by Anna Rudolph
“Right. Well this is it. Lovely isn’t it?” Lateisha joked, waving her hand around like she was showing him a mansion.
Bryce chuckled and Lateisha ignored the flutter in her stomach. This was so wrong on many levels.
“That it is,” Bryce answered, looking at her oddly. He shook his head and his face changed, as if remembering something. Or remembering how he knew her maybe. “I spoke to the doctor. I’ve made an appointment for you tomorrow at ten if that’s alright?”
Lateisha nodded, “I don’t work until four so that’s fine. Why didn’t you just call?”
“I did. But when you didn’t answer I figured I’d tell you in person. I also wanted to see why everyone was ‘lovin’ McDonald’s,” he said with a smirk.
Lateisha laughed. “Well enjoy.”
“I will,” Bryce answered, taking an exaggerated bite of his burger.
He waved and the Town Car drove away. His absence left Lateisha feeling empty and she didn’t like it one bit.
*****
The next morning Lateisha woke up early. The unexplained anxiety at the appointment today made her unable to sleep. Normally she was a ‘sleep till ten’ kind of girl but today she was up at six. Rubbing her sleep encrusted eyes, Lateisha climbed from bed after tossing and turning for an hour. She needed a shower and coffee, in that order. Stumbling to the shower, Lateisha snagged a towel from the linen closet and moved down the tiny hall to the bathroom she shared with her friend Becky in their two bedroom apartment. Lucky for her, Becky was already at work and she didn’t have to explain why she was up so early when she didn’t work until four.
Lateisha switched on the shower and stepped in, rubbing her eyes as she ducked her head under the hot water. The anxiety she had felt when she woke began to melt away and after twenty minutes she felt like she was awake and shut the shower off and stepped out. Towel drying her hair gently she stepped into the walk-in closet. Becky took the bigger room but Lateisha got the walk-in. It was a trade off. Now what should she wear to a doctor’s appointment in which she would be checked out like a piece of meat to make sure she was fit to carry someone’s baby? Lateisha snorted; her life right now resembled a bad Lifetime movie. Eventually she chose a fitted black t-shirt and dark skinny jeans, deciding it was not necessary to dress up for this part of the ‘job’. Running some frizz serum through her curls, Lateisha glanced in the mirror. She looked pretty good. Not that it mattered, this was a business deal.
Lateisha went downstairs and ate a quick breakfast; Lucky Charms and coffee, before realizing she still had two hours until it was time to leave. Sighing, Lateisha sat at the kitchen table with her laptop. Maybe it was time for a job search. She waded through all of the ads for nurses.
Part-time help at nursing home. No, she needed full-time to live.
Night shift at the hospital ER. Lateisha couldn’t stand being up all night.
RN wanted for private practice. She sat up straighter; that was a job she could do. Opening the ad she read it over and frowned. Minimum 3 year’s experience.
Fuck!
Discouraged, Lateisha closed the website and slammed her laptop. She was never going to find a good job. Running a hand through her hair she stood and glanced at the time on her phone; still over an hour and a half before the appointment. Anxiety began to grip her stomach, what if she didn’t get this surrogacy gig? Not being able to give Becky the rent money at the end of the month would be humiliating. Lateisha couldn’t do that to her, not after all Becky had done for her. Sighing with frustration, Lateisha stood and grabbed her purse. She needed to get out of the house a bit before this appointment to clear her head.
*****
Bryce ran a hand through his tousled brown hair. It was time for a haircut. He checked his watch again; Lateisha was now fifteen minutes late for the appointment. Maybe trusting her with something as important as carrying his baby was a bad idea.
“Sorry I’m late!” Lateisha said loudly as she flew into the waiting room, leaving a trail of coconut scent behind her.
Bryce felt a stirring in his chest, and somewhere farther south, at the smell of her but repressed it. He wasn’t so happy about her being late.
“What happened?” He asked rising.
“I got a flat tire. I left my house over an hour early to go get some Dunkin Donuts and my damn tire blew on the highway.” Lateisha said slightly out of breath.
