Romance: SPORTS ROMANCE: The First Half (Bad Boy Alpha Male College Football Romance) (New Adult Contemporary Pregnancy Romance) (13 page)

Working with Anthony was nothing less than bizarre. Avoiding him was nearly impossible, but that was all that I wanted to do. I couldn’t bury the feelings I had for him if he was working within ten feet of me. Unfortunately, that was
always
the case. Our offices were right next to one another. It was almost as though the universe was playing tricks on me.

“This is a goddamn nightmare!” I heard him exclaim from the next office over. “I need those timesheets on my desk
tomorrow
. I mean it, Sharon!”

I cringed as his phone clashed against the hook. Only a few seconds later, there was a knock on my door. I assumed that it was one of the secretaries, as per usual.

“Come in!” I called. “It’s open!”

The doorknob turned. As the door opened, my heart jumped into my throat. There stood the man that deflowered me, broad-shouldered and elegant. He ran his fingers through his salt and pepper hair.

“Lilli, can I get you to call Vienna Humboldt? We had a mix-up and we need to reschedule her shoot.”

I nodded and seized the phone.

“Right away.”

“Thanks,” he whispered, stepping out of the room.

He still did not know my secret. Little did he know, it was his secret too.

Later that afternoon and several phone calls later, I had rescheduled Vienna’s shoot. Her agency was displeased to say the least, but I would do anything to get Anthony’s attention. I needed to build a relationship with him. Maybe then I would work up the courage to talk to him.

The door creaked open. I looked up from my computer.

“Good work today, Lilli,” Anthony muttered. “Was she pissed?”

“Well, she wasn’t impressed,” I admitted. “But I calmed her down and sent for a gift basket.”

He gave me a thumbs up.

“You’ve been a godsend around here. I hope you know that.”

I flashed him a witty grin.

“I know.”

He closed the door. That was my cue. I unbuttoned my pants and let my gut hang out. In the fashion world, it was perhaps the most unattractive thing I could’ve done. However, I had been having some complications. It had been four months since my rendezvous with Anthony. I had not had a menstrual cycle ever since.

The morning vomiting had started weeks back. Though I tried to convince myself that it was all from stress, I was showing all the signs. I always felt sick. I was gaining weight. I was constantly having the strangest cravings. I couldn’t run from reality anymore. For the first time since my father hired me, I was actually glad that I wasn’t a model.

Suddenly, I couldn’t hold it in anymore. I ran out of my office and to the unisex bathroom. It was occupied. I knocked as hard as I could.

“I-I need in!” I shouted through the door. “Can you hurry up?”

No response.

“
Please?
I-I’m not feeling so well!”

“I’m in here!”

It was Anthony’s voice. My face fell. He was the last person I wanted knowing about my constant nausea.

“Bit of an emergency!” I yelled through the door. “Please—oh God!”

Then, it happened. In the middle of the hallway, I vomited. He would be stepping out soon, right into a pile of my sickness. I could not let him know. My coworkers couldn’t know. Nobody could know. Nobody except my father. I simply could not deal with the humiliation I would face if I was not only the boss’s daughter, but if I was also caught sleeping with his partner. Everyone in the office would have a field day.

“Hold your horses! I’m just washing my hands,” he called. “One second.”

I stared at the pile of vomit in horror. I had no way to clean it up.

“O-or you can stay in there! Not an emergency anymore! I’ll be f—”

I couldn’t finish my sentence. I heaved onto the floor once more.

Then, he stepped out. His eyes widened as he saw the pile of sick on the linoleum. It was almost as though he knew.

“I’m sorry. I said it was—”

“Vomiting again,” he muttered. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say you were pregnant.”

My face whitened. I had no idea how he knew that I’d been vomiting regularly. I thought I had been hiding it. Apparently, I was not as sneaky as I thought.

“W-well…”

“Well what?” he asked, laughing. “You aren’t, are you?”

I scratched the back of my head.

“About that…”

“About what?” he asked, in a rush. “About
what
, Lillian? You can’t just say ‘about that’ and leave me without anything else!”

I bit my lip.

“I have been exhibiting some of the signs,” I murmured.

“Like what signs?” he asked.

“All of them,” I said in a small voice. “But it’s nothing. Nobody has noticed.”

“Well, people are going to notice eventually, It isn’t—” His voice lowered. “—mine, is it?”

I took a deep breath.

“You’re the only person I’ve slept with.”

“Please tell me you’re kidding,” he muttered, putting his face in his hands. “Ugh, not
again
.”

“Again?” I asked. “So you get virgins pregnant often?”

“Virgins, no,” he grumbled. “Girls that I shouldn’t have gotten pregnant? Yes. But usually—well. We usually take care of it. Models don’t like being pregnant.”

I looked down at the vomit-stained floor.

“And that’s what you expect of me.”

He sighed and shook his head.

“I don’t expect anything out of you. I just know what I would usually do.”

I bit my tongue and nodded.

