Surrogate For The Billionaire: A BWWM Pregnancy Romance (9 page)

Tossing her phone in her purse and locking it up, she grabbed her
soda and headed out to the kitchen. Several orders came in with rapid
succession and Lateisha didn’t have a moment to think for
another hour. When she finally looked up she had five minutes left of
her shift. Refilling her soda for the second time, Lateisha walked
into the seating area to begin wiping down tables and sweeping.

“Hello,” Lateisha jumped but quickly realized it was
only Bryce who was behind her.

Why is he here?
She thought, setting her drink and the broom
down. They had barely spoken in weeks and now he just showed up at
her job.

“What’s up?” She asked, turning to face him.

Lateisha was always surprised at the reaction she had to his
appearance and closeness. Never once had she not felt tingly all over
and ready to swoon like a stupid teenager with a crush. At the moment
she could feel her body heating at his proximity when she turned. He
was right behind her, so close she could reach out and grab him if
she wanted to. Part of her actually wanted to but she ignored that
part. Bryce looked sexy as hell in his gray fitted suit, crisp white
shirt and deep purple tie. Lateisha had to tell herself a few times
that ignoring the urge to jump his bones was in fact a good thing.
Maybe it was the raging hormones. That’s what she told herself
anyway. No matter that she felt this way before getting pregnant.

“I just came in to check up on you. We haven’t really
spoken in awhile. I hope you remembered the ultrasound we have
tomorrow,” Bryce said, his hazel eyes looking her up and down
as if he were inspecting her for damage.

Lateisha nodded, turning away from him to wipe the last table. It
was better if she wasn’t so close to him while they talked. It
was probably a good thing they hadn’t spoken in awhile.

“I remember. I’m doing fine; nauseous and exhausted but
fine.” Lateisha grabbed the dirty rag and brought it back
behind the counter, snagging her soda and taking a sip as she went.

“What’s that?” Bryce asked, pointing at her cup.

Lateisha laughed. “You’ve never seen soda before?”
She teased.

Bryce’s face remained serious. “Soda in large amounts
isn’t good for a developing fetus. There’s too much
caffeine and the sugar isn’t good for you either. You could
develop gestational diabetes.”

Lateisha sighed.
Here we go again,
she thought.

“Two sodas aren’t a big deal, Bryce.” Lateisha
took the cup and dramatically dropped it into a trash can.

Bryce shook his head, “How many have you had over the last few
weeks?”

Lateisha didn’t answer, he had a point. She had at least two
or three sodas every few days. There was no way she was telling him
he was right though.

“Not as much as you would assume, Mr. Control Freak,”
she said, turning on her heel and leaving him standing at the counter
while she walked to the back to deposit the cloth in the washing
machine.

He could wait on her for a change. She threw all the towels into a
load, poured the soap in and started the machine.

“You can’t avoid the question or ignore me, Lateisha.”
Bryce had followed her into the back room.

“This room is employees only, Mr. Henderson.” Lateisha
pushed past him and headed towards the break room to grab her purse
and jacket.

“Lateisha,” Bryce sounded like he was begging her to
talk to him.

When he wanted to talk to her she had to do as he pleased, but he
had been avoiding her for weeks. Anger suddenly took over and
Lateisha’s face heated as she turned to him.

“No. You don’t get to dictate when and where I talk to
you. You may have full control over this baby but you will not
control me,” Lateisha answered, shaking with rage.

Bryce grabbed her by the arms and looked down at her. His hazel eyes
dark with emotion.

“I’m concerned about you both. You eat junk all day and
expect me to be okay with how that affects my baby. Not to mention
the toll it will take on you. I don’t want you working in this
place any more. You can come work for me.”

Bryce released her and walked toward the doors and Lateisha had no
choice but to follow him to find out what the hell he meant.

*****

Bryce stalked away from Lateisha, anger making his blood boil.
Usually Bryce was very good at maintaining his composure. Never once,
not even when some idiot at work tried to one up him, did he lose his
temper in public. But somehow Lateisha had him on the edge of
exploding. Walking away was the best option. He knew her working in
fast food would become an issue sooner or later. She assured him she
didn’t eat from the place she worked, but he’d seen the
other shit she ate. Lateisha liked to pretend that he wasn’t
paying attention. Little did she know he was always watching her. For
breakfast she ate nothing but Pop Tarts and sugary cereal and when
she was home she ate pizza and fast food for lunch and dinner. God
only knew what she ate when she wasn’t at the penthouse. He had
seen enough. This place was no good for her. He needed her to be
close to him so he could make sure she was taking care of herself and
the baby. Working with him was her only option. Lucky for her there
was a secretarial opening. It was for his partner John.

