CEO'S Secret Baby: A Standalone Surprise Pregnancy Romance by Iona Rose (books for 5 year olds to read themselves .TXT) 📕

half filled with the employees. There was laughter and clusters of teams acquainted with each other hanging out. And, of course, the expansive table of food by the corner. I immediately went over to it, and grabbed a plate of pepperoni pizza for myself, and Jeremy but then he came over and handed me a plastic red cup of wine. I accepted it, not wanting to draw any attention to the new restrictions in my beverage consumption, but then placed it aside as we faced the crowd and ate our pizza.

We talked about some of the staff we had never met before, and then Jeremy grabbed onto my arm. “He’s here!”

My heart lurched into my throat too, but I felt sure I wasn’t as obvious about it as he was. “You’re hurting me,” I told him as his grip tightened around my fragile wrist.

“I’m sorry,” he said, and turned around to put his clothes in order.

I watched Carter as he strolled in with the CMO and our VP, and felt the air thicken with a sweet tension. I had learned that he actually wasn’t an employee of our now parent agency in Minnesota, like he had led me to believe back in Alanya. Instead, he actually owned the company and had been building it for the last five years, along with his former boss from his previous company. He’d gotten fired due to some backlash from a risky campaign, and his boss had left with him at the unfairness of the decision.

He’d left with his head high, and two years later, he’d launched his own agency with the guidance of his former boss.

And now here he was, wildly successful and decorated with accolades. He had never seemed more attractive to me.

Here, I was allowed to out rightly watch him, because every other staff, especially the women also had their eyes on him. I even watched as some of them went over to him to say hello, and he received them with warmth in his eyes.

Warmth that had just a few weeks earlier, been solely showered on me. I felt jealous, as though I had some claim to him that no one else in the room had.

All these thoughts quickly disappeared when Jeremy took my plate from me, and set it down on one of the standing tables. “We’re going to say hello,” he said.

For a moment, my vision blurred. When I was able to recover, I gave him a stern look, and shook my head. “No!”

“C’mon,” he pleaded. “Just a hello will do. He probably remembers me from our little chat.”

I shook my head again, but then Anne and Tracy’s words came to me.

Why was I hesitating and so afraid when it came to him?

I didn’t know when Jeremy began to pull me along, but my legs went with him.

Carter was speaking to a group of employees, so we waited by the corner for a little bit for them to move along.

The moment they did, Jeremy walked into his midst, filled with confidence. “Hello, Mr. Edwards.”

“Jeremy Atkins,” he replied.

My knees were wobbly as I tried my best to hide behind him, but somehow make it seem as though I wasn’t.

“You remember by name,” Jeremy flushed.

“Of course I do.”

“Well, thank you. Uh… this is my colleague, Leah Peters.”

I didn’t know what to do. All I could do was stare into his eyes, frozen in place as he held my gaze. He didn’t bring out his hand either for a hand shake, so I remained as I was.

“Leah,” Jeremy called.

“Cart— ”I started to say automatically, but then I corrected myself. “Mr. um…?”

“Edwards,” Jeremy supplied.

"Mr. Edwards.”

His stare on me was hard and long, and then he was called over by the CMO. “Excuse me,” he said with a tight smile, and went on his way.

We both stood, entranced as he walked away, dripping with swagger and affluence.

“Isn’t that the most fuck-able man you’ve ever seen?” Jeremy asked.

I knew he was, so I reached then for his cup of wine. Luckily, I caught myself just as his grip loosened around it, before I could lift it to my lips.

Carter would be the death of me.

Jeremy however could not notice my distress. “So,” he said. “That’s the Godfather, and over there…” We turned to search out the VP in the opposite corner of the room with my boss, Henry. “That’s the grandfather. Who’d you rather?”

I returned his cup back to him. “I'm going home.”

Chapter 23

Leah

The next afternoon, just before lunch break, I headed up the elevator towards the executive floor. I was dressed appropriately in a mauve, gingham blazer, a sheer, black turtleneck and a fitted pencil skirt that went past my knee.

I felt confident, and presentable, but no amount of prep talk I gave to myself stopped the knots from forming in the pit of my stomach.

The elevator dinged its arrival on his floor, and I felt like I might just pass out. I managed to find my way to his office.

His secretary, Joseph, greeted me with a smile. “Hello Miss Peters.”

“Hello. Can I see Mr. Edwards very briefly?” I asked. “Just before he heads out for lunch.”

“His lunch appointment is already here,” he said. “He’s in the office with him right now and they should be out any moment.”

As though controlled by a remote, I quickly turned around and escaped from the reception. I was waiting by the goddamn slow elevator, when I heard footsteps approaching. I glanced back with the prayer that it wasn’t him and to my relief, I saw a heavy set man with a thick mustache. I had never seen him in the building before. Perhaps he was the one that Carter was going to lunch with.

He smiled at me, and I returned the gesture. We both stood side by side to wait for the elevator, but then he kept glancing at me until finally, I met his gaze.

“I apologize,” he said. “But I have a question for you.”

“Sure.”

“Were you by any chance in Turkey about