Page 46 of Nine Months to Bear

“You. Me.” She huffs out a breath. “They know that we are… whatever the fuck we’re doing. They know about it!”

“After the way you screamed in my office, I’m sure they do.”

“Don’t pretend you haven’t seen the article,” she snaps. “You have so many minions, one of them probably held it up for you over breakfast. You probably didn’t even have to read it yourself. I bet he sounded out all the big words for you.”

I chuckle. Then I lie down on the hotel bed and lean back against the headboard. As much fun as it is to rile her up, I can’t keep taunting her or she’ll work herself into an actual panic attack.

“Yes, I saw it. I don’t see why it’s an issue.”

“Of course you don’t. Because at the end of the day, you’re still a billionaire. I’m the one with something to lose.”

She has no idea exactly how much. Then again, when all is said and done, I’ll pay Olivia for Aster Fertility Solutions. My buyout might be the best offer she could hope for, anyway. I’m doing her a favor.

I hear her pacing through the phone, muttering to herself. “What was I thinking? I’ve spent years building this, and then I sleep with a client? I should have known better…”

“Technically, I’m not your client yet,” I remind her. “The paperwork hasn’t been finalized.”

“Oh my God, that issonot the point.”

I can picture her so easily. Pacing, hand running through her hair, dismantling that bun again. I wonder if she knows I’m out of town, or if she thinks I’m avoiding her. Both are true.

But I prefer to keep her in the dark. Let her think I’m on the other side of any wall she’s facing. Just beyond the reach of her fingertips, butthere.Watching. Waiting. Tempting.

“No one needs to know the specifics of our arrangement. I like to keep my private life private.”

“Easy for you to say. You’re not the one who—” She breaks off. “This isn’t going to be easy to hide forever.”

Of course not. I knew that. But hearing her say it now makes it viscerally real.

Once she’s carrying my child, she’ll show. The dream from the plane flashes in my mind. The reality that she could be pregnant—right now, as we fucking speak—lends a taste to my tongue, a skittering sensation down my spine. It’s not… entirely unpleasant.

“Who knows if it took?” I say, surprised by the sudden hollowness the words create in my chest.

But the relief in her voice is unmistakable. “You’re right. It might not have… It was only one time. It probably didn’t happen.” She pauses. “Actually, that would be for the best, wouldn’t it? We still haven’t signed a contract. We’re in a gray area.”

That,on the other hand, is extremely unpleasant. Every cell in my body hisses and recoils at the thought alone.

No, hell no, fuck what she’s saying.There’s no wriggling out of this one, little fox. I’ve got you in my jaws already.

“We’ll sign a contract when I return. It’ll cover everything.”

“You’re gone—?” She hesitates. “When will you be back?”

I planned to be away for a few days, but I find myself answering otherwise before I can think it through. “Tomorrow evening.”

“Oh. That’s… fast. Okay.” She exhales softly like she wants to say something else. “Then I guess we’ll… talk. Or sign. Or… whatever.”

“I look forward to it.” I hang up before she can say anything else.

I stare at the Miami skyline through the window. City lights shine like distant stars beneath me, and beyond that, the ocean.Her scent still haunts me: orchids and vanilla. I swear I can smell on my skin when I close my eyes.

I shove off the bed before I do something stupid and go turn on the shower to cold.

Icy droplets pound against my skin until my teeth chatter. But even the cold can’t wash away the heat that flares whenever I think of Olivia Aster becoming irrevocably mine.

I press my forehead against the shower wall. The plan was simple: approach the doctor, secure her clinic as a legitimate front, use her expertise to create an heir. Nowhere in that calculation did I factor in how she’d feel underneath me or the sounds she’d make when she came. I never planned for how delicious it would be to break her and have her ask for more.

I always assumed my father was weak, easily manipulated by a beautiful face. The only reason he died is because he wasn’t strong enough to see that the woman in front of him was a snake.