The Billionaire's Baby Part 1

THE BILLIONAIRE'S BABY.

(THE FULL SERIES).

HELEN COOPER.

Chapter 1.

"Come on Sophie," Ella called out to her friend. "We can't miss the train. Maxwell will kill me if we do."

"I'm coming. I'm coming." Sophie grabbed her backpack and chased after her friend. "You didn't really give me much time to get ready." She was breathless as she ran down the path to the train tracks. She looked down at her shoe and saw her laces were untied but she didn't dare stop to tie them. "Don't fall, don't fall," she mumbled to herself as she followed her best friend.

Sophie and Ella had been best friends for fifteen years, ever since their first day at boarding school when they were seven years old. Ella had marched up to Sophie and linked her arm through hers and that was all it had taken. They had been inseparable ever since. Unfortunately for Sophie, she was still treated like the lost little girl she had been when they first met and Ella bossed her around like n.o.body's business.

"Run Sophie. Run!" Ella screamed at Sophie as she jumped onto the train, her blonde hair flying. She reached her hand out to Sophie and grabbed her arm as she came running up to the train. "Jump."

Sophie ran and jumped into the train, tripping over her shoes and falling into the carriage. She stood up as gracefully as possible and saw the other pa.s.sengers in the train looking at her as if she were an alien from outer s.p.a.ce. She grabbed her bag from the ground and sighed when she saw three more people get on the train casually.

"The train wasn't leaving Ella," she hissed at her friend embarra.s.sed.

"Well, it might have started to leave and you'd be stuck here if you hadn't run." Ella spoke matter of factly and walked into the main carriage. "Let's find our seats. I hope Maxwell hooked us up."

Sophie sighed and followed her friend. She hadn't wanted to come home with Ella for the break. In fact, she never wanted to go to Ella's home again but she had found herself emotionally blackmailed into accompanying her friend to her childhood home in Iowa, instead of going to stay with her uncle and aunt in Florida. It had become a tradition for Sophie to stay with Ella's family every Spring Break and sometimes in the summer as well. They had grown up together and after high school, they had both gotten into Columbia University in New York. Ella's family had been kind enough to rent Ella a beautiful apartment in the Upper West Side and allowed Sophie to live there for free.

Sophie loved Ella's parents as if they were her own but she was dreading seeing Maxwell, gloriously handsome and brilliant Maxwell. He was Ella's older brother, by 8 years and Sophie had been in love with him for years. Only he didn't know. And she wanted to keep it that way. He looked at her as his younger sister's annoying best friend and Sophie knew she had no shot with him. He was the heir to a billionaire's fortune, handsome as a model and as intelligent as Einstein was. He was also the one who had provided comfort to Sophie as a youngster, when she had been homesick. She smiled to herself thinking about their midnight snacks and scary story nights. What she wouldn't do to get him in her bed now. She laughed to herself; mocking her fantasies and sat down next to Ella.

"What were you laughing at?" Ella looked at her curiously, twirling her long blonde hair in her hands.

"Nothing," Sophie sighed. She wanted to ask Ella if Maxwell had a girlfriend but she didn't want her friend to know about her crush.

"Sophie, thanks so much for coming home with me. It just wouldn't have seemed right without you there. You know you are more like my family, than just a friend." Ella clasped her hands and brought them towards her. "I am so lucky to have a best friend like you."

Sophie's heart warmed and she felt her eyes moisten. Ella really knew how to make her all warm and fuzzy inside. "It's okay Ella. It will be a Christmas to remember I'm sure." She checked the latest text message from her aunt and smiled. "And it will allow my uncle and aunt to go on that cruise that they have been talking about for years."

"Yay. I am so excited. Let's go shopping tomorrow. We only have a few days left until Christmas. I hope Maxwell talks my parents into buying me a new car."

"I doubt it." Sophie laughed. "Not after you totaled the last three."

"It wasn't my fault." Ella pouted.

"Three Mercedes totaled in three months is your fault!"

"Stop, don't you start up as well, Sophie. Wouldn't you rather be driving right now, than in this stuffy train?"

"Not really." Sophie laughed, happy that she didn't have to drive with crazy Ella. She was scared for her life every time she got in a car with her friend. "But hey, I never have enough money saved for a car so maybe you can drive with me."

"Oh Sophie, that's great." Ella smiled at her friend. "That will be awesome."

