by Lauren Wood
Knocked Up By The Boss
A Secret Baby Romance
Lauren Wood
Copyright © 2020 by Lauren Wood
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.
Contents
Blurb
1. Madeline
2. Chris
3. Madeline
4. Chris
5. Madeline
6. Chris
7. Madeline
8. Chris
9. Madeline
10. Chris
11. Madeline
12. Chris
13. Madeline
14. Chris
15. Madeline
16. Chris
17. Cynthia
18. Chris
19. Madeline
20. Chris
21. Cynthia
22. Madeline
23. Chris
24. Cynthia
25. Madeline
26. Chris
27. Madeline
28. Madeline
The Billionaire’s Girlfriend
Chapter 1
Also by Lauren Wood
About the Author
Exclusive Offer
Blurb
I will be the first to say it, happily ever after is crap.
It doesn’t exist.
Love is a myth and I steer clear of stories.
* * *
Then, I met sinfully-handsome Chris.
Big flirt, huge… arms and a charismatic smile that made me weak at the knees.
I shouldn’t have run off with him.
I definitely shouldn’t have gotten pregnant.
* * *
For one short night, everything was perfect.
Love could have been real.
We could have been something great.
Then, we never saw each other again…
* * *
Fast forward a few years and I’m ready for a fresh start, a new life in the city.
It’s not just about me now, everything is about my daughter.
I am determined to make us a better life.
* * *
Chris popping up as my boss, was not part of the plan.
Our new office romance wasn’t part of it either.
He doesn’t know about our secret baby.
He doesn’t know that he crushed me before.
This time I’m falling again, with nothing to catch me.
Chris knows what to say, what to do, to make me need him again.
* * *
For once, I feel like ‘love’ could work.
We deserve a second chance.
Will the past ruin our future before we even get started?
* * *
***
1
Madeline
“Don’t be obvious, but that guy over there is checking you out.”
I looked over discreetly and saw who Eve was talking about. There was a tall man, dark black hair with bright blue eyes staring back at me from the bar. He didn't look like he was where he should be. His coat was made of a fine fabric and his shoes were probably more expensive than the bar itself. I was intrigued and from the way he was staring me down, he was as well.
I waved Eve off and told her that I wasn't interested in talking to men tonight. The last thing I wanted to do was get involved with someone I met here. The guy was cute, really cute, but I was trying hard to stay away from complications.
“You’ve said that for the last six years while you’ve gotten your degree. Eventually you're going to have to live a little bit, Madeline. If I were you, I would want to start with that hunk over there.”
Anastasia heard the conversation and agreed with Eve. Soon, all four friends that I had taken with me to the graduation celebration were pushing me towards the guy at the bar. It was getting loud and instead of them embarrassing me further, I just got up so that they would leave me alone about it. All I had to do was talk to him for a few minutes and hopefully that would be enough for them.
There were some catcalls behind me, and I gave my friends a dirty look. Of course, they were acting like they were twelve and the humiliation I was feeling was starting to grow exponentially.
I went over to the bar and took the stool next to him. I wasn’t usually shy, but with this guy, I felt a little breathy.
“Hi. I noticed that you were looking my way, and I thought I would come over and say hello.”
His voice was deep, and he returned the solitary word. His eyes were the brightest blue I'd ever seen, extreme blue came to mind. Everything about the guy was extreme. He had a square jaw and the perfect cleft in the middle of his chin. The man smelled like the woods, and his hands looked rough and well-used.
“What are you doing here?”
He chuckled. “What do you mean? I'm just here having a drink, same as you.”
“You are not the same as me. I have a feeling that you could own a hundred of these bars if you wanted to. I don’t think anyone in this club could say the same thing.”
He shrugged. “Maybe, but I still have to get a drink like everybody else.”
The bartender came over after the guy motioned him over and had asked me what I was drinking. I told him that I was drinking a bloody sunrise, and he ordered another round for both of us. I looked back at the table of women that I had left, and they were all looking at us giggling.
“I'm sorry about them. They kind of sent me over here and if I don't stay for a few minutes, then I'm never going to hear the end of it. You don’t mind company for a few minutes, do you?”
He frowned. “Is that the only reason that you came over to see me? Now I am hurt.”
I felt bad for a moment, before he smiled, and he introduced himself as Chris. I hadn't even taken the time to tell him my name. I had just been overwhelmed with his presence really.
