Free To Want A Billionaire (The Billionaire's Baby Series Book 1) by Ava Claire Page A

but burned bridges...and here we were, putting all that aside for the baby.
    Well, there they were, letting go and celebrating, and I was on the outside looking in, searching for a catch. Eyes peeled for catastrophe. Stressing myself out at my baby shower...and that was 100% on me.
    I could keep pouting, which I pretty much had down pat, considering all the fake smiling I’d been doing and the fact that I’d just pushed my food around my plate at Cafe 29. Or, I could put on my big girl pants and play along. Be grateful that my best friend put this celebration together and accomplished the impossible—bringing Cheryl Montgomery and Alicia Whitmore together, and insults weren’t flying.
    Or, I could keep throwing my solo temper tantrum, guzzling lemonade, and prove that stubbornness wasn’t just a Jacob thing.
    I lifted my glass to the waiter and trudged over to my family and best friend. All eyes shot to me, then down to my belly, and the conversation went quiet. Their gazes turned me into the one that was acting strangely.
    I opened my mouth, ready to announce that I was not the elephant in the room, then clamped my mouth shut and took a deep breath. After I exhaled, I stapled a smile to my face.
    “What’s up?” I said, hoping the cheer I was forcing into my voice would translate to real deal joy. I put aside my own baggage. For the baby. For Megan. For me. Hell, even for my mom and Alicia. I knew my mother was a social butterfly and a free day was a rarity, and she made the time for me. And Alicia had foundations, charity work, and a household of servants to rule, so it meant something that she was here, too.
    Mom was the first one to answer, wielding her phone like a weapon and aiming it right at me. “We were just about to place bets on when you’d stop pouting and join us. Say cheese!”
    I was nowhere near ready and sure that I was cringing in the photo, but she proclaimed that I looked amazing. Still overwhelmed, I wasn’t quick enough to dodge her when she hustled out of her seat and started fussing over me. “I don’t know how you tamed those locks, but keep it up.” She toyed with my bangs and cradled my cheek for a moment, her eyes glassy with tears. I smiled at her, really smiled, but the moment was short-lived when she reached for my breasts and weighed the right one, then the left. “Pregnancy looks good on you, honey.”
    It was impossible for me to blush any harder.
    I extricated myself from her, laughing in spite of my embarrassment. “Keep your hands to yourself, Mom, or the fresh headlines from the paps will read, ‘Whitmore Baby Shower Goes XXX’.”
    She pecked my cheek and I didn’t wipe it away, turning back to Megan and Alicia. Megan’s expression was a mixture of ‘Finally!’ and ‘Awww!’. Before I could apologize to her, and maybe reluctantly apologize to Alicia, Megan gasped and swiped her phone, eyes glued on the screen as she secreted away from the group. Alicia was unreadable, and it had very little to do with her oversized, pastel shades. She literally looked like someone had taken an eraser to her face and scrubbed away everything except her cold beauty.
    She did crack the facade long enough to smile at my mother and I. “I agree with Cheryl—you are positively glowing, Leila.”
    I couldn’t help but gape. The white flag I was ready to wave had suddenly wrapped around my vocal chords.
    Instantly, my mom was back in my face, her eyes clouding with worry. “What’s wrong?” She pressed a hand to my forehead, then dropped it to my belly. “Is it the baby?”
    Her anxiety was contagious and I wrangled that, along with my slack jawed disbelief, and pushed it to the back of my mind. “I think I just got a little winded.” It was a bold-faced lie, and it did nothing to quell my mother’s worry.
    She shepherded me to a chair, calling Holden over with a water. I peeked over at Alicia and for the briefest moment, we were on the same wavelength. She knew, that I knew,