Knocked Up By My Billionaire Boss

by Ella Brooke

  “Yes, sweetheart, in a minute. I think I can use one, too.” Or a stiff drink. Maybe there’s a flavor of ice cream that has booze in it. I see Quinn’s golden blonde head moving through the river of people between us, and I quicken my pace. I don’t intend to let her out of my sight again either.

  “Quinn!” I shout.

  She catches sight of me and hurries toward us. “Logan! Rose!” she calls. We jostle our way through the dissipating crowd and meet each other halfway. Everything around us seems to dim and fade away as she flies into mine and Rose’s waiting embrace. Nothing else exists except this moment; this joining of everything in my life that’s good and special and so very right—the only things that matter.

  “Kin!” Rose squeals, overjoyed to see her favorite babysitter again, grabbing coils of Quinn’s golden hair.

  “Oh, Rosebud! Look at you! I think you’ve grown… I’ve missed you so much!” Quinn says, ignoring the yanks on her tresses in favor of the kisses Rose is plastering to her cheeks.

  “You’re the bravest, craziest girl ever, you know that?” I say, shaking my head in awe.

  “Jolene’s in custody. She’ll be taken to hospital for evaluation,” Quinn says, smiling through Rose’s onslaught of kisses and hugs.

  I nod in acknowledgment and lean in closer. “Is it true?” I ask, my voice an expectant whisper. “You’re pregnant?”

  Quinn turns her attention from Rose and fixes me with her clear, wondrous blue gaze that I want to get lost in forever. I already have my answer just by looking into them, but she gives a small nod of her head. “I’m not so brave, but maybe I am crazy. Crazy about you and Rose. And that I’m going to have your baby.”

  Epilogue

  Quinn

  A New Dawn

  I’m glad it’s Christmas break. After a round of killer term exams, I can really use a few weeks off. I get tired easily, and Dad worries I’m not getting enough rest. He assures me that the first trimester of a pregnancy is the toughest, and I’ll be feeling much better soon. I’ll take his word on that, seeing as he’s the doctor in the house.

  He didn’t freak out or play the disappointment card when I told him my news. Quite the opposite. Having a grandchild on the way seemed to lift his spirits and help him finally break through his lingering grief over my mother. While he wasn’t entirely surprised to find out that Logan is my baby’s father, it took him awhile to get used to the idea.

  “There it is, sweetheart,” Logan says, pointing out the window of his truck. Firmly buckled in the booster seat between us, Rose claps her hands and kicks her feet in excitement. “There’s our new house.”

  As we pull up the long drive, I’m impressed by both the size of the sprawling, Australian sheep station style house and the rambling three acres it occupies. It’s beautiful, surrounded by trees but with plenty of open space for the pony that Logan’s getting for Rose’s fifth birthday. I can’t wait to see her face when it arrives.

  “That’s an awfully big house for such a little girl. What do you think, Rose?”

  “I like it!” she says. “We can have a puppy now!”

  Logan and I exchange exasperated glances. “I thought you wanted a pony,” he says.

  Rose flashes her sweet but mischievous smile that always melts our hearts. “I want both!”

  We all laugh as Logan parks in front of the house with its wide, wraparound porch and brightly painted door that welcomes us. The moving truck will be along in a few minutes, so we start unloading the few light boxes that we’ve brought with us.

  “Don’t you be lifting anything heavy,” Logan warns me as he opens the tailgate. “Why don’t you take Rose inside and have a look around first?”

  “Okay,” I say, taking Rose by the hand and leading her up the steps. Though it seems like only yesterday that I saw Logan and Rose for the first time, moving into the house next door, after everything that’s happened, Logan told me how he felt it best to find a new place. Somewhere secluded and quiet. I’ll miss having him and Rose so close by, but this country property is perfect for them, and only just outside the city. It’s an easy drive for him to take Rose to see her mother in the rehab facility each week.

  I’m proud of him for keeping the promise I made to her—that she and Rose will get to know each other at last. Their first visits seem positive, as Logan says Jolene has been surprisingly patient and low-key with Rose. No mention of the “mom” word yet, as it’s way too soon for that, but so far they’re off to a good start. I also know it will be part of Logan’s healing process too; to begin to repair the scars of his difficult past.

  After informing my dad about the baby, it also became too awkward for both he and Logan to continue to live next door to each other, and since I still have studies to finish, a move for Rose and Logan was really the right thing to do. I’m looking forward to graduation and will have my degree well before the baby is born in July. For now, I just want to help them get settled and enjoy the holidays.

  “Wow,” I say, turning a three sixty inside the large, open living space on the main floor. The exposed log beams stretch across a high ceiling and angle down toward the full span of windows along one wall. The view is spectacular, the misty blues and grays of the Superstition Mountains looming in the distance.

  “Wow!” Rose echoes, skipping around the room. “Where’s my room?” she asks.

  “I’ll bet it’s upstairs,” I say, noting a lovely winding staircase leading to the upper floor. Trust a construction professional to appreciate fine craftsmanship and design when he sees it. “Let’s check it out.” I take her by the hand and climb the curving staircase as Logan enters the house with an armload of boxes.

