Suddenly, though, Rian sighed in my arms. She didn’t sound unhappy, but she didn’t sound very content either. I felt cold dread seep into me. Maybe things were moving too quickly. It was something I had feared, when I’d first considered the idea of marrying her now. I knew I wanted this. But what would she think? Would she be able to trust me and to forgive me for not believing her when she said that she hadn’t been looking for other jobs?
I still couldn’t believe I had been ready to listen to Beth over her. That I had been willing to throw away the best thing in my life because of some office drama.
What if she didn’t really want this? I could barely stand the thought of that.
“What now?” Rian asked quietly, her fingers tracing mine. When I looked down at her, she was carefully not looking at me, watching our hands rather than my eyes.
“What do you mean?” I asked, even though I had some inkling of what she was asking. Marrying her was in some ways simple. It was all the other things that would be tricky. Fortunately, I had some ideas about how to fix them. I just didn’t want to overwhelm her too much with how much I had been thinking about this over the past few days.
Rian craned her neck so she could look up at me. “I don’t have a job,” she pointed out. “I don’t know if Ronny and I are going to be able to stay.”
“I want you back at the company,” I said firmly. “What’s more, Devin does as well. In fact, he isn’t sure the board will still agree to the investment if you’re not there to oversee things as the innovations manager. Which means that if you don’t come back, there’s a lot at stake.”
I was playing dirty, sort of. I knew that. But at the same time, I really didn’t want her to think she had to give her job up over us. She had worked too damned hard for too long. Besides, there was no way in hell I was letting her move away. Not her, and not Ronny either. I had to figure out some way to keep her here.
More than that, I wanted her to come back to work. To be honest, it had been kind of scary to show up that morning and find her still in her pajamas, with dark circles under her eyes and her whole persona looking dejected. It wasn’t the way I pictured her at all. And it had been equally unsettling all week to come into the office and not have her presence there. I wanted to brainstorm with her. I wanted her opinion on seemingly every little thing.
“I can’t come back, not if you and I are together,” Rian said sadly. “I know how things work. You’re technically my boss. Bad enough that we have a kid together, bad enough that we’re sleeping together. But actually married? We couldn’t do that. Everyone would suspect that any sort of raise I got, any sort of big work project I got, was just because I was sleeping with you. It wouldn’t be right, and it would be fair to my career either.”
“Of course not,” I agreed, unable to keep from smiling. She hadn’t said anything about not wanting the job. I had to assume that that was a good thing. “I already talked to George. He’s agreed to be my supervisor. So from now on, you’ll report directly to him for anything of importance like pay raises. In terms of the day-to-day operations, well, anyone who doesn’t believe that you deserve the roles you take on certain projects, then they can just see if they could do better. But you and I both know they won’t be able to.”
Rian blinked, staring up at me. She slowly sat up. “How long have you been planning all of this?” she asked slowly. “You’ve already talked to George?”
For a moment, I wondered if I had said something wrong. I sat up as well. “Ever since you drove away, I knew that I made the biggest mistake of my life,” I told her nervously. “If you don’t feel the same way, then we can call this whole thing off. But I figured if we were even going to have a chance, I had to prove to you how serious I am about this. I don’t want anything to get in the way of us being together. I want to be there for you and Ronny. That means figuring things out, not just rushing in head first like we’ve been doing. So I’ve spent the last few days trying to sort everything out.”
Rian stared skeptically at me. “And George is really okay with this?” she asked, gesturing between us.
I laughed. “He didn’t have much of a choice,” I told her. “I told him that if he didn’t accept this and help me find some way to make it work, then I would resign. He couldn’t do without a CEO and an innovations manager. Not to mention what would happen with the deal with Devin’s firm if neither of us were there.”
Rian’s eyes widened. “What would you have done if he had called your bluff?” she asked worriedly.
“There was no bluff,” I said seriously.
“You couldn’t possibly have meant that you would quit your job if you and I couldn’t be together,” Rian said, shaking her head.
I took both of her hands in mine, looking deep into her eyes. Once, I would have been hurt at the fact that she seemed so loath to accept that I was in it for good. But now, I realized she was just nervous. I set about dispelling that nervousness once and for all.
“Rian, you’re worth more to me than any career could ever be,” I said. “I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with you and Ronny. I mean it.”
Rian’s eyes shone with unshed tears, and she leaned in to kiss me again, even more fervently than the last time. When she finally pulled back, we were both breathless, and I could feel my body stirring with interest again.
“I love you,” Rian said softly. “More than you’ll ever know.”
I grinned at her. “I thought we had talked about communication,” I teased. “You’re going to have to find some way to make sure I know.”
Rian’s eyes widened for a moment, and then her hand came to land on my member. “I think I can think of some way,” she joked, smirking at me.
“Prove it,” I said, smirking right back.
Epilogue
Rian - One Year Later
I couldn’t help but feel nervous as I peeked into the ballroom. It was packed in there, people in every seat. I knew that Devin was expecting a good turnout, but this exceeded all of our expectations. I couldn’t believe that in less than an hour, I was going to get up on a stage in front of all those people and try to run through the information about the new product line we were launching. Already, I couldn’t seem to remember my own name, let alone what I was meant to say.
