Her Boss’s Baby: An Office Romance

by Chloe Lane

  I might.

  I’m practically trembling in my seat when I hear him hang up the phone, the slamming of the handset coming through the closed door.

  As insane as it sounds, I can’t ignore the fact that my chest feels warm and relieved at this thought. If I could strike a deal with Mr. Hunter, if I could give him the baby he needs in exchange for some security, I’d be able to move on with my life. I’d be able to leave behind my father’s death and the ex who...

  Well, the ex who ruined my career prospects as a journalist in this city, anyway.

  I’m not going to think about Peter now. All I know is that Mr. Hunter is sitting in his office, alone, and he’s looking for a solution. He has to be. I’ve only been here a month, but he strikes me as the kind of man who doesn’t give up—not for anything. He could be hiring a surrogate right now. He’d do anything to get those veterans out of the shelters. Veterans and their families, and then the rest of the people the city has chewed up and spat out.

  Plus…a baby means baby-making. And I’ve wanted that from the moment I first saw him.

  I rise to my feet, smoothing down my blazer again. There’s no time to pull out the mirror before I go in there. I’m just going to go.

  I steel myself, drawing myself up to my full height.

  You’re a smart, confident woman, I tell myself. You can do anything you set your mind to.

  This time, hopefully, I’m right.

  I go to the door and knock softly but firmly on the surface with my knuckles. “Mr. Hunter?”

  There’s a pause so long that at first I think he’s not going to answer. I should just go back to my desk and wait for the email that will be coming any second now, telling me what we need to do for the rest of the afternoon. Telling me that he doesn’t want to be disturbed, perhaps. Or telling me to bring in the materials for his next meeting.

  I’ve just turned away when I hear his voice. “Come in.”

  My heart leaps into my throat.

  Maybe this is stupid. Maybe I shouldn’t say anything at all. No—I definitely shouldn’t say anything at all. I should pretend I never heard a single word of his conversation. I hesitate, for a moment too long.

  The door to Mr. Hunter’s office swings open, and he’s standing there, a strange expression on his face. He looks irritated, a little, but there’s something else flickering in his eyes that I can’t quite identify. “What are you doing out here, Ms. Dawson?”

  That voice, that low, commanding voice, makes me melt. I straighten up anyway, lifting my chin. “I just—” I swallow hard, beginning again. “I was coming to see if you needed anything.”

  “Why would I need anything?” His mouth is pressed into a thin line.

  It’s now or never. I can just say something to smooth this over and go back to my desk. But then that will leave Robin—and me—hanging out to dry. We only have a few days left before the landlord kicks us to the curb. She’s been trying her best to work a part-time job to cover the rent, but this month it’s not happening, and I don’t have high hopes for next month. She can barely get out of bed most days.

  There’s no one left for her but me.

  I open my mouth. “I heard your conversation just now,” I admit, my heart beating so hard and fast, I feel faint. “I shouldn’t have eavesdropped, but I heard what you said, and I thought…I thought maybe I could help.”

  Chapter 4

  Matthew

  I don’t know what the fuck to say.

  Skye stands just outside my office door, looking as delicious as the first day I saw her, and I think—I think—she might have just offered to solve my problem.

  Which is crazy. I can’t let her do that. I can’t touch her. The last thing I need is a reputation for getting my secretaries pregnant.

  No matter how much I want to get Skye pregnant.

  “I’m not sure what you mean,” I say finally, breaking the silence between us. Behind Skye, the outer office door is open to a bustling hallway. I’ve hired the best people I could find to help me manage this business, and any one of them could walk into this conversation at any moment.

  Skye blushes a deep, deep red. I want more than anything to raise my hand to her face and run my thumb across her cheekbone, but I force myself not to move. “If you need…an heir,” she says finally, then runs her tongue across her pink lips. Those perfect, pink lips that would look unbelievable wrapped around my cock. I’m hard as a rock, and she has to know it. “I could help you with that.”

  I want to laugh, but more than that, I want to take her in my arms and kiss her, claim her, and then explore every inch of that creamy skin. “I think you’d better step inside.”

  It’s dangerous, and I know it. It’s always dangerous to be alone with female employees, even when you’re the owner of a company. Especially when you’re the owner of a company. My work is too important to be jeopardized by gossip that I’m a womanizer. But I can’t turn Skye away—not when she’s just said something like that.

  She steps into my office and I close the door behind her.

  Instantly, the air shifts. She takes a breath, her breasts rising beneath her blazer, and then she bites at her lip nervously.

  My cock twitches in my pants.

  “Let’s be clear with each other,” I say, looking her in the eye. Her green eyes are bright, nervous—but burning with something I think is lust. That I know is lust. It’s not like I haven’t noticed her staring. I just can’t believe she’d take it this far. “You’re offering to have a baby for me, so that I can access my father’s trust fund.”

  “Could we…sit down?” Skye sounds slightly breathless, and it’s only in this moment that I realize how nervous she must be.

  “Of course.” I go around behind my desk and take my seat, and Skye slides into one of the two chairs across the desk from me.

