The Proposition(13)
“Section Five doesn’t seem to have anything to do with finances,” Aidan replied, holding out the contract.
Emma didn’t have to look at the paperwork. She knew exactly what the paragraph entailed. “Section Five protects me in case you ever try to sue me for custody or try to take the child.”
“You think I would do something like that?”
“Well no. It’s just my attorney said—”
Aidan’s eyes darkened. “This paragraph says I can never have verbal or physical contact with my child.”
“I didn’t think you wanted to. You said before you never really wanted children or the responsibility,” she argued.
“That’s true, but what if I change my mind? Say years from now, I want to see how he or she turned out? And what if the kid wanted to see me one day?”
“I don’t know.” She hung her head and leaned back against the desk. “When it was Connor fathering the baby, I had all the answers. We’d known and loved each other since we were twelve. His parents wanted grandchildren, so I knew he would be involved in some way, regardless of what Jeff wanted.” She raised her head to meet Aidan’s expectant gaze. “With you, everything’s up in the air.”
They stared at each other for a moment. Aidan reached in his suit pocket and took out a pen. “Fine. We’ll do it your way.” He started to scrawl his signature across the contract.
“Wait!” she cried.
He glanced up at her in surprise. “What is it?”
She drew in a deep breath before exhaling loudly. “If you’re truly serious about seeing the baby, we can renegotiate.”
“Okay. But just amend the part about being able to see the child. I don’t want any part of changing diapers or middle of the night feedings, got it?”
She smiled. “I understand.”
“So how do we proceed?”
“Actually, I was hoping as soon as possible—well, as soon as our test results come back. I should be ovulating then.”
“Huh?”
She flushed. “It’s the time when it’s easiest for me to get pregnant.”
“So we won’t be banging 24-7?” Aidan asked with a grin.
“No. That’s not how conceiving works.”
“What a pity,” he mused.
Emma went back around her desk to glance at her calendar. “Would a week from Monday be okay?”
“Sounds good to me.”
Chewing on her lip, she hesitated before outlining for him the rest of her baby-making demands. She was embarrassed to talk about some of it in front of him.
“Spit it out, Em,” Aidan ordered, his tone laced with amusement. She momentarily narrowed her eyes at him since he was all too good at reading her body language.
“Okay, so here’s the deal. It’s best if we have sex every other day during my fertile period. Having sex everyday can be counterproductive for conceiving. So would you be willing to meet me again on Wednesday and potentially Friday?”
“A MWF sex schedule? How efficient,” he mused.
“Please be serious.”
A wicked grin flashed on his face. “Fine, pencil me in. I’ll be ready and erect whenever you need me.”
“Thank you,” she replied, with a tight smile. “Now that’s taken care of, where should we meet?”
“I’m thinking you want to keep this as businesslike as possible, so it’s probably best we use some neutral ground like a hotel room, rather than one of our homes.”
She nodded. “That sounds good.”
“Why don’t I make us a reservation at the Grand Hyatt?”
Emma’s mouth dropped open. “The Grand Hyatt?” she repeated.
Aidan chuckled. “I’m not a Best Western/Holiday Inn sort of guy, Em.”
“Oh, no, that’s fine. It’s just I thought since you were helping me out and all, I would take care of the hotel fee, and several nights at the Hyatt is a little out of my budget.”
Aidan shook his head. “No, I’ll take care of it.”
“But—”
“I think it’s safe to say I make a lot more money than you, so let me take care of this.” At her sharp intake of breath, he held up his hands. “Besides, you need to be saving your money to take care of the kid.”
Even though she didn’t like his salary reference, she realized he had a point. “Fine then. You can pay.”
“Thank you.”
“So Monday night at seven?” she asked.
“It’s a date.”
CHAPTER FIVE
At the sound of the doorbell, Emma threw on her robe and hurried down the hallway to let Casey in. She barely cracked open the door when Casey demanded, “How are you holding up?”