Strollers & Stilettos: A Sexy Contemporary Romance (In Stilettos Book 4) (7 page)

Ricca raised a brow. “This is total bull…erm…swizzle. I’m the one supposed to get the cuddles.”

Micha merely cooed at the baby. “What can I say? Kids like me. I think it’s my stern demeanor. They love rules.”

Ricca tossed her hands up and flopped onto the couch. “I give up. How’s the nanny searching going?”

Jaya blew a strand of hair out of her eyes. “You’d think it would be easier to find a nanny. It’s not. You should have seen the big-boobed husband-stealer that strolled on in here today though. Low cut top, tight skirt. Looking around, admiring my ring.” She shook her head. “She’s delusional if she thinks I’m hiring her.”

“I thought you trusted Alec,” Micha teased.

“I do. But I also know some single white female shit when I see it.”

Micha tsked. “Language, Jai. We have an impressionable baby in the room.”

Jaya smirked as she flipped her off.

Ricca asked, “So how is Alec adjusting?”

“If by ‘adjusting’ you mean never actually touching or holding the baby, then really well.”

Micha raised a brow. “So I guess it’s safe to say he’s not changing diapers?”

“Yeah, no.”

Micha slid her a glance. “Okay, real talk?”

Jaya groaned. When Micha said real talk, it usually meant Jaya wasn’t going to like what her friend had to say. “Shoot.”

“Now, remember I’m on your side, and what you believe, I’ll have my fiancé investigate, but you have to admit it’s probably alarming for Alec to find this baby on his doorstep who looks a lot like him. Down to the chin and the eyes.”

“Yeah well, she also looks like Max too,” Jaya said stubbornly.

Ricca nodded. “True. It’s possible.”

“Or,” Jaya added with more confidence, “this is some elaborate scam for money as the extortion note would suggest. She’s not his.”

Micha sighed. “Okay, look, the real question here is if you think he was capable of sleeping with anyone while you guys were apart. I mean, have you guys talked about it?”

Jaya tried to suppress the shiver of doubt that rolled down her spine. “I—we—look Alec didn’t.”

Micha shook her head. “Wait, he said he didn’t or you inferred he didn’t? Because those are two separate things.”

This was the last conversation Jaya wanted to have right now. “He doesn’t’ remember, okay? And it doesn’t matter to me. We’re together now. We weren’t then. Anything that may or may not have happened is long over.”

Micha crossed her arms. “Except the evidence of what
may or may not
have happened is living in your spare room. You need a definitive answer. The Jaya Trudeaux I know doesn’t bury her head in the sand.”

Jaya and Ricca stared at her.

Micha laughed. “Yeah okay, maybe a little. But I think you guys should at the very least do a paternity test.”

“For your information, we are. But it’s to definitively exclude him. Even if he did sleep with someone, there’s no way he’d do it without a condom. Besides, I believe he didn’t sleep with anyone.”

Ricca took her hand. “Yes, sweetie, but wanting something to be true isn’t the same as making it true. I’m inclined to believe him because I saw him when he came back for you. That was a man on a mission, determined to have the woman he loved back. But you can’t discount the possibility.”

They had a point. It could be a possibility, yet every time she thought about the idea of him sleeping with someone else, it made her vaguely ill. But she also knew him. Even if they had been apart and he had been with someone else, he wouldn’t have been careless. Not after his childhood.

“I hear what you guys are trying to say. And I appreciate the concern. But I know him.”

She only hoped she was right.

Chapter Seven

Jaya pushed the stroller with her foot while she studied her notes on temporary nannies. Lucky for her, Alexa had just fallen asleep, which meant, hopefully, she’d be asleep during Jaya’s meeting with Adele.

They had to get some help and soon. After several days, Alec, while accommodating, looked like he might be on the verge of losing his mind. And he didn’t look like he planned on getting any where near Alexa anytime soon, which left it to Jaya.

