The Billionaire's Illicit Twins - Holly Rayner Page 0,24

mind that must have been thinking that I was either a girlfriend or some high-priced call girl, there to pay some personal attention to Ethan. Honestly, I didn’t care. If it got me into his office, it was good enough for me.

I wasn’t worried that she’d spread it around town. She worked for Ethan Parker. I doubted her job would hold if she started spreading rumors about him.

It turned out that Ms. Front Desk did indeed know what was good for her, because after a long, considering look, she picked up the phone, punched a couple of numbers, and asked the person on the other end of the line to put her through to Mr. Parker. After a short pause, she spoke again.

“Yes, Mr. Parker, sir, this is Emily at the front desk. I’m sorry to bother you but there’s a woman here who’s insisting on meeting with you. She claims you’ll know who she is and what she wants to meet about.” Another pause, and then, “Bella Mayfair.”

I had no idea what he said to her, but her eyes went wider at it and she nodded once.

“Right, I’ll send her right up, sir. And I apologize for the misunderstanding.”

When she turned back to me again her face held a mixture of respect and consideration, and I could see her wondering what exactly my relationship was with Ethan Parker—and why I was able to stroll into his office without a previous appointment.

Unfortunately for her, she was never going to know. Because I wasn’t telling, and I was flat-out positive that Ethan wouldn’t, either.

The receptionist gave me a badge and a vague instruction to take the elevator to the top floor, and a moment later I was past the guards and riding said elevator to the sixty-fourth floor, which was marked “Executive Suite.”

I gulped and looked up at the numbers flying by at the top of the car. Executive Suite. No problem. It was just a fancy name for ‘suite at the top of the building that happens to hold the biggest of the bigwigs.’ So what if it was way above my pay grade? That didn’t make it any different than any other suite. Not really. And it wouldn’t have mattered if it did, because nothing was going to change my reasons for talking to Ethan Parker.

Nothing was going to change what I had to tell him.

Chapter 14

Bella

“Twins?” Ethan asked, unconsciously echoing my earlier question to my reflection in the bathroom mirror. “How is that possible? How can we be having twins?”

I almost laughed. “Basically, the egg that was fertilized split into two, so that two embryos grew,” I said, my tone completely serious. “Or, I suppose, two eggs were fertilized at the same time and both decided to… well, stick.” I shrugged. “I didn’t think that was a big mystery. But maybe guys don’t learn that like girls do?”

He cast me an extremely wry glance. “Of course we learn that. It’s basic biology. But… I mean how? How could that be?”

“God, do you approach all problems like this?” I asked, more than a little bit exasperated. Was he the head of this company or what? Wasn’t it his job to think more quickly on his feet rather than sitting there gaping at a problem like some sort of fish out of water?

I moved forward from where I’d stopped at the door to his office and sat down in one of the plush chairs facing him—something I’d refused to do when I first came in, as I’d wanted to be on my feet when I told him what I’d come to say.

Something about being on a more even eye-level with him. Something about being in a position of power. And I swear it had made sense at the time. It had adhered to everything I usually did when I put the lawyer mask on and pulled out my power act. But as it turned out, that hadn’t actually helped all that much. I still felt sick for the rush of adrenaline that had gone through me when I spit the words out. I still felt like my knees were actually going to give out at the problem that we were facing.

So in that way, sitting down was the obvious choice.

I also got the distinct feeling that this was going to take longer than I’d originally anticipated. Because he hadn’t just taken the news in and moved right to asking me whether I’d made up my mind about selling him the