Chapter 22
Chapter Twenty-Two
Damien was in the kitchen trying to rustle up some coffee when someone knocked on the door. He glanced toward it, debating whether to open it or not. Mandy was still sleeping. Caroline was gone from the couch and the other bedroom doors were still firmly shut.
He didn’t want to disturb Mandy or be presumptuous in her place, but the knock came again, so he went to the door.
There was a thin guy standing in the hallway looking politely startled. “Oh, good morning. I’m looking for Mandy.”
Mandy? Damien felt a green tidal wave roll over him.
This was Ben, the Brit. Ben, the father of Mandy’s baby. Ben, the bastard.
“She’s sleeping,” he said in the voice that had made many an assistant cry.
“Really? Well, that’s a bit surprising.” Ben glanced at his watch. “It’s a quarter of nine, and she starts at her office in fifteen minutes. I think you must be mistaken. Perhaps you can get Allison to check?” He held out his hand. “I’m Ben Hurst, by the way. You must be Allison’s new boyfriend.”
He was a friendly enough chap. Too bad Damien hated his guts already. But he gave him a quick handshake, putting excessive force into the pump.
“No, I’m not mistaken. I just left Mandy sleeping in the bedroom five minutes ago.”
Ben’s smile faltered. “You’re not Allison’s boyfriend?”
“No.” Damien stepped back to let him in, thinking this was a golden opportunity to square things away between them.
Let Ben know he was sticking around. He hitched up the wrinkled pants he’d pulled back on, in deference to Mandy’s roommates.
He hadn’t bothered with a shirt, though, and he could feel the scratchy beginnings of a beard.
He knew he looked like a man who had just dragged himself out of a woman’s bed.
Good. “I’m Damien Sharpton. I’m here with Mandy. ”
Ben raised an eyebrow. “Are you saying you and Mandy are... involved?”
“Yes.” Damien fought the need to cross his arms over his chest and spread out his legs like a bouncer denying admittance to a popular nightclub. Instead, he leaned against the arm of the couch and tried not to glare.
“But she’s pregnant.” Ben glanced down the hallway toward the bedroom, apparently shocked.
Damien thought that was stating the obvious. And he had just about used up his ability to be nice before his first cup of coffee. “Pregnant women like sex, too.”
Ben’s mouth fell open. “You’re saying...?”
“Yep.” He just knew he looked smug, and he wasn’t the least bit ashamed of himself. Mandy was his. He loved her and her baby.
After a second, Ben laughed—not a raucous laugh, but a chuckle of amusement. “My ex-wife never did. She was forbidden territory for nine months.”
Damien crossed his feet. “Not Mandy.”
Then he shut himself up before he started bragging like a teenager in the locker room.
Ben needed to know how serious they were about each other, but anything beyond that was private.
“But look, I know you’re the baby’s father, and Mandy has every intention of letting you get as involved in her life as you want to be.
But you should know that Mandy and I are very serious about each other, and I’m going to be around. Permanently.”
Ben sat down and crossed his leg. He didn’t look perturbed by Damien’s announcement. “Damien Sharpton...that name is familiar. You’re Mandy’s boss, aren’t you?”
Damien nodded, wary. Ben should look angry and he didn’t. At least Damien thought he should. If it were him, and his ex was pregnant, he wouldn’t want her involved with another man.
“And you’re permanent, you say?”
He gave another jerk of his head.
Ben flashed him a smile. “I can’t tell you how relieved I am to hear that.”
Damien stared at Ben. There was something wrong with this man. “Why is that?”
“Look, can I be straight with you?” Ben uncrossed his leg and tapped his knee. “I don’t want to bring up another baby. I wasn’t so keen on it the first two times, but my ex- wife insisted. And this bit with Mandy, it was a total accident as I’m sure you know.”
Words didn’t quite come to Damien, so he just nodded again.
“I’m trying very hard to be supportive because I know Mandy’s all alone here in New York and she hasn’t got much in the way of money without her parents’ help.
But I really don’t want to be involved with this child.
And if I know that she’s got someone to look after her, I think maybe I should just bow out of the whole mess. ”
Damien took a deep breath and tried to suck back his anger. This mother-fucker had just called his daughter a mess. He didn’t deserve to be a father. He didn’t deserve a woman like Mandy. He didn’t deserve anything but a boot up his ass.
He managed to control himself, speaking in a cool voice. “Feel free to bow out. I’ve got the situation covered.”
“I can still offer financial support, of course, but the little chap’s probably better off if I don’t pop in and out of his life.”
“Her,” Damien forced out through clenched teeth. He couldn’t stop his hand from curling into a fist.
“Hmm?”
“Her. The baby is a girl.”
“Oh, right. Of course. She did mention that. Anyhow, perhaps I should see if Mandy’s up and we can discuss this.”
Damien pushed off the couch. “She’s exhausted. Don’t wake her up. I’ll let her know you stopped by, and we’ll see if between the three of us we can resolve the situation to mutual satisfaction.”
“Perfect.” Ben stood up and held out his hand. “I’m so glad we understand each other, Damien.”
Oh, Damien understood a lot of things.
He understood that Ben was giving him his daughter. He really could have everything.
A wife. A family.
The thought nearly cut him off at the knees.
“I don’t think it’s any of our business.” Jamie looked to Allison for support, but she was frowning just as fiercely as Caroline. “I’m serious, guys, this is Mandy’s life.”
Mandy and Damien had gone to dinner after work, according to Caroline and she had thoughts of opinions about all of it.
Caroline set her carrot stick down on a plate on the kitchen counter. “Mandy is flooded with endorphins or pheromones or whatever they’re called. She’s pregnant and clearly not behaving rationally.”