  She folds her hands in her lap. “From what I heard, you can’t access your trust fund until you have an heir,” she says, her voice soft and even. I’d like to hear that voice begging me to make her come. “And I know—at least, I think I know—that you need that money for the new Southlake project.”

  Nothing gets by her. Skye isn’t involved in planning for any of these projects—just managing my meeting schedule and taking my calls—but she’s clearly spent time learning the ins and outs of what we do here, job descriptions be damned. I don’t want to admit to her that I’m in this position, but it seems like she already knows. “The Southlake project, and more.”

  “More?” Her forehead wrinkles.

  “The money will cover the launch of the Southlake development, but after that, my goal is to take Hunter Housing nationwide. If I can do it without having to involve investors, it’ll be much better for everyone.” A thousand times better for the men and women and families I want to put in this housing, who won’t have to worry that I’ll hike up the rent and fuck them over for shareholders. “But I can only do that if I get access to the trust I was promised.” My anger is starting to bubble up again, but Skye doesn’t flinch.

  “And your—father? He’s the one who’s keeping the money from you?”

  I shouldn’t be telling her about this. I shouldn’t be admitting any of this to her. But her big green eyes are so wide and hopeful that I can’t stop myself.

  “Yes. He just informed me this week that the heir is a…necessary stipulation to releasing the trust.” I grit my teeth, then take a big breath and let it out. “According to my lawyer, there’s really no way around it. And my father has ten lawyers to my one. There’s no way I’m going to claw that money out of his hands unless I play his game.”

  Skye nods, glancing down at her hands. Holy shit, she is gorgeous. “I’m sorry for eavesdropping.”

  “I wasn’t being very discreet.”

  “It’s just that when I heard what you said, I—” Suddenly, Skye’s green eyes are covered with a sheen of tears. What the fuck is happening? She swallows hard, then continues. “I’m in a…situation myself, and I thought
—”

  “What situation?” Not once in this entire month has Skye let on that anything in her life is less than perfect. I’m caught off guard by the surge of protective emotion that takes over in my chest. She hasn’t even told me yet, but I already want to fix this for her.

  Why?

  I have no idea.

  She waves a hand in the air. “Just—my living situation, really. Things have been hard lately. My sister—” She cuts herself off. “It’s not important, really. I just thought that maybe we could…we could make a deal.”

  A deal.

  Skye—sweet, innocent Skye—has come in here ready to trade her body for a way out of some trouble she’s in. She’s willing to give herself over to me, to have my baby in her belly, in order to save herself, to save her sister.

  From what, I don’t know…but I have to find out.

  Chapter 5

  Skye

  God, I’ve never been so embarrassed in my life. I’m propositioning my boss—to have his baby, or at least pretend to have his baby—and I can barely put a sentence together.

  I’m drowning in the blue of his eyes. Mr. Hunter’s jaw works, and the air between us is tense, like the moment before a lightning strike.

  When he speaks again, he’s dropped his voice, and some of the anger seems to have faded from his face. Now all the intensity is focused on me. “You’re telling me things are so bad that you’re willing to have a baby to solve the problem?”

  My throat aches. I’ve been trying to paint things in a positive light for so long, but the fact is that I’m on the verge of a breakdown. Robin’s migraines have her bedridden, and our apartment isn’t the best place for someone like that. It’s next to the train tracks, but with our matching sets of hefty student loans, there’s nothing else we can afford. And I’m still paying off the bills from Dad’s funeral. How was I supposed to find the money for that as a college student without a wealthy family and no savings?

  I blink the tears out of my eyes. I don’t want Mr. Hunter to pity me.

  I really do want him to get me pregnant.

  Then we can both be free to do what we want to do…if he agrees, that is.

  “That’s what I’m saying.” I struggle to keep my voice under control. “All I’d want from you is enough money to get me and my sister out of the place we’re living and pay off some debts.” Mr. Hunter’s father is the richest man in the city, bar none. The trust must be sizable. It must be more than enough to buy me a fresh start—and my boss, too.

  He leans back in his seat, crossing his arms over his chest. “I’d say you can’t be serious, but I don’t think you’d have come in here if you weren’t.”

  “I am serious.” I’m more serious with every passing moment. The longer I think about this, the more I want to do it. The more it seems like the perfect solution. To have a baby with Mr. Hunter would mean safety. Security. And a new life for Robin and me.

  He laughs, and the sound sends a bolt of lust straight between my legs. “You’ve known about this for five minutes, and you’re already willing to jump into my bed?”

  “I’m not some kind of slut,” I say, the defensive tone flying out of my mouth before I can stop it. This is exactly why I don’t have a job at any of the local papers. Because Peter made them all believe that I—

  Mr. Hunter leans forward, eyes locked on mine. “I would never say that.”

  I want him closer to me. I want him to come around the desk and take my face in one of his big hands, tilt it up toward his, and—

  I have to keep talking, keep the conversation going. “I want a way out of the situation I’m in,” I tell him, the raw honesty making my chest ache. “And I think you do, too.”

  He considers me. “You’re my secretary.”

  “You’re my boss.”

  “Things are that bad?”

  I look him over, and I can’t help but smile, just a little. “Things are that bad,” I admit, “but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want to…” I can’t finish the sentence. I can’t bring myself to go this far.

