COULD THERE BE anything more embarrassing than being pregnant by a man who wishes he hadn’t slept with you?
Actually, there could be if he was your boss—
And your childhood friend.
Eleanora DeLuca stared at the pregnancy test stick, not sure if she should groan in disbelief or complete panic.
August 24 had been the best day of her life, celebrating the grand opening of her hotel—
Well, it wasn’t really her hotel. It belonged to the Grand York Hotel Group. She was simply the manager of their Rome offering, the Group’s first ever international hotel, the beginning of a new chapter in the company’s history. It was an honor to be given the job, an honor to have the opportunity to put her stamp on every detail and she’d had her share of champagne to celebrate it.
But the best part of the night had been finally getting the attention of her longtime friend and forever crush, Marco Pearson, her boss and one of the people who owned the Grand York Hotel Group. They’d kissed and teased their way to the suite reserved for her that night and made love like two people starving for the taste of each other. But the next day she’d awakened alone.
When she arrived at her first-floor office, she’d been told Marco had returned to Manhattan, and when he’d called her a few days later, he’d told her that sleeping together had been a mistake. Not because he disliked her. Exactly the opposite. Their friendship spanned two and a half decades. He didn’t want to lose that. He wanted to go back to being just friends.
She squeezed her eyes shut. She was pregnant by her boss.
A guy who wished they hadn’t slept together.
He was smart and sophisticated, the kind of man who dated movie stars and social media influencers.
And she was carrying his child?
The universe had certainly gotten this one wrong.
She dropped her head to her free hand and groaned.
In the grand scheme of things, her life was a study in Murphy’s Law. If something could go wrong, it did.
Her personal phone rang. She lifted it from her bedside table and groaned again.
The man of her dreams, father of her child, guy who wished he hadn’t slept with her was calling.
She took a breath and answered. “Good morning, Marco.”
“What’s up? I tried to reach you on your work phone, and you didn’t pick up.”
She could picture him sitting behind his big desk in the Manhattan offices of the Grand York Hotel Group. His short black hair would be neatly combed. Tall and athletic, he’d look like the perfect businessman in his dark suit with sedate print tie. But she’d seen what was beneath his stately clothes. She’d touched the muscles, traced her tongue along the indentations defining his pecs.
She’d heard him laugh. She’d made him laugh. And she’d also made him moan with pleasure.
Longing and confusion whispered through her. She was strong enough, smart enough, not to yearn for something she couldn’t have. A pregnancy would not change his feelings about their relationship.
And if it did, would she want that?
Would she want the man who’d already admitted sleeping with her had been a mistake to change his feelings for her because she was carrying his child?
No.
This was awful—a mess that didn’t just encompass her personal life; it dragged in her work life too. And she wasn’t ready to be chipper, happy, Eleanora, the perfect employee. She would need a couple of hours to adjust to being pregnant before she could talk business. “I’m a little under the weather today.”
“I’m sorry! You’re sick and I’m bugging you about work. I’ll hang up—”
On the other hand, she also didn’t want to jeopardize her job or make him think she wasn’t strong enough to handle it.
“I woke up with a headache this morning.” Dropping the pregnancy test in the trash, she winced at the lie. She never lied. And that was the second part of her problem. She would not lie to him about being her baby’s father. But it was already October 24, two months into her pregnancy. If she didn’t tell him within the next couple of weeks, he would notice her baby bump when she began to show and that could get even messier. Meaning, she had to tell him soon—
But not today. Right now, she was not up to facing the truth with him. If a little white lie bought her some time, she would cross her fingers behind her back as she said it.
“I’ll take a few painkillers and be in the office in about an hour. You can call me then.”
“You’re sure you’re okay? You don’t think you need to see a doctor?”
She shook her head in wonder that someone who was so smart, so observant, so kind and caring, could miss that she was hedging. But they had been friends forever. His concern for her as his friend would trump everything else and he’d assume that role, rather than speak to her as her boss.
“I’m sure.” She took another long, slow breath. “As I said, I’ll be in my office in an hour. We can discuss anything you want.”
“Actually, I just wanted to remind you that I’ll be in Rome next week.”
She managed to hold back a groan, but that only resulted in apprehension vibrating through her voice. “Oh, I haven’t forgotten.”
He laughed. “It’s not like you to fear a visit from the boss. I’m guessing every lamp is polished and every piece of silver sparkles. I can’t imagine you’d have anything to worry about.”
Only a pregnancy.
But that was a discussion for next week.
She had seven whole days to decide what she wanted to do, what she wanted to say and how she’d say it.
“Goodbye, Marco. If there’s nothing else you need, I’ll be available in an hour.”
“Don’t forget the painkillers.”
She grimaced. “I won’t.”
