The Prince's Secret Baby (A Baby for the Prince Book 1) Read online

  Eva promised herself she wouldn’t let him dismiss her like that again.

  She scanned the lobby for Filipe. At first, she didn’t see him. It was a Sunday afternoon, between check-out and check-in time. The lobby was almost entirely empty. How could she miss him?

  “Hey,” a voice said softly from behind her. “I thought you might not come.”

  Eva spun around. Filipe was leaning against the check-in desk. He was just as handsome and dreamy as the night they met. Except, this time, he wasn’t just Filipe. This time, he was Prince Filipe di Benici.

  She realized that part of her—a very strong part—hated him.

  “Your Highness,” she said, doing a slight curtsy.

  He raised an eyebrow, clearly not amused.

  “I suppose you practiced that,” he said.

  “Actually,” Eva said. “I practiced a lot of things I wanted to say to you. But that? That came naturally.”

  Filipe shook his head and looked down at the floor.

  “Well,” he said, biting his lip and handing her purse over. “I guess you’ll be needing this for your next shift at Gustavo’s.”

  Eva felt her face turn red.

  He went through my things?

  She snatched her bag from his outstretched hand. Reaching inside to ensure her belongings were intact, she felt her phone, wallet, keys, and the plastic bag with her uniform inside. It was all there.

  Eva turned to leave. She had every reason to walk out the door. But something stopped her. Who was he to pass judgement? She turned back, glaring at Filipe.

  “I might work at a coffee shop,” she said a bit louder than she planned. “But you’re a prince. And you’re married. Only a complete asshole cheats on his wife. You’re not better than me. And you don’t get to act like it just because you went through my things.”

  She had enough time to catch the surprised look on his face before turning around. This time, she really intended to leave. But, before she had a chance to step forward, a hand grabbed her wrist. It wasn’t harsh or angry. It was light. If hands could talk, this one was apologizing.

  “Please turn around,” Filipe murmured. “I need you to hear me out.”

  She sighed and turned.

  “I don’t understand why,” she said. “You don’t owe me an explanation. You don’t owe me anything. It’s not like any of this matters.”

  “But it does matter,” Filipe said. “Because you need to understand.”

  His green eyes were piercing hers. How could she say no?

  “I don’t know,” Eva said. “I might be a lowly barista, but I’m not accustomed to having conversations with men who cheat on their wives and go through bags that don’t belong to them.”

  Filipe rolled his eyes.

  “I had to go through your bag,” he said. “Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been able to return it. And I didn’t do anything more than look at your phone. Last time I checked, that was socially acceptable in emergency situations.”

  “Then how did you know about my job?”

  “How else? You had your next shift written on your cell phone calendar. I didn’t go snooping through your bag. I didn’t even know for sure that your uniform was inside. I just guessed. I emailed you and set the bag aside. I swear.”

  Eva looked in her purse. It didn’t look overly disturbed. Still...

  “Why should I trust you?” Eva asked. “You cheated on your wife. You lied to me about who you were. Why do you even care what I think?”

  “Because I care about you,” Filipe said sincerely. “And I didn’t cheat on my wife. So, unless you have somewhere to be, I’d really appreciate you hearing what I have to say.”

  Eva hesitated. Was this man worth five more minutes of her time? Probably not. But he was a prince, and she was very curious.

  “Fine,” she said. “But we’re talking down here. I’m not going back upstairs with you.”

  “That’s fine,” Filipe said, ushering her toward a pair of chairs in the corner. “We can sit right here. I don’t have anything to hide from you.”

  “Except the fact that you’re a married prince.”

  Filipe shot her a look.

  “I don’t have anything else to hide from you,” he said coolly.

  “Sorry,” she said. “You set yourself up for that one.”

  He smiled. She couldn’t help but return it briefly.

  “All right,” she said as she sat down. “Let’s hear it.”

  Filipe sat down next to her. He took her hand. Eva debated over pulling it back, but decided to let him keep it.

