She's Having the Boss's Baby (9 page)

Ellie knew Grace loved her spores, and who could blame her? The Allerian spores had provided the means by which she had discovered several new methods for treating some of the worst diseases known to mankind.

“I’m so glad,” Ellie said. “And I heard that your laboratory is almost finished.”

“It is.” Grace grinned. “Logan added a generous bonus to the deal if the men could get it finished ahead of schedule, so it’ll be ready to move in next week. I’m thrilled, as you can imagine, and Logan went out and bought every piece of lab equipment ever created, so I can’t wait to get to work.”

“That’s wonderful,” Ellie said. “Your research is so important and it’s such an honor to have you here with us.”

“Oh, aren’t you sweet?” Grace said. She glanced down at the ground where she’d left a basket filled with gloves and lab supplies. “Will you wait while I gather up my stuff? I’ll walk with you to the office.”

“I’d like that.”

A minute later, the two women were headed toward the executive offices at the resort. Grace frowned thoughtfully at her friend. “You look different, Ellie.”

“I do?” Ellie said, and laughed. “I’m not sure how to take that. Good different or bad different?”

“Definitely good,” Grace assured her. “You look really happy.”

“Do I?” Ellie said softly. “I guess that’s because I am.”

“It must be because of Aidan. Oh!” Grace slapped her hand over her mouth. “That’s none of my business.”

“I don’t mind,” Ellie said. “The island is like a small town, isn’t it? Everyone knows everyone else’s business. But I love it. And I like that I have friends who care about me enough to gossip behind my back.”

Grace’s eyes widened. “Oh, Ellie, we didn’t… I mean, we wouldn’t… Oh, dear. I’m embarrassed.”

Ellie burst out laughing. “Are you kidding? Don’t be. I love it. I didn’t have many friends growing up, so now that I do, I love everything that goes along with having friends. Including gossip.”

“Oh, but that’s just wrong.”

“Maybe,” Ellie said, “but do you honestly believe we didn’t talk about you while you were gone?”

Grace laughed. “I certainly hope you did. And you know, I don’t mind at all. As long as nothing too vicious was said.”

Ellie patted Grace’s arm. “No one could ever say a vicious word about you.”

“Same goes for you. I got your back, girlfriend.”

They smiled in complete harmony.

“So that’s cleared up,” Grace said. “Now let’s hear all about Aidan. What happened when. And how and why and where. Start at the beginning and don’t stop until I’ve heard all the pertinent details.”

Ellie laughed. She was so lucky to have girlfriends after so many years of hiding from people, that now she had no qualms at all about telling Grace everything. She told her about her spur-of-the-moment decision to start a family and the sperm bank and Aidan’s offer and how she’d decided to take him up on it.

“I must say I agree with you on that point,” Grace said. “A big, handsome man in the flesh beats the heck out of an anonymous turkey baster any day of the week.”

“And Aidan is so wonderful,” Ellie confided. “I’m seeing a side of him I never knew existed. He’s funny and caring and kind and…well, I guess I knew he was all that, but it just seems that the more time I spend with him, the more I care about him.”

She didn’t add that it worried her, but it did. Her feelings seemed to grow stronger every day and if she wasn’t careful, the little crush she’d always had on him could develop into a full-on love that she would never recover from. Just like her mother. It was the stupidest thing Ellie could possibly allow to happen.

And in case she’d forgotten, as soon as she became pregnant, their temporary situation would be over. Aidan wouldn’t need to be with her anymore. There would be no reason to see him except during regular business hours. And though she knew it was for the best, that brought a little ache to Ellie’s heart.

She’d known going into the deal that Aidan had no intention of going beyond what they’d agreed to do. Once she was pregnant, he would go back to dating the bikini babes who came to the island looking for some short-term action. Aidan didn’t believe in long-term relationships. He’d made that clear from the very beginning.

So right then and there, she renewed her vow to stay strong in the face of those feelings that could destroy her. Still, a tiny wishful part of her was just as determined to keep the dream going for as long as possible and pretend that she and Aidan were more than just temporary lovers.

She suddenly remembered it was Grace she was talking to and quickly added, “Oh, but Logan is wonderful, too, Grace. I just never had as much of a connection with him as I do with Aidan.”

“I’m glad to hear it,” Grace said with a light laugh. “Otherwise, I would’ve had to kill you.”

*

At noon a few days later, Ellie walked down the hall to Logan’s office, where she would join the brothers for their first private partners’ lunch. Ellie was relieved that ever since Logan had returned from his honeymoon, he had welcomed her into the partnership with open arms.