Marco Pearson hung up the phone and frowned. He had never heard Eleanora sound as...unprofessional?...as she had in that phone call. He leaned back in his office chair, swiveling it so he could see the jaw-dropping view of Manhattan behind him.
His elbow on the chair’s arm, he ran his finger along his upper lip. Since the night of the grand opening for the Grand York Rome, he’d had flashes of memory of them together. First, dancing at the party in the ballroom. Then, laughing as they raced up the elaborate lobby stairs. Then a flash of her naked. Soft and pink. Her auburn hair disheveled. Her green eyes sparkling.
He’d never wanted a woman more. But sleeping with his best friend had been a huge mistake. They’d known each other since childhood. Navigated the lumps and bumps of high school together. She’d been his first hire, when his dad let him run the front desk at the original Grand York the summer after he’d graduated. He’d nursed her back to health after her first hangover. She’d helped him decipher the nuances of every job he’d held with the Grand York. She’d helped him through the trauma of losing his mom. He’d watched out for promotions that were good for her. Their fathers were still friends. A smart man did not jeopardize that kind of relationship over one night of sex.
Particularly since they knew each other’s secrets and dreams and a bad breakup could be explosive—
Because he knew they’d break up eventually. Neither one of them had a good track record with relationships. She always seemed to end up with guys who weren’t good for her, and he didn’t believe in happily-ever-after. So technically that made him one of the guys who weren’t good for her. He’d long ago vowed never to tie himself down. If he let this thing between them go on, the end could destroy at least her career and probably severely damage his.
Worse, their fathers might get involved.
Dear God.
He would not let that happen. A few days after they’d slept together, he’d told her what they’d had could go no further and she’d accepted it. Now, he intended to do damage control on his visit to Rome by showing her that nothing had changed between them.
They were still friends. They would always be friends. And they would never do that again.
No matter how much fun it had been.
He finished the week clearing up things that needed to be done before he left for Rome late Monday night. As he walked up the steps of the family’s private jet, dread tiptoed through him. There had been no tabloid article about him making a spectacle of himself in Rome the night of the grand opening. No employee gossip filtered to him about his inappropriate behavior. Because his behavior hadn’t been inappropriate. He’d done nothing that would rouse anyone’s suspicions.
Dancing with Eleanora wouldn’t raise any red flags.
Racing up the stairs with her wouldn’t either.
Everyone knew they were close friends. Everyone also knew the party had been about celebrating. Everyone had had too much champagne. Everyone had laughed and danced and in general enjoyed themselves.
As long as he and Eleanora had been laughing, invited guests of the hotel would have simply seen two friends having fun.
No one would have guessed they’d gone to her room and made love.
But none of that really mattered. It was his friendship with Eleanora he was worried about. What if she’d said she was fine pretending nothing had happened between them, when she really wasn’t?
Their phone conversation the week before rose in his thoughts. She wasn’t prone to headaches. So maybe she’d given him the bum’s rush because she didn’t want to talk to him?
He lowered himself to his seat and buckled in, wincing at that possibility. She could very well be upset and pretending she wasn’t to keep peace between them to protect her job.
As planned, he slept through the long flight and only woke when the copilot’s voice burst into the main cabin announcing they were preparing to land. A glance at his watch told him it was almost noon in Italy. With another yawn, he gathered his wits as the family’s private jet landed.
Jogging down the six steps from the plane to the tarmac, he looked over to see the black limo awaiting him. But his eyebrows rose when he saw Eleanora leaning against the fender beside the back door. As he walked to the vehicle, she pushed away from the car.
“Good morning.”
“Good morning to you too.” Normally, having her meet him would have made him smile. But this wasn’t usual protocol. Given that she hadn’t mentioned meeting him, he assumed she was taking this opportunity to discuss something privately. A perfectly normal thing for a new hotel manager.
Or a woman who wanted to have it out with him.
Though the decision to make love that night had been mutual—neither was too impaired to make the choice—he was her boss. He was supposed to be smarter than to be seduced by or seduce an employee. She wouldn’t sue him. But she might call a halt to their friendship. Then he’d have to explain to his dad. And his dad might face questions from the DeLuca family—
He prayed she simply wanted to discuss something about the hotel. “To what do I owe the pleasure of you meeting me?”
The driver opened the back door and Marco motioned for Eleanora to enter first.
“There are a few things we need to discuss, and I wanted privacy.”
That was what he expected, but his brain jumped back to the grand opening and their blissful night together, and his gut tightened. He stopped that reaction, telling himself that his manager most likely wanted to discuss the hotel.
He got into the limo. The door closed behind him. She raised the privacy glass.
