Strollers & Stilettos: A Sexy Contemporary Romance (In Stilettos Book 4) (11 page)

Micha crossed her arms. “I plead the fifth.” Invoking an amendment aside, she reached over to softly touch one of Alexa’s toes.

Jaya flopped onto the couch, and Micha’s hawk-like eyes narrowed on her. “What is wrong with you, anyway? I might be off from filming this week, but I can’t afford to get sick right now.”

“I wish I knew what the hell was wrong with me. I don’t feel sinusy or anything. Just foggy and so freaking tired.”

Ricca tutted even as Alexa grasped an earring and tugged. “Well, it’s no wonder. You’re taking care of a baby, and you haven’t had much help.”

“Well, since the end of last week, Alec’s been great. He gets up with Alexa now and, if I’m being honest, he barely lets me hold her.”

Micha snorted. “Typical man. I don’t want it, I don’t want it, and then all of a sudden, gimme, it’s mine.” She rolled her eyes.

Jaya laughed. “It is a little like that, yeah. You guys should see him though. He couldn’t care less if he’s in a suit or not. I mean that gorgeous Armani number—he doesn’t care. He’ll give her a bottle. Roll around on the floor with her.”

Micha asked, “The one with the chrome cuff links?”

Jaya nodded. “Scary how you know that.”

Her friend shrugged. “I am a fashion editor after all.”

That was true. “Anyway, the sitter wasn’t free, and I had to take a call, so I took her to him. He just shrugged out of his jacket and got onto the floor to play with her, wingtips and all. It was sexy as hell.”

Micha and Ricca exchanged a glance, but it was Micha who spoke. “Honey, I think it’s safe to say that from a purely objective standpoint, your man is very nice to look at. Add to that he’s in a suit playing with a baby, and of course, that’s going to make your hormones go crazy. I mean, that’s not even fair.”

Ricca nodded. “I concur. When I popped in to see Beckett earlier this week, he and Caleb and Alec were crowded around Alexa, talking about something. I stood and stared for several minutes before I could function again.”

“Damn biology,” Micha mumbled. “It’s really not fair.”

“No, it isn’t,” Jaya muttered. Her stomach rolled, and for one very long minute, she worried she was going to throw up.

Ricca’s brows rose. “You okay, Jai? You look a little green.”

“Yeah, sorry. My stomach is also a little off. Granted, that’s my fault. I haven’t felt like eating anything today.”

Ricca stood and handed a protesting Micha the baby. Even though Micha complained, a smile tugged at her lips, and she instantly cooed at the baby. Alexa kicked her little feet in excitement. Jaya would never understand it. No matter how much Micha protested, Alexa seemed happiest in her arms. As if the baby could sense her friend’s marshmallow-soft center.

“I’ll make you something to eat,” Ricca said.

Jaya laughed. “You don’t have to do that. Besides, I think you just want an excuse to use the kitchen.”

“Well, of course I do. Left to you, you’d keep sweaters in the oven.”

“Who says I don’t?” Jaya couldn’t resist teasing Ricca. Considering the kind of chef’s kitchen they had, neither she nor Alec cooked anything beyond the basics.

“Honestly, Ree, that’s really sweet, but I don’t think I could eat anyway. All I want to do is sleep for a month.”

“You have to eat, babes. Besides, this is great practice for when you and Alec have a baby. Of course—” she shrugged “—you guys will be prepared and have a doula and nanny and nutritionist and all that stuff figured out before hand.”

Micha went shock still. Then glanced between the pair of them. “Jaya, honey, when you said you wanted the shoes to get you and Alec back into the swing of things, I didn’t know you meant this.”

What in the world was her friend talking about. “Sorry, My, I don’t follow.”

Micha handed a now sleeping baby to Ricca. “Preggo. You know, with child, knocked up? Up the duff—though, what does that really mean, anyway?”

Jaya blinked. Then blinked again. “I’m not pregnant. I’m on the pill.”

Micha only rolled her eyes. “First of all, how come people are so surprised to find out those damn things are only ninety-eight percent effective? Second of all, you said yourself, you’ve been sleeping erratically and everything was off. Maybe you missed a dose or took it late.”

