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  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Titles by Nadia Lee

  About Nadia Lee

  Copyright

  A Hollywood Ever After

  Nadia Lee

  Chapter One

  Paige

  Sweat clings to Bethany’s hair. Weariness is etched on every line of her pale face, but she couldn’t glow more brightly than she does now.

  Oliver leans down and kisses her forehead. “Thank you, sweetheart.”

  My stepsister smiles, her gaze returning to their adorable baby boy.

  Mom and Simon are here, and I’ve spent the last four hours at the hospital with Ryder, waiting for Bethany to deliver her baby. My best friend, Renni, and her brother, Gary, show up with a huge basket of flowers.

  “Congratulations!” they say in unison.

  “Come on in.” Oliver smiles broadly as he gives each of them a hug.

  “So…wow. A little early, huh?” Gary says, staring at the tiny, bundled boy.

  “Four weeks.” Bethany’s voice is slightly slurred from exhaustion. “But he’s healthy.”

  Thank goodness for that. I was beside myself when Oliver called to let me know Bethany had gone into labor. She got pregnant after I did, and I should’ve been the one delivering first.

  I get two kicks from Da Boss for that thought. Oof.

  Ryder puts a hand on the small of my back. “You okay?” he whispers.

  “I’m fine.”

  “So what are you going to name him?” Mom asks.

  “Jack,” Oliver says, running a reverent hand over the baby’s head. “The perfect name for a perfect little boy.”

  And then everyone gets to hold the baby. It’s incredible to feel the small, new life against me and smell that newborn smell. “Hi, Jack. I’m your Aunt Paige,” I whisper. “Soon you’re going to have a cousin.”

  Jack squirms a bit, then smiles contently. My heart melts like chocolate on a hot day. I hand him over to Ryder, who cradles him close to his chest and coos. The tableau they make is incredible. Ryder, tall, dark and so handsome that not even Hollywood’s best cameras can really capture how good-looking he is. And the helpless newborn, held protectively, who squirms his fingers against the broad chest and looks at Ryder trustingly.

  Even though I’m ridiculously pregnant, I feel myself ovulate. From the glazed look on Renni’s face, I’m not the only one.

  After much crooning over sweet little Jack, Ryder and I finally leave for the Hollywood fortress we call home. He and I discussed moving up to the place in Malibu, but decided we should stay. The Hollywood compound is more than big enough for a huge family, and it’s so secure that not even ants can come in without showing ID.

  Ryder helps me as I lurch up the stairs. He suggested moving to the first floor, but I declined. The exercise is good for me…even though the flight of stairs sometimes feels endless.

  Like today.

  I settle on the mattress. I’m so huge now, it’s hard to climb up on the bed.

  “I wonder when Da Boss is coming out.” My voice contains a small whine. I hate that, but I can’t help myself. Da Boss is long, long overdue.

  Ryder arranges pillows around me, just the way I like. “Whenever Da Boss feels like it.”

  Da Boss is the temporary name we gave the baby because we don’t want to call the little thing “it.” We have no idea if we’re getting a boy or a girl yet, and that’s fine. It just means we have to think of two names. Not that we’ve agreed on anything…which is mainly my fault. I can’t seem to decide. But then I’m all over the place with my thoughts and emotions. Sometimes I feel like I should see a therapist. There’s gotta be a prenatal therapist somewhere in this enormous city…right?

  “God, look at me. I don’t even have ankles anymore.” It wasn’t too bad until the middle of the second trimester. Then I suddenly started to retain water and blew up like a ball of dough left in the oven for too long. Dr. Silverman reassured me I’m in perfect health, and that this is all normal.

  But if you ask me, perfect health should come with visible ankles.

  “I think you’re adorable.” Ryder grins, his handsome face brilliant. Then he starts rubbing my tired legs. “If you want, I can have the massage therapist come in today.”

  I sigh. “That sounds lovely, but it’d be nicer if Da Boss would just come out. I want to be able to sleep without getting kicked or needing to go to the bathroom every hour.”

  “I hear you.” He makes a soothing noise. “And I want you to sleep, too.”

