Billionaire's Secret Baby

Chapter Three

Chapter Three

Cohen

Closing my eyes, I leaned back in my office chair and set free the memory of the first time Ember and I had made love.

It’d been seven years, but I could still vividly remember it.

Her skin, the softest thing I’d ever felt, blossomed with goosebumps as I moved my hands over her n***d breasts. Full breasts, even though she was only twenty at the time, they promised to grow even more as she matured.

And they have, too.

Her trembling lips were red and swollen from all the making out we’d done before she finally agreed to go home with me for a sleepover. I could tell how nervous she was to actually be doing this with me. “It’s okay, Ember. I get it. You don’t want anyone to know about this. I won’t tell. I swear to you that I won’t ever tell a single soul about this. But I’m only doing it for you.”

“Thank you, Cohen. My sister can’t ever find out, or it’ll kill her.” Moving her body in a wave as she rode me slowly, she moaned with desire. “But you make me feel so damn good that I can’t not do this with you.”

I rolled her erect n*****s between my thumbs and forefingers. “You make me feel so good too, baby.” I knew I wanted to keep seeing her. But I wasn’t sure if she would be into that since she was so worried about her sister finding out about us. “Tomorrow, I wanna take you out to eat.”

She stopped moving, and her jaw dropped. “In public?”

“Looks like you don’t want to be seen with me.” I had to admit that her words stung quite a bit. “We could go to the other side of the city or out to Galveston even. I don’t want you to think this is only about s*x because it’s not. I feel a real connection with you. It’s more than just sexual.”

“Cohen, I like you, I really do. I’ve never had such a natural connection with anyone before. But this can’t really happen. You know that, right?”

I knew she was worried about something that wasn’t worth worrying about. “Look, you know that your sister and I didn’t get along. Honestly, I could never figure out why she acted so hurt when I told her we needed to end things. We’d had this stupid a*s fight over me ordering another beer after she told me not to. I’m a f*****g man, not some kid who needs a woman to tell me what I can and can’t do.”

“I know how she can be.” Her hands moved over my pecs as she looked at them while biting her lower lip. “How do you have so many amazing muscles?”

“I work out.” I took her hands, pulling her down to me as I ran her arms around my neck. “Kiss me, and let’s not think about anything but you and me.”

“Agreed.”

And that’s how things went with us. We agreed on pretty much everything. Well, there was that one exception. We’d never agreed that it was the right thing for us to stop seeing each other after only one week of the best times I’d ever had. And I was sure it had been the best week of her life too. But she ended it anyway.

Opening my eyes, I thought I might remind her of the night we snuck off to the other side of Houston to go to Red Lobster.

Since it was nearly six in the evening, I called the head chef of Essence. He answered on the first ring, “What can I do for you this evening, boss?”

“I would like for you to make a lobster dinner for two, complete with the best bottle of white wine you have right now.”

“Are you going to come into the restaurant to dine, or should I have it sent to your office?”

“It’s not for me. It’s for one of our guests and her little girl. You’ll need to send it to Ember Wilson’s room. And make sure you send a fruity drink for her little girl too.” I hoped that would inspire Ember to spend some time with me.

“I’ll have it to her room within half an hour.”

“Great. Thanks.”

I’d called her room a little afternoon to ask her to join me for lunch, but she’d said that she and her daughter had already eaten. And from the security camera in the hallway near her room, I could see that she hadn’t left her suite since then. I had seen our staff coming and going, though, telling me that she and her daughter were spending the day getting pampered with massages, facials, and manicures.

I was starting to think that Ember didn’t want to be out and about in the resort for fear she’d run into me. If that were the case, it meant she was afraid of not being able to control herself where I was concerned. Which was great because I also had a hard time controlling myself where she was concerned. That’s just the way it was between us.

There was her kid to consider, though, and I hadn’t ever had to consider a kid before. But I liked kids, and her having one was in no way a deal-breaker. All I wanted to do was spend time with them. I liked Ember’s company, after all.

Did I want to have s*x with her? For sure. But I knew that was going to be a longshot with her little girl around. In the future, though, well, that was a different story altogether.

There would only be a little over two hours separating us when she went back to Houston. I could easily handle the drive to go see her as often as she’d let me.

Something on the computer screen caught my attention, and I saw that the meals were being delivered to Ember’s room. She answered the door wearing a white robe, looking relaxed and refreshed.

