Billionaire’s Missing Baby Read online

  “News flash, Theresa,” he grinned. “I think the status is going to need an upgrade.”

  Chapter Twenty

  While they were eating their pizza, Theresa grew a brain and remembered she still had a life back home. She was supposed to work Monday, and it was already Sunday night. She needed to let Marie know what was going on.

  Without comment, she pulled out her phone and dialed. Adam watched for a moment until she started to speak, then turned back to his food again as she said, “Hi, Marie. You’re never going to guess where I am right now.”

  “Did you finally make it with the really hot billionaire?” Marie chuckled.

  “Not quite,” Theresa giggled in response, glancing over to make sure said billionaire couldn’t hear her. He didn’t look her way again. “We’re in Nevada.”

  “What the heck are you doing there?” she wanted to know.

  “Adam’s lead on Friday brought us here,” Theresa explained. “Unfortunately, that means I need somebody to cover my shifts until all of this gets sorted out.”

  “Well, okay, I’ll call Sarah in to do it since I’d say she definitely owes you,” Marie replied. “But, girl, if you don’t get laid by that man while you’re out in Sin City somewhere, I’ll completely disown you.”

  “Not a problem,” Theresa laughed dryly. “I’m sure it won’t take long. I should be back to tell you the whole story soon enough. Thanks for understanding.”

  “Every juicy detail,” Marie scolded.

  “Talk to you later, Marie,” Theresa laughed again, rolling her eyes.

  She ended the call, only to glance up and find Adam watching her with a smirk on his face.

  “You heard that whole thing, didn’t you?” she blushed, trying not to smile.

  “So, how long have you and Marie had these naughty designs?” he asked as he tugged her onto the bed.

  “I don’t know what you mean,” Theresa feigned ignorance, and giggled as he flipped them so she was directly underneath him. He started to tickle her sides as she shrieked in laughter.

  “Okay, okay!” she gasped, sucking in a breath. “Since you told her the whole story! She thinks this whole thing is totally romantic.”

  His expression grew thoughtful. “It sort of is, though.”

  Theresa stopped laughing as her breasts, which were pressed against his chest, began to peak. Likewise, their pelvises had a similar reaction to their sudden proximity. Adam’s eyes darkened as his lips came down. Theresa kissed him back for all she was worth.

  Their tongues melted together into one. Adam fingers slid between their bodies, twisting her twin peaks to full life. She groaned into his mouth, and he groaned back. Apparently, Adam felt he was completely overdressed, because he moved away from her and unbuttoned one cuff link, then the other, his hot gaze as he did so making her belly quiver.

  Theresa reached up and began to unbutton his shirt at the same time, feeling the slow burn in her stomach advance to her fingertips as she went, making her hands tremble. Adam’s hand covered hers, finishing the last button himself. He peeled the shirt off, tossing it to the floor. He had a white t-shirt underneath, which she was quick to peel off of him as well.

  As for her own t-shirt, and the pretty pink bra underneath, Adam eased them both over her head together. They landed on top of his clothes, helping to form a neat little pile. Theresa was briefly certain that he’d done it on purpose, but she was too caught up in the moment to snicker about it now.

  His face looked like he’d just opened a Christmas present and got exactly what he’d wanted. That probably wasn’t far from the truth. He hungrily moved down, taking one dark nipple into his mouth while his fingers played with the other. Theresa ran her hands over the smattering of gold hair on his chest, noting how soft it was.

  Her hands smoothed down his back, then up again, delving into his hair at the back of his neck. She could tell he liked it when she touched him there by the way his pelvis suddenly thrust. His erect cock wasn’t seated anymore since he’d moved downward a bit, and now it bumped into her hip instead. She groaned anyway.

  With a pop, Adam released her nipple, moving to taste the other one. Theresa was on fire now, wanting to taste something of his, too. She bent upward slightly until her lips contacted his upper arm. When she kissed the muscle there, she could tell the man liked to work out. Then again, why wouldn’t a gym teacher want to do that?

