Accidental Pregnancy, page 12
I glance at him. I’d like to ask him how he realized that I knew, but I know he’s smart. He knows how mad I am, and he’s probably deduced the most likely reason for that.
“Maybe,” I bite out. “Still, crashing the meeting was a jerk move. Did it occur to you that there’s a reason I didn’t want to talk to you?”
“It did,” Lyle says. He’s way too calm; that just makes me more irritated.
“Then why bother?” I demand. “I broke up with you. If you’re here to beg me to take you back…”
“I’m not,” Lyle interrupts. His brow furrows and he scowls at me, finally looking upset. “God, as much as I want to, I’m not going to do that. That wouldn’t be fair to either of us. I just didn’t want us to part with you thinking that I tried to trick you.”
I pause.
“What?” I ask, genuinely confused.
“Look…I understand why you’re mad,” Lyle says with a sigh. He crosses the room and takes a seat in one of the guest chairs in front of his desk, likely so we can sit together. I’m half-tempted to go around the desk and sit in his chair, but I take a seat next to him instead. “If I were you, I’d be angry, too. I don’t blame you for breaking up with me. Will you please just hear me out, though?”
I don’t really want to. I have the feeling that whatever he has to say will break every barrier I’ve been trying to build. Part of me has known all along, that Lyle wasn’t just stringing me along, that he was actually genuine. But I don’t need to hear it, not if I want to stay firm in my decision.
“Fine,” I say abruptly. “Make it quick. I have a meeting to go back to.”
“Of course,” Lyle says with a nod. “I’d first like to promise that, on the night we met, I didn’t know who you were, just like you didn’t know me.”
That’s…surprisingly relieving. Part of me had wondered if he had sought me out just because I was Alan Simmons’ daughter.
“We met and we had that connection all on our own,” Lyle continues. His eyes are boring into me and I try to avoid his gaze. But it’s impossible. “The next day, I was thrilled you gave me your number. I went into work and sent one of my employees down to meet the representative of Tech Square Inc.”
“And…?” I ask, cautiously intrigued.
“I was a little thrown off about being left out of the proceedings, even though that was my decision,” Lyle admits with a rueful laugh. “So I went downstairs to see what was happening. And I saw you in the boardroom.”
I try to imagine the scenario. A reluctant smile twitches at my lips.
“That’s…crazy,” I can’t help but laugh.
“It was a little,” Lyle admits. “Then you sent me a message back, asking me to meet up for lunch. I was actually worried you were using me, you know. But then we met for lunch, and I knew you weren’t. I should have told you right then who I was.”
“Why didn’t you?” I ask.
“I wanted to keep dating you,” Lyle confesses. “I was afraid that, if you knew who I was, you wouldn’t want to date me.”
I stare at him, trying to process what he’s saying.
“So…you put me through all that…because you were a coward?” I ask.
Lyle winces.
“More or less,” he coughs.
I can’t believe it. I knew, deep down, that Lyle’s motivations weren’t malicious. But, still, I can’t believe that it was over this.
“You…you just assumed that I would react badly?” I ask, my voice rising. “Are you kidding? How selfish is that? Didn’t it occur to you to talk to me about it?”
“It did,” Lyle says with a wry smile. “I just kept coming up with some very good reasons why that wouldn’t be a very good idea.”
“Holy shit,” I say.
I get to my feet and start to pace. How is this my life? I get together with a goddamn billionaire who lied to me so that I wouldn’t dump him, which ended in me dumping him anyway. Meanwhile, I’m still hiding the fact that I’m carrying his baby, a secret that I was keeping more out of spite than anything right now.
“This is…unbelievable,” I say, shaking my head.
I can feel my temperature rising. I’m angry and sad and really fucking happy, all at once, and it’s making my head spin.
“I’m sorry,” Lyle offers.
