Authors: Mia Caldwell
Expecting The CEO's Baby - The Complete Series: BWWM Interracial Billionaire Pregnancy Romance
Expecting The CEO’s Baby :
THE COMPLETE SERIES
by
Mia Caldwell
© 2015 Mia Caldwell
All Rights Reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
This book is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locations is purely coincidental. The characters are all productions of the author’s imagination. Please note that this work is intended for adults over the age of 18 and all characters represented as 18 or over.
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I wrapped my arms around his neck, flattening my chest against his in the process. Andrew moaned and broke our kiss. “I’m sorry, I know I’m moving too fast. It’s just that I’ve been thinking about doing this almost since the moment we met.”
I could see his sincerity but I still let out a little giggle. “You mean while you were on the sidewalk having just narrowly escaped the jaws of death, you were thinking about kissing me?”
He nodded as he twined his index finger though a lock of my hair. “I know it sounds crazy, but I swear I’m telling you the truth. Once I’d gotten over the initial shock, I couldn’t believe I’d been rescued by such a gorgeous angel.”
I felt my cheeks turn hot. No one had ever called me gorgeous before, especially not a man who actually fit the description of the word. “You’re just saying that because I’m the future mother of your child.”
“I’m grateful to you for giving me the opportunity to become a father.” Andrew kissed my forehead and the tip of my nose before he continued. “But that has nothing to do with what I’m telling you now. You’re beautiful on the inside and out.”
“You are too.” I stood on the tips of my toes to try and replicate his kissing my forehead and nose. However, he was too tall, and I only made it as far as his upper lip.
I might have failed in the attempt, but I still got the result I wanted. Andrew took me in his arms and kissed me again, this time his touch sent sparks through me that touched my very core. I’d never been kissed like this before. This wasn’t some slobbery, awkward, fumbling meeting of the mouths. As his tongue caressed my lips, tracing an outline around them, I could tell Andrew knew exactly what he was doing.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Excerpt from EXPECTING THE CEO’S BABY – THE COMPLETE SERIES
A sunny, cloudless late spring day after so many bone-chilling cold months of snow should have put me in a good mood. However, I couldn’t shake my winter doldrums frame of mind. After receiving what I thought had been a solid job offer from as a chemical engineer from NKL Laboratories, it had suddenly fallen through.
“The recruiter said that the last two quarters’ earnings were lower than expected. That caused NKL’s stock price to plunge and so the company has instituted a hiring freeze and suspended all current job offers,” I explained to my best friend, Natalie, as we walked through Rittenhouse Square.
“That sucks,” she said, giving me a sympathetic look. “Did the recruiter say when the suspension would be lifted?”
I shook my head. “He made it sound like something that could go on for months, maybe even over a year. He all but told me I need to line something else up because working for NKL was probably not gonna happen.”
“But they’d been after you so hard! After all those expensive dinners and trips to the various offices so you could see the different places to work, I thought they’d make an exception for you.”
“I thought so too. I guess graduating Phi Beta Kappa, making it into the top three percent of our graduating class, and receiving the chemical engineering department’s ‘Most Distinguished Student’ award doesn’t count for as much as it used to.”
Natalie wrapped an arm around my shoulders as we walked. “Cheer up, Ryanna. I know something else will fall into place soon. You’re a brilliant scientist that any company would be lucky to have.”
I managed a weak smile. “Thanks for the boost of self-confidence. I really need it right about now.”
“Nah, what we need right about now is some ice cream.” Natalie pointed to our favorite shop across the busy street. “Let’s go get some.”
Ordinarily, a waffle cone filled with chocolate soft serve and liberally sprinkled with chocolate chips could pull me out of the deepest of funks. But today, not even a delicious sweet treat would make me feel any better.
“No, thanks. I think I’m going to head back home,” I told her, referring to the small apartment we shared in West Philadelphia.
“Sitting around feeling sorry for yourself isn’t going to help you find a job any faster. Come on, let’s get some ice cream from Sembello’s. My treat.”
