The Baby Bargain

Chapter 1: Harker

Harker glanced at his watch. Alison was late. Again. She was the most brilliant woman he'd ever met but she needed to work on her punctuality. "Alison!" he yelled.

"Don't bellow at her. She's not your dog." Merri sat across from him at the table in his office looking as perfectly put together as always.

They'd been friends since junior high and she never had a hair out of place. She looked like a blonde cover girl model, but it'd always been her kindness and intelligence that'd attracted him. She'd fallen for his college roommate, Tobias, and that'd been the end of Harker's infatuation with Merri. Even back then he'd known that it wasn't worth losing the only two friends he had over a one-sided crush.

"I know she's not my dog, but she's late." He'd like her to be his sub, but he had more important plans for her. "Alison, get in here now!"

"She's getting your lunch." Merri sent him a disgusted look. "Stop yelling. She'll be here when she's done."

"Did he yell? I thought that was his normal tone." Alison swooped into his office like a refreshing breeze.

Harker swore the energy in the room crackled whenever Alison was in it. She was a whirlwind of movement, both her body and her mouth. The first time he'd met her he'd been fascinated by the barrage of words that'd flowed effortlessly from her lips. They were both rambling and humorous. He'd become even more fascinated over the months that he'd known her, always waiting to see what odd or inappropriate thing would come from her soft pink lips.

Alison dropped a wrapped deli sub, a bag of chips and a can of cola in front of Merri. "That's the only tone he ever uses around me."

"Maybe if you were on time, I wouldn't." Most people, besides Merri and Tobias, treated him with deference because of his wealth but not Alison. She didn't seem to care about his money or power. It annoyed and excited him.

"Please." Her brown eyes sparkled with amusement. "You scream at me when I'm in my office and I'm not late then. I'm working." She dug in the bag from the deli.

"I do not scream." He held out his hand. He was starving. "Screaming implies hysterics and I'm never hysterical."

"You can say that again. Dour is more like it." She dropped a wrapped sub in his hand and then put a water and a bag of apple slices on his desk.

"He was even dour in college." Merri laughed.

"I was not. I was serious and hard-working. We wouldn't have this business if I hadn't been."

"Tobias and I worked hard too." Merri opened her bag of chips. "But we also knew how to have fun." Her eyes met his and then darted to Alison who was seated across the table with her lunch in front of her.

He gave Merri a glare and shook his head. She'd noticed his interest in Alison and had mentioned, more times than he could count, that he should ask her out. What Merri didn't understand and what he couldn't tell her was that he had no plans on dating Alison. He had another arrangement in mind that would be beneficial to both of them. All he had to do was find the right time to make her the offer. It may require a little persuading at first, but he'd convince her. He always figured out a way to get what he wanted.

Alison opened her bag of chips. "Speaking of having fun. I'm going on a—"

"Where are my chips? And why do I have water? I want a soda."

"Because you need to start eating better." Alison chomped on a chip. "You're not a young man anymore. You have to watch your cholesterol and blood pressure."

"I'm not old." That was so insulting. "I'm in great shape." He worked out every day and saw women, young women, checking him out all the time.

"You said your blood pressure was high. Chips are loaded with salt and that's not good for high blood pressure."