Just handle your shit, Aaron. I can take this client.”
He thought about the timid man who had signed the contract earlier that day and sat back. “Nah, I got it. This guy needs a softer touch.”
“Shit. Take it.” Cameron slid the file back to him with a disgusted look on his face. “I’ve got to tie up a few loose ends with the last one. She came back wanting changes despite the job being done. Nothing I can’t handle, but it’s a pain in the ass.”
“Always is.” Aaron grabbed the file and rose. “Let me know if you need an assist.”
“I don’t.” Cameron frowned. “Though I think we might need to expand the team to include someone to handle paperwork and all that shit. It’s taking too much time from the jobs themselves, and you know how I feel about paperwork.”
“The same way you feel about most things.” He hated it.
Cameron nodded. “I’ll post a job opening. Figure they can man the phones and the main email account to field and file prospective clients. Frees you up to focus on the jobs and stop handling me.”
Considering Aaron didn’t know who they would hire who was capable of handling Cameron, he just nodded. It was a problem for another day. First, he had to arrange a secondary meeting with the new client and bring them up to date with the prospective client list sitting in his inbox. Throwing a new person into the mix without them being caught up was a recipe for disaster.
That said, it would be nice to delegate some of the more tedious tasks. “Sounds like a plan.”
He headed out of the room. They owned the entire floor of this building, but they really only utilized their respective offices, a boardroom and a waiting room that was more neglected than anything else.
Their cybersecurity company was small, but both he and Cameron preferred it that way. With the reputation they’d spent years building, they could handpick their clients and charge top dollar for their services. But the demand seemed to be increasing lately, which meant they’d have to hire that secretary—and potentially add a cybersecurity specialist or two to their team—sooner, rather than later.
Aaron stopped in the hallway and tried to picture what the waiting room would look like with someone at the desk livening up the place. He preferred to take his meetings with clients off-site, and Cameron preferred not to take them at all. Aaron shook his head. If the secretary stayed on for more than a week, it’d be a fucking miracle.
His phone started ringing as he strode into his office. He cursed and fished it out of his pocket. An unfamiliar number scrolled across the screen. Aaron took a breath and put his professional persona on. “Aaron Livingston.”
“Hey, Aaron.”
Three months later, he’d still recognize Becka’s voice anywhere. He walked back to his office, shut his door, and moved around his desk to sit down. “I didn’t expect to hear from you.” He realized how that must sound and grimaced. “But I’m glad you called.”
“Yeah, well, I didn’t expect to call.” Her voice went thick as if she was...holding back tears? “Funny story. Remember when the condom broke? Well, apparently the pill isn’t one hundred percent foolproof because, surprise, I’m pregnant.”
He waited for the words to rearrange themselves into an order that made sense. They stayed stubbornly in place. “What?”
“Pregnant. With your kid.” She cleared her throat. “I, ah, I wasn’t going to keep it, but I chickened out at the last second, and it turns out I want this baby. I’m sorry. I swear to God I didn’t know this would happen, and I don’t expect anything from you. It’s not your problem—it’s mine. I just... I thought you should know.”
A baby.
His baby.
With Becka.
He closed his eyes and tried to focus. She thought he would wash his hands of this. Aaron had questions—a whole hell of a lot of questions—but he didn’t honestly believe that Becka had tricked him into getting her pregnant. She sounded upset and scared, and the fact she’d let that slip through what he surmised were impressive shields meant she was exponentially more freaked out. How long have you been sitting on this knowledge, scared and alone?
He wasn’t about to let her shoulder it by herself. That child was half his, and if she was keeping it, he would be in the baby’s life. End of story.
That decided, he opened his eyes, plan in place. “Where are you?”
“What? I’m at home.”
“Text me the address.”
She hesitated, and he could almost see her arguing with herself about having him in her house. Well, too fucking bad. Whether she liked it or not, Aaron was in her life, and he wasn’t going anywhere. They had a future in common, one way or another. Finally, Becka sighed. “Okay.”
“Good. I’ll see you soon.” He hung up and stared at his phone.
His life had just taken a hard right turn. He had no fucking idea how he was going to keep it from going off the rails entirely. One step at a time. Talk to Becka in person. Be calm. Reassure her. Get her to see things your way.
Shouldn’t be too difficult. Right?
* * *
Becka nearly paced a hole in her floor waiting for Aaron to show up. She should have realized he was going to demand to see her face-to-face when she called, but part of her had honestly thought he’d be relieved not to be asked to do anything. Isn’t that what most guys wanted in a shitty situation like this? To be absolved of all responsibility so they could go on with their lives unscathed while the woman was left to clean up the mess they’d created together?
You were projecting and you damn well know it. She caught herself wringing her hands and cursed. “I can do better than this. It’s just a baby.”
A baby she hadn’t signed up for.
She touched her stomach gingerly. There were none of the symptoms movies had told her to expect—aside from being extra exhausted all the time—but her doctor had confirmed there was, in fact, a baby growing inside her. A freaking baby.
She didn’t know how to be a mom. Lucy was the nurturer. The planner. The one who took care of everyone around her and was universally loved as a result. Becka had too much of their mother in her. She was too selfish, too bitchy, just too much across the board. Up until she made the call to keep the baby, she’d been sure she didn’t want kids at all—better to let the sins of the past lie and not tempt fate. Lucy always told her there was no reason to think they’d end up like their parents, but Becka didn’t believe her any more now than she had as a kid.
The buzzer sounded, and she jumped half out of her skin. “Shit.” Aaron was here. There was no time to think of a new, better plan. There was nothing left to do but buzz him up.
Thirty seconds later, she opened the door and froze. How had she forgotten how magnetic he was? His broad shoulders took up the space of her narrow door frame, and he wore a suit that probably cost as much as a couple months of her rent. Becka belatedly realized she was blocking the entrance and stepped back, letting him into her apartment.
He looked around, and she could almost see the thoughts rolling through his head. Shabby place. Secondhand furniture. A hole in the drywall from where she’d accidentally kicked it in when she fell out of a headstand a year ago. It was clean, but she was barely there long enough to sleep between teaching classes at Allie’s gym, Transcend, and her second job as a personal trainer at an upscale facility downtown. She’d never seen a reason to spiff up the place when that money could be spent in better places.
Now, she kind of wished she’d told Aaron to meet her somewhere else so he wouldn’t have seen this.
He turned as she shut the door and gave her an equally thorough examination. His gaze landed on her flat stomach