The Deal With Triplets

by Rayner, Holly

  That had to be it. He’d called because he’d felt the same spark between us that I’d felt on the beach, and at dinner, and in the resort bedroom. I couldn’t help but smile at the realization that he’d been the one to initiate contact. If I’d been the one to ask him to meet up, I would have had that lingering feeling in the back of my mind that maybe he was just indulging me.

  This, however, was all Lucas’s doing. My decision that he was going to reignite the spark opened up a whole new set of questions in my mind. Was he going to cross all boundaries, both laid out and unwritten, and ask to start dating? Or would this be a no-strings-attached sort of thing? I wasn’t sure how I’d respond to either.

  On one hand, I didn’t exactly have a ton of time for dating. I was busy with work, and I didn’t want to make a commitment I couldn’t honor. There was still the issue of Lucas having stormed in and virtually threatened to fire all of my colleagues I’d grown to love. I felt like a traitor. It was almost as if I’d been sleeping with the enemy—but it had felt so damn good. Besides, people at work seemed to be warming up to Lucas.

  I finally settled on a fitted red dress, one that struck the perfect balance of class and sexiness. Since I wasn’t sure where this dinner was headed, this outfit felt like the right choice.

  The restaurant was just two blocks from my condo, so I opted for some black wedges that were stylish enough to complete the ensemble but comfortable enough for me to walk to the restaurant.

  Le Petit Fleur was supposed to be incredible. It had only been open a month or two, but I’d seen rave reviews in every local newspaper and on several of the foodie blogs I followed online. Maybe Lucas’s restaurant choice was another hint about what to expect of the night. After all, French food was part of his culture. I wondered if this was his way of letting me into his world. Or maybe it had just been the only decent place he could get a reservation on such short notice.

  Chill out, Zoe, I told myself. It had been a solid five years since I’d gotten this worked up over a guy. Lucas just had this quality about him, an essence that made me feel both completely nervous and completely calm around him.

  As I walked the busy downtown streets, I wondered how I appeared to the people around me. Did I look like someone who was going on a date? Was I going on a date? The short walk to the restaurant felt endless as I ran through the possibilities for this meet-up over and over again, like a TV show on repeat. Even though I knew that only time would tell what Lucas wanted.

  Lucas was standing outside the doors to the restaurant when I arrived, looking even more handsome than I’d remembered. His sport coat and pants were impeccably tailored, showing off what I could only assume was his hard work at the gym.

  “Thanks for agreeing to meet with me,” he said as I approached. He looked me up and down, and I could tell I’d made the right decision opting for the red dress.

  “Hey, a girl’s gotta eat,” I replied, trying but failing to hold back nervous laughter.

  He held the door open for me, and I walked inside. He put his hand to the small of my back to guide me, and a thrill ran up my spine.

  “Have you been here before? The concierge at my hotel recommended it.”

  I shook my head. “I haven’t. I’ve heard it’s amazing, and I actually live close by, but this is more of a date restaurant than a girls’ night out restaurant, because…umm…”

  Thankfully, the host came over before I had a chance to embarrass myself any further. I hadn’t meant to insinuate that this was a date of some sort, but my explanation of why I hadn’t been here had sounded that way.

  If Lucas minded the insinuation, he didn’t show it. He gave the host his name and simply smiled at me as we waited to be seated. Damn, those cheekbones.

  The restaurant couldn’t have had more than fifteen tables. It was the very definition of intimate. We were seated in the middle of the small dining room, among a sea of what I presumed were all couples.

  Within minutes, I felt like we were back in Hawaii. The atmosphere was comfortable, conversation flowed easily, and I even found myself flirting with Lucas. I thought back to the previous week when he’d virtually ignored me, and it seemed to be a different Lucas. This Lucas was engaging and funny and, if I was reading him correctly, equally flirtatious.

  “You know, we may have to go back to Hawaii just so I can have some of that mahi-mahi again,” he joked once we got our drinks.

  “Don’t tempt me,” I said. “I’ve been having dreams about that cheesecake.”

  “Then we just have to go back!”

  I laughed. “I’ve got some other places on my bucket list first before I start repeating trips.”

  The waitress came over to take our order, and I was grateful in that moment that fancy restaurants like this one had very limited menus because I’d hardly looked at the menu at all. While Lucas ordered beef bourguignon, I made a game-time decision to be adventurous with the duck breast.

  “Like where?” Lucas asked once the waitress was gone.

  “I’m sorry?”

  “You said you have other places on your bucket list. What places?”

  I found myself hesitating and wasn’t quite sure why. Our conversation had been flowing smoothly up to this point. Maybe it was because he’d find my bucket list places silly when compared to all the amazing places he’d been.

  “You’re going to laugh,” I said.

  “No, I won’t.” He cocked his eyebrow in the most attractive manner. “Try me.”

  “All sorts of places, really. I’ve always wanted to see the Grand Canyon, or spend a long weekend on Cape Cod. Outside of the States, my dream trip would probably be a month-long trek through Southeast Asia. You know, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia.”

  Lucas’s eyes grew wide. “Wow!”

  I laughed. “Hey, I said it was a dream trip. I never said it was feasible!”