Oh, God. She wanted to end their friendship. He was going to have to explain to his dad that he’d slept with her—the daughter of his friend, a woman Joshua Pearson treated like a daughter.
She glanced at him with an awkward smile, and he readied himself. They were friends. He would fix this. He would not let her end their friendship.
“I’m pregnant.”
Shock made his mind go blank. “What?”
The limo began to navigate the tarmac to get to the road out of the airport.
“I know you wanted us to just forget we slept together after the grand opening celebration...and, honestly, I could have done that if that was how you wanted it—”
He stared at her. How he wanted it? She hadn’t wanted to forget they’d slept together? What had she expected to happen? That they’d begin a relationship?
He shook himself back to reality. None of that mattered! He had to deal with one problem at a time. She was pregnant. How he handled getting the news could determine the future of their friendship—
And their work relationship.
Oh, God. This pregnancy would play out in front of the employees of the Rome hotel, as well as the employees of the corporate office. There would be jokes and teasing. Water-cooler gossip.
Once again, that didn’t matter. He was an adult. He could survive a little teasing.
So could she.
But it sounded like they needed to be honest right now. As honest as they’d always been with each other.
He took a breath. “Okay. First, I’m sorry that things at the grand opening ended up with us sleeping together. I want to blame alcohol.”
“I want to blame alcohol too, but neither one of us was drunk.” She paused for a quick drink of air. “Look, we were having fun. We’d worked hard on getting the hotel done and open. We simply didn’t think ahead to potential consequences.”
Those consequences rumbled through his brain, making him tingle with confusion. “A baby.”
She caught his gaze. “Yeah.”
His entire body went numb, as a million thoughts bombarded him. Scary thoughts. Overwhelming thoughts. Not just diapers and bottles, but swing sets and grammar school, teen years, university, things he never thought about because he’d never even considered becoming a dad.
Never.
They fell silent. He didn’t know why she was quiet except she probably had an equal number of scary, overwhelming thoughts. And, clearly, neither one of them had any answers.
If he’d worried making love would impact their friendship, becoming parents had a million even more drastic potential consequences.
On the seemingly endless drive to Rome’s Grand York Hotel, the idea tiptoed into his mind that they should get married, but his soul roared with refusal.
Roared.
Marriage?
That wasn’t who he was. First, being unencumbered made it possible for him to be the best Managing Director of the family’s hotel chain that he could be. Second, he watched his father mourn his mom after her death and become a completely different person. Even a love as strong as his parents’, a love that seemed like it would last forever, had ended when his mother died, proving there was no such thing as happily-ever-after. A person was a fool to buy into that.
But he knew Eleanora. He knew she wanted the fairy tale, even if it meant being disillusioned by it at some point.
He wouldn’t ask her to marry him. Not merely because he didn’t believe in marriage, but also to leave her free to pursue marriage if she wanted it.
One thing decided. But so many others crowded his brain. Back to bottles and diapers. Learning to walk. Custody. Visitation. He’d have to hire a nanny. Did nannies work part-time? Like only for visitation? Could he keep his penthouse? How the hell did someone baby-proof a home?
He was going to be a terrible father!
They walked into Rome’s Grand York Hotel and everyone from the bellboys to the registration desk employees welcomed him with broad smiles. Who could blame them? They were all part of something extraordinary. A gorgeous hotel, made for pampering people. They worked as a team, like a family.
He glanced around at the high ceilings of the lobby, the elegant corbels in corners and the dark cherrywood reception area that shone from a recent polishing, then his gaze was drawn to the stunning circular stairway that led to the mezzanine and a bank of elevators that went to ultra-expensive, ultra-private rooms. He remembered racing up that stairway with Eleanora. He could all but see it in his mind’s eye and almost hear the way their laughter rang along the high ceilings.
The reception clerks all said hello. A bellboy tipped his hat. No one treated him oddly. Gracious manager that she was, Eleanora stood tall and elegant in her white dress and navy blue high heels, her auburn hair curling around her shoulders.
While he was churning inside, remembering a night that resulted in his becoming a father, she was perfectly calm.
But she’d had time to process this. He hadn’t. Too much was at stake here for him not to step away and think this through before they talked any more.
The desk clerk gave him the key to the exclusive penthouse. “Thank you.”
He turned away from the desk, caught Eleanora’s upper arm and eased them away from everybody before he quietly said, “I’m sorry to bail on you today, but what you told me in the car was the absolute last thing I expected to hear.”
Obviously aware of the employees around them, she didn’t say anything, didn’t mention the pregnancy, only inclined her head to indicate she understood.
“I won’t be in the office this afternoon. I’ll be in my room. Please don’t take offense, but I need to process this.”
With that he walked to the elevator, got in, pressed in the code for the penthouse suite and left.