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Doctor’s pretty sure it’s going to be a boy, Brenna had written in the email. Lilah’s so excited to have another brother. No annoying little sister to deal with.
Ellie smiled. She could hear Brenna laughing as she wrote those words, since it was Ellie who’d been the annoying little sister Brenna had dealt with all her life. And thank goodness for that, Ellie thought.
Now Brenna had her own wonderful family and Ellie couldn’t wait to see them all again. That was another reason she had chosen the Atlanta clinic. She would get to visit with her sister’s happy, loving family again.
Ellie and Brenna hadn’t always been this happy. Growing up, their mother had been absent most of the time, even when she was sitting in the same room with them. That was what happened when a woman became so obsessed with a man who wanted nothing to do with her. Rather than give any love or attention to her own children, their mother had kept it all inside, saving it up, just in case their father ever returned. Except he never did. He didn’t want anything to do with them. He had moved on, found another woman to marry, a woman who gave birth to children he cared for much more than he had ever cared about his first two daughters.
But Ellie’s mother never gave up on him, never stopped loving him or chasing him, never stopped pretending that he would come back one day. She was always ready, always perfectly dressed and coifed in case he showed up at the door. She insisted that the girls be ready, too. And in her own subtle way, their mother never stopped blaming Ellie and Brenna for causing him to leave. That is, when she managed to remember that she had two children who needed her.
One day, when the girls and their mother were enjoying a rare moment of fun at a local hamburger stand, their mother thought she spied their father walking down the sidewalk. She raced outside to catch him, saw the man cross the street and blindly dashed after him. She was struck and killed by a city bus.
It was one of many lessons that Ellie took with her into adulthood. She would never, ever cling to or chase after a man who didn’t love her. Ellie wouldn’t do to her own child what her mother had done to Ellie and Brenna.
After all, she didn’t want to get hit by a bus.
More than that, she refused to allow her self-esteem to be shattered as her mother’s had been. Her mother had made a fool of herself over and over again. She had deluded herself for years and, slowly but surely, the delusions had replaced reality. Ellie would never allow that to happen to her.
She carried her teacup over to the sink and rinsed it out. As the water ran, she thought about the tiny creature in her sister’s ultrasound photo, silently waiting to be born into a loving family that couldn’t wait to greet their newest little member.
Ellie was so excited for Brenna. The two of them had basically raised themselves after their mother died, staying under the radar so that the county wouldn’t send Ellie into foster care. How they’d managed it, they still didn’t know. But it meant that they were fiercely loyal to each other. Brenna had taught Ellie so much more about life and real love than she’d ever learned from her mother.
One thing Brenna always wished for herself and Ellie was that someday they would each have their own big, boisterous families to love. She imagined how Christmas mornings would be, with their children staring in awe at all the colorful packages under the tree. It would be a noisy, busy, frenzied moment when they all ripped into their presents and shouted out their joy and excitement.
Ellie smiled at the memory. Now that Brenna’s dream had come true, now that she had Brian and a wonderful family of her own, Ellie couldn’t be happier. They were her family, too.
Brenna always told Ellie that someday it would happen for her, too. She would meet a man who would love her and want to start a family with her. Ellie had thought she could wait for that day. But five days ago, Blake broke up with her—probably a good thing—and the very next day, her sister announced she was having another baby by way of sending the ultrasound photo.
“You’re going to be an auntie again!” the email subject line announced gaily.
Gazing at the fuzzy outline of Brenna’s third child, Ellie had realized that someday might never come for her. She might always be an auntie, never a mom. That’s when she’d impulsively made the decision to do something about it. She would go it alone. And she would do it right away, before she could think about it too much and pick apart all the reasons why she shouldn’t do it. She phoned the Atlanta fertility clinic that very minute and made the appointment.
So that was done. Now she just had to deal with one more wrinkle in her plan.
Aidan.
As Ellie recalled Aidan’s reaction to her news, her cheeks flushed with heat. Why not do it the old-fashioned way? he’d asked her. Would it have shocked him to hear her reply, “Are you offering to do the job?”
Yes, it would’ve shocked him and probably would’ve ended her career at Sutherland Corporation. It wasn’t often that female employees were fired for sexually harassing the male boss, but there was a first time for everything.
Aidan had promised to try and convince her that the time-honored, man-woman route was the way to go, but she doubted he would bring up the subject again. Especially after she’d made her pitiful confession that she didn’t even have a man around to do the job for her, so to speak.
