One
“What else can go wrong today?”
Aidan Sutherland stared at the latest cryptic email from his foreman on the nearby construction site and swore. Usually, Aidan let stuff like this slide right off him. Despite his power and wealth, he prided himself on his easygoing nature and smooth ability to roll with the punches. It wasn’t like him to complain or whine about an unexpected setback.
But this latest problem was number fifty-seven in a whole list of complications and snafus that had cropped up today. And hell, it wasn’t even lunchtime. Enough was enough.
He read the foreman’s message over again and confirmed that as far as problems went, this one wasn’t too earth shattering. Aidan would need to get it taken care of within twenty-four hours though, so he would have to re-prioritize a few agenda items and shift some man power, and the issue would be solved. No sweat.
“So why am I sweating it?” Irritated with himself, he shoved his chair back from his desk, stood and crossed the wide expanse of his penthouse office suite to the wall of windows. As he stared out at the lavish grounds of the gorgeous Alleria Resort that spread out in all directions, his irritation slowly dissolved and satisfaction rose up in its place.
With a quiet laugh, Aidan thought back to the days when this island paradise had been little more than a pipe dream. As youngsters, he and his twin brother, Logan, had plotted and dreamed of becoming like one of their comic book superheroes. Iron Man, maybe, or Batman, with wealth and power beyond imagination. If they could wangle a superhero talent like X-ray vision, that would be a bonus. But above all, their imaginary scheme involved amassing a vast empire, and for two California kids who were swimming before they could walk, what would better serve as their empire headquarters than a remote tropical island? They would conduct business from a couple of hammocks under a shady coconut palm tree.
Aidan watched as a catamaran set sail from the marina below. He and Logan had pretty much achieved the dream—although their hammock and palm tree headquarters had been traded in for several large suites at the Alleria Resort Hotel. Not bad for two working-class guys who’d spent much of their youth surfing and partying.
For several of those years, the brothers had been lucky enough to sweep most of the surfing competitions they’d taken part in. They’d managed to collect enough prize money to finally fulfill the promise they’d made to their father years before. More than anything else, Dad had wanted them both to go to college.
No one was more surprised than Aidan and Logan when they were accepted to one of the most elite universities on the East Coast. While there, as legend had it, they’d won the deed to their first bar in a fraternity poker game.
Aidan and Logan had also excelled in all their classes, graduated with highest honors, and gone on to collect MBA degrees. But those dry facts had little or no entertainment value, so these days, most business magazine articles featuring the Sutherland brothers chose to highlight their misspent youth by recounting sordid tales of surfing, gambling and partying.
Aidan and his brother didn’t really care what the articles claimed. The truth was that they had succeeded beyond their wildest dreams through a capricious combination of business acumen, poker winnings, surfing philosophy, sweat and hard work. Added to all that was some good timing and a hell of a lot of dumb luck, and the result was the present-day empire known as Sutherland Corporation. Now their lavish bars and exclusive resorts could be found in every part of the world, including their very own island, Alleria.
They were living the dream.
The Alleria Resort had become the number-one destination for discerning travelers the world over. It also doubled as the headquarters of Sutherland Corporation. And thanks to the brothers’ stewardship, the entire island of Alleria was now a bustling, thriving port of call in the Caribbean.
Aidan returned to his desk and grabbed his coffee mug. While he refilled it from the coffeemaker on the sideboard, he thought about his twin brother. Logan was currently in Europe on his honeymoon with his bride, Grace.
“That’s why everything’s been going wrong lately,” he realized aloud. “Too many weddings.”
Once the happy couple returned, things would get back to normal around here, Aidan thought. Well, not right away, he amended. Because speaking of weddings, his own father would be taking the plunge soon, too. Aidan shook his head. As if he wasn’t already surrounded by enough blissful lovebirds to mess up his mojo for years to come!
He couldn’t begrudge Dad and his beloved Sally their nuptials, though. The two had found each other after years of living alone, so Aidan was happy for them. Still, all of his problems had seemed to start around the same time that everyone began to get happy and fall in love.
Dad and Sally had decided to conduct the ceremony right here on Alleria next month, so that was one more item that needed to be coordinated. In the meantime, Aidan was scheduled to fly to California this coming weekend to take care of some legal business that had to be finalized before Dad married Sally Duke.