  Ryder shifts and starts rubbing my back. Poor guy. He’s been getting up as well, to help me to and from the bed. I offered to sleep on the floor, but he nixed the idea immediately.

  Exhaling softly, I relax. He has such a magical touch, especially when he’s gently digging into the overworked, knotted muscles along my spine. It’s a small thing, but when he takes care of me like this, I feel like the most beloved woman in the whole wide world.

  Still…I can’t help but ask, “Are you sure you don’t want to tell at least your siblings about Da Boss not being your biological daughter?”

  “Nope. Nobody needs to know. I’ve been with you through morning sickness, cankles, food cravings and more. Nobody can take away my right to be Da Boss’s dad. Plus, the fewer people who know, the better. I don’t want it to leak, even from an innocent mistake, and hurt you or our child.”

  I know he still feels terrible about the way the tabloids and his so-called fans treated me when we first got together. I pat his hand tenderly.

  “Do you want Da Boss to be a boy or a girl?” I ask after a moment.

  “Whichever. No matter what, the baby’s going to be perfect.”

  “If Da Boss doesn’t come out by Monday, I’m asking Dr. Silverman to induce me,” I say decisively.

  “If that’s what you want.”

  He places small kisses along my shoulders, the gesture sweet and loving. The fatigue and discomfort from being so big and the baby refusing to come out on schedule vanish.

  And artificial induction turns out not to be necessary after all.

  On Saturday, at 4:23 a.m., Da Boss decides Mommy’s womb is passé.

  Chapter Two

  Paige

  No matter how much you try to prepare, actually going into labor is nothing like the videos and instructions. First, there’s no way anything can properly convey the herculean effort it takes to push a baby out. Second, nothing prepares you for how much it will hurt when you’re crazy enough to want to do it naturally.

  But then again, nothing prepares you for the tsunami of love that pours through you as you hold your baby for the first time.

  My little darling is so small…with thin fingers curled into tiny fists, her ruddy face scrunched as she opens and closes her mouth, tasting air for the first time. She doesn’t want to nurse. I offered, and she pulled away after suckling a few times. She seems so slight, so delicate and so miraculous that I’m in awe. It’s so hard to believe her small chest holds a beating heart and working lungs, drawing in air, pumping blood through her petite body.

  After cuddling with her for a while, I hand the baby over to Ryder, who holds her like she’s the most fragile treasure in the world, his big, strong hands so careful. “Look at you. You’re gorgeous,” he whispers, his tender gaze on hers. He glances up at me. “She’s going to be stunning. Just like you.”

  Pleasure pushes through the fog of exhaustion, and I smile. After the hospital staff moves me, Ryder and the baby to a huge private room, our families start arriving.

  Mom, Simon, Bethany, Oliver and Jack show first. My stepsister is probably the only person in the world who can have b
ags under her eyes and still manage to glow as she holds her baby. Simon ties pink balloons to the head of my bed. Apparently, sometime during the past couple of hours Ryder found a moment to text him the baby’s gender.

  Ryder’s siblings—Blake, Elliot, Lucas and Elizabeth—pour in next, along with spouses and sisters, everyone laden with flowers and fruit baskets and little gifts wrapped in pretty paper. Then his cousins join us, all of them expensively dressed and beautiful—Ryder didn’t get his looks out of nowhere. I’m somewhat familiar with Dane, Iain, Mark, Shane and Vanessa and their spouses, but we’re not super close. They exchange hugs and slaps on the back with Ryder. Even Ryder’s Uncle Salazar and Aunt Ceinlys show up, the Eternal Couple. I’m always in awe of how stunning they look together, both of them raven-haired, tanned and seemingly in the peak of health.

  Everyone wants to know if they can hold my daughter, and I’m more than okay with that. I want my child to grow up knowing she’s loved by everyone.

  “I’m ovulating again,” Vanessa says, clasping her hands over her chest.

  “You’re always ovulating,” Elliot says. “Just looking at your husband makes you ovulate.”

  Justin laughs, putting a hand around her shoulders. “I love it when she ovulates.”