Shit. Shit, shit, shit.
Oh, God. Jaya looked down at her belly. “It can’t be.”

Micha snapped fingers in front of Jaya’s face. “Newsflash, McFly, you wouldn’t be able to see the baby right now if you were knocked up. The little alien is probably about the size of a gnat.”

Jaya swallowed hard. “What am I going to do? I can’t—and Alexa—and oh my God, Alec, and…”

Micha whacked her on the shoulder. “Snap out of it. First things first. You need to pee on a stick.”

Jaya shook. “Um, okay, I can run to the store if you guys will watch the baby for a—”

Micha shook her head. “No need.” She reached for her purse and pulled out a pregnancy kit.

Ricca guffawed. “One of these days, you’ll need to tell us why you keep a preggo kit in your bag.”

Micha merely shrugged. “I missed my period last month. Freaked me the hell out and, of course, with my schedule, it took me all damn day to get to a store. Then, of course, once I did, the only place to pee was at home, and Caleb was there, and I didn’t want him to see it, so it was a full thirty-six hours before I could have the privacy to pee on a stick. Just in case it ever happened again, I wanted to be prepared.” She scowled as both Jaya and Ricca stared at her. “And, no, Jesus Christ, I’m not pregnant.”

Jaya heaved a breath. “As awesome as I think you’d be as a mom, I could not take one more surprise right now.”

“You two go upstairs, and Jaya get to peeing. I’m going to put Alexa down and will meet you up there,” Ricca said.

The last thing Jaya wanted to do was pee on the stick. It was ridiculous. She wasn’t pregnant. She could visualize every single pill she’d taken in the last—wait a minute. Even as her mind went through the memory reel, she recalled the first morning they had Alexa. It had been total chaos. Had she taken her pill? Damn it.

Not five minutes later, she, Micha, and Rica were huddled around the test, waiting anxiously.

“I think you’ll be a great mom,” Ricca whispered. “You’re already awesome with Alexa.”

“I think you’ll be a hyper momzilla, as evidenced by the way you got a nursery up and running in less than eight hours.” Micha laughed.

Micha was probably more right than Ricca was. But the real question was, how would Alec react?

As the little stripes appeared on the test, Jaya’s heart thudded against her ribs.
Pregnant
.

Chapter Twelve

Alec stormed into Caleb’s office. “What’s the big fucking emergency? Jaya and I were trying to do a date night.”

“Sorry, this qualifies as a fucking emergency.” Caleb voice was grim, and his lips were set in a tight line.

Alec frowned. “What’s happened? What’s wrong?”

His friend beckoned him over. “My guys have been combing security footage from the Westhorpe Boston during your six months there, looking for instances with you and our mystery woman. We hit pay dirt. Or rather somebody sent us pay dirt.” He hit play on his monitor.

The screen was dark for a moment. “I don’t get it. Someone sent this tape to you? What am I looking at?”

“Give it a second,” Caleb muttered.

Alec held his breath for a long moment, then finally, the image cleared, and two people stumbled out of the Logan Lounge, a nightspot attached to the hotel. The security footage cleared once they appeared in the light. It was him, clearly inebriated. He leaned on a slim blonde for support. At one point, he turned into her and appeared to be nuzzling her neck. She looked directly at the camera.

A tight fist of fear strangled his airflow. “Oh, shit. What’s the time stamp on this?”

Caleb’s voice was low. “A few weeks before you returned to San Diego.”

He licked his lips nervously. “Maybe it’s not what it looks like. Maybe she put me in a cab and nothing happened.” His voice wavered. What the hell was he going to tell Jaya? From the start, she’d believed in him. And now he had to tell her what, exactly? That he’d nuzzled some woman’s throat in Boston over a year ago?

“Sorry, man, it gets worse.”

The two of them got in a cab together. The one saving grace was that the woman was clearly leading the charge. She steadied him, and from the security angle, she gave the cabbie directions. The screen went black. When another image appeared, it was more security footage, but this one looked like a hotel.

