Carrying His Baby

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Blurb:

An interracial, billionaire, pregnancy romance story. Hallie has landed her dream drop as a manager for a prestigious catering company. So what better way to start her new assignment by catering for billionaire playboy Aldous’s lavish party.

It’s a glamorous start to her career, but the night holds unexpected twists… The biggest one being that she ends up pregnant with Aldous’s baby! But Aldous had never had plans to settle and doesn’t seem to be changing his mind any time soon.

Will Hallie embrace pregnancy and motherhood, even if it means navigating a future without a conventional family structure? Or will Aldous have a change of heart and be there for her in the end? Discover now in this baby having romance novel by Vanessa Brown.

Chapter 1

“Oh, crap crap crap crap!”

Hallie’s voice rose with each ‘crap’. She was late for work. She was never late for work. Except today. Today she was definitely late.

Irate, Hallie looked around at the traffic, wondering when it was going to let up. She needed to get from Soho to Upper East, and she was wondering why the hell she had even considered taking a cab. It was ridiculous. She should’ve taken the subway.

She would’ve taken the subway if she hadn’t had so much stuff to take, it was just not practical. She needed to be at Café Mocha in half an hour, and there wasn’t a chance in hell she was going to make it.

“Lady, getting frustrated isn’t going to help.”

The cabbie was amused. He probably saw this all the time.

“Why is there so much traffic?”

“It’s Manhattan,” he said nonchalantly and shrugged.

Well, thought Hallie, she might as well relax, then.

“I’m Hallie. Hallie Holt.”

It was second nature for Hallie to get to know people. Living in a big city could be extremely lonely if you didn’t take the time and make the effort to get to know people.

The cabbie, with his weathered face and surprisingly cheerful eyes, tipped his cap.

“I’m Alfred, your chauffeur today.”

Hallie grinned. Even at fifty, Alfred’s heart race just a bit at her grin. It was spectacular. She must be in her early twenties, he figured. She was all suited up, so she had work to do now. Her skin was the color of bitter chocolate, and her eyes were like a glass of good stout. Alfred had never seen Ireland, but Irish was in his blood. It must’ve taken some doing to tame that hair into that little bun or whatever it was.

“Thank you, Alfred. Is that your family? My, what pretty kids!”

Alfred glanced at the photo and grinned.

“My grandchildren. I have two, one more on the way. My Mary Alice made us wait a while, but when she decides to do something, she does it well, so she gave us twins. Now we wait for our Patrick’s first.”

That made Hallie sigh a bit. Alfred was off by a couple of years on her age – she was twenty-five – but she did love kids. Way off in the future, of course, Hallie reminded herself. In ten years, her career should be well established, and she should be stable enough to start a family.

Of course, for that, she would have to find a man. That was a bit of a bump on the road.

Hallie didn’t have the best luck with that. She was friendly, and fun, but had an extremely low level of tolerance for bullshit.

Most men seemed to be full of bullshit. At least, most men she met, and the ones her friends set her up with, were almost off the scale as far as bullshit was concerned.

“You must be a very happy man, Alfred,” said Hallie, a bit wistfully.

“That I am, Miss Holt.”

“Please, call me Hallie. It looks like we’re going to be stuck here a while, so we might as well be on first name basis.”

“You have a business meeting of some sort to get to?”

Hallie smiled.

“I’m afraid so. I work for a catering company. Newly promoted to manager, though I still have to work the events, too. I don’t mind that, it’s fun.”

“Must be a fancy event of some sort if you have a meeting in Upper East for it.”

“It is, actually. I can be fancy when I have to be. I need to lie down with a cold cloth over my eyes for a while to get over it later, but I can be fancy.”

Alfred chuckled. Hallie thought she could hear a faint hint of that beautiful Irish lilt in his voice once he loosened up.

“When’s your meeting, Hallie?”

She checked the time and winced.

“In exactly twenty minutes. I’m meeting my boss to go over everything first, and then meeting the client. It’s not the end of the world if I’m late now, but I hate to be late. And my boss hates it. Not the best impression to give after a new promotion, don’t you think?”

“Well, let’s see if we can get you there on time or thereabouts. I know a few tricks.”

“That would be just fine if you did,” agreed Hallie.

“Are you Irish?” Hallie had to ask.

“Never set foot on that island, but on this island, I sometimes still feel like that one’s home. My grandfather came over here, and we settled here. Made good lives for ourselves. But I grew up listening to my grandparents talk about home, so I feel like it’s home, sometimes.”

“I hope you can go there, with your family, and spend some time finding a new one. Or old one, depending on how you look at it.”

That made Alfred smile, and work whatever magic he managed, because in twenty-two minutes, she was at Café Mocha.

“Wow, that was incredible, Alfred. My love to your Mary Alice, your Patrick, the grandkids and your Brianna,” called Hallie, adding a good tip to the fare.

He tried to say no, but Hallie knew what buttons to push.

“Buy something for your new grandchild’s christening. From me.”

That did it.

“You give me a call if you’re ever in Harlem,” said Alfred, and drove off after she’d unloaded everything.

Two trays – check.

A giant folder – check.

Another slimmer folder with photos of personnel, as requested – check.

She got it all together and walked in.

Valerie Roberts, her boss, was waiting. Of course she was. Valerie was always on time. Always and unfailingly.

Sometimes, just sometimes, Hallie wished Valerie would be a bit less than perfect. Tall, blonde, slim and perfect Valerie always made Hallie feel chunky and clumsy. Hallie had curves – a full bust, a small waist and wide hips – and though she was slim, Valerie made her feel fat. She’d never been able to order anything more than a salad when having lunch with Valerie.

“Hey, sorry I’m late, but I’ve got everything here.”

“Samples?”

“All done, and perfect, if I do say so myself. Bridget outdid herself. She really did. That salmon mousse, it’s so good I think I want to marry it.”

Valerie smiled. When Valerie smiled, Hallie forgot all about her resentment that she was perfect. She was the perfect boss.

“And the venue the client wants?”

“Available and blocked for the twenty-third. Alternate venue also available and blocked. After party venue suggestions are in there, too.”

“Well, that’s thorough.”

But Valerie still looked nervous.

“We’ve got it all, Val. Why’re you so nervous about this one?”

“Aldous Banks is extremely demanding, Hallie. Most people who work with him say that he needs everything to be perfect. But he doesn’t quibble about paying for perfection. If we do one event perfectly for him, he’ll hire us for more.”

“So we’ll do it perfectly, Val. Stop worrying so much. He’ll think we can’t handle it if you look so worried.”

That just made Valerie look even more nervous.

“We don’t have to worry about wine, right? He made his millions in wine.”

“No, we don’t have to deal with wine or cocktails or spirits of any sort.”

“Well, if there’s anything needed there – are we to tend the bar? Because I think the Specialist is free on the day. I could ask him, get a tentative block on that. But if he doesn’t want a bartender, we’ll have to pay him the deposit. You know how he is. If he weren’t just so indisputably brilliant at his job, nobody would hire him. But he is the best. And are mocktails on us? I brought our menu, but I couldn’t very well bring mocktail samples.”

“Oh, that’s good thinking. I’m not sure, actually. I should ask. Let me add it to my list.”

Ah, Valerie and her lists, thought Hallie.

Hallie didn’t understand this obsession with lists. She never needed one. She was excellent at keeping everything she needed in her head.