CARRYING HIS BILLION DOLLAR BABY 2

Chapter 1

CHAPTER ONE

KAIZLEIGH

The door closed behind Nyrobi, and for a few seconds I just sat there staring at it.

I could still hear her question in my head, and the more I replayed it, the harder it was not to laugh.

Out of everything I expected her to ask us, whether she had to sleep with my husband definitely wasn't on the list.

I leaned back in my chair and rubbed my forehead, trying to get myself together because I knew Billion was sitting beside me fighting for his life not to say anything.

That man had been holding his laugh in since the second Nyrobi asked the question, and I could feel it without even looking at him.

I finally turned my head. Sure enough, his lips were pressed together and his shoulders were damn near shaking.

I narrowed my eyes.

"Don't."

That was all it took. Billion leaned forward and busted out laughing and I slapped his arm.

"I'm serious."

"Baby, come on."

"Ain't shit funny."

"She thought she had to fuck me."

"And you sound entirely too happy repeating it."

That only made him laugh harder.

I shook my head and grabbed the folder sitting in front of me.

"See, this exactly why I told her hell naw."

"I ain't say I wanted her to."

"You ain't have to."

He looked at me.

"Kaizleigh."

"What?"

"You know damn well I wasn't thinking like that."

"I know."

I tried to keep a straight face, but I couldn't. The whole thing was funny. Nyrobi had looked so serious when she asked too, like she had been sitting there trying to figure out how the hell she was supposed to explain sleeping with somebody's husband as part of a job.

I started laughing again.

"She looked scared as hell."

"She looked confused."

"Same difference."

Billion leaned back in his chair and shook his head.

"At least she asked."

"Exactly."

That was one thing I liked about Nyrobi.

She didn't pretend to know shit she didn't know. She wasn't sitting there nodding her head just because we had money or because she didn't want to sound stupid. If something didn't make sense, she asked. Even when the question was crazy as hell.

I looked down at the folder again. The laughing slowly faded. Everything inside it suddenly felt heavier than it had before. We had been talking about this but here we were really presenting it to someone.

Doctors. Agencies. Attorneys. Profiles. Money.

Everything that came with trusting another woman to carry our child.

But sitting across from Nyrobi and actually asking her made the whole thing feel different and more real.

I had wanted a baby for so long that sometimes I felt like I had spent half my marriage chasing one.

Pregnancy tests. Appointments. Blood work. Ultrasounds. Hope. Loss.

Then doing the same shit all over again.

Every time I got pregnant, I told myself not to get too excited.

Every time, I still did. And every time I lost one, I felt stupid for believing maybe this time would be different.

I hated that feeling more than anything.

Like why the hell my own body kept lying to me.

Billion reached over and touched my leg.

"You good?"

I looked at him.

"Yeah."

"You got quiet."

"I was thinking."

"About her?"

"About everything."

He nodded.

I closed the folder.

"You think she gone say no?"

Billion shrugged.

"I don't know."

"You think we scared her?"

"Probably."

I frowned.

"That's not helping."

"I'm being real."

He leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees.

"Baby, you gotta remember we been talking about this long enough for it to sound normal to us. She just found out today that we want her to carry our baby."

"I know."

"That's a lot."

"I know that too."

He looked at me for a second.

"You really sure about her?"

There it was…The question I knew was coming.

I looked down at my wedding ring and twisted it around my finger.

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"I didn't say you shouldn't be."

"You asked if I'm sure."

"Because this ain't small."

"I know that, Billion."

"I'm not trying to argue."

"Neither am I."

He sat back.

"I just wanna know what made you pick her."

I didn't answer right away. That was the part I had been trying to explain to myself too.

Nyrobi wasn't somebody I had known for years.

She wasn't family. She wasn't one of my friends.

Hell, when I met her, we were sitting in a hospital cafeteria.

She didn't know who I was. I didn't know who she was.

Two women having two completely different shitty days at the same hospital.

That was it. At least that's what I thought at the time.

"I don't know," I finally said.

Billion gave me a look.

"You don't know?"

"I know how that sound."

"Crazy."

"Thank you."

"I'm just saying."

I sighed.

"It's not like I looked at Nyrobi and thought, yeah, that's the woman I want carrying my baby."

"Good."

I rolled my eyes.

"What I'm saying is when I was looking at those agency profiles, everybody looked good on paper."

"That's the point."

