“Willow, you won’t even believe it,” I said, huddled up on my small couch that was in front of my bed.
Defeat wasn’t even a good enough word to summarize how I felt.
“What’s wrong? Did something go wrong today?” she asked.
Grant Carter was supposed to be a friend of his, so the words kind of got stuck in my throat.
I didn’t want to be that person that ruined a friendship or anything. After all, Grant Carter was just one of those alpha males that went around claiming anything they wanted.
Pretty sure Darien was like that before he met Willow. Or maybe not. I didn’t know. But I did decide to keep what happened to myself today.
“…Nothing. Just ran into a couple of creeps that followed me home after work. Wanted private dances and stuff like that.”
Willow gasped. “Are you okay? What happened
S- returns home to talk to Willow and mope, but finds out her mom lost her job and eviction is looming.
“Yeah, I’m fine. They got the heel to the foot,” I explained, positioning myself upside down on my sofa so my feet could rest against the wall.
Grant Carter. What an asshole… a handsome one. I wasn’t the type to mix business and pleasure, plus, all that lovey dovey stuff didn’t really work out with people anymore.
“Good, I’m glad you’re safe. Lindsey did say we should know how to protect ourselves,” Willow said. A baby cried in the background and I smiled at the warm sound of her family. “Thank you… Okay. Darien said hi to you by the way,” Willow mentioned.
“Tell him I said hi back. By the way, how’s the fam doing?”
“Good. In fact we’re trying for another. Dahlia loves being a big sister. Well, got to go and feed them the kids and Darien.”
“Feed Darien?” I teased.
“Oh hush you.”
We hung up and I closed my eyes. Wow, Grant Carter was bigger in person than I could’ve ever imagined.
And he had the gall to not only try to seduce me on his elevator, but to ask me if he could get me pregnant.
Opening my eyes, I grunted and pushed myself off of the couch. Five hundred thousand dollars. Damn. That wasn’t anything to sneeze at.
Glancing around my small studio, I took another stab at thinking about that offer…
Tuition was raised, I was out of a job, the family needed occasional help, and… fuck. What was I going to do.
Rent was even due soon. My savings could pay it, but then after that I’d have nothing but peanuts left.
My phone rang again and I was surprised to see it was my sister Alice.
“Hey, Alice. Haven’t heard from you in a while. What’s up?”
I moved over to my bed and nestled myself down into it.
Alice sighed. “Stace, we got a real problem on our hands.”
“What?” My heart skipped a beat and I sat up on my bed.
“I found the mail… my suspicions were true. We’re up for eviction. Mom even lost her job last week. She kept saying everything was going to be okay, but I knew otherwise. I hate to call you with shitty news, but—”
“No buts. Thanks for telling me.”
.I shook my head and scratched my head. “I’ll see what I can do. How much time are we talking?”
I braced myself.
“We have thirty days. She owes the apartment management three thousand five hundred dollars. I’m surprised they let her go that deep into the hole,” Alice said, her voice breaking.
No, I couldn’t hear my little sister cry like this. She did her part to bring money to the table too, but she was still young and couldn’t do too much. Me? I was the eldest. This was my responsibility.
Mom raised us well, worked hard, and still did. I didn’t even understand how she was fired in the first place.
I sunk down into my bed, hand over my forehead. Life made it a habit to crash down on me every so often, but this was the ultimate dump. What? Was life so fed up of things going sort of smooth?
I pulled my covers over me. Five hundred thousand dollars.
That much money meant so damn much. Freedom. Pure freedom.
He tried to call earlier…
That meant I had his number. His personal number.
I stared at my phone, thinking it over.
I’d be a liar if I didn’t say that Grant Carter didn’t make my panties drip for a second.
“God, what am I gonna do? Getting pregnant isn’t so simple. There’s sex… and health… and all that complicated stuff,” I sighed to myself.
Not that sex with Grant Carter was something less desired. He was Adonis incarnate. A real god.
Sitting up in my bed again, I went over to my sofa, popped out my laptop and went job shopping.
I scrolled through many websites.
