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“Your face sure lit up,” Evelina said.
I resolutely didn’t rise to her bait. “I sleep on clean sheets every night because of her. Of course, my face is going to light up.”
“Why do you need your sheets changed every day?” Kristina asked.
Evelina snickered and told her she didn’t want to know, which was probably true. And just another reason why things had to stay professional between me and Sunshine.
“Yeah, nothing’s happening between us,” I said grimly. “She knows too much about me.”
Evelina’s laughter was cut short, and she leaned over and pinched me. “You don’t even know her name, do you? And you cover it with that cutesy nickname.”
She and Kristina shared a disgusted look, and I didn’t have a rebuttal because it was true. I didn’t like that they made it sound so depraved, though. When she was first hired by my assistant, Gregory, I was deep in upgrading the facial recognition software I developed and up to my neck with Bratva business. I didn’t give a crap who left fresh towels on the rack and kept the dust off of everything. By the time we struck up our tentative friendship, I was too embarrassed to ask, forgetting all about it when she wasn’t around. And the nickname was pure. She really was like my daily sunshine. Since we wouldn’t be more than what we were, did it matter, anyway?
The only way to get both of them off my back was to change the subject. We spent the rest of the afternoon on random gossip about people back in Moscow and family business. Kristina made us laugh at some of her outrageous audition stories. I really did feel bad that she was probably going to have to give it up soon. It was a tricky business, though, and maybe it was for the best that she didn’t waste her entire youth on a foolish dream. I only hoped there wasn’t a fallout between her and my sister when her father finally put his foot down.
After they packed their gear up and left, the apartment was plunged into silence. Only ten minutes without little Maks, and I already missed his gurgles and infectious laughter.
What was going on with me lately? The breakup with Natalia hadn’t been such a blow. We’d never been exclusive. It was a bit of an ego dent, nothing more. Could it be that I missed being so far from my family? Until a year ago, Evelina and I had both lived in Moscow and worked in her private investigation business together. We saw our father regularly, and now I barely video chatted with him once or twice weekly.
Maybe it was time to start a family of my own. One I could keep close. But I hadn’t lied about having no time for a relationship. The thought of finding a woman who was wife and mother material and then convincing her I was a viable option put me in a tailspin. It wasn’t exactly easy in my line of work. If they didn’t get spooked and run, I always had to wonder if they were just into me for my money and power.
On my way to my office, I passed the housekeeper packing the cleaning supplies away in the hall closet. I started to thank her for her hard work but noticed that she didn’t have the same cheerful demeanor as when she first arrived at the apartment. In fact, she looked like she might have been crying. Her pale blue eyes were rimmed with red, and her normally fair cheeks were splotchy. As soon as she saw me, she forced a smile, but it was just that. Forced.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, shocked at how worried I was. “Did you get hurt?”
She shook her head, several long strands of hair that had come free from her braid settling on her shoulders. “I’m fine, Mr. Morozov, really.”
I groaned. “We must be practically the same age,” I said, even though she was probably a few years younger than me. “Please call me Leo.” I had asked her several times before to drop the formalities. I got enough bowing and scraping from my underlings and didn’t need it at home, too.
“Sorry, Mr.—Leo.”
“Don’t be sorry, either,” I teased, desperate to see her genuine smile so I’d know she was all right. “Don’t be a hero if you got hurt. I’m trained in first aid.” Good God, was I trying to show off?
Her strained look melted away, and she patted her cheeks. “I think I’m having some allergies, that’s all. Sometimes I get puffy.”
I didn’t believe her, but what could I do if she didn’t want to tell me if something was wrong? We were friendly but kept things professional, and at the end of the day, her life was none of my business. I walked with her to the elevator and then returned to my sanctuary.
My computers were still telling me something was wrong, but for the first time, I didn’t want to immediately hunker down and dig into the problem. I didn’t want to get ready for a night of mindless debauchery at one of my clubs, either. I was still stuck on the idea of having a kid of my own. I had talents, things to offer a young life, didn’t I? I certainly had enough love, plenty of good, albeit a bit unconventional, role models, and money wasn’t going to be a problem.
I began reading articles about single parents, narrowing the field to single dads. There were more out there than I had thought, and I pored for hours over their posts on the Single Parents by Choice forum I found. I created an account and dove in with questions. It was near dawn by the time I decided to click on the link to the surrogacy agency in Manhattan that got overwhelmingly good reviews.
Maybe Evelina would have scoffed, but my decision wasn’t so out of the realm of reality. And she couldn’t say I was too young to be a father when I was four minutes older than her, and she was thriving as a mom. I could already imagine my child playing with Maks, close enough in age that they’d have as strong of a bond as Ev and I did. I didn’t want all the other kids in my family to be ten years older than mine because of a dearth of marriageable women.
As soon as it opened, I headed to the nearest animal shelter to adopt a dog. On my way home with the unruly puppy, I called the surrogacy agency to set up a consultation.
I was ready. More than ready.
Chapter 2 - Samantha
I managed to keep a smile until the elevator doors slid shut, then slumped against the wall, emotionally drained. How did I let my boss catch me practically having a breakdown? Talk about unprofessional. Not that he wasn’t sweet and understanding. He’d already proven to be easygoing in the past when I had to reschedule due to a meeting at my sister’s school. He even remembered to ask how I was after the one time I had to call in sick with the stomach flu.
Out of all three of my bosses, he was the best. Since he liked me to go in every day, the place never got messy. He was a dream compared to the tyrant at the coffee shop and the dictator at the dentist's office, where I did part-time filing. It was by far the best job I had, even if it meant carefully laundering all his one-night stand’s panties because it paid more than my other two jobs combined. In the last few months since I’d been working for Leo Morozov, I was even able to save a few hundred extra dollars, a seemingly impossible feat.
I really needed to keep it together because I couldn’t afford to lose any of my jobs. Now more than ever, I needed every last penny I could scrape together.
But seeing that adorable little baby had brought on a whirlwind of memories. I was twelve when my baby sister came home from the hospital, all swaddled up in the pink blanket I had painstakingly crocheted for her. It had been my first and last attempt at the craft, and it was awful, but my mother still acted like it had been worthy of a blue ribbon.
I was instantly smitten with Annie, hovering around, acting like a second mom and probably being more trouble than help, though my mom never let on. She also never disclosed how sick she was getting, and my father and I were stunned when she died only two years later. I wish I could say he tried to do his best for us, but he couldn’t handle a toddler and a teenager, along with the grief of losing his wife. A series of bad decisions landed him in prison, where he still resided.
