How to Have Your Boss's Secret Baby (How To Rom Com Book 3)

by London Casey

  A call from Mr. Pickle.

  It was three in the morning.

  I made sure to answer the call.

  “A little vacation, huh?” I asked as I stood at the counter with a glass of scotch.

  “Why not? We both need to get out of the city.”

  “Works for me,” I said. “You give me directions and I’ll-”

  “I’ll do you one better, Cole,” Mr. Pickle said. “I’m going to send a car for you. Well, a big ass SUV. Luxury.”

  “I like it,” I said. “Any chance it’s stocked with booze and women?”

  Mr. Pickle laughed. “I like your thinking, Cole. I’ll supply the booze. But this is a BYOP event.”

  “BYOP?” I asked.

  “Bring Your Own Pussy,” he said with a chuckle.

  “Ah, right. I have to bring someone for myself. Not a problem.”

  “Cole, this is important here,” Mr. Pickle said. “I’m a man who likes his fun. You are too. I’m worth billions. Goddamn billions. I know you’re on your way up… I’m sure you could quit your job and never work again and be just fine, right?”

  “Sure,” I said.

  “All it takes is one fuck up to ruin it. What I’m trying to say is… I’m sure you have someone you can trust, right? Someone who will keep their mouth shut?”

  “I know where you’re going. It’s fine.”

  “Good. I don’t need some big-breasted blabbermouth fucking up our deal.”

  “So… we have a deal then?” I asked.

  “We’ll talk this weekend. At the cabins.”

  “Cabins?” I asked. “Plural?”

  “Of course,” Mr. Pickle said. “You get your own, Cole. I don’t need to hear you making some woman scream your name. And I’m sure you don’t want to know what I’m into when I’m enjoying time with a woman…”

  I cringed.

  For some reason I pictured Mr. Pickle wearing women’s panties getting his ass smacked with a paddle by some woman wearing a… never mind.

  “I’ll be there,” I said. “I’ll bring company too.”

  “Good man,” Mr. Pickle yelled.

  He ended the call.

  My go-to for this situation was Hannah.

  She knew how to look beautiful. She kept her mouth shut when I needed it. She also kept her mouth full when I needed that too.

  She had joined me for dinners, events, overnight trips, all that kind of stuff. Long legs. A big smile. Perfect tits. An ass that worked with everything she wore. Bright blue eyes for that innocent girl look. Pouty lips that made any man picture them sliding up and down their cock.

  That was my girl.

  I texted her and walked back to the bedroom.

  Ashley was still asleep.

  Hannah got back to me really quick.

  I’m in Sweden. Photo shoots. Fashion shows. You’re going to have to find someone else to look pretty and jerk you off under the table. ;)

  “Fuck,” I whispered.

  That was okay.

  It was far from the end of the world.

  See, in my world…

  There were dozens of Hannah’s waiting for me.

  I left Ashley a note and went to the office a little early.

  I saw Maya darting from my office to hers and I whistled.

  She backtracked and looked at me. “Morning.”

  “Where’s my coffee?”

  “On your desk.”

  “Did you spit in it?”

  “Did you want me to?”

  “What if I said yes?” I asked.

  “Uh… I don’t know…”

  “If I told you to spit in my coffee, would you?”

  “Are we having this conversation right now?”

  Maya threw her hair over her shoulder and went into her office.

  For some reason, at that angle… the way the light hit her…

  I let out a hmmm sound.

  I hurried to her office and caught her turning toward her desk.

  She had this look to her this morning…

  “You did something different,” I said. “Your hair. Makeup?”

  “What?”

  “Let me ask you something…”

  Oh, fuck, Cole, don’t do this… don’t do this…

  “Ask away,” Maya said.

  “You know a lot more than most do in this company,” I said.

  “Yes. I’m your secretary.”

  “You know the ramifications if any information gets leaked, right?”

  “Yes,” she said again. “Why? Did something happen.”

  I studied Maya for a few seconds and then shook my head.

  I said nothing as I turned to leave the office.

  “You know,” Maya called out, “looking at a woman like that and shaking your head makes her feel like she’s worthless.”

  I looked back. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

  I exited her office and went into mine.

  I grabbed the fresh coffee off the desk, walked to the window and took a sip.

  Cecily texted me a thumbs up emoji, which meant my apartment was cleared of Ashley.

  An idea was floating around in my head.

  It was crazy, but it could work.

  I needed this deal with Mr. Pickle to go through. And if he was going to be distracted by pussy, I needed to stay focused. Yet he wanted me to bring someone along…

  Which I could do.

  But only for show.

  I just needed the right person…

  I turned my head and smiled.

  I looked in the direction of Maya’s office even though I couldn’t see her because my blinds were shut.

  Slowly, I began to nod.

  Maybe Maya could be the new Hannah.

  Chapter Seven

  Maya

  I sat across from Connie and Jen in a coffeeshop that was so cliché for the city… but perfect for them. They were able to sit by the window at tables made to look like they were from old wood. The smell of coffee and a hint of cinnamon hung in the air, along with some twangy folk music that played through hidden speakers.

