The Deal With Triplets

by Rayner, Holly

  Admittedly, there was a part of me that had hoped Zoe might suggest sex instead of an alternative route, but I had figured that would just make things too messy. I didn’t want to get feelings involved, especially since I was her boss. Since she’d offered, though, I didn’t see any reason not to take her up on it. Our first time together had been incredible, and this would certainly beat out involving test tubes and doctors.

  “So, uh, when would you like to try?” I asked.

  It sounded like we were discussing a casual business issue instead of a life-altering decision. Everything Zoe did and said made me feel more certain that she was the right woman to make this arrangement with. If our future child had even half of her drive, passion, and good looks, I’d be a very happy man.

  “Give me a minute,” Zoe said.

  She pulled out her phone and started scrolling through it, though I couldn’t begin to guess what she was doing. She couldn’t have been consulting her friends…or could she? After all, this was a big decision. I’d had some time, albeit not much, to think about it before committing, but she’d only had about five minutes.

  I cleared my throat. “May I be so bold as to ask what you’re doing?”

  Zoe looked up from her phone. “Two days,” she said.

  “What?”

  “I have a period tracker app on my phone. My fertile window starts two days from now, so that makes the most sense.”

  I was taken aback, having fully expected a far less calculated response. “Okay, then,” I replied. “Two days, it is. It seems as though that’s fate for us, huh?”

  Zoe grinned. “Gives me less time to talk myself out of doing this.”

  Even though I could tell from the look on her face that she was joking, I had to be sure she was doing this for the right reasons and not because she felt like she owed me something because I was her boss.

  “Look, Zoe, it’s not too late to back out. I know it’s a big ask, quite possibly the biggest favor, or whatever you’d like to call it, I’ve ever asked of anyone.”

  “I’m kidding,” she assured me. “I’m actually excited at the prospect of having a child, and you don’t seem like you’d be the worst person in the world to co-parent with.”

  I let out a chortle. “Gee, thanks.”

  “Teasing again! In all seriousness, this is by far the most unusual proposition I’ve ever been given, but I think that’s just because society gives us this ideal of how marriage and children and relationships should go. I don’t see myself settling down anytime soon, and you appear to be in the same situation, so this seems like the most logical solution.”

  “I agree,” I said, though I knew she already knew that, given that this had all been my suggestion. “Now, take a deep breath and enjoy your food. It’s getting cold.”

  Zoe took a bite of her duck and moved her eyes from her plate back to me. If I could read minds, I was almost certain she’d be thinking something to the effect of, “What the hell did I just agree to?”

  I wanted to take the spotlight off my proposition and allow Zoe to feel more at ease. Baby-making wasn’t exactly the stuff of great dinner conversation.

  “Now, tell me more about this dream trip to Asia,” I said. “Is this purely fantasy, or have you actually given some serious consideration to this?”

  Zoe’s eyes lit up at the question. “A little bit of both,” she said. “Sometimes, when I have a long train ride or am in a doctor’s office waiting room or something, I do some browsing on the internet for my mock itinerary.”

  I loved that she had a tangible bucket list item like this. Everyone I knew had places they wanted to visit or see, but Zoe had put time and thought into hers, and it wasn’t the typical trip to Bora Bora or Tahiti that so many others had listed to me as their dream vacation. This was just another testament to her uniqueness.

  Though I hadn’t crunched the numbers, nor had I looked to see her salary at the company, I was confident that Zoe was high enough at the company that she had the money to actually make this trip happen. At the very least, if she didn’t, she had the drive to save up and plan such a trip.

  I thought about my own dream vacation, and nothing beyond palm trees and private bungalows came to mind. Really, any trip that didn’t involve even the slightest bit of work.

  “And have you come up with anything good?” I inquired.