Alec squinted. Damn, it looked like the decor in one of his hotels. The Westhorpe Select in Boston, to be exact. It was a smaller, boutique hotel that catered to those who wanted their privacy and a more intimate environment with the utmost luxury. “Oh, shit.” He’d opted to stay at the smaller hotel while he looked for an apartment. He’d taken the blonde back to his place.

His face was clear, and so was the woman’s. He led her into his room, and the door closed. No one left the room again for another seven hours, according to the timestamp.

Icy dread filled his belly. He’d done this. It was a real possibility that that baby was his. “I really fucked up.”

Caleb cleared his throat. “Okay, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. I’m only showing this to you because someone obviously wanted you to see it. But the real question to ask is, why? We’ve already done a paternity test on the baby, and we should have that in a week or so. Unless it’s a pressure tactic.”

“Pressure for what? I mean, Jaya is already looking after my supposed kid. What could anyone hope to gain?”

“I don’t know.” Caleb shrugged. “But maybe they wanted to plant a seed of doubt in her head. Either way, it’s suspect. You can’t believe everything you see.”

“Dude, I clearly leave a bar with her and go to one of my hotels.”

Caleb scrubbed a hand over his face. “Okay, what do you want me to do with the tape?”

“I dunno. Hold onto it for now. I assume the Melanie chick sent it as further proof of my wrongdoing. I just wish I knew who she was and why she hated me so much.”

“She’s from San Diego, Alec. Are you sure she doesn’t look familiar, at all?”

She was from here? With each greater likelihood that they’d crossed paths, he felt sicker and sicker. “This is a pretty big city, Caleb.”

“Yeah, but it’s pretty easy to have wronged someone and have some crazy six-degrees shit happen. Maybe a sister of hers you knew or something.”

“I’ve tried to think back. Most women I parted with amicably. And even the ones who weren’t amicable didn’t go this far off the deep end. I know crazy. I grew up with it. I stayed away from drama for the most part until I met Jaya.”

Caleb shrugged one shoulder. “The best I can do then is maybe she knows someone you know. Some other axe to grind. At worst, it was a case of you had a few too many, then you went back to yours, and boom, nine months later, you’ve got a kid and you get a call saying hey, I’m gonna need some child support. But this—” He shook his head. “This is too elaborate.”

“Ya think?” Alec mumbled. “Right now, all signs point to crazy.”

“And if all signs point to crazy, then we also can’t eliminate the possibility that the whole thing is staged.”

Alec whistled low. “I’m all for the theory that means I didn’t sleep with some random woman and have a baby when I was in love with someone else, but a set up?”

“Think about it for a second, will you? I mean, I know we joked about it before, but what if she drugged you? So many things out there would make you feel and appear drunk, and you wouldn’t remember a thing later.”

“Are you saying she roofied me?”

“Given the extortion, I’m saying let’s not rule anything out.”

What the hell was he going to do? Some crazy woman had maybe drugged him?

First thing’s first—he needed to tell Jaya. He didn’t want her being surprised by something like this. Even if it was easily explained away, he needed to be upfront. She’d stood by him with no questions asked. Maybe she needed to ask him a few questions.

An hour later, he let himself into the house. Not sure if Alexa was sleeping or not, he didn’t call out, but first went to check the nursery. Alexa had rolled onto her stomach again and was sucking her thumb, tiny booty in the air. As carefully as he could, he rolled her gently onto her back. Her thumb popped out of her mouth on the transition, and she rooted around for it before popping it back in with a satisfied suckle.

Even as Alec approached the bedroom, he heard the sounds of John Legend pouring out. His body tightened in an immediate Pavlovian response to the crooner’s voice. Jaya always put on John Legend when she wanted to get some. His dick jerked, and Alec gritted his teeth.
Down boy
. Talk first. Then screw your wife. But his body had a counter argument. Screw now, give bad news after.

He steeled himself as best he could and turned the knob to their bedroom.

Jaya lay on the bed in the skimpiest piece of lingerie he’d ever seen. Sure, he was a man, and naked worked for him every time. But lingerie…Well, that just ratcheted up the need. It was like unwrapping a present every time. It didn’t matter that he knew what was under the wrapping. It made him nuts.