Thankfully, she had Ricca and Micha to help out. Ricca she’d expected; Micha had surprised her. All she had to do was hold Alexa, and the little girl blinked up at her as if she was seeing an angel or something. Caleb thought it was hilarious. Micha not so much.

But as great as Jaya’s friends were, they needed a resolution for this situation and pronto. This baby had a mother somewhere. And they needed to find her.

No, you don’t
.

Jaya ignored the tiny voice that told her she wanted to keep the baby for herself. No matter how many times she reminded herself babies weren’t like shoes she could go pick up at a store, it didn’t stop her from loving the plump-cheeked infant a little more with every hour.

The side door to Adele’s office opened, and Jaya’s mother-in-law breezed through. “Jaya, I’m sorry I was late. I had to take that damn meeting with the media departmen—”

Adele’s gaze pinned on the stroller. “Is that her?” she whispered.

Jaya nodded. “Yes, this is Alexa.”

Her mother-in-law’s approach was slow. As if she were trying to tiptoe despite the lush carpet in the office.

Adele peeked into the bassinet, and immediately, her eyes misted. Jaya stared at her, dumbstruck. Adele Westhorpe, former model and battle-axe head of Westhorpe Inc. was notoriously difficult. She terrified everyone who dared cross her path. Was she about to cry?

Jaya cleared her throat. “Adele, are you okay?”

Adele waved a hand. “Yes, I’m fine. I’ve often wondered what Alec would have looked like as a baby. His mother didn’t really keep any photos. They moved around so much, I suppose. There’s one or two, but he’s a toddler in them. I would have liked the opportunity to mother him properly.”

Jaya’s heart broke a little. “You know he considers you his mother.”

Adele sniffed and cleared her throat as she slid into her seat. “Yes, yes, I know. But it doesn’t stop the urge. I love Max, of course. I insisted on doing everything myself. I didn’t take on a nanny until he was older and I took over more responsibility in the company. It was important to me to be there every step of the way. But I think I spoiled him too much. I still blame myself for all his troubles. I think I did too much for him. I didn’t let him struggle enough to find his own solid footing. And, well, I let Royce indoctrinate him.”

Jaya and Adele had grown closer over the last year and a half since she’d been working for the magnate, but Adele had never shared this much of her personal life.

Jaya set her jaw. “She’s beautiful, but she’s not Alec’s.”

Adele raised a delicately arched brow. “I know you love my son, and God knows how I love him, but even you have to see this baby looks like a Westhorpe.”

“She looks like a Westhorpe, but she’s not Alec’s,” Jaya said firmly.

Adele leaned back in her chair and studied her. Despite herself, Jaya shifted uncomfortably under the scrutiny. They might be family now, but Adele still scared the living daylights out of her. And in terms of her current project, Adele was still her boss. Family or not.

“You really believe she’s not his?”

“Unequivocally.”

Adele’s smile was slight, more like a bemused curling of her lips. “It seems I underestimated your belief in him.”

Jaya’s temper flared to life. “It seems I overestimated your belief in him.”

Adele pursed her lips, and Jaya braced herself for the fallout. She was surely going to get fired today, but fuck it. She’d had enough. She wasn’t going to sit back and let Alec’s own mother say she didn’t believe in him.

Adele leaned forward, her hands folded. “It seems I owe you and Alec an apology. My image of my son is slightly tainted by my relationship with Royce. And Max, if I’m being honest. Alec is not Royce. Nor is he his brother. And I know how much he loves you. I also know how distraught he was when he left for Boston. But given the way you love him, and the fact that I taught him never to settle for less than what he deserved, I think you’re right. He wouldn’t have been with anyone else.”

Some of the tension rolled out of Jaya’s shoulders. “Even he doesn’t believe in himself.”

Adele blinked as her brows shot up. “But you believe?”

“It’s not a matter of belief. I
know
him. He didn’t sleep with anyone else.” She hoped.

Adele nodded. “He’s lucky to have you. I hope he knows that.”

Jaya blew a strand of hair out of her eyes. “Yes, well, I remind him at every opportunity.”