Once they were seated and the catering crew had served their crab salads, Logan held up his glass of sparkling water and toasted her. “Welcome to the penthouse suite, Ellie.”

“Yes, welcome,” Aidan said. “Of course, since we’re on the first floor you can’t take that too literally.”

It didn’t really matter, Ellie thought, glancing around. Logan’s office was the mirror image of Aidan’s and was essentially a large hotel suite. It was furnished in a casually elegant style with modern furniture arranged to form a comfortable conversation area at one end of the room with a fully functioning office at the other. In between was a conference table and chairs where they were seated for their lunch.

The best part of the room was the view. One entire wall of sliding glass doors opened onto a private terrace. The view beyond the terrace was of the white sand beach and blue water of the bay. Graceful coco palm trees swayed in the breeze.

As the three of them began to eat, Logan led the conversation. “I don’t know if Aidan told you, but we’ve been thinking of making you a partner for months now. Right before I left for my honeymoon, we decided to take care of it as soon as I got back.”

“I told her,” Aidan admitted to Logan, then flashed Ellie a half smile. “Before he left on his honeymoon, we talked about the fact that he would be gone for three weeks. That can be a long time in this business. It got us thinking that it was time to bring someone in who knows the business as well as we do and who we respect and have complete confidence in.”

“That’s you, Ellie,” Logan said.

“Thank you, Logan,” she said. She hadn’t thought about it until that moment, but it was no wonder she’d received the partnership agreement so quickly. The lawyers had probably had it written up and waiting for the past few weeks.

“No, thank you,” Logan insisted. “We consider you an essential part of the team.”

“I consider myself that, too. Thank you both for placing your trust in me. I won’t let you down.”

“You never have,” Aidan said, watching her closely.

She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Well, I can only take these compliments for another hour or so, then I think we should get to work.”

The men laughingly agreed and soon they were dealing with Logan’s agenda for the next six months. First new business was a time-share project they planned to discuss with their investors next month. It would mean a trip to New York and Ellie’s mind wandered to an image of her and Aidan spending a romantic weekend in New York City. Walks in Central Park, a romantic dinner at—

“Ellie can handle that right away,” Aidan said.

“Good.” Logan nodded as he read over his agenda and made notes. “Cross that off the list. What’s next?”

“What?” Ellie said, suddenly aware that she’d missed an entire agenda item. “Handle…sure, I can do that. Um, what?” Good grief! Ellie wanted to crawl out of the room. This was so not a good time to turn into a flake. She cleared her throat, tapped her pen on the table surface and tried to sound businesslike. “I apologize. I was trying to calculate what size advance team we’ll need to line up for the New York trip.” She turned to Aidan. “Exactly what would you like me to handle?”

The look he gave her was provocative enough to make her squirm in her chair. Had she really asked that question out loud? Double entendre, anyone?

“I’d like you to
handle
the Bryson project,” Aidan said softly, his subtext unashamedly obvious. To Ellie, at least. She only hoped Logan was too busy taking notes to notice.

Was this tingling, yearning feeling going to crop up every time she was in the same office with Aidan? How would she ever get her work done? Would Logan regret offering her the partnership if he caught her making moon eyes at his brother whenever they sat at the same conference table together? Good grief. She had to straighten up and get back to business. Otherwise, she was doomed.

Twenty minutes later, the lunch meeting ended and Ellie couldn’t run out of there fast enough.

*

Two weeks later on a Saturday morning, Ellie paced barefoot on the cool tile floor of her sunny kitchen, waiting, watching, wondering how five minutes could seem like six hours when one was anticipating that a little pink cross might appear in the window of the pregnancy test stick.

But five minutes passed and there was no cross. Ten minutes later, she checked again. No cross. No nothing.

So she wasn’t pregnant.

“Okay,” she whispered, tossing the stick into the trash can under the sink. “Just means we’ll have to keep trying.”

Naturally, a big part of her was disappointed to know there was no tiny person starting to grow inside her. But she tried to be philosophical about it. She would get pregnant when it was meant to happen.

It wasn’t like she hadn’t been trying hard enough. That wasn’t the issue. In fact, the opposite was true. She and Aidan had been almost fanatical in their effort to accomplish their mission by having sex as often as possible over the past few weeks. By now Ellie should’ve been exhausted and ready to call it quits, but she wasn’t crazy. There was no way she was about to stop having sex with Aidan.