“Damn.” He’d forgotten to get started on those documents for his father. What the hell? It wasn’t like Aidan to forget something like that. Was he losing his grip? Hell no, but he had lost his secretary. She’d abandoned him to marriage, too. Just when he’d needed her most, his trusted ally had fallen in love and gone off to Jamaica to marry her sweetheart. Why did the woman have to quit the same week Logan left town?
At the risk of repeating himself, what was the deal with all these weddings lately?
All that creeping happiness had begun to close in on him and he was pretty certain it had caused the balance of nature to shift. The end result was that Aidan kept forgeting stuff. It made an odd sort of sense, really. Aidan would never in a million years have anything to do with the state of matrimony himself, and yet here he was, surrounded by weddings. It was downright bizarre. No wonder Aidan had taken his eye off the ball. Everything in his carefully organized world was going up in smoke lately.
He pulled out his smartphone and compared his electronic calendar with the written schedule he kept on his desk, checking to see if anything else had fallen by the wayside lately. Ordinarily, he was on top of every single detail of Sutherland Corporation business, but as he checked his calendar, he noted that since Logan’s wedding a week ago, he’d allowed a few things to drift. They wouldn’t cause any major problems, but that didn’t excuse his forgetfulness.
The Erickson deal, he noted, would have to be handled within the next three weeks. With Logan away on his honeymoon, Aidan decided to hand the project off to Ellie. He’d been doing that a lot lately, he admitted to himself, but only because he was knee deep in other plans and strategy involving the boutique hotel the Duke brothers were about to break ground on a few miles away on the north shore of the island. The Dukes were his cousins and were experts at negotiating with the unions, but they weren’t here on the island. Not yet, anyway.
And frankly, Ellie would handle the deal better. While there were no better negotiators on earth than Aidan and Logan, Ellie brought an extra touch of nuance to any discussion. She could handle Erickson, the union bosses and the Dukes with no problem, he thought. Not that he would pile all that on her, but the fact was, if she was in charge, they’d get done. Clearly, with all that was going on, Aidan had to admit he couldn’t depend entirely on his own memory right now.
As a rule, Aidan thrived on meticulous attention to detail. And didn’t that sound like he walked around with a giant stick up his ass? He didn’t. He was cool, calm and laid-back at all times, damn it. An easygoing guy. But he still expected things to run smoothly and he paid his well organized team a lot of money to make sure they always did.
“Knock, knock.”
“What?” he demanded, whipping around to glare at whoever was here to aggravate him.
“Ooh, not a good time?”
“Ellie.” Aidan relaxed instantly at the sight of Eleanor Sterling, his senior vice president, standing at his office door. “Come in. Sorry I barked at you.”
“Something not going smoothly?”
“Nothing that can’t be fixed,” he said. “A little mix-up over at the construction site, but we’ll work it out. In fact, you’re just the person I wanted to talk to about it. But you go first. What’s on your mind?”
“I have a list of things to go over with you,” she said, holding up the small, sleek computer tablet that was never out of her sight.
“Of course you do,” he murmured, chuckling. When had their super-efficient, proactive, forward-thinking senior vice president ever not had a list?
Even when his world was tipping crazily out of balance, he could count on Ellie to be exactly who she was. His ruthlessly organized, efficient right-hand man. Woman. Person.
Ellie approached his desk and Aidan’s breath got caught somewhere in his throat as he watched her plant herself in the chair opposite him and cross her stunning long legs.
Damn. He turned away to stare at…something else. This had been happening a lot lately and it was one more thing he could blame on all that wedding madness. Or it would be, if it weren’t for the fact that he’d been ogling his business associate’s legs for a long time now. Every time she came near him lately, he was ready to pounce like a jungle cat. And who could blame him? The woman had world-class legs. And a world-class smile. He was pretty sure she had world-class breasts, as well, but that was none of his business. She had a gorgeous smile and beautiful lips. Clear blue eyes, an adorable nose and lush dark hair that she wore in a straight style that fell like a thick ribbon halfway down her back.
Was this attraction to Ellie one more example of the sneaky universe conspiring to ruin his life? Was there such a thing as orange-blossom poisoning? Had he overdosed on weddings? Absolutely. That’s all this was. Too much romance and talk of happy ever after. So of course he’d been noticing Ellie’s legs lately. He’d have been blind not to.
There, a perfectly reasonable explanation. He felt better. Except for the knot of need in his stomach and the more visible sign of his desire that he fought to suppress before she noticed and ran screaming from his office.