  “Why not?”

  “Well, for starters, I don’t exactly have a month of personal days saved up to take the time off work,” I said.

  Lucas mockingly put his hand under his chin like he was deep in thought. “I’ll tell you what,” he started. “Cadieux has distributors all over Asia. Stop in for a day or two throughout your travels, and we’ll call your adventure an extension of a work trip.”

  “Very funny.”

  “I’m serious! We could make it work.”

  I felt the energy shift from playful to more serious. He seemed to be genuine in his offer, no matter how silly it had sounded. This felt like a date in every sense of the word. There was flirty banter, meaningful conversation, and everything in between.

  “Are you this nice to all of your employees?” I said.

  It occurred to me that the question could be construed as me asking if he was giving me preferential treatment because of our little rendezvous, but that wasn’t how I’d meant it. I’d genuinely meant it as a playful jab, and I hoped he took it that way. In all of my interactions with Lucas, he hadn’t struck me as the type of person who got offended easily.

  “Not all of them,” he said, a smile wiping my worry away. “Though I try to be generous when I can. At Cadieux headquarters, I make sure we have a birthday cake for every employee’s birthday, even when that means having four cakes in one day.”

  “No way!”

  He shrugged. “I think each person should have their own cake to celebrate,” he said.

  “Any other ridiculous generosity stories?”

  “Well, one of my interns back in Brussels, Claudia, was upset that she wouldn’t be able to make it out to California to see her sister graduate medical school, so I flew her out on the Cadieux plane.”

  “That’s not ridiculous,” I said. “That’s just ridiculously nice!”

  There was a slight lull in the noise around us, making me all too aware for the first time since we’d sat down that we hadn’t discussed why Lucas had asked me here. I must have had curiosity written all over my face, because Lucas nervously cleared his throat, ready to make some
sort of declaration or announcement.

  “I’m sure you’re wondering why I called,” he said.

  “Sort of. I mean, we’ve hardly spoken all week.”

  Lucas nodded, almost looking ashamed. “I’m sorry about that. I should have handled things better after Hawaii. Or maybe I should have handled things better in Hawaii. Either way, I’m very sorry. What I want to talk to you about is actually something you said that weekend.”

  I was foremost impressed by his apology, then completely intrigued by what he’d said. We’d talked about so many things over the course of those few days that I couldn’t even begin to think about what he might be referring to.

  “I have a sort of proposition for you,” Lucas said. “A business deal, of sorts.”

  A business deal? That wasn’t the direction I’d expected this conversation to veer off to.

  “Okay…” I said slowly. “What kind of deal?”

  “I need an heir to my company,” he said. “And I think you can help. I’d like you to have my child. You said on the beach that you’d like to start a family one day, so I think this might be a suitable arrangement for us both.”

  I blinked, as if that might clear things up or help me register what Lucas had just said. If he didn’t look so serious, I would have assumed he was joking. Had he just asked me to have his child?

  Lucas reached across the table and rested his hand on mine for a moment before continuing.

  “Just hear me out before making a decision. You’d like to have a child but have no prospects on the horizon. I’d like a child, too, as well as an heir. We could share parenting responsibilities like any other parents who aren’t together, only it would be between Chicago and Brussels. I know that might be complicated to figure out for the first few years, but it would be easier once the child starts boarding school. I have contacts at all of the best boarding schools in Europe.”

  I couldn’t be certain, but I was fairly sure my jaw must have been on the floor.

  I cleared my throat. “Before I respond, I want to make sure this isn’t some sort of joke,” I said. That seemed like the most suitable response, given the situation.

  “I get it,” Lucas said. “It sounds a bit, well, unconventional. But I really think this could work well for us. We both want the same things. Of course, you wouldn’t have to bear any of the financial burden, as I would cover all of the child’s expenses. He or she will be the heir to Cadieux. We could work out an arrangement for switching off who has the child when. I can come to Chicago, or maybe you could even come to Belgium and do some exploring around Europe.”

  “I…umm…”

  “I’m flexible about the boarding school thing. If you’d prefer one in America, I can ask around and see if there’s any of the same caliber as the ones in Europe.”

  To say I was shocked at his proposition would be the understatement of the century. I couldn’t quite believe that this was what he’d wanted to talk to me about. If I’d spent an hour making a list of the possibilities, this wouldn’t have been on there. He was talking about it as if it was any other business deal, though I was fairly certain I’d be correct in guessing this was the first time he’d pitched this sort of business arrangement.

  As much as I was caught off guard, I couldn’t deny the advantages to his proposal. I really, truly wanted a family, a child to raise and look after and love, and I wasn’t sure if that would be on the cards if I carried on the same path I was on now. Even if I did meet the right guy, I wouldn’t magically have more hours in the day to devote to our child. I’d always had that lingering worry in the back of my mind that I wouldn’t be able to balance a career and a family, and this seemed like a reasonable way to have it all.

  After all, not only would I be sharing custody, but I’d be co-parenting with my boss. There was no better way to ensure I could achieve balance. The idea was completely ridiculous and unconventional, but it was slowly growing on me. Who was to say what was normal, anyway?