  The sidewalk bustled with people - tourists, people coming and going from work, and those just wandering through life.

  There were bright lights, neon lights, digital billboards, tall buildings, everything you’d expect in a city.

  The two marveled like kids in a toy store.

  As though they’d never come here before.

  It was a far cry from the struggling life in the town I used to call home, that they called their forever home.

  “So… how are Ben and Brooke?” I asked Connie.

  She almost jumped in her seat, as though I scared her.

  “Oh, right,” she said. “Look at these school pictures.”

  Connie pulled up the pictures on her phone.

  “Wow,” I said. “They are so big now.”

  “You’re telling me,” Connie said. “And anyone who says boys eat all the food… no. Brooke eats just as much as Ben.”

  “Growth spurt,” Jen said.

  “It’s been years,” Connie said.

  “I haven’t seen them in so long,” I said.

  “Well, you haven’t been around in so long,” Jen said with a cocky smirk.

  Not going back to visit was a mark on me. I did it on purpose. I vowed to never go back, or at least not until I was rich and successful. I wanted to be the one that made it big and returned to say Ha! I did it!

  That hadn’t happened. Yet.

  “I’m busy,” I said.

  Okay… I snapped.

  Jen put her hands up. “Defensive?”

  She was the bitch of the group. She earned every part of that title too. She had been through hell and back in life and was still standing.

  “How’s Eddie?” I asked.

  “The same as always,” Jen said. “The kid loves trouble.”

  “Like his father,” Connie said.

  I cringed.

  “He better figure that out fast,” Jen s
aid. “Or else he’ll be mooching off ugly women so he could fuck younger women…”

  “Still not a good thing?” I asked.

  “It never will be,” Jen said. “Big Ed will never change. Last I heard, he was in California. Trying to take up professional surfing.”

  “At his age?” Connie asked.

  Jen laughed. “Not my problem. I do feel bad for Eddie. All I can do is be there for him.”

  “Oh, I forgot to tell you,” Connie said to me. “Brooke won a poetry contest.”

  “Really?” I asked.

  “Yeah. I forgot to bring the poem with me. It was… something with trees and clouds? No. It was…”

  Connie trailed off thinking.

  My phone vibrated in my pocket.

  I ignored it.

  Then it vibrated again. And again.

  “So, what have you been writing?” Jen asked. “Are you quitting that terrible job yet?”

  “I hope to soon,” I said. “I can’t even tell you how…”

  My phone went off again. And again.

  I leaned back and dug my phone out of my bag.

  It was Cole.

  Text after text after text.

  Telling me I needed to get to the office.

  There was an emergency.

  I knew Cole’s emergencies.

  Then again… maybe something really was wrong.

  “Is that the asshole boss now?” Jen asked.

  “Yup,” I said. “He needs me to come to the office.”

  “Right now?” Connie asked.

  I looked at them and nodded. “Right now.”

  “Are you going to go?” Jen asked. “I would tell him to fuck off.”

  “If I do that, I’m out of a job,” I said.

  “You know, Goofville does have internet…”

  Jen blinked fast to drive her point home.

  We always called it Goofville instead of Goodville because one night on a dare, Danny Drevlin painted an f over the d on all the signs in town.

  He was such an idiot.

  He was drunk at sixteen, walking around with a can of red paint and a paintbrush. It took the cops ten minutes to find him.

  I knew what Jen meant.

  I didn’t need to live in the city to write.

  Slowly, I stood up. “I’m sorry…”

  “Go do your thing,” Connie said. “We’re fine. We had fun today, right?”

  “Yeah,” I said. “It was good to see you two.”

  Connie still had that girlish look to herself. Her blue eyes and pudgy cheeks. Even after two kids, she kept a youthful glow. As far as Jen went, her eyes were hazel, her hair dark, and her resting bitch face perfected. She had always been rough and tough.

  The three of us grew up as best friends.

  Connie wanted to be a painter. I wanted to be a writer. Jen wanted to marry a rock star.

  None of that really worked out. For all three of us.

  In some sad sense, I was the closest to my dream.

  Then again, was I?

  I hugged them both as Cole continued to text me.

  I ran out of the coffeeshop and growled at my phone when I texted him back that I was on my way.

  The only thing that comforted me was dreaming of someday quitting my job.

  “Hope I wasn’t interrupting you,” Cole said.

  “Actually…”

  I shook my head. It wasn’t worth it. At all.

  Cole pointed to his office. “Follow me.”

  “Your office? Am I getting fired? If so, just do it.”

  “You’re not getting fired, Maya,” Cole said. “Maybe.”

  “Maybe?”

  “Will you just get into my office?”

  “There’s not a half-naked woman in there, is there?”

  “No,” Cole said. “She left ten minutes ago.”

  I hate you. I fucking hate you, Cole.

  “You really hate me, don’t you?” Cole asked.

  “Nope,” I said.

  I wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of thinking I hated him.

  Cole walked toward his massive desk in his massive office.

