Chapter Fifteen
chapter fifteen
NATE
“I’m so sorry,” Cathy, the woman I’ve been speaking to on the phone to coordinate this meeting, says. “Morning sickness can be rough.”
She continues to speak, but everything she says comes out sounding like the adults in Charlie Brown episodes because the only thing I can hear is, “Morning sickness can be rough.” It repeats over and over while I try to compute what she just said. What this means.
I know what morning sickness is. My brother and sister-in-law have two kids. I run a company filled with women who get pregnant all the time. But what I can’t seem to wrap my head around is why Paige Abrams would have morning sickness.
Is there another type of morning sickness that I’m unaware of? Because unless there is, that means that Paige— my fucking Paige —is pregnant, which means I’m too late.
I started planning this partnership two months ago with Evan, Kingston’s COO. I was hoping it would happen sooner, but there’s a lot involved when dealing with multimillion-dollar contracts.
It’s been four months since I saw her, and the entire time, while I’ve been thinking about her, she was moving on.
“Sorry about that,” Paige says, walking back through the door. “It must’ve been something I ate.”
It’s a lie I don’t call her out on because this isn’t the time or the place, and if she’s moved on, there’s nothing I can say or do. Hell, for her to be pregnant, it must be serious. I waited four damn months, and I was too late.
“Paige Abrams.” She extends her hand and smiles, but it’s not the smile I love. It’s the fake, forced one she gives when she’s upset, but doesn’t want anyone to know. “Thank you for coming all this way.”
“Nathan Bradford,” I say, taking her hand in mine. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
She flinches at my greeting, confirming that she remembers me.
“We’re looking forward to doing business with you, Mr. Bradford.”
“Please,” I say, releasing her hand even though I don’t want to lose the connection, “my dad is Mr. Bradford. Call me Nate.”
She nods and walks past me, her floral scent hitting my senses—the one I tried to memorize, but my memories didn’t do it justice.
“Our team has put together some marketing ideas we think will work wonderfully with the collection we’d like to pair with your hotel.”
Everyone has a seat, and Paige takes charge, going through their marketing pitch. The idea is genius. Kingston Limited will be creating an exclusive Hotel Collection for Bradford Hotels, where guests who wish to purchase the package will experience different cocktails throughout their stay at our hotel.
I already looked over the marketing plan on the plane ride over and know they came up with damn good ideas, so I don’t feel too bad when I tune out what she’s talking about and spend the next half hour focusing on her.
Her hair has grown out a bit, and she’s lightened it with more blonde. It’s up in a tight ponytail, reminding me of when I took her from behind and she moaned when I tugged on her hair, begging me for more.
Her makeup is professional, and her lips are plump and glossy. I’d bet if I kissed her, she’d taste as sweet as I remember. She’s wearing a simple white button-down blouse and a black pencil skirt, and aside from it being a bit snug on her, she doesn’t look pregnant. Which has me wondering if maybe her assistant was wrong. Maybe it was something Paige ate, and she hasn’t moved on and gotten pregnant.
“Mr. Bradford,” Paige says, snapping me from my thoughts.
With the way her brow is raised, I have a feeling this isn’t the first time she’s called my name to get my attention .
“Nate,” I remind her. “And everything sounds great. If you can send over the numbers, we can go over them and get back to you later this week with any questions.”
“Speaking of which,” Paige says, “out of curiosity, is there a reason why you came instead of…”
She glances down to find his name, but I answer before she has a chance.
“Carmine Bradford.” I grin when her brows furrow. “He’s the head of marketing. And my brother Dustin handles the finances. Our dad is the CEO, and I’m second in charge. I know it gets a little confusing since all four of us share the same last name.”
“Right,” Paige says. “So, will we be working with you or with Carmine?”
“You’ll be working with both of us,” I tell her, knowing this isn’t standard procedure. “Carmine wasn’t available to come, so I came in his place. I’ll be in town until we finalize the deal and get it all worked out. And then he’ll take over from there.”
Paige’s eyes go wide. “You’re…staying in town?” she chokes out. “A partnership like this can take weeks to finalize.”
Everyone’s gaze volleys from hers to mine, and I assume they’re confused as to why she’s questioning me because they don’t know what we know—she doesn’t give a shit about who’s handling the deal. She wants to know why I’m here when the COO doesn’t handle shit like this. Why I wasn’t shocked to see her when I walked in. Why I’m insisting on staying for as long as I am.