  “You didn’t want to what?” Mr. Hunter’s voice rings with authority. “Tell me, Ms. Dawson.”

  I gather up all my courage. “I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want to…sleep with you.” I have to force myself not to close my eyes and shrink down into my chair. This is not the kind of thing I expected to say when I woke up this morning.

  “Sleep with me,” says Mr. Hunter, sounding a little thoughtful.

  “Yes.”

  “I want to do more than sleep with you, Ms. Dawson.”

  It takes me completely by surprise. “You—what?”

  He stands up, coming around the desk, and I grip the armrests of my chair so hard my knuckles turn white. Is this happening right now? Are we going to do this right now? I feel slightly dizzy. Holy shit. What have I gotten myself into?

  He stops inches away from me. “Stand up.”

  I stand, my knees trembling at the joint. I hope to God I don’t fall over. Even standing, Mr. Hunter is much taller than I am.

  He puts two fingers under my chin, making me look up at him, directly into blue eyes deeper than the ocean. “Listen to me, Ms. Dawson. You’ve been taunting me from the moment you walked into this office for the first time.” His voice is almost a growl. “I don’t want to sleep with you. I want to take you. I want to bend you over my desk and make you come so hard your legs give out. I want to run my fingers along your hot little slit and fuck you until you forget other men ever existed. I want to make you mine, Ms. Dawson.”

  I’m about to fall over from the sheer heat exploding out of my core. I want him so badly I can hardly stand up. My juices trickle down the inside of my thighs, underneath the professional, demure pencil skirt I’m wearing.

  “You do?” I force the words out on the next half breath I can take in.

  “More than anything,” he says, and his hand slips around my jaw. Oh, fuck, oh, fuck, I want this. I want this so badly—and not just because it would be a ticket out for me and Robin.

  “I do, too,” I tell him, because we’re past lies now. I don’t know what I thought would happen when I came in here, but this is beyond my wildest dreams, this is beyond—

  “That’s why I can’t.”

  Chapter 6

  Matthew

  Skye looks up at me, her luscious lips slightly parted, and it takes a long few seconds for my words to register. They’re evidently not the ones she expected because her eyes go dark and her cheeks turn an even deeper shade of red. Not a pleasant shade this time. One that looks like shame.

  All I want in the entire world is to pull her closer to me, to keep breathing in the light, floral scent of her shampoo, but she steps back. The space between us widens, and I drop my hand to my side.

  “No, of course not,” she says, and then laughs nervously, her hands rising to her dark hair like she’s in the habit of patting down every stray lock. Only there are no stray locks. She looks fucking flawless, as usual, and here I am, giving her a stinging rejection just like every other asshole on the planet. “Oh, my God, I’m—” Skye shakes her head, smiling through what has to be utter mortification. “I don’t know what I was thinking, coming in here. I’m sorry.”

  She looks at me for another long second. My hands ache to be touching her again, this woman who was bold enough to come in here and offer herself up to me. She’s probably wasted on being a secretary. Any woman with guts like that deserves something better than merely sitting at a desk outside my office answering the phone and scheduling meetings.

  You could give her that.

  The thought is tantalizing, almost too tantalizing, and I push it away, shoving it down into the deepest part of my mind.

  Don’t go there, Matt. Don’t go there.

  Skye turns on her heel, whirling around toward the door. She’s almost through it, almost home free, when I finally force the word out of my mouth.

  “Skye.”

  She spins back around, her e
yes wide. I’ve never called her by her first name before. It tastes sweet in my mouth. I want to wrap my tongue around it a hundred more times today. And then wrap my tongue around—

  “What?” There’s no more cool, professional front. Her face is the picture of confusion, the picture of embarrassment, and I can tell she can’t fucking believe that I’d say anything else to her. I probably shouldn’t. I should just let her go back to her desk and drop this topic. We can move on. We can forget it ever happened.

  “I’m not sorry.”

  She gives me one nod, a sharp incline of her head, then disappears through the doorway.

  I am totally, completely screwed.

  I can’t get Skye’s offer out of my head.

  When I came out of my office at five, she was already gone. The dark computer screen had a sticky note attached to it. She must have known I’d come looking for her. Who wouldn’t after a conversation like that? I snatched it off the screen. “Stepped out early for an appointment. -S.” I read it three times, tracing my eyes over her handwriting, then crumpled it up into a ball, destined for the wastebasket.

  “It’s over,” I said out loud as I made my way down to the main lobby and out into the parking lot. I drive a five-year-old Honda—I’ve invested every last cent into Hunter Housing—and it was waiting for me, as loyal as always.

  She was on my mind all the way home, through the traffic, all the way through my workout at the gym in my building, and all the way through dinner with my best friend, Kevin. He called me out on it.

  “What’s on your mind, you asshole?” He’d taken a swig of his beer and leered at me from across the table. “A woman?”

  “None of your business.”

  “Have more beer.”

  “I’ve had enough.”

  “You never have enough.”

  It’s fucking true. I don’t have enough—enough of anything. I always want more of whatever it is. And it’s my fucking mistake that I admitted that out loud to Skye.