Bryce wasn’t sure whether to believe her or not. “Did you manage to fix it?”
Lateisha shook her head. “Nope. I don’t have a spare. Well, that’s not true. I was riding on my spare and it blew out. My car is on the side of I-95. I had to call my friend Becky to pick me up. I felt even worse because she had to leave work in the middle of her shift.”
Bryce nodded, still not sure about her story. Seconds later a tall, slender, strawberry blond woman came through the door.
“Teish, call me when you’re done and I’ll bring you home.”
Lateisha shook her head vehemently, “I don’t want you missing more work for me. I’ll take the bus.” She waved the woman away dismissively.
“Fine, suit yourself.” The woman who must be Becky answered, shaking her head. “Call me if you need me.”
With that she turned and sauntered out of the building. Lateisha visibly relaxed, as if the disappearance of her friend gave her room to breathe. She looked at Bryce as if waiting for him to take the lead.
“The nurse will be back out in a moment,” Bryce told her, motioning for her to sit in the chair next to him.
“I’m so sorry,” Lateisha said hanging her head in her hands.
Bryce watched her. She seemed every bit the irresponsible college graduate but at the moment he knew he believed her, especially since she looked as if she was going to cry.
“Don’t worry about it. Car trouble is the worst,” Bryce said and she picked her head up and gave him a weak smile.
“Ms. Aaron, the doctor will see you now,” a tiny red-headed nurse said as she peeked her head out of the door leading to the exam rooms.
Lateisha stood, wiping her hands on her pants. Bryce watched her and wondered why she seemed so nervous. Without thinking, Bryce guided her with a hand to the small of her back. Lateisha turned and looked at him with a smile. Her smile took his breath away and he pulled his hand away quickly. This was a slippery slope and if he wanted this surrogacy thing to work he had to keep his distance. Sighing heavily, Bryce followed Lateisha into the exam room, wondering if maybe this wasn’t the right choice for him after all.
*****
Lateisha watched Bryce from the corner of her eye. He sat, his back ramrod straight, in the chair of the exam room. For a moment she was a bit confused as to why he came into the exam room with her, but the doctor assured her she would be clothed for the whole exam. They also wanted to take a bit of blood and a urine sample to make sure she wasn’t already pregnant. Lateisha almost laughed at the implication. You have to actually have sex to be pregnant and that was something she had not done in quite a while, despite the fact that she had just broken up with someone.
“Ready to get started?” The doctor asked, snapping Lateisha from her thoughts.
She nodded.
“Great! I’ll just do a physical of sorts and then have the nurse come in and take some blood.”
Ten minutes later, Lateisha was stepping into the bathroom with a little cup. After that was over the doctor told her it would take three days for her results and they would get back to her.
“I can assure you I am not pregnant,” Lateisha said laughing as she and Bryce walked out of the office.
He laughed, the sexiest sound she ever heard, “I believe you, but I would like to have all of the paperwork in order so there isn’t any issues with the lawyers later.”
Lateisha mulled that over for a minute. Did he suspect she would change her mind and try to take the baby from him? Before she could think further into it she decided to set him straig
ht.
“Don’t worry. I don’t want children so there’s no fear that I will try to keep the baby,” she said, stopping at the curb to turn to him before moving on to the bus stop.
Bryce nodded again, his look pensive. He looked sexy when he was thinking. Lateisha wanted to smack the thought right out of her own head. She repeated the phrase, just a business deal, three times over in her head to clear any thoughts of a relationship with him before turning back to wave goodbye.
“I’m going to catch the bus now. I’ll be in touch once the doctor calls with my test results.” She turned to walk down the street to the nearest bus stop.
Bryce grabbed her arm, “You don’t have to take the bus. I can drop you at home if you’d like.”
Lateisha shook her head. “It’s alright. I’m used to taking the bus. My old Toyota has been in the shop a lot lately.”
Bryce frowned again but she waved off his worry. “I’ll be fine. Talk to you soon,” she shouted, practically running down the street before he could change her mind. Spending anymore time alone with him at this point would be a bad idea.
