Page 39 of The Baby Contract With My Hot Billionaire Boss

“Emma?”

“Hmm? What?” I glance up and realize that Chris is staring at me with a curious expression on his face.

“Are you all right?”

“Yes, fine,” I reply quickly but his eyes narrow and I can tell he doesn’t believe me. “Don’t you have a generator here?”

“I’ve got limited power,” he replies and though he gives me another long look, he turns and walks away. The lights in the living room click on while he’s gone and I assume a few other areas of the house that I can’t see from here. “Come on,” he gestures for me to follow him into the living room and I slowly make my way forward. What are we going to do now?

If he wanted sex we’d go back to the bedroom, right? So, what does he want with me here? Usually when we’re in the living room together it’s just because that’s how things end up, not because we planned it that way. But today …

He slumps backward into a chair and I slowly make my way to the couch, wondering if there’s something else coming. But he doesn’t say anything at first; he just sits there.

“So, what do you normally do when the power goes out?” I ask and he gives me a wry look.

“Call the city and have them come take care of it immediately.”

“But even you aren’t powerful enough to get priority now,” I retort and he actually laughs, slightly.

“Apparently not. For some reason they seem to think the water plant and the treatment plants and mayor rank higher than me.”

I can’t help but laugh at that and it seems to melt away any tension that I might have felt in this moment. This is still Chris. Even with whatever else is going on around us and whatever else I might be feeling (that I’m still trying to convince myself that I’m not feeling), it’s just the same as it’s been.

“How is everything going?” he asks and it’s my turn to look at him in confusion. “The baby. Your appointments. How have you been feeling?”

“Oh, well, it’s all going fine. The baby is doing fine. I’m fine.” I feel like I’m saying the word ‘fine’ too much but I don’t know what else to say.

He nods and glances away for a minute then turns back. “Have you started making any plans?”

“For what?”

“The baby’s room. The room next to yours will be the nursery. Unless you want the baby in the room with you, of course. You can decorate it any way you like.”

I’m surprised at that. I hadn’t really thought about it. But then, it makes sense. “Right. Um … well, I think they’ll probably be in the room with me for a little while and then … then they’ll need a room. But maybe I’ll wait to find out what it is first.”

“Are you going to find out?” He seems interested. Genuinely interested and I can feel my heart melting a little more.

“I think so. I want to be prepared. As prepared as I can be.”

“Good. And you have everything you need?”

“I’m pretty sure I have more than I need,” I reply with a laugh and he smiles at me. A smile that is certainly doing things to my heart yet again. What is it with me lately; there’s nothing going on with Chris. Not really.

He’s just interested because of the heir thing, right?

“I want to make sure that both of you are well taken care of. And I want to make sure that you are both going to be happy here.”

Happy. Am I happy here? There’s silence again and this time I feel like it’s my turn to ask a question.

“How did you get into this business?” I ask finally, feeling somehow emboldened by the dim light.

He pauses a moment and I wonder if he’s going to answer. Wonder if he’s going to think I’m crossing some kind of boundary by asking personal questions. “There was a group of us that wanted to get into the business. So we set it up.” He shrugs like that’s no big deal. Like people set up companies all the time just because they feel like it.

But I’ve seen his parents’ house. Money was not an issue when these guys got started.

“And now? Are you all still in it together?”

“Ethan and I are the original partners that are still left. One of the other guys is still somewhat of a silent partner. He never sold but he doesn’t take an active role in anything. The rest of the guys are just part of the crew, but they don’t have ownership of the place.”

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