“Like death warmed over. I don’t know how women have been doing this for forever. I feel terrible.”
Leo sets a bag on my desk along with a bottle of water. “What’s this?” I peek inside, the smell of ginger hitting me.
“I talked to Stella, and she said she had morning sickness so bad that the only thing that could help was ginger candies. I figured you could try and see if it helps?”
This is not the same man who panicked when I first told him I was pregnant. Leo is stepping up, even if in small ways.
“Thanks, Leo. That is really kind of you.” I pull one from the bag and stick it in my mouth.
“Is there anything else you need? I feel bad that I can’t do much to help.” Leo’s hands are in his pockets, and he’s rocking back on his heels. He looks like any other expecting parent, not the owner of a billion-dollar company.
“I’m okay for now. I’ll let you know if I do.” I give him my best smile, one that’s hard to manage because of how miserable I feel.
“We’ve got the meeting with the contractors in New Zealand right now to go over the new specs they sent us for the project. Think you’re up for it?”
I glance at the time on my computer. Shit. I completely forgot. “Yes.” I push back from my desk, pressing a hand to my stomach. Not as bad as it was earlier. “Yes. Let’s go.”
I grab my files off the desk and follow Leo out of the office. Even though I feel miserable, I take a minute to appreciate the fine male specimen before me. Leo in a finely tailored suit is what wet dreams are made of. I should know, since I’ve had one or two of them since I met him.
“Reagan? You coming?” A knowing look on Leo’s face tells me I was ogling longer than I should have.
I wish I was coming.
I keep that thought to myself as I smile and brush past Leo into the conference room. What was once a delicious smell—his cologne—now has me sucking on the ginger candy to not get sick.
“Are you okay?” Leo’s warm hand on my back has me breathing harder. Long, slow breaths in and out of my mouth.
“I need you to step back.” I put a hand on his chest and push him back. “Sorry, your cologne is a little strong for me.”
Leo goes as if to sniff himself but thinks better of it. “I’ll make sure not to wear it again,” he whispers in my ear then walks to the other side of the table.
“Ryan McIvers,” our new contractor says as he introduces himself, pops out of the seat, and shakes hands with Leo.
“Leo Scott and Reagan Foster. Now, why don’t you show us all the changes you’ve made and how they are going to help our project.”
Leo takes control of the meeting with practiced ease, leaving little for me to do. Any other day, I’d be annoyed at a man taking over. But today, I’m happy to sit back and take notes on how it will help us. It’s still in the beta testing phase, so it doesn’t require my usual amount of brain power.
“Reagan? Any questions?” The man sitting across from me turns his gaze on me.
“How does your software set up the filters to weed out the sites that aren’t considered valid? They are different for each of them, so we want to be sure they have full functionality. We want to have the support in place before the product goes live.”
Ryan looks taken aback. Like he didn’t expect me to know what I’m talking about.
“It’s all in the coding. With the new patches, once your developers test it, they should see the filters can be set and changed to how they want it.” He straightens his tie, like the work he’s doing is world changing.
“Yes, well, I’ll be sure to look at that when we do our quality control testing. I like to be very hands-on during the entire process.” I lean back, crossing my arms, not appreciating how this man is testing my brilliance on this project.
“You let me know if you need me to walk you through it.” He winks at me before walking out with Leo and leaving the room—and me—behind.
God. It’s men like him who think they know everything that make my job harder. Men like him only respond to a person with a big dick. I hate that I’m looked upon like someone who has never worked with a computer before.
With new resolve, I aim to work even harder, even if I’m growing a human inside me. Because there will be nothing better than proving someone like him wrong.
Chapter Eleven
Leo
“Have you ever been to New Zealand before?”
