Chapter Nine
“You’ve been out for almost a week now. At some point, you need to come back to the office.”
“Do I, Andrew?” Walker asked into his cell phone. “We’ve been over this. I’m on paternity leave.”
“The heads of billion-dollar international conglomerates don’t get paternity leave.”
“This one does,” he bit out.
Silence rang from the other end of the phone.
“Apologies,” Andrew said. “The Asia meeting is today. I’m sure you can imagine how hectic things are over here.”
“Good thing I’m not there, then.”
There was a beat of silence. “What if you came in for an hour? Just to shake hands and…”
“Kiss babies?”
“You know what I mean.”
“Ron will be there,” he said, naming his VP. “Just let him do all the talking. I briefed him yesterday on the terms I wanted. Don’t let them try to limit our access to the major cities. Hong Kong and Singapore and Tokyo are key, but they aren’t the end game for us. We need relationships we can build on for our next launch when we target business-focused system solutions. Got it?”
“Got it.”
“We can afford to give a little on distribution but anything beyond the hard limits I outlined and you leave the room. They need this deal as much as we do. We’re not begging at their door here.”
“Agreed.”
“Worst case scenario…” His voice trailed off.
“Worst case?”
His thoughts whirled as he debated the conversation. He’d been clear with his VP but Andrew was right. This would be smoother with him present.
“Dammit,” he breathed.
“You’re coming in, aren’t you?”
“Let me see if Clara and Emily can handle Hunter today.”
“There’s a car waiting for you downstairs.”
He arched a brow. “That sure of the outcome, were you?”
“I’ve worked with you for years. I know how you operate. See you soon, boss.”
Hanging up, he went in search of his housemate.
“Clara?” he called.
Her head popped around his workshop’s open door. “You rang?”
“Can you watch Hunter if I run into the office for an hour?”
She stepped into the room, the baby on her hip. “Yeah, we’ll be fine. Emily’s doing the laundry, magical nanny that she is, and then she’ll be on hand, too. What’s up?”
“Business deal with Asia.”
“See, my tough days are things like, ‘man, I didn’t get that interview’ or ‘I wish I’d written more today.’ I can’t play who had a harder day with you ever.”
“The joys of running a company.”
She shook her head. “Go kick ass. We’ll be fine here for a few hours. I mean it’s only fair, right? I’m ducking out this evening.”
“Yeah,” he growled, not liking the reminder of her date. Pushing to his feet, he kissed the top of Hunter’s head before stepping around her. “Give me five minutes and I’ll be out the door.”
“Good luck,” she called as he headed for his bedroom.
…
“Looks like it’s just you and me, little guy,” Clara said to Hunter, bouncing him.
Glancing around the workroom buzzing with computers she shook her head. “There’s no babyproofing this room. Let’s just call it a death trap and keep the door closed, hmm?”
Switching off the lights, she retraced her steps to the living room and the baby area they’d set up. It would have been easy to turn one of the guest rooms into a nursery, but she liked the light streaming through the large living room windows. Standing at them, she could see the city rolling out toward the horizon. It was a far cry from the view she had at her place of the pizza joint across the street.
Different lives. Different worlds.
And this wasn’t hers.
“Doesn’t matter,” she whispered against the baby’s head. “I’m here for now.”
Might as well enjoy it while I can.
She was still examining the view when she heard Walker run back down the stairs.
“Do you have everything you need?” she asked, drifting into the hall to see him.
And stopped midstep.
Walker stood at the foot of the stairs, focused on buttoning his cuff link.
He transformed that much in five minutes?
Men’s fashion was utterly unfair. Still, she couldn’t stop her heart from fluttering as she took him in. Dressed in an all-black suit, he looked far more dangerous than he did in sweats lounging on the couch. His hair was slicked back, and his two-day-old scruff had been shaved off, leaving his jaw stark and bare.
He looked like what he was: a powerful CEO going to broker an international deal that would involve more millions than she could process.
Different worlds. I don’t fit in his.
Her throat tightened.
“I won’t be long,” he said, shaking out his cuff. “You’re sure you’ll be okay?”
“We’ll be fine,” she promised, forcing the words out.
It wasn’t like this was the first time she’d seen him dressed for work, but it still felt different. When she thought of him, she thought of the Walker she’d met in school back when they’d been equals. The billionaire side of him had always just seemed…extra. Impressive but almost unimportant. It didn’t touch the man she’d spent years growing up with.
But now, seeing him dressed in wealth standing in his sprawling home put her off balance.
“What?” he demanded, pinning her with a gaze that was utterly Walker, no matter what his clothing.
“Nothing,” she said, moving closer. “Your collar is twisted.”
Propping the baby on a hip, she reached up to straighten his shirt, smoothing a hand over his shoulder when it was righted.
“There,” she said, looking up at him. “All better.”
Fire leapt into his gaze for one burning moment as he stared at her.
“Go take over the world,” she said as she stepped back.
He didn’t move, seeming frozen in place.
“Clara…”
“Your team is waiting.”
