Chapter 1 #2
His arms around me were warm and safe and, for a moment, nice in that fleeting moment.
Michael was gorgeous, neat, and always put together.
If he’d not been a butler when I was focused on my corporate job plans, I’d have considered dating him, but that was impossible.
I’d been stupid to ignore my heart’s desire to learn more about him.
And I hated regrets. Soon, I would have to face what life was going to be like as a single mom and merge the old me with the new no-nonsense me. I walked out of the restaurant, keeping my head high.
On my way out, my phone beeped. Since I'd told Michael, I texted my friends in the chat, I can’t meet for drinks anymore. I’m pregnant .
Hope wrote back first: WTF. Who’s the father?
I clutched the phone and stepped backward. I didn't want to get him fired as he’d sneaked out of the house during work hours whenever I’d called for him to come meet me. I shook my head and replied, Doesn’t matter. I’m going to put my condo up for sale soon, but first let’s all meet.
As I stepped into my one-bedroom condo, I gazed around. Everything was marble and hard edges, which was exactly what I'd thought I was.
Since I knew I had a baby though, I cringed. None of my life was good.
My phone beeped, and my downstairs doorbell rang. I read a message from Kelly: Let me in.
I laughed. School must have been a half day at her place.
I hit the button to buzz her in then took off my shoes and placed them in my closet, which was based on a life I'd decided to get for myself from watching too much TV as a kid.
Except for the closet, I needed to stop pretending to be Samantha from Sex in the City and maybe become more like a Charlotte.
Kelly knocked on the door, and I let her in. She bounced in with her straight brown hair in a ponytail and her sharp hazel eyes, clearly not caring about the paint stains on her bargain jeans.
She said, “So you’re pregnant, which means I get my new goddaughter at my school.”
I laughed and waved for her to come in. In another life, maybe I would've stayed in Manhattan and pretended I was someone in society, not the nobody from nowhere that I was. As we sat, my feet uncurled, and I said, “I’m going to leave Manhattan.”
“Why would you do that? You have a life here. You have friends.”
“My work isn’t going to let up because I need time off.” I rubbed my eyes. “The rat race never ends, if I’m honest, and I need to be done."
The twenty-one-year-olds with something to prove were finally going to stop my upward motion to vice president. From then on, I couldn't go twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week anymore, being available for client calls all the time.
“And I’ve been working and saving for this religiously as I knew not many people make it past thirty-five in my job.”
“You’re not religious about anything except cosmopolitans. So who’s the guy?”
“I can never talk about that,” I said quickly. Wanting to protect him if I could, I changed the topic back to myself. “I’m honestly in a state of shock.”
“Well, you have cash, and I’m sure you can move your job to the Norouzi finance world as they’ve repeatedly offered you a position.”
“I’m not using Hope and Avril’s new fiancés to land a job I can get on my own.”
Kelly pointed and smiled. “That’s my girl, but that’s also why they want you.”
“Fuck.” I closed my eyes. “Honestly, I’d rather stay here and somehow make it work with friends than go home, but I feel this need in my soul to see my family. If they want nothing to do with me, it’s fine. I handle rejection well.”
“Maybe it’s not that bad.” Kelly patted my arm like I was a child as she asked, “And there's no hope with the father of this child, who could help?”
He was penniless and poor, just like I’d been when I was Britney Smith. I doubted he would want to take a job as a full-time father. We certainly didn't know each other well.
I shook my head and said, “I’m hopeless, Kelly.”
When someone knocked on the door, Kelly bounced up. “The others are here.”
We went to let Hope, Miley, Avril, and Isabel in, but then my heart beat faster when I met the blue-eyed gaze of the man of the hour instead. I clutched my belly and said, “Michael, you’re early.”
Kelly tapped on her lips and said, “Michael Fuller… Hope’s butler.”
She knew. That was fine. Maybe she could help me explain it to our friends so that he wouldn't be fired or anything.
I took her hand and said, “Kelly, you need to keep this quiet.”
She gazed at both of us and said, “Well I’ll head off the rest of them downstairs, but you need to join us in the bar in an hour. Miley won’t let us stay away that long.”
Miley was usually the silent, analytical one who figured everything out.
Kelly was the kind one with a good heart and sometimes dirty mouth. I waited for her to leave.
