Bear My Babies

His successes would now be linked to her life. She was going to be a part of his life. Even after their child turned eighteen, they would still be interconnected. Graduations, wedding, grandchildren and more. He wasn’t going to let Melissa struggle financially now that she was such a crucial part of his future.

He would have padded her bank account the moment she agreed to carry his child, but he recognized the stubborn tilt of Melissa’s chin. She wouldn’t accept anything that felt like charity to her. Thomas already decided when their child was born, he would pay her a monthly allowance to allow her the luxury of not worrying about paying her bills so she could focus on helping him raise their child. It wasn’t going to be easy to convince her to take the money, but he wasn’t going to play fair either. Using their child’s comfort and needs as an excuse was something he wasn’t afraid to employ.

“Hi, Thomas. How are you?” Melissa said. Her voice sounded tired and he instantly worried about her well-being.

“I’m fine. How are you? You sound tired.” He winced as soon as the words left his mouth.

“I’m a little tired; the hormones are messing with my sleep schedule. My body is trying to get used to it. Is there something you needed?”

Thomas bit his tongue, not wanting to scold her on the importance of taking care of herself. She was a highly-educated doctor. Surely he could count on her not to do anything that would hurt herself and her chances of getting pregnant. When she conceived, that would be a different story. Holding his tongue would go straight out the window as soon as she showed him a positive pregnancy test.

Thomas stopped himself from telling her about landing Hillary’s account. Her exhausted tone and Tilly lying to him about Melissa being unavailable threw him in a dark place. He felt childish for calling her to tell her his big news. Why would she care about his business venture? They weren’t together.

He went back to his usual, casual demeanor. “I just wanted to see when you wanted to get together. We still have some things we need to discuss before c-day.”

“C-day?”

“Conception day. I was going to call it hot, sweaty, bear-s*x day, but I felt c-day was more appropriate over the phone.”

Melissa started sputtering over the phone before breaking into weak laughter.

“This is progress. Last time I mentioned making a baby, I almost choked you. Now you just started speaking in tongues. Pretty soon you’ll be able to talk about it without a blush.” Thomas rocked in his office chair picturing Melissa’s pink-stained cheeks as she tried to come up with a retort.

“I did not speak in tongues,” she retorted with a chuckle.

“I’m pretty sure you were inarticulate for a good thirty seconds.”

“Whatever. I’m not sure when I’ll be free, but you’re right, we do need to meet and go over the specifics. Why don’t I call you later when I can look at my schedule?”

“Melissa, you’re looking lovely. Are you ready for our fun-filled day?” Melissa chuckled on the phone as the man Thomas assumed was Bruce spoke.

“Oh, I can’t wait. I’ve been thinking about it all day,” Melissa replied. Thomas thought he heard a bit of sarcasm, but that may have just been wishful thinking.

“Call me when you aren’t busy,” Thomas said, hanging up before she could respond.

Thomas pushed out of his chair and walked around his office. Why was he bothered by it? Melissa wasn’t his. She could do whatever she wanted. Of course he wouldn’t stop her from dating, but he’d need to meet the man hanging around his child. That would come later though, so thinking about this Bruce now was silly. His intercom beeped on his desk and Thomas stalked over to it.

“Yes,” he said harshly.

“Hilary Dalton is here to see you,” Janet said, unaffected by his rude behavior.

“Send her in, Janet. Thank you.” His voice was more calm. He would have to apologize to Janet later or she would let him have it.

Hilary waltzed into his office, her designer perfume that hadn’t even hit the market floating around her. She was sin on heels. Her tight purple dress hugged her as if it were her second skin. The black heels she balanced on were high and lethal-looking. Hilary pushed back her straight blonde hair over her small, boney shoulder. Her brown eyes sparkled under her perfectly-applied make-up as she walked over to Thomas, who was now sitting behind his desk.

Thomas allowed his eyes to wander over Hilary’s super-model body. She was perfection, and she knew it. Thomas personally handed over their bid for her account. He nearly tripped over his tongue when he saw Hilary in person for the first time. The magazines and TV shows she graced didn’t do her justice.

Hilary showed interest in Thomas when he walked in her office, at least he thought she did. The feeling was mutual, but Hilary didn’t act on it. She watched him like a predator as he gave his presentation. Her brown eyes roaming over his body without a care that others were in the conference room with her.

After his pitch, Hilary stayed while the others filed out. Thomas took his time packing up his stuff, letting her take the lead.

“I’ll let you know our decision after we’ve heard the other pitches,” she purred

Thomas and she locked gazes. She had a tilt to her lip showing him she knew exactly what she was doing to him. He had given her the power, and she was wielding it like a pro. Thomas wasn’t an idiot. He refused to mess up the possibility of landing her account by asking her out. He stood back and waited until the right moment came.

Hilary showed up at his office almost weekly. Each time, her dresses became shorter and tighter. She would flounce around telling him about the other options she had to help launch her perfume. Thomas would discuss them with her as his eyes wandered over her body. She would pretend to listen to his advice as she eye-humped him.

Everything would change now. Hilary had signed her launch over to his company. They would work out the details and then they would hand everything over to their team of people to polish it, only showing up if there was a problem, or to the benefit itself.

Hilary no longer needed to toy around with him. The game had just taken an interesting turn.