Secret Daddy: A Billionaire and the Nanny Romance Read online

  James’s voice leaks down from the top of the basement stairwell. “Don’t go down there,” he snaps. “I think your daddy and Maggie are trying to have an important talk.”

  Lucas gazes down at me and smiles softly. I can’t help it. I grin back.

  The upstairs door clicks shut again and the footsteps rain overhead, then rush off to another area. It sounds like we’re safe.

  “They’re gone,” I whisper up to him, but Lucas peers back at me with a strange intensity.

  “They’ll be back, though. They live in this house, too. They’re my children.” His thumb rakes over my cheek and his eyes darken. He bows over my throat and leaves a trail of soft kisses there. “We can’t keep doing this forever.”

  “I know,” I breathe. His cock slowly begins to slide back and forth in me again. I want to tell him to stop, because this is the beginning of a break-up talk, but I can’t bear to say the word. All my nerve endings dance and sparkle, even against this tiniest friction. I shift my hips back and forth. I want to stop, and I want to keep going, too.

  “We’re going to have to tell them at some point,” he adds, and then strokes completely into me. My back arches and my eyes roll. It’s so perfect, I want to sob, and he wants to tell the kids. He wants to make me a real part of the family. At some point. Oh, my god.

  “Oh, Lucas,” I breathe, tightening my legs around his hips. He pins my wrists into the pillows again and plunges deep. “Would you really keep me?”

  “Hell yes, girl. Forever.” He buries a hand into my hair and digs the other between my ass and the bed, hefting me easily into the air, like I weigh nothing. He doesn’t slide out of me. With his dick deep, he twists my body in a full 180, replanting me on hands and knees in front of him. His thumbs dig into the flesh of my hips and my ass flowers upward for him by complete instinct. My eyelashes flutter closed, and I sink my chest to the mattress.

  “You’re mine,” he rumbles. He sounds so sure, I don’t dare disagree with him. I’m his.

  His long, broad cock penetrates to the brim. I gasp at the intensity of it, but he doesn’t stop, coming back for another complete thrust. He feels bigger than he did before. Does the thought of having me make him rock solid?

  “You’re going to be my fucking woman.” His arms bind my hips, and his chest presses against my back. I try to move against him, to create more space and friction between us, but he won’t have it. The struggle makes a new, powerful heat snap between us. He flattens me on the bed and kisses the back of my neck. My toes tingle.

  His wide head comes through me and my ankles bend, my toes point. I reel against the bunched up, sweaty sheets and shudder and come, feeling dirty. This is the guest room. The kids are just upstairs. I’m still in my skirt. Hell, he knows I’m a wanted criminal who faked her identity to get in here. How could he possibly want me?

  It doesn’t matter. Prickling, wet heat rolls down my entire body like sunlight and I’m burning alive. I’m done. He can have me. I would be this man’s wife, if he would seriously ask me. Because wow. I’m a pile of steaming noodles on this bedspread, incapable of speech.

  “There she goes,” Lucas breathes. “That’s what I’m looking for.” He pumps into me long and slow, relishing the final twists and squeezes of my orgasm. Then he slides out of me. My eyes open. What the hell? Why am I so cold?

  I twist and glare over my shoulder at him. “What are you doing?”

  “Taste this,” Lucas commands me, running his finger down his slick pole. It gleams like it’s coated in honey, but he hasn’t come yet. That’s all me. “You’re so sweet and creamy. Get on it. You need to see.”

  I crawl to the foot of the bed, feeling precious, adored, by being told to suck my own juices off him. I lap at his head and then pause, smiling up at him. His fingers burrow deep in my hair and pull me back down over his shaft. His head breaks my lips apart and he travels all the way down my throat. God, he’s right. I taste like a sweet bread, warm and fresh. I go to the base of his cock, amazed at the openness of my throat, and he groans and lets me work.

  My hand takes over the base and I forget about my taste on his skin. His hips jerk and I want to make him come in my mouth. I want to swallow him like he swallowed me last night.

