The Billionaire's Ultimatum: His Absolute Need (A BDSM Erotic Romance Novel) (Book One) (23 page)

"Your mom
sounds like a hoot."

Startled, I
jumped up and stared at my bedroom door.  Jeremy stood there eating a cookie,
powdered sugar covering his lips.

"You have
something—"  I gestured to my lips.  "There."

"Yeah,"
he shrugged.  "Saving it for later.  You can never be too careful.  Who
knows when my next meal will be?"

"That was
the corniest line I've ever heard," I said.

He grinned. 
"Let's pack your stuff, Miss Stripper Adulteress."

I packed some of
my shoes and clothes in an overnight duffel bag.  I didn't really need them,
since Asher had asked Jeremy to buy me clothes and he'd filled an entire
walk-in closet with them, but I liked some of what I owned.  It was comfortable
and familiar.

"Maybe she
has the plans written down," I said, cramming another t-shirt into my
bag.  "Maybe that's why she doesn't like Asher sleeping in the same room
with her.  At night, when he thinks she's sleeping, she's actually writing down
her evil plan in a notebook that she hides in her bedside table."

"Are we
coming up with plots for a YA fantasy novel or are we talking about how to
figure out what, if anything, Beatrice is up to?" he asked.

I frowned. 
"Sorry, I read a lot."

"It's fine,
but I doubt she did that.  If anything, it'd be on her computer.  No one writes
stuff down these days."

"True,
true.  So... we could check that?"

"Maybe.  I
imagine it's password protected, though."

"She might
use a simple one.  Did you know that a lot of people use 'password' as their
password?  It could be that."

"I... I
doubt it.  I mean, it's possible, but I don't think Beatrice is one of those
people.  She graduated from Dartmouth."  Jeremy rummaged through my
drawers and grabbed a cute blouse.  "Let's bring this."

"I really
like that one.  Put it in the bag."  He did, then I stared at him. 
"Can you stop going through my drawers, too?  There's..."

"Do you
really wear this?  Wow."  He held up one of my cutest and sexiest pairs of
underwear; a frilly pink chiffon piece that always clung tight to my body, with
a black silk bow in the front at the top.  "This is... wow.  I mean,
there's sexy, right?  But then there's cute, and then... wow.  This is really
good.  How do you not have a boyfriend?"

I snatched the
underwear away from him.  "Give me that!  Stop looking through my
underwear drawer!"  I shut the drawer on him, nearly slamming his fingers
in it as I did.  "Also, my last boyfriend didn't even like these.  That
was awhile ago, but still.  He said they made me look like I was twelve and he
felt like a criminal whenever I wore them before we had sex."

Jeremy burst
into laughter.  "Ah, well.  Weird.  I don't know how anyone could ever
mistake you for a twelve year old, underwear or not.  Really, I think the
appeal to a pair like that is the innocence, though.  Like, hey, they're cute,
right?  But also sexy.  It's the best of both worlds, really.  You get the
hotness, but the demure nature, too, so you're going to have some really good
sex, but you won't feel like you're with a slut.  That's how I think about
it."

"I guess
thanks for not calling me a slut?  Can we stop talking about my underwear
now?"

Jeremy
snickered.  "Yeah, sure.  Sorry.  I just... man... if Asher saw those on
you, he'd..."

He didn't say
more.  Why wouldn't he say more?  "What?" I asked.  "He'd
what?"

"Well, you
shouldn't wear them around him.  Also, why would he ever see you in your
underwear?  Strictly speaking, this will never happen, so this is all
hypothetical, but I think he'd go crazy.  In a good way, for you, except maybe
not, since, you know, he's married."

"Yeah,"
I said.  "Right, of course.  What time do we have to be at the
doctor's?"

"We should
probably leave soon.  Asher's going to meet us there.  You both have to sign
paperwork or something.  Anything else you need besides what we grabbed?"

"Yes, um. 
Can you grab the other boxes of cookies?  I'm going to change quickly."

Jeremy looked at
me funny.  "Sure, but I think Asher can afford to buy more cookies."

"They're
expiring soon," I lied.  "I don't want to waste them."

Jeremy shrugged
and left to go fetch my cookies.  I grabbed the pink panties and rushed into
the bathroom to change.  Shimmying my current pair of underwear down my bare
legs, I stepped out of them and then stepped into the new pair.  I lifted them
up, holding my skirt above my waist while I did, and fit them into place.  And,
they didn't match my bra, but who cared?  I had plans, delicious and devious
plans, and they didn't involve anything to do with a bra.

