Pregnant By The Rival Ceo

“I’m familiar with that aspect of his personality.” She ran her finger around the edge of the wine glass, her eyes connecting with his and sending a splendid shock right through him. “I could never get Adam to tell me exactly what happened. Between the two of you.”

Although Jacob wasn’t certain what made Adam react the way he had, he suspected Roger Langford was at the root of it all. It started when Jacob spotted problems with Adam’s central idea for Chatterback, the social media website they were starting. They needed to rethink everything. Adam vehemently disagreed. He brooded, they argued for days on end. Jacob suggested Adam consult with his dad—maybe he could talk some sense into him. The next day, Jacob had been cut out entirely. “I find that surprising. I assumed he bad-mouthed me to anyone who would listen.”

“He did some of that, but he mostly just never wanted to talk about it.” Anna wound her arms around her waist.

Did he care to venture down this road tonight? Absolutely not. The details were too infuriating—money lost, countless hours, passion and hard work unfairly yanked away. Plus, he couldn’t tell Anna that he suspected her father had been the problem. She was likely still grieving him. “I don’t want to be accused of trying to taint your opinion of Adam. He is your brother, after all.”

“Okay, then at least tell me that you’ll put me in the room with Sunny Side.”

His mind went to work, calculating. There were myriad ways in which this could all go wrong. Of course, if it went right, that could be a real coup. “I’ll make it happen, but this is only because of you. I don’t want Adam interfering.”

“Believe me, I won’t let him get in the middle.” Anna took a sip of her wine. When she set down the glass, she laughed quietly and shook her head. “It was bad enough when he was the reason you didn’t want me to kiss you.”

Two

Adam’s fiancée, Melanie, pointed to the dog-eared pages of bridal magazines spread out on the dining table in Adam’s penthouse apartment. “Anna? What do you think? Black or eggplant?”

Bridesmaid’s dresses. Talking about the dress she’d have to wear for Adam and Melanie’s January wedding felt like a speed bump. Anna’d been trying to broach the subject of Jacob and Miami for nearly the entire week, but Adam kept putting her off.

“Do you have a preference?” Melanie asked.

Anna shook her head, setting down her dessert spoon. The chocolate mousse Melanie had served with dinner was delicious, and perfect, just like Adam and Melanie’s life—a well-matched couple giddily in love, wedding a few months down the road. “I’m sorry. What were you saying?”

“Classic black A-line or strapless dark purple?”

Anna choked back a sigh. She was happy for Adam and Melanie, really she was, but their wedding had taken over Langford family life. It was the only thing their mother, Evelyn, wanted to talk about. Just to make things especially fun for Anna, her mother usually added a comment about how her first project after the wedding was helping Anna find the right guy. January couldn’t come—and go—soon enough.

She loved her brother dearly. Melanie had become a close friend. It was just that it was painful to watch them reach a milestone Anna was skeptical she’d ever reach. At twenty-eight, being hopelessly single in a city full of men who didn’t have eyes for women with lofty aspirations, there wasn’t much else to think. Most men were intimidated by her family and the job she’d already ascended to at LangTel. It wasn’t going to get any less daunting for them if and when she took over as CEO.

“The black, I guess,” Anna said. “But you should pick what you want. Don’t worry about me. It’s your big day, not mine.”

“No, I want you to be happy. I think we’ll go with the black.” Melanie smiled warmly.

Anna really did adore her future sister-in-law. These days, Melanie was the only thing that made being around Adam tolerable, which was so sad. Adam had once been her ally. Now it was as if she had a grizzly bear for a brother and a boss—she never knew what would set him off, and most days, it seemed as if everything did.

She’d assumed she and Adam would lean on each other after their father passed away, but instead, Adam had withdrawn. He’d holed up in Dad’s big corner office and become distant. The tougher things got, the more Adam shut her out. She’d been exercising patience. Everyone dealt with death differently. If only he’d trust her with more responsibility, she could lighten his workload and remind him that she was well equipped to take over.

Melanie took Adam’s hand across the sleek ebony table, her stunning Harry Winston engagement ring glinting. “I still can’t believe we’re getting married. I pinch myself every morning.”