  “Fuck yeah,” Lucas breathes, driving deeper. I grunt and go harder. His hands are in my hair, keeping rhythm with me. He must be enjoying himself. He’s going so hard right now, so fucking engorged, Daddy must be about to pop.

  I’m all the way down on him, moaning against his head. His dick vibrates as I moan, and Lucas throws his head back. Any minute now. His ass is overwhelmed. He’s mine, too. He’s about to spill down my lips, he’s so hot for it.

  All the moaning and his hands in my hair must have messed with my hearing a little bit. A shadow appears in the guestroom’s doorway.

  “Ugh, you two, Jesus,” James sneers, putting up a hand to block his view. “This is your house. There wasn’t any other room you could use?”

  Chapter 20

  Lucas

  “I’m going to let you two finish,” James snaps at me, his hand still up to hide Sofia from view. “But we need to have words, Lucas.”

  And I’ll try to care about them.

  But for now, I focus my attention back down on Sofia. Her gray eyes peer up at me, and she works her way slowly back down my shaft, still blushing hard from the interruption. But she won’t stop until I’m satisfied. That’s my type of girl. God, she takes her time. She knows how to do it right. My body racks with a shudder, and I clench my hand in her curls, thrusting faster. It’s good to go slow, but I can’t with her. My resolve crumbles.

  “Mm,” Sofia murmurs around my cock, her lips stretched wide and taut on it. I stare down at her and gather all her hair in my two hands, admiring her entire face as I stroke in and out of her mouth. In a way, yeah, she’s a bad girl. But she was just doing what she had to do to survive. I can understand that. And she sacrificed her own opportunity at a stable future for her twin sister. She’s not bad, she’s wild and pure, like fire. So much stronger and deeper than she looks. She’s amazing.

  Thinking about Sofia is what drives me over the edge. Those cunning, catlike gray eyes. The knowing little quirk her full lips get sometimes. Her classy, feminine demeanor, even though she’s just as fucking depraved as I am. All of it.

  I think about Sofia, and my cum spirals into her mouth, jetting loose from my cock. I spray deep down her throat and look down to watch her swallow all of it.

  Sofia’s throat bobs as she gulps me down and then runs her tongue over my cock, collecting a spare drop that got away from her. I shudder. It’s the hottest thing I’ve ever seen, and she peels herself off my dick with a coy smirk.

  “There we go,” she says, dabbing at her swollen lips like she just finished a five-course meal. “Had to release that valve. Now you can go talk to James without getting into a fight with him.”

  “Oh, I won’t fight with him. He’s still a baby,” I tell her. “He’s going to fight with me, though. And you’re right. I am loosey goosey.” A little tremble of satisfaction moves through my body, and my eyes rove over her, genuinely considering another round. Nah. I have to finish this. “You should stay down here and get yourself a shower,” I say, tugging my jeans back over my ass and zipping them up. “You look freshly fucked, and I mean that in the nicest way possible.”

  With a bashful grin, Sofia touches at her wild golden curls and smirks up at me. “All right, point taken.”

  Upstairs, I find the kids in the living room, going nuts over the climax of some cartoon. Charlie shoots an invisible gun and creates an equally invisible explosion, while Madison dives and flings what appear to be invisible Chinese throwing stars—or perhaps Frisbees—at him.

  James reclines on the couch, smoldering in my direction. “Hey,” he snaps. “What’s going on?”

  “Hey, Dad!” Charlie realizes I’ve entered the room and swings to look at me, bright-eyed. It’s the first time I’ve seen him look l
ike this in a while, and I don’t want to ignore it just so my wayward little brother can question my life choices. “You’ve got to watch this anime! It’s got giants and they’re fighting with the kids and they’re eating people!”

  I cast a look over to Madison to make sure that she’s not in the middle of another zombie kick, but she’s halfway under the couch right now, fishing for a toy.

  “Oh, is that what you’re playing right now?” I squint at the Netflix queue as another episode prepares to roll over. “Attack on Titan?”

  “Yeah, I’m fighting the giants! I’m a soldier!” Charlie leaps and spins off the couch, then runs out of the den completely, still making sound effects for all his different invisible weapons.

