The CEO’s Hired Surrogate

Moving to lay on her back, she placed a hand over her heart, feeling it as it was beating against her ribcage, mimicking the rhythm of her breathing. She was unsure of how a man could make her feel that way, of how he could invade her thoughts as soon as she opened her eyes. But she didn’t mind. The memories of the night before were a nice distraction from the matter at hand.

Yes, another talk was to come. And once again, she had to wait and pray that the conversation wouldn’t be as humiliating as the last one.

Suddenly she could hear voices on the hallway outside Ryan’s door, making her immediately rise into a sitting position, her hand firmly holding the sheet against her naked chest. She ran a hair through her disheveled hair and tried to listen to the conversation, praying that neither of the women would bother to knock on the door.

“Meredith, have you seen Kayla?” Her mom’s voice made her heart skip a beat, suddenly anxious. She hoped that Meredith would say something that would make her mother’s search come to an end.

“Maybe she’s in the garden?” She could barely hear their voices, but what she heard was enough to make her breathe in relief. After that, the voices ceased to exist, making Kayla believe that they’d left.

She knew that what Ryan and she were doing was dangerous. They risked creating a very unpleasant situation. To them, messing around wasn’t so bad. They knew how burdensome it was to feel the s*xual tension and be unable to release it. Even though it always led to an unpleasant scene in the morning. But their mothers wouldn’t understand. No, they would surely disapprove of them sleeping together, especially since she was pregnant.

She knew that having s*x didn’t affect the baby, but their mothers had another mentality, and if they believed they were risking the baby’s life for mere entertainment they were going to be mad. Sighing, she grabbed Ryan’s shirt off the floor and put it on, wrapping the wrinkled piece of cloth around her bare body.

She smiled as she smelled the collar, seeing a stain from her red lipstick there. She was growing impatient, unable to wait for him any longer. Walking across the room, she marched immediately into the bathroom, her body being welcomed by the warm steam immediately. To her surprise he wasn’t in the bathtub anymore, instead, he was just wrapping a white towel around his hips.

A grin spread across his lips as he saw her, as he dried his hair with the corner of another towel. Her throat was dry, the drops of water that fell from his hair and onto his shoulders were too much to handle.

“Wanted to join me? I would be more than glad to have a second shower.” His cocky response made Kayla roll her eyes and slap him across the chest as she fought the smile that was just about to curl upon her lips.

“They were searching for me,” Kayla said, making him pull away and look at her with more attention now. “I heard my mother asking yours about me.”

“Well, I guess we should get going then. I have to go anyway.” She felt a bit disappointed with his answer, hoping for something else. She didn’t know what she wanted exactly, but she knew one thing; she’d hoped he would stay.

She’d hoped he would stick around for breakfast, maybe for lunch too. She was just afraid that he would disappear like the last time. Drowning himself in work just so he could ignore her.

“Oh.” That simple syllable left her lips, expressing her emotions perfectly. She wanted him to know, to know that this wasn’t the way this time should have ended.

“No. This time I am not disappearing. I promise,” he immediately added, as if only then realizing what he sounded like. “In fact, I have something to prepare. I’ll be back by tonight.”

The way he said it made Kayla curious. He seemed in a rush, suddenly excited, as if remembering an important event for the day.

*****

Ryan knew he sounded weird, but the thing he had to do was important for both of them. The night before, after she’d fallen asleep in his arms he’d remained awake, unable to fall asleep. So he’d thought. He’d surrendered to his thoughts and ideas, allowing them to consume him in every way possible.

In that way, he’d relived the dance and their time together, again and again, analyzing every aspect of every conversation they’d ever had. And so, by doing that, he found himself smiling as he remembered her story about that barn dance. And how embarrassed she might have felt, but it was awful memories like that that made you appreciate your past. She seemed so happy when she’d remembered that, as if she was suddenly brought to life.