*****
Three days later, Lateisha received the call from the doctor’s office. She had a clean bill of health and was obviously not pregnant. Now all she had to do was call Bryce. With a rapidly beating heart, which she brushed off as nerves related to the surrogacy, Lateisha dialed the number on the business card he gave her.
“Mr. Henderson’s office.” Fuck. It was the snooty blond bitch of an assistant.
“Hi,” Lateisha began, ignoring the woman’s haughty tone, “May I speak to Mr. Henderson. Tell him it’s Lateisha Aaron.”
“And what may I tell him this is in reference to, Ms. Aaron?” She asked, saying Lateisha’s name as if it left a bad taste in her mouth.
Lateisha sighed. “He’ll know,” She said with irritation.
The woman made an unladylike harrumph, and put Lateisha on hold. Bitch, Lateisha thought, strumming her fingers on the kitchen table as she waited for Bryce to pick up the phone.
“Lateisha?” Bryce breathed into the phone and Lateisha gasped.
He said her name as if he had been waiting to hear from her for days; almost as if he missed her. No, who was she kidding. He was Mr. Prim and Proper Billionaire and she was a fast food employee with barely a dime to her name. The desperation she was detecting in his tone must have come from his want for a child.
“Yes. I heard from the doctor and all is good. I told them to fax you the reports so you could see for yourself.”
She heard Bryce release a breath. “Great. I’d like to meet with you tonight, if you aren’t busy, to sign the contracts. I can meet for dinner downtown if you are free.”
Nerves assailed Lateisha at the thought of dinner with Bryce. It wasn’t a date though, but a business dinner. Another wave of nerves assaulted her stomach when she realized she couldn’t possibly have anything appropriate to wear to a dinner with him. He would pick a fancy and expensive restaurant, she was sure of that. With little money to get her car fixed let alone go shopping, Lateisha was going to have to resort to borrowing something from Becky. She padded down the hall and knocked on the door gently. Becky was on night shift this week and even thought it was about two p.m., she was still asleep, especially since her shift didn’t start until six.
“Come in,” A groggy voice answered.
“Hey Beck. Can I borrow a dress?” Lateisha asked, hoping she wouldn’t ask what for.
“Why? Do you have a date?” Becky asked excitedly, sitting straight up in bed.
Lateisha shook her head slowly, “No, nothing like that. I’m meeting Bryce for dinner downtown to sign the contract.”
Becky’s face turned cold. “Oh. Well in that case, no,” she snapped.
Lateisha frowned. It was no secret how Becky felt about Lateisha signing a contract to ‘sell’ her body and baby, as Becky put it. But Becky had a great job and was making a decent amount of money. Lateisha wasn’t in such a great place financially and just wanted something to help her along so she could quit her job at McDonald’s and search for the perfect job. If there was such a thing.
“Beck…” Lateisha started.
“Don’t ‘ Beck’ me. I told you how I felt about this and I am not going to help you along with it,” Becky said with anger, climbing out of bed and pulling on a large hooded sweatshirt and sweatpants.
“Please, Becky. This is the last favor I will ask you about this whole situation. I promise,” Lateisha begged, “I really need to do this.”
Becky sighed, “Fine. Let’s look in the closet. You are a good deal shorter than I am so we will have to find my shortest dress.”
For the next forty-five minutes Lateisha tried on dresses from Becky’s closet and despite their size and height differences managed to find one that fit. It was a short, black wrap dress that dipped at the neckline to show off Lateisha’s ample cleavage. She turned to look at the back of the dress in the full length mirror and liked what she saw.
“I may give you that dress. It never looked that good on me. And you fill out the top so much better.”
Lateisha chuckled, “If you’re sure, I’ll accept the hardship and take it off your hands.” Both women erupted into a fit of laughter, for Lateisha it was mostly nervous energy and for Becky it was likely from lack of sleep.
Checking her appearance once more in the mirror, Lateisha nodded. This was the perfect dress. Now if she could just calm the butterflies that rioted in her stomach. Didn’t they know this wasn’t a real date?
