href="#uc957691e-364c-524c-a82d-251945dc24c5"> CHAPTER THIRTEEN
SOFT PINK CLOUDS glowed between modern skyscrapers as the sun rose over Tokyo. It was early April, and white-and-pink cherry blossoms covered the trees like wedding confetti, as joyful and sweet as a first kiss.
But Hana Everly barely noticed. She stared out the window of the Rolls-Royce, her heart pounding, her skin in a cold sweat.
“And find a new housekeeper for my penthouse in New York, to replace Mrs. Stone...”
Her boss’s low growl came beside her in the back seat as he tersely listed other tasks he needed her to handle immediately—if not sooner. Hana’s pen moved listlessly, but his words barely registered. She took a shuddering breath.
She couldn’t be pregnant.
Couldn’t be.
They’d been careful. And her boss had been clear about the rules. Even as his hot, sensual lips had kissed her, his voice had murmured against her skin, “One night, nothing more. There will be no romance, no marriage. No consequences. Tomorrow you will be my assistant again, I your employer. Do you agree?”
Such a deal with the devil, and yet she’d whispered, “Yes.”
Hana would have agreed to anything then, when he’d had her spread across his bed, experiencing such intoxicating sensuality for the first time. But even that hadn’t been enough. He’d pulled back to look at her, his black eyes cold, even cruel.
“You will leave my bed before dawn, Hana, and neither of us will ever speak of this again. Even to each other.”
Lost in a haze of pleasure, she’d nodded, and with a heavy-lidded smile, Antonio had lowered his head to plunder her lips with a sizzling kiss.
She’d thought she knew what she was doing. At the age of twenty-six, she’d told herself she could handle sex without commitment. Because Antonio Delacruz could never be her boyfriend. He was her boss, the ruthless billionaire CEO and largest shareholder of the world’s fastest-growing airline. There was a reason that CrossWorld Airways was crushing its competitors. Antonio stopped at nothing to get what he wanted.
But he hadn’t been the one to cross this line.
She’d been the one who’d kissed him first. She still couldn’t believe she’d done it. But when he’d found her crying, late one night in his palacio in Madrid, he’d taken her into his arms to comfort her.
And at that, two years of repressed, pent-up desire had exploded inside Hana. Shocking even herself, she’d lifted on her tiptoes and kissed him through her tears. It had been the barest whisper of a kiss. Terrified at her own boldness, she’d started to pull away.
Then he’d stopped her, pulling her back swiftly into his arms...
For the last two months, Hana had tried not to remember that night in Madrid. She’d tried to be modern about it. She’d tried to forget, as Antonio obviously had.
But now it seemed her body would not let her. The single night of hot, raw, shocking pleasure between Hana and her handsome, arrogant, rich-beyond-imagination boss would be one she’d live with forever. Because she was going to have his baby.
As the sedan drove north through Tokyo in the cool morning, Hana put her clammy hand to her cheek, feeling dizzy with morning sickness and fear. Her baby would grow up with no father or worse—a bad father. Because Antonio Delacruz hadn’t become rich by caring about other people. He’d won by being ruthless. He had no family and, in the two years she’d worked for him, his longest love affair had lasted six weeks. Not that she’d been paying attention.
A lump rose in her throat. This wasn’t how she’d imagined having a baby. Her plan had been to get married, settle down and then get pregnant.
This was wrong, all wrong. She didn’t even have a home. She couldn’t raise a child like her parents had raised her, always on the move, never staying long enough to build roots, yanking Hana out of each place the moment she started to make real friends.
The lump in her throat turned to a razor blade. She never should have slept with Antonio, no matter how incredible it had felt in the moment. She should have waited for a real relationship, a committed one. She should never, ever have sought comfort in Antonio’s arms, placing her whole future, and her unborn baby’s future, in his careless hands—
“Hana?” her boss demanded acidly beside her in the back seat of the Rolls-Royce. “Hello?”
“Yes,” she said. Numbly, she looked down at her notes. “You want the SWOT analysis for the expansion into Australia, the numbers from the Berlin office, hire a new housekeeper for New York and arrange the after-party in London.”
He stared at her for a long moment with his deep black eyes, and she felt a shiver of fear. But not even Antonio Delacruz, the fearsome billionaire with the mysterious past who’d built a worldwide empire from nothing, had the ability to read minds.
At least she prayed he didn’t. Otherwise, she was in big trouble.
“Good,” he said grudgingly. He looked back at his laptop screen. “And contact the lead architect on the new first-class lounge design for Heathrow...”
As the chauffeur drove them north toward the Marunouchi district, she fought her despair as she looked out at the glittering skyscrapers. She had visited Tokyo many times since she was a child. She loved this city, the place where her grandmother had been born before she’d emigrated to America. Her best friend Ren lived here, and the sakura season, or cherry-blooming season, was the most beautiful of the year.
But for once, the sight of Tokyo Tower, which looked like a bright red Eiffel Tower overlooking the city, did not make her heart rise. Even the lushly blooming trees did not cheer her. She was lost in her own panic.
There will be no romance, no marriage. No consequences. Neither of us will ever speak of this again. Even to each other. Do you agree?
Yes.
She’d never imagined their one night together could lead to a child. What should she do? Should she tell him? Could she?
Hana had only found out about the pregnancy a few hours ago, when she’d taken the test on their private jet from Madrid. But already, this child felt real. She placed her hand wondrously over the curve of her belly. A baby.
“What’s wrong, Hana?” Antonio demanded beside her. “Why are you so distracted?”
Looking up with an intake of breath at the handsome Spaniard sitting beside her, she choked out, “Antonio, there’s something I need to tell you.”
The local driver and Ramon Garcia, the bodyguard who usually traveled with him, glanced at each other in the front seat. None of Mr. Delacruz’s employees would dream of calling him by his first name. Aside from their night in bed, Hana had never taken such a liberty before. At least not out loud.
He looked at her coldly. “Yes, Miss Everly?”
His husky, slightly accented voice put her firmly in her place, reminding her—if she needed reminding—that she was his employee, nothing more.
Hana’s soul quailed. They were nearly to the Marunouchi district, where a critical business negotiation waited. She and Antonio, along with the rest of the Tokyo-based team, had been prepping for this for months. Antonio was obsessed with negotiating a codeshare with Iyokan Airways, an important regional airline that would gain them routes to Tokyo, Osaka