With a sigh, he ran a hand down his face. “I’ll be as fast as I can.”
“I’ll be waiting.”
Forever, it seems.
Swallowing hard, she and Hunter watched him walk from the home. And she couldn’t help feeling like she was being left behind in more ways than one.
…
As soon as he stepped foot in the office, Andrew was waiting for him, ready to mob him with a coffee peace offering and an armful of files.
“We’ve got a half hour to get you prepped,” Andrew said.
“This is my deal. I’m the one who prepped you.”
“We got their contract revisions this morning, and you should take a look at their demands. They’re coming in hot but will likely settle once we go through the motions for a while.”
Walker sipped the coffee as they strode across the top floor of his building to his office. Inside, a man was already seated at his wide mahogany desk scattered with papers.
“Walker,” he said, rising to his feet.
“Ron.” Shaking the hand of his second in command, he waved him off when Ron tried to move out of the seat he normally occupied. “I’m only here for a few hours. Keep the desk.”
Ron grinned. “How’s fatherhood going?”
“Hunter’s still breathing so I’m counting it a moral victory.”
“I hear you convinced that tasty friend of yours to move in with you to help out. How the hell did you manage that?”
“I asked her.”
Ron laughed. “Marry that woman, you idiot.”
He rolled his eyes. “Let’s get this deal inked, and we can worry about my love life later.”
“There’s the man I know. It’s always business first with you.”
The words unsettled him but he kept his expression blank. “I want updated projections in my hand in five minutes, Andrew.”
“Right away.” His assistant raced from the room.
“He didn’t need to drag you in,” Ron said as he settled back into the CEO’s chair.
“It won’t take long. A few baby-free hours will do me some good.”
“Jonesing for some adult contact?”
“Babies are cute but their conversation skills are pretty poor.”
“If only you lived with another person.”
He dropped into the chair opposite Ron. “We’ve been over this.”
“The legendary friendship that can’t be broken. Yeah, I’ve heard the story. But this woman also took up residence in your house with very little urging. What does that tell you?”
“That I have a remarkable friend.”
Ron sighed. “How can you be this smart and this dumb all at the same time?”
“Feeling pretty secure in that chair, aren’t you?”
Ron rolled his eyes. “You couldn’t function without me. Who else can keep the company on track while you disappear into the math?”
“True. Lucky you.”
“Then tell me the truth. A baby on your doorstep. How the hell are you coping?”
“I’m not going to lie and say it’s been easy.”
“Is there no one else you can…” Ron waved his hand.
“Cast my child off to?”
His VP shrugged.
“No,” Walker said. “That’s not an option.”
“Can’t blame me for asking.”
“Can’t I?”
“My point is, you never asked for any of this. You have options if you need them. Wealth does come with some perks.”
“Like buying a family to raise my only child?”
Ron held up his hands in peace. “I’m just trying to make sure you know your options.”
Walker sighed, running his fingers through his hair. “I get it. It sounds crazy, changing my whole life for a kid I never even knew existed. But here we are.”
“If you’re going to give this dad thing a real go, then we’ll make it work. It’s your company. You’re allowed a family if you want one.”
Everyone just assumed I never would.
He knew the reputation he’d earned. The colleagues he worked closest with viewed him as a robot. The board viewed him as a moneymaker they just had to shake now and then.
Clara doesn’t see you like either of those things.
No, but the way she’d stared at him in the hall would haunt him for a long time to come. It had almost been like she’d been looking at him for the first time and hadn’t been sure she’d liked what she saw.
Complicated. All of this is complicated.
And getting increasingly more so as the days rolled on.
“If you don’t need help getting out of this,” Ron said, “do you need help solidifying it?”
“Such as?”
His second shrugged. “This is uncharted territory for me too. Are there legal issues here? Custody concerns?”
He sighed. “Probably. I’m waiting on a DNA test next week. We’ll take it from there.”
“And the mother?”
Walker simply stared him down until Ron cleared his throat. “Well, let me know if there is anything I or the company can do to help. You’ve got a lot of weight behind you if you need it.”
“I appreciate the support. What I need right now is to get through this meeting and get back to my kid.”
“And Clara?”
“Careful, Ron.”
“Fine, fine. But you know my opinion on the matter. You’d be a fool to let her get away. Honestly, how many women out there do you think would drop everything to help their best friend raise a baby?”
Few to none. Clara is one of a kind.
Which meant she deserved the best, not someone with a secret baby and a jaded view of family.
What if that man is Todd?
Then he’d cross that bridge when he got to it.
“Let’s put a pin in my personal life for the moment,” he declared. “Andrew said the distribution team came back with a list of demands. Run me through them.”
“Works for me. Let’s start with the briefing we got on Monday.”
Settling back into his chair, he listened to Ron, his mind already lining up the pieces he’d need to make today a success. As the clock ticked down to the meeting, a familiar equilibrium filled him. He might not be able to change a diaper quickly or open babyproofed drawers, but this he could do.
And when he left today, Asia would be his.