Michael put his hands in his pockets and said, “So your friends now know.”
I’d wanted to include him in my life and it seemed he was indeed included.
I crossed my arms and said, “You’re never early.”
I let him unfold my hands, and a spark still rushed through me at the fact that he was mine, even for the fleeting time we had.
Then he said, “I need you to sit down.”
I winked at him and sashayed back to my couch, saying, “With our clothes on. New experiences every time with you.”
He joined me and gently pressed my wrist. “Very funny.”
When he opened up, he was less stiff and much sexier than he was being then. “I wasn’t joking.” He lifted his chin and said, “Are you intending to have my heir?”
That British accent of his still sent a thrill down me, but I sighed and rolled my eyes. “Heir? I don’t want my baby to inherit a vacuum.”
He froze like the truth had slapped him, and I cringed inwardly. I had no right to hurt him, and honestly, he was the only guy I thought was sexy as fuck. I was a bad person all around. Then he took my hand, and I honestly thought that if he kissed me, the usual steam would come right back.
Then he said, “He won’t. Charlie knows… all the Norouzi family are in on my secret, but it’s time you understand too.”
I narrowed my gaze. It wasn’t like anyone ever pulled anything over me as I asked, “What are you saying?”
As he spoke, every sound was crisp. “That I’m Michael Fuller, the heir to the Duke of Fairdall.”
My hairs on the back of my neck stood up, and I took my hand back.
Honestly, I preferred he be poor and cute, with that accent.
I would've hated to lump him into "Eurotrash," as my parents would say, which was basically the Europeans who come to America, use our system to their own benefit, not contribute to society at all, then ditch while looking down their noses at America and all Americans. I quickly shook the thought away. His having money didn’t change his character.
I choked out, “Heir?”
He was unreadable as he said, “Yes. I’m currently the Marquis of Barkley until my father leaves this world.”
I stood and paced. Normally, when I needed to deal with a problem, I figured out what the client needed, listen to objections, and when they were ready, we discussed the financials to serve their desires. Michael’s announcement threw everything out of whack.
“I thought you were a butler,” I said.
“I am a butler.”
Okay. I nodded. Maybe I was wrong, but maybe I wasn’t.
I said, “So you’re bankrupt.”
He shook his head and watched me like I was amusing him so I stopped moving.
He said, “No. I now have a trillion in my accounts from investing with the Norouzi family for a decade now. My accounts were in the billions, but I have earned more since leaving England.”
My head spun, so I retook my seat. I needed to process but while I focused on my white ceiling, I asked, “Why the fuck are you living as a butler, making my best friend toast?”
“Until a month ago, living there wasn’t an issue. Charlie was never home, and I enjoyed college with Kir and Charlie years ago. They let me crash there as they understood I wasn’t going home.”
That explained nothing. I rubbed my forehead and asked, “Why didn’t you tell me?”
He let out a sigh and said, “You weren’t interested in dating me, and we never ended up talking when I came over.”
I laughed. I was always the one with the fun plans, who took charge. Staring at him, I asked, “So since we’re not married or anything, we’re off the hook of the whole heir thing?”
“No. You came into my life at the perfect time, and I need a new plan.”
That started with how I was going to choose to live my life next.
Maybe I didn’t need to sell. I could redecorate and stay in the city.
My life as one of those Real Housewives flashed in front of me.
If I binged, maybe I could find a new character to model the next chapter of my life after.
One of them had been a countess for a while, if I remembered correctly, though I hadn’t watched enough to form a new life for myself to start living.
No. I wasn’t there for his money. I would get another job. However, since all the Norouzis knew about Michael and since Kelly was terrible with secrets, we needed to come clean. I hated lying. I met his gaze and wondered if he would be with me on this one.
“Let’s start with you coming downstairs to tell everyone you’re the father,” I said.
He stood. “Done. Take my arm.”
For the moment, I was still the Samantha that everyone thought I was, with my pseudonym, Britney Carlyle. I met his gaze and said, “This whole ordering-me-around thing you just did is weird.”
He held the door for me and said, “We’ll switch places again when you’re ready.”
Nothing was ever going to be the same. I hadn't, in fact, screwed the help, and for once in my life, I had no picture in my head of who to be and how to act. I was lost.