Page 25 of Boss's Baby Surprise

“We should go out and get coffee sometime. You know, catch up.”

She smiled and nodded. She cast a quick glance over at her boss. “There’s nothing much to catch up on. I understand you’ve been in Asia. Singapore?”

“I’ve been in Hong Kong. And you’ve been in Chicago this whole time?”

“Of course. Where else would I go?” She glanced down when her phone started to ring. “If you’ll excuse me, Jenna is paging me. I’ll be right back.” She scurried out from behind her desk.

This time, I took a good look at her. She still had the same delicious curves, and she walked with a wiggle in her hips that did things to the blood supply in my brain. But she was dressed like a middle-aged librarian. That had to be why I didn’t recognize her. The Clarissa from the internship had been borderline quiet, almost shy, but she had a sense of style thatspoke volumes. She hadn’t seemed to care about societal norms and wore combat boots with dresses.

Stone caught me staring.

“I’m surprised to see her here. But I was mostly surprised I didn’t recognize her right away. Is she as smart as I remember?”

13

CLARISSA

Panic flooded my system. I couldn’t believe I was staring at Kyle Love. Damn, he looked good. His eyes were the same beautiful clear blue. I couldn’t forget them, even if I wanted to. He looked a little older, more rugged. His hair was a little longer, and there was creasing next to his eyes. It suited him.

He was even more handsome than the man I had fallen in love with so many years ago. It took every ounce of self-restraint I clutched onto to not burst into tears and become hysterical. I couldn’t react the way my gut wanted me to react.

I wanted to yell and scream. I wanted to laugh. I had to fight the urge to throw things at him while at the same time, I needed to launch myself over the desk and into his arms and pepper his face with kisses. I wanted to forgive him for having abandoned me.

How was it possible to have so many emotions all at once? I wanted to strangle him for not even telling me he was leaving the country. I was nothing more than confused emotions and anger and joy all wrapped up in a skin suit.

I bit down every single conflicting emotion that fought to take hold and smiled at the man.

“You’re Kyle Love and you’re here to see James,” I managed to say.

He smiled, the little lines crinkling at his eyes. His brows drew together ever so slightly. I could tell he was trying to remember my name. That was a blow to my already fragile sanity that barely hung by a thread.

I needed to get rid of Kyle, and get rid of him fast, so that I could lock myself in the bathroom and hyperventilate or maybe throw up. Fortunately, James unknowingly rescued me.

In his excitement to meet and discuss selling the business to Kyle, James was by my desk before I could press the intercom. If a sixty-five-year-old man could look like an excited puppy, it was James. They introduced themselves and shook hands and went off to the conference room. I was spared the indignity of having to walk next to Kyle Love and pretend that I was okay with it.

I left my desk and went to the office manager's office.

“Hey, Jenna,” I said. “I need to step out. Can you watch the front?”

“Of course. Are you getting coffee?”

“I might.” I didn’t know what I was going to do. I just needed to leave.

“Will you bring me something back?” She didn’t need to give me her order. I knew exactly what she wanted. She ordered the same thing every time, a large, iced mocha double-pump vanilla.

Of course, I didn’t think walking down the block to the coffee shop was going to be enough to ease the boiling in my mind and my gut. Kyle Love walked into my job, and he didn’t recognize me.

I focused on that for a few moments too many. He didn’t recognize me.

Maybe it was just as well. I could go about my life. He could go about his. And I never would have to tell him about Leo. That was a conversation I didn’t know whether I could have. It had been hard enough to try to tell him when I first found out I was pregnant. And even though that conversation never occurred, I still fought through the stress and the tears to prepare myself to tell him. How was I supposed to tell him now, all this time later?

As if on autopilot, I found myself walking into the coffee shop and ordering. My stomach still wanted to twist in on itself by the time I got back to the office with Jenna’s coffee and another one for myself.

“Are they going to want lunch?” I asked Jenna before crossing from her office to look in the conference room through the large glass wall.

James and Kyle were intently discussing something. They both had those little smiles on their faces. I remembered that expression on Kyle’s face when he became manic about an idea. James always had a similar expression when he got really into a project. He didn’t display the same level of obsessive intensity that Kyle did. Seeing them together like that, it was obvious they were definitely excited about what they were discussing.

“I should go ahead and just order them lunch,” I said, returning to Jenna’s office.

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