by Cleo Jones
The Ceo’s Baby
Published by Cleo Jones at Smashwords
1st Original Edition
Published November 2017
Copyright © 2017 Cleo Jones
This book is a work of fiction. Any similarities to real people, places, or events are strictly coincidental. All rights reserved. This book may not be reproduced or distributed in any format without the permission of the author.
The author acknowledges the trademarked status of products referred to in this book and acknowledges that trademarks have been used without permission.
This full-length BWWM pregnancy romance is a republication of one of my old unpublished works, Ride. It has since been reworked, reformatted, and reedited to appeal to its intended audience. It contains mature content, including graphic sex. Please do not continue reading if you are under the age of 18 or if this type of content offends you.
NOTE: All characters in this book are 18+ of age, non-blood related, and all sexual acts are consensual.
Table of Contents
Chapter one
Chapter two
Chapter three
Chapter four
Chapter five
Chapter six
Chapter seven
Chapter eight
Chapter nine
Chapter ten
Chapter eleven
Chapter twelve
Chapter thirteen
Chapter fourteen
Chapter fifteen
Chapter sixteen
Chapter seventeen
Chapter eighteen
Chapter nineteen
Chapter twenty
Chapter twenty-one
Chapter twenty-two
Chapter twenty-three
Chapter twenty-four
Chapter twenty-five
Chapter twenty-six
Chapter twenty-seven
Chapter twenty-eight
Chapter twenty-nine
Chapter thirty
Epilogue
Contact Me
Chapter one
Nia was exhausted by the time she pulled into her sister’s driveway and parked. “Hi buddy,” she called out to her son in the backyard, putting all her energy into sounding more alive than she felt. “Did you have fun with Aunt Deidra today?”
Noah nodded and stopped playing on the swing set to acknowledge his mother. “We made cupcakes!” he announced, grinning from ear to ear like some kind of Cheshire cat.
“Cupcakes?” Nia noted, glancing at her sister on the porch.
“I only let him have one,” Deidra promised, exchanging a look with Noah that said they were in on the same secret. “I'm hosting a pure romance party tonight and I wanted to get a jumpstart on the food.”
Nia smirked and stepped inside the house to retrieve Noah's belongings. As she bent down to pick up his backpack, she couldn’t help but notice all the signs of him throughout the house. His finger paintings were tacked onto the fridge, toys he’d brought from home were scattered across the living room floor, and a few articles of his clothing were waiting to be washed near the laundry. It was a scene that immediately made her feel guilty. It looked like he lived here, and by all intents and purposes, he might as well have.
“I met this cool guy at the basketball court today,” Noah announced from his spot in the backseat as Nia drove them home. “He taught me how to do a layup!”
Nia frowned and looked up at her son in her rearview mirror. “You’re not supposed to talk to strangers, remember?”
“But he was nice!”
Nia sighed. “Was Aunt Deidra with you at least?”
Noah nodded, falling silent when Nia signaled her blinker and made a left hand turn onto their road. When she looked up at him again, she saw that he was staring straight at her with a peculiar look on his face. “How come I don’t have a dad?” he questioned, cutting right to the chase.
Nia was completely unprepared for the inquiry. She stalled as she tried to come up with an excuse, but it occurred to her right away that she didn’t have a good one on hand. “Lots of people don’t have fathers in their lives,” she said instead. “That just means their moms love them all the more.”
“But you’re not the same color as me,” Noah remarked, immediately causing his mother’s mouth to go dry. Nia was so used to her son having a lighter complexion than her own that it hadn’t occurred to her that he’d one day ask her about it.
“Aunt Deidra said I’m this color because of my dad,” Noah continued. “Is that true?”
Nia’s blood pressure rose at the mention of Noah’s father, and her temples began to throb as she tried to come up with a response that wouldn’t lead to any further questioning from her son. “Yes,” she stated, opting on the direct approach instead of beating around the bush. “You have a little bit of his color and a little bit of mine.”
Noah looked out the window as he digested his mother's words, but he quickly became distracted when a boy about his age approached on the sidewalk licking an ice cream cone. Just like that, any thoughts of his father were quickly replaced by his longing for a treat of his own.
Nia exhaled a breath of relief and averted her attention back to the road. Her workday had been monotonous due to a recent oil spill that had brought bad press to the company, and she was so not in the mood to think about Blake.
Nia’s mood worsened when she entered her house to find a pile of laundry, dirty dishes, and a nearly empty fridge that held nothing even remotely appropriate for dinner. “Noah, we have to run to the store,” she announced in a voice that made it clear that she was less than thrilled, grabbing for her keys and pacing for the door.
