Pregnant on the Upper East Side? / The Billionaire in Penthouse B: Pregnant on the Upper East Side?

“Yes. Spend the weekend at my place. You can meet Zack and my parents.”

She recoiled. The last thing she needed was for her mom and dad to get wind of her dating Alex. He would be the only man she’d ever hooked up with that they would consider suitable. And she was throwing him back just as soon as she came to her senses.

“Alex, we don’t have and will never have a meet-the-parents kind of relationship.”

He shook his head. “That’s not what I’m implying. You need to visit my parents’ house. That’s probably the best place for the party if we want to keep it under wraps. If after you see the place you don’t like that idea, then I’d like to have the party somewhere else in Greenwich so Zack’s friends can come. You’ll have to help me choose an alternate location.”

Why did he keep making offers she couldn’t afford to refuse? She sighed. “If I say yes to spending the weekend with you, you’re not going to take it the wrong way and think this affair is more than temporary insanity, are you?”

He rolled over her, planting his knees between hers and propping his elbows on either side of her body. His eyes held hers and his breath teased her lips. Desire stirred anew. “This relationship will last only as long as it’s beneficial to both of us.”

And with his body intimately connected to hers it was hard not to appreciate the benefits of their association. But uncertainty nagged her, tensing muscles that had been completely lax just moments ago.

She forced herself to relax. She needed this job and any other that Alex could throw her way. She could handle whatever else came up. And he was hellaciously good in bed.

“Okay. I’ll come to Greenwich with you.”

Amanda had known Alex was loaded, but she hadn’t expected his home to be a large estate at the end of a winding, white-fenced, paddock-lined road in the Greenwich backcountry.

She followed him into the sprawling stone center hall colonial Friday evening and paused in the two-storied marbled and wainscoted foyer. To her left she could see a living room with a soaring stone fireplace, a wet bar and a suede sectional sofa.

“Alex, this is nice.”

“Were you expecting a bachelor pad?”

She wrinkled her nose. “You do have a reputation as a guy with a short attention span.”

“Is that why you kept playing hard to get?”

“I told you I wasn’t playing. I am hard to get. Not that you’d know it by this week’s performance.”

His lips tilted in that sexy, I’m-going-to-get-you-in-trouble-and-you’re-going-to-love-it smile that made her insides hum like a beehive. He set their bags at the foot of the stairs and strolled toward her, lazily, but with a predatory glint in his eyes that quickened her pulse. “I have no complaints with your performance.”

Her body flushed from her center to her fingertips, which she pressed to his chest to stop the embrace she saw coming. “Nor I yours, but we’ll never get the details of your party finalized if you don’t quit distracting me.”

Alex had come to her place two of the past three evenings after work under the guise of planning his party. He’d spent the nights, but not working on arrangements. She hadn’t started regretting the involvement yet. But she knew she would. Her relationships always came back to bite her.

He captured her hand with his, lacing their fingers. “I’ll give you a quick tour.”

“Don’t we have to be at your parents’ for dinner soon?”

Mischief glinted in his eyes. She’d seen that look often enough recently to know it meant he wanted her naked, and if she gave him about three seconds’ leeway she’d want it, too. Anticipation made her pulse stutter.

“That’s why you’re getting the abbreviated tour. Otherwise I’d be showing you my bedroom from beneath the sheets. You wouldn’t see much of the house that way.” The man oozed sexuality.

Desire pulsed through her. She tamped it down. “Lead on.”

Her heels tapped out a beat on the hardwood floors as he whisked her past a cherry-paneled study, formal living and dining rooms and through the gourmet eat-in kitchen with black-granite countertops. The place begged for a family to fill it and for a woman to soften the stark decor with a vase of flowers here and there or a few knickknacks or framed photographs.

Did Alex plan to marry and have children? She’d never heard of him staying with anyone long enough to get close to settling down. But why own a place like this if he didn’t plan to start a family?

And why do you care?

You don’t.

She followed him outside onto a limestone-tile patio. Her breath clouded the cold night air. Outdoor lighting illuminated a lap pool that had to be at least fifty feet long. In the shadows beyond the subtle glow she caught hints of lawn and in the distance a low stone wall like the one out front. Evergreen trees mingled with the bare-limbed deciduous variety—one of which had a huge branch perfect for a rope swing. Alex’s home would be the perfect place to raise children.

Children. She’d never thought about having them. And couldn’t now. Her life was a mess. Until she had that straightened out, she couldn’t think about adding complications. But she suddenly wondered if she was missing out.

Of course not. What do you know about good parenting? Nada.

She hugged her coat tighter around her to ward off the frosty air. “You said bring a swimsuit, but it’s too cold to swim.”

“I have a hot tub if you want to brave it later.” He pointed toward a sheltered corner of the patio. “But my parents have an indoor pool. Tomorrow we can swim with Zack, and you can try to get a feel for what kind of party he’d like.”

He led her back inside and up the stairs to a vaultedceiling bedroom decorated in black, white and grey. A king-size bed with a raw-silk pewter bedspread and a massive, carved cherry headboard took up only a quarter of the large room. A gas fireplace with a cozy sitting area had been centered on the wall opposite the bed, and French doors led to a Juliet balcony overlooking the pool and large backyard. She suspected the view from the windows would be beautiful and green in summer.

The room reminded her of Alex. Luxurious, but no frills, no clutter.

Her gaze returned to the bed she’d be sharing with him. It didn’t bother her that she’d be just one of many to pass through it.

It didn’t.

Yes, it did. And that made no sense. She had no claim on him. And didn’t want one.

“Is this where you entertain your women?” She wanted the catty words back the instant she said them. Why had she said them? She wasn’t usually the type to blurt out her thoughts.

“I don’t bring women here. I go to their place. You might have noticed the express-train commute and climbing into a cold car at the depot isn’t exactly romantic.” Alex left his Mercedes at the station every day before heading for Manhattan.

She smiled. “I can see how a forty-minute ride on the express train could kill the mood.”

He stroked a fingertip along her jaw, sending ripples of arousal through her. “Has it killed the mood?”

Not even close. She would much rather stay here, strip down and make love with him in front of a roaring fire than eat with his family. Family dinners, in her opinion, were rarely comfortable affairs. But that wouldn’t help her get Affairs by Amanda on a firmer financial foundation.

“Ahem. What time are your parents expecting us?”

“Soon. I’ll save the tour of the third-floor gym, sauna and steam shower and the basement for later. As much as I’d prefer to keep you here—” he dipped his head to indicate the bed “—we need to go.”

She appreciated his restraint because apparently she’d lost hers—and her perspective right along with it. This weekend was all about business. And that meant meeting his well-connected parents was high on her to-do list.

Like it or not.

If Alex’s home had been impressive, Amanda found his parents’ French Chateau-styled waterfront mansion in Old Greenwich downright intimidating even in the dark. Well-placed landscape uplighting illuminated the sheer scale of the place.

Her stomach felt as if she’d swallowed a witch’s bubbling cauldron of some hot brew. Why was she nervous about meeting his parents? They were merely prospective clients, not prospective in-laws, and she’d grown up in affluent circles.

It was because of the job, the connections and the possibility of tapping into Greenwich society’s deep pockets for future events. The results of this meeting could make Affairs by Amanda financially secure.