I started to decline again when out of the corner of my eye, I saw a man walking towards us. Granted, Natalie and I were standing on the edge of Rittenhouse Square, so there were lots of people walking towards us. However, the man stood out not only because he was about a head taller than everyone else, but he had the chiseled good looks of someone who should be walking the runways of Paris, not the grimy streets of Philadelphia’s Center City.
Normally, I didn’t give white men so much as a second glance. Men with caramel toned skin, like mine, or darker, were my preference. However, this handsome man, in his charcoal gray suit that looked like it cost half a semester’s tuition, also caught my attention because he was about to walk into traffic.
“Watch out!” I screamed, grabbing his upper arm and pulling him back onto the sidewalk. He’d been so busy looking down at his smart phone that he hadn’t noticed he’d been about to walk straight into the path of an oncoming bike messenger.
Pulling him out of harm’s way wasn’t easy. The expensive suit concealed an arm made out of pure toned muscle. But I guess my own adrenaline, fueled by the panic of seeing his beautiful body parts splattered all over the street and sidewalk, allowed me to temporarily dominate a guy who had at least eight inches and fifty pounds over me.
Perhaps I went too far, because in pulling on his arm, the man tripped and fell to the sidewalk, his phone shattering beside him. He looked up at me, glaring with furious green eyes. “What the fuck?” he yelled.
However, the whizzing screech and hiss of a city bus pulling up to a nearby bus stop saved me from answering. Even though he’d almost been killed by a bike messenger instead of a bus, the man seemed to grasp the seriousness of the situation.
“I-I-I didn’t realize I was so close,” he said in a voice that, despite its shakiness, still sounded deep and authoritative. “I was reading an email from one of my Hong Kong contacts. One of my suppliers is threatening to delay shipment unless we agree to an additional three percent tariff. . .”
He seemed to realize he was babbling and shook his head, as if to clear his thoughts. I extended my hand to help him to his feet, and he accepted it with a smile that showed off his even white teeth. “I guess I owe you my life, Miss. . .?”
“Ryanna Owens,” I told him. “But you don’t owe me anything. Just be more careful after you get your next phone.”
He looked down at the remains of the phone, most of which had been scattered by the feet of the people walking around us. “Damn it, I was right in the middle. . .well, I guess a broken phone is better than a broken body.”
I nodded my agreement. “I’d rather be looking at phone pieces than blood and guts.”
He laughed, and I looked over at Natalie who was just standing there with a dazed expression. I figured that the ice cream she wanted from Sembello’s would shake her out of it. As I guided her towards the crosswalk, I told the man, “I have to go now. Nice meeting you.”
“Wait, you should get some sort of reward. It’s the very least I can do.”
He reached inside his jacket, as if to pull out a wallet, but I shook my head. “Not seeing you become road kill is reward enough. Take care.”
Fortunately, the light turned green and Natalie and I joined the rest of the crowd crossing the street before he could argue any further. We were in Sembello’s standing in line before Natalie spoke.
“Do you know who that was?”
“Who?” I asked, paying more attention to the menu up on the wall than to her. I’d changed my mind about wanting ice cream and hoped Natalie remembered her offer to treat.
“That man you pulled out of the street. That was Andrew Rutledge.
The
Andrew Rutledge.”
Natalie’s tone made clear I should know exactly who that was, but I didn’t have the first clue. The confusion must have shown on my face, because she said, “Andrew Rutledge, the founder and CEO of Rutledge Electronics. Surely, with all the computers in the chemical engineering department, one of them had a Rutledge processor inside of it.”
Images of my own laptop suddenly popped into my head, with the red and gold ‘R’ sticker on it, right next to the Windows and energy efficiency stickers. “Are you sure?” I asked.
“Pretty sure. We had to read a bio of him for a finance class. That sure looked like the guy whose pic was on the book cover. It’s kind of hard to miss a hunk like that.”
