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Authors: Kate Carlisle

Tags: #Contemporary, #Fiction, #Romance, #fullybook

She's Having the Boss's Baby (10 page)

BOOK: She's Having the Boss's Baby
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Maybe she agreed because at that moment, she slipped her hand away from his, then stood and walked away.

But why was she smiling? She shouldn’t be smiling after talking to Blake.

Aidan rounded the column and stepped out just as she was about to walk past him. “Hello, there.”

She stopped abruptly. “What’re you doing out here?”

“Just checking the foliage,” he said, brushing his hand along the flowering vine. He nodded toward Blake, who had taken off in the opposite direction. “What did he want?”

Ellie planted both hands on her hips. “Were you spying on me?”

“Maybe. I warned you what he was like. He’s a jerk. He’s not good enough for you.”

“I never said he was.”

“You were holding hands with him.”

“He grabbed my hand and I pulled it back.”

“Not right away.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” she said. She moved closer, touched his chest and smiled up at him so sweetly that his jaw muscles began to loosen up. “Did you come out here to protect me?”

“I told you he was a jerk,” he grumbled. “I came out here to make sure he didn’t pull a number on you.”

“That was very nice of you, Aidan,” she said. “But you and I aren’t really a couple, remember? I have to take care of myself. Thank you, though.”

“No problem,” he murmured, then leaned in and whispered, “And we might not be a real couple, but if Blake had held your hand a second longer, I was going to have to break his arm.”

*

The next day, Ellie spent the day alone, cleaning her house, dusting shelves and scrubbing floors. She did a few loads of laundry and swept her front porch. Afterward, she got caught up on her reading and took a short nap. She realized she needed some rest after so many long nights waking up and making love with Aidan.

Not that she was complaining, she thought, grinning with happiness.

She hadn’t seen Blake since the night before and that was fine with her. If she never saw him again, that would be even finer. She just had to wonder why Blake had shown up at all. Why now? Not that it mattered, but still, she hated the thought that she and Aidan might be a source of gossip on the island.

She woke up from her nap as the sun was going down and thought about going over to the hotel bar to grab a quick dinner. But that would mean washing her hair and dressing up, so after weighing her choices, she decided to stay home and relax. She made herself a healthy salad for dinner, then picked up her book and tried to read, but she couldn’t get back into the story. She kept picturing Aidan stepping out from behind that column. He’d been watching her and Blake! He’d kept his explanation casual, but Ellie hadn’t been fooled. She’d seen a fierce possessiveness in him that she’d never seen before. Did it come merely from the fact that she was his partner? Or was there more going on under the surface?

Did Aidan care about her more than he was willing to admit? The possibility gave her a tiny sliver of hope, but she didn’t want to dwell on it too much. After all, a tiny sliver of hope could grow into a big fat obsession, right?

“And now you’re starting to obsess about obsession.” She sighed. Why couldn’t she just be happy with things as they were? She could, by gosh, and right then and there, she resolved to do just that. Be happy. After all, she’d never had this much fun with a man before, never felt as sexy and attractive and radiant as she’d felt lately. She was startled to realize that she had a sensual nature, and it was Aidan who’d helped her see it. Now she wanted to fully embrace that part of her.

She closed up her house, changed into her pajamas and slipped under the sheets. She fell asleep and dreamed the same dream she’d been having for a few weeks now. She dreamed about her baby. But for the first time ever, Aidan was there in her dream, too, smiling as he held their child in his arms.

She moved to join her little family and both Aidan and the baby dissolved into mist, to be replaced by an image of her mother sobbing over the man who got away.

Ellie was jolted awake with tears in her eyes and a deep feeling of loss in her heart.

Eight

H
e didn’t like to admit mistakes, Aidan thought as he jogged along the narrow peninsula of sand that separated the waters of Alleria Bay from the resort’s marina. But now he had a feeling he’d made a big one.