“That’s okay,” I tell her. “I’ve booked a room at the Bradford Hotel in Houston.” I stand and drag my gaze away from her to Cathy. “You have all my information. Once you email my assistant everything, we’ll look it over and discuss it, and then we can schedule to meet again.”
“Perfect,” Cathy says. “I’ll show you out.”
“Actually,” I say, “I have a couple of things I’d like to discuss with Miss Abrams.”
I meet Paige’s nervous gaze.
“Of course.” She forces a smile onto her face and rounds the table. “Why don’t we discuss it in my office?”
“Perfect.” I give the other associates a smile. “It was wonderful to meet all of you, and I look forward to working with you on this partnership.”
I follow Paige out of the conference room and down the hall. She stops at the receptionist’s desk and asks her to cancel her lunch appointment.
The receptionist looks like she wants to ask why, but Paige doesn’t give her a chance to before she heads down the hall with me following.
When we get to her office, she stands at the door for me to go in first, and then she closes the door behind her.
Once we’re both alone, I bring up the elephant in the room, not wanting to beat around the bush. “You’re pregnant.”
Her eyes bulge, and her hand goes to her stomach. “How did you… ”
“Your assistant. When you ran out, she said you had morning sickness.”
Paige sighs. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to lie…”
“It’s okay,” I tell her, removing the space between us. “I came here, hoping to see you, but I was too late. I spent two months fighting with myself to respect your wishes for me not to contact you and then another two preparing the deal with Kingston so I could have a reason to see you. I should’ve just messaged or called. But I didn’t, and you moved on.”
“You did all this just to see me?” She crosses her arms across her chest, and I can’t help but glance at the way her breasts rise slightly, straining against her top. “So, the partnership with Kingston, it’s all a ruse?”
She purses her lips, and I shake my head, gesturing for her to have a seat on the sofa. She does so reluctantly, and I sit across from her, itching to touch her but keeping my distance because she’s not mine to touch.
“The deal is legit,” I tell her. “My brothers bid on it because we genuinely wanted to work with Kingston. But once you reached out, because they knew who you were to me, they gave me the option to handle it so I could come see you in person…”
“And then you could say it was business,” she finishes, a small smile curving in the corners of her mouth. “I was wondering why you requested me personally when my team generally handles these types of partnerships.”
“I thought I had it all figured out,” I say with a humorless chuckle. “But I was so focused on seeing you that I didn’t even consider that you might’ve moved on.”
“What?” She looks at me in confusion. “Moved on? What are you talking about?”
“You’re pregnant.” I nod toward her belly.
“I am,” she says with a laugh. “But spoiler alert: you don’t have to be married or even be in a committed relationship to get pregnant. Apparently, all you need is two people attracted to each other in London…or maybe Bath.”
She smirks, and it takes me a second to wrap my head around what she just said.
London…Bath…
We were together in London and Bath.
And now, she’s pregnant.
“Holy shit,” I breathe. “You’re pregnant?”
“I think we’ve established that,” she says with a small laugh.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
If she got pregnant during our time together, that would make her—I do the math in my head—four months along. Yet I never heard from her once.
Does that mean…
Was she going to…
“Were you so hell-bent on not reaching out because of the distance that you were going to raise our baby alone?”
Paige’s face falls, and my first instinct is to go to her side .
“Did something happen? Is the baby okay?”
“The baby is fine,” she says softly. “But I don’t have your number,” she rushes out. “When I found the card in my purse at the airport, I knew I would be tempted to call you, so I threw it away. And then a few months later, when I found out I was pregnant, I regretted it. I swear I searched for you, but all I had was the name Nate and a couple of pictures of you. I even hired a PI, who couldn’t find anything. He was a total waste of money.”
“I’m a private person,” I admit. “My goal is to become the CEO, so I keep my business private. Nothing destroys a company quicker than a scandal.”
She nods in understanding.
“So, you’re really pregnant with my baby?” I ask, still in shock.
“Yep.”
“And you’re not seeing anyone else?”
“Nope. The only person I’ve been with is you.”
Jesus, I was hoping to simply see her, but now, the stakes are so much higher. Not only is Paige sitting right in front of me, but she’s also pregnant with my baby. It’s like fate. I fantasized about getting her pregnant and now here she is, carrying my baby.
“Can I take you out to dinner?” I ask, thinking that’s the best way to start figuring out where we go from here since we’re currently sitting in her office and she still has a half day of work left.
“I think that would be a good idea.”