The Tycoon's Paternity Agenda / High-Society Seduction: The Tycoon's Paternity Agenda / High-Society Seduction. Michelle Celmer
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looked over at him and smiled. “If someone had told me a month ago that I would be here today, having fertilized embryos injected into me, I would have told them they were insane.”
Boy, could he relate. He always knew that someday he would use the embryos, but not with Katy as the surrogate. “If it’s unsuccessful, are you still willing to try again?”
“Of course! I’m in this for the long haul.” She yawned deeply, her eyes overflowing with tears. “Well, goodness, all of the sudden I feel exhausted.”
She must have slept as fitfully as he had last night. Plus she’d had that long drive this morning. “Why don’t you close your eyes and rest.”
“Maybe just for a minute,” she said, her eyes slipping closed. Within minutes her breathing became slow and deep and her lips parted slightly. He sat there looking at her and had the strangest urge to touch her face. To run his finger across her full bottom lip …
He shook away the thought. He hoped this was a one-shot deal. He hoped the test came up positive, not only because he wanted a child, but because he wanted to get the emotionally taxing part of the process out of the way. This entire experience was doing strange things to his head.
He sat there for a while, checking messages and reading email on his phone. Then he played a few games of Tetris.
After an hour, when she was still out cold, he decided to make a few calls. Careful not to disturb her, he stepped out into the hall and called Celia on his cell, asking her to have lunch ready when they got back, then he checked in with his secretary and returned a few other calls that couldn’t wait until he got back to the office. When he finally returned to the room, Katy was awake.
“Oh, there you are,” she said, looking anxious. “I thought maybe you’d left.”
Did she really think he would just up and leave her there alone? “Of course not. I just had a few calls to make and I didn’t want to disturb you.” He reclaimed his seat. “Did you have a good nap?”
“Yeah. I must have gone out cold. All the stress probably. At least now, if we have to do it again, I’ll know what to expect.” She touched his arm. “I wish it could have been Becca here with you.”
Emotion caught in his throat. “Me, too.”
There was a knock at the door, then the nurse stuck her head in. “You can get dressed and go now.”
“Already? I guess I slept longer than I thought.”
“And don’t forget, strict bed rest for the next twenty-four hours,” she said sternly.
“Like I could forget that,” she muttered, sitting up.
Adam waited in the hall while Katy put her clothes on, then they went to the reception desk to make an appointment for her blood test in ten days.
“Can you believe that ten days from now we’ll know if I’m pregnant?” she said excitedly as they walked down to the limo. His only concern right now was getting her home and back into bed. Although he was sure, the next ten days might just be the longest of his life.
Seven
It was official. Katy was starting to dislike Adam a lot less.
She had just assumed that when they got back to his place he would get her settled, pat her on the head and say good job, then motor off to the office for a shareholders meeting or something equally important sounding. In reality, he had barely left her side all day. She watched television and Adam sat in a chair beside the bed with his laptop.
He must have asked her a hundred times if there was anything she needed, anything he could do for her. And here she had honestly believed the only person he cared about was himself. He’d even smiled a few times.
And that kiss back in the doctor’s office? What was up with that? It had been an impulse on her part. After all, what they were doing was pretty personal. It just seemed like the right thing to do. She’d never expected to feel it. Although to be honest she still wasn’t sure what it was exactly that she’d felt. It was an odd sort of … awareness. Not sexual exactly, but not completely innocent, either. It was as if some deeper part of each of them had risen to the surface and collided, causing a sort of cosmic friction or interference or something. And she could tell, by the look on Adam’s face, that he’d felt it, too.
It had been a weird, but not unpleasant experience. In fact, it felt sort of nice. But that didn’t mean she wanted it to happen again. Unfortunately the more she tried to forget it, forget how smooth his cheek felt, the tangy scent of his aftershave, the more it consumed her.
She couldn’t help sneaking looks his way, wondering if he was thinking about it, too. But she wasn’t being as sneaky as she thought because he finally looked over at her and asked, “Is there a reason you keep looking at me?”
“Am I?” she asked, as if she’d had no clue. “I didn’t realize. I guess I must be doing it unconsciously.”
“Okay,” he said, although he didn’t look as though he believed her. But he didn’t push the issue, either. And she was glad. She made a conscious effort not to look at him again.
Around six when Celia brought them supper on a tray, it was a relief to be able to sit up for a while. Celia set her tray over her lap, then gestured Adam to the opposite side of the bed.
“You, sit,” she ordered.
“I am sitting.”
“Now, niño pequeño,” she said sternly. “Little Boy.” A holdover nickname from when he was small, Katy was guessing.
“Why can’t I eat here?” He sounded like a little boy arguing with his mother.
“Because I said so, that’s why. Now move, before your supper gets cold.”
“You’re seriously not going to let me eat here? In a chair, I might add, that I own?”
“And you honestly think I’m going to let you eat spaghetti on Persian silk? Becca would roll over in her grave.”
He seemed to get that it was a losing battle, because he shoved himself up from the chair and mumbled, “The way you boss me around, a person would think this was your house.”
He rounded the bed, kicked off his shoes and climbed on, sitting cross-legged next to Katy. “Happy now?”
“Good boy,” Celia said, setting his tray in front of him, stopping just shy of patting his head. He looked more than a little annoyed, which Katy was guessing was the whole point. He may have owned the house, but Celia was clearly in charge.
It was one of the sweetest, most heartwarming things she had ever seen. The big powerful billionaire was really just a pussycat.
“Can I get you anything else?” Celia asked.
“A double scotch if it wouldn’t be too much trouble,” Adam said.
She smiled and said, “Of course. Katy?”
“Under the circumstances, I should probably lay off the booze. But thanks for asking.”
“I didn’t mean …” She sighed and shook her head, as if they were both hopeless. “Heaven help us, you’re just as bad as he is.”
She walked out mumbling to herself.
“Niño pequeño?” Katy asked, unable to stifle a smile.
“I swear sometimes she thinks I’m still ten years old,” he grumbled, but there was affection in his eyes. He loved Celia, even if he didn’t want to admit it.
“I think everyone needs someone to boss them around every once in a while,” she said. “It keeps you grounded.”
“Well, then, I should be pretty well-grounded, because she bosses me around on a daily basis.”
And