Jennie Lucas - Her Boss's One-Night Baby

And he’d felt his heart, his guts, every part of his body twist like a rag wrung dry.

Stalking angrily from the meeting, he’d grimly arranged to see the best fertility doctor in the city. Just to prove, once and for all, that Hana Everly was a liar. He hadn’t done anything wrong. He was the victim here.

And now this.

He’d come to the clinic for reassurance, not to discover his worst fears were actually true. He’d never expected he’d be told it was possible that he’d fathered Hana’s child!

“No,” Antonio told the doctor hoarsely. “I had a vasectomy!”

The other man stroked his white beard thoughtfully. “You had the procedure when you were very young. Sometimes the body heals itself, as I said. It’s rare, less than one percent of cases. But it happens.” He paused. “We can book an appointment to redo the procedure...”

“What’s the point of that now? It’s already too late!” With a low snarl, Antonio rose to his feet and stormed out of the clinic. All he could think about was the stricken look on Hana’s face when he’d left her standing alone on the sidewalk. The shock in her brown eyes.

If she was really pregnant with his child, and he’d treated her like that—

Antonio pushed the thought away ruthlessly. It wasn’t his fault. How could he have possibly known the vasectomy he’d had as a teenager would fail nearly two decades later? Of course he’d assumed Hana was lying. How could he think otherwise? People had always proved themselves worthy of his worst assumptions.

Everyone except Hana. But he’d been all too ready to believe the worst even of her. Because it scared him, how much he’d come to trust her.

As he stepped out of the medical clinic, Antonio saw the rain had lightened to a drizzle, with flashes of sunlight like silver breaking through the clouds.

You’re firing me? Because I’m pregnant with your baby?

He felt another twist in his gut.

“Mr. Delacruz, if I may speak freely...” His longtime bodyguard Ramon Garcia, who’d been waiting in the lobby, followed him toward the waiting car. “ Señor , I think you’ve made a mistake about Miss Everly. She’s a good person. She didn’t deserve to be treated like that.”

Perfecto . This was just what he needed. One more person judging him. And now that Antonio knew he was indeed in the wrong, he really didn’t want to hear it. “It’s none of your business, Garcia.”

The man’s accusing eyes met his. “If you didn’t intend to step up, you never should have slept with her—”

“Enough,” he snapped, causing his bodyguard’s jaw to set. Wonderful, another trusted employee enraged with him. Antonio’s shoulders were tight as he climbed into the waiting Rolls-Royce. Garcia got into the front seat without a word.

“Where to, sir?” the driver asked him after a pause.

“Just drive,” Antonio ground out.

Looking out at the soft drizzle in the spring afternoon, his eyes fell on the pink cherry trees. Hana had been so excited that the negotiations would be in Tokyo at the same time the trees were likely to bloom. They bloom for such a short time, she’d said. It’s precious and beautiful. You have to enjoy it while you can. Before it’s gone.

Just like their night together, he thought.

For years, almost from the day he’d hired her, he’d resisted seducing her only by an act of pure will, because of her importance to his company.

Then she’d kissed him, and all his self-control had exploded to dust, burned away by fire. For the first time in his adult life, he’d given in to the demands of his body, the demands of his heart, over the cold decision of his reason.

Antonio had tried to tell himself that bedding her could somehow be a good thing for their working relationship. That it could end his desire for her. He’d even extracted a promise from Hana that they’d both forget the night ever happened—a promise he knew he himself could not fulfill.

Useless, all useless. From the morning he’d woken up with her soft naked body in his arms, he’d discovered taking her virginity hadn’t lessened his desire, only increased it. His need for her had been a constant torment for the next two months as they’d worked together round the clock on the Iyokan Airways deal. Every time he’d felt her brush against him innocently as they looked over documents together, he’d grasp the desk, remembering how he’d held her virgin body naked against his in the breathless heat of passion. As he heard her speak of business details, he’d hear, against his will, her cry as she’d gasped out with pleasure, gripping his back so tightly, he could still feel the marks of her fingernails—not against his skin, but against his heart.

It had terrified him.

Antonio had known, if he ever touched her again, it would destroy everything he cared about. His company would be hurt by her loss, and he would certainly lose her. Their working relationship could perhaps survive a one-night stand, but not a full-blown affair. He never kept a mistress for long. And how many times had Hana told him that her biggest dream was to someday have a real home, commitment, marriage, children? All things he could never give, not to her or anyone.

So he’d done the impossible. He’d pretended their night together had been forgettable. That it had, in fact, already been forgotten by him.

He’d been the one lying all this time. Not Hana.

Staring out the window blankly as his chauffeur drove him through Tokyo, Antonio looked down and realized his phone was somehow in his hands. Without letting himself think, he dialed Hana’s number.

She didn’t answer.

He tried again.

Same result.

No wonder, he thought grimly. He’d fired her, hadn’t he? She was no longer obligated to pick up when he called.

“Find her,” he barked at his bodyguard.

Turning in the front seat, Garcia’s rough face lifted into a crooked smile. “Her best friend lives in Tokyo. If she’s not answering the phone, she’s probably with him.”

“Who is he?” he demanded in a strained voice.

“His name is Ren Tanaka. His family owns a hotel in Harajuku.”

A best friend? A man? Antonio didn’t know which surprised him more. But as his driver changed route through the crowded streets, he told himself he wasn’t jealous, just curious. Hana had been a virgin; of that, there could be no doubt. And it wasn’t like Antonio had any claim on her.

Except that she was expecting his baby.

A baby.

After everything Antonio had done to prevent fatherhood, he was going to have a child.

A lump rose to his throat as he looked out at the passing streets of Tokyo in the soft spring mist.

Hana would be better off raising the child without him, obviously. What did he know of fatherhood? He’d never had parents. Better to stick with the choices he’d made long ago—to focus on his company and his fortune. They were the only things that mattered.

He’d gotten a vasectomy for a reason. He didn’t have the capacity to commit to anyone for life. He wasn’t fit to be a husband or father. Hana wouldn’t be shocked by this. She knew him better than anyone. All he could offer was financial support. It shouldn’t be hard for him to convince her.

As long as he didn’t touch her. Damn it, he was only a man. If he touched her, he would take her. Not just for a one-night stand. His repressed desire for her had become a ferocious beast, which if unleashed, would be unstoppable. He’d keep her as his mistress until his body was utterly satiated, whether that took days, weeks, or even months. For Antonio, sex was a physical thing, like eating or sleeping. But Hana’s heart was warm, not frozen like his own. All those months in his bed might lure her into blindly loving him. Then, when their affair inevitably ended, her love would just as inevitably turn to hate.