SURROGATE : Conception (+18) BOOK 1 (COMPLETE)

| 6 | Just Keep Swimming ||

Penelope finished drawing the skirt in her sketchbook then closed it and looked out at the Ocean view from her room's private balcony.

This was unfair!

How could people live like this? It was insane the views from almost every point in the house. She could hear the ocean from where she was even though it was distant. Birds were flying around down near the shore and a toddler was playing in the sand with the parents not too far behind.

Holy crap. She thought.

A toddler.

She was going to make one of those. Well, not right away. A baby first of course but--

She frowned at the thought. In order to do that, she was going to have to--

She pushed up from her seated position on the padded lounge chair and went back inside. She was able to get in a good amount of sketching and business planning that morning. She'd looked over the surrogate contract one last time and signed it. The closer she got to the start time, which was the night she'd lose her virginity and embark on this wild adventure, she was getting more nervous.

She knew the perfect thing to move the jitters along and that was exercise. She pulled her suitcase from under the bed and started rummaging around for her swimsuit. She wanted to go swimming the day before, but she couldn't manage to find the darn thing, but she was determined today.

The corner of her mouth lifted when she pulled it from the other summer close she had at the bottom of the case.

Moments later she pulled a wrap around her waist and tied it before grabbing the sun block and her towel.

Yep, she was heading down to the pool. Her mass of hair was braided in a heap on top of her head as not to get wet. Maybe she would put in some braid extensions so she wouldn't have to worry about it and the pool.

She closed the door to the room she called hers and paused once in the hallway when she heard raised voices down the hall in the Rogan's room.

She put her head down and hurried on without glancing in their opened door. She didn't want to know, she didn't care. What was important, was the money that was deposited in her account and done so on time.

She made her way downstairs and out on the rather well-landscaped back patio area. She set her items next to a lounge chair and perched there to get on her sun block. She smiled watching the water move gently in the occasional breeze.

She loved living in the L.A. area mostly because of the ocean just next door, but with life so busy she didn't get to the beach as much as she'd have liked. True, this wasn't the beach either, but this way she didn't have to worry about critters and seaweed and such touching her legs or those damn shells getting the bottom of her feet.

The water felt good, not cold, not hot. She walked into the water and moved around getting acclimated to the temperature. She started to doggie paddle when the bottom of the pool dropped off substantially. She smiled when she got to the edge of the infinity pool and looked at it drop off into an ornate rock wall below. The water made its way over the large rocks to the pond below. Some sort of fish danced in the water feature beyond.

"Hey, there you are."

Penelope looked over her shoulder when she heard the sliding door whisper behind her. She had to catch herself when she saw Mr. Rogan standing in a casual get up near the entrance.

"I know you cooked, but Frida wants a salad from this raw vegan place nearby. Are you interested in anything from there?"

"No, thank you."