The Billionaire's Baby: BBW Paranormal Shape Shifter Romance Read online

  “You’re fired,” Ethan bit out, stalking toward her.

  “W-what?”

  He stopped before her desk, leaned in, and growled. “Get out.”

  Marla jumped to her feet, her eyes flashing with shock and anger. “You’re firing me over that amazon you’re sleeping with?”

  If Marla had been a man, Ethan would have knocked her teeth out. “Piper Hollister has more grace, beauty, and confidence in her pinky finger than you will ever possess. Now, get your shit and get the hell out before I toss you from the window.”

  Fear replaced Marla’s bravado. She stumbled back a step, her eyes round and shifty.

  She began jerking open drawers to gather her things.

  “I’ll have your things delivered to you. Get your purse and go,” Ethan bit out, unable to stomach her presence another second.

  Marla snatched up her purse and fled to the elevator without another word.

  Ethan waited for her to disappear behind the elevator doors and then strode into his office.

  He picked up the phone and called security. “Marla Kemp has been let go. She is on her way down now. See that she leaves quietly and do not allow her back inside this building for any reason.”

  “Yes, Mr. Seaborn,” the guard returned.

  Ethan hung up the phone and dropped heavily into his desk chair, wondering why it had taken him so long to rid himself of Marla.

  How dare that little troll speak of Piper in such a way?

  A knock sounded on his door, pulling him out of his murderous contemplation. “Come.”

  Billy stepped into the room, his eyebrows raised. “I just passed Marla in the hall, and she was fit to be tied. What’s going on?”

  “I fired her.”

  Billy’s mouth dropped open. “You fired her?”

  “I’ve been wanting to do that for quite some time. She simply pushed me too far.”

  “I’m not even going to ask,” Billy muttered, holding both hands in the air. “What do we have going on today?”

  Ethan took a calming breath and leaned back in his chair. “I need to have a temporary secretary sent up here for starters, and then I need you to secure a meeting with the bank for Friday.”

  “Already done, boss.”

  “I had a visitor in the lobby of my penthouse the other night,” Ethan informed him.

  Billy skirted the chair perched in front of Ethan’s desk and took a seat. “One of Foster’s?”

  At Ethan’s nod, Billy bounded back to his feet. “What the hell?”

  “My thoughts exactly.”

  Billy began to pace. “Was he alone?”

  “He was. He also knew that I wouldn’t retaliate with the overhead cameras running. Which is why he dared to show up at my home in the first place.”

  “Does Wallace know about this?” Billy questioned, continuing his pacing.

  Ethan shook his head. “Not yet. And I’m not sure if I’ll tell him. He’s getting on up in age, and I fear he may go after Old Man Foster.”

  “He has a right to know, Ethan. He was alpha for many years. Not to mention, he’s your grandfather.”

  Ethan narrowed his eyes. “Watch yourself, Franklin.”

  “I’m sorry, Ethan. I’m just worried about you is all.”

  Taking a calming breath, Ethan ran a hand down his face. “I know. And I appreciate all your help in this. What time did Piper arrive home last night?”

  “She didn’t.”

  Ethan stilled. “She didn’t return home?”

  “Not until this morning,” Billy affirmed.

  Jealousy sliced through Ethan’s gut. Piper had stayed out all night.

  “Was she alone?” Ethan rose to his feet.

  Billy nodded. “She was.”

  “I’m going to speak with my grandfather,” Ethan announced, getting to his feet. “Send two men out to relieve the ones watching Piper’s house.”

  “Do you think Foster would risk sending someone to her neighborhood? You’ve only known the girl a week. He can’t know she’s someone important to you.”

  Ethan strode to the door, anger fueling his every step. “I don’t know what he thinks. But I’m not willing to risk Piper’s safety where he’s concerned.”

  “What are you going to do?”

  Ethan stopped at the door and glanced back over his shoulder. “Kill him.”

