An Heir At Any Price: The Billionaire's Obsession - Contemporary Romance (3 page)

Chapter Three

~

My wish didn’t come true. If I thought
I felt out of place in the back of the big, black, shiny car I knew
for a fact that I would feel out of place at the restaurant. As
Aiden helped me out of the car I said, “I’m not exactly dressed for
a place like this.” He slid his eyes over me, leaving a trail of
heat in its wake.

“You look beautiful. We’ve got no one
to impress.” He maybe has no one to impress. I don’t think my
confidence would hold up to his under scrutiny. Before I could
protest further, he held out his arm and I took it. It was that or
run for a cab. He led me into the upscale Italian restaurant where
the lighting was dim and soft Italian love songs were playing in
the background and I was suddenly thrust into his world. The
hostess immediately greeted us and led us back to, “Mr. Scott’s
table.” On our walk through the restaurant I could feel all eyes on
us. My shoddy self-confidence would like to believe it was related
to my appearance, but I honestly think I was practically invisible.
The eyes were on him, and who could blame them? Tonight he was
wearing a black dress shirt that he probably had a jacket and tie
on with it at some point. They were gone now and I appreciated that
as I watched the smooth material of the shirt ripple across his
tight muscles with his every movement.

We were seated at a beautiful little
table next to a floor to ceiling window that looked out on a lovely
man-made canal with a sweet little bridge going across it. The
light from the almost full moon danced across the water and the
reflection played across the table where we sat. Our table was
secluded from the rest of the patrons by large, lush sego palms in
giant pots. For that, I was grateful. The walk to and from the
table was humiliating enough. The table was thick, shiny oak and so
were the chairs. Ours held a vase of fresh flowers and a set of red
candles in a silver sconce on the table.

Without Aiden even asking, a bottle of
wine was brought to the table and when the waiter left I said,
“This place is beautiful; it seems they know you well.”

He grinned and said, “Yes, I come here
often. I don’t know if you like seafood, but their Lobster Alfredo
is world renowned.”

“I love seafood,” I told him. Not that
on my budget I get to taste it that often. “That sounds
perfect.”

We were brought a plate of sourdough
toast and a bowl of tapenade and Aiden poured us each a glass of
wine.

“Do you not care for wine, Holly? I’d
be happy to have them bring you something else.”

“One glass would be perfect. Thank you
Aiden.” I replied. Thanks to my mother’s bad habit I had never been
much of a drinker, however I did allow myself the odd glass now and
again.
I looked around the restaurant again and I had to wonder what a guy
that could afford to, “come here often,” could possibly see in a
coffee girl. He must just be one of those really nice people who
felt blessed and wanted to share his good fortune with those of us
who were less fortunate. In other words, he felt sorry for
me.

“I think not drinking too
much alcohol is a very respectable choice,” he said. He looked
sincere when he said it and before I knew what I was doing, I
opened my mouth and said, “It saves me a lot of money.”
What the hell was that?

“That’s true,” he said.

“I’m sorry, I don’t know why I said
that.” I felt my face go hot again.

“Don’t be sorry for being honest,
Holly. I find it refreshing. I get exhausted sometimes just trying
to sort through what is the truth and what’s not when dealing with
people. I would imagine it’s difficult in this economy to make it
on a waitress salary.”

I smiled, I couldn’t believe I was
discussing my finances with this man whose limousine I’d just
ridden in. He was just really easy to talk to. “If not for the tips
it would be virtually impossible. I’m thankful for the generosity
of my customers.”

“So no husband or boyfriend Holly? No
roommate or anyone who helps you out?”

He was easy to talk to and he seemed
very non-judgmental but I couldn’t bring myself to tell him about
my mother. When you grow up as the child of an alcoholic you learn
at a young age how to cover what was going on at home.

“No, no husband or boyfriend,” I told
him. I didn’t mention my mother, but I didn’t lie. “What about
you?”

“No, no husband or boyfriend,” he said
with a smile. I laughed and then he said, “I’m divorced, from a
woman,” he grinned on the last part.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” I said. I never know
what the appropriate response was for, “I’m divorced.” Some people
were happy about it and some weren’t who knew?

He smiled and said, “Don’t be sorry,
it’s much better this way. She wasn’t happy with me.”

I couldn’t imagine that, not being
happy with him.

“Do you have children?” I asked him.
He had a strange look on his face and it took him an inordinately
long time to answer the question.

“No, no children,” he said, finally.
We ate in silence until we’d finished our meal. I was worried
because he’d stopped talking. I thought I’d said something wrong,
over-stepped somehow. He asked me if I wanted dessert and I
declined and then with that same strange look he said, “Holly, I
have a proposition for you.”

Here it goes, he’s going
to tell me why a man like him would consider having a date with a
waitress like me…This should be good….Or not….

“
Okay.”

“First of all let me tell you about
myself. I’m twenty-nine years old and I’m the CEO and owner of
Scotto Enterprises, have you heard of it?” I was hoping that my
mouth wasn’t hanging open at this point. Of course I’d heard of it.
It started as a computer software corporation and being no
financial expert, I’m not sure what it’s involved in now, but I do
work in a café surrounded by businessmen every day and I’d
definitely heard of it. The rumor was that the business was worth
billions.

“Yes, I’ve heard of it,” I said,
trying to keep my voice steady.

