The Magnate’s Baby Promise / Having the Billionaire's Baby: The Magnate’s Baby Promise / Having the Billionaire's Baby. Sandra Hyatt
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snapped off, too late.
“Like Sydney.”
When his eyes narrowed, she could’ve kicked herself. That’s a record for you, Ava. Undoing all that good work in two seconds flat.
Cal did not trust her. The sooner she realized that, the easier this would be. Yet pride couldn’t let her escape without clearing this ridiculous preconception.
“I came to Sydney for a girlfriend’s birthday,” she said stiffly. “It was my first time in the city. We had dinner at the Shangri-La then went on to their cocktail lounge. I wasn’t looking for a boyfriend or a one-night stand or anything else that night.”
“But you found me.”
She rose, her face warm. “You approached me.”
“True. But you didn’t say no.”
Cal watched the way her face flushed as she threw off the rug then folded it with swift efficiency.
“So now it’s a crime to be flattered by a man’s attentions? I just wanted one weekend, one night to forget about the money, the pressure, the responsibility. For one night I wasn’t Will Reilly’s daughter, the disappointment, the screwup. The reason for—” She bit off the rest of that sentence, as if realizing she’d said too much. Her eyes, panicky and wide, met his for one fleeting moment, then away.
“It’s late,” she finally mumbled, refusing to meet his gaze as she reached for the door. “I’m off to bed.”
“Ava.”
His command fell on deaf ears because with one small click, he was suddenly alone.
Cal remained still for what felt like hours, although his sleek Urwerk watch indicated only minutes. When he’d caught her in that slip there’d been indignation, and hurt. Could she be that good an actress?
Reluctantly, he cast his mind back to that night at the bar, searching through the events to shed some light on his confusion.
At first she’d been wary, even suspicious. His smooth offer to buy her a drink had been met with reluctant acceptance. As they’d shared flirtatious but cryptic details about themselves, she’d gradually warmed to him, enough to have her willing and eager in his bed.
For one crazy second, he let himself indulge in the remembrance of her smile that tilted her mouth into kissable curves, her husky feminine laugh.
What the hell was he supposed to believe?
With a low curse he sprung to his feet and slammed back inside. The cool shower didn’t bring clarity, nor did lying in bed, staring at the LED clock hands as it ticked off the minutes until sunrise.
Chapter Six
At one-thirty the next afternoon, Cal braked his car with an irritated yank out the front of his apartment building. He may have stopped grilling Victor about this marriage ultimatum but the man wasn’t off the hook yet. Throughout their mid-morning meeting Cal had been icily distant, and as a result the other board members had picked up on the tension. Yet afterwards, instead of calling him on it, Victor had left as swiftly as he’d arrived.
Dammit. With a grunt, he rubbed his temples then glared across at the double glass doors. His normally austere doorman was chatting with a gorgeous dark-haired woman, the old Scotsman sporting a look of rapt adoration on his weathered face.
Then Ava glanced across and spotted him.
All thoughts fled as last night came crashing back, rolling waves breaching his temporary sandbank.
If he’d been enthralled yesterday in the early morning light, now he was riveted. Like some slow-motion teenage movie close-up, the afternoon sun captured her in its singular glow as she walked out to greet him. She looked like every man’s fantasy, from the toes of her black knee-high boots up past the flippy hem of the black skirt barely grazing her knees to the scooped neck of her clingy black sweater. A bright sky-blue trench coat flapped loosely like she’d just flashed someone and her hair bounced over her shoulders in twin shiny black waves, catching the sunlight in raven glints.
His throat went dry, his mouth curving into an automatic smile until he caught sight of an expensively suited man unashamedly eyeing her butt as she walked past. A fierce bolt of ownership surged up, ending in a possessive growl as he glared at the man. The starer merely shrugged, smiled apologetically and kept right on walking.
Ava’s glossy smile curved shyly as she reached for the door handle. “Hi.”
“Hi, yourself.” Even with eyes hidden behind fashionably round sunglasses, he sensed the unease as she buckled up. “You look…”
“Acceptable?”
“Gorgeous.” Cal checked his rear vision mirror, barely catching her flush. “You should dress like that more often.”
“Unfortunately, Jindalee isn’t too kind on dresses and suede.”
“Then it’s a good thing we’re in Sydney until the weekend. Give those jeans and steel-capped boots a breather.”
Her cautious laugh warmed him and they grinned at each other, staying that way for seconds too long, too long to maintain the neutrality of the mood. Cal finally broke the moment, swiftly glancing back over his shoulder before pulling into the traffic.
Ava held her breath, unwilling to break this fragile truce. The man not only developed powerful computer programs, his mind was a computer. No doubt he remembered every detail of their conversations, every word both spoken and implied. Yet as Cal shifted gears and the car smoothly eased into second, her jangling nerves began to relax. It was a calming flipside to the last few days’ hostility and distrust.
Ava didn’t believe in blind optimism, but when she turned her face towards the warm sunshine as they sped across the Harbour Bridge, hope began to spark deep inside. It was…encouraging.
“Based on what you’ve told me, your due date is the ninth of January.” Dr. Wong smiled as he lifted the wand from Ava’s stomach. “We can usually tell the baby’s sex from about eighteen weeks.” He paused, turned a few buttons on the foetal monitor and then pointed to the screen. “Right now, we’re just ensuring everything’s on track and the baby’s forming at the correct rate. There you go.”
The exam room was deathly silent, the cool air-conditioned cavern punctuated only by the tiny bleeps and clicks as Dr. Wong took stills from the monitor.
“Just look at that,” Ava finally breathed.
Cal remained transfixed on the monitor, at the grey and white snow that indicated a tiny life grew within Ava’s belly. He hardly heard the doctor’s murmur, the soft snick of the door as the man gave them a private moment alone. His heart was beating way too hard, his blood pounding through every vein in his chest.
Come the new year, he’d be a father. An unexpected flash of something so big, so powerful jumped him from the shadows and left him floundering under the weight. Blindly, he glanced down and Ava’s eyes, full of wonder and amazement, undid him all over again.
She was lying on the table, half-covered in a sheet, her skirt rucked up high beneath her breasts. And below that, the soft white skin of her belly, the gentle curve almost imperceptible. He was drawn to her, almost as if he couldn’t help himself. It felt natural, right, that he bend down and cover her trembling mouth in a gentle kiss.
And the oddest thing happened. Everything stuttered to a halt.
It seemed like the world had stopped for one amazing second. Ava’s breath caught in her throat, astonishment rendering her limbs immobile, until she felt her eyes close, her limbs languidly relaxing into the tender kiss.
Cal had kissed her with bruising urgency before, with uncontrollable passion specifically designed to arouse. But this…this…soft pressure of his warm mouth on hers, almost loving in its gentleness, tightened something deep within until she felt the telltale