“Don’t CEOs travel with bodyguards when they aren’t in limousines or on private planes? I doubt that was him. Probably someone that just looked like him.”
“You’re probably right, but he was still handsome though. The least you could have done was get his phone number.”
“And do what with it? I’m not looking to play guardian angel to a man prone to walking into traffic. I’ve got my own problems.”
“Don’t go getting all mopey again on me,” Natalie said. “You just saved a man’s life. That means you have to stay cheerful for the rest of the day.”
“Okay,” I told her, silently agreeing to put off my job search worried until at least after I’d finished my ice cream.
The encounter with the handsome man on the street vanished from my mind pretty quickly. As intense as the brush with him had been, finding a job still consumed most of my thoughts. So the call from his assistant three days later caught me off guard.
“Is this Ms. Ryanna Owens?” a clipped voice asked in response to my cautious hello. When I answered in the affirmative, she continued, “I’m Colleen Denning, Mr. Rutledge’s personal assistant. He’d like to see you in his office tomorrow at three, if that’s convenient for your schedule.”
“What’s this about? I don’t really know Mr. Rutledge.”
“I’m not at liberty to say, but Mr. Rutledge is most anxious to meet with you. If tomorrow at three doesn’t work, please name a time that you are able to meet with him.”
“Tomorrow at three is fine,” I told her, not feeling like I had any other choice. The assistant didn’t seem like she would end the call until she’d confirmed a date and time for me to come in. I jotted down the address of the office, still unsure if I’d actually keep the appointment.
“Of course you’re going to meet with Andrew Rutledge,” Natalie said later that night when I told her about the phone call. “Who turns down the summons of a billionaire? I bet he’s thought of a reward for you saving his life the other day.”
“I told him I didn’t want a reward. Anyone else in my position would have done the same thing.”
“But no one else was in your position, so you need to turn this to your advantage.” Natalie pulled me into my bedroom and started rummaging through my closet. “Do you own anything that’s not black, brown or navy? Where are all your colors?”
“Dark clothes hide lab stains better. And what does it matter what I wear anyway?”
“Because you want to make a good impression. What if Andrew Rutledge wants to see you because he has contacts at NKL and can get you around that hiring freeze?”
That got my full attention. Surely someone as powerful as the CEO of Rutledge Electronics had some pull with the HR department at NKL. “But how would he know about my job offer with them?”
“Billionaire CEOs know all kinds of things. He probably had you checked out the moment he returned to his office.”
“That’s creepy. Now I’m back to not wanting to go.”
“You’re going, even if I have to drag you there myself,” Natalie said in a firm voice. “Let’s go to my room. Between our two closets, we’re bound to find you something decent to wear.”
* * * * * * * * * *
Less than twenty-four hours later, I walked into Rutledge Electronics headquarters, a steel and chrome complex on the outskirts of Philadelphia. As the security guard gave me a visitor’s badge, I looked down at my outfit, Natalie’s peach colored blouse and my own navy skirt, and hoped I fit in. If anything, I seemed overdressed, in comparison to all the people I saw in jeans and khakis as I made my way to Andrew Rutledge’s office, following the security guard’s instructions. Better to be overdressed than underdressed, I supposed. But I didn’t know which fashion faux pas, if any, I’d committed since I still had no idea why he wanted to meet with me.
Glass doors stenciled with the Rutledge Electronics logo opened without me having to push or pull them. A tall woman with long blond hair walked toward me with a tight smile.
“Ms. Owens?” After I nodded, she said, “I’m Colleen Denning, it’s very nice to meet you. If you’ll follow me, I’ll show you to Mr. Rutledge’s office.”
In contrast to the grandeur of the automatic glass doors opening the executive suite of offices, Andrew Rutledge’s door was a simple wood panel one. Colleen had to knock on it and open it herself after a deep baritone voice said, “Come in.”
I entered the room, expecting Colleen to follow me. Instead, she closed the door behind me, leaving me alone with the CEO of Rutledge Electronics.