"I know, but it felt like I was shopping."

He frowned.

"Shopping?"

"Yes. Like I was trying to pick somebody based on how many kids they had, what they ate, how much they exercised, whether they smoked, whether they drank, and whatever else was listed."

"That's kinda what the screening is for."

"I know."

I looked at him.

"But I didn't know any of them."

"You don't really know Nyrobi either."

"I know more about her than I knew about them."

"Barely."

"Still."

He smiled a little.

"You stubborn."

"Very."

"I know."

I leaned back in my chair.

"The first time I met her, she didn't know shit about me. She wasn't trying to impress me. She wasn't asking me for anything. She was worried about her mama."

Billion stayed quiet.

"And then I see her here."

"Working."

"Exactly."

I nodded toward the door.

"Then Tia tells me about that watch."

"The Rolex?"

"Yes."

"What about it?"

"She found thirty-something thousand dollars sitting underneath somebody bed and turned it in without thinking twice."

"That's what she was supposed to do."

"I know."

"Then why you keep bringing it up?"

"Because everybody don't do what they're supposed to do."

He couldn't argue with that.

I continued.

"And when I talked to her today, she wasn't sitting there acting thirsty over the money either."

"She definitely noticed the number."

I laughed.

"Who wouldn't?"

"Exactly."

"But she had questions."

"One very important one apparently."

"Shut up."

He laughed again.

I smiled before my face became serious.

"I like her."

Billion looked at me.

"I know."

"Not like that."

"I ain't say like that."

"You know what I mean."

"I do."

I glanced toward the closed door again.

"I feel comfortable with her."

"And if she says no?"

The question hit harder than I expected.

I looked at Billion.

"Then she says no... but she kinda already said yes"

"And you okay with if she comes back with a definite no?"

"No."

At least I was honest.

He laughed softly.

"But I'll deal with it."

"That's all I'm asking."

I reached for his hand.

"I'm scared."

His expression changed immediately.

He squeezed my fingers.

"Of what?"

"Everything."

"That's broad."

"I know."

I looked down at our hands.

"What if she says yes and then don't pass the screening?"

"Then we figure something else out."

"What if she passes and the transfer don't work?"

"Then we try again."

"What if it does work and something happens?"

"Kaizleigh."

"What?"

"You doing that thing again."

"What thing?"

"Trying to worry about shit that ain't happened yet."

I pulled my hand away.

"That's easy for you to say."

His face changed.

The second the words left my mouth, I regretted them. Billion didn't deserve that. He had been there for every loss too. Maybe his body wasn't the one bleeding. Maybe he wasn't the one lying on tables while doctors explained what happened. But he lost those babies too.

I sighed.

"I'm sorry."

He nodded.

"I know what you meant."

"No, you don't."

"I do."

"I shouldn't have said it."

He reached for my hand again.

"I know this shit hit you different."

I looked at him.

"But don't ever think I didn't lose something too."

That hurt.

"I know."

He rubbed his thumb across my hand.

"I want this just as bad as you."

"I know."

"I want a baby with YOU."

My eyes burned.

That was the part I needed to hear. Not a child. Not an heir. Not something to carry the Stylez name. A baby with me. I blinked a few times before any tears had the chance to embarrass me.

"You better."

He smiled.

"There she go."

"What?"

"I was wondering how long you was gone stay emotional before that mouth came back."

I laughed.

"Fuck you."

"See."

He stood up and pulled me to my feet.

"Come on."

"Where we going?"

"Home."

"I still got work to do."

"No you don't."

"Billion."

"You done been sitting in this office stressing yourself out all morning."

"I have emails."

"They'll be there tomorrow."

I grabbed my purse.

"You swear because you own shit you can just leave whenever you want."

"I can."

"Must be nice."

"It is."

I cut my eyes at him.

He smiled and opened the office door. Before walking out, I looked back at the chair Nyrobi had been sitting in.

For some reason, I couldn't shake the feeling that asking her had changed something.

Maybe it was nothing. Maybe she would go home, think about it, and decide we were crazy as hell.

Maybe she'd tell Tiffany she wanted nothing to do with us outside of cleaning rooms at the hotel.

Or maybe she would say yes. That was the part I couldn't stop thinking about.

One yes from Nyrobi could give me something I had spent years begging God for.

I just hoped I wasn't putting too much faith in another woman to give me what my own body never could.