Single Dad's Surrogate

by Annie Young

  “What do you mean?” Maddy asked.

  “I'm not exactly supermodel material, if you know what I mean.” I brought my gaze back up, forcing a smirk.

  Maddy dropped her fork and leaned in a few inches. She lifted her sunglasses up until they were on the top of her head. I watched as her eyes dropped, giving me a quick once over. A look of confusion then crossed her face.

  “What in the hell are you talking about, Jane? You've got a smokin' body. Seriously. I would straight up kill a human being to have your body. Like not even joking. Show me who I have to kill, and I'll do it to have your figure.”

  I chuckled to hide my embarrassment. “You're just being nice.”

  Maddy's face became serious. “Jane, I'd give my left arm to have your boobs alone. Come on. You seriously don't think you're hot? Here, let me ask one of these guys out here what they think.”

  Maddy turned to look around to patio, but I quickly reached across the table and grabbed her arm before she could embarrass me. “No, please, don't do that, Maddy. I believe you. I guess I just never thought of myself as being all that pretty.”

  “Well, in my humble opinion, I think you're wrong,” she said, smiling warmly. “Don't get the wrong idea, though. I'm not a lesbian or anything. I just know the difference between a pretty girl and an ugly one. Let me tell you, not all of the models that Carter goes out with are all that pretty. Why in God's name would someone be attracted to a walking toothpick? Seriously, I just want to make some of them eat a damn cheeseburger because they need it. Once again, that's just my humble opinion, though.”

  I knew right then that Maddy and I were going to be good friends. She was just unrefined and brash enough for me to know that I could trust her. She didn't seem like the kind of person that would have been able to tell a lie even if she'd tried. On top of that, she had me laughing out loud. It took me forever to eat my sandwich because it seemed like every other bite she'd say something that had me cracking up.

  After a while, I finished eating. Maddy still had a few bites, so I relaxed into my chair and closed my eyes, letting the sunlight fall over my face. There was foot traffic just a few feet away, on the other side of the wrought iron fence that separated the patio from the sidewalk. I opened my eyes just in time to see a mother coddling her young baby, trying to get him to stop crying.

  For whatever reason, I suddenly wished I was in that ladies' shoes. I practically felt my uterus spasm at the sight of the baby and wondered when and how I'd be able to ever get one of my own. It was like, for the first time in my life, I could practically hear the ticking of my biological clock. Even though I was only in my early twenties, I suddenly felt like time was passing quickly and I was in a race against time.

  “Earth to Jane.” Maddy's voice snapped me back to reality.

  I looked away from the sidewalk, letting the mother and her child leave my view. Maddy had finished her meal and already left a twenty dollar bill on the table to cover the check.

  “You ready? We should head back to the office,” she said. “David gets his panties in a twist if anybody is late coming back from lunch.”

  “Yeah, sorry,” I said, standing up and putting on my sunglasses.

  What in the hell was that all about? I asked myself. Am I baby crazy? I've never experienced anything like that before.

  As Maddy and I walked back to the office, I found myself gently touching my belly. It still tingled from seeing that mom and baby. It was still my first day on my first real job, but suddenly, I didn't feel like I had it all. Something much more maternal began to fill my mind.

  Whatever that was, I've got to ignore it, I thought. I've got to focus on what's at hand and right now, it's this job.

  Maddy set my briefcase onto the desk and spun around, her smile as wide as her hips. She shrugged her shoulders, causing her curly brown hair to bounce. “Here's your cubicle.” She motioned her hand toward the cubicle that faced the wall. “Mine is on the opposite side of the room, way over there. I'm usually pretty busy during the day, but don't hesitate to hunt me down if you need something. I'm basically doing the same work you are and I'm happy to help you get started.”

  “Thanks, Maddy,” I said, as she scurried off.