“Good girl.” More quietly Adele added, “How is he holding up with the baby? Every time I try to speak with him, he manages to avoid me entirely.”

Jaya rolled her lips in. “Um, he’s having a hard time adjusting. Being on the road and the work load, he hasn’t had much time.”

Adele’s keen eyes narrowed. “In other words, he’s completely withdrawn and won’t help?”

Jaya sagged. “He won’t hold her. He knows she’s a baby and needs our help, and he’ll throw all the money in the world at her—he’s made sure she’s had the best stroller and crib and toys and food. But he won’t hold her, pick her up, or feed her, or anything.”

“Can you blame him?”

“She’s a baby.”

Adele nodded. “Yes, he knows that, but he’s terrified. And, of course, it probably brings up the memories of when he came to live with us.”

“Yeah, but I’d think that would make him more inclined to pick her up.” She sighed. “I mean, I see him watching her. Like he wants to pick her up. But he never does.”

“Jaya, you’ll have to give him time to sort through his emotions. You know Alec better than most.”

Alexa stirred in the stroller, and Jaya resumed pushing it with her foot. “I know. I can just see the stress on his face, and I can’t get through to him. I can tell he’s shutting down and pulling away from me.”

“He’ll come around.”

There had to be a better answer. Since Jaya had arrived at the office, he avoided seeing her as much as possible. For the last few nights since Alexa had come to stay with them, Alec had come home early to help with dinner and anything non-baby related he could do. Anything that didn’t physically involve touching the baby he did, and then he’d vanish into his office again to work. Just about the only time they were connected was in bed. Whenever he dragged himself into their room, he woke her to make love to her with an aching passion until she passed out from bliss. Thank God the baby slept through most of the night.

When Jaya woke in the morning, Alec was usually gone after fixing Alexa’s bottle and putting it into the warmer.

“I know. He always does eventually. And with the lawyers, and the paternity test, and child protective services, and the lack of a nanny, it’s killing us. He’s got too much going on.”

Adele frowned. “Why can’t you find a nanny?”

Jaya rolled her eyes. “Only a couple seemed promising. But the first of those I had to cull because she spent more time batting her lashes at Alec than cooing at the baby. The next one Alec vetoed because he said she seemed shifty. Honestly, she was probably nervous. And the last one who made the final list was a guy. Alec rejected him because he swore the guy was checking out my ass. And I’m pretty sure he was gay.”

Adele laughed. “Well, the good news is Alec’s involved in that process.”

“I guess I worry that he thinks that I’m rushing us toward kids or something.”

“Jaya, he’d be different with a child of your own.”

“I wish I could believe that.”

In the stroller, Alexa wailed, and Jaya automatically reached for her. “I thought she’d at least sleep during the meeting. Guess not.”

Adele stood quickly and brushed aside Jaya’s hands. “Let me. You need your hands to give me the run down of where we are for this year’s gala. Besides, I love babies.”

Jaya stared, shocked as the Westhorpe matriarch placed a towel over her shoulder then scooped up the baby. Alexa immediately cooed and relaxed. She made several little sucking sounds and promptly fell back asleep.

“You have got to show me how to do that. You and Micha have this way with kids.”

“Not Ricca?”

“Ricca’s great, but when Alexa starts crying, so far, only Micha seems to be able to make it stop.”

Adele bounced up and down while patting Alexa’s back. “Oh, little Alexa is testing you, that’s all.” Adele kissed the top of the baby’s head.

Something pulled at Jaya’s heart. She only wished Alec could be that comfortable with the child.

* * *

Alec stared at the portable monitor Caleb had lugged into his office. Even as the image cleared up, he still didn’t recognize the woman. “Sorry, Caleb, I don’t know her. I’ve never seen her before in my life.”

His friend narrowed his gaze at him. “You’re sure about that?”

Sure—well, that was a relative term, wasn’t it? “As sure as I can be. She doesn’t ring any bells. What are you getting at?”

Caleb held up his hands. “Take it easy, would you? I believe you. All I’m trying to get at is your memory, okay?”