Have Baby, Need Billionaire(3)

Two




"How'd it go?"

Tula smiled at the sound of her best friend's voice. Anna Cameron Hale   was the one human being on the face of the planet that Tula could count   on being on her side. So, naturally, the moment she'd returned from San   Francisco and facing down Simon Bradley, she dialed Anna's number.

"About as you'd expect."

"Ouch," Anna said. "So he had no idea about the baby?"

"Nope." Tula turned to look at Nathan, sitting in his bouncy seat. The   babysitter, Mrs. Klein, had said that the baby was "good as gold" the   whole time she was gone. Now, as he bounced and pushed off with his   toes, the springs squeaked into motion, jolting him up and down in the   small kitchen.

Tula's heart gave a little Nathan-caused twinge that she was starting to   get used to. How was it possible to love someone so much in the span  of  a couple of short weeks?

"In his defense, it must have been a shock for him to be faced with this out of the blue," Anna said.

"True. I mean I knew about Nathan and it was still a stunner when Sherry   died and suddenly I'm responsible for him." Although, she thought, it   hadn't taken more than five minutes for her to adjust. "But when I told   Simon, he looked like he'd been hit with a two-by-four."

"God, honey, I'm sorry it didn't go well. So what do you do now?"

"He's coming here tonight to meet Nathan and then we're going to talk."   Tula thought briefly about the little buzz of sensation she'd received   when he shook her hand and then pushed that thought right out of her   mind. There was already plenty going on at the moment. She so didn't   need anything else to think about.                       
       
           



       

But her mind couldn't quite keep from remembering him as he stood over her, all fierce and furious.

"He's going to your house?" Anna asked.

Tula shook her head and paid attention. "Yeah, why?"

"Nothing. But maybe I could come over and help you get ready."

She knew exactly what Anna was thinking and Tula couldn't help laughing.   "You are not coming over to clean my house. He's not visiting royalty   or something."

Anna laughed, too. "Fine. Just warn him when he walks in to watch where he steps."

Tula stepped away from the kitchen counter and shot a look into her tiny   living room. Toys littered the floor, her laptop was sitting open on   the coffee table and her latest manuscript was beside it. She was doing   revisions for her editor and when she was working, other things-like   picking up clutter-tended to go by the wayside.

Shrugging, she silently admitted that though her house was clean, it did   tend to get a little messy. Especially now that she had Nathan living   with her. She hadn't had any idea just how much stuff came along with a   baby.

"Why did I call you again?" Tula asked.

"Because I'm your best friend and you know you need me."

"Right, that was it." Tula smiled and reached out one hand to smooth the   wispy hairs on the top of Nathan's head as he scooted past, babbling   happily. "It was weird, Anna. Simon was crabby and rude and dismissive   and yet … "

"Yet what?" Anna prompted.

There was a buzz of interest, Tula thought but didn't say. She hadn't   expected it, hadn't wanted it, but hadn't been able to ignore it,   either. The suit-and-tie kind of guy was so not what she was interested   in. And for heaven's sake, the last thing she needed was to be  attracted  to Nathan's father. This situation was hard enough. Yet she  couldn't  deny the flash of heat that had flooded her system the moment  her hand  had met his.

Didn't mean she had to do anything about it though, she assured herself firmly.

"Hello?" Anna said. "Finish what you were saying! What comes after the 'yet'?"

"Nothing," Tula said with sudden determination. One thing she didn't   need was to indulge in an attraction for a man she had nothing in common   with but a baby they were both responsible for. "Absolutely nothing."

"And you expect me to just accept that?"

"As my friend, I'm asking you to, yeah."

Anna sighed dramatically. "Fine. I will. For now."

"Thanks." She'd accept the reprieve, even though she knew that Anna wouldn't let it go forever.

"So what're you going to do tonight?"

"Simon comes here and we talk about Nathan. Set something up so that he   can get to know the baby and I can watch them together. I can handle   Simon," she said a moment later and wasn't sure whether she was trying   to convince Anna or herself. "I grew up around men like him, remember?"

"Tula, not every man who wears a suit is like your dad."

"Not all," she allowed, "but most."

She was in the position to know. Her entire family had practically been   born wearing business suits. They lived stuffy, insular lives built   around making and keeping money. Tula was half convinced that they   didn't even know a world existed beyond their own narrow portion of it.

For example, she knew what Simon Bradley would think of her tiny,   cluttered, bayside home because she knew exactly what her father would   have thought of it-if he'd ever deigned to visit. He would have thought   it too old, too small. He would have hated the bright blue walls and   yellow trim in the living room. He'd have loathed the mural of the   circus that decorated her bathroom wall. Mostly though, he would have   seen her living there as a disgrace.

She had the distinct impression that Simon wouldn't be any different.

"Look, the reality is it doesn't matter what Nathan's father thinks of   me or my house. Our only connection is the baby." As she spoke, she told   her hormones to listen up. "So I'm not going to put on a show and   change my life in any way to try to convince a man I don't even know   that I am who I'm not."

A long second passed, then Anna laughed gently. "What does it say about me that I completely under stood that?"

"That we've been friends too long?"

"Probably," Anna agreed. "Which is how I know you're making rosemary chicken tonight."

Tula smiled. Anna did know her too well. Rosemary chicken was her go-to   meal when she was having company. And unless Simon was a vegetarian,   every thing would go great. Oh, God-what if he was a vegetarian? No, she   thought. Men like him did lunch at steak houses with clients. "You've   got me there. And once we have dinner, I'll talk to Simon about setting   up a schedule for him to get to know Nathan."                       
       
           



       

"You?" Anna laughed. "A schedule?"

"I can be organized," she argued, though her words didn't carry a lot of confidence. "I just choose to not be."

"Uh-huh. How's the baby?"

Everything in Tula softened. "He's wonderful." Her gaze followed the   tiny boy as he continued on his path around the kitchen, laughing and   making noises as he explored his world. "Honestly, he's such a good   baby. And he's so smart. This morning I asked him where his nose was and   he pointed right to it."

Well, he had been waving his stuffed bunny in the air and hit himself in   the face with it, but close enough. "Harvard-bound already."

"I'll sign him up on the waiting list tomorrow," Tula agreed with a   laugh. "Look, I gotta go. Get the chicken in the oven, give Nathan a   bath and … ooh, maybe myself, too."

"Okay, but call me tomorrow. Let me know how it goes."

"I will." She hung up, leaned against the kitchen counter and let her   gaze slide over the bright yellow kitchen. It was small but cheerful,   with white cabinets, a bright blue counter and copper-bottomed pans   hanging from a rack over the stove.

She loved her house. She loved her life.

And she loved that baby.

Simon Bradley was going to have to work very hard to convince her that he was worthy of being Nathan's father.



The scent of rosemary filled the little house by the bay a few hours later.

Tula danced around the kitchen to the classic rock tunes pouring from   the radio on the counter and every few steps, she stopped to steal a   kiss from the baby in the high chair. Nathan giggled at her, a deep,   full-belly laugh that tickled at the edges of Tula's heart.

"Funny guy," she whispered, planting a kiss on top of his head and   inhaling the sweet, clean scent of him. "Laughing at my dance moves   isn't usually the way to my heart, you know."