His Surrogate For Hire: A BWWM Pregnancy Romance by BWWM Club, Esther Banks Page B

finally exhale.
    "I did not know how you would respond."
    A reassuring hand on her back, Clay tried to comfort her.
    "I am so very happy right now. So very happy. Why would you
think otherwise?"
    Diana shrugged. "I don't know." She could see the opening
for the conversation that they needed to have for so long.
    "I was not sure what was going on between the two of us. Like
where do we go from here? Or from where we were when we were on
vacation?"
    Clay recognized what Diana was trying to say.
    "We have not talked about that. I guess we need to."
    Clay turned to her. "Please know I have been thinking about all
of this. It's not like it has not been on my mind."
    He paused, just long enough to know he had her full attention. "I
gave up on finding love. Completely was over it. I always wanted the
wife and the kids to come home to. But the more I worked, the less
that seemed likely. It did not seem like I would ever find the right
person to start that family with. So I thought about adopting, but as
a traveling businessman, no matter how much money I had in the bank,
it was hard to find an agency that would let a single man who lived
life on the road adopt. So I opted for surrogacy. That seemed like
the right option, especially because I wanted my child to be my own
flesh and blood.
    "And then it was a lot harder to find someone than I thought it
would be. Then I found you. You were perfect. And then well, as you
know, so much more happened than I anticipated. More than I think we
both anticipated. I was not prepared to fall for you, Diana. But I
did and I have to ask you to forgive me because I did not know how to
approach the subject. So I just went back to work instead of
addressing it sooner."
    To hear him finally admit what he had been thinking and feeling was a
relief. It made her more comfortable with the way she felt. Finally,
it felt like she could disclose all that she had been feeling for
Clay as well.
    "Hearing that makes me feel like I am not going crazy. I was not
sure if we shared the same sentiments and it was difficult to figure
out how to deal with what I was feeling." Now that she had his
attention, she thought it best to divulge all she had been thinking
as well since they were laying everything out on the table.
    "This was nothing more than a job for me. A gig that would help
me make some changes in my life. Something that would help me to get
to where I would like to be in my life for once. To know I could
relieve some of the stress in my life by the sudden windfall would be
great. To boot, I thought it would be nice to give someone something
they really wanted in life. It's not too often that you get the
opportunity to do something like that for someone, especially
something of this magnitude.
    "I thought you would be some kind of pompous jerk that was
incapable of carrying on a decent conversation without talking about
himself and himself only. That was not the case. You were sweet and
kind and seemed to genuinely care about talking with me. I had not
met anyone like that in quite some time. Talk about refreshing."
    Clay laughed. "I get what you mean. Most people think I'll be
some kind of arrogant jerk. They are usually pretty surprised to find
out I'm not."
    "I have to admit, I was glad to know you were someone that was
easy to talk to. So when you invited me on vacation. I thought it
would be a great opportunity to get to know each other more,
especially with the arrangement we have made. Well, to find out there
was some kind of attraction between us, I was not expecting that. Not
from you and not from me."
    Clay took her by the hand. "Now that we are on the same page,
what do you think should happen next?"
    Diana shook her head. "I'm not sure. Usually I have the answers
to these kinds of things, but I don't know what to think. This is a
bit more complicated than just dealing with a relationship."
    Clay's forehead wrinkled. "I'm not sure that it has to be."
    "I don't understand." Diana wanted to hear him