Pregnant by the Billionaire
Page 1
Pregnant By The Billionaire
A Billionaire Bad Boy Romance
Cassandra Dee
Kendall Blake
Copyright © 2020 by Cassandra Dee
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
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To all the girls dating that impossible-yet-irresistible man.
This one’s for you!
Also By Cassandra Dee and Friends
The Forbidden Fun Series
My Sister’s Husband
My Mom’s Husband
My Best Friend’s Dad
My Son’s Girlfriend
My Mom’s Fiancé
My Neighbor’s Husband
My Best Friend’s Husband
My Brother’s Teammates
The Falling Series
Falling for My Dad’s Best Friend
Falling for My Boyfriend’s Dad
Falling for My Son’s Best Friend
Falling for My Beautiful Ward
Falling for My Enemy
The Double Series
Double Dare
Double Exposure
Double Love
Double Desire
Double Trouble
Double Candy Canes
The Dirty Series
The Dirty Hotel King
My Friend’s Dirty Uncle
My Dirty Professor
The Dirty Headmaster
Sold to Him
His Filthy Game
The Dirty Set-Up
The Billionaires Club
Sold at the Auction
Serving Him
Buy Me
Virgin for Sale
Anonymous Encounters
The #BABYCRAZY Series
#BABYMACHINE
#BABYMAKER
#BABYFEVER
#BABYCRAZY
In Love with Menage
All the Best Men
Their Secret
It’s a Deal
Just One Night
Just One Night, Vol 1
Just One Night, Vol 2
Just One Night, Vol 3
Just One Night, Vol 4
The Manning Brothers
Just One More
Just One Inch
Just Two Much
Just The Tip
The Dial-A-Date Series
The President My Lover
Client No. 6
Bad Cop
Reverse Harem
Seven Brothers of Sin
Six Ways to Sin
Three Rockstars of Sin
Shared
Shared, Vol. 1
Shared, Vol. 2
Shared, Vol. 3
Shared, Vol. 4
The Claiming Her Series
Claiming Her In The Ring
Claiming Her In The Pool
Claiming Her At The Bar
Claiming Her As A Daddy
Claiming Her In the Forest
The Boss Series
My Boyfriend’s Boss
Pregnant by My Boss
Pregnant by the CEO
Pregnant by the Billionaire
The His Series
His Captive
His Woman
His Love
His Christmas Gift
Daddy Academy
Daddy Academy
Standalones
Don’t Fall For Me
Tie Me Up Daddy
Paying My Boyfriend’s Debt
Beg Me
Prison Fling
Cocky AF
Iron Soldier
Buck Me Cowboy
Small Town Secrets
The President and the Starlet
His Baby
Buying a Bride
The Billionaire’s Kitten
Closer
Loving the Babysitter
Daddy’s Rich Enemy
Daddy’s Pretty Baby
Hate Love
Contents
About This Book
1. Robert
2. Elisa
3. Robert
4. Elisa
5. Robert
6. Elisa
7. Robert
8. Elisa
9. Robert
10. Elisa
11. Robert
Epilogue
Sneak Peek: #BABYCRAZY
Sneak Peek: The Dirty Set-Up
About the Author
About This Book
Elisa’s always wanted to be a published author. When her book is picked up by a prestigious publishing house, she’s over-the-moon with delight. But what she doesn’t bank on is clashing with the president of the company, Robert Cameron. Sure, Robert is handsome, charming, and to-die-for-gorgeous, but he also wants her to change her book. Not.
* * *
Rob Cameron has worked in publishing for a long time. He’s been through multiple industry ups and downs, and recognizes talent when he sees it. But when he meets the beautiful Elisa Morgan, suddenly he’s faced with a dilemma: the curvy girl is headstrong and refuses to make his edits. Her book is her baby, and Robert isn’t allowed to touch it … even after he gives her a baby the real way.
* * *
Pregnant by the Billionaire is a steamy romance that will make you laugh out loud while also savoring the heart-pounding passion on the pages. Elisa is a modern-day heroine, and no dashing billionaire is going to tell her what to do with her book (even if Robert is all too persuasive). Lose yourself in this romantic comedy with lots of smiles, lots of tears, and lots of heart. You’ll love it, I promise! Xoxo, Cassie and Kendall
1
Robert
My favorite editor watches my eyes scan the pages before me. Normally, I don’t read manuscripts much anymore because I’m the CEO of a publishing company. At this level, the number of works I look at each year is limited. Instead, I have an excellent editorial staff to review the work of promising writers.
