The Billionaire Boss's Scandal

Morning Routine

Amara Gray pulled her dark curls up into a ponytail and tiptoed out of the dark bedroom. She noticed the sunlight peeking through from behind the curtain. As she closed the door, she smiled at her best friend Gabby, who was sprawled out on her twin bed, red hair all over the place.

Amara wished she could climb back into bed, but the insistent yell of a baby reminded her why she couldn't. Things had been so peaceful eight months ago. Well, more or less. Eight months ago, she had been planning to give birth to her twins. Without the support of their father. But even though her life had been near chaos since then, she wouldn't trade it for the world.

When her son cried out again, Amara realized she'd better get them out of bed before they woke up the rest of the household. Thankfully, as she had learned, the baby wasn't yelling because he was upset, but more that he wanted to get up.

When she opened the door to the twins' room, she saw the younger twin, Joel, sitting up in his crib, drooling away. He smiled the second he saw her through the doorway, turning his brown eyes into little half moons.

"Good morning," Amara grinned. The fact that he was so happy to see her melted her heart.

She entered the room and Joel held out his arms for her to pick him up. He let out a squeal, revealing his two bottom teeth.

"Shh," Amara said, trying to keep him quiet, then turned to peek into the other crib to see if her daughter was awake.

She was, but still lying down, unlike her brother. Abigail looked up at her mother with a big smile on her face. Amara opened the blind in their room, letting the light in, and showing off just how blue Abigail's eyes were.

Unlike Joel, who took after Amara with his dark hair and dark eyes, Abigail took more after her father in the sense that she had blue eyes and golden blonde hair. Amara wondered if their father had been blond as a child, since he certainly hadn't been when they met.

"She may have his features, but she looks just like you," Amara's mom had said. At least that was something to hold on to.

"Are you ready to get up too?" Amara asked.

Abigail tossed aside the blanket she had been chewing on. Amara took that as a yes and moved Joel to her left hip to free up her right arm. She had had a hard time picking them both up at first, especially due to fear of dropping them, but as time went on, she had learned how to scoop them both up at the same time.

"Okay, let's get you two some breakfast," Amara said as she headed down the stairs to the kitchen.

As she entered the cheery room, the smell of pancakes met her nose, and she quickly saw why. Ethan, her longtime friend and supporter, was cooking pancakes in a frying pan.

"You're up early," Amara commented.

"I thought I'd get a head start," Ethan said. "I've got a big test today, so I wanted to warm up."

"By making pancakes?" Amara asked. She placed Joel in his highchair and shifted Abigail to her other hip as she came to see.

"Yes, but these are not your normal pancakes," Ethan smiled. "I've got blueberry, triple chocolate chip, and regular buttermilk with a strawberry sauce."

"Ambitious," Amara commented.

"Sit down," Ethan said. "I've got a few ready for you."

"Chocolate chip, I hope?"

Ethan looked her way and grinned even wider. "You're the reason I made them."

Amara smiled. "Just let me get these two their breakfast and I'll take a few."

Lately, she and Ethan had been looking at each other a lot differently. They had known each other for years before they ended up working at the same company; Amara as a receptionist and Ethan as an accountant. Unfortunately, they had been apart for several years due to high school and college. It wasn't until Amara had gotten pregnant that they had really reconnected.

Ethan had been infatuated with her for years. The problem was, he was in love with high school Amara, not post college Amara. He didn't see the way she had changed. It was only after Amara had gotten pregnant that he finally saw the true her. Despite their minor clash in beliefs, he came around eventually, and they both grew from it. Amara eventually came back to the church, and Ethan learned that people don't have to be perfect to be respected.

Amara knew she had changed a lot over the past year and that included the way she saw Ethan too. After he quit his job at the company both of them used to work at, Amara realized that he had a lot more drive than she had ever seen before. Going to culinary school was changing him; it was like he had found something he was good at, and that he truly loved to do.

Since then, he had also changed his appearance. His once near shoulder length, curly blond hair was now much shorter, the longest portion being on top. He had done it for his cooking career--so he said. Amara secretly liked it better, but she did tend to miss his curls.

Amara put the vanilla yogurt in two bowls and put in two tiny spoons, not that the babies would use them. Just as she was returning the yogurt container to the fridge, Abigail gave an angry squawk.

"Alright, I'm coming!" Amara grinned.

She turned and placed the bowls of yogurt at each of the babies' highchairs.

"Someone's hungry," Ethan commented with a smile.

"Yep," Amara said. "And after this it'll be bath time while their onesies are in the wash."

"Looks like you've got your morning planned," Ethan said. He turned off the stove.

"I have to. When I give them something messy, I have to plan the next few steps." Amara turned to Ethan with a twinkle in her eye. "Now that they're feeding themselves, I've basically got my whole day scheduled."

Just then, Gabby entered the kitchen, red hair sticking out everywhere, and eyes heavy.

"Good morning," Amara said, smiling at her appearance.

Gabby grunted and moved for the coffee pot.

"Here you go," Ethan said as he placed a plate of pancakes on the table in front of Amara. He checked his watch before continuing, "Gabby, pancakes are on the counter. I have to run."

As Ethan rushed out of the house, Gabby plopped herself at the table, with only her large coffee mug. Less than thirty seconds later, Joel let out a squeal and flipped his bowl over, covering the tray of the highchair as well as his hair and face.

"That didn't take long," Amara commented.