Nope.
Nope.
Definitely wasn’t gonna work. Being a waitress was like working for free.
Yup, Grant was going to be that meal ticket. But this womb right here wasn’t gonna go for five hundred thousand.
The phone burned in my palm as I searched out his number and dialed it. It rang once before he picked it up.
“Stacy,” he said, his deep voice threaded with authority.
“Seven hundred thousand. And we need to talk details,” I said. I tried to keep it together, but my voice wavered, giving me away.
“You’re a hard bargain. Fine. We can do that. Let’s meet.”
“O-okay,” I stuttered. So much for keeping cool, calm, and collected.
His voice came through the phone so clear and distinct. There was no holding back, he was a thousand percent sure of what he was doing.
Me? I was trying.
We hung up and I realized that I didn’t even ask him where we were meeting up. Getting dressed, I decided to get a little sexy.
Seven hundred grand.
Damn, that wasn’t a far cry from one million.
There was knocking at the door. It must’ve been Lindsey. She always made it a habit to come check up on me.
Skipping over to the door while I was slipping on my dress that zipped up in the back, I opened the door and was face to face with him; Grant Carter.
“Wait. You?”
He smiled. “Yes, darling. Me.”
“But how did you?” I realized that I wasn’t even fully dressed. I was fifty percent into my dress.
“How about I help you zip up and I’ll take you down to the limo to explain more.”
Grant took a quick glance at my studio and turned me around by my shoulders. The electric surge of his skin touching mine was intense and it gave me the severe case of goosebumps.
The zipper glided up and I turned around to meet his eyes.
No, Stacy, you couldn’t do this! Romance was just a trap door to failure.
It ruined people like my mother and it was doomed to do the same for me.
This was strictly business… fun business. If it was sane for me to think of this that way.
“You look stunning. Please, take my arm.” Grant held out his arm for me to take. This wasn’t a date, I wasn’t his honey. I was his incubator for an heir and that was it.
“I’m fine. Let’s go to your limo and talk about all this stuff further,” I grunted. Heat flushed around in my cheeks. I was still flattered that someone like Grant offered me his arm. What a playboy. He sure knew his tricks.
“I’d like it if you took my arm, Stacy.”
“I bet you do. Come on.” I closed and locked my door, then turned to the steps.
He grabbed me shoulder and locked his eyes on mine. “Stacy, take my arm.” This wasn’t a request, it was a demand. He was lucky he was good looking or else he’d get smacked. Instead, the dominance in his voice made my core heat up.
Placed in a daze, I grabbed his arm and frowned. I was never the kind to drool over authority figures… but his authority made me listen. Hmph!
Whatever.
He took me down the creaky steps that groaned with every ounce of weight. I wasn’t that heavy, but Grant had to be over two hundred pounds with all these muscles.
Was this arm even real?
“Wanna explain how you found me?” I asked.
Grant opened the door to his limo and I slid in. Once he was inside, he cleared his throat.
“I had you followed.”
“You what?!” I screached.
Grant remained unphased by my outburst and told his limo to begin driving. To where? I didn’t know.
“Hey, you can’t do that—”
He held up a finger and wagged it. “I’m Grant Carter, I can do anything.” He winked and shot me another grin. A smart ass one this time.
He took out an envelope and handed it to me. It was one of those big tan ones. “What’s this? The contract?”
“Yes.”
I took it out and looked at it. I was expecting a novel’s worth of papers, but instead it was only two sheets long.
The sex was only when both parties were willing.
No physical violence allowed, and I was to be taken care of by him for when the pregnancy is confirmed. There were a few other things that were not out of the normal.
All except one.
He wanted sole custody of the kid once born and I was to disappear.
Not that this was going to be a love child, but it panged at my gut to read that. I sighed.
Sacrifices weren’t easy. And if I didn’t let Grant raise the kid, I’d only end up losing my family.
Hopefully Grant knew how to love and raise a child.
“Fine. I agree.”
“Nothing about the custody agreement concerns you?” he double checked.