  “I don’t normally bring girls home from bars,” he said. “Even places like Oasis. I was there for a meeting with an associate. I know that sounds vague, but it isn’t a lie.”

  “Okay,” Eva said. “So, you’re telling me you’ve never slept with anyone other than your wife before?”

  Filipe shook his head.

  “No,” he said. “I’m getting to that.”

  “But you just said you don’t normally bring girls home from bars.”

  “That’s doesn’t mean never. Will you please just listen to what I have to say?”

  Eva took her hand back.

  “I don’t understand how that’s supposed to make me feel better,” Eva said. “It doesn’t make you look better, either. What are you saying? That I was special enough for you to cheat with? Me and a handful of other lucky girls?”

  Filipe ran his hands through his hair in frustration.

  “You’re not listening,” he said. “I need you to stop hating me for a minute and give me the benefit of the doubt.”

  “Why should I?”

  “I’m not the only person who lied that night,” he said, almost angrily. “You think I wasn’t hurt when I found out you lied to me? You think it felt good, knowing that I’d been used?”

  “I didn’t use you.”

  “Oh, yes you did,” he said. “I was your escape, right? Proof that you can make it with a classy guy. A night with someone who doesn’t know who you are. A chance to be someone else. Am I anywhere close?”

  Eva’s will to fight him disappeared. She was suddenly ashamed.

  “I never cared about your job,” Filipe said. “You could have told me the truth. The same thing would have happened. But you wouldn’t have wanted me, then. You were carrying out your little fantasy. That’s all I was to you.”

  “How did this conversation get turned on me?” Eva asked.

  “Because you’re not being fair,” he said. “You had your own reasons to lie to me. You want me to respect them. But you won’t respect mine.”

  “I’m not a freaking prince,” she said. “And I’m not married. The only lie I told was about my job.”

  “And your roommate,” Filipe said. “And where you live. Did you lie about everything else too? Even the personal things?”

  She shook her head.

  “No,” she said. “Everything I said about my parents and my frustrations were true. The stories from my past were true, too. I wasn’t honest about my occupation or my roommate or where I live. And no, I didn’t graduate from Columbia. I dropped out. But that’s it. That’s all of it.”

  “I didn’t lie about anything,” Filipe said. “Except my status as a businessman. And honestly, Eva, if you’d asked me about marriage or my job, I would have told you the truth. My hotel room doesn’t exactly scream business executive. It’s not even where I normally stay. I have a place in the city. I don’t like to use it. Women ask too many questions when they see it.”

  “Okay?”

  “I wasn’t trying to say that you belong in some special club of women who I’ve deemed worthy enough to sleep with,” Filipe said. “That would be awful. I was trying to say that you caught me off guard. I never planned on bringing you home. I never pushed myself to like you. I just did. And I wanted, more than anything, to be myself around you.”

  Eva felt like her heart was being stabbed. For once, a man actually thought she was special. And
he was married.

  “Stop,” she said. “I don’t want to hear about that, okay?”

  “I’m just being honest,” Filipe replied. “I want you to know that this meant something to me.”

  “But we can’t be together,” Eva protested. “And it meant something to me too. You’re hurting me. Don’t you get that?”

  Understanding dawned on Filipe’s face.

  “Oh,” he said. “Of course. You’re right. I’m sorry.”

  “Maybe you should just be happy with the woman you married,” Eva pointed out. “Then things wouldn’t be so complicated. Where is she, by the way? Obviously not in New York.”

  Filipe sighed.

  “I’m about to tell you something,” he said. “And you can’t ever share it. Not online. Not with anybody. I need you to promise me that. This is bigger than us.”

  “Okay,” Eva said. “I promise.”

  He took a deep breath before continuing.

  “My relationship with Luiza isn’t real,” he said. “It was an arranged marriage—the latest in a long-standing tradition of uniting noble houses. It’s political. There’s nothing between us, and there never has been.”

