Baby for my Dad's Best Friend (Seaport Billionaires #2)

2. Austin

2

AUSTIN

“ W e need to have this job finished this week, guys,” I tell the crew just as my phone starts ringing in my pocket.

I reach in and pull it out. “Alright, get to work.”

I wave my hand through the air, dismissing them as I turn away and look at the screen on my phone, finding my buddy David’s name on the screen.

“Hello?” I answer, putting the phone against my ear.

“Hey, how ya doing, Austin?”

I open the front door of the house and step out so I can hear him rather than the guys banging around. “Good, what’s up with you?”

“Oh, I’m on my way to work, but I have a favor I need to ask.”

“Shoot.”

“My mother left her house here in town to my oldest daughter, and she wants to fix it up this summer and move into it. I was wondering if you’d have some time to come by, look the place over, tell us what it needs, and give us an estimate on how much the work will cost. You think you can do that?”

I scratch the back of my neck. “Yeah, that’s no problem. When were you thinking?”

“Just whenever you have time. I don’t want you to go out of your way. I’m sure you’re busy.”

“Well, the crew will be finishing up this job this week. So, I could come by this evening, look everything over, and get you an estimate. We’d be able to start work next week if everything is approved.”

“Alright, that would be great, Austin. Thanks.”

“No problem. I can meet you at the house around five-thirty or so?”

“We’ll be there. Thanks again,” he says, hanging up the phone.

I slip my phone back into my pocket before turning and walking into the house to get to work.

Usually, the foreman doesn’t work alongside the crew as they’re too busy making runs, but I’m used to being a member of the crew, not the foreman.

The job title is new to me.

The owners of the company, Hallie and Grant Harper, recently gave me a promotion because Hallie is no longer able to run the company.

The two already have one kid, but now that they have a set of twins on the way, Hallie has decided to step away from the company to focus on her family.

Of course, she and Grant still pop in or call to check and make sure things are running smoothly, but for the most part, I’m running the show.

I got into this field because I found that I liked to work with my hands and transform materials into a functioning home.

The business side of things has never been where my passion lies, but I couldn’t turn it down because I knew I was the most qualified on the crew.

So now, I work as the foreman and as a crew member, which is funny because I don’t need the money.

I’m probably one of the only billionaires who lives in a two-bedroom house, still drives a truck that’s ten years old, and still gets up and goes to work every day in boots and not a suit.

The office job, wearing a suit, was never a life meant for me.

But apparently, it was the life that was meant for my father because after he knocked up my mom, he decided that he wasn’t meant for small-town life.

He left us to chase his dream.

We struggled for years until she finally found my stepdad.

The two got married and had my younger brother, Dalton.

It wasn’t until I was a teenager that I found out that my dad made something of himself.

He created some kind of chip that’s still being used in computers. He sold his invention and became an instant billionaire.

However, money can’t buy you everything, and it certainly can’t buy you health.

He was diagnosed with colon cancer soon after.

That’s when he reached out to me to make amends.

But fuck that.

I turned down his offer. If I wasn’t important enough to talk to when he was healthy, I wasn’t going to give him the time of day once he started dying.

About a week after he passed, I learned that he’d left everything to me.

Every. Single. Penny.

Suddenly, I was a billionaire, even though I wasn’t used to having more than twenty bucks at a time.

I took that money and used a small portion of it to buy my mom and stepdad a new house.

I felt like she deserved it after my father left her struggling the way he had, but the rest of it sits in the bank.

I can’t spend it.

If I do, it just feels like I’m letting my father get away with being a shitty human being, and he deserves to pay. I don’t need his money.

I’m more than capable of taking care of myself.

Since my mom and stepdad moved into a nicer home that my father paid for, I took the smaller house they’d been living in.

It’s paid off, so I only have to worry about insurance and property taxes.

I bought my truck used, and it’s been paid off for a couple of years.

Mostly, my expenses are utilities and putting food on the table and gas in my truck, all of which is easily covered by what I make working.

There’s no need to touch the money my father left.

“Austin, we’re getting low on nails,” Hank says, pulling me from my thoughts.

I set down my tool belt with a sigh. I’d much rather be swinging a hammer than running around town collecting the materials we need, but it’s a part of the job, so I don’t have a choice.