  I glanced over at my desk, which had next to nothing on it. In the right corner was a computer and on the left was a simple desk lamp. On the center of the desk was a piece of paper. I picked it up to find a letter from the CEO, Carter Winthrow. It was obviously mass produced and something that was sent out to every new employee. Basically a simple welcome letter. On the top of the note was Carter Winthrow's picture. His dark hair and green eyes and perfectly tan skin were undeniably attractive, even in the small photo. I found myself staring at it for just a moment too long before reading the generic message underneath.

  Welcome to the company, etcetera, etcetera, I thought. That's nice and all, but I'm ready to get to work.

  “And you must be Jane,” a man's voice coming from the office nearby caused me to glance over. He approached me with his hand out. He was wearing a green shirt tucked into gray slacks that didn't quite fit the right way. They were saggy in all the wrong places.

  “Yes, that's me.” I shook the man's hand.

  “I'm David, your boss,” he said. “I manage the team here on this floor. This department deals mostly with accounting, but sometimes Mr. Winthrow will have us take on other projects. For now, though, I'm just going to have you look over one of our budgets. I think it'll be a good way to get you familiar with our system. Sound good?”

  I nodded eagerly. “Yes, of course. Whatever you need me to do.”

  “Great,” David said, pushing his glasses up a bit. “I'll send that over to you right away. In the meantime, feel free to get settled. Later this afternoon, I'll introduce you to the other employees.”

  With that, David turned and disappeared into his office, closing the door behind him. I took a deep breath and finally sat down in my chair. As my computer started up, I looked at the letter from the CEO again. The image of Carter Winthrow had caught my eye once more. I shouldn't have been surprised, though. He was gorgeous. From what I had heard through the grapevine, I wasn't the only woman who thought so either. Mr. Winthrow had been in the papers on several different occasions and was always painted as a total playboy. He loved women and women loved him.

  I shook my head and chuckled to myself, turning the paper over and pushing it aside.

  Sometimes I wish I wasn't so plain, I thought. If I looked like one of those supermodels he dates, I could get a guy like him.

  It wasn't tough for me to admit to myself that I was, indeed, a bit of a nerd. I'd spent most of my young life with my nose in books. I'd read anything and everything I could get my hands on, but had a special attraction to mathematical reading. Numbers and more numbers. I couldn't get enough. My love for math eventually brought me to accounting, which brought me to here, in front of this desk about to make more money per hour than I had ever made.

  “Life's not bad,” I whispered, scooting up my chair.

  Once my computer had started, I logged in with my brand new user name and password that the secretary had given me that morning. It felt good. It felt official. I could practically taste the first paycheck already.

  I went straight to my work email and noticed a message in my inbox from David. He'd already sent me the budget he wanted me to look at and I jumped on it immediately. I was ready to hit the ground running with this new job. Nothing was going to stop me from being successful.

  Chapter 2

  Day two on the job and I was already put to work on more sensitive material. David had instructed me to look over one of the stock reports. It was apparently for a fund that Winthrow Financial was heavily invested in. He just asked that I give it a glance and I think the reason was so that he could find out how competent I was at reading these kind of things. Luckily, I had grown up looking over my father's shoulder as he read the stocks in the newspaper every morning. It wasn't just a sprea
dsheet full of random numbers and letters to me. No, it was like reading a different language, but one that I was surprisingly fluent in.

  Reality was starting to settle in. I had officially entered full-fledged adulthood. No more sleeping in, no more late night drinking and dancing binges with my friends. College was over. Those days of carefree irresponsibility were behind me. After weeks of interviews, I'd somehow managed to land this job at Winthrow Financial and there was no way that I was going to risk screwing it up somehow. No way. This was the opportunity I'd been waiting for. A chance to move up in the corporate world. Sure, my current role would likely be nothing more than glorified adding and subtracting, but I didn't care. I knew that there was a real future here if I worked hard enough.

  “Something about this isn't right, though,” I whispered, as I leaned in closer to my computer screen.