  Behind him, through the windows, the other buildings looked like the perfect backdrop for Cole. The way he stood with his hands touching his hips. Staring at me. Actually… the way he was staring…

  “I’ve been thinking about something,” he said. “I was debating asking or telling you.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “You’re going to get some overtime, Maya. Some really good overtime. How would you like to clock in and stay clocked in?”

  “What?”

  “I’m thinking… forty-eight hours. We won’t be gone that long, but just to be safe…”

  “Gone?”

  Cole picked up a folder off his desk. “Mr. Pickle. He wants me to join him at his cabin in the woods.”

  “Sounds kinky,” I said.

  Cole smiled. “I really pissed you off by bringing you in, didn’t I?”

  “You tell me, Cole?”

  “You know, I liked it better when you first started, you weren’t so mouthy.”

  “You can fire me,” I said.

  “I might have to,” he said. “Mr. Pickle has a cabin for us.”

  “Us?” I asked.

  I felt the color draining from my face.

  “Us,” Cole said. “He is bringing someone for his own entertainment. He advised me to do the same.”

  I started to shake my head.

  “Maya, listen to me,” Cole said. “I had something arranged and it fell through. So I started thinking about it. You come up there with me. You know everything already about the company, Mr. Pickle, and what I’m going to achieve here. The moment I lock Mr. Pickle down to buy this company, we all make out just fine.”

  “You mean I lose my job?” I asked.

  “You’ll be taken care of,” Cole said. “Mr. Pickle will be drinking like a fish, his hands all over the woman he’s bringing… and I have you there to keep an eye on the conversation. See if any details slip or not. It’s perfect. And in exchange, you get to stay clocked in. The entire time. So you’ll get paid even while you’re sleeping.”

  “Cole. I don’t think I’m the type of-”

  “And during the downtime there… you can write. A cabin in the woods, Maya. Isn’t that every writer’s dream?”

  Cole reached for his phone and walked toward me.

  For exactly two seconds I didn’t see Cole as Cole. I saw him as Elevator Guy. The smirk on his face. The smoldering eyes. The size of his muscles. The way he oozed sex.

  He showed me his phone.

  “That’s the cabin,” he whispered.

  It looked beautiful.

  Thick, dark wood. Two dormer windows. A large front porch with huge, log pillars. Rocking chairs on the porch.

  “It’s cold up there too,” Cole said. “Make sure you pack heavy clothes.”

  I moved my eyes to Cole. “If I don’t do this?”

  “I’ll start looking for a new secretary on Monday.”

  Of course.

  “What’s the sleeping arrangements?” I asked.

  Cole laughed. “That’s what you’re worried about?”

  “Yes,” I said. “Problem?”

  “No,” Cole said. “I promise, Maya, there’s plenty of space. Worst case, you can sleep on the couch.”

  “Why do I get the couch?”

  “I’m the boss,” Cole said. “I get the big bed. Plus, you can sleep on the couch in front of the fireplace. With your notebooks, writing and all that.”

  “I don’t have a choice, Cole.”

  “Everyone has a choice,” he said.

  “In this case…”

  “Everyone has a choice,” Cole repeated.

  He turned and walked back to his desk.

  I blinked and saw the picture of the cabin.

  I thought about being clocked in for forty-eight hours.

  The entire weekend I’d be paid.<
br />
  And if I could sneak in some serious writing…

  I looked at Cole.

  But I had to be near Cole.

  “Maya?” Cole asked.

  I swallowed hard.

  “What time do we leave?”

  Chapter Eight

  Cole

  The plans were in place.

  There were a lot of things that could go wrong. But… not as likely because it was Maya. She had been around long enough to know how things worked. Plus, with her around me, it was nothing but work. I would focus on sealing this deal with Mr. Pickle. Maya would focus on her writing.

  All we needed to do was play nice together in front of Mr. Pickle.

  As simple as that.

  A text message came through on my phone from Maya as I sat at my desk.

  Someone named Mr. Assfuck is on the phone. I am not saying that out loud to you.

  I gritted my teeth.

  It was my damn brother again.

  I texted Maya back.

  Send him through.

  A second later, my desk phone rang.

  I picked it up while standing up.

  “Cody,” I said.

  “Brother.”

  “I have a cell phone.”

  “I know. This is cooler. Look at my brother. High rise, corporate guy…”

  I shut my eyes and saw Cody as a little kid. Sitting on the steps outside our apartment building. We both knew our old man wasn’t coming to get him, but he insisted on waiting. He always worried there was traffic or an accident or something. So, I would make him a peanut butter and jelly sandwich then sit with him.

  And each time he knew for sure the old man wasn’t coming, he’d cry.

  I’d hug him.

  Then we’d go back inside.

  I rose above that shit.

  He drowned in it.

  “Cody, listen to me,” I said. “I’m going out of town for the weekend.”

  “Vacation?”

  “Work.”

  “Do you ever not work?”

  “It’s my job to work.”

  “So you can support my broke ass?”

  “No, Cody.”

  “Shit, brother, then why are we talking?”

  I shut my eyes again. “What do you need now?”

  “Did you know… you have to pay rent… every month?”

  “Fuck, Cody,” I said. “Rent? What else?”