The Married Billionaire's Surrogate An African American Pregnancy Romance For Adults(9)

Out of all Nora Roberts books which were more than two hundred, she took pride in herself, for she had read about a hundred and something. And every last page was decorated with her tears; partly sad because of the story and partly because she had finished another book of hers and was closer to the two hundredth one.

However, this time she couldn’t let go completely and immerse in her characters. The scene with Steven’s parents and their sudden departure wouldn’t abandon her mind. Not once she had asked herself whether she had done anything wrong, yet Elizabeth’s distant behavior and strange quietness between her and her husband proved the opposite. She guessed that the problem lay elsewhere and oh, that family didn’t have one problem, but quite a few. Suddenly, everything felt like the calm before the storm and she wasn’t ready for the storm to hit, for she didn’t know where it would hit.

She turned two or three pages before the buzzing of her cell phone reached her ears from somewhere around her. For a moment she poked through the sheets and finally fetched it. “Hello, hey…” she answered without seeing who it was.

“Al! It’s Christina. You working?”

“Nah, they’re off to work. But tell me, how are you, how’s mom?” Alicia spoke in the phone.

“She’s great, we’re all great. I send you a massive hi from the neighborhood. What’s up there? Steven’s fam still in the house?”

Alicia sensed something strange in her stomach and that something started to spread across all of her body. “Chris, can I tell you something? But you’ll keep it a secret, okay?”

“Sure, sis. Spit it!”

“I… I fell in love with my boss.” Alicia bit down on her lip.

Silence met her on the other side.

“Chris? You there?”

“Yeah,” she replied. “Just too shocked to speak.”

“So? What do you think? You judging?” Alicia asked, dreading the answer.

“No… I don’t know… It’s kind of overwhelming, isn’t it? What are you going to do about it? You’ll admit it to him or keep it platonic?”

“What are you talking about?” Alicia was shocked. “Never. He’s a married man… His wife would skin me if she even knew.” And in that moment, something her mother had said came again into her mind. Never give yourself to a married man.

Christina sighed. “He’s so hot though.” The both of them laughed.

“And he’s so kind and generous to me. Literally the nicest man I’ve met,” Alicia said.

“He’s hot, who cares about anything else.” They again burst into laughter that made her stomach ache and her eyes water.

When she hung up, Alicia put the book aside, fixing her gaze on the ceiling, her wish for reading suddenly dead. She was truly in love even though she was well aware of how wrong and impossible that was for a poor maid working the whole day. How could she even think of her boss that way?

And yet, she did. She couldn’t focus on her job anymore. The flowers next to the door remained dry, the window sills still suffocated in dust, the floors had stains and the air inside was stale and humid, but she didn’t care. For the first time in her life, Alicia Balfe forgot everything and everyone except the cologne on Mr. Wyatt’s shirts, his smile and gentle tone and his hands. His hands on her shoulders.

The climax of her silly love thoughts was reached when later that afternoon she heard Elizabeth coughing and spitting in a napkin somewhere in the dining room, while she was doing the dishes. She at once hastened to her side and was met by her and her husband’s puzzled faces.

“Alicia, is something happening to you?” Elizabeth turned to her.

“No, madam. What could?” Alicia answered politely.

“Well, I don’t know, but you’ve put sugar instead of salt in the pork.”

“Oh, I am so sorry,” Alicia bit her tongue and in that same minute she started to pick up the plates. “I am so incredibly sorry. I will make you a new one. Right away, madam, sir. Right now”.

“You don’t have to worry.” This time it was Steven who spoke. “We’ll order some pizza. With your mother and everything, we are blessed to even have you here among us.” He smiled his gorgeous smile and the butterflies in Alicia’s stomach were flying once again.

“He’s right,” Elizabeth added in. “Will you sit with us, Alicia?” Her voice was sweet and loving and unrecognizable to Alicia’s ears.

She froze on the spot, disbelievingly looking from one to the other. Were they really inviting her to sit at the table? Their table? The Wyatt’s table in the Wyatt mansion? This was a strange day.

“Sure… If you want me to,” she mumbled and with their nod occupied the chair next to Elizabeth. She could feel her hands sweating and there was something stuck in her throat, but she somehow made herself look in Elizabeth’s eyes.

She was staring at the floor, forcing Steven to bring up the matter. “You know, Alicia, you’ve been a wonderful addition to this whole mansion. You are there to make our lives perfect and we consider you as a friend rather than an employee…” Yeah, Alicia thought, a friend who your wife accused of stealing. “… The thing is we want to ask you something. It’s totally okay if you say no. No hard feelings.”