A Billionaire BWWM Romance 5: The Other Man (9 page)

“
It’s
when women have that motherly instinct kick in. You know that stage
when you feel like you want babies. When you want to kiss every
little thing in blue or pink,” Meg explained. Julie looked at
her and shook her head.

“
I
am not mooning…or whatever the hell it is. I just like kids,”
she claimed.

“
Yeah,
whatever. You should see yourself right now,” Meg winked. Julie
shrugged.

“
Okay
I have to say that I love children. They are cute and just fan to
play with. You can’t tell me you don’t feel the same
way,” she said. Meg raised an eyebrow at her.

“
I
don’t know what you are trying to insinuate. I have a child
remember?” she asked. Julie smiled.

“
Then
you understand what I am talking about don’t you?”

“
Of
course I do. But seriously, this mooning thing can be pretty damn
permanent. That’s how I got my son,” Meg smiled. Julie
shrugged.

“
Shut
up,” she mused.

“
No,
seriously. I just thought why the hell not just get this baby and get
it over with? And plus there is the simple fact that I was not
getting any younger,” she admitted. Julie smiled. “Yeah,
I know what you’re thinking and the answer is yes,” she
said. Julie raised an eyebrow.

“
How
could you possibly know what I’m thinking?” she asked.

“
It
has something to do with whether I think you are going to make a good
mother,” Meg said. A flush came to Julie’s cheeks. It was
as if Meg had read her mind. “And I think you will be the best,
of course second to me,” Meg added. Julie shook her head and
smiled just as Dana walked back in.

“
I
swear boys are a 24 hour job,” she sighed as she sat back down.

“
Tell
me about it,” Meg said.

“
I
know right? I have told him a million times not to tell those weird
stories to Michelle but he doesn’t listen,” Dana said as
she reached for a glass. She took a long sip. “Without my daily
dose, I would probably be a gone case.”“So, where were
we?” she asked as she looked at Meg and then at Julie.

“
The
husband issue,” Meg reminded her. Julie rolled her eyes and
buried her face in her hands.

“
Please
don’t remind me about that. I had a perfect ten minutes of
bliss,” she groaned. Dana gave her a sympathetic smile.

“
So,
what are you going to do about it?”

“
Technically,
I already have the advantage because I was intoxicated. Not being of
sound mind is a good enough ground for annulment,” Julie
explained.

“
Yeah
I thought so too. What I don’t get is why he is insisting on a
divorce. If you ask me he had knowledge of the marriage and chose to
stay silent,” Dana commented.

“
That’s
what I said,” Meg agreed before she took a long sip.

“
But
I did go ahead and hire Hardman Pierce. I don’t think I should
be the one to deal with this shit,” Julie said. Dana raised an
eyebrow over the other.

“
Hardman
Pierce? Those guys are sharks.”

Julie
smiled.

“
Why
do you think I did it?” she laughed.

“
Smart
move,” Dana winked just as Julie’s phone rang.

“
It’s
the lawyer,” Julie mouthed.

“
This
could be good news. Go ahead. Answer it,” Meg insisted.

“
Hello,
this is Julie,” Julie said, her heart beating hard in her
chest.

“
Julie,
hi. This is Jonathan Pierce from Hardman Pierce.” Julie almost
froze. “I’m handling you annulment,” he explained.

“
Hello,
Mr. Pierce.”

“
Oh
please, call me Jonathan.”

“
Alright
Jonathan. I didn’t know a name partner was handling my case,”
Julie said as Meg and Dana exchanged impressed glances.

“
Steven
Davenport is a good friend of mine. I thought I would do him a
favor,” Jonathan said.

“
Okay,”
Julie said. “So, how is everything going? Any hopes?” .

“
Actually,
I am calling you with good news,” Jonathan said. Julie smiled
and mouthed ‘good news’ to Meg and Dana.

“
I
took your case to a judge and given the circumstances, there is no
reason why he couldn’t grant you an annulment,” Jonathan
explained. Julie raked her fingers through her hair and sighed
loudly.

“
Thank
you so much,” she gasped.

“
Evan
Lockwood has 72 hours to comply with the ruling. So, in three days
you should have your slate wiped clean,” Jonathan said.

“
Thank
you so much Mr. Pierce…um, Jonathan,” Julie stammered
before she hung up. Dana and Meg looked at her.

“
So,
what happened? Did the sharks work?” Dana asked.

“
The
sharks bit right into the jugular. Evan has three days to comply,”
Julie squealed. There was a big smile on her face. “Another
drink for me please.”

“
Oh,
definitely. We need to celebrate!” Dana cheered as she reached
for the bottle. She topped up the three glasses and smiled. “I
need to get you guys cabs,” she said smiling.

“
Oh
honey. We are not in any hurry,” Julie said smiling. “I
mean I am drinking in my boss’ house and Meg is pretty much her
own boss.”

“
Yeah
life
is
good,”
Meg winked. She raised her glass and looked at Julie.

“
To
a new wedding,” she toasted.

“
Yeah
one you will remember this time,” Dana joked. Julie smiled and
raised her glass.

“
I’ll
drink to that,” she replied happily.

When
Steven and Julie arrived at Michael’s house, the cake Julie had
baked for dessert was a mess. She looked at Steven and shook her
head.

“
What?”
he asked.

“
We
need to get another one. This one is a disaster,” she groaned.
Steven looked at the cake and frowned. It had a big smudge caused by
the way he had been forced to swerve when a SUV got right in his lane
from the wrong side of the road. Julie loved perfection. There was no
way he was going to convince her to just let it slide.