  Rose runs into all of the four bedrooms, shouting “this one’s mine” in each one. I laugh and follow behind, enjoying our exploration of the second floor. There are two good-sized bedrooms on one side of the landing, and both a large master suite and a fourth, smaller, bedroom on the other. I gaze out the window of the master bedroom, taking in the equally fantastic views from this side of the house. They’re both going to love it here. I love it already and plan to visit on as many weekends as I can.

  I wander into the separate bathroom, envious of the beautiful marble tile and the luxurious Jacuzzi bath. I’m not showing yet, but I’m sure I could use some soothing, fragrant soaks in that tub when I’m big as a whale in my eighth month. I’m also jealous of the huge walk-in closet in the suite. I’ve lived in the same house with my parents for as long as I can remember, and though Dad could afford bigger, he was never into the material trappings of success. Family was foremost, and we loved the modest home we had. None of the closets were even a quarter of the size of this one!

  As I admire the space, Logan walks in with a few boxes of clothes and sets them on the floor. I can hear Rose singing a nursery rhyme in the small bedroom next door.

  “I think she’s found her favorite room,” I say.

  “We’ll see about that,” Logan says, spreading his arms wide. “What do you think? You like it?”

  “I love it, Logan. It’s beautiful, it’s perfect.”

  He smiles with pride and nods. “I think so, too.”

  “Just one problem,” I say with a sigh.

  “What’s that?” he says, looking crestfallen. “I thought you said it was perfect.”

  “That closet.” I point at it casually. “It’s way too big. How’s a single dad who wears coveralls to work every day going to fill up a closet that size? It’s like a damn bank vault,” I tease.

  Logan’s lips rise into a thoughtful pout, and they look so adorable I want to kiss them right here, right now. Who am I kidding? I want to kiss those lips for the rest of my life. I feel a joyful flutter in my core as if my baby knows it, too. He casts a critical, builder’s eye over the open, empty expanse of storage.

  “Mmm, I don’t think so. We’re going to need that space.”

  “What for?” I chuckle. “Don’t tell me you’re going to store your tools in there, too?�
��

  “Well, now that you bring it up,” he says, digging into his jean pocket as if looking for a screwdriver. Instead, he pulls out a shiny key and holds it out in his palm for me to see. “Here’s a tool you’ll need.”

  I stare at the polished piece of metal in his big, callused builder’s hand and I can feel my heart thudding in my chest. With so much going on, and me still in school, we haven’t really discussed any plans for the immediate future, but with this gesture, I know that he’s offering me much more than a key.

  I look up to his face, that rugged, handsome face with the sexy smile that I’ve come to love, along with the rest of his kind soul and luscious, hard body that I’ve missed, and my doubts blow away like the tumbleweeds in the desert that surrounds us.

  “Are you sure?” I ask. “I know we didn’t plan on getting pregnant. I’ve never asked for you to take responsibility or expect that you’d…”

  “Shh,” he quiets me. “Quinn, honey. You don’t have to ask anything. I want this, I want you. I’ve had too many of the people I love leave me… I couldn’t bear it if I let you leave, too, because I’d be losing two people at the same time. You… and our baby. I can’t let that happen. Please. I love you, Quinn. Move in with us. Make us a family.”

  I can barely speak. My throat seems to have swollen shut and my eyes are clouded with tears of joy that I can’t hold back. Somehow, I manage to get the words out as I leap into Logan’s open arms and hold him so tight I can hardly breathe. “Yes, yes. Absolutely yes.”

  Our lips meet in a kiss so deep and passionate and filled with promise that it feels like our first, and I know it won’t be our last.

  “Eeeewww,” Rose squeals. We both turn our heads to see her standing in the doorway, a mixture of delight and distaste on her face. “You’re kissing!”

  “You bet we are, sweetheart. Quinn’s going to stay with us… forever. Would you like that?” Logan asks.

  Her smile lights the room like a brilliant sunrise. “Yay!” she yells, and rockets across the floor toward us, wrapping her little arms around our legs. “But I get the little room,” she adds, pointing next door.

  Logan laughs and shakes his head. “That’s okay, Quinn won’t be sleeping in that room. But I’m afraid you can’t have it either, Rosebud.” Rose looks up, her lip trembling in disappointment.

  “Why not, Daddy?”

  “Because your new baby brother or sister is going to live there very soon. What do you think about that?”

  She looks curiously back and forth between Logan and me, considering the question. “I like it,” she announces with another grand smile. “We’ll have to get two ponies, then!”

  “I thought you wanted puppies now,” I say, my tears turning to laughter.

  “Puppies are nice,” she states. “But ponies are better.” She looks up at Logan. “Is Kin going to be my new brother’s or sister’s mommy?”

  Logan tries to keep a straight face. “Yup.”

  Rose’s little forehead knits up as though thinking hard in that serious, strangely adult way she has, then looks straight at me. “Can you be my mommy, too?”

  My heart swells with love for this little girl, but can I really be her mommy? She has a mother that she’s just getting to know, and I don’t want to jeopardize that. But I know we can be a family. “I can if you want me to be, sweetheart. I’d love to.”