"I know it won't be a Mercedes but it will still be four wheels." Sophie beamed at her friend. One of the things she loved about Ella was that she didn't judge her because she didn't have as much money as her friend. Her uncle and aunt had been able to send her to boarding school because of the insurance money and she had gotten a scholars.h.i.+p to college. The $3,000 she had in her account was from her part-time job working at a pet shop and she was looking forward to buying the 2004 Toyota Corolla that her professor was going to sell her.

"A car is a car. Soon we will be college graduates and we will be able to travel the country at our will." Ella squealed with excitement.

"Well, I don't know about that." Sophie frowned at her friend. "You know I'm looking for a job. If I want to stay in the city, I need to have an income coming in."

"Yeah, yeah." Ella looked down at her phone. Jobs meant nothing to her. Having grown up in a family that was in the Forbes top 100 richest families in the country, Ella had never had to worry about things like money and jobs. "You should just ask Maxwell to hire you as an executive in one of our companies, then you won't have to worry so much."

"I can't do that." Sophie smiled at her friend and sighed. She would love to work for Maxwell, it would be heavenly to see his face every day and to smell and touch him. "Anyway, Maxwell would never want to hire me."

"Yes he would. He knows how smart you are." Ella grinned at her friend. "Do you know how many times he has told me that he wishes you were his sister instead?"

"Yeah, you told me." Sophie faked a smile and tried to keep her disappointment to herself. She didn't want Maxwell to see her as a sister; she wanted him to see her as a s.e.x G.o.ddess and l.u.s.t after her. She wanted him to push her into a room and ravish her quickly before Ella came down the stairs. She wanted them to have romps in the car and in the fields and laugh at how naughty they were. But no, all Maxwell did is peck her on the cheek and talk about what a good friend she was to his sister before he hit the town and had fun with a bunch of other girls. The last time Sophie had stayed over at the Van Harkel's, she had seen Maxwell making out with a girl in the garage. He had seen her peeking at him and had winked at her before he had continued ravis.h.i.+ng the beautiful blonde and Sophie had gone to her room and cried. She had managed to skip going with Ella for over a year now but hadn't managed to bail out of this visit. It was the last Christmas that they would be in school and Ella had managed to emotionally blackmail her into coming.

"Sometimes I think he likes you more than he likes me." Ella grinned and with her blue eyes sparkling. Sophie knew she was just kidding.

"Well, he knows I can cook a better pie."

"Ooh, does that mean you will make one for Christmas? I'm sure Mrs. D won't mind."

"I guess so. I don't want Mrs. D thinking I'm after her job again. Though that would be a job." The two girls laughed together and relaxed as the train left the station.

"Ella, wake up. We're here." Sophie shook her friend's shoulder and stood up stiffly. She brushed her long hair back, hopeful that it didn't look as frizzy as it felt and smoothed her skirt flat. She wanted to whip out a mirror to make sure her makeup was still intact but she knew that Ella would wonder when she became so vain. She certainly didn't want to tell her friend that she wanted to look good for Maxwell. There were enough girls who tried to befriend Ella just so that they could get an introduction to Maxwell Van Harkel. She didn't want Ella to think she had gone over to the dark side as well.

"Oh wow, I can't believe I fell asleep." Ella yawned. "It's all that studying I tell ya. It makes a girl tired."

"Sure, that's it." Sophie rolled her eyeb.a.l.l.s and laughed. Ella never studied. She was one of those people who was naturally smart and who did well without spending hours studying.

The girls grabbed their bags and walked off the train. They had arrived to Winterside in a little over four hours and the train station was as sleepy as ever. Sophie looked around her and smiled. It was as picturesque as she remembered it to be. Mitch, the trainmaster sat on a table inside and beamed at the girls as they walked through the small station. He was listening to Christmas carols on the radio and the Christmas tree was sparkling with at least ten different strands of lights wrapped around it.

"Good Afternoon Ms. Van Harkel and Ms. Bloomwood." Mitch stood up as they pa.s.sed. "Great to see you both back home for the holidays. Mr. Van Harkel is sitting outside waiting for you both."

"Thanks Mitch," the girls chorused in unison. They ran outside and up to the big Range Rover that was parked outside the station. Sophie's breath caught as she spied Maxwell standing next to the driver's door talking on the phone to someone. Their eyes met and he beamed at the girls, quickly hanging up the phone.

"Max." Ella dropped her bag and went running up to her brother. "I thought Dad was going to meet us." She hugged her brother tightly, stood back, and observed him. "You are looking way too handsome for a hardworking man. It's not fair. Why did I not get your gorgeous thick hair?" She teased her brother and he rubbed her head.