  “Well, I definitely want to see all of the gorgeous architecture and national parks in Cambodia,” she started. “Angkor Wat is supposed to be incredible. In Vietnam, all I know for sure is that I want to go kayaking on Ha Long Bay. I’d probably spend a few days there, and a few days in Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City. Thailand is probably what I’m most excited about. I probably sound ridiculous saying I’m excited about it when it’s not even a real trip!”

  “No, not at all. You sound like a completely rational person who’s planning a trip that just doesn’t have a set date yet. What have you got in store for Thailand?”

  Her enthusiasm immediately returned. “Well, one of my college roommates did a summer study abroad trip there and stayed in Pattaya, a big resort town. She had pictures from her trip hanging all over the dorm room, and I decided back then that, if I ever got to Southeast Asia, I’d have to spend a few days in Pattaya. Of course, I want to visit Chiang Mai, and visit the floating market in Bangkok. Basically, I want to have the perfect blend of touristy sites and culture.”

  “Well, it sounds like you’ve got it all planned out,” I said with a laugh.

  “You didn’t even hear my grand finale yet.”

  Zoe picked at a potato on her plate, clearly a humorous effort to build up the anticipation of her big reveal.

  “The anticipation is killing me,” I said with a grin.

  “Myanmar.”

  “Myanmar?”

  “I know it’s not usually the first place people think of when they talk about exciting getaways,” she started. “But it seems to have a rich, unique culture, and it’s beautiful in all the pictures I’ve seen.

  “You are something else, Zoe Green. You know that?”

  She blushed. “Please tell me you have an equally embarrassing dream trip planned in your head.”

  “First of all, that’s not embarrassing in the slightest,” I said. “Second of all, I can’t say that I do. Truly, anywhere that I could go for a few days without any work or cell phone or laptop would be a dream vacation. If I had to pick, maybe Portugal or Morocco. I’ve been to each briefly, less than 48 hours apiece, but I’d love to actually see the sights.”

  “Morocco sounds incredible,” Zoe agreed. “Marrakesh, maybe Tangier.”

  “You’ve got quite the travel bug, don’t you?”

  “Well, considering I’m almost thirty and the only places I’ve been outside of the country are Paris and London, both of which were for work, I’d say yes, it’d be nice to get some traveling in.”

  “What are you waiting for?” I said.

  “Retirement.” Zoe laughed.

  We spoke more about travel throughout the rest of our entrees and dessert, mostly centered on my own business trip adventures. While Zoe seemed impressed by all of the places I’d been for work, I reminded her that I’d spent most of my time in those countries in conference rooms and hotels.

  I couldn’t tell if we were intentionally avoiding any further discussion about our plans to have a child, or if we had organically moved on and it had stayed that way. It was moments like these I wished I had taken some psychology courses in college so I could analyze Zoe’s body language and voice tone to get a read on her. Based on my limited knowledge, she appeared to be completely fine, not the least bit shaken up by our agreement. We shared a small platter of macarons before deciding it was time to call it a night, especially given that it was a work night.

  Despite her protests, I insisted on walking Zoe home. It was the least I could do. It had been a crazy, emotion-filled night, and I wanted to make sure she was all right. I’d certainly asked a lot of her. Besides, even
though this hadn’t been a date, I’d sort of been thinking of it as one, and it would’ve been impolite to not make sure my date got home safely.

  Zoe hadn’t been exaggerating when she said she lived close by. I’d been confused when she’d turned down my offer to get us a taxi, but she’d been right in saying it would probably take just as long to hail a cab as it would to walk the two blocks to her condo.

  We stood together under the streetlights in silence. She looked even more radiant under the bright light. I had to restrain myself from inviting her back to my hotel room or inviting myself into her home right then and there. I was tempted to make some nonsensical excuse about her fertile window or needing to start sooner, but I thought better of it. I didn’t want to overwhelm her. As much as I wanted to do this, I had to be fair and give her a chance to really think things through. The last thing I wanted was for Zoe to feel like I was pressuring her.

  Zoe looked up at me with the most serious expression I’d ever seen on her face.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked.

