The Billionaire’s Risky Pregnancy

“I agree,” she said. “Just haven’t seen it yet.”

George pinched her cheek and kissed the top of her head.

“Someday your prince will come.”

“This is too much of a Disney morning,” Tasha mused. “I have to get to class.”

“Drinks later?” he asked.

“Sure thing.”

Entering her classroom, Tasha’s heart grew light at the sight of a horde of five-year-olds clapping their hands as soon as they saw her. She snapped her fingers and hoped that she would have enough stickers when she turned the room quiet with one wave of her hand.

“How are my little loves doing?”

A joyous chorus filled the room, the walls lined with their finger paintings and the toys in place until she gave the word go. Tasha unpacked her bag and asked them to show her all that they had learned as her charges leapt to their feet. She couldn’t sing. But she tapped a beat into the desk and watched the class dance with hands in the air and knees popping and locking. They were far from robots. Still every child marched to the beat of their own drum, and Tasha joined in the dance with a smile until she fell with them to the floor and hugged each and every one of them close. She saw David and Kate taking up the lead, and Tasha tousled the hair topping their heads and finally pulled back as she pointed towards the sandbox and struck what she hoped was an authoritative pose.

“Now let’s look at our letters before we go out to play.”

The room erupted with groans, but when Tasha promised stickers for good behavior, she took the class to the edge of recess and then let them loose to play once the whiteboard was full of crooked versions of the alphabet. Grateful for enough stickers as she helped Kate craft a sandcastle in the space of the plastic turtle on the black top, the little girl smiled up at her with big blue eyes.

“Do you really like my new socks, Miss Finn?” she asked.

“Very stylish,” Tasha said. “Are they a gift from your Daddy?”

“No,” Kate confessed. “I had a visit with Mommy.”

That was never good news, but Tasha still fingered the threads and patted the little girl’s legs.

“You know that your Daddy loves you,” Tasha said.

“Do you love me, Miss Finn?”

Tasha quickly nodded and tried to clean a few grains of sands from the girl’s face when all of her students squealed at the sound of another stretch of metal digging into the ground. Kate hid behind her back, and Tasha waved the other children back as she narrowed her eyes.

“What in God’s name—?”

So often she had pictured another playground with tire swings and monkey bars. The little ones deserved no less, and Tasha could no longer wait for the PTA to spring into action as she ordered her students to stay still. They nodded their tiny heads, and Tasha clawed her way up the hill and skipped past the chain link fence to see two burly men surveying blueprints as they ignored her.

“A moment of your time, fancy boys?”

Two pinstriped suits turned, and the smirking faces looked right through her.

“Go back to school,” the man with the beard said. “This is business.”

Tasha could not let it drop, and she peered over the men’s shoulders and clicked her tongue.

“Why the hell do we need another drug store in these parts?” she asked. “Already have a CVS and Samuels.”

“And nothing gets in the way of progress, little girl.”

The man with the beard pushed her aside, and his friend saw fit to scoop up a handful of dirt and rocks. Tasha was not about to let it hit her face, and she ducked her head before charging forward and hitting the younger man with tight fists.

“You haven’t met me!” she challenged. “My students need a place to play.”

“We’re not here for them!”

A sharp heel hit her side, and Tasha started to fall back at the sounds of her little loves screaming when a pair of strong arms stopped her descent.

“What the hell is wrong with you?”

Tasha turned into the feel of two sets of long fingers, and she found her footing and sucked in a deep breath as she came face to face with two green eyes resting below a head of wavy brown hair. The mystery man stood a head shorter than the monster that wanted to send her down the hill and Tasha steadied her body against his stance and heaved a sigh of relief.

“Are you alright?” the stranger asked. Tasha nodded her head and let him lead her back to her students. Tiny arms clung to her legs, and Tasha told them that everything was alright, that there were still good people in the world. But as soon as she turned her head, her sudden hero was nowhere to be found.

And Tasha finished her day wondering where he was or if he had even been real.

*****

“So drinks?”

She took George by the arm and drove them to the McKinley’s at the edge of town and fell into a beer even as she held his hand.

“What no toast?” George asked. “I thought you were happy for—”

“So very happy!” Tasha cried as she hugged him close and kissed his cheek hard. “But something happened to me today.”

She downed another glass as she relayed the story, and George started to reach for her hand when Tasha pulled back and put a coin in the jukebox.

“Don’t spoil it,” she begged. “He was a real life hero. And now I’m left to wonder where he went.”

Tasha tuned around and crashed into a broad chest bearing lean arms. The large hands surrounded her where she stood, and as soon as she saw the man smile, Tasha leaned into his neck and lightly kissed his jaw.

“There you are,” she said. “Why did you take off?”

“Looking at you now, I have absolutely no idea.”

The man danced her into a table at the corner of the bar, and he sat her down as his fingers played with her braids and he sidled close to offer her a sip of his drink.

“Let’s make friends,” he said.

Tasha was ready to follow suit when George rushed the table and started to pull her away.

“Hey!” the stranger cried. “Leave her alone.”

“Yeah!” Tasha concurred. “Can’t you be happy for me, too?”

George crinkled his nose as he glared at the man suddenly sitting before him.

“Not when you’re making the wrong move, Tasha.”