  Her movement seemed to have spurred matters forward a bit. Now Adam was kissing a path down her belly as his fingers found the button of her jeans. He undid it, then gently worked her zipper down. Next thing she knew, those questing fingers of his found their way inside and had begun to tug at her underwear. Squirming free, Theresa got rid of both her pants and her panties entirely. Adam took the time to get rid of his own clothes as well, and then they were kissing again. One of his hands returned to her breast, but the other got a lot more frisky and slid down between her legs.

  “So wet for me,” Adam whispered against her lips. His finger, which had discovered her depths briefly, dragged a bit of the juices up and onto her clit. She mewled with delight as he began to rub her there.

  “You have no idea,” she admitted with a sigh.

  “Guess what?” he chuckled, thrusting against her again. “The feeling is mutual.”

  Theresa chuckled. “Yeah? But I bet you didn’t plan for this,” she replied. “I know I didn’t.”

  “So you’re not… covered?”

  “My one month check-up isn’t till next Friday,” she replied.

  Adam let out a frustrated sigh. “You know unprotected sex now almost guarantees—”

  “Yeah, I know,” she interrupted.

  “There’s a condom in my wallet,” he said hopefully. “Maybe it hasn’t expired.”

  Theresa giggled. “How are you not getting laid somewhere? God, your body is to die for.” She ran her hands over his shoulders again as if to emphasize.

  “Do we want to try it?” he asked, his cock throbbing harder than ever against her thigh.

  “Well, it’s not like it would be a bad thing if Anne wasn’t our only child,” Theresa replied.

  “You still need time,” Adam told her as he fumbled for his pants again. Theresa watched as he extracted his wallet and felt around the lining for the condom. When he pulled it free, she chuckled. It was ‘ribbed for her pleasure,’ as he jokingly pointed out.

  “Hey, what can I say?” he grinned. “This sort of thing isn’t just about me.”

  “Good to know,” Theresa grinned back, her tone husky as she gazed into his eyes.

  “Now, where were we?”

  Adam set the condom on the table beside the bed, then moved on top of her again, this time aligning them a bit more fully as he reclaimed her lips and tongue once more. His cock discovered the wetness he’d drawn out over her clit, taking over where his fingers had left off. Both of his hands came up to play with her breasts until Theresa was feeling crazy with need.

  “God, Adam, please,” she breathed. “I want you inside me…”

  Her eyes were hooded as she watched him reach for the condom, tear open the package, and slip it on. Her heart pounded in anticipation as he lined himself up and finally, finally slid inside. His cock was huge, and it bumped against her cervix with every single glide.

  The ribs sure did what they were supposed to, she thought with a heady sigh. She’d never really like condoms, but this one was alright. However, it was nothing compared to the cock it was sheathing. God, he was perfect in a way she could never describe, and she loved the feel of him, moving in her with a precision that had her soaring over the top in no time.

  He didn’t stop, though. Not by a long shot. The man must have built up stamina in this muscle as well as the others. Again and again, he brought her over the edge. She kind of lost count somewhere after five. God, if only she’d said yes a year ago, she’d have known about this side for all that time, she silently chastised herself.

  When he finally let her
go and rolled to the side, it was with a blissful sigh. He looked down at the twisted bit of rubber that remained at the same time Theresa discovered he’d left a bit of it inside.

  “Well, that just happened,” she remarked, seeming unfazed.

  “You know what this means, right?” Adam asked, looking deeply into her eyes. When she frowned slightly, he just shook his head, making her shake hers too. “It means the damage is already done. We’re not going to need another one of those things tonight.”

  And here she’d thought the man was finished with her for the night. She quickly realized how wrong she was as he pulled off the offensive bit of rubber and tossed it aside, then moved to start kissing her again. If she thought the first round had been something special, she was in for a surprise.

  Without a condom on Adam felt so much better that she came the moment he slid inside. They didn’t stop until they could hear the birds outside, then finally closed their eyes.

  Theresa chuckled as she snuggled up next to him.

