nights, because you want to go drinking at the club and then go home and fuck.” Then, I winced, hardly able to believe that those words had just come out of my mouth. “Sorry. I just mean—”

“You're right,” Andrew interrupted. “I've never been the kind of guy to have a date-night. But I was thinking about it, and it seemed like maybe it would be a good idea for you and me. Maybe it would lend a little normalcy to our relationship. Remember how we talked about how abnormal this all is, given that Emma is an integral part of our relationship? This would let us have that, and let us get to know one another better. If you're not interested, though, we don't have to. It was just a thought that we had.” He rubbed the back of his neck, looking surprisingly uncertain.

“I really like that idea,” I said softly. I couldn't believe that he had come up with it, frankly. But it was a great idea.

“Good,” Andrew said. “I need to juggle things around with my schedule and figure out how I'm going to do this, but once I have that all sorted out, we'll give it a shot.”

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Andrew