  * * * *

  Wallace Seaborn sat at his small wooden breakfast table, sipping on a steaming cup of coffee, his faded whiskey-colored eyes narrowed in Ethan’s direction. “It’s time to put a stop to Foster, once and for all.”

  Ethan filled his own cup with coffee and took a seat across from his grandfather. “I agree.”

  “Tell me about the girl,” Wallace demanded, watching Ethan like a hawk.

  Knowing it would do no good to change the subject, Ethan rested his elbows on the table and took a sip of his coffee. “Her name is Piper Hollister. She’s one of the most beautiful and confident women I’ve ever met.”

  The old man’s eyes twinkled. “You are serious about this one.”

  “She’s my mate, Grandfather.” It felt good to Ethan to say the words aloud.

  Wallace leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest. “You’re certain?”

  “More certain than I’ve ever been about anything in my life. I suspected it when I first scented her, but I wasn’t sure until I began fighting my wolf when in her presence. It takes everything in me not to shift when she’s around. Damn, but she’s strong.”

  A huge grin split Wallace’s face. “It does my heart good to know that you have found your mate. Have you told her?”

  Ethan shook his head. “I can’t tell her, Grandfather. She has no idea what I am. What if she can’t handle it? I can’t risk it.”

  “You’re going to have to tell her eventually, boy. Better that it come from you than your enemy.”

  Holding his grandfather’s gaze, Ethan ground out, “The only enemy I have is Isaac Foster and his spineless son, Eric. And I plan on eliminating them both.”

  Wallace’s gaze softened. “You would kill your own flesh and blood? I do not think Ruth would approve if she were still alive.”

  “You had my father killed before I was born,” Ethan shot back. “Somehow, I doubt she approved of that either.”

  “She hated me for it.”

  The forlorn sound of his grandfather’s voice cooled some of Ethan’s ire. “She didn’t hate you.”

  Wallace pushed to his feet and moved slowly toward the coffeepot to pour himself another cup. “Why do you think she never returned to Florida?”

  Ethan thought about that for a moment. “She never told me why. But I often wondered why she never mentioned you to me until she was on her deathbed.”

  Ambling back to the table, Wallace sat and blew on his fresh cup of coffee. “Darren Foster took advantage of Ruth. I tried to warn her about him, but she wouldn’t listen.”

  “Go on,” Ethan prompted when his grandfather’s gaze turned inward and he grew quiet.

  Wallace spoke in a far-off voice as if reciting a dream he’d once had. “Your mother was only eighteen when she began sneaking off to see Darren Foster. He was much older than her, and had been seen in town with a different woman on his arm every night.”

  Taking a deep breath, Wallace glanced at Ethan before continuing. “I confronted him, tried to pay him off to leave your mother alone, but he laughed in my face. Next thing I knew, your mother had run off with him, simply disappeared in the middle of the night without a word to her mother or me.”

  “What happened next?” Ethan persisted, lifting his coffee cup to his lips.

  Wallace gripped his coffee mug with both hands. “I searched for Ruth for months without any luck. Finally, word reached me that she’d settled in Texas and was pregnant with Darren’s child. I showed up one night unannounced to find her wasting away in a small apartment with a swollen lip and two black eyes.”

  Ethan’s eyes heated up in
their sockets. “He beat her?”

  “According to the neighbors, he beat her quite often,” Wallace growled, continuing to stare into his coffee cup. “She begged me not to seek him out, but there was no way in hell I was going to let him get away with putting his hands on her.”

  Reeling from what he’d been told, Ethan could only stare at his grandfather as the older man continued to talk.

  “I found him at a local hole in the wall, sitting at the bar with his arm around a painted-up redhead. I waited for him to emerge to confront him. He pulled a pistol from his boot and took a shot at me. I retaliated with a bullet between his eyes.”

  Ethan reached across the table and touched his grandfather on the hand. “I would have done the same thing in your position.”

  “When I went back to the apartment to explain to Ruth what had happened, she fell apart and demanded that I leave or she would call the authorities. We never spoke again.”

  “I’m sorry, Grandfather,” Ethan softly murmured, giving the old man’s hand a gentle squeeze. “It wasn’t your fault.”

