Page 71 of Secret Baby for the Boss

I nodded. “Yeah. I think so.”

“And you’ll have your mom to help out too.”

I blinked at Sadie. “What?”

“She can babysit for you. What Mom doesn’t want to be involved in her grandkid’s life? She has time too.”

Sadie was right. I’d thought about how disappointed my mom would be, how a baby would be an extra mouth to feed. But if Mom helped out, maybe that could work. Two birds with one stone.

“That could work,” I said. “And Ryan ...” I took a deep breath. “He and I actually talked things through. And while he might be open to the idea of Parker, I'm not sure about the baby. But he can’t stop what's coming. He’ll have to accept it for what it is. What's the worst that can happen?” I forced a laugh, but thinking about losing my brother, after we had just reconciled, made me want to cry.

But I wouldn’t. Because this was my life. It was my choice. And no matter what had happened in the past, no matter how plans had changed, I wasn’t going to let this get me down. It wasn’t my style. I had a moment where I’d nearly fallen apart. But Sadie had come and literally picked me up from the bathroom floor.

And I was going to be okay.

“Thank you for coming to me in the middle of the night,” I said to Sadie. “It means everything.”

“What else would I do?” Sadie asked. “You’re not just my best friend; you’re like my sister. I’m here, no matter what.”

I leaned over and hugged Sadie. “What would I do without you?”

“Shrivel and die,” Sadie said simply.

I laughed.

“I’m going to be the crazy aunt,” Sadie said. “I’ll spoil your child rotten and leave you to pick up the pieces. I’m talking sugar highs and all the noisy toys.”

I smiled. “This is going to be fun.”

Sadie grinned, excitement in her eyes. “You have no idea!”

21

PARKER

Ithrewmyselfintomy work because it was all I had left. It was the one thing that would never double-cross me, never cheat on me, and never take me for a ride. What I put in, I got out, and I could rely on that.

Love and women and everything else was just a fucked-up story, and I couldn’t do it anymore.

At the end of the week, I’d done more for the business than I’d done over the past couple of months. And I would keep at it this way. I could never be too busy or earn too much.

“Charles is here to see you,” Lucy said.

“You can send him in,” I said.

I’d asked Lucy to stop all my visitors. I’d wanted some control over who barged into my office and demanded my time. I was sick of giving everyone what they demanded.

“How are things?” Chaz asked when he walked in.

“Fine,” I said. “Business is good—better than ever.”

“That’s good,” Chaz said. He sat down opposite me and watched me while I typed an email to one of my employees.

“What?” I asked.

“Do you want to tell me how thingsreallyare, now?”

I bristled. “What makes you think they’re not good? Like I said, the business—”

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