Her Adopted Baby's Daddy

Chapter 44

Ceaser shut the door behind him, his gaze locked in on Jules whose head was buried in a file. He couldn't help noticing the stacks on her left and right.

He cursed Santos.

"Mama."

Jules' head snapped up the second she heard her baby's voice. She had been immersed in the current file she was working on, she hadn't heard anyone come in. She was surprised to see Ivy in Ceaser's arms.

"Hi." She said almost breathless at the sight of him.

"Mama." Jules moved her gaze to Ivy and Ceaser watched as a smile lit up her entire face. She got up and made her way to them.

"Hey, munchkin." She took Ivy in her arms and placed kisses on her entire face making Ivy giggle which made Jules smile even more. Ceaser watched them and couldn't help sighing.

Jules looked back at him as Ivy got busy with Jules' necklace.
"Hi." She said again.

Ceaser took a step covering the small distance between them sliding his hand to the back of her neck, he drew her into him and placed a kiss on her forehead and drew back to look into her eyes, his face inches from hers.
"Hey." He said after a beat.

Jules' heart almost melted at that little gesture.

"Heard you got tied up." He said as he walked to her table and dropped the brown back "Got your lunch."

Jules sighed.
She couldn't believe this man or better yet, she couldn't believe Ceaser Thompson was getting her lunch.
"How...?"

"Andy." He said before she could finish.

Jules walked to him.
"Thank you."

"You don't have to thank me." He said, "I love taking care of you."

Jules smiled.
"And you?" She asked, "Have you had lunch?"

"I was going to."

"You were going to." She said, "Sit." She ordered.

Ceaser smiled
"Did you just...boss me?"

"I did." She said, "Now sit."

Ceaser couldn't help the laugh that left him as he sat
"I'm liking this side of you."

Jules took the other seat beside him.
"We're going to share my lunch."

"How about you have your lunch and I have you for lunch."

Jules stared at him, stunned into silence as her heart began beating faster. She cleared her throat when a moment of raw emotion passed between them.
"I like my idea better." She said as she reached for the brown bag.

"I doubt that." Ceaser's voice had dropped to a raspy whisper and it was reaching every bone in her body.

"I'm beginning to doubt myself too." She turned to him "It's probably better if you go back to your office and order something."

Ceaser smiled.

"Your presence is distracting and I still have a lot of files to go through." She added.

Ceaser's smile fell as he eyed her desk.
"This is the last of it." Ceaser's jaw clenched

"What?" Jules didn't understand what he meant.

"This is the last time you'll be getting this much workload." He said, "Santos is done."

"What? No, you can't." Jules said "He's..."

"No Jules." He snapped "I listened to you the first time but not this time. I don't need slackers like Santos in my company."

"So, you're going to fire him?" She asked, "Everyone already thinks something is going on between you and me, if you fire him because of this, I would be painted as a villain."

"This isn't about you." Ceaser got up and turned away up trying to control his anger.

"It isn't?" She asked, "If you didn't know me, you wouldn't have known anything about this situation and you wouldn't want to fire him."

"Darn it! It is about you, ok?" Ceaser said coming back to her "I don't like seeing you buried in work because of his laziness. I hate that you skip lunch because of it, I hate that you have to stay back late at night while he goes out early to who-knows-where, I hate seeing you taking his..." He looked at Ivy "Bullshit." He whispered, "And acting like everything is alright." He paused "I love that you're passionate about your work, Jules, I am. But there is a limit to everything and maybe you haven't reached yours. But I've reached mine. No more." Ceaser said as he kissed the top of her head and left her office with Jules staring after him and letting out a whoosh of breath.

Oh, Ceaser. What am I going to do about you?
Jules wondered as she looked down at Ivy who was looking up at her with her big eyes. Jules kissed her forehead and sighed.

Ceaser walked to his office past Claire's
"Call up Santos from the Legal Affairs Department."

"Yes sir."

Jules had her lunch with Ivy and took the elevator to the Second floor after to drop Ivy off and spent a few minutes with Sofi and Andy. She had taken the elevator back up to her floor almost tempted to go to his floor and speak to him but decided against it because she still had work to do.

Just as she had predicted, she had to stay back and even thought of taking some files home with her but she didn't want to break her no work at home rule because of Ivy. If she started it now, she would be tempted to do so once in a while and soon, she wouldn't have time to spend with Ivy.

Jules had lost track of time and was getting very sleepy. She had been working three hours past her normal time. Her eyes were droopy and she thought she would drop right to sleep soon. Ceaser had stayed back to go through the notes from the meeting he had attended in the morning to be prepared for the next one he had in the morning. He was packing up when he got a call from Sofi.

"Is everything alright?" He asked

"Yes." Sofi said quickly "I just wondered if you could check on Jules, she isn't answering our calls."

"Jules?" Ceaser's brow furrowed "Where...?" He sighed knowing where she was "She stayed back didn't she."

"Yup." Sofi said, "Keep her safe."

Sofi hung up leaving Ceaser with his thoughts. He quickly took the elevator to her floor to find everywhere dark and her office lit up like a Christmas tree. He walked briskly to her office and pushed the door open.
"Jul...?" He stopped when he saw her, head on her desk, asleep. He sighed. "What am I going to do with you?"

Ceaser walked behind her desk and stared down at her.

She looked so beautiful.
He thought.

He packed up her things and was interrupted by the security guard who helped him all the way down to his car with Jules in his arms.

"Thank you." He said after he shut the passenger's door

"Just doing my job Mr. Thompson." The security guard said and Ceaser made sure he got his full name keeping in mind to increase his salary.

Ceaser got into the driver's side and looked at Jules whose head was turned to him. He took out his phone and called Sofi.
"I've got her." He said when she picked up.

"Great. Is she alright?"

"She is. I'd let her talk to you but she's asleep." Ceaser said, "And her car's nowhere."

"Oh, we took the car." Sofi said, "She lets us use it when we have to take Ivy with us."

Ceaser stared at Jules.
"Do you mind if she stays at mine?"

"Of course not." Andy said.

Of course, he was on speaker.
He thought.

"I'll keep her safe." He said, "I promise."

Ceaser could protect her from everyone but himself. He was the bad guy in her story and he hated himself for it.