*****
Promptly at five, Lateisha exited the cab, because she was too dressed up for the bus, in front of a fancy Italian restaurant. She took a deep breath, the damn butterflies not getting the memo and dissipating like she had ordered them to do. Lateisha entered the restaurant feeling a bit out of place. This restaurant was somewhere she would never have set foot in before she met Bryce. Bryce told her he would meet her in the front by the hostess desk but when she looked around she didn’t see him. Maybe he changed his mind?
Not allowing herself to digest the meaning of her disappointment, Lateisha took a seat at the bar with a class of wine; a very expensive glass of wine. Shrugging off her discomfort at spending that amount of money on wine, Lateisha sipped and watched the door. Five minutes later Bryce walked in and all of the air left Lateisha’s lungs. He looked gorgeous. In a navy suit with a crisp white shirt and deep red tie he could have easily stepped out of the pages of GQ. The suit fit him like it was made for him specifically, which it very well could have been. The jacket hugged his biceps in a way that Lateisha could tell he worked out. It was buttoned at the waist and she could tell he was lean underneath all of that fabric. Before her thoughts could travel any further south, Lateisha stood and walked toward him, her wine glass grasped between her fingers.
“Hey,” she breathed, unable to catch her breath.
“Hi,” Bryce said, his voice sounding just as breathless as hers.
What was happening? Before she could think, Bryce took her hand and led her to a table. The butterflies returned at the touch of his hand on her elbow. It felt electric; his touch and the air around them. It didn’t help matters that their table was secluded from most of the other patrons. Bryce helped her into her chair, pulling it out and pushing it in once she sat. Her heart pounded against her rib cage. This wasn’t right, the way she felt. It was too much. Maybe this whole thing was a bad idea. Lateisha opened her mouth to tell Bryce just that when he leaned down, his lips crushing into hers. Then all thoughts were obliterated from her mind.
Chapter 3
For a moment, or maybe a few, Lateisha was lost in the kiss. She didn’t want to let go, she didn’t want to pull back. It felt good, it felt right. Then she remembered who he was, where they were and why.
“Wait,” she gasped, pulling back from Bryce.
“Oh,” he said, almost as if he was surprised at his own action, “I’m sorry.”
<
br /> “It’s alright,” Lateisha said sitting back and straightening her dress.
“No, I crossed a line. I’m sorry. There’s no excuse for me,” Bryce said, sitting up straighter and adjusting his suit jacket even though he was perfectly arranged.
Lateisha shook her head. “Please don’t worry about it. The whole dinner atmosphere, it blurred the lines a bit,” she said waving his apology off.
Bryce nodded and picked up the menu. “Everything here is excellent. Have you ever been?” Then his eyes widened as he remembered Lateisha’s current money situation.
Lateisha sighed, they were five minutes into their dinner and already it was fucked up. How was she going to make it nine months this way?
Determined to redeem the ‘date’ she smiled, “Can’t say that I have. I’m more of a ‘you want fries with that’ kind of girl.”
Bryce’s face turned beet red but he laughed in spite of it. “Right. Well I’m afraid they don’t have fries here so you’ll have to order something a bit different for a side.”
Lateisha laughed a little too loud. Finally the ice was broken. Bryce told her which dishes were the best and when the waiter came he ordered them a bottle of wine and their meals. Lateisha could get used to being wined and dined. Of course, this was all business, as she liked to remind herself every chance she could get. They wouldn’t live ‘happily ever after’ in his Upper East Side penthouse. This wasn’t a fucking romantic comedy. Lateisha almost gave one of her unladylike snorts at the irony of her situation, but making the best of things was what Lateisha did best. After several minutes of silence, Bryce reached into his briefcase he had placed under the table when he sat down. He pulled a stack of papers out and set it on the table.
“Well, let’s get started,” he said, gesturing towards the papers.
“Right, the contract,” Lateisha replied. For some reason the talk of the contract brought her mood down.
Bryce seemed to have sensed it and his demeanor changed. Sitting up even straighter, if that was at all possible considering his posture was better than the Queens Guards, he began to shuffle his papers.