“Just wait until we have kids,” Adam quipped. “Then things will really get surreal.”

“You’re already talking about children?” Anna tried to squelch the extreme surprise in her voice.

“We are,” Melanie answered. “Two of my sisters had trouble getting pregnant. If we’re going to have kids, I don’t want to risk waiting too long.”

Anna nodded. She’d worried about how long she would have to wait. Her friends from college were having kids, some their second or third. On an intellectual level, she knew she had time, but after her dad had died, emotion had taken over reasoning, and she panicked.

Feeling alone while watching Adam move forward with his life, Anna decided she wasn’t about to wait for a man to show up in hers. She’d looked into artificial insemination. It was a just-in-case sort of thing—a fact-finding mission. Hopefully, she’d find love and a partner and none of it would be necessary, but at that moment when she’d felt powerless, taking action was the only comfort she could get.

Unfortunately, the visit to the clinic brought a devastating problem to light—a tangle of scar tissue from her appendectomy, literally choking off her chances of conception unless she had surgery. If she didn’t fix the problem and she did become pregnant, carrying a baby to term was unlikely. With things crazy at work, Anna hadn’t done a thing about it, although she planned to. Some day.

“We aren’t going to have to try, Mel.” Adam leaned back in his chair, folding his hands behind his head. “If I have my way, you’ll be pregnant by the end of the honeymoon.”

Melanie laughed quietly. “Did Adam tell you about Fiji?” she asked Anna. “Two weeks in a private villa on the beach with a chef and an on-call masseuse, all while the rest of New York is dealing with gray snow and cold. I can’t wait.”

Fiji. In January. Anna took a cleansing breath. She hated these feelings of envy. She wanted to squash them like a bug.

“We need to talk about that, because we’re going to be away for a full two weeks,” Adam said to Anna. “If you think that’s too long a stretch for you to be in charge at LangTel, you need to tell me now.”

Anna blew out an exasperated breath. “I can’t believe you think there’s a chance I can’t handle it.”

Adam fetched a bottle of beer from the fridge and returned to the table. “What about Australia? What if something like that happens when I’m gone? We’re still sorting out that mess.”

“First off, we’re not sorting out that mess, I am. And you asked me to make those changes. I was following orders.”

“If you’re going to be CEO, you have to think for yourself.” He took a sip of his beer and pointed at her with the neck of the bottle. “There will be no orders to follow.”

How she hated it when he talked down to her like that, as if she didn’t know as much about business, when she absolutely did. “And I will do that once you finally hand over the reins.” Anna tightened her hands into balls. She was so tired of her dynamic with Adam, constantly at war.

Melanie buried her nose in a bridal magazine. Surely this wasn’t a comfortable conversation to sit in on.

“When you’re ready and not a day sooner,” Adam barked. “You know we’re in a delicate position. The company stock is fluctuating like crazy. I keep hearing rumblings about somebody, somewhere, wanting to take over the company.”

She’d heard those same rumors, but had ignored them, hoping they were conjecture and nothing more. “Adam, change brings instability. I think you’re making excuses, when the truth is that you suddenly have zero confidence in me.”

“You don’t make it easy when you make mistakes. Half of the board members are old guard. They do not want to see a woman take over the company, no matter what they might say to your face. We have to find the right time.”

Anna felt as though she was listening to her father speak. Was there something about working out of that office that made a person completely unreasonable? “You mean I have to wait until you decide it’s the right time.”

“You have no idea the amount of pressure I’m under. People expect huge things from me and from LangTel. I can’t let what Dad started be anything less than amazing.”

Anna kept her thoughts to herself. Adam was struggling with their father’s death even more than she was. He might not realize it, but she was sure his iron grip on LangTel had more to do with holding on to the memory of their dad than anything else. Tears stung Anna’s eyes just thinking about her father, but she wouldn’t cry. Not now.

“I can do this. I thought you believed in me.”

“I do, but frankly, you haven’t dazzled me like I thought you would.”

“Then let me dazzle you. I have an idea for an acquisition after the conference in Miami. That’s what I’ve been trying to talk to you all week about.”

“I don’t want to spend our entire evening talking shop. Send me the details in an email and we’ll talk about it tomorrow.”