  Her brothers all groan. Blake raises his gaze toward the ceiling with a long-suffering sigh.

  “As long as I get more grandkids,” Salazar says, earning affectionate eye rolls from Mark and Shane and a grimace from Dane.

  When it’s her turn to hold the baby, Elizabeth coos and makes funny faces, doing her best to make the newborn laugh. “She’s absolutely adorable. What’s her name?”

  “Hopefully not Asparagus,” Blake says.

  “Or Unagi,” Elliot adds.

  “Eel?” Ceinlys says, with a disbelieving frown. Somehow her high-society diction makes the word hilarious. “Who on earth would…?”

  Blake shrugs. “Well, with Ryder’s history…”

  “Dude. All in the past.” Ryder puts a hand over his heart. “I’m a reformed man.”

  That gets us laughing again.

  He draws himself up. “If Paige is all right, I think Benedetta Margaret Pryce-Reed has a nice ring to it. Don’t you agree?”

  Tears prickle my eyes. The name has more than a nice ring to it. It’s perfect. I didn’t think he’d want to name the baby after my mom…who now has tears in her eyes as well.

  “Thank you,” Mom says.

  “Maggie, it’s the least I can do for the mother of this wonderful woman.” Ryder beams.

  “Benedetta is a great name for such a small girl,” Oliver says. “I like it.”

  “We’ll call her Benni,” I say.

  Lucas considers. “Not your typical name for a girl.”

  Ryder grins. “Which is why it’s perfect. Who wants a demure rule follower? I want my girl to go out and shake up the world.”

  I sit back and watch our families shower my baby with love.

  Ryder comes over while his sister is cuddling Benni, hearts shooting out of her eyes. He reaches over and holds my hand. “Thank you,” he whispers. “She’s perfect.”

  “Thank you. You’re perfect, too.” I kiss the back of his hand. When I first got pregnant, I thought I’d have to deliver her alone, or maybe just with Mom or Simon, since Shaun didn’t want anything to do with me. To be surrounded by people who love me…love my child…it’s such a blessing.

  “True.” He grins shamelessly, making me giggle.

  Suddenly the door to my room opens…and Ryder’s mom walks in. She’s wearing a fashionable black dress, not a strand of gray in her dark hair. A small Louis Vuitton purse hangs from one slender arm.

  Silence descends over the room. Everyone freezes, including my family. Mom, Simon, Bethany and Oliver had their…encounter with Geraldine.

  Ryder is the first to recover. “Mom… I had no clue you were coming.” He shoots her his megawatt smile.

  Geraldine’s eyebrows quirk. “Naturally. I didn’t announce my visit.” She turns precisely sixty degrees on her stiletto heels toward Benni. “Now then… Is that my first grandchild?”

  I tense. Ryder’s mom’s one of those people who can be either really nice or really nasty. Unfortunately, she’s been more than a little cutting to me all through the years I’ve known Ryder. The last thing I need is for her to criticize Benni. I put up with whatever scathing remarks are directed at me, and it’s really not a problem. But at Benni? No way. I might just have a go at Geraldine with my nails.

  “Yes, Aunt Geraldine,” Vanessa says carefully.

  Elizabeth smiles sweetly. “Isn’t she precious?” There’s a hint of steel in her tone that makes it impossible to do anything but nod in agreement.

  “Yes. Yes, she certainly is,” Geraldine says.

  “Is Father coming as well?” Elizabeth asks, her tone still velvet over iron.

  “Julian is out of the country.” Geraldine smirks. “I happened to mention to his bimbo du jour that Paris is stunning this time of year, so she cried and whined until he took her there.”

  I raise an eyebrow. She didn’t do that for an ex-husband she despises. Then it hits me. Whatever flaws Geraldine has, she takes propriety very seriously. For Julian not to show at the birth of his first grandchild would be improper, and this is her indirect revenge.

  Wow.

  “Would you like to hold her?” Mom asks.

  “Thank you, no. This dress wrinkles easily, and stains are difficult to remove.”

  I choke. Ryder squeezes my hand, communicating silently. Sorry, this is the best my mom can manage. I’ll make it up to you.