There wasn’t any sound, so I couldn’t hear what was being said, but I could tell it wasn’t what I had imagined. She shook her head and looked aggravated as one line formed on her forehead. She pointed the porter back down the hallway, and he left quickly, taking the cart with the tray of food with him.

What in the hell?

Moments later, Essence was calling me. “This is Cohen.”

“This is Sammy, the room service manager. I’m afraid the lobster meal you sent to Miss Wilson has been returned due to her daughter having an allergy to shellfish. What would you like for us to do, sir?”

“Make up a couple of plates of mac and cheese. But don’t send them up. I’ll come to get them.” Huffing as I ended the call, I berated myself for not thinking about allergies when I’d ordered the food.

Locking my office for the night, I made my way to Essence to pick up the plates they had ready for me by the time I got there. Heading to Ember’s suite, I sort of hated – yet loved – how butterflies swarmed in my stomach.

This is so not like me.

But that was what Ember did to me. Things inside of me that no one else seemed to be able to.

Mentally preparing myself for her reaction, I knocked on the door. “Room service.”

The door opened quickly — already, agitation showed on her very pretty face. “I didn’t order — oh, it’s you.”

“It is me. I brought something for you and little Madison.” She hadn’t taken a step back, so I wasn’t sure what her intentions were. “May I come in?”

Madison poked her head out from behind her mother, a smile on her rosebud lips. “Hi! You’ve brought us something too. How nice.” She moved in between her mother and me. “Can you come in for a little bit?”

“I can.” I watched Ember’s puffed chest deflate as she turned and walked away.

Although she looked less than thrilled to be stuck with my company, Madison seemed very happy that I’d stopped by. She led the way to the small dining table. “Over here, Mr. Cohen. Someone brought us something earlier that I can’t eat. Mom sent it back. What did you bring?”

I placed the silver domed trays on the table, then pulled the lids off. “I brought our famous mac and cheese.”

Clapping, she laughed as she pulled the white robe she wore around her a bit tighter, then took a seat. “Yes! I love mac and cheese. It’s my all-time favorite. How’d you know?”

“Because it’s my favorite too.” Looking over my shoulder, I found Ember heading into the bathroom with some clothes in her hands. “I brought a plate for you too, Ember.”

“I’m going to get dressed. I don’t feel comfortable in the robe.” She closed the door behind her, leaving me and Madison alone.

Madison didn’t seem to have that same problem as she was quick to grab a fork and begin digging into the cheesy meal. “I’m not gonna wait for her. She always takes a long time in the bathroom.”

Taking the chair across from her, I sat down. “Did you have fun today?”

“Fun?” She shook her head. “But I liked it. I got a massage, but it kind of hurt at first. And then someone painted my nails.” She held out one hand, wiggling her pink-tipped fingers. “See. My toes match. Mom got a color she called nude. I call it boring. I wanted her to get red nails, but she said no way to that idea. I think Mom doesn’t like to stand out for some reason. Which doesn’t make sense because she’s really pretty – especially for someone so old.”

I tried to hold back a smile – I guess everyone seemed old when you were six. “Maybe she doesn’t want to stand out because of her job. She’s got to be mostly working with men on the oil rigs. I bet that’s why she’s not into wearing things like red nail polish, even though she would look beautiful with that color on her nails.”

“She would look beautiful! You are so right, Mr. Cohen.”

“You can skip the mister part and just call me Cohen. No one except the staff calls me mister. And you’re a friend, right?”

“Sure I am.” She stopped, her fork hanging in the air as she looked right into my eyes. “Since we’re friends, can you tell me why my grammy doesn’t like you?”

“Well, I broke up with her oldest daughter. And she must’ve never understood why.” I hadn’t meant to get into this type of conversation with the kid, but I couldn’t ignore the question.

“Did you break up with Aunt Ashe because she’s bossy and always wants to have her way?” She nodded knowingly as if she already knew the answer to her question.

I didn’t want to say anything bad about her aunt. “We just didn’t connect well, that’s why I ended things with her. But she’s married with kids now, so she must’ve found a nice man who she connects with, and I’m happy for her.”

“I knew you were nice.” She shoved her fork into the mound of macaroni.

“I did too,” came Ember’s soft voice.