"Are you on
birth control?" the doctor asked.

"Yes,"
I told her.  "Is that alright, or...?"

"It's
fine," she said.  "In a standard procedure, we would have you go on
birth control for a month anyways.  This insures that we're dealing with a
regular cycle.  The long and short of it is that we need to know exactly when
your period is so that we can plan for egg retrieval.  There's medication
involved and various shots.  You'll have to self-administer those, but we'll
show you how.  The shots are simple and mostly painless, but after awhile there
can be slight bruising and discomfort.  I assume you have an OB/GYN you
regularly go to?"

"Yes." 
I swallowed hard.  The medication didn't sound bad, but the shots worried me. 
I was always kind of a wimp when it came to needles.

"So, what
we'll do today is preliminary exams.  Nothing intensive.  I'll need to speak
with your OB/GYN about your history, but I assume we won't find anything
detrimental to IVF, so everything should be settled in a couple days. 
Depending on the type of birth control and where you are in your cycle, we
might be able to start this sooner than regular.  I can't guarantee anything,
though.  Do you know when you usually have your period?"

"Yes,"
I said, nodding.  "In a few days.  Three?  What's IVF?"

"In vitro
fertilization.  Sorry, I'm so used to abbreviating."  She hummed to
herself, considering my answer.  "As long as everything checks out, we
might
be able to begin in three days.  That's a rush, though.  Basically, if we do
that, you won't have much time to back out.  If you change your mind or
reconsider, you'd have less of a window."

"What I'd
like to do," she continued, "is start you on Gonal-f the day of your
period.  You'd stop taking birth control then.  You'll inject the Gonal-f with
an RFF pen—which basically looks like a large ballpoint pen—and that's about
it.  I'll prescribe you enough refills to last for ten days.  You'll also need
to take some other medications, but those are easier to handle.  It's a good
idea to start taking pre-natal vitamins and oftentimes baby aspirin helps,
too.  On the ninth day you'll come back in and..."

I listened to
her, but it all kind of blurred together.  Three days?  And then what?  If
everything went as planned, I'd be pregnant in a couple of weeks, right?  I
didn't really know what I was thinking before this, but it seemed like it'd
take longer than that.  Months, maybe?  I had married friends who'd spent half
a year before becoming pregnant, so a couple weeks seemed really quick in
comparison.  Though I don't know why I thought it would take longer, either. 
Medicine, advances in technology, and whatever else; these doctors had it down
to a science and knew exactly how to manage it.

"Please be
aware that the surgery involved with egg retrieval and transplant can be painful
and disorienting.  We do everything we can to minimize that, though.  I know
it's a lot to take in," the doctor said.  She smiled at me and handed me a
pamphlet.  "Here's some more information and you're always free to say
no.  This is kind of a strange case in that usually we perform IVF on either
infertile women without other complications or egg donors.  I discussed
everything with Mr. Landseer on the phone a few days ago and I understand your
situation, though.  It shouldn't be any different than a regular procedure in
the end, so you don't have anything to worry about with that."

"Oh,"
I said.  "I'm not worried.  It's just..."

"It's
sudden," she said for me.  "If you want to think about it more,
that's fine by me.  Don't let anyone pressure you into anything.  We do need
signed consent forms from the both of you, though.  Whatever your arrangement
is with Mrs. Landseer should be discussed with an attorney, too.  We don't do
that here, though.  We'll manage the process between you and Asher, and the rest
is up to you to decide.  Surrogacy can get complicated very fast with how the
laws are in the US.  I'm just a doctor, but I'd advise you to look into it
carefully so you know what you're getting into."

"Yes.  Yes,
of course."

She smiled. 
"I'll be right back with the consent forms.  You can look them over at
your convenience.  I believe Asher is waiting in the waiting room, too.  I'll
get him, you both can talk things over, and when you're ready to continue the
preliminary exam I'll be waiting."

She left me in
the doctor's room.  I sat on the cushioned table, swinging my legs side to
side, thinking.  Was I ready for this?  If—I checked the pamphlet.  Alright,
so, if I followed this chart, and everything went as planned, I'd be pregnant
in about three weeks.  They did pregnancy tests in office a couple weeks after
the second egg transplant, and anything after that was too late.  About a
month, then?  In a month I might become a mother.