“Sorry?” I echo. “No, you don’t get to be sorry, you fucking coward. I dumped you because I thought you were just using me to further this fucking alliance! I almost went to my father and told him I couldn’t do it! Do you know how that would have looked? He would have crowed about it for years! And forget about getting chosen as his successor… He already doesn’t want me to succeed, so failing at the one responsibility he decided to give me would give him more than enough reason to keep me from taking over!”
Lyle blinks. I’m rambling, but I can’t seem to stop myself, the words spilling over my lips without abandon.
“And, on top of all that, I’m still fucking sick every morning, and everyone seems to know it,” I say, throwing my hands in the air in exasperation. “I’m tired all the time, I can’t focus on work, I’m snapping at everyone…and it’s all your fucking fault!”
I’m talking about the baby here, not about his lies, but I’m not about to correct the misconception at this moment, not when I’ve gotten up good momentum. Obviously I needed to let off some steam, and Lyle is just standing there and listening quietly as I talk.
“Meanwhile, my mom is on my case,” I snort. “‘Talk to Lyle,’ she says, tell him what you decide. Talk to him. Well, I did! I broke up with you! Remember that?”
“Hard to forget,” Lyle says.
I shoot him a suspicious glare. He looks like he’s fighting a laugh. He better not dare be thinking about laughing right now!
“Are you finding this amusing?” I demand.
“Not at all,” he says.
But his glittering eyes say it all. I try to imagine what he’s seeing. Here I am, pacing his office and ranting insanely, my hands waving in the air, rambling about topics that have very little to do with what he brought me up here to talk about.
The image is surprisingly funny. My anger starts to fade as I stare at Lyle.
And then I break. One moment I’m standing, clenching my fists. And then I’m collapsing in the chair and laughing hysterically. I’m laughing so hard that tears spill from my eyes.
This is all so ridiculous. I don’t know what’s going on anymore.
I glance at Lyle. He doesn’t look amused anymore, and my own mirth has begun to fade. It wasn’t even that funny in the first place. But I’ve been so stressed lately that it’s not surprising that I’ve been approaching a full meltdown.
“Amanda…what’s going on?” he asks quietly.
“I broke up with you,” I remind him, but my voice is softer. There are still tears in my eyes, but they’re not from laughter anymore. “Why the fuck did you call me up here and tell me all that?”
“I wanted you to continue working on the alliance with a clear mind,” he admits. “I was worried that your anger at me might eventually affect it. And…”
He hesitates and trails off. I zero in on it.
“And?” I ask sharply.
“And I’m falling in love with you,” Lyle says. The air goes still as I stare at him. “I couldn’t let you go, not without letting you know. I didn’t want you to think that I was manipulating you. I care for you, and I always will.”
I’m barely breathing as I stare at him, shocked by the admission.
What?
Chapter Twenty
Lyle
Amanda is staring at me, her eyes wide. I feel myself tense, but I don’t regret what I just confessed to. I might not have known Amanda for long, but I started falling in love with her the moment I met her. Even if she still leaves me now, I don’t want her to ever think I didn’t care.
“You…what?” she finally breathes.
I pat her hand. I’m not going to repeat it. To say it again will make it seem like I’m begging for another chance at a relationship with her. I don’t want to seem that desperate.
“You have a meeting to get back to,” I remind her gently.
“I… Yes, meeting,” she says.
She seems genuinely shell-shocked. She stands, her movements a little mechanical, and turns.
Then, abruptly, she turns back.
“No,” she blurts out.
I blink at her.
“What?” I ask, confused.
“You…you don’t get to say that and not expect a reply,” she says, waving a finger at me.
“I’m not expecting a reply,” I say with a shrug. “You’ve already made your feelings clear, so…”
“No,” she says again, cutting me off. She’s staring at me intently. “I’m pregnant.”
I stare at her.
“Huh?”
Surely I’m hearing that completely wrong, There’s no way she just told me that she was…
“Pregnant,” Amanda repeats. “I’m pregnant. With your baby.”