If only Aidan had offered his own services.
“Oh, good grief.” She felt herself blushing even worse than before. Was she out of her mind? Aidan was her boss, in case she’d forgotten. There was no end to the list of complications and ramifications of having her own boss be the biological father of her child.
Sadly though, her biggest problem had nothing to do with the fact that Aidan was her boss. It had to do with the fact that she had wanted the man for years. Secretly, of course. She hadn’t dwelled on her feelings for him in a long time, and she blamed their discussion about babies and sex for making her think of it now. Except for that conversation, she considered her crush on him mainly shallow and, well, sexual. Nothing wrong with that, right? The man had a great body! He was smart and funny and nice, too. God help her if she ever began to obsess over him, because if her feelings deepened, she would be in big trouble. Hadn’t her mother gone through life pining over a man, worshiping him from afar and losing herself in the process?
No, Ellie would never become dependent on a man. She liked Aidan, thought he was sexy, but that was it, thank goodness. There was no way she would ever turn into her mother.
“Hell, no,” she muttered defiantly as her hands rolled into fists at the very idea. She tossed her lightweight bathrobe on the bed and climbed under the covers. But as she fluffed her pillow, she wondered what it said about her when, despite the fact that Aidan would never make the offer to get her pregnant, she knew that if he did, she would have a hard time rejecting the offer. No matter how hard she had tried to avoid the attraction she felt for him, a direct proposition would be too tempting to pass up.
“Because you are crazy,” she said aloud. But that didn’t seem to matter as she continued to reflect on the joys of giving birth to a baby boy whose father was Aidan Sutherland. Her child would grow up to be handsome, rugged, gregarious, smart and athletic, just like his daddy.
She sighed. And even though it would never happen, the thought was so pleasant that she continued to dwell on it as she drifted off to sleep.
Two days later, Aidan held his regular weekly meeting with the resort managers to go over the schedule for the weekend and discuss any problems that might follow them into the next week.
Once the meeting ended, Serena, his catering manager, and Marianne, the head of housekeeping, met at the coffee machine. Aidan waited behind them as the two women filled their mugs and chatted.
“I’ll bet she’s already packed,” Marianne said. She kept her voice low, but she couldn’t disguise her excitement. “You know how she is.”
“Yes, organized to the teeth,” Serena said as she poured a dollop of cream into her cup. “God, I’m going to miss her so much.”
“She’ll only be gone for three weeks.”
“Oh, come on,” Serena said quietly. “Once she gets pregnant, do you really think she’ll stay?”
“She promised she would.”
“But she’ll have a baby to take care of.”
“Duh,” Marianne said. “But she loves it here.”
“Of course, who doesn’t? But come on, what kind of life will she have trying to raise a child on Alleria?”
“Hello?” Marianne said. “I have two kids and I live here quite nicely, thank you.”
Serena slapped her arm lightly. “I know, goofball, but you got yourself a husband first.”
Her friend frowned. “True. Hmm.”
“If Ellie’s determined to have a baby, she’ll want a husband eventually and she’s sure not going to find one here.”
Marianne sighed. “I have to agree with you there. The men who come to Alleria are only looking for short-term action.”
Serena gazed at her. “And yet you found Hector here.”
“Sure did,” Marianne said, winking as she rolled her shoulder seductively. “He came here looking for one hot mama and he found her.”
They both giggled and Serena said, “You got lucky and so did Hector. But the last thing most men come here for is a mama, no matter how hot she is.”
“I guess you’re right,” Marianne said. “It breaks my heart.”
“Mine, too, but Ellie will soon realize her child needs a father.” Serena leaned closer. “Remember I told you about my sister being a single mother? She’s struggled for years just to get by. It’s not right.”
Marianne sighed. “Alleria is no place for a single mother to go looking for a father for her child.”
The two women continued to chat as they walked away, never looking back to notice Aidan’s stricken look. He gazed at their backs until they disappeared into the hall. Then he sat down and thought about what he’d heard.
Those women were two of Ellie’s best friends on the island. If they expected her to leave, how could Aidan expect anything different?
That settled it. He had weighed all the options and there was only one clear way forward. Serena and Marianne were right. Aidan couldn’t take the chance that Ellie would realize she’d need to leave the island once she was raising her child on her own. He had to take action. He’d been tossing ideas around for the last three days and it was driving him crazy. But after hearing what those women had said, he knew there was only one solution.
Now he just had to convince Ellie.
