CEO'S Secret Baby: A Standalone Surprise Pregnancy Romance - Iona Rose (which ebook reader .txt) 📗

you not mentioning that I was the one who slipped up and told you?”

“What’s going on?” I snapped. “Why am I being tiptoed around?”

“Call her,” she said, and ended the call.

A few seconds later, I was back on the phone with Tracy.

“Leah, are you okay?” she asked. “You ended the call so abrup—’”

“You’re engaged?” I asked, still finding it difficult to believe.

Her pause was just long enough to confirm the intended secrecy.

“I don’t understand,” I said. “Why would you keep this from me? Am I not the first person you’d want to tell? It's such great fucking news!” I realized now they’d been like this since we’d returned from Turkey.

“Leah, I'm really sorry,” she said. “I was going to come over personally tomorrow to—”

“This is because of Carter isn’t it?”

“Leah—”

“Congratulations, Tracy,” I said in a sour tone, and ended the call. I went to bed, but I was unable to fall asleep. I considered the possibility that I was the one to blame. Ever since our return, I had remained so withdrawn from them, but it hadn’t been intentional. I just focused on work, expecting that things would fall back into place, and I would return to normal, but it wasn’t the case.

I shut my eyes, the image of his face coming to mind once again.

It haunted me—those green, serene eyes. Ones, I wanted so badly to stare into again.

Every time I laid in bed, I thought of him… of the trail his kisses made on my body… and of the way he’d tasted when I kissed him. He took me to a place I wanted so desperately to revisit again. An enchanted space in my mind, a place which made me feel like I was filled to bursting with life, and excitement. But now, I just felt… impassive. I didn’t see colors like I had back in Alanya, and the day in, day out in life just seemed to drag on in a black and white slowness.

I couldn’t believe that just one week with him had done this to me. I just couldn’t believe it.

Perhaps in life, certain people were sent to us… to awaken our souls, and he had done just that.

I wanted to call Tracy back, to apologize but I decided to do it in the morning.

She, however, beat me to it.

I was putting together a blueberry and yogurt smoothie for myself when the doorbell rang. This was an unusual occurrence, especially so early in the day.

She came in with a bag of seaweed rice rolls for me from my favorite Korean restaurant.

I fell into her arms with gratitude. “I’m sorry,” I apologized.

She shook her head, tears filling her eyes. “I’m sorry I didn’t call to tell you first. You were the first person that came to mind but I wanted to be careful about—”

“I understand. But you don’t have to be careful anymore. I'm over him and everything that happened. I’ve just been feeling a little sick but I'll be better soon.”

“You’re sick?” she asked, looking concerned.

“I’m not sure,” I said as I returned to the counter to put away the blueberries and yogurt. “I don’t feel particularly feverish but I am extremely fatigued and I did throw up last night. That’s why my call with you was cut off so abruptly. There’s a bug going around in the office so I think I somehow caught it. I hate being sick.”

“Why don’t you stop by the hospital on your way back from work?”

“It's not that serious,” I said. “I’ll watch it for today and see how things go.”

“Cheryl!” She suddenly called out, and lowered to the floor at the puppy’s exit from my bedroom to meet her aunt. Tracy immediately lifted her into her arms, and tried to fight off a tongue bath. Eventually, she let her down and smiled at the corgi. “Cheryl’s getting fat,” she said as she headed over to the fridge. She grabbed a banana and turned to look at the dog wagging its tail at her.

“Yeah. I think Camilla overfed her when I was away.”

“I don’t think…” She lifted her gaze to mine. “Don’t you think she’s pregnant?”

For a moment, I felt a punch to my gut that made me want to reel. My hand immediately went to my mouth as I retched.

“Oh, my God. Leah, are you okay?”

It took a moment for the nausea to subside, so I waited, as the last thing I wanted was a visit to the toilet again before heading to work. I was already running late. The moment the wave of nausea passed, I straightened. “I’m fine,” I said. “Damn virus. I have to go.”

“Take a few damn days off,” she called.

I grabbed my smoothie, and the lunch she had gotten me. “I can’t,” I said. “Lock the door on your way out and please fill up Cheryl’s bowl.”

“Can I have some of your chicken nuggets?” ahe called out.

I smiled, my response was loud and threatening. “No!”

I was caught with my head down on my desk.

My phone vibrated with a message just as I felt a small tap on my arm, and I lifted my head to see the Vice President staring down at me.

I almost fell out of the chair. “Oh my God, I'm so sorry,” I said immediately, burning with embarrassment.

“It's okay,” he said, his gaze filled with concern. “Are you all right?”

“I am…” I began to say but then realized I was missing a chance to salvage my being caught slacking off. “Um… I’ve just felt a bit nauseous.”

“Maybe you’ve caught the bug like the others,” he said. “My secretary had to take the day off today."

“I’ll get checked out after work today to be sure that everything is fine.”

“Ok. I just came from Henry’s office. He said you’re working on the copies for Vita?”

“I am, sir.” My lips tightened at the error. “Daniel.”

He smiled. “Alright then. I’ll look forward to seeing what you come up with.” He went on his way.

I collapsed back into my seat.

My phone buzzed with