  Madison fishes out a naked Barbie doll and a plastic egg filled with Silly Putty. She bolts after Charlie, yelling something about him eating the Barbie next. Maybe the Silly Putty will be a makeshift grenade. I love my kids.

  But damn. Now there’s nothing to stop me from talking to my brother. His eyes bore into mine, and I settle on the couch with a breath. I’m not afraid of him, of course. He’s my little brother. I just don’t need to have this conversation with my little brother.

  “I know what you’re going to say,” I tell him, lifting a hand before he can launch into his speech.

  “Oh, I don’t think you do,” James hisses in a low tone. “Have you thought about the consequences at all? It’s not just cops or an investigator who could turn up. It’s that you might lose the kids over it. And Astrid will flip. She’ll flip that you’re getting your knob sucked by the nanny!”

  “Hey, man, shh,” I hiss back, even though he’s already speaking in a whisper. I almost don’t want Astrid’s name spoken in this house, like it would give her more power. “Listen, that’s exactly what I mean. I know about the consequences. And we’ll face them when we get there. But I’m not going to kick her out. And I’m not going to assume that everything will fail. There’s no reason that it would.”

  “No reason!” James throws his hands up in the air. “What if she steals a car and runs?”

  “She’s had the Jeep keys ever since she started. She doesn’t want to leave, James.” I hesitate, but then I say the words aloud. It’s time that I said them, because they’ve been silently circling in my head for a few weeks now. “I don’t know exactly how she feels about me, but I think we’re falling in love with each other.”

  James’s jaw drops. “You’re not,” he says. “You barely know her. You just found out her real name today.”

  “I do know her. I know that she’s gentle, but she’s hardworking. I know that she’s wild and soft. I know that she’d do anything for family-”

  “She’s a con woman, remember,” he tells me.

  “She’s not a con woman. She let her twin sister use her medical insurance and she got caught. She’s a good person, James. She’s a good woman, and I’m not going to give that up. Not now that I’ve finally found it.”

  “That’s just what she’s telling you.” James grimaces, though, clearly beat. He knows the crime is an understandable one, in spite of the risks her presence does pose to me right now. We’ll figure it out. We’ll figure it all out as soon as I have a minute to myself to think. “Just be careful,” is my little brother’s final piece of foreboding advice. “You never know what might happen with someone like that.”

  Chapter 21

  Sofia

  James doesn’t speak to me again before leaving the house, and that says a lot about how he feels right now. For the rest of the weekend, Lucas doesn’t leave my side, though. That says a lot about how he feels, too. In front of the kids, he still calls me Maggie, and he doesn’t do anything that would look too intimate. But there is a difference. There’s a new depth, a new sparkle in his eyes. Discovering my true identity made his emotions turn a corner.

  Lucas sneaks into my bedroom on Sunday night, and I lightly push him away, even though it’s dark and everyone is asleep. Even though it’s just him and me, under the blanket, and it’s so hard not to cross through that adjoining bathroom and see each other again. I wish we could just sleep together and be a normal couple.

  “You have to get out of here,” I tell him. “I’ve got to be up at six tomorrow. I can’t stay up all night with you. You’ll keep me up all night, Lucas.”

  “I know, I know,” his shadow sulks at me. “I just wanted to be in your bed for a minute.”

  “Yeah, right! ‘Be in your bed for a minute,’ he says!”

  “Shh, shh, all right, all right,” he says, slipping back out of the bed. The adjoining bathroom door opens, and he looks over his shoulder to say, “Love you. I mean, goodnight!”

  “Love you, too,” I whisper back, grinning. I feel like my eyes lit up the darkness. He loves me! I knew it. I knew something changed. “I mean, goodnight, too,” I correct myself.

  Lucas slips out of the bedroom, and I’m left alone to sleep. Tomorrow is Monday, and we’ll both be hard at work, so I just curl up and think about him until I fall asleep, wishing there was some way we could be in each other’s arms without worrying who might see.