“No. No way. Absolutely not,” Ellie said as she jumped up from her chair and faced him. “Are you crazy?”
Maybe he was, Aidan thought. When this same thought had occurred to him a few days ago, he’d dismissed it out of hand as a sure sign he was losing his mind. But after he’d overheard that conversation yesterday, he’d reconsidered and now this seemed the most logical solution to his problem. He could give Ellie a baby. They could do it the old-fashioned way. One problem solved.
“More importantly,” he continued, ignoring her protests. “I could support the child and you. You wouldn’t have to worry about being a single mother. It’s the best possible solution to the problem.”
“I don’t have a problem,” she countered.
“Not yet, maybe. But look at what this would mean in the short run. You wouldn’t have to travel back and forth and worry about getting jet lag, you know, in your ovaries.”
She whipped around. “Seriously, Aidan? Jet lag in my ovaries?”
“Hey, I’m just repeating what you said.” He shook his head, knowing he sounded ridiculous. But it was too late to turn back now. “And another thing. On the off chance that the injections don’t take the first few times, you wouldn’t have to drag yourself back and forth from Atlanta.”
She didn’t say anything in response, but he could tell she was thinking about that one.
“Plus, you can stay here on the island,” he pointed out reasonably, “as you said you’d prefer to do. Plus, I’m right here to support you through it all.”
“Uh-huh,” she said softly.
“I did some reading,” he continued. “There’s often a lot of anxiety attached to this whole process. You need to be careful or you could sabotage yourself. You know, you could make yourself infertile or something.”
“First, you’re nuts,” she said, counting off with her fingers. “And second, you did some reading? That’s so sweet.”
He shrugged. “I’m your friend. I’m concerned.”
“You’re my boss. You don’t want me to go.”
“That’s secondary,” he insisted so strongly he almost convinced himself. “Your health and well-being are my main concern.”
She rolled her eyes. “Right. Look, I appreciate it and everything, but your idea would never work.”
He leaned closer. “Why, Ellie?”
She gazed back at him intently. “Because you don’t want a child.”
“But you do.”
“Yes, and I have a perfectly sensible and practical way to make it happen. And it doesn’t have anything to do with you.”
He drew a breath and changed tactics. “We’ve known each other a long time, right? We get along great. And hey, we’re in the same vicinity. So if you were, you know, ovulating and, you know, the time was right, all you’d have to do is call me and I’d be there for you.”
“You make it sound so romantic,” she said, patting her heart wryly.
“What? A turkey baster in some clinic is more romantic?” He chuckled. “Besides, this isn’t about romance, right? It’s about the baby you want. And it’s about your child knowing who his father is. Don’t you want that for him?”
“Him?”
“Ellie,” he said, “just think about it. This makes a lot of sense. I can have our lawyers write up a contract that spells out the terms for child support and whatever else you want it to say.”
She blinked at that. After a moment, she said, “I’m not sure I want you obligated to support my child.”
He’d never met a woman who didn’t want his money, but Ellie wasn’t like any other woman he’d ever known. He was still determined to provide support, though, but right now the exact terms didn’t matter. What mattered was that she would have the baby she wanted. And she would stay and continue to work for Sutherland, which Aidan wanted. And the deal would be done.
Just to be sure they were on the same page, he said, “I would want a clause that says you and the baby will stay and live on Alleria.”
“I always planned to do that.”
“But you might change your mind after the baby’s born.”
She shook her head. “I won’t.”
“You never know,” he argued. “You might want to get married someday.”
“I have no intention of getting married,” she insisted.
“You never know,” he said with a shrug. “And if you changed your mind, how would you meet a man around here? Let’s face it, most men who come to Alleria are only looking for short-term action.”
She gave him a suspicious look and he wondered if her girlfriends had already mentioned that point to her. Didn’t matter. The more points he racked up for his side, the better.
As she sat back down in the chair opposite his desk, she nibbled at her lower lip, clearly nervous. Instantly, his groin strained with arousal and all he knew was that if she kept biting those lush lips of hers, he wouldn’t be responsible for his actions.
He was getting more and more fond of this whole idea by the minute.
“I’m pretty sure this is a bad idea,” she said.
He adjusted himself before leaning forward and resting his arms on his desk. “It’s actually a really good idea, Ellie. Unless…” He frowned at her. “Here I’ve been assuming all this time that you found me attractive enough to go through with it. Maybe I was wrong.”