“Can I get these?” Noah questioned once they’d arrived at Trader Joe’s, holding up two bags of candy and giving his mother his best Bambi impression. “Please?”
Nia shook her head and placed the candy back on the shelf where it belonged. The fleeting look of disappointment that crossed over Noah’s face made her feel bad, but she was on a tight budget and his skittish behavior made it clear that he didn’t need anymore sugar than he'd already consumed. “Come on,” she said, ushering him down the aisle. “Let’s get a pizza for dinner.”
“But we just had that,” Noah protested, turning up his nose to the idea.
Nia paused in front of a row of freezers and sighed, taking another look at her son’s face before shepherding him over to the deli area to grab a rotisserie chicken and a few sides. It was a more expensive option, but he was right. They’d been eating far too much frozen food as of late.
Nia finally got to experience the rare luxury of sitting down later that evening. Noah was enjoying some television time before bed, and she took the opportunity to stretch out on the sofa and rest her eyes.
“Mom?” Noah spoke up.
“Hm?”
“Is my dad white?”
Nia sighed and opened one eye to look at her son. “What’s with all this talk about your dad?”
Noah fidgeted with a thread hanging from his pajama bottoms. “I don't know. I guess I'm just wondering what he's like...”
The remark made Nia's heart ache. She'd always known that Noah would eventually come asking about the man who'd contributed half his DNA, but she'd hoped the day wouldn’t come until he was well into his teen years. He was only eight. There was no way he was ready to accept the full blow of his father's abandonment. At the end of the day, Nia hardly even understood it herself.
Chapter two
Nia was convinced that there was some sinister force at work to cheat her out of time. It seemed like her alarm clock went off as soon as her head hit her pillow, and one look at the time was all it took to confirm her suspicions.
It was already time for her to welcome in a new day.
> Nia let out a low groan as she sat up and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. She was exhausted. No, that was an understatement. What she really needed was some time off work to refuel, but there was no way that was happening in the midst of this oil spill debacle. Kanadov needed as many hands on deck as they could get, and it wasn't like she could afford to take the time off anyway.
“Mom, I can’t find my other sneaker,” Noah announced as he entered Nia's bedroom only wearing one. “Can you find it?”
Nia's looked at the tattered shoe with disdain. She'd bought them for Noah prior to summer and it showed. He was in desperate need of a new pair in time for school, but she couldn’t afford to drop a couple hundred on whatever ones were most popular with the kids this month. These would have to do until she could pad out her frivolous spending fund.
Nia pulled on her robe and instructed Noah to go finish getting ready while she went to hunt down his other shoe. Finding it ended up taking longer than she'd anticipated, however, and she was running almost an hour behind schedule by the time they finally made it to Deidra’s.
“I saw you on channel six last night,” Deidra said to her sister as she came out onto the front porch to greet her and Noah. “It was a segment on the oil spill. Why didn’t you tell me you were being interviewed?”
Nia shrugged and pulled her purse up higher on her arm. “I guess it just slipped my mind...”
“Well you did great,” Deidra said. “I don't know what I would have done had that God awful reporter came at me like that...”
Nia cringed at the reminder. “I should get going,” she said, waving goodbye to Noah before rushing back to her car. “No excess sugar for him today, alright? He didn't go down until 11 last night...”
Deidra nodded, standing near the edge of the driveway as her sister pulled out onto the road. “Have a good day!” she called after her.
Deidra and Noah spent the rest of the morning doing various arts and craft projects, but come lunch he was pretty restless and eager to get out of the house. Deidra took the hint and decided to take him to the park, where he immediately rushed to join his friends on the basketball court. “Excuse me,” someone spoke up from behind her. “Is anyone sitting here?”
Deidra looked up from the book she was reading and turned around, coming face to face with a ridiculously attractive man with chiseled features and breathtaking bedroom eyes. “It's all yours,” she said, moving her purse under the bench so that he could sit down beside her.
“Thanks,” he said, following her gaze out towards the basketball court and nodding at the children. “Any of them yours?”
Deidra shook her head, keeping a guarded eye on Noah in case she needed to come to his rescue. “I’m here with my nephew. He’s the one in the camo shorts.”
The man smiled. “Cute kid. I have a son about his age.”
“Really? Which one is he?”
“Oh, he's not here,” the man said. “I...uh...I've never actually met him...”
“Oh,” Deidra said, suddenly uncomfortable. “Do you mind if I ask why?”