  “What’s so funny?” Adam asked tiredly, turning to kiss her forehead.

  “I was just thinking that we might not want to take any pictures of this,” Theresa shared, grinning. “I think the kids don’t need to know about this part of the ride.”

  “Yeah,” Adam replied, one brow raised. “So, have you already picked out a name?”

  Theresa laughed and laid her head on his impressive chest.

  “There’s no need for that,” she shrugged. “Even if you did put a baby in there the old-fashioned way this time, we won’t know if it’s a boy or a girl for a while.”

  “Well, that’s one thing to be said about doing it the other way, I suppose,” Adam noted. “At least you knew from the beginning, right?”

  “Hey, now, I think this is a much preferred method,” she whispered, followed by a yawn. She was thoroughly exhausted from their night of sex. “But for now, I think it’s time to call it a night.”

  “Yeah, considering it’s already morning,” Adam agreed as he held her tight.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Adam glared at the sound of his cell phone—which was sitting amid three different piles of the paperwork somewhere—and rolled his eyes. He and Theresa had woken up an hour earlier and were gearing up to head into town in hopes of finding something that might lead them to their child.

  “Here are a stack of phone numbers,” Theresa said groggily, still recovering from their torrid night together. “There aren’t any actual listings for anybody named Maggie, but this stack has a few that use the initial ‘M.’”

  Pulling out the phone at last, Adam checked the number of the call he’d missed and saw that it had been Chris. “Hold that thought; let’s see if Chris might have something for us,” he said as he dialed Chris back.

  “There you are,” Chris answered. “Got an address in Reno you may want to check out. Oh, and let your woman know that she’s the one who led the way. It’s a recent rental agreement with a Maggie Steward, one baby girl in tow. I wouldn’t have thought anything of that, except that the name matches the one I found for a woman of the same description who stayed in another Reno motel for a couple of days.”

  “Steward is my mother’s maiden name,” Adam replied, casting an optimistic glance at Theresa.

  “Well, in any case, it looks like Reno is definitely the place to be,” Chris told him. “I’ll text you over the address.”

  “Sounds good,” Adam agreed. Chris hung up, and not long after the address came through with a small beep.

  “Time to go,” Adam said, shooting Theresa a smile. “Leave this stuff here. We can get it later. The room is paid up for a week.”

  ***

  The baby let out a cry and Maggie hastily comforted her, bringing her close to her own chest and shushing in Annie’s ear.

  “Lady, if you don’t open this door, we’re going to be forced to break it down,” the voice of the man outside warned. Maggie winced. She hadn’t heard from James in about two weeks, except the frantic call she’d gotten yesterday.

  “If anyone shows up looking for that baby, Maggie, you’ve got to turn them away,” he’d instructed. “I mean anyone. They’re dangerous, and even though you didn’t tell me where you two are, they can and will find you. Just hide the kid, okay?”

  She’d hung up on him without a word, but his warning had stuck with her all day. Hide the kid. The idea, and his tone as he’d said it, had her worried. Now it was just a bit too late to get away. She was face to face with cold, hard reality, and realized that simply diving into the closet with the baby hadn’t exactly been a stroke of genius. It wasn’t like she could take Annie down a non-existent fire escape or simply jump out of a third-story window, either.

  If the police were the ones who had hunted her down, they’d likely have a warrant to search the place. But, from the sounds of their voices, Maggie didn’t think these men sounded like cops. God, she could only hope it was them, rather than any other alternative. She’d already worked out that what James was doing wasn’t on the level, but she could always plead ignorance to them. Anybody else, though? There was just no way.

  She thought that it was much more likely that the men at the door were also not on the level. It was probable that they were responsible for James’ disappearance over the last two weeks. They may have even been sent by the ailing Costanza patriarch. Regardless of which, though, things were definitely not going to go her way.

  For a moment she seriously contemplated getting out of her hiding place and handing the baby over to the authorities, but reminded herself she didn’t know if that’s who was even at the door. By the time they’d kicked in the door, though, she was relieved that she hadn’t.