The early morning breeze stirred the nearby sailboat riggings, causing them to bump up against the aluminum masts and ping in a sort of odd harmony. Usually Aidan enjoyed hearing the tinny, echoing sound on his early morning runs, but not today. He was too preoccupied with wondering whether he’d miscalculated or not.

He shouldn’t have followed Ellie and watched her conversation with Blake. And when she walked away, he should’ve let her go instead of intercepting her. He should’ve kept his mouth shut and not said anything about Blake.

What if Aidan’s interference drove her back to the other man? He couldn’t believe she would go back to Blake, but it should certainly be her decision to make.

The sun hadn’t yet risen over the horizon so the beach was nearly deserted except for a few hearty health nuts out for a pre-dawn swim in the bay. Aidan tried to concentrate on the rhythmic pounding of his feet on the soft white sand, tried to match it to the beating of his heart. But it was useless. He couldn’t get the image of Ellie and Blake out of his head.

And why the hell had Blake come back
now?
Had he gotten word somehow that Aidan and Ellie were together? Not that they
were
together, not really. But since no one else but Logan knew about their pregnancy pact, it might look that way to outsiders.

“We’re not a real couple…”
Aidan heard Ellie’s voice in his mind again and felt the same sharp stab of something….

He shook his head to push those thoughts out of his mind. Blake. The issue right now was Blake. Was Ellie contemplating getting back together with him?
We’re not a real couple.
Damn it. Aidan had no real standing to make demands on her, so how could he insist that she stay away from Blake? Ellie had agreed that Blake was a jerk, but did she mean it? Or had she just said that to placate Aidan?

“Probably just said it to shut you up,” he grumbled to himself.

Who could blame her?

She was right. They weren’t really together. He had no claim on her. Damn it.

Fine. He’d made a mistake. But if he stepped aside, wouldn’t Blake swoop in? Wouldn’t that be a bigger mistake? Hell. He had to talk to Ellie again. Apologize. She wasn’t pregnant yet, so if she wanted to renew her relationship with Blake, all Aidan could do was step aside. It was the right thing to do, even though Aidan would rather chew on glass than let her go.

Not that it mattered. If Ellie left him for Blake, Aidan could find another woman in a heartbeat if he wanted to. But that wasn’t the point.

“Yeah, what’s the point, knucklehead?” he muttered, as he pounded down the beach.

The point was, he liked Ellie. A lot. More than any other woman he’d ever been with, if he was being honest. Not that it meant anything because Aidan had no intention of ever settling down with one woman. Even though his brother had finally met his match with Grace, it wouldn’t happen to Aidan. He just wasn’t the type to settle down.

Why would he?
Look around you,
he thought. He loved this place, loved the carefree lifestyle. Loved surfing, sailing, wheeling and dealing, beautiful women in bikinis bouncing around everywhere.

Yeah. The more, the merrier. It was way too easy to love ’em and leave ’em when plenty of beautiful women arrived on the island daily and only stayed for a week or two at the most. He called that a win-win.

On the other hand, if he were the type to settle down—which he wasn’t—Ellie would be the perfect woman to settle down with.

But since he wasn’t that type, he had to give Ellie the space she needed to make her own choices. If she would rather have Blake be the father of her baby, then…fine. Although it grated on Aidan. No, it more than grated. It infuriated him. It made him want to take his fist and shove it right in Blake’s face.

He had a feeling that wouldn’t make Ellie happy, but his own satisfaction quotient would be through the roof.

Aidan reached the end of the peninsula and stopped to breathe for a minute while enjoying the stunning view of clear blue water as far as the eye could see. He grabbed the small towel he’d tucked into his back pocket and used it to wipe the sweat from his forehead and neck. Then he pivoted in the sand and started the long run back to the hotel.

Hell, if Ellie wanted to go back to Blake, Aidan would have no choice but to let her go. And now that he was thinking about it, he had to admit that from one objective angle, it would be the best of all worlds. Ellie would have a father for her baby, someone she cared about (even though Aidan couldn’t figure out why she would care about Blake), and she would stay on the island and raise her kid here and continue to work for Sutherland Corp. That was all Aidan had ever wanted in the first place. It was a win-win-win. Wasn’t it?