Deidra regretted asking the question as soon as she saw the look that crossed over the man's face, but she was saved from her embarrassment when Noah ran over to her screaming. “He pushed me!” he called out, pointing a finger at no one in particular. “He wouldn’t pass the ball and he got mad when I told him to!”
Deidra tried her best to calm him down, but her efforts proved futile. “Come on,” she finally said, grabbing for her bag and offering the man an apologetic smile. “Let’s get you home.”
Deidra glanced over her shoulder as she and Noah made their way out of the park. She was mildly alarmed to find the man staring after her, and she quickened her pace and made a point of taking a different route home.
Chapter three
Deidra decided to make a quick run to the grocery store when Nia called to inform her that she was working late and that she’d need to feed Noah dinner. As much as she hated the chore, it was a necessary evil. She was trying out a new vegan-friendly diet in order to shed a few pounds in time for cuffing season, and there was absolutely nothing in her house appropriate for a young child to eat. Nia always thought ahead and packed Noah’s lunches and snacks, and it was seldom that she ever worked so late that her sister would have to feed him dinner herself.
Alas, today was one of those days, and Deidra had to make a run to Trader Joe’s whether she liked it or not. As soon as she announced to Noah that they were going to the store, his entire face lit up and he immediately began informing her of all the foods he liked to eat. Not so surprisingly, they also happened to be all the things Nia never let him consume.
Deidra glanced over at Noah as she shopped, keeping a careful eye on him as she pushed the cart from aisle to aisle. She couldn’t put her finger on it exactly, but she had this unsettling feeling that they were being watched, and it promptly caused her to speed things up a few notches.
“Hi there,” Deidra said to the baby-faced cashier who began ringing up her items. “If you could double bag everything, that would be great.”
“Can’t,” the teen said. “We’re not allowed to do that anymore. My manager said it’s too expensive.”
Deidra sighed and rolled her eyes, but she didn’t protest the point. She simply paid and accepted her flimsy bags, walking out of the store with Noah in close tow behind her. “Dammit,” she muttered when she got to her car and the bottom of one tore open, sending canned goods rolling across the asphalt in every direction. She rushed to pick each one up as Noah climbed in the car, but she frowned when she felt her hand brush up against a much larger one.
Deidra looked up and gasped when she realized she was face to face with the man she’d spoken to at the park earlier that afternoon. “What are you doing here?” she demanded, pulling herself upwards. “Are you following me?”
“Following?” The man repeated, raising an eyebrow. “Uh…no…I was literally just getting in my car to leave when I saw your bag break.”
“Uh-huh.” Deidra narrowed her eyes at him before glancing across the parking lot to where a very expensive SUV was parked with the driver side door ajar. “Well, thanks for the help, but we need to be going now...”
“Wait,” the man spoke up, holding out an arm to intercept her. He sighed and eyed his feet. “You’re right. I have been following you…but it’s really not what you think. My intentions are good. I promise.”
Deidra laughed in his face. “Give me one good reason why I should believe that.”
“Because,” the man stated, exhaling a deep breath before working up the courage to meet her gaze. “I’m Noah’s father.”
Deidra stumbled back as though she’d been slapped. “Wait, what?” she questioned, shaking her head in disbelief. “You’re Blake?”
Blake nodded.
“But that doesn’t make any sense,” Deidra said, lowering her voice and glancing in the car at Noah. Luckily, he was too preoccupied by his Game Boy to notice what was going on. “I thought you picked up and left town…”
“I did, but I’m back now, and all I want is the opportunity to know my son…”
Deidra balked at him. “What about Nia? Does she know about this?”
“She doesn’t, and I’d really like to keep it that way. At least for the time being.”
Deidra vehemently shook her head at that. “No way,” she stated, setting her jaw. “I’m sorry, but I’m not about to get in the middle of this. Noah is Nia’s son, not mine. You need to take this up with her.”
“Come on,” Blake pleaded. “She’s your sister. You must know how stubborn she is. She’s not just going to let me saunter back into the picture scot-free. She’s going to use him as collateral and you know it.”
“Yeah, well, she wouldn't be in the wrong,” Deidra said. “What you did was fucked up. She came to you with a positive pregnancy test, and you packed your bags and hit the road. What kind of person does that?”
“I know,” Blake said. “And tr
ust me, there hasn’t been a single day in almost a decade that I haven’t regretted that. I was a fucking idiot back then, but I’m a different person now. All I’m asking is for the chance to prove it…”