The Billion Dollar Pact

“What are we going to do about my job?” she asked.

“What do you mean?”

“Am I supposed to keep working for you? And when are we going to tell the people at the office?”

“Of course you can keep working for me.” He’d already been worried about losing her before he even knew she was pregnant. He most certainly didn’t want her to leave him now. “And we can arrange a meeting at the office and tell everyone at the same time. We’ll just say it, plain and simple.”

“It makes me nervous.”

“I know.” His stomach was in knots. “But it’s better to just get it over with.” He didn’t want anyone figuring things out on their own or spreading gossip. “We’ll control it ourselves, if we can.”

“Will you handle that? I don’t think I have the strength to stand in a room in front of my peers and admit that I slept with you.”

“Yes, I’ll handle it. And don’t worry. I’m not going to go into the specifics. This is about the baby, not about what we did.”

She kept her hand on her stomach. “Kristen is going to be concerned about me. You know how she is.”

Kristen was the receptionist, a pixie-haired brunette in her early twenties who followed Carol around like a puppy. Jake had never really bonded with the girl. It was Carol she was loyal to. Kristen was filling in for Carol while she was out sick, doing what she could to assist Jake and make Carol proud. “She admires you.”

“I know. I like her, too. But I never expected to be in this position. It seems so surreal.”

“We’ll get through it,” he said, even if he didn’t have a clue how they were going to manage having a child together for the rest of their lives. “As soon as you’re ready to return to the office, I’ll call that meeting.”

“I’ll come back on Friday.”

That was two days away. “Then that’s when it’ll happen.” When Jake would announce that he and Carol were having a baby. When the news would be official. When their mixed-up future would begin.

* * *

The Friday meeting was awkward, but at least it was over. Carol wasn’t going to have to lie about why she wasn’t feeling well. Or hide her baby bump when it started to appear. Or stress about when to tell everyone at work. As of this morning, they already knew.

Jake had handled it like the boss he was, stating only the facts. He’d made it clear that he and Carol weren’t in a relationship. He explained that they would raise their child in separate households. He also pointed out that she would continue to work for him, so it would be business as usual.

Yeah, right, Carol thought. As if it was just that easy.

After the meeting ended, the other employees disbursed, silence looming in the air as they filed out of the conference room. Carol understood their discomfort. She was feeling out of sorts, too. But she suspected that Kristen was going to approach her privately, as soon as the eager receptionist was able to swing it.

Jake went to his office, and Carol headed to hers, glad to escape. She sat at her desk, trying to pull herself into work mode.

About an hour later, a light knock sounded at her open doorway. Sure enough, it was Kristen, with her trendy clothes, short, cutesy hair and big hoop earrings. Carol gestured for her to come inside.

Kristen entered the room and closed the door behind her. Then she widened her eyes and said, “Oh, my freaking God. You’re going to be Jake’s baby mama. You! The nicest, most normal woman on the planet. I can’t believe it.”

Carol could hardly believe it, either. “Things happen.”

“I’ll say.” Kristen sighed. “I always wondered if you had feelings for him, though.”

“You did?” And here Carol thought that she’d hidden her crush on Jake without anyone figuring it out.

The brunette nodded. She was a petite young woman who’d played Peter Pan in a community play. She toyed around with acting, but lots of people in LA dabbled in the arts. Kristen wasn’t overly ambitious about it. Mostly she was just a flighty girl who’d gone from one bad boyfriend to another. Carol had helped her through her last horrific relationship.

“At least Jake has lots of money,” Kristen said. “At least he can take care of the baby that way. But dang, it’s hard to envision him being an actual dad.”

Carol thought about what Jake had said about tucking the child in at night and how emotional it had made her feel. “I think he’s going to try to do his best.”

“That’s good. My parents weren’t married or anything, either. I hardly ever saw my dad when I was kid. I see him even less now.”

“I’m sorry your dad hasn’t taken a more active role in your life.” No doubt it had factored into Kristen’s terrible taste in men, too. “That wasn’t fair to you.”

“What happened to you and Jake when you were kids wasn’t fair, either. At least my parents are still alive. But it’s still so weird, with you and Jake having a baby together.”

“He offered to put me up in a house near his to make it easier for him to get involved. But this isn’t how I ever imagined raising a child.”

“I’m just glad it’s you and not one of his hoity-toity ex-girlfriends having his kid. You’re a genuine person, and you’ll be a great mom.”

“Thank you. Jake said the same thing.”

“About you being a good mom?”