“Who the fuck do you think you are?!” Lateisha exclaimed
from behind him.

He turned with a smirk. “I’m Bryce Henderson, head of
HenCorp and one of the wealthiest men alive.”

Lateisha looked like she was going to hit him. “Oh right.
You’re so fucking rich and special you can buy babies and order
people around. If I wasn’t having this baby for you I’d
never speak to you again, Bryce Henderson, master of the universe.”

She turned and stomped away from him, and out the back door. Bryce
sighed. Hopefully she was at the penthouse when he got back; they
weren’t through with this conversation.

*****

Lateisha boarded the bus, due to the fact that her piece of shit car
finally gave out two weeks ago, fury still heating her face. The
nerve of him! Bryce really thought he could order her around just
because he was wealthy and she was the nobody he chose to carry a
baby for him. She sat with the sting of tears in her eyes. Not sure
why she was suddenly sad, Lateisha pushed against her eyelids to keep
them from falling. It hurt a bit that he thought so little of her but
why was she surprised, after he told her what he thought of himself,
she didn’t know. Suddenly she had the urge to go to Becky’s
apartment and stay the night there. Bryce would just have to sweat it
out to see if she was coming back.

Five minutes later, Lateisha was knocking on Becky’s door,
even though she still had a key.

The door swung opened and Becky stood on the other side, surprise in
her eyes.

“Teish, what’s going on?” She asked, pulling the
door open and stepping back so Lateisha could enter.

“I just needed to hide from Bryce for a…” Her
voice trailed off as she realized who was sitting on the couch.

“Hello, ‘Teish’,” Bryce said, giving her a
fake wave and a smirk.

“What the fuck is he doing here?” Lateisha barked at
Becky.

“He showed up a few minutes ago looking for you. He said you
might come here. I told him you wouldn’t since we really
weren’t speaking too much right now. But I guess he was right.”
Becky’s eyes widened with surprise as she spoke, looking from
Lateisha to Bryce.

Lateisha frowned. She didn’t like that he knew her so well,
even though a part of her was happy about it.

“You just can’t leave it alone can you.” Lateisha
said her voice now free of anger.

She really didn’t know what to say to him at this point, but
figured she may as well listen to him since he tracked her down.
Waving her hand at him as if to tell him to speak, Lateisha took a
seat in the armchair opposite the couch and waited for him to begin.

“As I was saying before you stormed out; my partner John has
an opening to be his assistant and I think it would be good if you
took it.”

Lateisha started to speak and tell him what he could do with his job
offer when Becky cut in.

“Really? What a great opportunity, Lateisha! They pay great
and you could even go back to school because they offer tuition
assistance.” Becky stood and clapped her hands
enthusiastically.

If she didn’t know Becky well she’d swear this was
staged. But Becky didn’t trust Bryce or this whole surrogacy
thing so she knew her interests were solely for Lateisha.

“I don’t know, Beck. I’d have to spend forty hours
a week with this guy.” Lateisha cocked a thumb at Bryce and
instead of being irritated, he chuckled.

“You wouldn’t be working for me. You’d be working
for John. He’s on the fifteenth floor and you wouldn’t
see me at all. Hardly,” Bryce added, looking at Lateisha
hopefully.

Well damn, they did have a pretty good point, and Lateisha did hate
working at McDonald’s. Even though she knew this was a ploy by
Bryce to control her life while she was carrying his baby, she also
knew she would be a fool to turn down a great opportunity.

“Fine,” she said stubbornly, her chin jutting out a bit,
“I’ll do it. But on one condition.”

“What’s that now?”

“You can’t tell me what to wear, or eat or do while I’m
working there, especially since you won’t be my direct boss.”

Bryce nodded, “It’s a deal.”

They shook hands and Lateisha stood to leave. She had a feeling this
wasn’t going to go as smoothly as she planned.

*****

Bryce watched Lateisha leave before he stood.

