Chapter One
Scarlett
When I got home, I slumped into my couch, irritated. The whole day had been wasted. What was the point of having a Master’s degree if I couldn’t do anything with it?
Today’s interview had been a disaster. I’d really thought I had this one in the bag, but it turned out I was overqualified. I knew too much for the job. Who the hell had decided that if you knew too much, it was just as bad as knowing nothing at all? I would have worked for the salary. It wasn’t like I’d demanded more money because I had more than just a bachelor’s degree. It was absolute bullshit. If I had known that getting a Master’s would ruin my life like this, I would never have done it.
It was too late now. I spent years of my life studying for a fabulous degree that would get me nowhere in life. Awesome.
I walked to my kitchen and put on the kettle for coffee. I would spend my night searching for a job again. I didn’t have better things to do with my time anyway. No man, no personal projects, and all my friends had jobs, so they wouldn’t go out on a week night.
How was I going to create a life when I couldn’t get my foot in there? I missed the days of college when I was working toward something that mattered–at least, something I’d thought had mattered at the time. My biggest worry had been exams that were coming up, and being an adult had been nothing more than a distant dream. Now, I had bills to worry about and nothing to pay them with.
When the kettle boiled, I made myself a cup of instant coffee. I would have preferred the freshly ground stuff, but expensive tastes fell away when I failed to find a job. When you had to change your way of life, you knew you were in a bad place.
Was I feeling sorry for myself? Yes. Was I being a little brat? Probably. I guessed everyone had to start somewhere, which I would do if someone would just give me a chance. This really wasn’t my fault. Life was a bitch, waving my damn Master’s degree in my face.
What I really needed was to find myself a rich man so that I could sit at home all day and eat chocolate and drink tea, or go shopping and spend his money. I would let someone else worry about bills being paid. But that wasn’t going to happen any time soon. The only relationships I’d ever had were flings. To get married, I would have to have a meaningful relationship, and for that, I would have to find someone I could get along with.
It wasn’t that easy for someone like me. I’d always been a little different than my friends. They’d been with the guys in college, fucking around, getting into serious relationships, only to get their hearts broken. Everyone was looking for true love, but I’d never been able to see it in the guys around me.
They were all so immature, so unstable in their lives. They had no direction. I couldn’t relate to that. I’d always been more serious. Too serious, some had even told me.
So, I fucked around, didn’t stay after the deed, and lived my life without someone to answer to.
The only friend I could really relate to was Lily. And that was only because we’d been friends since fifth grade. She was the only one that understood me. I had practically grown up in her house, and I felt like we were sisters.
I considered calling Lily to complain to her about my life, but I’d done that often enough, and I didn’t want to burden her again. I knew what she would say, anyway.
“You’ll find something, Scar.”
It was easy for her to say, with her emerald green eyes and long blonde hair. With looks like that, she could do anything. I had dark hair and eyes, and even though I was pretty, I wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea. Beautiful, blonde, and sexy was everyone’s type, and I just wasn’t that.
I carried my coffee to my computer and sat down. I opened my Internet browser and pulled up Craigslist. It wasn’t the first place I would look for a job, but sometimes, there was good stuff there.
I scrolled through the ads, looking for something, anything, when an unusual ad caught my eye.
Surrogate mother needed. Available immediately. Between 23 and 30. $1 million.
I stared at the screen, unsure of what I was seeing. A million dollars? Right here in New York. How was that possible? Who had that much money to spend on having a child?
If a couple was willing to spend that much money on having a baby, I had to cash in on it. They obviously had money to spare, and I desperately needed some.
I hovered my mouse over the advertisement, not clicking it right away. Was this how far I had fallen? Was I going to have someone else’s baby for them? It sounded absurd. But I really needed the money, and I couldn’t find anything else. I clicked on the button before I could stop myself and applied to the job.
I didn’t keep looking. I powered down my computer before I could do anything else that was stupid and went to bed. Tomorrow was a new day, and I would try again.
When I woke up in the morning, I checked my email out of habit. I’d forgotten about the crazy ad that I’d applied to, but an email waited for me in my inbox. Application for surrogate mother, it read.
I was nervous again. I swallowed hard and clicked on the email, opening it.
Dear applicant,
Thank you for considering my offer. I would like to meet with you to discuss the terms of my contract. Let me know if tomorrow at lunchtime would suit you.
I look forward to hearing from you.
EB.
Lunchtime tomorrow? I checked the time that the email was sent. Lunchtime today, in other words.
It was crazy, but the promise of that much money drew me in. It was an insane amount of money. I could do so much with that. I could pay off all my debts, buy the damn apartment I was living in, instead of paying rent every month, and then some.
I typed a reply and clicked send before I could change my mind. I would find out what it was all about before making a final decision. Going to speak to a couple didn’t mean I was obligated to be a surrogate mother, right?