“
It
doesn’t look so bad,” he frowned. She shook her head and
looked down at what was once her beautiful chocolate cake. Steven
looked into her eyes and smiled.

“
Hey
Juelz, listen to me,” he started as he looked into her eyes. “I
know you love perfection and I know you maybe feel like everything
has to go perfectly given the week you’ve had but the truth is
no one cares. So long as you are fine and single again.” Julie
smiled. “Plus, all I can think of right now is getting you out
of that dress.” She smiled and shook her head.

“
We’re
at my dad’s place,” she protested as she felt her cheeks
flush.

“
Well,
we did it at my dad’s place. What’s so wrong about that?”
Julie smiled and shook her head.

“
My
Nan is going to get holy water all over you so fast you won’t
know what hit you,” she chuckled. She looked at the cake again.
“Are you sure this is fine?” Steven unbuckled his seat
belt.

“
We
are going in, right now,” he said. Julie closed her eyes and
shrugged as Steven walked round to her side and opened the door for
her. “Besides, all we have to do is slice it up and leave the
smudged part in the box. Trust me, when your father wakes up hungry
and sits down to enjoy it, the smudge will be the last thing on his
mind.” She smiled and climbed out of the car. She could feel
Steven’s eyes on her as she walked to the door. That was
actually one of the reasons she had chosen to wear the white cut out
bandage dress. It had a special effect on Steven and she knew it…and
she loved it. She had straightened her hair and worn it in a side
sweep showing off the silver dangling earrings she had on. She smiled
and walked towards the door with his hand on her hip. She knew he
could have given anything at that moment to slide that hand lower to
her ass but then again, self-control was a virtue he was going to
have to master that night. The two had been invited over to Michael’s
place for a dinner party to celebrate Julie’ annulment. If
there was anyone who took this annulment seriously, it was her
father. If he could afford it, she was sure he would have declared a
national holiday just so he could brag to the world that her daughter
was no longer married to that asshole (as he called him) Evan
Lockwood. When Julie first got the invite, she thought she was going
to a small dinner with her father and her Nan and maybe Meg. But when
she got there, there were more people than she had anticipated. There
were her dad’s friends, a couple of women from her Nan’s
bible study group along with Meg, Dana and surprisingly Andy. When
they got into the house, Julie’s jaw almost dropped. She looked
at Dana and raised an eyebrow.

“
My
assistant is here,” Julie gasped to Steven.

“
Christine?
No that’s not right. Caroline?” She looked at him and
shook her head.

“
The
temp,” she corrected. “Even though I wish he would be
permanent,” she added as Dana walked towards her.

“
Hi
honey. I’ll take that,” her Nan offered as she showed up
out of nowhere and kissed Julie’s cheek before she took the
cake. Julie smiled.

“
It
got a bit smudged. Maybe you could like, not serve the damaged part?”
Julie’s Nan smiled.

“
No
one cares about what it looks like. What it tastes like is what
really matters,” she assured her. Steven leaned in.

“
I
told her the same thing,” Steven grinned Julie shrugged as Dana
approached them. “You know what, you two catch up. I’ll
go shoot a few hoops with your dad,” he said before he gave her
hip a light squeeze.

“
Feels
good to have just one man in your life huh?” Dana asked.
Michael called out Julie’s name and she looked up and smiled
before giving him a little wave.

“
Try
two men…but I wouldn’t have it any other way,” she
admitted. “So,” she started as she turned to look at
Dana. “Andy’s here,” she said. Dana smiled and
shrugged.

“
Yes
he is,” she said.

“
Anything
you want to tell me?” Julie said.

“
He
was dropping something for me and your dad asked him to stay. I
didn’t have a problem with it, so I didn’t mind,”
Dana explained. Julie nodded. “Besides, gay guys really know
how to party.” Julie turned to her surprised.

“
He’s
gay?” she whispered.

“
Come
on, you have to be blind not to see it. The perfect slim suits,
always vocal about anything color co-ordination and planning is his
strong suit?”

“
Maybe
he is just really keen on detail,” Julie suggested as the two
walked towards the kitchen.

“
No
man is that keen on detail. If anything planning is the one thing men
can’t do right,” Dana laughed. Julie shrugged.

“
Oh
come on, you are being an ass. You are stereotyping,” she said.

“
I
am not. Plus, I have proof,” Dana replied. They took two of the
punch glasses laid out and Julie looked at her.

“
What
proof? He has a tattoo branding him as a gay person?”

“
No.
Some time back he came to me when you weren’t in the office and
asked if he could take off an hour early. It wasn’t one of the
busy days so I didn’t mind,” Dana told her. Julie took a
sip of her punch and shook her head.

“
That
doesn’t prove anything,” she objected.

“
Well,
I did ask him why he needed to leave early and he said and I quote,
he was going to make dinner for his boyfriend,” Dana said.
Julie’s eyes grew wide. She smiled and then took another sip of
her punch.

“
Wow,
I wouldn’t have ever guessed that,” she gasped. “But
I really love his work. Sometimes I wish I could have him
permanently.” Dana looked at her and smiled.

“
Actually,
Caroline has extended her leave by a few days and I thought I would
assign her to another realtor when she got back because right now,
you need every bit of help you can get.” A broad smile played
on Julie’s lips. That was the best news she had ever had.

“
Oh
my God! I was always hoping for that to happen,” she shrieked.
“This is officially the best day of my life. Don’t tell
Steven I said that,” she whispered. Dana smiled.

“
I’m
just happy you like the idea I came up with,” she said

“
I
could hug you right now, but these mini chicken nuggets are freaking
awesome,” Julie commented as she bit into a crispy nugget.