  The number of stocks that Winthrow owned in this particular fund was staggering. Thousands and thousands of shares. The value of them, though, didn't add up. This stock ledger had either been misprinted or was fraudulent. It was showing the value as much less than it should have been, based on the number of shares.

  A smirk crossed my face as I double-checked my math. I had done it in my head the first time but used a calculator now just to be absolutely certain. Sure enough, the numbers were off. I didn't know why, and I realized that maybe it was an innocent mistake on someone's part, but I had to notify David immediately.

  I quickly walked to his office and cracked the door. “David? Are you busy?”

  “Always, Jane,” he said. “But please, come in.”

  “Sorry to bother you, but I was looking over that stock ledger you sent me this morning,” I said, as I closed the door behind me.

  “And...?” he asked, spinning his chair so that he faced my direction.

  “Something doesn't add up on there,” I explained, practically giddy in my excitement to show him my find. “There are some major incongruities. The math doesn't add up. There's something missing. The value of these particular stocks is much higher than what they're representing in the report.”

  “Really?” he said, shaking his head. “That can't be, Jane. Go ahead and email me whatever you've found and I'll look it over later.”

  I sighed, feeling a bit disappointed. It seemed that David didn't believe me. However, I did as he asked. I left his office and returned to my seat, sending him an email that detailed everything I had found incorrect in the ledger. I wasn't wrong about my findings, though, and I knew it. Even if David didn't see it. If there was one thing I was good at, it was math.

  Not more than a few minutes passed. I was gazing at my computer. In the reflection of my screen, I noticed the silhouette of a man walking down the aisle between the cubicles. He moved swiftly, causing the jacket of his suit to open up. I turned around to see who it was, more out of curiosity than anything else. As soon as I laid eyes on him, my knees became jello. Thank God I was sitting down.

  What in the hell is Carter Winthrow doing all the way down here on this floor? I thought.

  It was impossible not to stare. The man was even better looking in person. He was tall with a muscular frame. Maddy had been right about his eyes, too. They shot across the room, with the kind of intensity that made my heart flutter. I swallowed, as he glanced toward me. We locked eyes, but just for a moment. Then Carter stepped right past me, pushing open the door to David's office.

  “David, what's going on with this ledger? I saw you updated some of the numbers. I need you to explain what happened. Now.”

  From my cubicle, I could hear everything with perfect clarity. My heart was still pounding in my ears from my near encounter with the CEO. I decided I'd pretend to work, while listening in on the conversation.

  “Oh, uh, hi, Carter,” David stuttered, clearly nervous by the sudden visit from the top boss. “Yeah, there was a flaw in the report. I noticed it this morning. Some of the numbers were off. It was an innocent mistake and everything is in order now.”

  Wait, what the hell? I thought. Did David just take credit for finding that mistake? What an asshole.

  Carter stood in the doorway of David's office, barely within my peripheral vision. It took all my willpower not to look over and check him out. I wanted to so badly, but I also really didn't need to get caught staring. So I kept my gaze locked onto my computer screen.

  “You caught that mistake, David?” Carter asked, his voice deep and authoritative. It send a chill up my spine. “I thought I told you to let the new girl look it over.”

  “I did,” David explained. “I had her look at it, but I double-checked it when she was done. That was when I found the mistake.”

  “Is that right?” Carter asked. He looked like he didn't believe the man. “We'll talk later, David. Don't leave your office at quitting time. I'll come by this afternoon. We need to talk.”

  That son of a bitch, I thought quietly. David just threw me under the bus, making it sound like I didn't even notice those mistakes.

  I could practically feel my blood pressure rising. I squeezed my hands into fists and forced myself to take a long breath. The fact that I had only been on the job for two days meant that I had next to zero leverage. Nobody was going to believe the truth about what had really happened.

  The sound of David's office door shutting caused me to jump and I looked over to see Carter standing there facing me. He strolled up, his eyes locked on mine.

  “Jane?” he said.