After a long moment, he turned and gave her a nonchalant smile, as if he hadn’t been picturing her naked in his bed seconds ago. But hell, a jury of his peers would never blame him for having those thoughts. She was wearing a dress in some cheery, summery color that was sleeveless and short and contoured to fit her well-endowed body perfectly. When had she started dressing so… Hmm. Had she always been this sexy and he just hadn’t noticed until recently? Damn. Might be time to get his eyes checked, after all.
Whatever, that dress showed off her smooth, lightly tanned arms and her aforementioned awesomely hot legs.
And now that he thought about it, he realized Ellie rarely wore dresses, preferring lightweight tailored suits and what Aidan referred to as “sensible” shoes. But the weather had turned even warmer than usual lately and they did live and work on a tropical island, after all. That might explain those three-inch-high strappy sandals she wore that gave even more definition to her attractively toned legs.
He mentally kicked his ass. Thinking of his senior VP like this was completely unacceptable. The woman brought incredible resourcefulness and negotiating talent to the company. Not sex. Not ever. End of story.
He blamed his wayward thoughts on the fact that he hadn’t been out with a woman in… How long had it been? Didn’t matter. Ellie was off-limits. He reeled in his urges, sat down at his desk and smiled tightly at Ellie. “So what can I do to you?”
“Excuse me?” she said.
“I mean, do for you?” Good grief. “Sorry, I’m a little distracted by that, uh, union issue I mentioned. So what’s on your list?”
As she studied the tablet screen, she wriggled in her chair, uncrossed and re-crossed her legs. Aidan was captivated by the movement and wondered if she would mind if he pulled her onto his desk and began to lick every inch of her legs, starting with her ankles and moving up to her—
“Number one on the agenda has to do with the new sports center,” Ellie said. “The Paragon contracts are printed and ready to sign.”
With his jaw clenched, Aidan forced the sultry image away and shook himself back to attention. Now what was she saying? Oh, yeah. Paragon was the vendor that would be supplying the center with everything from workers’ uniforms to gym towels to drinking cups. Aidan and Logan were old surfing buddies with Keith Sands, the Paragon CEO, and knew him well.
“Good,” Aidan said. “Let’s overnight them to Keith and get that wrapped up.”
“Done.” She tapped out a message on her screen keyboard, then nibbled on her bottom lip as she studied the screen. Aidan tortured himself by watching her luscious mouth in action and wondered if maybe he needed to take a cold shower.
As he dragged his gaze away, he vowed to find himself a date while visiting California over the weekend. It had been too long since he’d indulged in some good old-fashioned, no-strings-attached sex. That had to be another reason why he was so distracted by Ellie’s excellent body, but he had to snap out of it. There was no way he would allow the one-way attraction to grow. Otherwise, he would never shake off this funk. “What’s next?”
She pressed the tablet’s surface and a new screen appeared. Glancing up, she said, “As you know, the new hotel is on track to break ground in two weeks.”
“Right. But there’s a holdup with the cement mixer company.”
“Yes, I spoke to them,” Ellie said. “I think we’ve worked it out. I’ll keep you posted.”
“Thanks, I appreciate you taking on that issue. Next agenda item?” Aidan asked.
“Right. This one’s a little tricky.” She shook her hair back and took a deep breath. “I’m overdue for some time off and I’m sorry for the short notice, but I have to take three weeks off next month, from the second to the twenty-third.” She checked her tablet. “I’ve arranged coverage for all of my assignments so there shouldn’t be any problems.”
Before Aidan could say a word, Ellie rushed on to the next item on her list. “Now this is good news, but I’ll need you to approve it. The hotel’s limousine service will upgrade their entire fleet six weeks from now. I’ve worked out a deal with a company over on St. Bart’s to buy the old cars, but we’ll need to ship them there by freighter. They’re willing to split the freight cost, but I’d rather we be the ones to arrange everything. There’s a new Danish shipping company based in Nassau that can do it, but I’ll have to let them know fairly soon if we’re interested in using them.”
“Send me their info and I’ll get back to you.” He held up his finger to stop her from continuing. “But…let’s go back to that last item you mentioned.”
“The cement mixer?” she asked, her eyes wide and curious.
He didn’t believe that wide-eyed innocent act for a second. “No, Ellie. Your vacation. Three weeks?”
“Yes, but don’t worry. I don’t leave until next month.”