“No. You keep blowing me off. Plus, I’m starting to think this isn’t a discussion for the office.”

“Why not?”

You might get mad enough to set off the sprinkler system. “Because it has to do with Jacob Lin. I’m interested in a company called Sunny Side, and he’s the majority investor.”

Adam’s jaw dropped and quickly froze in place. “I don’t care if Jacob Lin is selling the Empire State Building for a dollar. We’re not doing business with him. End of discussion.”

That last bit was so like her dad, and such a guy thing to do, attempting to do away with an uncomfortable subject with male posturing. It insulted every brain cell in her head, which meant it was time to forge ahead. She wasn’t about to wait for another time. It might never come. “The company makes micro solar panels for cell phones, phones that will never, ever need an electrical charge.”

“Sounds amazing,” Melanie chimed in from behind the shield of her magazine.

Adam shook his head, just as stubborn as Anna had imagined he’d be. “No, it doesn’t.”

“Yes, it does,” Anna said. “We’re talking about a revolution in our industry. Imagine the possibilities. Every person who ever wandered around an airport looking for an outlet will never see a reason to buy a phone other than ours.”

“Think of the safety aspects. Or the possibilities for remote places,” Melanie added. “The public relations upside could be huge.”

“Not to mention the financial upside,” Anna said.

Adam kneaded his forehead. “Are you two in cahoots or something? I don’t care if Jacob has invested in a cell phone that will make dinner and do your taxes. He and I tried to work together once and it was impossible. The man doesn’t know how to work with other people.”

Her conversation with Jacob was fresh in her mind, what he’d said about the end of his friendship with Adam. What if things had been different and they had remained friends? “Funny, but he says the same thing about you.”

Adam turned and narrowed his focus, his eyes launching daggers at Anna. “You spoke to him about this?”

“Actually, I met with him. I told him that LangTel is interested in Sunny Side.”

“I can’t believe you would do that.”

“Come on, Adam.” Anna leaned forward, hoping to plead with her eyes. “We would be passing up a huge opportunity. Just take a minute and look past your history with Jacob for the good of LangTel. You’ll see that I’m right.”

Adam stood up from the table. “I can’t listen to this anymore. I’m going to answer emails and take a shower.” He leaned down and kissed the top of Melanie’s head. “Good night.”

“That’s it?” Anna asked, bolting out of her seat, her chair scraping loudly on the hardwood floors. “The almighty Adam passes down his decree and I’m supposed to live with it, even when my idea could make billions for the company he won’t hand over because he’s so concerned with its success?”

“Look, I call the shots. I’m CEO.”

Anna felt as if she’d been punched in the stomach. “You’ve reminded me of that every day since you took over.”

“Good. Because I don’t want to talk about this ever again. And I don’t want you to speak to Jacob Lin ever again, either.” He started down the hall, but turned and doubled back, raising a finger in the air as if he’d just had the greatest idea. “In fact, I forbid it.”

“Excuse me?” She remained frozen, beyond stunned. “You forbid it?”

“Yes, Anna. I forbid it. You are my employee and I am forbidding you to talk to him. He’s dangerous and I don’t trust him. At all.”

Three

Jacob ended his first conversation with Adam Langford in six years with a growl of disgust, dropping his cell phone onto the weight bench in his home gym. Where exactly did Adam get off calling him? And issuing orders? Stay away from his sister? Keep your little cell phone company to yourself? Jacob had a good mind to get in his car, storm through the lobby of LangTel up to Adam’s office and finally have it out, once and for all. Lock the door. Two guys. Fists. Go time.

Jacob leaped up onto the treadmill, upping his pre-set speed of six miles per hour to seven. Rain streaked the windows. Morning sunlight fought to break through gray September clouds looming over the Manhattan skyline. His long legs carried him across the conveyor belt, his breaths coming quicker, but it wasn’t enough. It wasn’t hard. It wasn’t painful. He upped his speed again. He craved every bit of release he could get—no sex in two months, a powder keg of a job and an infuriating phone conversation with his biggest adversary made him feel as if he might explode.