At the very thought of Aidan with his broad shoulders, dark blue eyes, windswept hair and long legs stalking across the office to yank her into his strong arms and ravish her, Ellie felt a tingle of excitement zing across her shoulders and down her spine. Another flashing image had him sliding his talented hands along her sensitive skin as his tongue brushed over her breasts, and that tingle burst into a thousand tiny jolts of electricity that zigzagged everywhere throughout her body and caused her knees to turn weak.

“Oh, my,” she murmured as she stumbled to sit down at her kitchen table. This would probably be a good time to call Aidan to request that he drop by her house as soon as possible. To work. On their mission. Immediately.

Call her insatiable, but Ellie was having the time of her life. And while the lines might have started to blur between her serious mission to become pregnant and her giddiness over Aidan’s stated desire to find new and inventive ways to have sex with her, she certainly appreciated his devotion to her cause. More than that, she appreciated all the thrilling new experiences he’d introduced her to.

She’d never had sex up against a wall before, for instance. Or on a conference room table. Or on the deck of a catamaran in the middle of Alleria Bay. Or on a chaise longue by the pool at midnight.

That tingle was back and her heart was starting to beat a little faster. And in case she started to worry, she reminded herself that she wasn’t obsessed with Aidan. She was just having great sex with a gorgeous man. Nothing wrong with that. She wasn’t turning into her mother; she was simply enjoying this wonderful time with Aidan.

So she refused to feel sorry for herself for not having accomplished her objective to be pregnant just yet. In fact, she was excited to be able to continue with their sexual encounters. She would just have to remember to ask Aidan to try a little harder the next time.

Seven

A
idan stood at the end of the long bar nursing a scotch as he watched his team of bartenders racing to keep up with the customers. The music was pumped up and so was the boisterous crowd. That’s the way Aidan liked it. Friday nights were always a little crazy in the bar since many of the resort guests had just arrived that afternoon for a week of fun. But tonight was especially insane because this was the start of the annual cardboard box convention. And those people were more than ready to party.

Three years ago, Aidan and Logan had discovered a shocking truth. There was no bigger group of wild, raucous party animals than this horde of almost one thousand cardboard box salesmen. Cardboard. Go figure.

The group used to have their convention in different cities every year, but once they found Alleria and met Ellie, that all changed. Now the group refused to go anywhere else. Ellie lavished so much special attention on them that the group was back for the third year in a row.

The box boys, as Aidan and Logan referred to them in private, were one of Ellie’s special projects. Attracting new business to the resort had been part of her job description from day one, and bringing the box boy convention to Alleria was one of her first successes.

The group’s presence here this week was just one of many reasons why Aidan hadn’t wanted her to leave the island when she first announced her plans to go to Atlanta.

Now, as he observed Ellie interacting with a small group of conventioneers gathered at the bar, Aidan was doubly glad he’d convinced her to stay. Glad, because not only could she charm these guys into spending more money on drinks, but also because Aidan could have her in his bed every night.

Not that he was getting used to her being there, he quickly assured himself. He knew it would all end when she became pregnant. But in the meantime, how could he complain about having awesome sex with a beautiful woman like Ellie every night? Hell, he wasn’t that big of an idiot, despite what his brother occasionally thought.

In fact, as he watched Ellie work the crowd and as he marveled at what an amazing businesswoman she was, he was tempted to congratulate himself for coming up with the deal that had kept her on the island in the first place.

The truth was, he’d only stopped in to have a drink because he knew that Ellie would be here, taking care of her special guests. Now that he was seeing her surrounded by those men, smiling and talking and joking with them, all he could think about was getting her out of here and taking her somewhere private. It took everything he had to keep from stalking across the floor, sweeping her up into his arms and carrying her off into the night.

Just then, one of the box boys said something that must’ve been funny because Ellie threw back her head and laughed. The sweet musical sound set off a shock wave of desire that shot straight to Aidan’s gut. And instantly turned him as hard as a brick.

Damn. He gripped his glass carefully as he struggled to maintain an outer calm. He gritted his teeth and mentally talked himself down, but it wasn’t easy because he couldn’t seem to tear his gaze away from Ellie, who was still smiling and chatting easily with the men. That was just one more reason why she was so perfect for this job. She was friendly and could get along with anyone.

But that wasn’t helping his erection disappear.

The music in the club pounded; laughter from the customers at the table seemed harsher, louder. Aidan kept his gaze fixed on Ellie with such intensity that she must have felt it. She turned her head, her gaze caught his and something wild and indefinable jumped into life between them.

He downed the last of his drink, set his empty glass on the bar, nodded to Sam the bartender, and headed straight toward the group of men who were vying for Ellie’s attention.

