Built Overnight (Middleton Hotels 5)

“Yes, you can. It’s the one thing I can do for you. I wish I knew your mother was pregnant before she married that man. I wouldn’t have let her go ahead with it. She could have lived here on the ranch so that we could have raised you with my wife. She passed ten years ago, but she would have loved you to pieces. By the way, there’s something you should know. This was your father’s.” He handed me a pocket watch. “He told me that he would pass it onto his son one day. He didn’t know he wouldn’t get the chance, but I’m so damn grateful I could. Please don’t be a stranger, Anthony. I’ve always dreamed I’d see my boy again.”

“I won’t. I promise, I won’t.”

“Well, get that woman because I want to see some little ones running around here before I’m gone.”

“As soon as I find her, I’ll get started,” I replied, initiating the hug. This was surreal to me, but I wasn’t going to waste the blessing I’d been given. I didn’t want to stay here, or with Jake, so I was headed to the Middleton Arlington since it was closer than my apartment, which I hadn’t wanted to be in since she left me.

Chapter 11

Denise

Another twelve-hour shift and I was going to drop. I still had a couple of hours left before I could split and soak my feet. Luckily, I had tomorrow off. I wouldn’t have to deal with snotty shitheads and their questions. I wanted to bask in the solitude of my growing depression. I couldn’t fathom how one night changed my whole world. I guess a fleeting moment could do that. My heart was racing as I thought about the idea that I would have to see him again. A million scenarios played in my head. Only the nighttime fantasies were the pleasing ones. They were of him, marrying and loving him forever. I laughed to myself. I’d manage to ruin that when I ran away, then didn’t bother to tell him for a month now about the baby. Then again, he didn’t know I knew he worked for Middleton Hotels.

“Hey, Denise. It’s time for your break. Go relax and put your feet up,” David, the night front desk manager, said. I grabbed my purse and headed to the back. I was craving something. It was the first time I had wanted sweets since I got pregnant, so I was going to hit up the vending machine for Pop Tarts.

I got my sweet strawberry goodness and devoured them with a small bottle of water. It was time to go back. I was almost to the front desk when a cramp in my leg struck. I would have buckled to the floor if it wasn’t for the large steely arms that caught my fall.

I looked up to a deep, blue-eyed world of trouble.

Chapter 12

Tony

When the manager told security that Denise was on break, something in me said to check it out, so I waited at the front desk for her to return. What I got was more than I thought possible. She was losing her balance and it wasn’t because of the fucking heels she had on. It was the noticeable motherfucking bump in her midsection. I closed my eyes as I held her for a moment longer than necessary to help her up.

“I’ve got you now. And if you think you’re going to do a runner on me again, you’re sadly mistaken,” I growled against her ear. “There’s a lot to talk about.”

“It’s not…”

“So help me God, I’m going to lose my mind if you tell me it’s not my baby because I know you’ll be lying.”

“I wasn’t going to say that. It’s not that simple. Of course the baby is yours, and no, I didn’t mean to trap you. So you can carry on with your life and see your baby when you please.” She moved past me and I couldn’t drag her back because I was afraid I’d knock her off balance again. She stood behind the desk, trying to hide the belly, like if I didn’t see it I wouldn’t believe it.

“You’re not trapping me into shit. I wish I’d woken up before you did your disappearing act so I could tell you to stay and fucking never leave.”

“There was no way you’d know I was going to get pregnant.”

“No, not then, but when I tossed your fucking pills out the damn window, then I would have given it all I had. It seems I did already.” I looked at her and had a sinking feeling. She wasn’t as surprised to see me as I was her.

“Let’s go. We need to go talk,” I stated, taking her hand and pulling her from around the desk.

“David, Denise just quit.”

She tried to yank her hand from mine. I turned to her and crowded her space. “Don’t think I’m letting you out of my sight until we get some shit straight.”

“You can’t just walk in here and quit for me. I need this job, or haven’t you fucking noticed, I’m single and pregnant.”

“Both of which are temporary. Well, sort of. I plan to keep you pregnant often since I sure as fuck missed the moment you found out.”

She followed along without too much trouble. I escorted her to the bank of elevators. I had booked a room, so I might as well get the most out of it. “Where are you taking me?”

“My hotel room.”

“What do you need one for? You live close by.”

“What I need one for is the fact that over the past three months the thought of going home to my empty house felt like I was living through hell. The urge to sell it has hit me hard as fuck.”

“We can’t be together. We work for the same company.”