  “Kid’s definitely here. There’s toys everywhere,” said a gruff voice.

  Another voice, smoother, and a bit rougher, like he smoked the kind of expensive cigars that someone like James would favor, responded.

  “Doesn’t prove anything. Just some lady with a kid. Some lady who isn’t even home. Probably out running errands or something.”

  “Landlord said she’d been in all day,” protested the first voice.

  “What do you think? She climbed out a window?”

  “Well, maybe the bedroom?”

  “Hey, you guys gonna fix that door?” The voice of Geraldo, the short, pudgy manager of the building, came from behind. Maggie could practically see him standing in the doorway, hands on hips, ordinary flush turned redder with exertion and stress.

  “How about you mind your own business? I told you this was an official police investigation.”

  “Yeah, about that. How come I never seen badges like yours ‘afore?”

  “Listen, if you want to be in trouble with the police, it’s fine, I can bring you in as an accomplice.”

  Maggie remembered that tone. Her village had never been one to take kindly to officers, either. She knew a scam when she heard one. Apparently, so did Geraldo, because his next words were even more heated.

  “You gonna show me a warrant right now, and you gonna fix this door you knocked off its hinges, or else I’m gonna be making a call to your superiors… the ones with the real badges. We clear on that?”

  Maggie's heart leapt into her throat, and she made a mental note to thank Geraldo if she got out of this in one piece. The two men had a mostly silent conversation consisting of grunts, and what Maggie could only assume was a lot of hand-waving and eye rolling.

  “We’ll be back. With reinforcements,” one of the men said menacingly.

  Geraldo sounded unconvinced. “You’ll be back with a warrant or you’ll be out on your ass, you mean,” he snapped. Something crunched under a boot as the two men made a retreat that was probably not designed to come across as hasty. Maggie counted slowly backwards from ten, but the baby in her arms was not gifted with a lot of patience. She let out a squawk.

  “Maggie?” Geraldo asked.

  Wincing, Maggie pushed her way out of the closet. “I’m sorry, Gerald
o!” she burst out, hugging the fussing Annie close to herself. “I had no idea that they were going to come here.”

  “What you got yourself into?” he asked. Maggie opened her mouth to reply, not having the first clue what she would say. Geraldo shook his head, holding up his hands. “Never mind,” he said quickly. “Don’t wanna know. Listen, you gotta get gone, I don’t want that trouble here.”

  “What?” Maggie’s face fell, and she mentally amended her desire to thank the portly, dark-haired man before her. “What do you mean? Where can I go?”

  “Don’t know. But those men? They’ll be back. Whatever you got going on, I don’t want it coming back on me, you hear?”

  “No! I mean, it won’t. I mean, I don’t have anything going on.” Or rather, she didn’t think she had anything going on. Best not to let him know she wasn’t sure, though. “Please, Geraldo, I was only supposed to be here a few months. The baby’s—”

  “Don’t bother, I’ve heard it all,” Geraldo stopped her. “‘The baby’s father is a powerful man,’ they say. When he show up, they say, ‘Don’t you even worry about it, Geraldo, we’ll be out of your hair.’”

  “And… people do this a lot, do they?” Maggie asked weakly.

  In response, Geraldo stared at her, uncomprehending. Then his face suddenly softened. He squeezed her shoulder, which was a bit awkward since they were fairly close in height. “Oh, honey. You fresh off a boat from somewhere?”

  Maggie shifted the baby in her arms, finally reaching around to grab a pacifier to stick between Annie’s lips.

  “The baby isn’t mine. I’m just taking care of her for a bit,” she explained. “But I’m getting the feeling that her father is in some big trouble, and I don’t know what to do.” She felt tears begin to fall, which was awkward, to say the least. She didn’t want to cry in front of this man who was basically a complete stranger. Now was hardly the time for it in any case. “I’m sorry, Geraldo. Please, I’ve been calling and calling, and he’s not coming to help, and I just don’t know what to do. If I leave—”