“Thanks for getting her on board. I appreciate it.”
Bryce turned to Becky just before he walked out.

“I didn’t do it for you. I still don’t like what
you’re doing here and how you’re taking advantage of her.
But Lateisha needs a more stable, better paying job no matter what.
Just don’t hurt her or I’ll hunt you down like a dog,”
Becky flashed a large smile and practically pushed Bryce out of the
apartment.

Scratching his head he descended the stairs, wondering if Lateisha
was at the bus stop yet. She shouldn’t take the bus alone at
night in the city, it wasn’t safe. Bryce stepped into his Town
Car and told Gerry to drive down the street to the bus stop. Sure
enough Lateisha was perched on the edge of a bench looking at her
phone. Probably surfing social media or whatever the kids called it.

Bryce asked Gerry to stop at the curb and rolled his window down.
“Fancy meeting you here.”

Lateisha snorted and approached his window. “You need a better
line.”

“That I do. Can you please get in the car and ride home with
me. I hate you sitting here alone in the dark waiting for the bus.”
Bryce motioned to the car.

“I’m not alone,” Lateisha gestured towards the
likely homeless man curled in a ball at the end of the bench.

Bryce shook his head. “Fine. Do what you want. I don’t
know why I even bother.”

Bryce rolled his window back up and Gerry began to pull away.

“Wait! I’ll go with you. But only because I’m
exhausted and I don’t think this bench is big enough for the
both of us,” Lateisha said, again gesturing towards the man.

She climbed into the limo and pressed against the door when it
closed. Bryce got the signal loud and clear. She wanted him to leave
her alone.

*****

Lateisha bolted from the car before Gerry had even put it in park.
Being trapped in a car with him for fifteen minutes was too much. Now
she knew why he was avoiding her.

“Lateisha!” Bryce yelled from the hallway after she
stepped from the elevator.

Lateisha turned but kept walking; she didn’t want to talk to
him about anything right now. There was too much of a risk that she
could ruin everything.

“I’m really tired,” she fake yawned while opening
the door to the penthouse and slipping inside.

She almost closed the door and locked it behind her but Bryce would
think she was crazy. Shedding her jacket by the door, she hung it in
the closet quickly and took off towards the hallway that led to her
room.

“Please wait,” Bryce said, this time he sounded
defeated.

Lateisha stopped, sagging against the wall. Bryce approached her
from the front door slowly and the look in his eye almost made
Lateisha bolt again. He was looking at her like she was his last
meal. How he could go from being the domineering businessman to the
lust filled lover was an anomaly to Lateisha; especially since he
acted like being with her was the worst thing in the world.

“What more do you want from me, Bryce.” Lateisha’s
voice came out just above a whisper.

Bryce didn’t answer, but stalked towards her instead.
Lateisha’s heart rate picked up, slamming into her chest so
loud that Bryce could likely hear it across the room. When he reached
where she stood, Bryce didn’t speak; he leaned down and
captured her mouth with his. In that moment Lateisha knew, running
from him was no longer an option.

Lateisha gasped on contact, the sound lost between their kisses. He
always caught her by surprise even though she was expecting it. The
kiss became deeper as Bryce delved his tongue into her mouth.
Lateisha reciprocated, sucking on his tongue. Bryce moaned, nipping
her lip. Without warning or breaking contact, Bryce wrapped his arms
around Lateisha and scooped her up. He headed the opposite direction
down the hall, towards what Lateisha could only assume was the master
bedroom. Gently depositing her on the bed, Bryce resumed the frantic
kisses, all the while trying to shrug off his suit jacket. Lateisha
grabbed it and pulled it down, the sound of ripping filling the room.

“Not again,” Bryce breathed a hint of a smile in his
voice.

“Sorry,” she muttered.

The thought was soon forgotten as Bryce’s mouth crashed back
into hers, taking her breath away. They made quick work of removing
the rest of their clothing, where it ended up, Lateisha didn’t
care. Once undressed, Bryce settled back over top of Lateisha, his
mouth finding hers again. This time the kisses were softer and
lingering, as if Bryce didn’t want to forget how she tasted.
Lateisha’s hands roamed over his body. The feel of his lean
muscles against her hands made her shiver and the heat between her
legs build. Being with him was like nothing she had ever experienced
before, and Lateisha didn’t want to waste a moment regretting
it.