  “Your mother didn’t think so. She died thinking I killed your father in cold blood. She hated me.”

  Ethan shook his head. “She didn’t hate you. If she had, she wouldn’t have sent me to you on her deathbed. Her last words before she died were, ‘Listen to your grandfather, Ethan. He is wise and will lead you on the right path.’”

  Tears filled Wallace’s eyes. His voice broke when he spoke. “Ruth told you that?”

  “She did. No matter what happened between you two. She loved you, Grandfather.”

  A lone tear spilled from the old man’s eye. “You’re all I have left of her, Ethan. She and your grandmother passed without ever knowing you as a man. They would both be proud. And now you have found your mate.”

  Ethan cleared his throat and leaned back in his chair. “If she’ll have me.”

  “Oh, I have a feeling she will have you. But first, we must rid ourselves of the threat of Isaac Foster, or she’ll never be safe.”

  Ethan’s eyes heated in their sockets. “Agreed.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  Piper answered the door to the fifth delivery van that day.

  “Another delivery for Piper Hollister,” the driver muttered in a monotone voice. “Sign here.”

  Piper signed in the appropriate place, accepted the roses, and plucked the card from the holder. Forgive me?

  With a sigh, she stepped back inside, placed the flowers next to all the others scattered around the room, and plopped down on the couch.

  Perhaps she should give him another chance, she considered, studying the dozens of roses littering her floor. Maybe he truly is sorry.

  It had been a week since Piper had last seen Ethan.

  She’d met up with Calibri’s this past Friday and signed a five-year contract with them.

  After the negotiations had been settled, Piper ended up with a hefty sum of money up front and forty-five percent of future profits. It wasn’t as much as she would have netted with Ethan, but it was certainly nothing to shake a stick at. Besides, Piper wanted to make it on her own and not be beholden to the man she had feelings for. And she did have feelings for him. She just wasn’t sure what to do with them.

  Not a day went by that Ethan didn’t text, attempt to call, and send flowers. Surely to God he would have given up by now if he wasn’t sincere?

  And Piper missed him. She missed everything about him. His incredibly sexy eyes, his smile, his smell, his lips…

  How the hell had she gotten so wrapped up in the man? She’d been moping around for days on end, replaying their every moment together.

  She’d wanted him with every fiber of her being. She still did.

  Was it her pride keeping her from forgiving him? Most likely. But Piper had always been a strong, proud woman. That quality had gotten her where she was today, and she wasn’t about to change herself for anyone.

  But Ethan wasn’t just anyone. He provoked feelings in her she never knew existed. Certainly not with anyone from her past.

  She’d wanted to give herself to Ethan, to take him inside not just her body, but her heart as well.

  And that’s why his betrayal of her trust had hurt her so much. And it had been a betrayal, no matter how he tried to spin it.

  Of course, she had no idea how he would have spun it since she hadn’t given him a chance to explain himself.

  Jerking up her cell, Piper swiped her thumb across the screen and opened the text beneath Ethan’s name. Her finger hovered over the text box until the screen went black.

  With a nervous sigh, Piper swiped again and began to type. I’m willing to listen. My place at six o’clock.

  She noticed her hand shook as she touched the Send button.

  Something about pressing that green phone key felt liberating. Tonight, she would see Ethan.

  I’ll be there, he immediately sent back.

  The doorbell rang again, catching Piper off guard.

  She dropped the phone onto the coffee table, jumped to her feet, and answered the door.

  “I have brownies,” Rhonda announced, rushing inside. “I hope you have milk.”

  Piper grinned, shut the door, and followed Rhonda into the kitchen. “I don’t know how old it is. I bought it last week for Whiskers.”

  Rhonda wrinkled her nose. “Check it and see.”

  Opening the fridge, Piper pulled the carton of milk free, bringing it to her nose. “It’s still good.”

  The two of them sat at the bar, poured a couple glasses of milk, and tore into the brownies.

