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I had no plans on being up for bid ever again. As much money as it raised, the salacious press that followed wasn’t worth it.
“You can play hard to get all you want, but you know I always end up getting what I want,” she said before hanging up.
I looked at my phone and smiled. I had pissed her off. She wasn’t a girl who was used to being turned down, and she was zero for two with me. It was new for me too. Even though we broke up over a year ago, we hadn’t exactly wiped our hands of each other. We had remained friendly. Maybe too friendly. She would sometimes make her way into my bed if we ran into each other at an event.
I couldn’t help myself. With Kiera it was familiar, and the sex was good.
But now, things were different.
Armand pulled up to the large glass building that was practically my second home and opened the door for me. I slid out of the car and saw my brother walking up to the entrance.
“Brody,” I said, jogging up next to him with a grin on my face.
“Hey, bro,” he said, pushing the doors open.
“How are you?”
“Fine, I guess.”
“Nice day out, huh?”
“Uh, yeah. Real nice.” He looked at me curiously as we walked through the spacious lobby toward the elevators.
“You’re extra cheery today,” he said, pressing the button.
“It’s Friday.” I shrugged.
“Riiiight.”
The elevator doors opened and we stepped inside.
“Did you get a really good lay last night or something?” asked Brody, raising a questioning eyebrow at me.
“Can’t a guy just be happy?” I asked.
“Sure, but that guy is usually not you.”
“That’s not true.”
“Uh, yeah it is. You’re either stressed about work or getting bored of supermodels most guys would be damn lucky just to get a passing glance from.”
Okay, that was true.
“Speaking of supermodels, it’s been a while since I’ve seen you on TMZ…” he quipped.
“And that’s a bad thing?”
“Nah, it’s good. Our stocks are up.” He laughed.
It was true. In the absence of any scandal with my name in it, our numbers were up. It had been over a month since I had been in the papers. The last time had been when Kiera and I were photographed on our “date” and she went on to claim that wedding bells were in our future. Little did I know it would actually be footie pajamas and a crib.
I couldn’t imagine the field day the press would have if they caught wind I was going to be a father. Thankfully, I trusted Addison enough to keep this under wraps until we figured everything out. I hardly knew her, and I trusted her more than Kiera who I had known for years.
Brody and I stepped out onto our floor and went our separate ways to our offices. He was on one end of the long marble hallway, and I on the other. As I started to make my way down the hallway, Margaret called me over to the front desk.
“Good morning, Mr. Jacobs.”
“Morning, Margaret.”