Sophie walked up to them slowly and stopped shy a few feet away from them. "Hi Max." She spoke shyly, trying not to gaze at him with adoration. He looked as handsome and perfect as ever. Being six foot tall, he towered over Sophie, but his sparkling blue eyes always made her feel comforted and at ease. He had jet-black hair, with a slight curl and an always-tanned skin tone.

"Sophie." He stared at her and smiled. "Don't I get a hug?" He reached over to her and held her in his arms. She felt her b.r.e.a.s.t.s crush against his chest and a warm feeling ran through her body. He held her for a few extra seconds and she felt his lips on her cheek, soft and firm at the same time. She wondered if she turned her mouth towards his, if she could pretend it was a mistake. That way she could feel his lips on hers and she would have something to savor for the whole holiday.

"Come on guys," Ella interrupted them. "It's only been a year since you've seen each other, not a decade."

Sophie reluctantly stepped back from Maxwell's arms and smiled up at him. She noticed him staring at her and frowning.

"Well, it seems like a lot can happen in a year." Maxwell's voice was gruff and Sophie could feel his eyes on her. "Sophie, you will have to fill me in on everything you have done in the last year."

"She's not going to tell you who she slept with, bro." Ella punched him in the arm.

"I said everything she has done, not who she has done, sis." Maxwell grimaced at her. "I can see that I don't want to ask you about your love life."

"Don't be a hypocrite, Max. You must sleep with a woman a week. I can have some fun too." Ella teased him.

"I'm thirty Ella and you are twenty-two. Big difference." Maxwell's voice was gruff. "And I don't want to hear about my little sister having s.e.x."

"Oh Max." Ella laughed and got into the front seat. "Shotgun." She smiled back at Sophie. "You can get shotgun next time."

"That's fine, Ella." Sophie jumped into the backseat, hoping that Maxwell would talk some more about his love life. She was curious as to whether he had a girlfriend or not.

Sophie sat back and allowed herself to be mesmerized by the beautiful familiar sights on their drive to the Van Harkel manor. There was something about the lush greenness of the countryside that always delighted her. She smiled as she saw the cows munching away on the gra.s.s. She always wondered what cows thought about all day. It couldn't possibly be about how delicious the gra.s.s tasted. She laughed to herself at the thought and looked up to see Maxwell watching her through the rearview mirror.

"What are you laughing about, Sophie?" He smiled at her curiously.

"I was just thinking about the time Ella and I decided to feast on gra.s.s to figure out why cow's enjoyed eating it so much." She laughed. "And then we spent the whole night throwing up green stuff and we pretended we were monsters."

"I remember that. And Max stayed up the whole night with us, making fun of us." Ella laughed.

"I called you both the Gobble-Geeks and I was the master Gobble-Gook." Max grinned. "And I got you both to do my ch.o.r.es for the next few days."

"Grr. You really took advantage of us." Ella hit him in the arm. "You made me sit on my hands and knees chanting, "I am your servant master Gobble-Gook. You should be ashamed of yourself for making fun of a little kid."

"Oh I am, sis. I am." Maxwell grinned and then winked at Sophie. "I'll never make fun of your snotty nose again."

"Max." Ella stuck her tongue out at him and looked back at Sophie. "I'm so glad you came home with me, Soph. This way there will be two of us to gang up on Maxwell."

"I'm sure he'll be too busy for us." Sophie smiled weakly. She didn't want Max to think of her as pukey gobble-geek Sophie but more as beautiful siren Sophia.

"Oh yeah. I forgot he's helping Dad run a multi-billion dollar company. Best not lose my fortune, big bro." Ella smiled and Sophie noticed that Maxwell's shoulders tensed a little bit.

"Maybe you will join us when you graduate and actually help earn the dollars you spend." Maxwell smiled at his sister but Sophie could hear the seriousness in his tone.

"Yeah, sure. One day." Ella paused. "Oh, but if you have any positions open, Sophie's looking for a job."

Sophie groaned under her breath and tried to stop the flush from creeping up in her face as Maxwell looked at her with interest. "Are you really, Sophie?"

She nodded slowly, not sure if she could stand working around the man she loved.

"We do have an interns.h.i.+p program starting in January, that leads to a job starting this summer, if you are interested."

"Well, I guess so. When would my application have to be in?" she asked hesitantly, knowing that all the top corporations had stopped accepting new interns to their programs a long time ago.

"I guess that's a perk of knowing the boss. No application needed." Maxwell parked the car and they got out of the Range Rover. Ella went running into the house to greet her parents and Sophie stood next to Max as he locked the car doors. "I'm serious Sophie. Come and talk to me after dinner if you want to start." He looked deep into her eyes and Sophie was worried that he could see her true feelings for him radiating out of her.