It was more than what Adam had said, it was the way he’d said it, so smug and assuming. Adam wasn’t all-powerful. He never had been, although he loved to act as though he was. Adam did not control him. The suggestion, even the slightest hint that he did, made his blood boil. He’d show Adam. He’d do whatever the hell he wanted. He would get as close to Anna as humanly possible, in any way she wanted to be close to him. If she wanted to do business, they would. If she wanted a replay of that kiss, they’d do that, too.

Jacob quickly finished five miles, every stride only steeling his conviction that Adam needed to be humbled, big time. He’d felt that way before Anna had come into the picture, and although she had no idea, she’d set off a chain of events that left him fixated on his goal. Adam needed to know what it felt like when someone destroyed everything you’d worked so hard for.

That was merely the business side. There were other unpaid debts. When Adam had betrayed him, he’d thrown away their friendship as if it meant nothing. That left a familiar void—Jacob found himself without a close friend, exactly as he’d lived out much of his childhood and adolescence, shuttled from one private school in Europe to another, never having enough time to fit in.

He’d been a straight-A student, but hardly had to try at all—that annoyed the hell out of the smart kids. He came from unspeakable wealth, but it was new money. He’d had to learn the hard way that there was a difference. He didn’t have a notable lineage behind his family name. His father was immensely powerful, but that was in the Asian banking world, not the entrenched circles of old-world high society in England and France. Jacob was left in a no-man’s-land, with plenty of money for the highest tuitions, the grades to get into the best schools and nothing to focus on but studies that didn’t challenge him in the slightest.

The real shame was that his friendship with Anna became collateral damage when things went south with Adam. Their immediate rapport had shown so much promise. He felt truly at ease with her. He could talk to her about anything, especially his upbringing, something he did not share easily. She always listened. If she hadn’t had the same experiences, she still empathized, and she found a bright spot in everything.

The night she’d kissed him, he’d been equal parts shocked and thrilled. He’d been pushing aside thoughts of his lips on hers from the moment he met her. She was off-limits, his friendship with Adam too precious. So he’d had to tell her “no.” He’d been sure his bond with Adam would be stronger because of it. But that had been a mistake. Every mistake he’d made because of Adam was an open wound, refusing to heal.

What if he and Anna brought things full circle? For just one night? They could start where they left off with that kiss six years ago, this time without Adam in the way. It would be more than physical gratification. A tryst with Anna would be another instance in which Jacob showed Adam just how little control he had.

Jacob muted the bank of televisions airing global financial news in front of him. He sat back down on the weight bench, picked up his phone and called the founder of Sunny Side. He was open to meeting with Anna, but could they do it upstate? Mark and Jacob had homes thirty minutes from each other. Perfect. Out from under the meddlesome reach of Adam.

He ended the call and scrolled through the contacts until he found Anna. Rational thought and urges warred inside his head. Could he cross that line? He would never hurt her. Business or pleasure—Sunny Side or sex, he’d follow her lead, but they could get nowhere until he set them on the right path.

“Jacob. Hello,” she quickly answered, hushing her voice.

Her softly spoken words were much like early-morning pillow talk, bringing a pleasant sensation, a rush of warmth. Perhaps it was the knowledge that his actions would enrage Adam. “Anna. How are you today?”

“Good. You?”

She had to be covering. Adam must’ve been hard on her when she’d brought up the notion of doing business with Jacob. Too bad for Adam—this call was about Anna and Jacob putting together a deal. No more letting Adam get in the way. “I’m good. I wanted to talk to you about Sunny Side. I spoke to Mark, the founder, and he’s amenable to the three of us meeting this weekend.”

“Really? That would be fabulous.”

Jacob was surprised by Anna’s lack of hesitation. She’d spoken to Adam about this—Adam had said as much, and yet she seemed undaunted, unwilling to conform to Adam’s wishes. A woman after his own heart. “We’ll see how things go. If you two talk and it’s not a good match, that’s the end of that. But I can’t imagine you not hitting it off with Mark. I doubt he’ll have a defense for the Anna Langford charm.”

That last part was the truth, not necessarily meant as flirtation, although he knew very well it came out that way.

“I could always wave a fat stack of cash in his face,” she quipped.