Of course, there was still the irritating fact that Blake would end up as her baby’s father, not Aidan. And that didn’t work for him at all. That part was
not
a win. Aidan knew in his gut that he, Aidan, was the one who needed to be Ellie’s baby’s father. She couldn’t trust Blake.

The man had already dumped her once. Who was to say he wouldn’t do it again? And this time, he’d be walking out on a kid, much like Aidan’s mother had done to him and Logan. No, Blake was absolutely the wrong choice for father material.

And hey, they had an agreement together. A binding legal document. So maybe it would be better if he stuck to the status quo and didn’t say a word to Ellie. Why give her a chance to change things when everything was working so well for both of them?

“Hell.” He tried to focus on something else, like the clean, briny smell of the fishing boats moored in the marina. The pungent scent reminded him of the first time he and Logan came to the island. They were on a fishing holiday and the bluefish they caught in Alleria Bay were the finest anywhere. They stayed a week longer than they’d planned and when they set sail for home, they were the new owners of the island.

Aidan slowed his pace as he approached the resort. He’d trusted in his luck back then, he reminded himself, and it had turned out well. He’d have to trust to his luck now, too. It wouldn’t be easy, but he knew what he had to do. Ellie had to be the one to make the choice. And for Aidan, that meant standing aside to give her the room to do so.

He stopped abruptly at the water’s edge. Something he’d refused to dwell on too heavily was the fact that Ellie hadn’t gotten pregnant yet. Ellie hadn’t brought it up and Aidan had simply figured they would continue having a good time until she announced she was pregnant. But now he wondered if maybe she was blaming him for not getting her pregnant immediately. Maybe she was ready to chuck Aidan and try this with someone new.

“That’s ridiculous,” he said aloud, immediately brushing that thought aside. Ellie wasn’t the type of woman who would do something like that. But even if she was having second thoughts, Aidan refused to believe she would ever do anything so crazy as to choose Blake over him. Yet the fact remained that it was still her choice to make.

As he walked slowly across the white sand toward the terrace, Aidan reached an uncomfortable conclusion. He had started out wanting what was best for Ellie and the baby. Now he had to face the possibility that it might not be
him
.

*

“You want me to what?”

“I want you to go to Blake if you want to. It’s your decision to make.”

Ellie stared at him as if he’d just sprouted a second head. Maybe he had. He couldn’t quite believe he was saying the words either. But they had to be said.

“It’s my decision,” she murmured.

“Yes. I shouldn’t have followed you outside the other night,” Aidan said solemnly. “It wasn’t my place to interfere. Blake has offered you a choice and you need to do what’s right for you.”

Ellie searched his face for so long, he was about to start squirming. This wasn’t easy for him, but it was the right thing to do.

Finally she said, “But you and I have an agreement.”

“That’s true,” he said. “But you’re running the show here, Ellie. I shouldn’t have watched you and Blake when you were talking—it’s just that that guy really bugs me and—never mind. Not the point. It was wrong of me to intrude. And if Blake cares about you…”

“You said he was a liar and a jerk,” she reminded him. “Did you change your mind about him?”

“No, I didn’t change my mind about him,” Aidan said, resisting the urge to scowl. “I still don’t like him. But this isn’t about me. Look, I’m just afraid I might’ve pushed you into something you weren’t ready for. So if you want to reconsider Blake, or any other guy, I need to give you the space to make a measured decision. It’s your choice to make.”

“I don’t know what to say,” she murmured, looking pensive.

He wanted to take her in his arms and kiss away every last ounce of doubt she’d ever had about herself. But he stayed on track and bit out the next words. “You have every right to go back to Blake if that’s what you want.”

“What do you want, Aidan?”

His jaw clenched and he pressed his lips together tightly, then forced himself to say the words. “I want you to do whatever will make you happy. You deserve to be happy, Ellie. And you deserve to make your own decision without me influencing you. More importantly, your baby deserves a father of your choosing.”