Two hands caught me by the waist, pulling me closer. “Don’t tell me you’re starting to second-guess this,” Wes murmured in my ear, his suit-clad body fitting snugly against mine.
I covered his hands with my own. “This?” I retorted. “Never.”
I smiled as I turned around in his arms, wrapping my arms around his neck. “It can’t be the fanciness, because you look incredible,” Wes said. “So what is it?”
I grinned sheepishly at him. “I don’t think I’ve ever had to talk in front of this many people before, that’s all.”
“It’s a pretty big crowd,” Wes agreed seriously. “The Rian James I knew in college would never have gotten stage fright, though.”
“The Rian James you knew in college was a very different person than who I am now,” I said tartly, as though he didn’t know that.
Wes laughed. “I’ll be right there next to you the whole time,” he promised me. “I’m sure Ronny will be as well.”
I frowned. “Devin said he would keep an eye on her,” I reminded him.
Wes snorted. “Let’s just say, I think Devin’s idea of keeping an eye on her might not be the same as your idea,” he said. “Trust me, you don’t want to know what she looked like the last time he dropped her off, while you were in New York for your friend’s wedding and I had that group of investors from Chicago in for the weekend.”
I groaned. “As though I needed one more thing to worry about tonight,” I complained.
Wes grinned unrepentantly. “Just think: the more you worry about Ronny, the less capacity you have to worry about how many people are in that room.”
I shook my head. “Well, I guess it’s go time,” I said, as I heard myself being intro
duced.
“Let’s go, then,” Wes agreed. He grabbed my hand for one last moment before we walked into the room amidst dazzling applause.
Things didn’t go as terribly as I’d feared they might while we were on stage. Sure, there was that moment where Ronny came rushing over to us, having somehow made her way up the steps while Devin just shrugged from the sidelines. But she behaved herself once she was there, holding Wes’s hand and beaming out at everyone, waving occasionally as people smiled and waved at her.
Afterward, Wes and I mingled with the crowd. Mike Maglione came up to me almost the instant that Wes stepped away from my side, and I couldn’t help but wince internally. I was pretty sure we were long past the days of Wes chewing off anyone’s head who even so much as looked at me, but I knew that he wouldn’t be too thrilled to see me talking to SugarPop’s hottest young bachelor of the year.
Especially not as Mike handed me his business card. “For someone as young as you, you’re doing an amazing job,” he said. “And I don’t mean that the wrong way! Obviously I’m young as well.”
I smiled at him, deciding he was harmless. He wasn’t the first person to offer me a new job since this whole thing with Devin’s company had taken off. “Thanks, Mike,” I said, taking the card and slipping it into my pocketbook. “But I’m perfectly happy where I am at the moment. More than, in fact.”
Mike shook his head. “I was afraid you might say that,” he said ruefully.
Wes slid an arm around my waist just then, handing me a glass of sparkling water. “Maglione, are you trying to steal away one of my best assets?” he asked jokingly.
Mike laughed. “Only because I could tell it wouldn’t work,” he said. “But it was worth a shot, wasn’t it?”
He and Wes chatted for a minute, while I leaned into my husband’s warmth. Afterward, he gave me a concerned look. “Do you need anything else?” he asked. “How are you feeling anyway? If you’re tired, we can get out of here a little early. I already warned Devin that we might.”
I laughed, unable to help it. He sounded so concerned, but I was just fine. “I’ve never met a more attentive man during a pregnancy,” I said, smiling happily. I was the luckiest girl in the world, and I knew it.
It wasn’t long after we had gotten married that I found out that I was pregnant with our second child. I hadn’t really been trying to get pregnant, per se, although we had definitely talked about the possibility of giving Ronny a younger brother or sister. Now, everything seemed to be falling into place. With this product launch, I was due to take a little time off. And Wes had been everything I could have wished for and then some.
He seemed to be trying to make up for lost time, or for not being there during the first pregnancy. He was practically waiting on me hand and foot, and anytime I did anything that he considered to be too dangerous, he was there to gently remind me to look out for myself and for the baby.
That very morning, in fact, he had told me that he wished that he could carry me everywhere because he was so afraid that I might fall and injure myself and the baby. I had to remind him that I had been fine in the first pregnancy and that we James women were strong and independent. At the same time, I secretly liked how overboard he was going. I found it ridiculously endearing, and it was reassuring to know that he wanted to be there for this youngster, just as much as he had shown that he wanted to be there for me and Ronny.
He was going to be a great father. Again.
I was just happy to know that I had his support through this pregnancy. I could have done it on my own again, but at the same time, it was nice to have him there with me, by my side.
A photographer came up to us suddenly. “Would the two of you mind if I took a picture of you?” he asked.