  Logan leans down and scoops her up with one arm and draws me in with the other, wrapping us into one big family hug. The first of many.

  THE END

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  Chapter One

  Brett

  When I was ten years old, my mother and I moved to Chicago with nothing but the clothes on our backs and a fistful of bills that one of her friends in Indiana had stuffed in her hand before we left. We’d left in the middle of night because we were late on rent. I wasn’t supposed to know why we left, but I did. It wasn’t the first time it had happened, but as luck would have it, it was the last.

  Mom had to work three jobs to make sure that it never happened again, but she never once complained.

  On my first day at my new school, some of the kids picked on me for my ratty sweater and holey jeans. I’d been about to put my fist into one of their faces when an almighty scream rang out behind me. I spun around to see a little girl with the bluest eyes I’d ever seen, wailing and pointing at the guy who’d been making fun of me.

  Another boy came running, and his fist collided into the bully’s cheekbone with a loud crack. After a brief tussle, a teacher had broken up the fight and sent us all off with a warning. The boy who’d punched the guy in my defense looked over at me, his dark hair pointing in every direction and a trickle of blood running from his nose. He grunted, “We’re gonna miss lunch if we don’t hurry. Come on.”

  Nineteen years later, that same boy was sitting beside me in the booth of an upscale bar on Logan Square, celebrating my latest deal.

  Mark Love. My best goddamned friend in the world. He smacked me on the back with a thump of his fist. I couldn’t hear it over the music that was blaring from large speakers lining the walls, and he grinned like the madman he was.

  “Congratulations, brother,” he said. “I’m really fucking proud of you.” He hailed a passing waitress. “Three shots of Patron and three beers, please.”

  “Sure thing, coming right up.” The waitress winked and flashed him a smile, but Mark’s eyes were already out on the dance floor.

  “Actually, better make that four of everything,” he told her, sighing as he slumped back in his seat. “Sophia’s gonna be parched when she comes off the floor.”

  Shawn, another one of our friends, followed Mark’s eyes, and he let out a low whistle. “She’s looking pretty damn good tonight, isn’t she?”

  Mark and I both turned to glower at him. Mark because he was super overprotective of his little sister, and me because I generally just didn’t like the idea of Shawn staring at Sophia. He threw his hands up in mock surrender, his lips twitching into a cocky smile.

  “Stand down, Not-her-dad One and Not-her-dad Two. Just stating the facts, is all. She looks good. Can either of you deny it?”

  “Yes,” Mark snapped. “Keep your eyes off my sister, asshole.”

  Shawn’s bright green eyes darted to mine. “Come on, back me up here, Brett. Sophia’s legit hot. I know she’s like a little sister to you, too, but you know she’s not actually related to you, right? That means you can back me up without it being creepy.”

  “I know she’s not related to me.” I glanced at Mark, who was waiting for me to continue with a scowl and a challenge in his dark blue eyes. “But she might as well have been. So nope. Not hot.”

  It was a total lie, of course.

  But it was one I would keep telling until my dying fucking day.

  As it turned out, the blue-eyed girl whose shriek had summoned Mark on that fateful day was his sister, Sophia Love. Three years younger than us, Sophia had had some trouble with same bullies over the summer, but she hadn’t known who they were.

  Ever the protector, Mark had told her to scream if she saw them at school so that he could, in his in juvenile words, teach them a lesson.

  And scream she did.

  Every once in a while, Mark and I joked that it was the scream that could be heard around the world. That
scream had changed my life when it catapulted the man who would become like a brother to me into it.

  Only Sophia wasn’t a seven-year-old girl anymore, and it was getting harder and harder not to notice that fact, despite what I’d just told Shawn. She’d always been pretty. Even as a kid, I remembered that I used to think that she looked like one of the porcelain dolls my mom collected.

  In high school, as her body filled out and morphed into that of a woman, she was beautiful. Not that I’d ever actually noticed it back then, not in any other way than agreeing with the whispers in the locker room. Okay, and once when I’d been fall-down drunk, and I’d thought that she looked like a dark, fallen angel when her face had loomed over my semi-passed out self. The next morning, I pretended that I couldn’t remember that I’d told her I thought she was “the most beautiful girl in the world.”

  Somewhere around college, though, I had to admit that she was hot, even if it was only to myself. Now at twenty-six, Sophia wasn’t just hot anymore. She was fucking devastating.

  And I knew it, along with any other man and probably half the women in the club. But I would never, ever admit it out loud.

  Mark smirked beside me, raising his fist for me to bump. “Good man. You see, Shawn? That’s what real friends do. They don’t check out each other’s sisters.”

  Shawn rolled his eyes, draining the last bit of beer from the bottle in front of him. “Whatever. Just being honest.”

  The waitress arrived with our drinks, grabbing Mark’s attention as she started flirting with him. It afforded me the opportunity to check out the potential talent on the dance floor. Not Sophia, of course. The other talent.

  My company had hit a huge milestone that afternoon. The deal was worth billions, and my personal net worth now exceeded one billion dollars. Not bad for a guy who came from nothing and nowhere.