*

Ellie had felt Aidan’s presence within a nanosecond of him walking into the bar twenty minutes ago. Even with her back to the entrance, even surrounded by all these people, she knew he was here. So what did it say about her that she could sense the man’s presence from across a large, crowded room?

It worried her, frankly. Would it always be this way? Was it a good thing or a bad thing? Probably bad, if it meant that in a few years, she would be at home feeding her baby and suddenly realize instinctively that Aidan was out on a date with his latest “bikini babe.”

Yes, definitely a bad thing, she thought, as she recalled one night when she and her sister had watched their mother wander through the house, wondering and worrying aloud about the man she’d once been married to. What was he doing right now? Was he thinking of her?

Ellie mentally rolled her eyes. There was no way she would turn into that woman!

With a sigh, she tried to ignore all thoughts of Aidan and concentrate on the salesmen who were currently trying to impress her with all their best stories. She didn’t mind. They were nice guys, if a bit silly.

A few minutes later, they moved on from stories to jokes, and Ellie had to admit some of them were mildly amusing. Then out of the blue, one of the salesmen—was his name Larry?—told a knock-knock joke that was so funny, she laughed out loud.

“Hey, she liked that one,” Larry said, wiggling his eyebrows at his friends.

One of his buddies nudged him with his elbow. “Guess that means the next round of drinks is on you.”

She felt Aidan’s gaze on her and when she turned her head to meet that look head-on, her entire system jump-started into a frantic rhythm. Her heartbeat thundered in time with the pulsing music. Her stomach did a quick spin and at the very core of her, she went hot and damp.

She swallowed hard when he stalked toward her.

“Good evening, gentlemen,” Aidan said jovially. “Hope you don’t mind, but I’ve got to borrow our Ms. Sterling for a few minutes.”

She smiled her apologies. There was some good-natured grumbling as Aidan took Ellie’s arm and guided her out from the circle of men. He smiled cheerfully the entire time, although Ellie could sense his underlying tension.

“No worries, gentlemen,” he said. “You’ll see Ellie again tomorrow. Enjoy your evening.”

“Aidan, what’s wrong?” Ellie asked.

He kept a firm hold on her arm as they walked quickly through the bar and out into the bustling lobby. He paid no attention to the bell captain or the concierge director who both called out his name, just kept walking across the marble floor and into the carpeted hallway that led to his suite.

“You’re scaring me, Aidan,” she said, hurrying her steps to keep up with his much longer stride. “Is everything all right?”

“Sorry,” he muttered. “Everything’s fine. I’m just in kind of a hurry.”

“Okay,” she said, and practically jogged to keep up with him.

They reached his suite and without a word, he swiped his key card, pushed the door open and urged her inside. As soon as the door shut, he tugged her up against his chest and kissed her hard on the lips. The impact was sudden and startling and hot and Ellie couldn’t get enough of him. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him even closer to her.

Within seconds, he softened the kiss and she sighed, parting her lips to allow him entrance. Their tongues tangled gently and Ellie felt herself melting against him.

Without a warning, he stepped back, grabbed hold of her light summer dress and whipped it up and over her head, tossing it onto the chair.

Wearing only her bra and panties, Ellie grabbed his shirt and started unbuttoning it with frantic urgency.

“You’re overdressed,” she groused.

“Let me do it,” he said, laughing as he pushed her hands away. After ripping it off his shoulders, he hoisted her into his arms and carried her through the living room and into the bedroom. He tossed her on the bed, knelt above her and unzipped his jeans, releasing his enormous erection.

Ellie shivered as he gripped her bottom, lifted her up off the mattress and guided her onto his thick length. She groaned in pure delight as he filled her completely.

His mouth devoured hers as they moved together rhythmically and Ellie was so lost in passion, she wondered if she had been created for this moment. As his fervor met hers, they reached the pinnacle together and tumbled into rapture. Her heart was so full, she knew she had never felt so much pleasure, so much love before.

Moments later, he collapsed onto her. After catching his breath, he finally murmured in her ear, “I’m sorry I dragged you out of the bar, but I knew I was going to explode if I couldn’t be inside you right away.”

“I loved it,” she whispered, then cringed. She only hoped her voice sounded casual saying those words. But even if Aidan wasn’t spooked by the words, Ellie was. The
L
word was something she never said out loud.

But Aidan was already asleep, so she held him in her arms and they dozed for a while. Sometime in the middle of the night, Aidan woke her up and made love to her slowly. Afterwards, they slept. The next time Ellie awoke, it was morning. The sun was streaming into Aidan’s bedroom, but she was alone in his bed.

