Page 3 of Suddenly Pregnant

She was on a work visa for a year, and wanted to do all the things—travel, enjoy life, find herself. The whole eat-pray-love routine. Maybe even meet someone special, but certainly not pine for her brand-new boss. Because, realistically, there was no way she’d work for this man and not entertain any silly ideas about him.

Not that he’d want her, obviously. That was the hardest part, minus their workplace status.

“Billie?”

He nudged her elbow, the brief touch of his palm on her enough to send a sexual current through her. She jerked away, driven by instinct, mad at herself for not playing it cool.

“Hey… are you Jack Harvey?” asked a man in his twenties approaching them. “Can I take a picture?” he asked, and before the blond man answered, the intruder cut the space between them and snapped a selfie of them.

Billie turned around, and caught a few people looking at them, talking amongst themselves.

“Let’s go,” the man, she guessed his name was Jack, said.

He grabbed her suitcase and her backpack from the floor and started walking, actually, marching, and she had no choice but to go after him. Said man now was in possession of her passport, wallet, and cell phone.

“Is your name Jack?” she asked, trying to keep with his pace.

“Yes,” he said.

She frowned. “What’s going on? Why did that person know who you are?”

“I’ll tell you more later.”

“Later when?”

“When we’re in the car,” he said, then she followed him to the garage.

Couldn’t be bad, right? So he was her new boss and he was some kind of local celebrity. Or maybe a famous Tik Toker? Though there was something old fashioned about him. Even if he was only in his early thirties, she doubted he was a social media expert. She didn’t get that vibe from him for some reason.

She knew now why the hiring process had been hush-hush. Amy never gave her a lot of details besides working as an assistant, and she’d chalked it up as a cultural difference, or the way things worked when you had an international visa. But Amy did ask her some weird questions about hobbies and stuff, and now she wondered if his sister wanted to know if she’d easily recognize him.

When she’d researched Lancaster Enterprises, she learned it was a manufacturing company. Did Jack Harvey work in that field as well? With his looks, though, he could be an actor or a body builder. Though a body builder wouldn’t need an assistant, right?

When he opened the door for her to enter a sleek electric sports car, she slid inside. Then, she saw him putting her luggage and backpack in the trunk. She wished she had the phone with her and could text her cousins Kira and Poppy, back in the States. That probably wouldn’t be a good move while in the car with her new boss.

When he joined her, she had already crossed and uncrossed her legs twice. What a bad idea it had been to travel wearing jeans. She should have followed her instinct and gone with sweat pants. Much more comfortable.

“So, can you please tell me now?” she asked, using a nice tone of voice that she hoped would work with him. She didn’t have a lot of experience having men do her bidding, and her sweet pleas never worked, for instance, with her father.

“My family owns a few businesses all over Australia. The most popular one is Downunder Adventures, a tour company.”

“Oh. Cool.” She’d seen a couple of ads on the airport featuring pictures of attractive couples on honeymoons or families and kangaroos.

“Being that I’m the CEO of Downunder Adventures, some people know me.”

“That’s pretty cool,” she said, her shoulders relaxing for a moment. She had never seen him before, not even online, otherwise she’d surely remembered. Though she wasn’t the kind to pursue hot gossip about people she didn’t know. Poppy was so much better at it.

“Not as cool as you think,” he said, putting on a pair of sleek black sunglasses.

“I come from a small town in Texas. My dad never even left the state. Trust me, this is cool,” she said, appreciating the view from the window.

He gave her a sideways glance then focused on the highway ahead. “My sister said that you lived in New York City.”

“Yes, for some months. Moved there with my cousins,” she said, with a smile on her face.

“That must have been exciting.”

She sighed. It had been… for them. Kira had quickly nabbed a hot husband and opened her temp agency, and Poppy was now a happily engaged woman with an ever-growing podcast. They both found their things, and sadly, Billie never found hers. Was her lifetime dream to be someone’s assistant? No.

But she hoped this trip would at least show her a new world, where she’d thrive on her own, where she’d hopefully find her talent. Excitement bubbled inside her. This was it. The beginning of a new life. She’d chase her dreams, and nothing and no one would stand in her way.

---