I took his outstretched hand and shook it. “My name is Madeline Crenshaw. It's nice to meet you.”
“It's nice to meet you, too, Madeline. I'm starting to think that I came to just the right place.”
I found myself giggling, which was so unlike me. I wasn’t usually so bubbly, and I tried to rein it in.
“If you are in Hartville, this is the only place to drink. Did you get lost on your way back from the city?”
I knew that was where he was from. His kind of money wasn’t in Hartville, and anybody that had any decent amount, would not stay for very long. I was on my way out of this town tomorrow. Now that I had graduated, there was nothing stopping me.
“Something like that. Although, I have to say that I am really liking the local fare here.”
I looked around the room and tried to see what he saw. The lot of us probably looked like country bumpkins to him. He was sophisticated and wearing impeccable clothing. The rest of us, though, were just getting off work, and half of the patrons of the bars still had their work clothes on. There was a whole lot of jeans and plaid.
“Yeah, I can see why you would like it. Me, personally, I can't wait to get out of this town. It has never brought much good to my life, and I know that it has to be better away from here.”
“Where are you going to go?”
I was a little surprised by the question because I didn't expect it. Why would he care after all? He didn't even know me.
“To the big city, of course. That's where everybody goes. Hopefully, I will find a company to work for there, and I can look at Hartville from the rearview mirror.”
“Come on, it can't be that bad.”
I shrugged. “I guess it's not. This is where I grew up after all, but that doesn’t change the fact that I'll be glad to go. I'm actually here celebrating and this weekend, I'll be leaving for good.”
He congratulated me and asked me what I was celebrating. When I’d been conned into coming over here and talking to him, I hadn’t imagined baring my soul in the first few minutes.
“I just got my master’s degree, and this is the celebration for getting it over with.”
“Wow, beautiful and smart. That is one hell of a combination.”
I just kind of waved him off because that was just something that people said. As slick as this guy looked, I'm sure that he knew exactly what to say and when. Guys like Chris were from another ballfield. He was way out of my league, and I knew it as soon as I saw him. Being next to him, soaking up his presence, there was a draw to him, but I still knew that it wasn't an equal situation.
“Well, thank you for the drink, but I think I'm going to go back to my table now.”
Two of my friends had left to dance with guys and Eve was one of them. I really didn't want to go back to the table. I rather liked the conversation that I was having with Chris, but it was the best thing to do. This guy was way over my head, and I had been out of the game for a very long time. He was not someone to cut my teeth with.
Chris surprised me again by putting his hand on mine.
“Do you really have to go?”
“Do you want me to stay?”
“Truthfully, I want you to come out back to my limo and show me the difference between a small-town girl and a city girl. But that's probably too much.”
It just came out of his mouth fast, like something that he would say to any girl, and I just kind of shook my head. There was no way that I was going to do anything like that. Sure, I definitely thought about it immediately when I realized he was checking me out, but I had just graduated from college. I was a bit too old for that sort of thing. I was supposed to know better.
“Do city girls just go with you to your limo when you say things like that?”
Chris agreed that they did, and I actually believed him. I had a feeling that Chris pretty much got whatever he wanted. He was gorgeous, and had money and confidence that was a mile high. Women ate that sort of thing up.
“Well, I guess you get to figure out the first difference right now. You have to work a little harder for country girls.”
2
Chris
Madeline thanked me again for the drink and then walked back to her table. Several of the girls that were sitting at the table with her kept looking over at me, and I waved at one of them. There was a round of giggling and it did seem to be about the same there as it was everywhere else. Women did not tell me no. They did not walk away from me, and the fact that Madeline had, made me wonder why.
One by one the women started to go home, until it was just the beautiful blonde and her redheaded friend. Madeline laughed at something the other one said, and she shot a longing look my way. Her green eyes glowed from where I stood, as well as the tan skin that glowed in the lights.
One thing I did know for certain was I had never been so immediately attracted to someone before. It had also been quite a while since a girl walked up to me, instead of the other way around too. Most women would do what the others were doing, just stare and wait. I liked that Madeline had taken the initiative, so I figured that it was time for me to put a little work in as well.
I went over to the table of women and sat down next to Madeline. I didn't ask to sit down, which would have been the proper thing to do. I had a feeling that Madeline was not interested in proper and I wasn't either.
“I see that you're still here.”