We stare at each other, both of us standing now. I don’t remember getting to my feet. I feel oddly disconnected from everything.
Amanda…is pregnant? When the hell did that happen?
“When…when I went to the doctor, she said that I might be, so I went to get the test,” Amanda says quietly. “It was positive. I…wanted to see you, but I didn’t know where you were. So I headed to Energy Plus Co., hoping to do some work. But then you were getting out of a car and one of your employees was talking to you about the alliance… Then I went to Mom and we looked you up and figured out who you were.”
So that’s how it happened. I had wondered. Suddenly, though, that’s not important.
Amanda is pregnant.
With my kid.
“Way I figure, it happened that one time we forgot the fucking condom,” Amanda snorts. “Of course. When it rains, it pours, right?”
“Right,” I say distractedly. “So…what are you going to do?”
“What do you mean?” she asks, looking at me sharply.
“I mean, are you going to keep the baby?” I ask. It’s difficult to ask; she’s carrying my child. I want to beg her to keep it. “It’s your decision. We’ve only known each other for a few weeks. It’s a big responsibility for us both.”
She stares at me. And then her face relaxes into a wide, beautiful smile.
“I’m keeping it,” she says. “I don’t know what will happen with a baby in my life, but I’m definitely keeping it. I’ve already decided on that.”
Before I know what I’m doing, I reach out and hug her, so overwhelmed that I can’t do anything else. We’re having a baby. Shit, that’s huge, and I still don’t even know if Amanda and I can work this relationship out yet.
But we’re having a baby!
“No matter what happens, I’ll support you, even if we’re not together,” I swear. “I’ll pay support and provide anything you might need. I’ll always be there. You don’t have to go through this alone, alright? This kid will always have a mom and dad, even if we’re separate.”
Amanda pulls back and looks up at me. There are tears in her eyes again. For a moment, I panic that I’ve said something wrong again. But then she softly cups my cheeks in her hands and leans up to kiss me.
It’s a soft kiss. It’s like the kisses we had started to share whenever we parted. It’s so unlike the fierce kisses that normally led to sex. This kiss is full of feelings and wishes.
I kiss her back, holding her in my arms. I don’t know how much longer I’ll have this for, and I want to hold her for as long as she’ll let me.
“You’re so amazing,” I breathe when we pull back. “I’m sorry you didn’t feel you could tell me.”
“I was always going to tell you,” Amanda tells me. She grimaces. “I was just really mad at you.”
“I told you, I don’t blame you,” I chuckle.
She hasn’t pulled out of my arms yet. My grip on her is still tight. I don’t want to let her go. But I might have to if she decides to step away. Technically, we’re not together anymore. Our secrets have been aired, but I don’t know what that means for us.
“So…now what?” I ask.
“What do you mean?”.
“This,” I say, nodding at the way our arms are winding around each other. “You broke up with me a week ago. Do we still have a chance?”
Amanda chews her bottom lip. It wasn’t the automatic agreement that I was hoping for.
“Even if we’ve cleared the air, there’s a lot of things to consider,” she says. “We’re technically working together on the alliance.”
“Not exactly,” I reply immediately. “You’re working with Brandon, and I get reports on what you guys are doing. As long as we don’t talk about work while we’re together, it isn’t a conflict of interest.”
“Then there’s my dad to consider,” Amanda points out.
I think about Alan Simmons and wince.
“Your dad is a scary man,” I tell her, and she lets out a startled laugh. “But we’re adults. As long as it isn’t affecting either business, we have the right to do whatever we want.”
“He’ll still be angry,” Amanda says.
“Then let him be angry.” If her only arguments against a relationship are her father’s ire and having a conflict of interest at work, then that’s good. It means she’s not against the idea because of either of us. “You’re a grown woman. And if he won’t let you succeed, then wait until he’s ready to retire and then take it over!”
She snorts.
“I have considered that,” she says.