He grabbed his calendar and calculated the dates. “We’re practically at the end of this month. So next month starts next week. You want to leave a week from tomorrow?”
“Yes. Something important just came up. I’m sorry I couldn’t give you more notice, but it’s urgent that I go.”
He frowned at the calendar. “A week from tomorrow?”
“Yes, a week from tomorrow.” She said the words slowly, as though she was speaking to a recalcitrant kindergartner.
“That’s really short notice.”
“I know, Aidan. But I have an important appointment scheduled and the timing is crucial. I have to leave a week from tomorrow.”
His eyes widened. “Is something wrong, Ellie? Are you sick?”
“No!” she said at once. “No, I’m fine. But this can’t be put off.”
“I’m glad it’s nothing health-related.” He flipped through the week-at-a-glance calendar. “But can’t we talk about this? I really need you on the job over the next month or so. You know I’m about to leave for a long weekend. And Logan won’t be back for two more weeks. The Erickson deal needs immediate attention, the Duke project needs supervision, and I’ve got a dozen new secretary applicants I was hoping you’d help me interview. I hate to be hard-nosed about this, but it’s really a bad time for you to be gone.”
“No, it’s not. I’ve worked out the—”
“Wait,” he said, ignoring her as he tapped the calendar page. “The cardboard-box convention is right in the middle of that time period. That’s your client. Those guys love you. You can’t desert them.”
“I’m not. I’m leaving them in good hands. They love our sales staff.”
“It’s not the same,” he said, grasping at excuses. Damn it, he was already without his secretary. How the hell could he keep this place running without Ellie, as well? “You know you have a knack with the conventioneers.” He peered at her. What was this sudden vacation all about? Was she planning to meet up with some man? Aidan wasn’t sure he liked the idea, not that he had any say in the matter. Of course, that had never stopped him from issuing an opinion. “What’s so important that you need to go next week?”
She gazed back at him steadily. “It’s personal.”
“You can tell me. We’re friends.”
“You’re my boss.”
“And your friend.”
She smiled. “Trust me, Aidan. You don’t want to know.”
He folded his hands together on his desk and smiled patiently. “Now that’s where you’re wrong. What can possibly be so important that you can only give one week’s notice and then go off and leave us for three long weeks? We need you here.”
“I appreciate that, but I’m entitled to a vacation.”
“Of course you are,” he said, wondering why he was being so inflexible about this. She was their best employee. Employee? Hell, she was practically a partner in the business. Of course she was entitled to take time off. He just didn’t want her to leave right now while things were in flux. It was bad enough he didn’t have a secretary. But to lose his right-hand man—er, woman—for three weeks? He didn’t want to think of the many things that could go wrong. “We have two major construction projects going, there are union issues, my brother is out of the country, I’m going to have to travel, as well. You know we depend on you to keep everything running smoothly.”
“But—”
“It’s not about whether you deserve the time off,” he rushed to add. “It’s just that, hell, you’re always so organized. You plan your vacation time a year in advance. What happened?”
“Something came up,” she said primly.
“Damn it, Ellie. What in the world is so important that you’d leave five hundred convention attendees in the lurch?” Not to mention me, he didn’t say aloud.
She let go an exasperated sigh, then said, “Fine. But don’t say I didn’t warn you.” She bounded out of her chair and paced back and forth in front of his desk. Suddenly she stopped and said in a rush, “I have an appointment with a fertility clinic in Atlanta. The timing is critical because everything depends on my ovulation cycle. Once I arrive in Atlanta, the clinic advised that I’ll need two days of complete rest to get over any jet lag my ovaries might suffer. Then it’ll take a week to go through their process, and that’s followed up with two weeks of, well, rest and waiting.”
Aidan’s eyes widened. He shook his head. Had his ears plugged up suddenly? He couldn’t have heard what he thought he’d just heard. Ovaries? Good grief. Fertility?
He glared at her. “What in the world are you talking about?”
Wearing a serene smile now, Ellie sat back down in her chair. “I’m going to have a baby.”
*
There. She had finally said it out loud.
Ellie tried to appear calm, tried not to squirm in her chair as Aidan stared sharply at her. Well, it was his own darn fault for pushing the point, she thought. Honestly, she had tried to soft-peddle her vacation plans, tried to avoid explaining all the gory details, but she should’ve known Aidan Sutherland wouldn’t let things slide. He never let things slide.
