She's Having the Boss's Baby - By Kate Carlisle Page 0,24
continued. “Yes, Aidan. It is business. Anything that involves relations between you and me will have an effect on our business dealings. And after all, we’ll be signing both a contract and a partnership agreement. Our lives and our jobs are about to become inextricably intertwined, wouldn’t you agree?”
Damn, Aidan thought. Even when she got all prim and proper on him, he wanted her. Badly. Now that he’d given himself permission to want her, he couldn’t seem to stop.
“Now, you made me a proposition,” she continued, “and I would like to negotiate the terms. In that regard, I went ahead and made a list of conditions along with some facts and figures I’d like to go over with you. Tomorrow. In the office.”
She’d made a list. Why was he not surprised? But he was impressed and gave her high marks for presenting her case so eloquently. So why did he just want to grab her and kiss her? He would, he vowed. And soon. But right now, it was obvious that Ellie needed to exert some control over the situation, so he was happy to allow it. For now. “Let me first get one thing straight, Ellie. The bottom line is, your answer is yes. You’ve decided to go ahead with my plan.”
“Well, yes. But my conditions—”
“Are on a list,” he drawled. “At the office.”
“Yes,” she said primly. “That’s right.”
He spied her tablet computer, the one she carried with her at all times, on the side table next to her purse and briefcase. “Do you have a copy of the list on your tablet?”
“Yes, but it’s not as effective at making a presentation as my—”
“Let’s see it.”
“But—”
“Ellie.” He pushed away from the bookshelf and approached her. “I don’t mind sitting through your presentation tomorrow, pie charts, Venn diagrams and all. But I’d like the main issues settled right here, right now.”
She scowled, but appeared ready to concede. A good thing since he considered it a very reasonable request.
“Fine.” She grabbed her tablet, started it up, then scrolled through several pages to get to her list.
“Wait, let me see that.” He turned the tablet so he could view the screen and laughed. “Roman numerals? Bullet points? This isn’t a list, it’s a business presentation. That’s why you wanted to go over it at the office. You created a slide show for me.”
Her eyes narrowed and her voice went cold and tight. “I happen to think better with bullet points.” She folded her arms tightly across her chest. “Stop laughing.”
But she was biting back a smile, so Aidan knew she wasn’t too deeply offended. He was just glad she didn’t have any clue how badly his body parts were throbbing at the sight of her lush breasts straining against the thin material of her blouse. She might change her attitude.
He ripped his gaze away from her and stared at the screen. She had divided her list into several main topics: Pre-pregnancy and pregnancy. Post-pregnancy. Baby care and support issues.
Okay, she got points for taking an organized approach to life, but talk about a buzzkill. Time to take back control of this situation. “Send me the pertinent points and I’ll have the lawyers draft the agreement we talked about.”
“I’ll do that,” she said. “But that’s all about the future. I would like to go over the current issues that concern you and me.”
“You and me?” he said, wondering why he’d thought this would be easy. A woman with a sharp, intelligent brain could be a dangerous thing, he reminded himself. “What about you and me? You already said you agreed to my idea.”
“Oh, I do agree,” she rushed to say. “I thought it all through and I’m very happy to go ahead with the plan. I’m certain that your sperm will be suitable.”
“Suitable? Damn, Ellie.” He chuckled as he pulled her close to him, but she stopped him again.
“Please, Aidan. You’re distracting me and I’d really like you to watch my slide presentation first. It only runs ten minutes and I went to a lot of trouble to make sure everything was covered. I think it’ll help clarify our duties and responsibilities to each other.”
“Duties and responsibilities?” Aidan shook his head. Leave it to Ellie to explain sex using bullet points.
“Yes,” she said. “That’s the key to understanding our roles in this project, don’t you think?”
“Our project?” he said.
“Well, yes. That’s how I like to see it. We’re collaborating toward achieving a tangible goal and we have guidelines and milestones to meet.” She