“Hi, Ryanna, I’m so glad you made it.” His broad smile and confident stride was a far cry from the pale, shaken man I’d left on the sidewalk three days ago. He took both of my hands in his and squeezed. His warm grasp sent tingles up both my arms, but I did my best to ignore the sensation.
Focus, Ryanna, focus.
“Thank you for inviting me, Mr. Rutledge.”
His green eyes bore into me. “Andrew, please. Anyone who pulls me out of harm’s way at the very least can call me Andrew.”
“Andrew,” I repeated, the words feeling strange on my tongue. I would have been more comfortable addressing the billionaire CEO as Mr. Rutledge, but didn’t want to go against his wishes.
“That’s better.” His smile widened and he let go of my hands. “Can I get you something to drink? Water? Juice?”
I shook my head and he said, “You’re probably wondering why I wanted to meet you again.”
“I was a little surprised to get the call from you assistant.”
Instead of leading me to the chair across from his massive glass desk, he showed me to a small sofa in the other corner of the room. The entire office could have easily held the apartment Natalie and I shared, along with three others on our floor.
I sat on the sofa and Andrew did too, so close that our knees almost touched. He propped an arm against the back of the sofa and smiled, but his eyes were solemn. “After our encounter, I did some checking up on you.”
Checking up on me? The alarm must have shown on my face because he quickly added, “While you said you didn’t want a reward, I still wanted to show you my gratitude in some way. I only looked into your background for the best way to accomplish that.”
I still didn’t like the idea of being spied upon. But the sincerity on his face and in his voice convinced me he was telling the truth and not just being creepy. I gave a slight nod of understanding, and his face lit up with relief.
“After discovering what a brilliant student you are, and civic-minded, given your many hours of community service, I decided you were just the person I needed for another project I have in mind.”
Actually, I only did the community service because my college required two hundred hours of it in order to graduate. But I didn’t want to mention it to Andrew without hearing about his project first. I hoped it would be something I could do for a salary until the job with NKL finally came through.
For the first time, Andrew looked uncomfortable. “This is going to sound a little unusual. I just ask you to bear with me while I explain, and to keep an open mind.
“For the last decade or so, ever since I graduated from college, Rutledge Electronics has been my life. Nothing was more important to me than accomplishing the professional and financial goals I set for myself.”
I nodded, understanding exactly where he was coming from. I’d outlined my own professional and financial goals in a five year plan. However, the NKL job falling through had set me back a bit.
Andrew ran a hand through his hair. “By focusing solely on my work, my personal life has suffered. I honestly thought I’d be married and have a family by now. For some reason, I thought achieving success in the professional realm would be far harder than in the personal, but I know now I was wrong.”
It took all of my control not to raise my eyebrows in skepticism. Andrew Rutledge was handsome, wealthy, and from what I could tell in the brief time we’d been together, had a nice personality. Most women would be grateful for a guy who had even one of those qualities, and would think they’d hit the jackpot if the guy had two of them. Since Andrew had all three, he had to have been chasing women off with a stick.
He must have sensed my doubts because he said, “I’m not saying there haven’t been plenty of opportunities for me to date. There have been several women in and out of my life over the last few years, but each relationship ended for one reason or another. Yet, while I haven’t been able to find a wife, my desire to start a family is as strong as ever.”
Such personal confessions began to make me uneasy. While I sympathized with him not being able to find Mrs. Right, I wondered what this had to do with me.
Andrew shifted in his seat, leaning forward with an earnest expression. “I learned from the report I had prepared on you that a job offer you’d accepted had been rescinded and that you’re now looking for other work.”
“Suspended, not rescinded,” I said, not sure why it felt so important to distinguish between the two.
“But you are looking for work?” After I nodded, he asked, “Has anything some through for you yet? Anything look promising?”
I shook my head, but I got the feeling he already knew the answer. “Well, Ryanna, I’d like to make you an offer of sorts.”
Finally!
I almost let out a sigh of relief, glad he was at last getting to the point of this meeting. Still, I wanted to play it cool. “I don’t know much about electronics, but I’d be happy to be part of your company.”