And, damn it, she should choose him! But Aidan couldn’t say that out loud.

She nodded slowly. “So you’re saying you’d be fine if I decided that Blake or some other man would be a better choice to be the father of my child.”

Hell, no!
Was she going to make him say it out loud? Aidan wasn’t sure he could. Finally he uttered the only thing left to say. “If that’s what you want to do.”

*

Ellie couldn’t believe they were having this conversation. Her heart felt as if it were breaking in a thousand little bits. Did he really want her to choose Blake, or did he think he was being noble, offering her a choice? She had to remember that in the beginning, all Aidan had really wanted was to keep her on the island. If she went back to Blake, that goal would be achieved. As Aidan would say, it was a win-win.

Of course, there was no win for Ellie because apparently Aidan would be perfectly happy to see her go, and yet she would never return to Blake. She wasn’t about to admit that to Aidan, though. Not now, with him so unwilling to take a stand either way.

Her head was spinning in confusion and pain. Could he really just let her go? She pressed a fist to her heart. Why did it have to hurt so much? She had tried so hard to avoid those pitfalls into which her mother had descended and now she herself was spiraling down into her own personal hell.

Right now there was only one thing she knew for sure. She needed to get away and think this through. She needed to stay away from Aidan and sadly, she couldn’t do that if they were having sex together.

“What’s going on, Ellie?” he said, a note of concern in his voice. “What are you thinking?”

She took a deep breath and gazed up at him. “I need some time to think, Aidan. I admit you’ve confused me. I need to stay away from you for a little while, just until I can put things into perspective.”

His eyes narrowed on her. “Exactly what does that mean, Ellie?”

“It means we won’t be having sex for a while.”

“What?” he said. “Why the hell not?”

He looked so outraged that she squeezed his hand to comfort him. “I’m so sorry. I know our arrangement is strictly business, so maybe this is unfair of me to say. But I have to be honest with you. It’s upsetting to hear that you don’t have a problem with my going back to Blake. I thought we were having so much fun together, but now I see…well, I’m not sure of anything right now. Please just give me a little time to figure out what my next move will be.”

“What if you find out you’re pregnant?” Aidan said.

“Oh.” She had to blink back a sudden wash of tears. She hadn’t even taken that possibility into consideration. She took a few more deep breaths, then said, “I hadn’t even thought about that. But if I find out I’m pregnant, there’ll be no need to wonder who the father should be.”

*

Ellie folded another crisp cloth napkin and added it to the pile. Ever since she was a young girl, whenever she needed to think about something important, she liked to do it while ironing. It was a mindless yet productive activity so she was able to accomplish something while doing almost nothing but allowing words and images to zip around in her head.

There was no way in the world she would ever start dating Blake again. Didn’t Aidan know that? Of course he did. He was just feeling guilty about trying to influence her feelings about Blake.

But what annoyed the holy heck out of her wasn’t the fact that Aidan had come to offer her a choice to go back to Blake or not. No, it was the fact that he didn’t care one way or another what she chose to do! That’s what bothered her most. It hurt, frankly. She was bewildered and uncertain and just a little panicky about what to do next.

The smartest thing to do would be to avoid Aidan for the next two weeks, until she found out if she was pregnant or not. It wouldn’t be easy because every time she saw him, all she wanted to do was kiss him and jump into bed with him. And that would be wrong. Although she couldn’t quite remember why.

But at least she had told him the truth. At least he knew that he had upset her. The truth was important, she thought. But while she was telling Aidan the truth, maybe it was time for her to face the truth about herself. She was her mother’s daughter. Was she turning into that woman? Ellie hated to think so, but she did seem to be wrapping herself up in Aidan’s world more and more. And if that continued, she would eventually lose herself. And that frightened her more than anything else.

She stared at the stack of twenty neatly ironed napkins and the three smoothly folded tablecloths beside them. She wasn’t nearly finished thinking about her problem and glanced around for something more to iron. Would it be too silly to iron her dish towels?

BOOK: She's Having the Boss's Baby
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