Yes, she usually planned her vacations a year ahead of time. Yes, she was highly organized, detail oriented, never impulsive, always in control. She didn’t do anything without preparing a spreadsheet first. But come on, once in a while a girl had to be spontaneous. That’s what she’d heard, anyway. Ellie was pretty sure she’d never been spontaneous in her life. Until now.
She watched Aidan’s gaze narrow in on her. He turned his head slightly and leaned forward, almost as though he’d experienced a hearing loss. “Say that again?”
Ellie sighed. She and Aidan had a fabulous working relationship. She thought of him as her best friend at work, even though he was her boss. And even though he was rugged and gregarious, athletic and tanned. And gorgeous. Handsome. Downright sexy. But she was getting off track.
The fact was, she’d liked Aidan from the first day she started her job at Sutherland Corp. The two of them shared a lot of the same interests and as business associates, they’d traveled together on dozens of occasions. Together they had closed numerous deals and even a bar or two when the negotiations turned out to be rougher than they should have been.
It didn’t help that she had developed a ridiculous schoolgirl crush on Aidan shortly after she started working with him. It didn’t matter though, because she would never do anything so stupid as to act on her feelings. Not only would it destroy their relationship and mark the end of the best job she’d ever had, but it would make her feel like the world’s biggest fool. Ellie had never been a fool.
She knew Aidan’s question was coming from a decent place inside him, and she had already decided to be completely honest with him if he forced the issue, so she repeated, “I said, I’m going to have a baby.”
“Next week?”
“Next week is when the process starts.”
“You can’t put it off an extra week?”
“No,” she said, fighting to maintain her calm. “I’m usually as regular as clockwork so once I get to Atlanta, I’ve allowed myself a three-day window during which I should start ovula—”
“Stop.” He held up his hand. “We’re venturing back into the dark realm of too much female information.”
“But you keep asking.”
“I just want to know why you have to do all this starting next week.”
“Because I want to have a baby and I’m not getting any younger.” She had no intention of telling him anything more than that.
“But—” He scratched his head, clearly confused. “You’re going to a sperm bank.”
“I prefer the term fertility clinic. But yes, that’s where I’m going.”
“But why?”
“Why?” she said, her voice rising as her serenity tottered on the edge of annoyance. “Seriously, Aidan? You want to know why I’m going to a sperm bank— I mean, fertility clinic? I’ll go out on a limb here and take a guess that you are aware of what happens in those places.”
He huffed impatiently. “Of course. But what I mean is, why don’t you just do it the old-fashioned way?”
“Oh,” she said slowly. “That.”
“Yeah.” He folded his arms across his chest. “That.”
“Well, it’s because… Hmm.” What was she supposed to tell him? The truth? Because the truth was that she would have preferred to get pregnant the old-fashioned way. With a man she loved, someone wonderful who wanted to live the rest of his life with her.
Recently there had been one man who’d expressed some interest in her. She had dated him for a few weeks, but as soon as Ellie brought up the subject of children and family, he’d made himself scarce. That was before they’d even had sex so she’d missed out on that, too. She just couldn’t get a break.
Even though there were plenty of opportunities to meet eligible men on the island, none of them ever seemed to want to take the next step. One problem was that most men came to Alleria to party-party-party. They weren’t interested in a relationship if it looked like it might last more than a week.
The other problem was that while Ellie knew men thought she was pretty enough, she also knew they found her a little intimidating. And even though she recognized the problem, she didn’t know what to do about it. It wasn’t that she had an overpowering personality. That would’ve been an easy fix. No, Ellie’s problem was that she was just too smart. She couldn’t help it. She seemed to have a photographic memory and she loved learning new things. She retained information and was cheerfully willing to share it with others any time a subject came up. Some people didn’t take that well.
And sadly, Ellie didn’t have a clue when to keep her mouth shut and let a guy live with the illusion that he was smarter than she was. Men were so odd.
These days, though, Ellie refused to allow that to bother her. Happily, Aidan and his brother appreciated how smart she was and she loved her job because of it. They accepted her and needed her, and that meant a lot more to Ellie than having a man in her life who might cause her to lose too much of herself.
But meanwhile, without a man in her life, there was no one who was willing to make a baby with her.
So after a lot of studying the pros and cons and debating it with herself, she had decided to use artificial insemination to achieve her goal of motherhood.