  Given the ask, a small part of me worried that this was a prank of some sort. It was only Lucas’s stoic look that kept me from asking if there were hidden cameras around filming for a reality show.

  For some reason, my mind turned to Ellie. If Lucas was serious about this, and he wanted to get the ball rolling soon, I’d only be six months or so behind my best friend. We’d get to raise our children together, at least for the time that I had custody. Having baby playtime with my best friend wasn’t a reason in itself to pursue pregnancy, but it could definitely be an added perk, especially given that I’d be raising the baby as a single parent for my half of the time.

  I considered what Lucas had said about boarding school and reminded myself to be open-minded. My initial reaction to boarding school had been that it was impersonal and pretty much meant sending my school-aged child off to be raised by someone else. Taking a minute to think about it more rationally, I realized it could be a great solution to the lack of time each of us had while also providing a top-notch education for our child.

  Our child. That sounded crazy, even in my own head, but that was what this baby would be, if I agreed to this outrageous proposition. Raising a child with Lucas would mean that my son or daughter would have all of the finest things. He’d already brought up sending them to the best schools. If he was willing to have individual birthday cakes and private flights arranged for his employees, I couldn’t begin to imagine how wonderfully he’d treat his own child.

  The idea of having a baby as soon as next spring was mind-boggling. My last serious relationship had been in college, and back then I’d been far too focused on my grades and my career prospects that marriage and children hadn’t even been on the horizon. Over the past few years, as the question of what my future might look like had increasingly played on my mind, I hadn’t gotten close enough to anyone to even consider the possibility of something more serious.

  I looked up at Lucas, who appeared to be ready to revoke his proposal. The confusion in his eyes told me that he was worried that he’d made a mistake by asking.

  “I’ll do it,” I said.

  “What?”

  The waiter could not have picked a worse moment to bring our dinner to the table. While the food smelled delicious, neither of us batted an eye as the plates were placed in front of us.

  I put my free hand on Lucas’s, not so much in a romantic way as in a reassuring way. “I agree that this could work.”

  “You’re serious?” he asked.

  “Don’t make me change my mind!”

  “Okay, okay. Well, I’ve already spoken to my doctor, and—”

  “Presumptuous, much?” I teased.

  “I wanted to be prepared on the off chance you said yes.”

  “Fair enough. What did the doctor have to say?”

  “It seems that artificial insemination is the most obvious course of action,” he explained. “Should that not work, we’d have to move on to IVF. Of course, we can figure out a timeframe for all this. I’m thinking sooner rather than later is best, but, of course, it’s your body that’ll be carrying this child, so we can take things slow if you’d prefer.”

  Lucas continued on about the technicalities of the medical procedures and legal considerations, but I could hardly listen. All this talk about babies got me thinking about the night we’d spent together.

  I was transported back to that room in the resort, back to that king-sized bed that we’d spent the night in together. I could still see Lucas’s back muscles fresh in my mind, the way they’d been flexed when he laid beside me. I could feel his warm breath up against me, his soft lips taking me in. That night had been incredible. Maybe that was the key to our deal.

  Chapter 12

  Lucas

  “There’s one thing about your proposition I’m not thrilled about, though,” Zoe said.

  “What’s that?”

  At this point, I was ready to amend just about anything I’d said in order to make this happen. I was still shocked that she hadn’t co
mpletely freaked at my suggestion of having a child together. I was still surprised that I’d actually had the guts to ask her. I’d known the idea was a far-fetched one when I’d pitched it, but, given how career-oriented Zoe and I both were, I’d figured it might be an optimal solution.

  “I don’t want to go to some cold, sterile doctor’s office to be inseminated.” She paused. “We’ve had sex once already. Why not just do it again? It seems like the most efficient way.”

  This wasn’t real. I had to be hearing things. Not only was Zoe willing to have a child and start a family with me, but she wanted to make love again?

  “Are you sure about that?” I asked.

  For the first time since it had been placed on the table, I took a bite of my dinner. It was absolutely divine, and, in another situation, I could have seen myself going on about how incredible the flavors were. Tonight, however, the food faded into the background.

  “You’d rather take a trip to a doctor’s office and wait while a doctor shoves something up my hoo-ha?” Zoe said.

  “Well, no. But I don’t want to make this situation any more unusual or uncomfortable than it already is.”

  Zoe shrugged. “I think it makes the most sense. It’s faster, probably easier, and we’ve already done it. It’s up to you, but I just figured I’d throw it out there.”

  Either possible answer to her suggestion seemed like a trap. Of course I wouldn’t have minded having sex with her again, and it did make things easier logistically, but I also didn’t want to seem overly eager. The last thing I wanted was for her to feel obligated not only to agree to this arrangement, but to conceive the old-fashioned way.

  “That sounds good to me,” I said, keeping my tone even.

  I wondered if either of us understood the gravity of what we’d just agreed to. The plan sounded good in my head, but maybe there were other factors I wasn’t considering. Maybe, when I could finally catch my breath, I’d take the time to look at this from every angle. Right now, all that mattered was that, sooner or later, there would be a baby on the way—and I’d get to have Zoe in my arms again.