She sat up, looked around and told herself that she preferred it this way. The sooner she got pregnant and got used to her life without Aidan, the better off she would be.

*

Hours later, Ellie sat in the bar, chatting with the friendly box boys while Larry, the funny salesman, designed a one-of-a-kind cardboard box for her on his tablet.

When he was finished, he held the screen up so she could see it. “There, just for you. I’m calling it the Ellie. Wait, we can add a design, too.”

He tapped his fingers on the sidebar and the box was suddenly filled with a green and red circle pattern surrounded by curlicues.

“Oh, I like that pattern,” she said, fascinated by everything he’d done. Who knew the cardboard box guys could be so creative?

“Hi, Ellie.”

The deep voice came from behind her. She turned and her eyes widened in surprise at the sight of the tall, good-looking man. “Blake? What’re you doing here?”

“Just thought I’d stop in for a drink and I saw you.” He glanced around. “Can you take a break and talk?”

“Umm, of course.” She turned back to her salesman. “I’m sorry, Larry, but would you excuse me?”

“Sure, Ellie,” Larry said, eyeing Blake curiously. “No problem.”

She sucked in a bracing breath and tried to mask her distress at the fact that Blake was here unannounced, then gazed up at her ex-boyfriend. “Let’s go out to the terrace.”

He followed her to a quiet corner of the patio bar and found an empty table. He pulled a chair out for her and as he was sitting, she took the time to study him. He was classically tall, dark and handsome, with dark brown eyes and nearly black hair. Most women would swoon over his movie-star good looks, but Ellie had learned the hard way that looks weren’t everything. Not that Blake had hurt her irreparably, but he hadn’t turned out to be as nice or as honorable as she’d hoped he would be.

“Would you two like something to drink?”

Ellie looked up and saw Dee, her waitress friend, standing there, looking back and forth from Ellie to Blake.

“Maybe just a glass of water,” Ellie said gratefully. “Thanks, Dee.”

Blake ordered a beer and Dee was back in less than two minutes with their orders. “Let me know if you need anything else,” she said pointedly.

“I will,” Ellie said, smiling up at her friend.

As soon as Dee was out of hearing distance, Blake spoke. “You’re looking good, Ellie.”

“Thank you. I feel good.”

“I wasn’t sure if I’d run into you here tonight, but I’m glad I did. I’ve been doing a lot of thinking. About us. I know I hurt you when I broke up with you, but I was… I don’t know, confused, I guess. You shocked me.”

“I know, and I’m sorry.” She smiled ruefully. “It wasn’t fair of me to spring my life story on you.”

“I guess I asked for it,” he said with a sheepish grin.

She chuckled lightly. “Yes, you did.”

He relaxed back in his chair and sipped his beer. “So I hear you’re seeing one of the Sutherland brothers. Is it serious?”

Her eyes narrowed. Was that why Blake was here? Was she suddenly more appealing to him now that she was involved with Aidan? And how had he found out about her relationship with Aidan? The island was like a small town, but they had been very discreet, she thought. “We’re good friends, that’s all.”

He surprised her by leaning forward and taking hold of her hand. “If that’s true, then I’d like you to consider giving me another chance. I thought we had a good thing going until you laid that bombshell on me.”

“Until I told you I wanted to have a child.”

“Yeah.” He shrugged. “But, hey, if that’s what you want, I’m willing to help you out there.”

Not if he were the last man on earth, she thought as she pulled her hand away. “That’s very kind of you to offer, but I think I’ll pass.”

“So you are sleeping with Sutherland.”

She smiled tightly. “I didn’t say that.”

He chuckled. “You didn’t have to. If you’re not interested in getting back with me, then I have to assume you’re doing the horizontal bop with him.”

The horizontal bop?
Was this guy in high school or something? Aidan had been so right about Blake. He was kind of a jerk. She was lucky she’d never had to see this side of him.

Ellie pushed her chair out and stood looking down at him. “Your assumption is wrong, Blake. My refusal to get back together with you has nothing to do with anything but the fact that I’m just not interested. See you around.”

*

Aidan couldn’t believe it. He’d seen Ellie leading Blake out to this deserted area of the terrace, so he followed them, remaining back behind a thick, vine-strewn column in order to watch them. It was too bad he couldn’t get close enough to hear their conversation.

He refused to question why he even cared except to say that he was worried about Ellie. So that’s why he was loitering in the area. Okay, maybe
skulking
would be a more accurate description, but why quibble? He’d never liked Blake for so many reasons and here was another one. The guy was holding Ellie’s hand. What the hell? There was no way Ellie could be fooled by his good looks. The guy was a creep.