“I understand.”

It was a lie. I
didn’t
understand.

Millie J’s was the hottest restaurant in town. Reservations reportedly took months, yet somehow, Anthony was able to get us in that evening. Thankfully, my father was in Denver. There was no chance he would run into us.

“So you’re pretty far along then,” he murmured. He took a sip of champagne and added, “You don’t look it.”

“I’m a slim woman,” I replied. “It’s been fairly easy to hide, but trust me. I’ve put on a few pounds.”

“Does your father know?” he asked.

“About us? No.”

“So he doesn’t even know you’re pregnant?” he inquired, furrowing his brow. “Don’t you think he’s gonna find out?”

I chuckled and laced my fingers together on the table.

“Oh, he knows I’m pregnant,” I admitted. “I told him right away. He was surprisingly cheery about the whole thing. But he doesn’t know it’s yours.”

Sweat was dripping from his brow. I could tell that he feared my father’s wrath. Admittedly, so did I. He would be furious if he knew I’d slept with Anthony.

“And do you plan on telling him?” he asked, cutting his steak rather aggressively.

“I don’t think so,” I said, shrugging. “I told him it was an old boyfriend’s. He thinks that I just can’t track the guy down. Hopefully he doesn’t find out I lied.”

“I see,” he muttered. “I wish you didn’t wait so long to tell me. We could’ve…done something about it.”

I shoveled my mouth full of leafy greens, though I was actually craving a burger.

“You aren’t still on about the abortion thing, are you?” I asked, furrowing my brow. “Because if that’s what you’re saying, maybe you shouldn’t be involved. It’s too late for anything like that. It’s irresponsible.”

He raised his eyebrows.

“I’m not saying it now. A few months ago it would’ve been an option but it’s not now, of course,” he muttered.

“So you would’ve asked me to abort it a few months ago?” I asked, angrily. “Just because you’re too much of a coward to raise a child? Is that it?”

He closed his eyes.

“Lillian, it isn’t that simple…”

“It
is
that simple, Anthony. This child is part of us and you won’t be able to have anything to do with it,” I shouted. “If you weren’t such an idiot—”

“Lillian, please. You’re making a scene,” he murmured.

Onlookers gawked at us. I didn’t care.

“That’s more than you’re willing to do!” I yelled. “I’m going to raise this baby myself, but it’d be nice to at least know that you’re supporting my decision. But no! You want me to
abort
it? Screw you, Anthony.”

I got to my feet.

“Lillian, sit down. You’re making us look bad.”

“No, Anthony. You’re making yourself look bad.”

And with that, I stormed out.

Managing a career and a pregnancy is the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do. The higher-ups were starting to expect more and more from me, and nobody in the office except Anthony and my father knew about my pregnancy. As the five month mark approached, it was becoming hard to hide.

Leo was one of the most important men in the company. Though he wasn’t as important as my father or Anthony, he was certainly someone that could ruin my career if I didn’t make him happy. Sadly, it seemed like I was doing just that.

“What are you
doing?
” he scolded, a sassy hand on his hip. “
These
are the girls you bring me? I told you I wanted a Chloe and you brought me five Brittanies. I can’t work with this!”

“I’m so sorry, sir,” I apologized, my face reddening. “I’ll fix it. I promise.”

I was trying to fight the nausea and the constant yelling was not helping my situation. I was fighting the urge to vomit on his nine-hundred dollar shoes.

“This is
the
most important shoot of summer,” he whined. “Why oh why can’t you get this right? I
know
you’re Robert’s daughter and you’ll always have a job here, but if you can’t start doing better, I may have to have a word with him. I may not be able to fire you, but I can make your life hell, honey. You count on that.”

I gulped. I was afraid that I would vomit all over him if I opened my mouth. My stomach was rolling.

“
Well?
Are you just going to stare at me like some kind of idiot or are you going to come up with some ideas?” he spat.

“Look, I’ll call the agency and see if they can send someone else over—”

“And how long will that take?” he asked, pursing his lips. “I don’t have all day, sweetie. However long it’s going to take one of those cokehead bitches to get down here is going to be
waaay
too long for me to wait. No, we
have
to make The Brittany Five work or else the entire shoot is screwed.”

“So you don’t want me to get someone else,” I confirmed, slowly. “O-okay. I’m sorry. I’ll get some more stylists up here and—”

“We don’t need more stylists,” he spat, turning one of the girls a bit to the right. “We need a
miracle
.”

I gave him a nervous smile. I was not sure what else to do. He was going to yell at me no matter how I responded. There was nothing I could do that would make him happy. My anxiety was at an all-time high.

“Well, I can’t give you a miracle, but I can get you as many people as you need.”

He sucked on his teeth.

“Oh, you’ve done enough, Lillian.”

Suddenly, the camera crew and went rigid and the models bettered their poses. I could feel the tension in the room. It could only mean one thing.

Anthony was there.