  She was quiet for a moment, biting her lip before she spoke again. “We’re going to keep our feelings out of this, right?”

  My hands suddenly felt clammy. “Of course. Think of it as a business arrangement.”

  Even as the words were leaving my mouth, I found myself scanning Zoe’s face for any sort of expression that might indicate she wanted to handle this in another manner. I couldn’t get a clear read. Part of me took her question as an admission of her feelings for me, but the other part of me was smart enough to acknowledge that we both knew we had feelings for one another.

  Those feelings had to be pushed aside, though. Involving our hearts would make things messy. Did I think Zoe was incredibly interesting? Yes. Was I attracted to her drive and work ethic? Absolutely. Did I find her attractive? Without a doubt. But I had to keep all of those thoughts to myself. Even when we met up as we planned to in two days to sleep together, I had to keep myself from getting emotionally attached. It would be difficult, but it was the right thing to do.

  “I need you to do something for me before we move forward with this,” Zoe said.

  I titled my head. “Oh yeah?”

  She nodded. “Things need to change at work. People need to know that their jobs are safe. You aren’t being as uptight as you were that first day, but you haven’t exactly told them that you don’t plan on getting rid of half the staff like you made it sound at your intro meeting.”

  I couldn’t keep myself from grinning. Zoe’s concern for her coworkers was so pure, so genuine. I’d expected a much bigger ask, maybe a nice car for transporting the child, or a nice vacation—a babymoon, as they called it. But that wasn’t Zoe. All she cared about was making sure everyone else was happy. She was going to make a great mother.

  “Well, I suppose, given the enormity of what you’re doing for me, it wouldn’t be too much trouble to do that,” I said. “Besides, I think it’s probably in my own best interest, as well.”

  Zoe and I grinned at one another like schoolchildren with a secret. Though she’d agreed on her own accord to partake in my unconventional plan, I wasn’t sure I’d fully believe it until the pregnancy test came back positive.

  Chapter 13

  Zoe

  I liked my condo. I was proud of it. It was one of two penthouses in the building, with a modern luxe feel that stood out among most of my friends’ places. I kept all of the décor simple, with clean lines and geometric shapes and mixed metals. I supposed it was fairly normal among the modern Chicago condominiums, but it was a far cry from the old-fashioned farmhouse I’d grown up in.

  My favorite part of the entire home was the kitchen. It was fit for a chef, with a large, gray-splattered granite island in the center, a double oven, and a large gas stove. The farmhouse sink was what had sold me on the place when I’d first seen it. It was exactly my style, a mix of sleek and charming.

  I’d worked hard to save up for my home, and it had taken me a long while to get here. I’d gone right from a college dorm to sharing a two-bedroom, 900-square-foot apartment with Ellie while we started our adult lives together, then to my own studio apartment, before finally purchasing this condo. In that sense, it was my pride and joy, a tangible prize to show for all of those sixty-hour work weeks and crappy college babysitting jobs.

  Now, however, I felt like the condo that had impressed anyone who’d ever visited—especially my parents and older brother, who still lived in the small town I’d grown up in—might seem tiny or unimportant to Lucas compared to what he was used to. I’d never seen where he lived in Belgium, but I imagined it was some sort of grand, palace-like mansion.

  My condo had three spacious bedrooms and a master bathroom that looked like it had been taken straight from a luxury resort, but was that enough? Maybe Lucas would take one lap around my home and realize how different our lives were. He’d seemed modest enough when we’d spent time together, but that was no indication of his life back home. He could probably fit my entire home into one wing of his own home.

  Of course, I had no proof to back that up, and no reason to think that, other than his wealth. A quick search of the Cadieux family online the first day Lucas had appeared onto the scene, which had come after one too many glasses of wine, had put the company’s net worth in the billions, and Lucas’s personal net worth not far behind. While most people in the United States couldn’t name a single chocolatier or confectioner, it seemed as though, in Belgium, the Cadieux family were icons. The brand was a household name.