  “I’m assuming the rose garden in the living room is not your doing?” Rhonda bit into a brownie, her eyebrows lifted in question.

  Piper shook her head. “They’re from Ethan.”

  “All of them?” The stunned sound of Rhonda’s voice was almost comical.

  “He sends several a day,” Piper answered, sinking her teeth into a delicious brownie as well.

  “My goodness. Obsessed much?”

  Piper went into defense mode. “Oh, I don’t know. I think it shows how sincere he is.”

  “Or how crazy,” Rhonda interjected.

  With a grin, Piper shot back. “When have you ever had a man send you dozens of flowers?”

  “Since…never. You got me there. And crazy isn’t always a bad thing. Most crazy man are badass in bed.”

  Piper laughed. “Oh really? How would you know?”

  “Remember Pete?” Rhonda wriggled her eyebrows.

  Nearly choking on her next bite, Piper gasped. “You slept with Pete the Meat?”

  “In my defense, I’d had far too much to drink. But I was also curious if the rumors were true or if he’d gotten his nickname from his choice of food groups.”

  “And?” Piper prompted.

  “And what?”

  “Rhonda!”

  Rhonda laughed. “It definitely wasn’t from eating steak.”

  Piper found herself chuckling as well. It felt good to smile, something she hadn’t done since she’d last seen Ethan.

  “So, what are you going to do about Mr. Seaborn?” Rhonda questioned, once the humor died down.

  With a shrug, Piper pinched off another piece of brownie. “I sent him a text right before you got here. I’m seeing him tonight.”

  Rhonda paused in her chewing, but didn’t speak for a minute. She took a drink of milk, reached across the table, and laid her hand over one of Piper’s. “I’m with you on whatever you decide. If you think he’s being straight with you, then I do as well. I trust your instincts, Piper. I always have.”

  “I love you, Rhonda. Thank you for always being such an amazing friend.”

  The pretty blonde gave Piper’s hand a gentle squeeze. “I love you too.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  Ethan stood in his grandfather’s front yard and faced the members of his pack, his voice ringing out strong and sure. “It ends today! No more Kenwood shifters will cross into our territory
without losing his life. Do I make myself clear?”

  “Aye!” they chorused, anger etched on the lines of every face.

  One of the pack members stepped forward. “I say we take out Old Man Foster. That should put a stop to his trespassing.”

  Ethan held up a hand for silence when voices rang out in agreement. “You leave Foster to me. I have a plan for him and his son. We won’t have to worry about either of them sucking up oxygen for too much longer.”

  Cheers went up through the crowd. “What about his pack?” another man called out. “Their loyalties lie with the old man.”

  Shaking his head, Ethan addressed the one who’d spoken. “I firmly believe their loyalties will disappear with Foster. If they don’t, then they’ll be buried with him.”

  More cheers rent the air.

  A woman’s voice rang out. “Won’t starting a war cost more lives than necessary? I mean, isn’t there any way to deal with the old man besides killing him?”

  Wallace answered for Ethan. “It’s past time for a purge. I should have taken care of Foster years ago. There’s far too much at stake to allow him to live now. We must band together and follow Ethan’s lead in this. He knows what he’s doing.”

  “I agree,” Billy piped in from Ethan’s side. “I’ve seen what Foster is capable of. I may not be a shifter, but I’ll fight alongside any of you. And die with you, if that’s what it takes.”

  The woman shifted her gaze back to Ethan. “You’re my alpha, and I will die for you as well if it becomes necessary. I am only concerned for my children.”

  “A valid concern, Deloris,” Ethan responded, using her first name. “When the time comes for me to implement my plan, all women and children will be moved to the safe house. Have no fear.”

  Deloris nodded, gratitude shining in her eyes.

  Glancing at his watch, Ethan dismissed the large group with a promise to meet up with them in a week with further details.

  “Where are you headed in such a hurry?” Billy teased, jogging up beside Ethan as he made his way to his car.

  Ethan gave him a side look. “I’m going to Piper’s this evening to talk.”