  Geraldine turns to Ryder and me. “I’m having a gift sent to your place. I hope you and your little one enjoy it.”

  Chapter Three

  Paige

  Three days later and back in our place, I stare at the seven-foot-tall mobile. A team of movers brought it in, uncrated it, and assembled it over the course of three hours.

  I guess this is how Geraldine expresses her love. Or something. The accompanying letter said that the colorful crystal clouds, birds, butterflies and flowers were handcrafted by master artisans in Florence who take great pride in their work. Over three hundred years of tradition, apparently.

  “Whoa,” Ryder says, walking in from the home office. “Who’s that from?”

  “Your mother.”

  He whistles. “She really went…above and beyond.”

  “How’s Benni?”

  “Asleep.” He exhales, then grins. “We lucked out. This baby conks out the second her back hits the crib.”

  I smile. “Bethany’s jealous. Apparently Jack likes to get up every hour.”

  “Poor Bethany. Oliver, too, come to think of it.”

  “I know.” I gesture at the mobile. “You think Geraldine told Julian?”

  Ryder considers the ridiculously pretentious gift. “Probably. She didn’t spend all this money for nothing.”

  I can’t help but put a hand over my forehead. Julian has a thing about not “losing” to his ex-wife. Given that he’s also a bit of a megalomaniac—to put it mildly—he’s going to send something crazily ostentatious. Maybe a gold, life-size statue of himself to commemorate becoming a grandfather. That would beat every other present we’ve received so far…in his mind, anyway.

  Since Ryder is Hollywood royalty, the gifts we’ve received from his friends and acquaintances have been completely over the top. I’m still unsure how to respond to the chrome-finished Aston Martin stroller. Or the huge princess bed made with pink and lavender silk and lace. At least nobody’s given us a castle. Yet.

  I see a lone card mixed in with the piles of presents yet to be opened. All the other cards have been tucked into gifts, so I pick it up and run my thumbnail down the edge.

  You stole my baby. You know you did. You owe me one.

  –Shaun

  I inhale sharply, my fingers tightening around the stiff cardstock. Anger erupts, but just as quickly comes anxiety. Is he
going to try to steal Benni? Demand a paternity test and try to humiliate Ryder and me? I wouldn’t put it past him. He’s not exactly subtle. More like a bulldozer…one operated by a delusional alcoholic on his eighth drink.

  “You okay?” Ryder says, plucking the card from my hand. He looks at it, then immediately scowls. “What the fuck?”

  “I know,” I say tightly. “I’ll take care of it.”

  “No need. It’s time I played my part.”

  “Which is?”

  “Protecting you and our baby from this dickhead.”

  I love Ryder for being so protective, but I also feel slightly guilty about the situation. It’s really a problem between Shaun and me. I hate it that Ryder is involved at all.

  As though he’s read my mind, Ryder shoots me his most brilliant smile. Even after all this time it still has the power to leave me breathless. “Come on. Why don’t you open another gift? It’ll cheer you up.”

  I’d rather not, but I reach for a small box wrapped in gold anyway. If I don’t, it’ll only worry Ryder, and that’s the last thing I want to do. Inside the box is a gorgeous pendant in the shape of a B. Small, round diamonds line the entwined white-and-rose gold. It’s an outrageous gift for a newborn. But at the same time I can’t bring myself to call it vulgar, because the pendant itself is so tasteful and feminine. Whoever sent it not only knows good jewelry but has excellent taste as well.

  “Pretty. Who’s it from?” Ryder says.

  I open the card inside. It’s blank except for the name—Anthony Blackwood.

  “Wow. Um. Anthony Blackwood…?” I clear my throat. “Did you guys…make up or something?”

  Ryder’s eyes cloud. “No. Far as I know, he still hates my guts.”

  “Oh.” My gaze drops to the pendant. “Then…why?”

  “Good question.”

  Chapter Four

  Ryder

  Two days later, I’m still thinking about that why while sipping coffee in my attorney’s conference room. Anthony refuses to meet me. Actually, it’s his assistant who refuses to let me talk to him, saying that not only is he unavailable but he has nothing to say to me.