Billionaire's Secret Baby

Dale grabbed his nine iron and made his shot a bit rushed for some reason. Was there a bee chasing him that I couldn’t see? His body posture was really strange at the moment. It was like he was suddenly in a hurry.

His shot wasn’t bad. He was now up on the green in good position. I might have to get serious. As I walked over to my ball I found myself thinking about how insistent Dale was suddenly about my love life. Guys didn’t normally have these in-depth conversations about their feelings and for the most part I preferred it that way. But something was up with him. I wondered if Natalie was still talking with Tiffany. They’d been pretty close, but surely not after Natalie found out what Tiffany did. But it wasn’t impossible.

I took my shot and watched the ball hit the green, a few bounces, and skip right past the hole. Damn. Too hard.

“Wow, that isn’t like you,” Dale taunted. “You aren’t trying to let me win or anything are you? I hate that type of stuff.”

He had a big shit-eating grin on his face as he said it, trying to get under my skin. I smiled and shrugged good-naturedly. I wasn’t going to give him any satisfaction. “I just might,” I said. “You would never win at anything we do if I didn’t give you that little extra nudge.”

I could practically see the steam blasting out of his ears, but he kept it together and got back into the golf cart. I slid in beside him and we both trucked up the little incline to get closer to the green. “So, Natalie is still talking with Tiffany?” I asked as we reached our stopping place.

He seemed startled for a moment, but I was looking him dead in the eye so he wouldn’t weasel out of it. Anytime Dale ever tried to lie about anything if I was staring him in the eye then he would quickly get sheepish and backtrack. I wasn’t letting him off the hook.

“Yeah, I believe so. They still talk. What of it?”

“Well, it is surprising, that’s all. I mean, Tiffany did a horrible thing to me and to Jack. She cheated on us, on our family. That’s a huge act of betrayal. I just didn’t think you and Natalie would continue being friends with someone like that.”

I stepped out and located my ball. I then took my shot and made the hole. I was one stroke ahead of par on this one. I was having a good game.

“Look, if Natalie wants to be friends with Tiffany, then that is her business. I don’t have a say in that. I’m not on speaking terms with Tiffany if that is what you are hinting at. If I found myself in the same room with her I would be totally angry and unable to control that anger. I might tell her exactly what I think of her and it would cause a bit of a stink. I might enjoy that on second thought. Maybe Natalie will somehow ingratiate me into a get together of her and Tiffany. Want me to pass along any messages?”

I shook my head. He was lying through his teeth about how he felt, but I didn’t care. Tiffany was the last thing I wanted to think about right now.

“No,” I replied. “It’s your shot. Let’s see if you can make this one.”

I watched Dale crouch over his ball with his terrible form and try his best to make that shot. He swung softly, but sloppily. I could see the club turning in his hand and the ball barely made contact before it was careening off to the side of where it needed to go.

I could not contain my laughter. Dale glared at me like he wanted to deck me.

Chapter 4

Laney

“I need to stop. This is just too painful!”

I yelled as let my feet pound the pavement a few last steps and then brought my body to a total stop. I tried to breathe deeply, but my lungs were too burnt and the air would not stay in one place. All I could do was heave and ho as hard as I possibly could to get the oxygen where it needed to go. I felt a bit light headed and a little bit nauseous, but other than that I actually felt pretty good.

Sandra pulled up beside me and continued to jog in place a few more steps. “Come on, you’ve got to get your wind up. We’ve only been going about a half mile. This is pretty pathetic.”

“You know how to motivate someone, I’ll tell you,” I laughed.

She sighed and shook her head. “I’m just trying to be tough on you. I know you can do it.”

When Sandra suggested we start jogging about two weeks ago, it sounded like a good idea. I wanted to start getting into better shape and I figured it would also be a good way to relieve stress. But this was harder than I thought it was going to be at first. I thought I was in better shape than I actually was. I’d always been pretty trim, yet curvy, and I didn’t have much weight to lose, so I figured I would just build on what was already there. But now that I was out there, I could see that I was really out of shape. I had no cardio and no muscular endurance either.