“I am, but not for long. Eve and I are going to take off. It was nice meeting you, Chris.”
She started to stand up and again I tried to stop her. Why did this woman have no problem walking away from me? No other woman that I had tried to get close to had been so against it before. It didn't seem like much, just not being interested, but for me it never happened. I knew that she was different, I just didn't understand why.
“Stay with me, just for a little bit longer. Have one more drink with me?”
“Why do you want to have a drink with me? There are a lot of pretty girls here and you didn't even try them.”
I told her that I didn't want the other girls. I wanted her. I wasn't sure why I was so drawn to Madeline, just that I was. It might have been the few drinks that I had already chugged, but I liked to think that it was something else, something more.
“I just like you, Madeline. I won't even ask you to go back to my limo again.”
The other girl introduced herself as Eve and said that she wanted to know about the limo. Her words were slurred, and she had a glaze to her eyes. She was very pretty, but I really didn’t have eyes for anyone else.
Madeline told her that it was nothing. “He just offered to give me a ride on him in his limo. It was really classy.”
Eve got a bit red faced and she said something like maybe she should. I knew then that I was really starting to like this Eve.
While Madeline seemed unsure what she wanted to do, Eve told her that she was going to be leaving and she was gone the next moment. It was the best time.
“Well, she wasn't very discreet about it, was she?”
I agreed. “Not really. Did you want her to be discreet?”
Madeline shook her head and then kind of nodded like she was unsure. “I don't know, I guess it doesn't matter. It's not like I have a boyfriend or anything.”
“I find that hard to believe. Although, I can see that you are quite hard to get to know.”
“You don’t want to get to know me, Chris. You want to get in my panties, which funny enough, I'm not even wearing.”
That last part was a bit evil, and I think she knew it. She had a devilish look in her eyes. Madeline knew that she was just messing with me now and I have to say, that she did it quite well. I was certainly thinking about other things now.
“So, what are we going to do?”
“I thought we were having another drink?”
“I'm more of a planner. What happens after the drink?”
She shrugged her slim shoulders and told me that she wasn't sure. I think she meant it too. Madeline kept biting her lower lip, like she was deep in thought and I have to say, it was one of the cutest things I'd ever seen in my life. Who was this woman, that came out of the blue and made me look her way?
“How about we work with the drink that we have first? I don't know about you, but I'm not really much of a planner. I like to just wing it and see what happens. I usually have a better time that way.”
“Do you think that you would have a better time if we were somewhere else?”
She giggled and I really did like the tinkling sound it made. It was so soft and a bit higher pitched than her normal voice. It made me look at her in a different way.
“Where is it that you want to go? I thought you were enjoying the small-town charm.”
“I will go anywhere that you want to go. Let me just make that clear.”
“Anywhere?”
I agreed, but she had a bit of a devilish look in her eyes. Again, I had to wonder what she was thinking about, because a huge grin moved across her face when she looked my way. What was on her mind?
“Well, if you're up for it, I do know this place.”
I didn't know where she was taking me when I followed her directions. We ended up on this deserted dirt road in the middle of nowhere. There was a house in front where she told me to stop, but it wasn't the sort of house that had been lived in for many years. It looked like it had been ransacked, partially burned, and nature in general had tried to take it down brick by brick.
“What are we doing here?”
“I thought it was pretty obvious. This is the most haunted house in Hartville. I used to come here a lot when
I was younger, just to get a little bit of quiet. You wanted the small-town experience, so you can’t leave Hartville without checking out this gem.”
I looked at her strangely, because I'd never heard of a girl wanting to be at a haunted house. It wasn't like I believed it of course, but I can't think of one time that I would go to place like this. I was a bit unsure what to say. What was I supposed to say to this?
“So, this is where you wanted to take me?”
She looked at me with the most disarming smile and agreed.
“If I took you to a normal place, you would forget me as soon as you got back to the city. Now, you'll always know me as the one that took you to a haunted house.”
I guess I could see her point, but I wasn't really interested in that sort of thing. I was interested in getting her naked and on top of me. How could I do that when we were in such a place?
“If you're too afraid, we can leave. You can just drop me back off at the bar if you want to.”
There is a bit of a challenge in there and if I didn't know any better, I would think that she was telling me I was being baby about it. That I needed to man up, and I didn't like the sound of that at all. What was it about this woman that made me feel so inadequate and yearn to be more?