  Eva stared.

  “Then, why did you do it?”

  “Because my mother is dying,” Filipe said. “She has cancer. She wanted to see our wedding more than anything in the world. I couldn’t take that away from her.”

  “I’m sorry about your mother,” she said genuinely. “But I still don’t understand.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “You’re married to a beautiful, powerful woman, and you’d rather sleep with a barista from Brooklyn?”

  Filipe attempted to smile, but it didn’t meet his eyes.

  “This is a difficult topic for me,” he said. “My parents don’t know the truth. My closest friends don’t even know.”

  “Then don’t tell me anything else,” Eva said. “It’s fine. Like I said, you don’t owe me anything.”

  “But I do,” he said. “Luiza lives in Rome. We’ve never even slept together. She’s an old-fashioned elitist, only interested in consolidating her family’s power and status. Sharing her life is beneath her. I never wanted to marry her, but I have expectations to meet. I know you understand how that feels.”

  “You said that you feel like you can’t be your own person,” Eva said. “This is what you meant?”

  Filipe nodded.

  “I tried to love her,” he said. “But I couldn’t. We’ve been living this lie ever since.”

  Chapter Nine

  There was silence between them for several minutes. Eva wished she’d been honest from the beginning. It seemed the two of them had more in common than she’d initially thought.

  “I dropped out of college after three years,” she said, breaking the quiet. “My parents raised me to be a lawyer. The second I started grade school, that’s all they ever talked about. I went along with it. I wanted them to be proud of me. It took me more than twenty years to realize that nothing I did was going to make that happen.”

  “I’m sorry,” Filipe said.

  “I had everything,” Eva said. “If I wanted it, my parents gave it to me. But it came at a price. I sold my soul to them. Whatever they asked of me, I did. I didn’t live on campus; I didn’t drink or go to parties; I didn’t have fun. I didn’t make real friends; I didn’t go on dates, and I lived at home. And I hated every second of it.

  “I reached a point where I couldn’t carry on anymore. I saw a counselor. My parents didn’t know. The whole experience really opened my eyes, and I dropped out two months later. Two weeks after that, I was living in a studio apartment in Brooklyn. My parents paid the deposit and two months of rent, then I got my job at Gustavo’s. I haven’t heard from them since.”

  “They cut you off?”

  “I’m going to make it maybe another month or two before I end up on their doorstep,” Eva said bitterly. “I’ll pick up right where I left off. It’s either that, or the unemployment line. I’d rather try to establish boundaries with them than be homeless.”

  Filipe shook his head.

  “It shouldn’t come to that,” he said. “Your parents should support you and love you, no matter who you decide to be—especially if they have the money to do it.”

  “Would your parents support you if you left Luiza?”

  It was silent again. Filipe either didn’t know the answer, or didn’t want to share it.

  “That’s not why I’m still with her,” he said. “I’m still married because I had a good childhood. My parents loved me and supported me. I love them. They mean the world to me. And, if this is something I can do to make them feel fulfilled—to make my mother happy—I want to do it.”

  “You say they love you,” Eva said. “But that’s not something you ask of someone you love.”

  “You wouldn’t understand,” Filipe said. “This isn’t a problem that normal people have.”

  “It’s not like you rule a country,” she argued. “You’re mostly a symbolic figure, right? Why should anyone care who you marry?”

  Filipe sighed.

  “I didn’t tell you the truth so you could try to talk me out of it,” he said. “This is my reality. It’s not going to change.”

  “So, what happens when you meet the girl of your dreams?” Eva asked, getting angry again. “You’re just going to brush her aside because you’re married to someone you hate but you’re too stubborn to leave?”

  “I knew you wouldn’t get it,” he said. “This isn’t about love. This isn’t about finding the woman of my dreams. I don’t get to have that.”

  “But what about the future? You’re just going to be alone forever?”

  “I guess so,” Filipe said.