Still, the buck stops with me, which is why I’ll look over selected pieces when my employees tell me they’re beyond good. I re-read the passage before me:
My eyes take in the scene before me, a shadow of what my town used to be. So much has happened since I came back to this place. The life I used to know has burned to ashes, what’s left of my family miles away from this haunted town. Still, I’m drawn to it. My first love, my last love. It all happened here. No matter how hard I try, I always end up coming back.
I place the last page of the novel down on my desk. The editor, Pattie, stares at me with wide, curious eyes.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” I say frankly. “I felt the joy and the loss in the character. Every event felt like it was happening to me.”
“Exactly!” Pattie says excitedly, practically jumping out of her seat. “I’ve never read such a powerful writer.”
“We’ve never published such a powerful writer,” I say in return. “This book is exactly what I’ve been looking for. Sign the author, immediately.”
Pattie nods eagerly.
“On it, boss. This is going to be amazing!” she sings.
I agree because this new writer, Elisa Morgan, is exactly what my company needs. Cameron Publishing’s doing well, but we’re always looking for that next hit that’ll take us
to the stratosphere. We live and die on the next big thing, to be honest. Every publishing house is out there scouring the hills to find the next Harry Potter, but it’s like panning for gold. Most manuscripts are duds, but you’ve just got to keep looking.
It doesn’t bother me because I’m used to hard work. When I first started this publishing firm, it was just me and a couple of guys from my graduating class. It was a madhouse, what with the lot of us crammed into a tiny space breathing down each other’s necks. Seriously, the air could get rancid in the office sometimes because we were always up in each other’s business.
Plus, we got off to a rocky start. Our first couple of acquisitions didn’t do too well, but it was enough to stay afloat, thank god. Fortunately, hard work really does pay off because after a couple rough years, we finally caught our big break when a three-book series under our imprint took off. It was a young adult fantasy series that ended up getting onto a few best seller lists. They even made a movie out of it starring Gunn Hunter, the latest baby-faced boyband hero. It was kind of unreal, to be honest. We went from eating stale sandwiches in our tiny offices to attending glitzy premieres with cheering crowds. That series opened doors and got our little company onto a lot of important radars. Suddenly, we were someone. Authors called us, instead of the other way around.
My partners stayed for a time, but to be honest, their hearts weren’t in it anymore. They’d tasted success and no longer wanted to get their hands dirty in the trenches. So, I bought them out and am now the sole owner of Cameron Publishing.
It hasn’t been easy, let me assure you. Pattie was the first editor I hired after the three original guys left. She’d been out of college a year and was fresh off an internship with a literary agent. Internship, schmintership. Most of those things are just resume padders for spoiled college kids. You need to dive into the trenches and get your hands dirty before you know what life is really like. But Pattie turned out to be tough, and we get along pretty well. It’s been almost five years since she joined the team, and we haven’t strangled each other yet.
Besides, life is different now. Cameron Publishing has grown ten-fold. We occupy an entire floor of our New York City office building, complete with panoramic views of the Hudson River. We have acquiring editors and copy editors. Interns and assistants. A legal team, a publicity team, a production team, and a design team. Everything we outsourced when I first started the company is done in-house now, except for the actual printing of the books. So take that, doubters.
But there’s always the problem of finding talent. This machine isn’t worth anything if you don’t have good material to publish. Day in and day out, we scrutinize work from new authors, old authors, and anyone else who’s even a remote possibility. You have to wade through muck before you find gold, and in our case, that raw muck is words.
“So,” I say, startling Pattie. I guess our silence had gone on for a bit too long. “How long until we can get a contract over to the author? I’m assuming she has an agent?”
Pattie nods quickly.
“The author’s name is Elisa Morgan and yes, she does have an agent. I’ll give her a call as soon as we’re done here.”
“Great. Offer her our best terms. We need to get this book. I have no doubt some other company is going to try to snap the manuscript up, so move fast. Do whatever it takes.”
Pattie smiles.
“You got it, boss. By the way, the author lives in New York City. Could you tell from her writing?”
My lips quirk in amusement.
“I should have guessed by her writing style. It’s got that kind of … I don’t know …”
Smirking, Pattie finishes for me.
“Neurotic attitude? Panache? Verve?”
I grin.
“Yeah, neurotic,” is my dry retort. “I’d like to meet her. Can you set something up with her agent?”
My editor’s eyes widen at this unexpected request.
“Really? You want to meet with an author? You’ve never met with any of our authors before, except at conferences,” she says, wrinkling her nose.