I glanced at the time. I still had four hours to kill before my meeting. I opened my Internet browser again and did another search for a job. I had to keep looking, to have a backup plan in case it all turned out to be a joke. Which, honestly, I had a terrible feeling it was.
I took a cab from Brooklyn to Manhattan, where Mr. EB had asked to meet at the Mandarin Oriental, New York. It was a five-star hotel with an expensive restaurant called Asiate. It was glamorous all the way, and I was willing to believe the part about the money, at least.
The rest, I still wasn’t so sure about. I was under strict instructions to announce myself to the concierge, giving my name to them. It seemed suspicious to me. I didn’t know anything about the potential employer, other than his initials. What if this was a trap? What if this was a mistake, and they wanted something else from me?
I walked into the lobby at the Mandarin Oriental, and for a moment, I forgot all my worries. Shiny beige marble floors stretched wall to wall with a spectacular sculpture of something that reminded me of lilies in the middle. It took my breath away.
The reception desk curved around the outer wall, and I walked to it, feeling underdressed. The woman behind the desk wore a fancy gray dress suit, and her nails were professionally manicured. She offered me a blank smile, no doubt wondering why I was here.
“My name is Scarlett Forbes,” I said. “I’m supposed to meet someone here.”
She turned to her keyboard, her nails clicking on the keys, looking me up.
“Ah, Miss Forbes,” she said. “You’re wanted for a private meeting.” She summoned someone. “Please take Miss Forbes to the meeting room for Mr. Burke.”
Burke? Lily’s surname was Burke. Was it a coincidence?
I followed my new escort to a meeting room. He held open the door for me.
“Mr. Burke will be with you in a moment,” he said and left me alone in the meeting room.
I felt small and out of place. This wasn’t my world. Everything was so luxurious and shiny, and I was so… not.
I’d chosen to wear black suit pants and a white blouse. I’d tied up my hair into something that resembled a French Roll, but I didn’t get it quite right. I’d put on light makeup and golden jewelry. Until I’d walked into the hotel, I’d felt overdressed. Now I felt completely out of place.
At least this wasn’t a hotel room. One of my fears had been that I would end up being sold as a sex slave. Outrageous, but not impossible. Seventy-five million dollars just didn’t sound legit. I guessed that could still happen from the conference room, but I was less worried than I would have been if I had been summoned to a bedroom.
I didn’t have to wait very long before the door opened again and a tall man came in. He had dark hair and square shoulders and a face I knew right away.
“Evan?” I asked. “This has got to be some kind of mistake.”
Evan Burke froze, staring at me. “Scarlett?”
We blinked at each other. Evan was Lily’s father. No wonder they had the same surname.
Evan cleared his throat and walked to the table. “Well, this is certainly unexpected.”
“I have to say the same. What are you doing here?”
Evan looked unsure of himself. “I’m the one that posted the ad.”
I stared at him. How was this possible? When I responded to the ad, I had expected a couple that wanted a baby, not my best friend’s father.
“This is all wrong,” I said.
Evan shook his head. “Now that you’re here, would you at least like to discuss it?”
I swallowed. I wasn’t sure if I wanted my best friend’s dad to know that I was willing to consider being a surrogate mother. Carrying his child only to walk out of his life again and… then what? Lily wasn’t living at home anymore but he was still her father. How would that work? And how would I face her?
Besides, it wasn’t like I would be sleeping with him, anyway. That might have pushed me to say yes a little.
He was hot as hell, with green eyes that shot straight through me and dark hair that framed a distinguished face, but sleeping with him had only been a fantasy. A fantasy that I’d had too many times to count.
“Look, Scarlett,” he said. “I want a baby. I’ve wanted another child for a long time, you know that.” And I did, it was something Lily had been talking about for a while when we were younger. “You’ve been around. You know what my love life is like. I’m willing to offer a million to hire a surrogate mother. Will you consider it?”
My head was spinning. There were so many questions. What the hell was I supposed to say to that? It was Lily’s dad. I had grown up with him as a second father to myself; carrying his baby seemed wrong in so many ways.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “I can’t do this.”
I turned around and walked to the door. When I opened it, I looked over my shoulder one more time, only to see him standing there with stormy eyes. But no, I couldn’t do this.
I left the room. How the hell did this happen? God, and what a temptation. All that money… but no. Evan Burke was easily the hottest older guy I had ever seen. He had the same eyes as Lily, but the rest of her slender build had come from her mother. Evan was a solid man who trained every day to keep in shape, and what a damn good shape that was. He wore suits that made him look even better, with broad shoulders and an attitude that told you exactly who was in charge.
In short, he was the perfect specimen for a sexual fantasy. But I wouldn’t be sleeping with him, no matter how much I would have liked to. It wasn’t the point of surrogacy and not remotely acceptable considering that he was Lily’s dad.
And I certainly couldn’t carry a child for him.