  My hands trembled. I opened my lips to speak, but could only nod.

  “You're the new girl?” he asked.

  I continued to nod, then finally managed to mumble a few words. “Yes, that's me. I'm Jane.”

  Carter stepped all the way up to my cubicle. Our toes were practically touching. I brought my gaze up his body, past the front of his slacks and upward along his red tie. Finally, I craned my neck enough so that I was looking in his eyes.

  For a moment, I didn't even care that the most gorgeous man I had ever seen was standing so close. I was far more worried about losing my job. David's lie had the potential to ruin everything I had worked so hard for. I became scared for my future. Out of nervous habit, I bit my lower lip. Carter's gaze dropped from my eyes down to my mouth, pausing there for a moment. I untucked my lip and as soon as I did, he looked back up.

  “David tells me you didn't notice the mistake on that stock report,” Carter said.

  “Sir, I-” I began to say, but Carter's smile caused me to stop.

  “It's okay,” he said, touching my shoulder reassuringly. “David is full of shit. I saw your email to him. I know you were the one who caught those errors.”

  “Really?” I asked.

  “I have access to every person's email account.” Carter glanced around the room, then leaned in a little closer. “I saw what you sent him.”

  He was so close I could feel his breath against my cheeks. The smell of his cologne wafted toward me too, instantly making me horny. I felt like grabbing his red tie and pulling his mouth against my own.

  “So, I did a good job?” I whispered, looking up at him with puppy dog eyes.

  Carter stood back up. “Jane, what you did today potentially saved my company hundreds of thousands of dollars. I know for a fact that David wouldn't have ever caught that mistake. I don't blame him for that, though. Most people wouldn't have noticed something like that. But you did. It took a keen eye and the kind of extreme attention to detail that I thought only I possessed. I'm impressed. Tomorrow, when you come into work, I want you to take the elevator to the top floor. You're done working in accounting.”

  I scooted my chair back a bit. My eyes widened and my jaw practically hit the carpet. “What do you mean?”

  “I want you working for me directly. I can recognize genius when I see it. I've been looking to find someone to double check my numbers and you've just proven yourself,” Carter said, leaning against the wall of the cubicle with his arms crossed. “You'll report to my office tomorrow morni
ng. Clean out your desk here, because you won't be working on this floor any longer.”

  Carter's eyes slowly dropped down my body, then back up. It was an obvious once over, but I welcomed it. In fact, it actually turned me on. I parted my lips to respond, but before I could, Carter said, “See you tomorrow.”

  Then he walked off, leaving me sitting there at my desk with my mouth open. The shocked expression probably had me looking like a total fool. I watched Carter walk away, his arms swaying quickly as he marched out of the double doors on the opposite side of the room.

  Did I just get promoted? I asked myself.

  Not five seconds later, Maddy came running up. She grabbed my shoulders and spun me in my chair so that I faced her.

  “What in the hell was that all about?” she asked, with an expression on her face that mimicked how I felt. A combination of confusion and excitement.

  “I don't really know exactly,” I said, with a shrug. “I guess I'm now working directly for Carter Winthrow.”

  “You've been here for two days and you're already promoted?” she asked, as she pulled me in for a hug. “See, I knew there was something special about you.”

  We chatted for a bit, but agreed to talk more about it during lunch. When Maddy walked off, I turned back to face my computer. Still lingering in the air, was the faint scent of Carter's cologne. As soon as it hit my nose, a pleasurable tingle filled my body. I breathed it in and closed my eyes. I began to imagine what it would be like to be one of those skinny model girls that he dated.

  Now I know why so many women want Carter, I thought. He's pure masculinity.

  Everything about him screamed sex. His smell, his body, his power, his eyes. Everything.

  That's the kind of man I want to be with. I closed my eyes, trying to imagine the scenario. It's just too bad that the only thing he probably finds attractive about me is my ability to work with numbers.

  Chapter 3