Or, not really. 
Technically, yes, but I couldn't keep the child.  It was for Asher and
Beatrice, except...

Oh my God.  I
hadn't really thought about this before, but what happened if Beatrice
was
planning something against Asher?  Personally I had no doubts in my mind about
what I heard, even if I didn't know the specifics.  I did agree that Jeremy had
a valid point in needing to figure it out with more certainty, though.  But,
then, if she was planning something, a divorce or whatever, what happened with
the child?  If I signed some contract with a lawyer stating that I would give
up the child to the Landseer's, could she use it as a bargaining chip in the
divorce?  How did that work?

I needed to look
into it, but I didn't really know how.  I didn't have a lawyer of my own, and I
wasn't sure if I could trust the Landseer lawyer(if they had one, though I
assumed Asher would).  Mostly, what if Beatrice talked with the lawyer
beforehand.  If she was planning on leaving Asher, she, no doubt, had thought
of hiring a divorce attorney.  Except, why hire one if she had a perfectly good
one on hand, one who already knew Asher's situation and any potential ways to
screw him over?

A bit
conspiratorial, even for me, but I decided it was definitely better to figure
out an alternative solution.  I'd have to find a way to talk with a lawyer who
didn't know anything about Asher, Beatrice, or even me.  Hypothetical
discussions and... I didn't have the money for this.  Was I just going to waltz
up to Asher and ask him to pay for it?  Why, he would ask.  And then what did I
tell him?  Also, I couldn't do that anyways since it was more than rude.

Argh!  This was
so complicated.  I hated it.

Asher stepped
into the room after knocking.  He smiled at me and I immediately felt better,
different.  I had three days to decide, and if I couldn't figure anything out
by then I'd find a way to delay.  What if I wanted to think about it more?  No
one could deny me that, since this was kind of a big thing.  At least I doubted
Asher would be upset with me, though who knew about Beatrice.  I didn't really
care about her thoughts, anyways.

"Hey,"
Asher said.  He sat on the chair next to the cushioned table.  "Everything
alright?"

"Yes.  I
think so," I said.

"Everything
is looking fine," the doctor confirmed.  "I see no reason why this
shouldn't succeed.  Ms. Fevrier is young and presumably fertile, so there won't
be any issues there.  Obviously the testing, and I have to talk with her
doctor, but other than that... you haven't been pregnant before, correct?"

She'd asked me
this earlier, but I assumed the repeat question was for Asher's benefit. 
"No."  I shook my head.

"For
surrogacy, it's typically better to do this with a woman who's proven fertile
in the past, but for non-donor IVF it's obviously for women who are regularly
infertile.  For your situation, the latter is more applicable.  I wanted to
clarify that quickly in case you've read anything before this."

Asher nodded,
deep in thought.  "Alright.  Yes.  I was... well, I've been a little
worried.  I may or may not have spent a few business hours looking up details."

The doctor
laughed.  "Of course.  I understand.  Well, here are the consent forms. 
You don't have to sign them immediately.  I'll leave you two to discuss
things.  Just hit this button when you're ready to continue and I'll be right
back."  She pointed to a red button under an intercom grill.  "I'm
going to go do some paperwork in the mean time."

She handed us
the papers, gave me a reassuring smile, and left us in the room alone, closing
the door behind her.

"So,"
I said.

"So,"
Asher agreed.

"She can start
in three days, she thinks.  She has to talk with my OB/GYN."

Asher's eyes
widened.  He looked so excited and I didn't know how to tell him that maybe I
didn't want to start in three days.  Maybe I needed more time, because...

"It's up to
you," he said.  "I know three days is soon.  I won't rush you."

"I
know," I said.  "I'm just..."

I was so
nervous.  Not just because of the doctor or anything else.  Everything, all
combined, and then this, and that, and I needed something, some assurance that
I was doing the right thing, except who could I ask?  Everyone around me was
biased, and my mother had seemed somewhat indifferent.  Not entirely
indifferent, but she seemed excited, too.  Daytime television probably made the
idea seem extravagant and luxurious to her, and it did have some of that appeal
to me, but the actuality of it was scary.  Shots and being pregnant, pain, and
it wasn't even my child, and...