  I reminded myself as I straightened the magazines on the coffee table in the living room that Lucas had been the one to initiate this agreement. Still, this whole situation was bizarre. I couldn’t ignore the fact that Lucas was coming here with the goal of impregnating me. It had been two days since our dinner and I was still wrapping my head around the idea.

  I hadn’t told a single one of my friends about the plan. They probably would’ve told me I was crazy, and, chances were, they’d have been right. But seeing all my friends settle down, with me being named an “aunt” to more kids than I could count, had made me realize how badly I wanted a family. I was thrilled at the prospect of having a child of my own.

  I wasn’t naïve to the complications that could arise, but the many resources at Lucas’s disposal and his keen interest in making this work were oddly reassuring. It was more of the logistics of the arrangement that had forced me to reapply deodorant twice since I’d started tidying up the place. Were we going to be in a relationship, or simply be co-parents? The latter seemed the more sensible option, and what I was fairly sure we’d agreed upon, but my attraction to Lucas was undeniable.

  With less than ten minutes until he was slated to arrive, I pulled out two bottles of wine, one white and one red, and grabbed some glasses from the shelf above the microwave.

  At exactly eight o’clock, there was a knock on the door. That could only mean one thing.

  You’ve got this, I told myself. Just be cool. But I was anything but cool, and I hoped that my nerves wouldn’t show on my face as I answered the door.

  Lucas looked handsome as ever in a sport coat, button-up, and slacks, holding the largest and most magnificent bouquet of red roses I’d ever seen.

  “Wow,” he said, handing me the bouquet of flowers.

  He looked me up and down, seemingly pleased despite the fact that I was dressed casually in a tunic and leggings. I hadn’t been sure of the proper outfit to wear when meeting up for natural insemination with your boss. They’d never covered that in any of the women’s magazines I subscribed to.

  Unsure of how to respond, I reciprocated with my own, “Wow.”

  We stood in the doorway in awkward silence, as if we hadn’t previously had several engaging, wonderful, free-flowing conversations.

  “Come on in.”

  I stepped to the side of the doorway and gestured for Lucas to walk inside.

  Oddly enough, Lucas’s obvious nerves made me feel better
about my own insecurities. I reminded myself that it was his first time in this situation, too, and that we were in this together.

  “I think that admitting this is a weird situation will take the pressure off of both of us,” I said.

  Lucas breathed a sigh of relief. “So it’s not just me that’s feeling that.”

  “Of course not. This is new territory for both of us.”

  I took his jacket and hung it in the coat closet in the entryway.

  “I want to thank you for your shift in attitude at work since I brought it up to you,” I said. “I really think it’s made a real difference.”

  “A deal’s a deal,” Lucas said. “Besides, I don’t want to be the kind of boss that makes his employees terrified of him. I wanted to make sure they took me seriously, and you showed me that I failed in that approach.”

  I thought back to yesterday, when Lucas had called a company meeting in the conference center. He’d taken the time to assure all of the Borroni employees that their jobs were safe and had even apologized if he’d come off too strongly. I knew it must’ve taken a lot for him to admit that he’d made a mistake, in front of over one hundred people, no less.

  In the back of my mind, I wondered if he would’ve taken that approach if I hadn’t requested that he did so. I liked to think that he would have, because, even though it had lightened the mood immensely in the office, it wouldn’t make a true difference if he didn’t actually feel that way. Based on what he was saying now, I knew he’d been genuine when owning up to his mistakes.

  He’d even gone so far as to tell everyone to engage in more conversation with their colleagues and take breaks from their computer to stretch and decompress. I hadn’t realized how much I had missed the meaningless chatter until it’d resurfaced. Small talk had never made me so happy before. It was back to being the Borroni Chocolates I knew and loved—with the addition of a smoking hot boss who wanted me to have his baby.