The CEO’s New Baby

The balloons were still to be hung, so were the boxes of decorations Kayla was yet to open. But she wasn’t worried anymore. The worst had passed. She, and every single member of her family, had managed to work their asses off until the bakery had come to be what it was at that specific hour. Ryan was supposed to arrive any minute now. He had dropped Emily off and said he would come help settle the kitchen down.

“Here, try this,” Peter said, shoving a lemon tart in her face. Truth be told, Kayla had eaten so much. She had tried the chocolate cookies, the strawberry pudding. Everything. And she was more than sure that if she hadn’t been pregnant, there was no way she would live through the sugar rush that was coming her way.

“You know, you are pretty good at decorating stuff,” Peter said, as he took out the last tray of tarts from the oven.

“Yeah? Well, you know, the first thing I ever decorated was Emily’s room.” Kayla remembered that day vividly. It was the first time she ever slept with Ryan, it was when everything started. Sometimes, she wondered if he ever thought back to that day, the day when her title shifted from surrogate mother to more. Because she often did. Maybe everything would have been different today had they not kissed in the nursery.

“Really? Judging by the house you own, I bet the nursery was covered in silver and gold.” She knew what he meant by that, and that would have surely been the case had she not mentioned to Ryan how she liked simple stuff.

“Not really. We bought the entire nursery from a commercial store downtown.”

“You know, we’ve known each other for two months. I know you and Ryan, but neither of you ever mentioned how you two met.” He rested his hands on the counter and looked at her from beneath his bushy eyebrows.

“My mom hired her to be Emily’s surrogate mother.” Kayla did not see Ryan enter until he spoke. His voice was filled with amusement, his eyes twinkling as he placed the plastic bag he had been holding next to her.

He loved telling the story. He never missed an opportunity to tell people of their ironic beginning. In all honestly, she loved it too. It showed how life always found a way to bring two people together. It hadn’t even been him who hired her, it had been his mom. And from all the people who she could have chosen, she chose Kayla. It had been a sign, a sign that they were meant to be together, that they were a match made in heaven.

“Well, that was unexpected!” Peter chuckled, as he wiped his hands with the white towel that had been draping from his shoulder.

“Come on, guys. I brought food. We still have a lot of work to do and we need the energy!”

The smell of fries and burgers was like heaven to Kayla. She had been craving fast food since morning but had been too busy to even mention it to anyone. She was not hungry, but her body definitely needed something that wasn’t sweet or filled with chocolate.

“I am not really hungry. I finished my work anyway. I think I will head home so I can come bake the bread early in the morning.” Pete motioned around with his hands, pointing at the trays scattered around. He had been working all day, sitting by the ovens.

“You go home. You need to rest. Ryan and I will do the rest.”

Kayla knew that Peter left them with a heavy heart. She could tell how badly he wanted to stay around and help with the final preparations. But unlike them, he wasn’t young anymore and his body needed sleep in order to function. There wasn’t much he could do anyway.

“Good night then. See you in the morning.” He smiled and dropped his apron on the counter before waving goodbye.

Ryan and Kayla were alone once again, surrounded by trays of deserts and pastries. Ryan had never seen so much food in one place. He had to admit, at first he was skeptical about the entire thing. He had never looked into bakeries, never even thought of investing in one. But he had believed in Kayla’s dreams. He had believed that she could make it work. And he had been right.

She had done an incredible job.

“Are those brownies?” Ryan suddenly asked, standing up from where he had been sitting. His eyes did not gaze at her, not even for the slightest second. He was too busy looking at the tray of brownies the baker had prepared a few hours back.

“Yes, but you aren’t allowed to have any. Those are for tomorrow.” She walked towards him, her hand grabbing onto the tray, ready to move it away from her husband’s hungry eyes.

“Is that how it’s going to be?” And just like that Ryan’s move changed to playful. He challenged her as he asked that, his eyes looking deep into hers, daring her to answer.

“That is exactly how it’s going to be. Now step aside, I need to put these in a safe place.”

He was faster than she had expected. His arms immediately extended and he grabbed the tray, placing it back where it had previously been. The next move was expected, she saw it coming, but her body still reacted surprised to it.

With one quick move, he grabbed her by the waist and lifted her, her legs immediately wrapping around his torso.

But after that day, they surely would because the ecstasy filled with the adrenaline of someone showing up was far beyond anything they had expected.