“You’re smart enough and ambitious enough to do it,” I tell her. “You’re a leader, Amanda. Don’t let anyone sideline you, not even your father.”
She smiles at me. It’s nothing like the strained smiles I was getting before. This is her smile, the one I’ve been waiting for.
“Okay,” she says.
I pause.
“Okay?” I check; was it that easy?
“Okay,” she repeats, and laughs. “Okay, let’s do this. Let’s try and do an honest relationship, this time, all cards on the table.”
“Deal,” I say, beaming. “This weekend, you can come over. We can watch movies in my home theater.”
Her eyes bug out.
“You have a home theatre?” she gasps.
“Inherited, like most other things, but I’m renovating,” I say, amused by her reaction. “And…maybe we can talk about the baby, and what we can do before it arrives?”
I really want to do that. I’ve wanted a family for as long as I can remember. But, in the last few years, I resigned myself to it being impossible when I met so many women who were only interested in my money. Then I met Amanda, and that hope was cautiously rekindled.
Yet somehow, we’ve skipped several steps. Forget dating for years, eventual engagement and the marriage. Before we do any of that, we now have a baby on the way.
I’m going to be a father.
“I’m going to be a dad,” I say out loud in wonder.
“Yeah,” Amanda says, smiling softly. “And, yes, we can talk about the baby whenever you want. You sound more excited by it than I am.”
“That’s okay,” I say, smiling. “You don’t have to be so excited. I know this wasn’t planned, and it was a shock.”
She laughs and kisses me again. I’m not sure what I said that prompted that reaction, but I would gladly do it again, especially when she licks my bottom lip slowly, requesting entrance. I open my mouth and suck her tongue into mine, lightly scraping my teeth against it.
Instantly the air changes around us, become charged with something hot and electric. I deepen the kiss and Amanda presses against me. It hasn’t been that long since I last touched her. But after everything we went through in the last week, it feels like forever. Having her in my arms again, right after everything that happened, is utterly amazing. I never want to let her go.
“This is perfect,” I murmur against her lips as we pull away slightly.
“So is this,” she purrs.
Her hand slides between us and she rubs against my cock, which was previously slowly sitting up in attention. Blood instantly flows down, leaving me feeling a little light-headed, and I gasp as I buck against her hand.
“That feels good,” I groan.
She presses harder, rubbing her palm along my hardening length through my pants, which are starting to tighten. My erection must be obviously tenting the front of my pants by now, but I can’t bring myself to care.
I slide my hand under her shirt. She’s dressed in business clothes too. The blouse is stretched over her breasts and the buttons pop easily under my fingers. Once I have them all undone, I let the blouse fall open to reveal a lace white bra underneath. I trace my finger under the wire, lightly touching the underside of her breast, and she moans.
“Have you ever had sex on a desk?” I ask in a low voice.
I hear her sharp intake of breath.
“No,” she breathes.
I smile.
“Well, you’re about to.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Amanda
It’s hard to even remember that I was mad at Lyle. I groan at his words. Sex on the desk? It sounds absolutely amazing.
“Fuck, Lyle,” I pant. “I need you so bad right now.”
We stumble backward. My knees bump into one of the chairs, but I can’t bring myself to care about it. Then we hit the desk.
Lyle kisses me, hungry and desperate, his hands flying over my body. I push against him, grinding against him and rubbing the length of my body over his. He groans into my mouth, deep and guttural.
Then he pulls away, leaving me clutching at thin air. I gasp, trying to catch my breath as he leans into toward me, his arms braced on either side of the desk.
“We need more room.” he says in a low voice.
He reaches behind me to push everything on his desk backward. I hear several files fall and scatter on the floor. A distant part of my mind, the part that knows I would be horrified if this happened to me, hopes that the files weren’t that important. But then Lyle ducks his head and wraps his lips around my wildly beating pulse, and I forget all about it in favor of the man right in front of me.