Jamie stared across the breakfast bar at her. “Why is falling in love with her boss irrational?” Personally, she thought it was really romantic, sort of a Maid in Manhattan kind of thing. Only totally different.
“Because men don’t fall in love with pregnant women. Because Damien Sharpton is the most unemotional man I’ve ever encountered, and suddenly he’s head over heels? It doesn’t add up.”
Caroline blotted her mouth with a napkin, though Jamie couldn’t see what a carrot stick could leave behind on her lips.
“But Beckwith predicted Mandy would be happy—”
Allison cut her off. “Oh, God, here we go.” She rolled her eyes and tossed her hair back over her shoulders as she headed for the refrigerator. “I need some ice cream if we’re going to discuss fortune-telling.”
When she pulled out a pint of mint chocolate chip, Jamie’s mouth watered. It so wasn’t fair that Allison was five-ten and weighed like two pounds, and never had to watch what she ate.
Caroline whimpered. “Put that thing away! I’m getting married in six weeks! I can’t even look at ice cream until I get back from my honeymoon.”
“You can have one spoonful. You can’t deny yourself indefinitely or you’ll leap on a Ben & Jerry’s like a lion on a gazelle carcass. Better to just have one spoonful and get the craving out of your mouth.”
Jamie thought that sounded reasonable. She leaned over the top of the breakfast bar and tried to reach the drawer. Her breasts stopped her. “Damn, I can’t reach. You’d think after like fourteen years lugging these things around I’d be used to them.”
“I should have your problems.” Allison tapped her metal spoon left and right on her chest. She was braless in her tank top. “Nothing. I’m a plastic surgeon’s dream.”
“Can we talk about your breasts after we’ve decided what to do about Mandy?” Caroline dipped a spoon into the ice cream and stared at it with obvious longing.
“I don’t think we should do anything, y’all. I think it’s wonderful she’s found happiness after what’s-his-name dumped her.” Jamie grabbed the spoon Allison was holding out for her and figured it didn’t matter if she gained five pounds. She’d look amazing with hips to balance out her chest.
“She’s y’alling us.” Allison turned to Caroline. “There’s a down-on-the-farm story coming, I just know it.”
Jamie laughed. “Shut up. I wasn’t going to say anything about Kentucky, but now that you mention it, I have an aunt whose no-good drunk husband left her with nothing but overdue bills, two kids, and a baby in her belly.
And when she went on down to that bank to argue for mercy when they were on the verge of evicting her, the loan officer took one look at her and fell in love. ”
Caroline swallowed, her lip curled. “What the hell does that have to do with Mandy?”
“It means that love can come when you least expect it and you shouldn’t close the door on it.” Jamie shoved a big mouthful of mint chocolate chip in her mouth and sighed, taste buds bursting into an alleluia chorus. “Why can’t the same be true for Mandy?”
“Because something is weird about Damien.” Caroline set her spoon down, ice cream uneaten.
The willpower was admirable. Jamie bent back for another scoopful.
She wasn’t the one who needed to wear a wedding gown in six weeks.
Though she did have to put on a bridesmaid dress and walk down the aisle in front of a hundred people.
She set her own spoon down with a sigh. She didn’t want to pay to alter the dress.
Caroline looked at both of them. “I think we should do a deep dive on on him on Google and social media.”
“Background check him?” Allison asked thoughtfully. “I like it. That’s a good idea.”
Jamie was horrified. “You can’t do that!
It’s unethical.” She glanced toward the front door, even though she knew Mandy was out at dinner with Damien and probably wouldn’t be home for another hour.
Prying into Mandy’s business didn’t sit right with her.
“And there’s nothing wrong with Damien, he’s just a little reserved. ”
“Maybe he has a secret life,” Allison said. “Lots of people do.”
“That doesn’t sound very secret then,” Jamie commented.
Caroline was heading into the living room, still dressed in a pale gray suit from work. She picked up her computer case and whipped her laptop out.
Jamie abandoned her spoon and rushed to Caroline’s side, tripping over her ankle-length skirt in the process. “I don’t think this is such a good idea. Mandy won’t like it.”
“Mandy will never know we did a search unless something is wrong. Then she’ll thank us for warning her before the baby is born.”
“I think you’re smart to do it.” Allison perched on the corner of the couch, ice cream carton in hand. “He could be a deadbeat dad to six kids for all you know.”
Caroline was biting her lip, clicking away. Jamie tried to follow on the screen, but Caroline was opening windows too fast for her to catch but a glimpse.
Suddenly a big newspaper article popped up and Caroline paused.
“Holy shit,” Allison said, her words mumbled behind a mouthful of ice cream.
“What?” More than a little nervous, Jamie read the headline. “Husband arrested in Southloop slaying…What is this all about?” But somehow she knew what it meant, and her heart started to pound. It couldn’t be, it just couldn’t.
Caroline sucked in a sharp breath. “The cops arrested Damien for killing his wife! Oh. My. God.” The computer went unbalanced on her legs and toppled to the floor with a horrible crash. “I never thought, I mean I never, oh shit, oh shit, what are we going to do?”
“He must not have done it.” Jamie swallowed hard, shock sending a shiver through her. “Otherwise, he’d be in jail, right?” She gripped a throw pillow. “Right?”
Allison reached for the laptop. “That’s a damn good question. One we should answer. Then we need to see if Mandy knows Damien’s fascinating marital history.”
“Tell her?”
“Well, obviously.”
Somehow Jamie didn’t think that would lead to the enrichment that Beckwith had assured Mandy was right around the corner.
“Keep researching!” she said. “Go deep!”