“We’ve never had an author whose work made me cry,” I say dryly.
Pattie snorts with disbelief.
“You cried? When did that happen?”
“I read the book a week ago and cried like a baby. You just didn’t see it because I was at home reading. It was a lot to process, but yeah, I definitely shed some tears.”
My employee wrinkles her nose in another unladylike smirk.
“That’s okay, boss, because I cried, too.”
It’s my turn to laugh now.
“Yeah, I thought your eyes looked a bit puffy when you brought me the manuscript last week. Thanks for printing it out, by the way.”
“Sure, no prob. I’ll get that appointment lined up for you.”
Pattie scampers out of my large office and closes the door behind her. I pick up the manuscript and flip to the first page again. The words are riveting and immediately, I’m transported to another world:
I thought I knew what I was doing, coming back to my hometown. There was no way things could be worse now than they were when I left. If anything, I expected them to be better.
As I pulled into the quick stop for gas to make it the last few miles into town, I knew I was in for a rude awakening. The pumps were covered in dust. I walked inside. The cashier looked up when the bell on the door signaled my entrance. He was the same old man who worked this place when I was a teen but much older.
When I first picked up this book, I thought I was in for just another story about a girl trying to return home. I didn’t expect the incredibly captivating tale that unfolded over the course of sixty thousand words. A woman who starts with everything and ends with nothing, yet somehow still finds it within herself to be hopeful for the future. She’s the heroine every publisher has been dying to get their hands on. This is going to be a blockbuster for sure.
My phone rings, breaking me out of my thoughts.
“Hello?”
“Hey, Mr. Cameron, it’s Trevor. Pattie wanted me to let you know she scheduled a meeting with Ms. Morgan for tomorrow at noon.”
“Wow. She works fast.”
My assistant giggles, which is a little weird for a guy, but that’s okay. “Apparently, the author and her agent want to work with us as much as we want to work with them. They think we’re the perfect publisher for them.”
“Good. I’m glad she’s excited,” is my remark. “Let the board know I approved this project, and we’re moving forward with it.”
I can hear Trevor’s pen scratching furiously on his notepad. Like me, Trevor likes physical reminders and keeps tangible calendars. That’s part of why he’s been my personal assistant for a little over a year now—we see things the same way. But I have one more question.
“Did Pattie mention if the author’s agent is coming to the meeting, too?”
I can almost hear Trevor shaking his head.
“No, she said the agent can’t make it. But she said it’d be no big deal because Ms. Morgan’s very independent. Is that okay?”
I nod.
“It’s fine. By the way, what else is on my schedule?”
Trevor starts going on and on about some meetings, which frankly, I block out. The words drone in my ears, but I’m not listening because my attention is fixated on this author. Who is Elisa Morgan? What does she look like? For some reason, I’m obsessed even though I’ve never met this mysterious woman. And with that, Trevor finishes babbling.
“Thanks, Trevor,” I pick up like nothing’s wrong. “I appreciate your hard work. Bye now.”
I hang up the phone and lean back lazily. I’m getting ahead of myself. Elisa Morgan is probably a middle-aged mom writing while her kids are at school and her husband is at work. That’s how they usually are. They sound sophisticated and graceful on the page, but in person, they’ve got messy hair and wear sweatpants while slaving away at their desk. Oh, well. Can’t get my hopes up.
But why are you thinking this way? the voice in my head asks. You’re trying to sell books, not nail some woman.
With a grimace, I sit up. My subconscious is right. It doesn’t matter what this Elisa person looks like nor how old she is. She’s written a book that I want to sign. That’s it, full stop. So with a sigh, I get back to work. I need to get my libido under control. The written word can make me feel things, and that’s why I’ve lasted so long in this industry. But still, I need to go into that meeting thinking with my brain… and not something else.
2
Elisa
I clutch my phone to my chest. My heart pounds so hard I worry for a second that I might be having a heart attack. I’ve been sitting this way for twenty minutes, ever since the call from my agent. I was sure she was going to call back to say, Just kidding, the offer from Cameron Publishing was a prank and we’re back to square one. But nope. She was calling to tell me that not only is the deal really on the table, but the CEO wants to meet with me to discuss my book.
I flop against my couch, face in my favorite throw pillow, and let out the scream I’ve been holding in for almost an hour.
Once I get the wild emotion out of me, I dial my mom’s number. She picks up on the second ring.
“Hi, Elisa. It’s not Tuesday. What’s up?”