  In the morning, I make breakfast and pack the lunches and set out clothes. Lucas skips downstairs in business casual attire and gives my booty a playful smack as I’m heading down the hall to collect the Jeep keys from the doorway. I gasp and shoot him a scandalized look. He jogs back from the kitchen and back up the stairs, now holding an apple, a banana, and a can of nuts. He’s lucky that the kids don’t see this all happen, and we jump in the Jeep and head to school.

  At pick-up time, Fallaway Peaks Middle School is a total disaster area. There are cars everywhere, bottlenecked and thronged. Someone might have hit a stop sign or something. I park the car. “We’re going to have to get out, sweet pea,” I tell Madison. I don’t like to leave the safety of the Jeep, with its tinted windows, and I don’t like to leave the safety of the cabin, but there will be times that I have to.

  Still, I wrap my scarf tight around my face and push my hoodie up to hide my curls. I don’t know how many of these kids or teachers might have seen my face on the local news.

  Grasping Madison’s hand, we jog up toward the entrance to collect Charlie on foot.

  I’m barely taller than these middle-schoolers, but I can at least scan for Charlie. I’m almost inside the building itself when Charlie struggles through the door. I don’t understand. Why can’t he walk?

  Then Charlie explodes forward and collapses onto the sidewalk, almost at my feet. He hasn’t seen me yet. My heart aches with sympathy as it all becomes terribly clear. The kids behind him are snickering and elbowing each other. There are four boys in his same age group, one tall and freckled with dark hair and braces. The others are significantly shorter. They all have the same smirking, leering posture: arms folded over their chests, wicked smiles, eyes gleaming.

  Charlie climbs slowly to his feet, but his backpack spills open and rains his textbooks over his shoulder and onto the pavement.

  He’s being bullied. Of course.

  The bullies come strolling out onto the sidewalk as if nothing happened, like they can’t even see him there on the sidewalk.

  “See you tomorrow, Dickless!” the tallest boy calls out, giving his science textbook a swift kick as he passes it by. His henchmen all howl and shriek with laughter. I almost want to grab him and give him a good shake, but he’s someone else’s kid and I can’t risk drawing attention to myself. They move past me without even noticing me there and Charlie gropes, crawling toward his science book.

  I can’t watch anymore, even though I’m afraid I might embarrass him. I push through the milling tweens and stoop down, scooping my hands around Charlie’s textbook and holding it out to him.

  His clear blue eyes shoot arrows at me, and he rears away with something almost like hatred on his face. “I don’t need any help, Maggie,” he snaps at me, shambling to his feet, scowling at me the entire time. “Believe me. I know how to get back up.”

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sp; I gape at him and blink. I tell myself not to take it personally. No one would want to be seen like this, especially a fragile ten-year-old.

  “Of course, you do,” I say softly, standing up to watch him collect all his books, one by one, then shove them down into his backpack. He never once looks up at me. Poor thing.

  “Did you see that kid’s hardware?” I crack, hoping to conjure up some hint of a smile.

  “Don’t,” Charlie mutters sadly, forcing himself up to a stand. It looks like he’s got the weight of the world in that backpack. “I’ll be fine, Maggie. Just leave me alone.”

  I take a deep, sad breath, but I don’t push it. “Your wish is my command,” I say. But I have to add, “You could kick that kid’s ass, though.”

  Charlie shoots me a desperate look. “Please don’t tell my dad, OK?”

  Chapter 22

  Lucas

  My cell phone is pressed to my ear, in a conference call with my senior engineer and the head of creative, discussing what their teams had to contribute for the week. My mind is outside, though. I stand at the window of my home office and gaze out into the backyard, where Charlie swings alone. Not even Sofia is with him. It’s cold out there, and he doesn’t seem to even feel it. He lazily pivots his foot back and forth in the most half-assed swing I’ve ever seen in my life.

  “That all sounds great,” I say, realizing that the lull in the conversation is probably my team waiting to hear back my input. “After everything is compiled, send it my way for approval. Thanks, guys.”

  I end the conference call and return to the original line, where my secretary Rachel is still waiting for me. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: the work she’s done for Graytech is some of the best work any employee has done. She’s loyal and hard-working. Her tombstone would be beautiful if it merely said “Secretary” on it. That’s how good she is.