  “I don’t buy it,” Eva said. “When you feel real love for someone, you’re going to realize what you’re missing. You’re going to want it. And it’s going to be so much more important than keeping your parents happy. If they love you, when that time comes, they’ll understand.”

  “You’re missing the point,” he said. “I’m not going to feel that way for someone else. I don’t open myself up to those kinds of feelings.”

  “So, you’re a playboy?” Eva asked, her voice cold. “That’s your solution? If you need to get laid, you’re better off sleeping with your wife. It’s not fair to use women like that.”

  “I’m only using them if I lie,” Filipe said. “Some women aren’t like you, Eva. Some women are okay with one night. Some women even want that.”

  Eva stood up.

  “I’m not listening to this anymore,” she said. “I thought maybe I could understand you, but I can’t. I walked away from the people who wanted to control me. You’re going to let them ruin your life. And you’re going to hurt—who knows how many—people along the way. Your mother wouldn’t want that for you.”

  “You might want to wait,” Filipe said. “Because I might be able to help you.”

  Her instincts told her to walk away—maybe even run. She didn’t need this man’s charity.

  But you do.

  “How?” Eva asked. “And don’t tell me you’re going to write me a check, because I’m not going to take it.”

  Filipe looked at her differently now. His gaze was filled with hunger. He needed something—and he needed it badly.

  “There’s something I want,” he said. “More than anything in this world. We talked about it the other night.”

  “Yeah,” she said, sitting back down. “You want meaning.”

  “Exactly,” Filipe said. “And then, we talked about families. And I told you how much I want to have children of my own.”

  Eva’s eyes grew wide.

  “Don’t tell me you did something,” she hissed. “I swear, if you broke the condom or did something to get me pregnant, I’ll—”

  “Eva,” Filipe said sternly, locking his gaze with hers. “I didn’t do anything like that.”

  Her body eased. She took a deep breath.


  “I thought you were insane for a minute,” she said.

  “I’m not,” Filipe soothed. “I would never do that to you.”

  “I hope not,” she said. “I don’t understand. You want to start a family. How am I supposed to help? I barely have a family of my own.”

  There was a long pause as Filipe tried to find the right words.

  “I want a child of my own,” he said. “One who I can raise as a single parent without any complications. Luiza has sworn off children. She can’t stand the thought of ‘ruining’ her body.”

  She looked at him. His face gave nothing away. He sighed.

  “I came to the city looking for a surrogate.”

  “Oh,” Eva said, smiling a little. “You know, normal men don’t ask their one-night stands to be surrogates. But I guess, given my situation, I understand. But it would be weird, getting inseminated with Luiza’s eggs and your sperm. Plus, seeing you all the time. It would be uncomfortable. Surrogacy doesn’t pay enough for that.”

  “That’s not what I’m asking,” Filipe said.

  “It’s not?”

  “Maybe surrogacy isn’t the right word,” he said. “Luiza isn’t willing to donate her eggs.”

  “I don’t get it.”

  “I’m looking for a mother for my child,” Filipe said. “A woman willing to have the baby and sign away her parental rights.”

  Eva stared at him in shock.

  “I know this is a lot,” Filipe began.

  “You want me to be your baby mama?” Eva asked. “You want me to have a child with you, then let you take it away from me? That’s not surrogacy. That’s stealing.”

  “It’s not stealing if it’s done willingly,” he said. “And I would pay you handsomely for it.”

  “I’m one hundred percent sure this conversation just became illegal in at least eighteen different states,” Eva said. “You can’t buy my baby.”

  “I can’t,” Filipe said. “You’re absolutely right. If, at any time, you decide to keep the baby for yourself and raise it alone, you’re welcome to do so. In that case, you’ll only get half the money. But there’s no contractual obligation. I understand it’s hard to separate being a mother from being someone who needs a big paycheck. If you can’t do it, you can change your mind. There’s no pressure. And that isn’t illegal.”