“Not at all. I’m only twenty three. Too young to be a legit mom, you know? Plus, you can afford a nanny and all that good stuff. Just be sure to look after your kid and love them, alright?”
Grant lifted an eyebrow. “Of course…”
“Good. Got a pen.”
He handed me a heavy golden pen that was probably pure gold and I signed the contract.
“There you go,” I said, handing him the pen and contract back in its envelope. “How soon do I get paid again?”
“You get paid only after you’ve been confirmed as pregnant. It was in the contract.”
I lowered my eyes. I guess I was just thrown about the custody thing. Figures though. Someone as young as me should get pregnant very quickly.
Grant bent over a little to get another good look at my eyes.
“Are you alright?” he asked, concerned.
“I’m good. Besides, where are we going?” I stretched out more in the limo, trying to calm myself down. This was a big responsibility, big money.
“My home. It’s in the agreement.”
“Oh yeah, I do remember that.”
We stopped at a red light and a car pulled up next to us. I didn’t even realize we were in the West Golden wing of the city, but the golden Ferrari next to us jogged my memory.
“Wow, a golden Enzo Ferrari. Wow, the specs on that car is wild.” I plastered my face to the window to look at the car. The windows were as black as ink, not that it mattered. I wasn’t concerned about the driver.
The car was a beauty, a walking piece of history.
“You’re a car person?”
“Yes!” I exclaimed.
I went on to explain about the inner workings of a Ferrari and many other super cars alike. Price be damned, there was a lot more to those cars than just price.
We shared one thing in common, cars. He was fond of them too, and since he was rich, I knew he had to own them as well.
“I’m impressed, you like these cars regardless of the price. People shape the car up because of the price tag, but you look further than that.”
“Well, some people do that.”
I was sitting on the other side of the limo, giving Grant his room. Reaching over, he placed his hand on my knee and pulled me over. My ass slid over the leather seats as the heat from his hand lit my body up.
That was a possessive mood.
“Hey, what’re you—” I sucked in a sharp breath when he slid his hand up my thighs. After all, baby making did involve sex.
But this soon?
Leaning in, he whispered into my ear, “I’d like to start making our baby as soon as possible.” The growl in his voice made me mushy like kinetic sand.
His hand paused around my thigh and went up further.
Sweet God, I had to wear a thong.
Grant nestled himself on the crook of my neck, inhaling in my scent. His fingers brushed the base of my thong, making my thighs clamp in on him.
“No, no, keep them open,” he growled.
Reluctantly I pried them open and his fingers slipped inside my thong, teasing my wetness. This man made me too horny all too easily.
I looked down at his arm snaked between my legs. Grant tilted my chin so I could focus on his eyes instead.
What beautiful gray eyes and that stubble along such a strong angular jaw. He even had that slight dimple on his chin.
His fingers went deeper inside me, causing me to jerk and squeeze my pussy around him.
“G-Grant, here in the limo?” I asked. My body was acting all out of sorts now. My nipples hurt hardening against the fabric of my dress, and my skin begged to be stripped out of this dress.
Another finger dipped into my folds and I bit back a small yelp.
“You’re sensitive, Stacy. Tell me, are you a virgin?”
Oh shit. He had to bring that up so quickly.
I winced at his expert hands working at my dampness. “W-why?”
“Because,” he pushed his fingers in further and a small bleating yell escaped my lips, “I need to know how rough I can take you.”
My cheeks heated up like an oven, and my body swooned.
Grant took advantage of the room in his limo and crawled over me.
The swollen bump of his crotch brushed against my leg. Damn, he had to be big, especially with his kind of ego.
Grant began to work down the sides of my dress so he could expose them, and just as he had the outer ring of my areolas showing, the limo screeched to a halt.
We fell off the seat and Grant grunted, irritated that his dessert was interrupted. And I was too, to be honest.
He pushed a button to talk to his driver. “Mr. Winston, what on earth?”
“Sorry sir,” the old man spoke, “there was a car who nearly side swiped us. Are you and your guest okay?”
Grant sighed. “Yes. Thank you Mr. Winston. Continue on.”