“Oh, don’t be ridiculous,” she grumbled. “Of course I find you attractive. You’re the most…Oh, never mind. You’re just fishing for compliments. I refuse to feed your ego.”
“Too late.” Aidan couldn’t help grinning.
“Look,” she said after taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly. “This has nothing to do with whether I think you look like a troll or whatever.”
“A troll? Thank you.”
“I’m kidding. You’re not a troll and you know it.” Her smile turned sober. “It’s just that I find the whole idea a little awkward, that’s all.”
“Awkward?”
“Well, yeah, Aidan. To do this, we’d have to be naked.” She blew out a breath. “We work together. Seeing each other, you know…that’s awkward.”
Naked. Okay, maybe he was just being a guy here, but the only thing he found awkward about this situation was that she wasn’t naked now. Still…he sat back and thought about what she’d said for a moment. Basically, she felt awkward and it was all his fault. Hell, if he could kick his own ass, he would do it. “Damn, Ellie. I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.”
Now she looked contrite. “It’s okay. I know you didn’t set out to embarrass me or anything. It’s not in your nature to be mean. But you have to admit the idea’s a little…bizarre.”
He took a careful sip of coffee and wondered if his desperation was starting to show. He had overplayed his hand and she was about to turn him down. A woman. Turning him down. Was there an apocalypse about to happen that no one had told him about? Logan would laugh his ass off if he ever found out about this conversation.
“You’re right,” he said wearily. “The last thing I ever wanted to do was hurt our working relationship. If it’s possible, can you please forget I ever said anything?”
“Just give me a minute,” she murmured.
“Take all the time you need. In fact, if you’d rather collect your thoughts and meet later…”
But she ignored him as she started to voice her feelings. “It makes a certain kind of sense to stay here on the island and take care of it, I mean, do…it…with you.” She rushed to add, “Even though it’s a terrible idea. Because, you know, it’s you and me. We’re pals. Or we were. I hope we still are. But more than that, you’re my boss and I’m your…you know. Your employee. So that makes it a really bad idea, right?”
Truly desperate now, Aidan played what he hoped was his trump card. “What if you were more than my employee? What if I told you I was planning to make you a partner?”
She didn’t react right away and Aidan thought maybe she hadn’t heard him. He wasn’t going to mention the fact that he and Logan had already decided to offer Ellie the partnership. She deserved it and it was past time they offered it to her. And if a partnership deal would help sway her to accept his other offer, he was willing to add it to the pot. On the other hand, if his other offer was totally offensive to her, the partnership deal might help lighten the insult.
He just wished she would say something one way or the other. It wasn’t like her to equivocate so much.
Finally she looked up and squinted at him. “What did you just say?”
He smiled. “I’m offering you an associate partnership in our corporation.”
Ellie was pretty sure most of the blood in her head had flowed right out, leaving her brain empty and her ears ringing. She felt dizzy and faint and was still not sure she’d understood him. “Say that again, please.”
“Partnership, Ellie,” he said. “You heard me. I know you want it.”
Of course she wanted it. She had brought up the subject of partnership during her review last December, asking the brothers if they had considered adding a partnership track to incentivize their top senior-level employees. Aidan and Logan had admitted they hadn’t yet decided, unsure whether they wanted to include anyone else in their tightly knit twoman operation.
“You—you’re offering me a partnership position.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because you deserve it. And because I’m determined to do whatever it takes to keep you here working with us.”
She would’ve stayed without the partnership offer, but now she was overwhelmed. First he’d offered his own sperm—and everything that went with it, so to speak. Now he was offering her a partnership deal? Had she won the lottery? What was going on?
“Well, what do you think?” he asked.
“I’m stunned,” she admitted. “And a little suspicious of the timing of your offer.”
He nodded. “I understand how you might feel that way, but the truth is, Logan and I had already planned to make you the offer once he was back from his honeymoon. I’m just speeding up the process.” Standing, he walked over and sat down in the chair next to her. He took hold of her hand, warming her all the way through to her heart. “I know you want to have a baby and I want to help you if you’ll let me. It’s your choice, absolutely, and no matter what you decide, you’ll still be a partner and a friend. I brought up the idea with the best of intentions, no matter how idiotic it sounded to you.”
“Oh, Aidan.”
“Wait.” He held up his hand. “I feel honor bound to add that it wouldn’t make me uncomfortable at all to see you naked. In fact, it’s pretty much all I’ve thought about lately.”
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