“Alright. I’ll make a quick run,” I tell him.

The day passes quickly and after leaving the job site, I start in the direction of David’s mother’s house.

Dave and I have been friends since we were kids.

I haven’t been inside this house in years, but I’m looking forward to walking inside again. When I pull into the drive, his truck and a car are already here.

I kill the engine on my truck and look up at the house.

My mind fills with memories of growing up. Dave and I used to ride our bikes from the park to his house.

We’d toss our bikes down in the front yard and run up the steps and through the front door.

His mom was always there to greet us with freshly baked cookies.

She spoiled us, and after a couple of years of this, I almost expected to smell cookies every time I walked in.

However, as we got older, we got those cookies less and less often.

I climb out of the truck, and I make the walk to the front steps.

I move up them and onto the porch.

It still looks in good shape. There are no missing boards and no give as I move toward the door.

It could use a fresh coat of paint, though.

I lift my fist and knock a couple of taps against the wooden frame that surrounds the glass.

I hear the thudding of footsteps on the other side before the door opens.

Dave is on the other side, and when his eyes meet mine, he smiles and holds out his hand to shake. “Austin, good to see you again.”

I shake his hand and agree. “How ya been? You’re looking old,” I joke.

He laughs and pats his rounding stomach. “Yeah, that happens once you get a wife and a few kids. You get so busy, you don’t have time to do anything but work, eat, and sleep.”

I step into the foyer of the house, waving my hand through the air. “I’m just kidding, buddy. You look great.” I look around the room. “Wow, this place hasn’t changed a bit, has it?”

His eyes widen as he looks around the room. Tucking his hands into the pockets of his jeans, he shakes his head.

“No, it hasn’t. But we did go through after Mom’s passing and sort through years of shit. You wouldn’t imagine what we found in here.”

I laugh. “Oh, I can imagine. She lived here for what… fifty years?”

He nods. “Yeah, give or take.”

He looks at me. “Now, my oldest daughter is going to take it.” He presses his lips into a tight line. “She’s had a rough go at it lately, so I’m hoping a project like this helps things turn around for her.”

I’m about to ask what he means. My mouth opens but it snaps closed when he says, “Ahh, here she is.” He motions toward the steps.

I look up, finding a woman moving down them.

My brows lift and my mouth falls open as every hair on my body stands on end.

I don’t know why, but it feels like the room has suddenly become charged.

Like a power source brighter than the sun has moved into the room. Except the only difference is her.

Her blonde hair looks soft and silky as it hangs around her face in soft waves. It’s highlighted, so there are ribbons of lighter blonde mixed with strands of darker blonde.

The overhead lights hit the top of her head, making her hair glow like gold.

Her blue eyes are bright and wide and filled with excitement.

She’s wearing a big smile that I bet lights up every room she walks into.

She isn’t wearing much makeup, which I like but also find odd given that’s what most women her age are into these days.

My eyes rake over her body as she finishes her walk down the steps.

Her white tank top clings to every curve, stretching over her ample chest and showing a sliver of her toned stomach.

Her jean shorts are snug and short, showing off way too much of her glowing, soft skin.

I bite my lower lip when I think about what those long legs of hers would feel like wrapped around my hips.

My cock throbs as my imagination takes off. I see myself thrusting deep inside her as her head falls back and her mouth opens with moans loud enough to wake the dead.

“Austin, this is my daughter, Kaylee,” David says, pulling me from my thoughts. “Kay, this is a good buddy of mine, Austin.”

I force a smile and hold out my hand. “It’s nice to meet you. I don’t think I’ve seen you since you were what… three years old?”

She slips her hand into mine. Her touch makes my skin tingle and my blood warm. “It’s nice to meet you, too.”

David laughs. “I bet she wasn’t much older than that when you moved away.”

Kaylee crosses her arms over her chest, causing her perfect tits to press together and lift like I wasn’t noticing them enough already. “You two have been friends for that long?”

David nods. “That’s right. Austin and I grew up together. He’s even stayed the night in this house a few times.”

I look at him, chuckling. “It’s been a minute or two since those days.”

When my eyes flash over to her, I find her biting her lower lip as her blue eyes move up and down my body.

Her pupils blow out and her cheeks turn a light shade of pink.

Seriously… is she checking me out?