She was secure in her job and very well compensated. She also had an excellent benefits package, so the idea of raising her child on her own was a reasonable one. She was also lucky to have developed strong friendships with several women on the island, too, and knew they would always be around when she needed them. So she wasn’t worried. She and her baby would comprise the perfect little family she had always wanted. Now she just needed some time off to get the job done.
“Ellie, are you going to tell me why you can’t just do it the—”
“Yes, yes, the old-fashioned way.” She sniffed, straightened her shoulders and held her head high. “I don’t think it’s any of your business.”
“You’re probably right.” His lips twisted in a sardonic grin. “But you’ve already given me your ovulation schedule. I mean, why hold back the rest?”
“Oh, for Pete’s sake,” Ellie said. “Look, we both know that what I do in my free time is nobody’s business but my own.”
“Of course it is,” he said reasonably. “But you have to realize how concerned I am. As I’ve already said, I’m your friend as well as your employer, and this isn’t exactly a vacation you’re taking. You’re planning to go off to get pregnant. And then what happens? Then you’ll come back and work? For how long?”
“Until the baby’s born,” she said immediately. “At that point I’ll take maternity leave for three months and then I’ll be back at work.”
The resort had an excellent childcare facility so Ellie wasn’t worried about finding someone to care for her baby while she worked. That was another benefit of working for the Sutherland brothers.
“Three months.” Aidan pushed away from the desk and stood to pace the floor for a full minute. Finally he looked at her. “Okay, I’m not going to think about your being gone for three months. We’ll just deal with these upcoming three weeks.”
“That might be best,” she murmured.
“I can’t stand in the way of you going, but what will we do without you for three weeks? It might not sound like a lot of time to you, but we’ve never gone that long without you before. And right now we’re swamped with work and no one else is qualified to fill your shoes.”
She smiled because she’d already made a point of finding solutions to those particular problems, thanks to her best friend, Serena, the catering manager.
“Serena and her secretary have agreed to assist the sales force with the convention work. And my secretary will take care of making sure the day-to-day office work gets done. I’ll be available by phone if there are any questions.”
“Damn, Ellie.”
She stood and met him face-to-face. “Look, Aidan. I wouldn’t leave if there was a doctor on the island who specialized in fertilization. But there isn’t, so I’m going to Atlanta.”
“But what if you go through all this and it doesn’t…” He seemed to weigh his words and decided not to finish that sentence. Probably smart of him.
She finished the thought for him. “What if the procedure doesn’t work?” She’d considered that possibility, too. “I’ll try again in a few months.”
He gritted his teeth. “Okay, I understand what you want to do and it’s not like I have a say in your decision, but I still think you’re jumping the gun here. You’re so young. What are you? Twenty-eight? Twenty-nine?”
“Thirty.”
“That’s young,” he insisted. “You still have plenty of time to do it the—”
“Yes, yes, the old-fashioned way. You’ve mentioned it several times already.”
“It bears repeating,” he said amiably.
She quickly looked down at her tablet to avoid his knowing gaze. Was it getting hot in here? All this conversation about babies and “doing it the old-fashioned way” was stirring up feelings for Aidan that she’d long ago squelched. And not just emotional feelings, but an actual physical attraction to him. And that had to stop right now. “You realize this is absolutely none of your business, right?”
He had the nerve to grin. “Yeah.”
She sighed again. “Look, even if I do have plenty of time, I don’t have a partner. You know, someone who’s interested in providing the necessary equipment to get the job done.”
Could she make it any clearer than that?
“Oh. Right.” Aidan seemed to ponder that for a moment. “But what about that guy you were dating? Aren’t you still seeing him? What’s his name?”
“You know very well what his name is,” she said drily. “You introduced us, remember?”
“Oh, yeah,” he said snidely. “Brad.”
“Blake,” she said, rolling her eyes. “Blake Farrell.”
“Right. What about Blake?”
Self-conscious now, Ellie avoided eye contact. “What about Blake for what?”
Aidan raised one eyebrow, but said nothing.
“Oh, fine,” she said, exasperated. She knew exactly what he was referring to. Sex. “If you must know, I’m not seeing Blake anymore.”
His mouth opened, then closed. After a pause, he said, “Ah. Sorry it didn’t work out.”
“You don’t sound sorry at all.”
“You’re right.” He grinned wolfishly. “I’m not. He wasn’t the guy for you.”
“But you introduced me to him.”
“You were both standing there,” he said with a shrug. “I was just being polite. I never expected you to start dating him. I’m glad you broke up. You can do a lot better than him.”