I glanced over at Wes, shrugging. There had been a time when we had first been engaged that I had been more nervous about things like this. I didn’t know how much was all right for people to know. After all, anyone from the outside might think that Wes was still my boss. Even if not, they might think our relationship as colleagues and also spouses was inappropriate.
Those days were behind us now, though. Everyone who we did business with knew about our relationship, and to be honest, I think most of them appreciated the fact that we were together. Wes and I were nearly always on the same page, and we were always good to brainstorm and bounce ideas off one another, meaning that any pitch we gave was all the stronger, the result of both of our creativity and talents.
“Sure,” Wes said to the photographer. But before the man could take his photo, however, Wes reached over and caught Ronny as she zoomed past, lifting her shrieking with giggles up into the air. He put her on his shoulders and then turned and wrapped an arm around me. “Better get the whole family, though,” he said, winking.
The photographer grinned and held up his camera. There was a flash, and then Ronny wiggled around, trying to be let down. Wes hung her upside down by her ankles for a moment, and there was another laugh. The photographer smiled at me. “Don’t worry, I won’t use that one. But you might want it for the memories? I’ll send it to you.”
“Thank you,” I said, smiling warmly at him. Soon, there would be pictures of our family all over our house, I imagined. The three of us, soon to become the four of us. Wes and I had lain awake for hours some nights, just talking about how perfect things were for us. They were only getting better, too.
I had an amazing partner. He was kind and he was caring, and he loved our daughter as though he’d been there for her whole life. At work, we were raising the bar together, both of us working hard and putting out the best that we could.
At the end of the day, I got to come home to kisses and back rubs and a man who was just as willing to pitch in with the dishes as he was to help me cook. We were the perfect team, both professionally and at home.
“Mom, Devin said we can go for ice cream after the party because they don’t have any here,” Ronny suddenly announced.
I groaned. “I’m going to kill him,” I said. Devin was wonderful with Ronny, almost like the uncle she had never had, but he sure had a tendency to spoil her. I had a feeling the same would hold true for this new little one, if the number of baby gifts he had already given us were anything to go by.
“I couldn’t help it—think of how adorable it’ll look on him. Or her,” he said every time.
Speak of the devil, Devin appeared just then, holding his hands in the air. “I said that if you agreed, we could go for ice cream.” He leaned in closer. “Besides, I figured you two might want a little time to decompress after all of this. I don’t mind taking her for an hour or two.”
I shook my head. “You’ve already watched her for half of the night,” I protested. I didn’t want to impose on him, even though I knew he loved her, and even though he kept offering.
Devin shrugged. “I don’t mind—seriously,” he said. “Besides, this night is about you guys. This is huge. You deserve a little time to celebrate.”
“This night is about you, too,” Wes reminded him. “We couldn’t have done all of this without your investment.”
Devin grinned. “Then I guess it’s all about your wife,” he teased. “I was about to quit entertaining your ideas about the project after you took me fishing that one day. You’re just lucky that you thought to invite this one out to brunch with us, or things could have turned out very differently for all of us.”
I burst out laughing, while Wes sputtered with indignation. I gave him a little nudge. “Told you that you needed to add me on to that project,” I said, grinning at him.
Wes shook his head. “I guess I’ve always known that I needed you,” he said gravely, putting an arm around my shoulders again. Heat smoldered in his eyes as he looked down at me.
I turned back to Devin, smiling sheepishly. “I guess a little ice cream wouldn’t hurt,” I said, making the executive decision. It was something we had struggled with some when we had first gotten engaged: I had gotten so used to calling all the shots wh
en it came to Ronny’s life that I forgot that he would have his opinions, too. We had figured out a way to make things work, though.
Now, though, Wes squeezed my shoulder in agreement.
Devin chuckled. “You got it,” he said, while Ronny cheered and danced in circles around us. I didn’t know if she was ever going to get to bed that night after all of the excitement and the addition of sugar. But then again, as I looked back at Wes, I knew that the only reason I was going to get to sleep that night was because of the exhaustion that pregnancy brought on.
Sex would be nice, but I had a feeling that night, Wes would try to outdo himself in terms of taking care of me. But a massage sounded pretty nice after being on my feet all day. I would get him back for all of this at some point, of course.
We had the rest of our lives to show one another how much we truly cared for each other. We were going to be all right.
I felt a flush of contentedness rush through me. I couldn’t be luckier. I had the perfect daughter, the perfect husband, the perfect job, the perfect life.
Once upon a time, I had been so worried about how things might turn out if I opened myself up and let Wes into my life. Things had turned out better than I could ever have dreamed of, though.
We walked out of there arm in arm that night. The party was far from over, but I was tired. Besides, I didn’t need to be there. All the congratulations I needed were there in my husband’s pride for what we had accomplished together. And the last thing I needed was another job offer. I had everything I wanted already, right here beside me.
And growing inside of me, I thought, my hand resting on my belly as I got into the car.
Wes smiled over at me as he buckled his own seat belt. I had a feeling he was thinking exactly the same thing. It might have taken us some time to get on the same page, but we were certainly there now.
S is for Secret Baby Page 17