Beautiful Surrender(23)

“They might if they could figure out how to get away with it, or they would force me out slowly. It doesn’t matter. If I decide to have this baby, I need to find a new job before it happens. Before I start showing, actually.”

“Wow. That is a lot to handle.”

“It feels like too much. What is Vincent going to say when I drop all these problems on his lap?”

She shook her head. “Talk to him and find out. He’s the CEO of an enormous company, I’m sure he’s used to dealing with complicated situations. If you don’t talk to him about it, I think you’ll regret it later.”

“And if we break up because we can’t work it out?”

“If you guys can’t work through an issue like this together, is the relationship still worth it?”

I took a deep breath. “I guess not. Still though. This is so much.”

“You don’t have to make a decision yet. Like I said, I think you should talk to him. That’s what I would do.”





That night, I lay in bed thinking about how chaotic my life had become. I was pregnant. It explained how strange I had been feeling lately, but it still left me with more questions than answers. My life had been on the straight and narrow for so long, traveling steadily along a single path. The past two months had been the sharpest detour I could imagine.

Vincent was part of that detour, though, and the more I thought about it, the more I agreed with Riley. I needed to talk to him about my pregnancy. It was unplanned, yes, but maybe it would end up being a pleasant accident. I couldn’t rule that out. What I did know was if I made the decision without keeping him in the loop, I would have to hide that from him for the rest of my life. As long as we were together, anyway. I didn’t want that hanging over our relationship.

I had a meeting scheduled with him on Thursday. So far, the topic of the meeting would be going over the investment strategy options I had developed for his personal wealth, but it looked like there would be another item added to the agenda, official or not.





Chapter Five




Tuesday and Wednesday passed by in a blur of anxiety. Most of that time had been spent on thinking about the pregnancy than on actual work. I’d wavered back and forth between wanting to tell Vincent and not wanting to tell him, wanting to keep the baby and not wanting to keep the baby.

By the time Thursday came, I’d made up my mind that I was going to tell Vincent, but I was still unsure about my personal stance on keeping the baby or not. I would need to know how Vincent felt before making a decision on how I felt.

Work before the meeting with Vincent was a morass of emails and memos. I kept having to reread messages to make sure I hadn’t missed anything. It was impossible to focus; I couldn’t tell if it was hormones or nervousness, but my mind felt dull and fuzzy. Even though I would have usually completed the work in thirty minutes, it took a full four hours before it was done.

Finally, the moment came for me to leave for my meeting. I packed up my stuff and took a cab over to his office. The ride went by in a numb haze. How would I start the conversation? How would he react, regardless of how I started it? The course of my life could depend on this meeting. Funny how it’s always the people you least expect that end up changing your life in the biggest ways. A few months ago, I would have never thought I’d have Vincent Sorenson’s unborn child nestled in my womb, but here I was.

I took a deep breath and exited the cab. The walk from the curb into his building and up the elevator felt like a sprint. I was going to do this. Striding through the Red Fusion office, I waved to his secretary before reaching his office. His door was half open and I knocked on it.

“Come in,” Vincent called.

I eased the door open and walked through. Vincent wasn’t sitting at his desk. Rather, he was looking out the window, lost in thought. He wore a slim cut pair of navy pants and a white and light blue checkered shirt separated by a tan leather belt. Casual but neat. I still wasn’t used to how sexy he looked in whatever he wore.

He turned over his shoulder and looked at me. “Hello, Kristen. You’re a few minutes early.”

“Am I?” I asked. I looked at my watch. “Sorry about that. Traffic was lighter than expected.”

He waved his hand as if pushing aside my words and smiled. “Don’t worry, it’s a good surprise. I like good surprises. ”

He took a couple steps toward where I was standing just inside his door. “Close that,” he said.

I knew that tone. He was seconds away from kissing me, and if that started, there was no way I was going to end up talking to him about the pregnancy. I held up the file I had prepared for presenting the strategy I had in mind for his assets. “We should get through this,” I said. “It is important, after all. I also have something else to tell you afterwards, something unrelated to business.”