The Baby Contract (The Billionaire Bachelor Series) by Olivia Starke

to moon over her like some teenager with a crush. Business was business.
    As the afternoon faded into evening, he found his attention more and more centered on his glass full of watered-down tea, the ice cubes long melted. The heat left him sweating, but he resisted a dip in the pool. From time to time a breeze stirred making the sunlight tolerable. Charity had given up trying to draw him out, and he remained as he wanted—off to the side and ignored. He considered leaving early, but being alone in his empty home with his thoughts seemed intolerable. At least here he had some distraction from time to time, though the amount of female flesh now exposed should’ve left him more interested.
    When Liam reached his limit for quasi-socialization, he bid his goodbyes and drove to his home outside of the city. The expanse of it was a bit much, a status symbol he’d thought he’d needed, but now wanted to sell. The housing market was in a slump so he was stuck with it for the time being.
    He showered then dropped down on his couch and flipped the TV on to a news channel. Voices droned in the background of his thoughts, making the home feel less empty. A glass of bourbon rested in his hand as he stared at the faces on the television screen.
    When had life become like this for him? His career no longer as fulfilling as it once was, or perhaps he’d lied to himself about that? Maybe the business drive his father had insisted upon had never made Liam content?
    Whitmore Incorporated is life, Liam. Never forget that. Nothing will ever come before the business. No one will ever fulfill you like the business. Whitmore requires absolute loyalty, son.
    He shook free of his father’s words and gulped down the bourbon. His father would probably be proud of the lengths he’d go to for Whitmore. Having a child just to keep control—his old man would slap him on the back and congratulate him. His father was testing his loyalties even now, after death. When it came to control no one had more than Liam II.
    Liam felt too agitated to sit home and soon was driving through Austin. Dusk had fallen so he parked and walked out onto Congress Avenue Bridge, joining the others collected there. A black swarm poured from beneath the bridge and even over the sounds of the city, the whoosh of wings was the loudest. Bats darted this way and that, snapping insects while in flight, darkening the sky as the last traces of red and orange from the setting sun faded on the horizon.
    He’d only been to watch the bats a few times in his life; it was more a tourist trap for visitors of the city.
    A young toddler squealed and clapped, while his mother cuddled him close and pointed at the winged animals. “Those are bats,” she explained.
    “Bats, bats,” the toddler parroted, clapping some more.
    The mother laughed. “Yes, baby.”
    Liam couldn’t help but smile at the child’s enthusiasm. Perhaps Abigail would bring their child to see the spectacle. Her child, he corrected before turning away and walking back to his car.
    He drove a bit aimlessly until he pulled up outside of a small, cream-colored bungalow. He parked and stared at the house. Faint light illuminated the blinds in one of the front windows. Liam drummed his fingers on the steering wheel. Abigail’s home looked quaint, cozy, and well lived in. Bright pink flowers grew in a long bed that hugged the base of the home, and the grass needed trimmed. A bird feeder sat on a wooden platform.
    Well lived in, unlike his monstrosity sitting outside of Austin, or even his apartment in Whitmore Tower which only served as a place to lay his head. Outside of his office, he hadn’t felt at home in a place since his childhood. Inside the bungalow perhaps there’d be dirty dishes in the sink and an unmade bed, things that proved life inside a house. His family had had housekeepers in his youth, and nothing had remained out of place for more than a few minutes.
    His father wouldn’t have tolerated anything