“How is everything coming?” he asked, his hands cuffed behind his back. “Well, I trust? It looks like you’ve gotten some beautiful ladies in here.”

He grabbed a model’s hand and kissed it. I could see the blush in her cheeks, even under all her pasty makeup. A surge of jealousy ran through me.

“Well, things
would
be going better if Lillian had her shit together,” Leo spat, crossing his arms. “My vision for this collection just can’t come together with five Brittanies. I don’t even have
one
Chloe. Not one!”

Anthony frowned.

“Why do their names matter?”

Leo scowled.

“When I say a Brittany, I mean blonde, skinny. I needed Chloes. Dark, mysterious. Wide-eyed and free,” he explained, closing his eyes. “There isn’t enough black lipstick on the planet to turn these women into Chloes.”

“So rework the shoot,” Anthony suggested. “These ladies seem talented enough to me. Lilli’s job is to find talent. She did that. I’m failing to see what the problem is here.”

“Well, sir, I don’t want to have to explain the entire artistic process to you but—”

“So don’t,” Anthony growled. “Use the blondes. Lay off Lillian.”

“But sir, I gave her one simple task—”

“I don’t care!” Anthony boomed. “You leave her alone or you’re fired. Got it?”

Leo’s eyes widened.

“G-got it,” he breathed.

“Good,” Anthony replied. He shot me a glance. “Next time he gives you trouble, you let me know, alright?”

I shook my head, my fists balled.

“No. This isn’t your business.”

“Excuse me?” he asked, cocking an eyebrow. “Are you arguing with me?”

I took a step forward and gave him one, sure nod.

“I didn’t do my job the way I was supposed to. Leo’s right. I should be in trouble.”

Leo raised his red, perfectly plucked brows.

“I am?”

I glanced at him and nodded.

“Yes, you are. I’m sorry. I should’ve gotten you Chloes—like you asked for. I made a mistake. This has nothing to do with who my father is or who—” I glanced at Anthony. “—wants to come to bat for me when I don’t deserve it.”

“Lilli, I just think he was being a little hard on you—”

“It doesn’t matter, Anthony!” I shouted. “You don’t get to come to my rescue when you’ve left me—with what you left me with!”

My blood was boiling. I was light-headed.

“Look, Lillian, maybe you need to calm down…” Anthony cooed.

“I will not calm down!”

That’s when it happened. Suddenly, I felt faint.

And then it all went black.

My back ached. My head hurt. I was fatigued. As my eyes fluttered open, I started to take in my surroundings. No longer was I at the photo shoot. Instead, I was surrounded by sterile white walls and the strong smell of rubbing alcohol.

“I see you’re awake,” a familiar voice murmured. “How are you feeling?”

I craned my neck over the papery blanket draped over my feet. There was Anthony, legs crossed in the corner visitor’s chair. He didn’t even look up from the business digest he was reading.

“Not so good,” I admitted, rubbing my head. “What the hell happened?”

He took a deep breath.

“Well, you were yelling at me for helping you when you passed out in my arms,” he replied. He raised his brows and added, “I assume you’re mad at me for catching you too.”

“No,” I murmured, hugging my knees close to my belly. “Have they checked on the baby?”

My greatest fear was losing my little one.

“Yes, the baby is fine,” Anthony assured me, putting his magazine down on his lap. “Look, Lillian, I really think you should take some time off work. Now, I know you’re going to hate that idea but—”

He was interrupted by the door opening. There stood a woman in a lab jacket—and my father.

“Daddy!” I exclaimed, nervously. “I’m so glad you’re here.”

“Oh, I’m glad too, pumpkin,” he cooed, hugging me closely. “I flew in from Orlando the second I heard.”

The Indian-American doctor adjusted her frameless spectacles.

“Well, luckily it was just a little fainting spell,” she said. “Glad to see you’re finally awake and feeling better, Miss Massey. It’s always good to have the baby’s father here when this kind of thing happens. It helps lessen the stress.”

My father furrowed his brow. I could see the horror on Anthony’s face.

“The father?” he asked. “I don’t see the father. Did he go to get snacks or something?”

The doctor frowned and gestured Anthony.

“He’s right there.”

My father laughed and clapped Anthony hard on the shoulder. Anthony and I exchanged nervous glances. Neither of us knew what to say.

“Oh, this isn’t the father!” he exclaimed. With a chuckle, he added, “If he was, I’d have to kill him!”

The doctor glanced at us.

“Right… Well, you’ll be happy to know that both your daughter and your grandchild will be
just
fine,” she noted. She gave me a dirty look. “And I highly advise you lower your stress levels, Miss Massey.”

I blushed and nodded.

“Okay, I get it. I should take some time off work.”

My father sucked on his teeth.

“I spent half a mil on schooling for her and she gets pregnant by some idiot,” he whispered to Anthony.

My face fell. I wasn’t supposed to hear it, but I did.

I was a disappointment to my father, he wanted to kill the man that fathered my child, and I was going to be forced to take time off work. My life was officially hell.