“Coming from you, I’d say that sounds incredibly sexy.” Visions of Anna seductively thumbing through a bundle of hundreds materialized. That would be sexy. Insanely sexy.

“I’ll be sure to run by the bank.”

A protracted silence played out over the line. It was partly his fault. He’d really tripped himself up with “sexy.” He cleared his throat. “So you’re up for the meeting?”

“Absolutely.”

How he loved her decisiveness, her fire. It made him want to kick himself for ever saying “no” to her. “We’re meeting at my place in Upstate New York if you can make that work. Mark bought a house about a half hour from mine. I don’t know about you, but I could really use the getaway.”

“Getaway? You and me?”

“Just for a night. It’s too far to go for just a few hours. Or at least that’s what I say to force myself to take a break from work.”

“Oh. I see.”

Why was going away with him the one point of hesitation? Was she thinking he was making a pass? He didn’t want her to think so. “It’ll be like old times. If you’re lucky, I might even beat your butt at cards.”

“We have to have this meeting and talk hard numbers. That’s really important.”

He blew out a breath. Maybe it was for the best that she was determined to focus on business. That would make it more difficult for his mind to stray to other thoughts of Anna. It would be trial enough to be alone in the same house. “Of course. Everything you need.”

She hummed on the other line, as if mulling over her decision. “Yes. I’ll be there. Should I hire a car or is there a flight I can catch?”

“We can ride up together. Text me your address and I’ll pick you up early tomorrow morning.”

“Oh, okay. Great. Is there anything special I need to bring?”

“Maybe your bikini?” The instant it came out of his mouth, he realized it sounded like a bad pick-up line.

“Not really my go-to for a meeting.”

Find a save. Find a save. “And there’s nothing like a soak in the hot tub after a tough negotiation.”

* * *

A getaway. With Jacob. Anna pressed the button to take the elevator down to the lobby of her building. She sucked in a deep breath. Her skin noticeably prickled when she thought about what she was doing and with whom she would be doing it. This was about as wrong as wrong could be—going away to discuss a business venture that was supposed to be a dead issue. Going away with the man her brother despised, the man she’d been warned to stay away from.

But Anna spent every day doing what everyone expected of her and where had that gotten her? Frustrated and running in circles. There was no reward in playing it safe. Of that, she was absolutely sure.

Could she have devised a more tempting plan to make Adam regret ever selling her short? Not likely. So, she’d be spending it in close proximity to the man she had a certifiable weakness for, a man who’d been sure to remind her to pack a bikini. She was strong, or so she hoped.

After she and Jacob had gotten off the phone the day before, the bathing suit talk had sent her rushing to the salon to get everything imaginable waxed as well as getting her nails done. Sure, it was girlish and vain, but if she was going to let Jacob see her climbing into his hot tub, he was at least going to second-guess the wisdom of ever turning her down.

Anna stepped off the elevator. As she made her way to the glass doors, a sleek, black SUV pulled up to the curb. She wasn’t sure exactly what make it was, only that several guys eyed it as they walked by, as if it was a supermodel bending over in a short skirt. Jacob rounded the front of the vehicle in a black sweater, jeans and dark sunglasses. Had he managed to get hotter since she’d seen him in Miami? He was as tempting as ever, square-shouldered, as if he was bulletproof. Damn.

She ducked into the revolving door with her overnight bag just as Jacob caught sight of her. He came to a halt on the sidewalk, grinning. His magnetism was so effortless. It was in his DNA. He ran his hand through his shiny, black hair and pushed his sunglasses up on his nose. That seemingly harmless sequence of motions left her dizzy. Hopefully she’d get reacclimated to Jacob quickly, desensitized to the ways he could make the most benign action enticing. She had more than a few recollections of staring at his hands while he shuffled playing cards.

“Ready?” His impossibly deep voice stood out amidst the sounds of the city.

“Yes,” she answered with a squeak.

He reached for her bag, grasping the handle. Their fingers brushed and her body read it as an invitation, even though her brain insisted it was nothing. Meaningless. Still, if he touched any more of her than that, she was a goner. He opened the passenger door. Something about him standing there, waiting for her to climb in, gave this the distinct feel of a date, even when she was sure it was only because Jacob was a perfect gentleman.