"Thanks Max. That would be great." She fiddled with her skirt and put her backpack on. It ruffled against her tee s.h.i.+rt and pulled it up a bit, exposing her stomach. She pulled the t-s.h.i.+rt down quickly and looked back up again. Maxwell was staring at her intently and he had a dark smile on his face.

"It's good to see you, Sophie. You have definitely grown into a beautiful young woman." He licked his lips and walked away from her and Sophie counted to ten before she followed him into the house. The man was s.e.x on legs and Sophie had wanted to feel his tongue on her lips as he had licked his. She sighed. It was going to be a long two weeks if she l.u.s.ted over every little thing that Maxwell did.

Chapter 2.

Beautiful young woman. Beautiful young woman. Sophie couldn't stop smiling to herself as she replayed Maxwell's comment in her mind. He thought she was beautiful. She studied herself in the mirror and thought about how she could make herself look s.e.xier. She felt that she had a boring look, long dark brown wavy hair, green eyes and a spattering of freckles across her cheeks and nose. She was 5 foot 6, an average height, and she weighed about 145lbs. While she knew she wasn't fat, she also knew she would never qualify to be a model. She enjoyed food and didn't say no to desserts. As she looked at herself, she thought glumly that while she was not a plain Jane, she would never be a striking beauty either. Not like Ella.

Ella was the type of girl that men flocked to; she was tall and slender, with long blond hair and sparkling blue-green eyes that looked like the Pacific Ocean. She also had that confidence that most rich girls had and she was irresistible to men. Sophie never stood a chance with any guys in college because they all wanted to be with Ella. But she didn't mind as her thoughts were always with another. Sophie sighed. She was starting to feel like a bit of a loser. She'd only ever casually dated and she had never had s.e.x. Not that she wanted to sleep with any of those silly college guys; not after she'd seen what a real man looked like.

She closed her eyes and thought back to that evening the last time she had stayed at the Van Harkel's. Not only had she seen Maxwell making out with some girl, she had also spied on him in the shower. It had been late at night and she had stumbled into the bathroom to wash her face just as he had been stepping out of the shower in all his glory. She could still picture his magnificent p.e.n.i.s in her mind, it had looked long and thick and wonderful. And she blushed just thinking about it.

Bang. Bang. Ella barged into her room without waiting for an answer to her knocks. "Want to go out tonight?" she questioned Sophie before flopping down onto her bed. "I'm bored already."

"Where are we going to go, El?" Sophie looked away from the mirror and sighed, exasperated at her friend and propensity to easy boredom. "It's not like we are in the big city anymore."

"We can go back into town. There's a small pub there." Ella looked at Sophie eagerly. "Judging by the amount of women Max picks up down there, there should be plenty of guys."

"Max picks up girls there?" Sophie was surprised. She figured all the girls Max got were from the city or daughters of other millionaire's who had family homes in Winterside.

"Oh, he gets girls everywhere. Look at him." Ella laughed and jumped up. "Tonight we are going to go out and paint the town red."

"Uh sure." Sophie groaned. "I didn't even bring any party clothes."

"I have plenty. You can wear something of mine."

"Ella, I love you but you are size 2 and I am size 8. Not much that you own will fit me." Sophie laughed. "Plus, I have a bust and you are as flat as a pancake."

"Hey, no need to insult me." Ella laughed. "Let's go check out my wardrobe and see what I have."

"Okay." Sophie followed her friend out of the room and sang along with her as they walked to Ella's room. "Tonight's going to be a good night."

"What are you two hooligans singing about?" Maxwell stepped out in the corridor and Sophie gasped. He was standing in a pair of basketball shorts with no s.h.i.+rt on. She could see that he had a thin mat of hair on his chest and she wanted to run over and rub his chest to see how smooth it is.

"Nothing, dear bro. Sophie and I are going out tonight and we are checking out some outfits."

"Oh yeah?" He looked at Sophie and winked. "Maybe I'll come as well."

"Won't we be c.o.c.k blockers?" Ella laughed and Maxwell groaned.

"Ella, where do you get your language from?" He rolled his eyes at her. "And no, I'd love to spend the night with my sister and her best friend. I can make sure that you guys don't get into any trouble."

"Oh no." Ella groaned. "You're going to c.o.c.k block me."

"You have a c.o.c.k, dear sis?" He raised his eyebrows and Sophie laughed at him.