“I was married when I was twenty-three
to a woman that I thought was the love of my life. We were together
for about a year when she told me that she was pregnant. Words
can’t even describe how happy that made me. All I ever wanted was a
family of my own, and I thought we were well on the way. She had
the baby, a beautiful, healthy little boy. I was over the moon. I
did everything, I changed diapers, I fed him, and I bathed him. She
wanted to hire a nanny, so we did, but I still usually had him with
me. I only let the nanny take care of him when I was busy or at
work. It wasn’t much though I had arranged my schedule in advance
so that I could be home with him during the day. His name was
Mark.”

I didn’t like the way he kept saying,
“was.” People with babies don’t generally say their child’s name,
“was.” If this story ends with a dead baby I might lose my dinner.
I didn’t interrupt him though and he continued.

“Just after Mark’s second birthday my
wife came to me and said that we needed to talk. She told me that
she was having an affair, and had been for over three years. The
affair was with a man named Jake, a man I considered my best friend
since high school. I gave him a job….Anyways, that was upsetting,
what was devastating was what she told me next. She said that Mark
wasn’t mine and that she was leaving me, her and Jake intended to
move overseas with my child.”

“Oh my God, Aiden that’s
horrible.”

“Yes, it was. I didn’t take her word
for it of course. I had a DNA test done right away. It turned out
that she wasn’t lying. I thought about fighting it in court, but my
attorney said that since she was his biological mother and was not
considered, “unfit” that I would lose. I thought it was too much to
put the baby through if I was going to lose anyways, so I gave up
the fight. Sometimes I still feel like I gave up on my son. Then I
have to remind myself that he was never mine, and his mother and
bi-dad knew it.

Jake moved his new little family to
Europe. He quit his job with me to take one with a corporation that
was headquartered in Belgium. I haven’t seen them since. My heart
was left with an empty space and for a few years I had no idea what
to do. After a lot of thought and research, I’ve come to a
decision, and that’s where you come in.”

I was so entranced by his story and so
honored that he’d choose me of all people to share it with, that it
took me a second to process what he’d said at the end. Then, I was
confused. I had no idea how I could help him with this. I was even
a little bit afraid to ask. He didn’t wait for me to ask though,
instead he just blurted out, “I’d like for you to agree to give me
an heir.”

I’m glad he waited until I was
finished eating or I may have choked.

Chapter Four

~

I think I was in shock, just a little
bit. I barely knew this guy. Until tonight, I didn’t even really
know who he was. An heir, he wants me to have his baby? How do I
even answer that? Maybe he’s a little bit crazy. He was staring at
me though, looking at me with those damned beautiful, deep
intelligent eyes…

“I-I-don’t even know what to say,” I
finally sputtered out.

“Holly, I know this must be a shock to
you. I’m sorry if it upsets you at all, but let me finish okay?” I
nodded dumbly and he continued, “I will of course pay you…extremely
well. While you’re with child I will pay all of your living
expenses and you will live in luxury. I will pay all of the medical
bills, I will give you a clothing allowance, and then, after my
child is born, I will give you another large sum of money.” He
wrote a number on a napkin that contained more zeros than I’d ever
seen in reference to money I could ever earn. “Then afterwards, you
will not have any further contact with us.”

I was still looking at him like he had
two heads. This was surreal. Who asks a person they don’t know to
have a baby for money? A lot of money, but money nonetheless, but
who does that?

“Holly, I can see that you’re in
shock, and I don’t blame you. I will give you a week to think this
over and if you have any questions at all, I will answer them. This
is a huge decision, I understand that. But, women do this all the
time, right? It’s called surrogacy and it’s perfectly legal and
socially acceptable. I will have my attorney’s draw up a tight
contract. In the meantime, we can get to know each other better.
You can get to know me better and see that I would have a lot to
offer as a father.”

And then I go away. No
further contact.
“Why me?” That was all I
could think to ask.

“I spent two months watching you,
Holly, talking to you, seeing you with your friends, co-workers,
customers and boss. You’re beautiful, you’re intelligent, you’re
young enough to do this, and you’re in financial need. I could go
on and on. There were certain qualities that I was looking for and
you have them all. You’ll come out the other end of it with money
enough to do all of those things you told me you wanted to do and
then some. It would be a win-win situation.”

“Um…I still don’t know what to say,” I
said. I don’t believe I’ve ever been at such a loss for words. He
was right that surrogacy was a legitimate thing, and I had even
been so hard up for money that looking into it had crossed my mind.
I’d never got around to looking into it, or maybe I didn’t look
into it on purpose because I didn’t think I could do it…

“Just tell me you’ll go on a date or
two with me, give it the week and think about it. That will also
give you time to research it. I know that I’m asking you to use
your body here, and it would never be the same after, so you should
do some research on that too.” He was looking at me with those
deep, sexy eyes…what else could I do? I agreed to think about it
for the week. As far as dating him, I told him we’d play that by
ear.

After our “date,” I wanted to take a
cab home, badly. I really didn’t want Aiden’s twenty foot limousine
to drop me off in front of my crappy little apartment. My
neighborhood wasn’t terrible, but it was definitely working class,
and my apartment complex was definitely of the low rent variety. He
insisted, however and it was getting more evident that this man
hated the word, “No.”

I gave the driver directions and I
said a little prayer that Mom was inside and not out for her
nightly cigarette when we got there. She was staying with me for a
few days while the plumbing was being worked on at hers. When we
pulled up the complex was quiet. No sign of Mom or anyone else.
Aiden wanted to walk me to the door and I drew the line
there.