“Now you tell me,” she muttered. “After I already asked him to…” She stopped talking, but it was too late.
Aidan’s eyes narrowed in on her. “You asked him to be the father of your child?”
“I think this conversation has gone far enough.” She grabbed her tablet off the chair and turned to leave.
“Funny, I think it’s just getting started.” He circled around to meet her face-to-face, effectively preventing her from dashing out of his office. “Ellie, I introduced you to Blake three weeks ago. Are you saying that after three weeks of dating, you asked him to—”
“Yes. Yes, I did.” She began pacing again, but couldn’t get far with him standing right in front her. “I don’t know what I was thinking. But in my defense, we were going out every weekend, having a great time, getting to know each other. So one night at dinner he asked me where I saw myself in five years and I told him.”
“You told him what, exactly?”
She wanted to bury herself somewhere. Instead, she drew in a breath and said, “I told him that in five years I saw myself living on Alleria, working for Sutherland Corporation, and taking care of my adorable four-year-old child.”
She watched Aidan’s eyes widen. His lips quivered. He tried to bite back a grin, but it was useless. He finally began to laugh. “Let me get this straight. You basically told a guy you’ve been dating for three weeks that you’re looking for him to be your baby daddy?”
“Not exactly,” she said. But it was no use. His laughter was justified. “Okay, he might’ve interpreted it that way.”
“You think?”
“Stop laughing. What do I know? Blake was the first date I’ve had in three years.”
“Three years?” He looked her up and down. “What’s wrong with the guys you know?”
“It’s not them, it’s me.” Oh, dear lord. Could she sound like a bigger loser? She had to get out of there.
But Aidan grabbed her shoulders to keep her there and tilted his head to meet her gaze. “Honey, trust me. It’s not you. You’re smart, funny, beautiful. Any man would…well…” He faltered, frowning as he let go of her.
She blinked up at him, then frowned, too. “Well, what?”
He scowled as he walked back to his desk. “Just trust me. You’re not the problem.”
Ellie appreciated his words, but they didn’t really help right now. It wasn’t much fun admitting that she was a total loser when it came to men. Especially to admit it to Aidan Sutherland, who was not only her boss but also the man she had been crushing on for almost four years.
Not that it meant anything. A crush on a man was healthy, right? Of course it was! Sure, she had a personal hang-up or two, but other than wanting to sleep with her boss, she was fine and dandy. Very put-together, highly organized, successful. She had friends. She wasn’t a loser.
She smiled with determination. “I’ll say again that I’m sorry I couldn’t give you more notice, but I’ve got everything covered job-wise. I am absolutely certain that things will run smoothly. I just need your blessing to take the time off.”
“I won’t let you quit your job,” he said fiercely. “We need you too much.”
She was surprised and delighted by his admission. He had no idea how much his words pleased her, but she was still going through with her plan.
“Aidan, you know me. I love my job. I love Alleria. You and Logan are the best people I’ve ever worked with. Believe me, I’ve never been happier and I have no intention of ever leaving voluntarily.”
“Good, because I won’t let you. You’re a vital member of our organization.”
“Thank you.” She wouldn’t say it aloud, but she would be a fool to give up this job. After all this time, with all the raises and bonuses they’d given her, she would never find anything comparable, especially in such a beautiful setting as Alleria.
“I’ll never leave,” she reiterated.
“But you’re going to have a baby,” he argued, not quite ready to concede. “That’s not a good sign.”
“I have every intention of raising my baby here on the island and continuing to work for you and Logan for as long as you’ll have me. Okay?”
He scowled, but she knew he was smart enough to know when to give up the fight. Finally he nodded. “Okay.”
“Thank you,” she said. In a spontaneous gesture, she gave him a tight hug. “I really appreciate your understanding.”
“I don’t understand anything,” he said, but managed a half smile as he walked her to the door. “Call me conventional, but I still believe in the man-woman routine.”
Her laugh was lighthearted even if her mind was set. But she decided to humor him anyway. “Fine. You have one week to convince me it’s the best way to go.”
Not that she had any intention of doing things his way, Ellie thought as she walked back to her office. She’d thought this through down to the last detail, and she wasn’t about to change her mind just to satisfy her boss. She’d seen how a messy relationship with a man could turn a woman’s life inside out and she wasn’t about to let that happen to her. Not ever. Not even for Aidan Sutherland.