His smile stiffened a little. “My offer doesn’t have anything to do with Rutledge Electronics. My offer has more to do with my personal life than my professional one.”
My confusion must have shown on my face because he said, “I’m really botching this, I’m sorry. I don’t know a graceful way to ask you this so I’ll just say it straight out.
“As I said before, I want to start a family, even though I haven’t found the woman I want to marry. Given everything I’ve found in your background, including your intelligence and clean record, you’d be the perfect mother for my child.”
I stared into his clear green eyes, unsure that I’d really heard what I thought I did. “I’m sorry, did you say─”
“The mother of my child,” he finished. “I realize how odd this sounds, and how foolish I must look, but let me explain.”
I held my hand up before he could go any further. “No need, you already have. You want a family, but can’t find a wife. The surrogate route is probably the right one for you, but I’m not the right candidate.”
I moved to stand up, ready to get away and put this bizarre meeting behind me as quickly as I could, when his voice stopped me. “Three million,” he said.
“Excuse me?”
“I’ll pay you three million dollars if you’ll have my child. You’ll receive one million dollars upon the signing of an agreement committing to attempting to conceive a child for at least a twelve month duration. Another million will be paid once the child is conceived and your pregnancy is confirmed. You’ll receive the final million once the child is born.”
I slumped down into the sofa, more stunned than ever. I’d thought I’d arrived in the big leagues once I saw the starting salary in my offer from NKL. Maybe not a member of the one-percent, but definitely a ten- or fifteen-percenter. However, that salary, which seemed like a ton of money only a few weeks ago, was only a tiny fraction of the amount Andrew quoted.
“I take it you’re interested in the offer?” he asked, with more than a hint of knowing satisfaction in his voice.
A moral, ethical person probably would have told him that their body wasn’t for sale at any price and left the office in a huff. Yet, I remained seated there in Andrew’s enormous office, rooted in place by the idea of making three million dollars in as little as nine months.
“I’m interested,” I said carefully. “But I have some questions. How would we conceive the baby? Artificial insemination or in vitro?”
Andrew’s eyes darkened. “Neither, I’m afraid. As the CEO of a publicly traded company, I can’t risk the scandal that would ensue if word of our arrangement leaked.”
“But don’t fertility clinics have to follow the same rules of confidentiality that patients and doctors have in the hospital?”
“They are supposed to, but given my high profile, I can’t risk it. I know how unorthodox my proposal is and how many people would disapprove of it. There are several board members of my company who would love to force me out. The revelation of our arrangement would cause a scandal that would give them the ammunition they need. No, this child will have to be conceived organically, with no clinic or test tubes involved.”
I had a feeling he’d say that. But on the other hand, sleeping with Andrew Rutledge wouldn’t exactly be a hardship. Ever since I pulled him out of harm’s way on that Center City sidewalk, I’d been attracted to him. The expensive, exquisitely tailored suit he wore didn’t conceal the impressive, muscular physique that lay underneath it. And if he brought to the bedroom even half of the intensity with which he spoke about wanting a family, making a baby wouldn’t be that unpleasant at all. It might even be fun.
Images of hot sex aside, thoughts of what would happen afterwards made me turn serious again. “After the baby is born, will I be able to see him or her?”
“Of course.” Andrew grasped my hand and squeezed. “You can be involved as much or as little in our child’s life as you want. All I ask is that whatever you decide, it is done on a consistent basis. My own father was only in my life sporadically when I was a child. I don’t want that kind of instability for my child.”
“I don’t either.” To emphasize the point, I squeezed his hand just as hard as he’d squeezed mine before letting it go. “My parents divorced when I was seven, but I saw my father regularly even though my mother had custody. I know people say all children should grow up in a two parent home. However, I’m proof that children turn out okay even when the parents are no longer together.”
Andrew nodded in agreement. “You have all the qualities I want my child’s mother to have. Does this mean you’ll accept?”