An Heir At Any Price: The Billionaire's Obsession - Contemporary Romance by Forbidden Fruit Press Page A

that I was doing what I needed to do for our
family. She was an adult she should have been able to understand,
right? I was creating a legacy that our son and his children and
their children could live off of for generations. She didn’t
understand though apparently. Instead, she hooked up with my best
friend and had a baby she considered passing off as mine. Well, she
did pass off as mine, at least long enough for her and her new man
to save some money from the job I had given him. I still thought it
was important to leave something for your family when you’re gone,
I think never remarrying, and the contract that I have with Holly
are my best bets. I will have my child and no one will be able to
take him or her away.
     
    I stopped and sat on a rock while
Holly explored, oohing and aahing at everything she saw. It was fun
to look at things through her eyes. There was so much of life she
had never experienced that it was almost like being with a child
when she did. I slipped off my shoes and socks which was something
else I hadn’t done before, at least not since I was a kid, and as I
followed her along the sparkling white beach with the scent of the
ocean in my nostrils, I realized that I liked it. The feel of the
warm sand beneath my feet was somehow relaxing in itself. I looked
at Holly, splashing barefoot along the edge of the blue-green ocean
and I realized I liked her too, probably too much. But I understood
that this was a business deal, a contracted arrangement. I was able
to separate my emotions from my business. She looked at me then
with one of her dazzling smiles and I found myself hoping that she
truly understood it as well. Sometimes I was a little bit worried
that she was getting too attached.
     
    “This beach is so pretty, and there’s
hardly anyone else here. It’s like our own private island,” she
said. Then, remembering what I’d told her earlier she added, “Oh
not that having your own private island is anything new to
you.”
     
    I laughed and said, “Well, it’s not
like I’ve ever been there.”
     
    “Are you kidding? You have an island
and you’ve never even seen it?”
     
    “I’ve seen photos,” I told her with a
grin. “I don’t have time to be sitting around on an island. It’s
pretty far out, not just a day trip.”
     
    “Well, it will be good anyways when
you have your child. Imagine taking boating trips out to an island
that your father owns and spending days exploring it. It makes me
want to be a child again just thinking about it.”
     
    I did like the way she said, “Your
child,” but I didn’t care for the fact that she was trying to tell
me what I should or shouldn’t be doing with him or her.
     
    “I think having a child might decrease
the amount of time I have to spend on an island, rather than
increase it,” I said. That might not be the case, but I suddenly
felt the need to make her understand that she wouldn’t have a say
in how the child was raised.
     
    She stopped walking and said, “Really?
A vacation exploring with your child doesn’t appeal to you at
all?”
     
    “He can explore, of course. I’ll send
him with his staff.”
     
    “With his staff? Are you serious?” she
laughed, but I could tell she wasn’t amused.
     
    “Of course, why wouldn’t I be? I’ll
need a nanny and then when you throw in a driver and a cook…well,
then it’s a full staff pretty much.”
     
    “But to say he’ll explore
the world with his
staff ? Aiden you realize that children need
their parents attention, right? Not just a pat on the head every
now and again?”
     
    I felt the annoyance flare hotter. She
really was trying to tell me how I should raise my child. The one
that she was being paid very well to walk away from. It made me
angry and I snapped at her, “You realize that you have no say-so on
the subject, right? This will be my child, not yours and I will
raise him as I see fit. I’d prefer that you kept your opinions on
that subject to