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Just going off of the odds, I probably wasn’t going to get pregnant on the first try. I had just stopped taking my birth control. I had three separate friends with kids, and it took all of them months to conceive. Heck, one of them tried for three years before finally getting pregnant!
It was exhilarating to think about, though. Exhilarating, and gross, and terrifying all at the same time.
Tristan was sitting on the outdoor terrace sipping a coffee. A half-eaten omelet and bagel were on a plate in front of him, but he was focused on a tablet balanced on his knees.
“You look sharp this morning,” I told him. He was wearing a tan suit and white sunglasses that complimented his complexion.
“I am always dressed the same way, regardless of the day,” he replied.
I grabbed the remains of his bagel and took a bite. “Geez, learn to take a compliment.”
He lowered his sunglasses to look at me. “You may order your own breakfast, of course.”
“Why let this go to waste?” I replied with my mouth full. The way Tristan rolled his eyes put a big smile on my face.
One of the kitchen staff was at my side moments later. I ordered my own meal and a coffee.
“Another ristretto, Mr. Lowe?”
“Please.”
“What’s a ristretto?” I asked. “Is that like an espresso?”
“In the sense that a pebble is like the moon,” Tristan replied dryly.
“I don’t know what that means.”
“It is a drink made for kings and scholars. It is nothing like an espresso.”
The servant returned a moment later with my coffee and Tristan’s drink in a smaller cup. “Hi, excuse me, what exactly is a ristretto?”
“It is a very strong coffee drink,” the white-clad man replied. “It is very similar to an espresso, but with less liquid. It is more concentrated.”
“Very similar to an espresso,” I repeated, carefully not looking at Tristan. “Interesting. Thank you for the explanation.”
After he was gone, I turned my smile toward Tristan. The scowl on his face could have melted paint. He noisily turned his chair until he was facing the water—away from me.
While sipping my coffee and enjoying the view, I thought again about last night. When I first agreed to the second surrogacy contract, my biggest fear was that sex with Pierce would be uncomfortable. Or, worse, outright bad. I had assumed that a billionaire like him was used to women throwing themselves at him, to the point that they didn’t need to put in any effort. I could live with that, however it was a concern.
But having sex with Pierce easily cleared the low bar of bad. In fact, it was downright fantastic. I certainly didn’t expect to come the first time, let alone twice. We connected on so many levels last night. Aside from the fact that we were flying back to his private island on his private helicopter, I never would have known he was a billionaire.
He was intelligent, successful, good looking, and he was a great lover? Out of all the people who might have picked me to be their surrogate, I couldn’t believe how lucky I was that it was Pierce. It made me laugh.
“And what do you find so funny this morning?” Tristan asked in that proper English accent. “Surely you are not still dwelling on my choice of morning caffeine source.”
“Nothing. I was thinking about last night, is all.”
“The evening you and Pierce spent together, or the sultry aftermath?”
I was glad he was facing away from me, because it meant he couldn’t see my shocked expression. “How do you know about that? He told you?”
Tristan turned back to me and smiled. “Pierce told me nothing of your evening, although it was not necessary. It was quite clear what activity the two of you had engaged in when you stepped off the aircraft and greeted the President of Costa Rica. I had notified Pierce ahead of time, yet he was not checking his phone. That could mean only one thing.”
“It could have meant several things,” I muttered.
“Perhaps. But in this case, the disheveled state of your hair and his flushed cheeks clearly indicated what had transpired on your return journey.”
“You know, it’s awfully rude to just blurt that out to someone over their morning espresso,” I shot back at him.