“Yes. He thinks it’s in my DNA.” But regardless of what a natural mom she was going to be, Carol couldn’t bear the thought of Jake being with other women. Yet once the dust settled, she suspected that he would dive back into his playboy ways. He was making a commitment to their child, not to her. “I just hope I don’t break down before the baby is born.”

“You won’t. You’re too strong to fall apart.”

“I haven’t cried yet.” She’d gotten close, but she’d managed to keep from bursting into tears. “I’m trying to hold on.”

“Don’t worry. You’ll make it.” The receptionist sent her an encouraging smile. “But I better get back to work now.”

“Thank you for the support.”

“Sure. Should I leave the door open when I leave?”

Carol nodded, and once she was alone, she struggled to maintain her composure. Then she glanced up and saw Jake looming in the doorway. The hits just kept on coming, she thought.

“Are you okay?” he asked. “I noticed that Kristen was just here.” He moved forward and closed the door, just as Kristen had done.

She tried to reassure him. “Everything is fine. She just wanted to talk.”

“Did it help?”

Yes and no, Carol thought. Kristen’s belief in her felt good, but thinking about Jake with other women had only heightened her duress.

“It was fine,” she said again.

He didn’t look convinced. “You can go home early if you need to.”

“I’d rather stay.” She didn’t want to appear cowardly, skipping out on the first day.

Jake nodded and loosened his tie. He’d worn a proper suit to the meeting. His jacket was already gone, though. But he never remained in professional attire for too long, routinely discarding what he considered the stuffy portions of his wardrobe. Only, at the moment, his restless nature seemed even more pronounced.

He said, “No one has come to me to talk about it.”

“Why would they? You’re the boss.”

“Who knocked up his assistant? I’ll bet they think I took full advantage of you.” He frowned. “I didn’t do that, did I, Carol?”

The guilt in his eyes unnerved her. “No, you didn’t, and me getting pregnant doesn’t change the facts. I wanted you as badly as you wanted me.” She’d made him well aware of that when they were in the midst of it, and she wasn’t going to let him twist things up now. “Even Kristen said that she suspected I was attracted to you.”

“Really? I guess women are observant that way. Of course, with the way she admires you, she would notice, I guess.” He removed his tie and crammed it in his pants pocket. “I’m glad you’re back. I missed having you around here.”

“You’re probably going to be seeing a lot of me outside of the office, too.”

“Yeah.” He smiled a little. “I’ve been trying to picture you months from now.” He made a big-belly motion. “I’ve never touched a pregnant woman’s stomach before.”

Would he be touching hers? The thought made her weak. “I have. Lots of my girlfriends have kids.”

“Have you told any of them yet?”

She shook her head. “I wanted to wait until everyone at work knew. I wanted to get that over with first.” She questioned him. “Have you told Garrett or Max?”

“No. Max is still backpacking all over the country or whatever the hell he’s doing. And since he’s trying to stay off the grid, I’m going to wait to call him until the time feels right. But I’m going to tell Garrett this weekend. I already told him that you were sick, so now I can clarify why.”

“I wonder what he’ll think.”

“After he gets over the initial shock, he’ll probably want to kick my ass for not being more careful.”

“It could have happened to anyone.”

“Yeah, but it happened to me. The guy who plays around. That won’t go over well.” He shoved the tie deeper into his pocket. “Are you nervous about telling your friends?”

“Yes.” She couldn’t deny that her news was going to worry them, too. “They’re not going to like the idea of me being a single mom, not with how marriage-minded I’ve always been.”

“I’m sorry, Carol.”

For insisting that he couldn’t marry her? “It’s not a problem.” She’d agreed with his reasoning from the beginning. “I know better than to think that having a baby is going to turn us into a lifelong couple.”

“I wonder if it’s going to be a boy or a girl.”

“It’s too early to tell. But we can find out during a midpregnancy ultrasound, if we want to know. They can’t always tell for sure, though. It depends on the position the baby is in.”

He kept looking at her, almost as if she was still his warm and willing lover. “I guess we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”

She shuffled a stack of papers on her desk, wishing he would stop intensifying their chemistry, especially when she was struggling to ignore it. “We have a lot of bridges to cross.”

“Too many,” he said, before he moved toward the door. “Do you want me to grab you some lunch later?”

Normally she got his lunch, if he wasn’t dining out with clients. “No, thanks. But it was nice of you to ask.”

“Okay, well... I’ll see you.”

“You, too.” Was it crazy for her to wish that they were right for each other? That he was a different type of man than he was? Probably. But she couldn’t help it.

Somewhere in the pit of her dreamy soul, Carol wished that they were meant to be together like expectant parents should be.

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