The Baby Race Read online

  Table of Contents

  Part I

  Epilogue

  Part II

  Part III

  Epilogue (Elina)

  Foreword

  The Baby Race

  Jeremy

  Evan

  Caitlin

  Keeping Her

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Chapter 46

  Chapter 47

  Chapter 48

  Chapter 49

  Chapter 50

  Chapter 51

  Chapter 52

  Chapter 53

  Chapter 54

  Chapter 55

  Chapter 56

  Chapter 57

  Chapter 58

  Chapter 59

  Chapter 60

  Chapter 61

  Chapter 62

  Chapter 63

  Chapter 64

  Chapter 65

  Chapter 66

  Chapter 67

  Chapter 68

  Chapter 69

  Chapter 70

  Chapter 71

  Chapter 72

  Chapter 73

  Chapter 74

  Chapter 75

  Chapter 76

  Chapter 77

  Chapter 78

  Chapter 79

  Chapter 80

  Chapter 81

  The Baby Race

  Tara Wylde

  Holly Hart

  Red Cape Romance

  Contents

  Foreword

  I. The Baby Race

  1. Jeremy

  2. Jeremy

  3. Evan

  4. Jeremy

  5. Caitlin

  6. Jeremy

  7. Jeremy

  8. Caitlin

  9. Caitlin

  10. Caitlin

  11. Jeremy

  12. Jeremy

  13. Jeremy

  14. Jeremy

  15. Caitlin

  16. Caitlin

  17. Caitlin

  18. Jeremy

  19. Caitlin

  20. Caitlin

  21. Jeremy

  22. Jeremy

  23. Caitlin

  24. Jeremy

  25. Evan

  26. Caitlin

  27. Evan

  28. Jeremy

  29. Jeremy

  30. Caitlin

  31. Caitlin

  32. Caitlin

  33. Caitlin

  34. Caitlin

  35. Caitlin

  36. Jeremy

  37. Jeremy

  Epilogue

  II. Keeping Her

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Chapter 46

  Chapter 47

  Chapter 48

  Chapter 49

  Chapter 50

  Chapter 51

  Chapter 52

  Chapter 53

  Chapter 54

  Chapter 55

  Chapter 56

  Chapter 57

  Chapter 58

  Chapter 59

  Chapter 60

  Chapter 61

  Chapter 62

  Chapter 63

  Chapter 64

  Chapter 65

  Chapter 66

  Chapter 67

  Chapter 68

  Chapter 69

  Chapter 70

  Chapter 71

  Chapter 72

  Chapter 73

  Chapter 74

  Chapter 75

  Chapter 76

  Chapter 77

  Chapter 78

  Chapter 79

  Chapter 80

  Chapter 81

  Chapter 82

  Chapter 83

  Chapter 84

  Chapter 85

  Chapter 86

  Chapter 87

  Chapter 88

  Chapter 89

  Chapter 90

  Chapter 91

  Chapter 92

  Chapter 93

  Chapter 94

  Chapter 95

  Chapter 96

  Chapter 97

  Chapter 98

  Chapter 99

  Chapter 100

  Chapter 101

  Chapter 102

  Chapter 103

  Chapter 104

  Chapter 105

  Chapter 106

  Chapter 107

  Chapter 108

  Chapter 109

  Chapter 110

  Chapter 111

  Chapter 112

  Chapter 113

  Chapter 114

  Chapter 115

  Chapter 116

  Chapter 117

  Chapter 118

  Chapter 119

  Chapter 120

  121. EPILOGUE: SARA

  III. Daddy Wanted

  Chapter 122

  Chapter 123

  Chapter 124

  Chapter 125

  Chapter 126

  Chapter 127

  Chapter 128

  Chapter 129

  Chapter 130

  Chapter 131

  Chapter 132

  Chapter 133

  Chapter 134

  Chapter 135

  Chapter 136

  Chapter 137

  Chapter 138

  Chapter 139

  Chapter 140

  Chapter 141

  Chapter 142

  Chapter 143

  Chapter 144

  Chapter 145

  Chapter 146

  Chapter 147

  Chapter 148

  149. Epilogue (Elina)

  Foreword

  Hi!

  Thanks so much for downloading a copy of The Baby Race! I - we - hope you love it!

  It might be Holly and my’s last time writing together for a couple of months, since we’ve both very recently had amazing ideas for solo books. So we hope that we can go on hiatus with a bang!

  I can’t wait to hear what y’all think. Caitlin and Jeremy are such a cute couple - I hope you’ll agree.

  I should warn you, Jeremy’s twin brother Evan is a real asshole! There are a couple of darker scenes - although nothing tooo bad - but just wanted to warn you!

  Love,

  Tara Wylde.

  (Holly sends her love as well, but she’s away…)

  Part I

  The Baby Race

  On your marks, Get... Pregnant?

  My evil twin brother Evan has been behind bars for years, while I’ve made billions running the family firm. I figured the company was legally mine, so I enjoyed the perks. All of them...

  Next on that list is Caitlin. She's everything I need in a woman: just the right kind of curvy, a hint of pluckable innocence... and an @ss that drives my c*ck wild. I can barely restrain myself around her - and I don't plan to...

  But that fantasy comes to a crashing halt when I find out that Evan is getting paroled – and that he’s found a loophole in our father’s will. The first twin to have a legitimate child inherits the entire company.

  I don’t have a wife, and sure as hell don’t have a kid… Suddenly everything I've built is at stake. Unless two can play at this baby game...

  Now I need to find a girl, put a ring on her finger - and knock her up! Should be a piece of (wedding) cake, right? It's not like I need to fall in love - just put a baby in her oven.

  It sounds easy, but it isn't. Because Caitlin is special: the missing piece I didn't know my heart needed. She's the One.

  The race is on. First to the delivery room win
s...

  But Evan hates coming last.

  And Caitlin is in his way.

  1

  Jeremy

  Denver, Colorado

  I stop a few feet from the massive Caldwell Building and tip my head back, taking a moment to admire the magnificent glass and steel building that serves as the headquarters for the massive business.

  A familiar thrill quivers through me. It doesn’t matter that I’ve been the man in charge of this place for the past six years. Or that at the time, taking over the place was the last thing I wanted to do. Today, knowing what I’ve accomplished, how many lives I’ve changed for the better since moving into the president’s office on the top floor sends a thrill through me.

  It doesn’t matter that my brother, Evan, was the one who was groomed to take over the family business. He’d been given all the tools needed to take over from my father, leaving me free to pursue other interests, but he’d screwed up. His actions forced me to take over the reins of the company, and it was only then that I’d learned the truth about my twin brother.

  A vision of his smug, laughing face, so very much like my own, floats to the forefront of my mind and I instinctively recoil. Five and a half years have passed since the last time I saw him, and I’d be perfectly happy to live out the rest of my days without ever seeing him again. Life is easier without him. Better, too.

  I shove the unwelcome image away. It’s too pretty a day to waste on thoughts of my brother. He’s done enough to destroy my life, and so many others, too. There’s no way in hell I’m going to let him taint anything else.

  Squaring my shoulders, I let myself into the building. It’s already alive with people, each with their minds already full of the things they need to get done today. Most notice me and greet me with a friendly smile and a quiet greeting. I respond to each hello without breaking my stride until I reach the elevator door.

  I poke the call button and the doors slide open after a few seconds’ wait. I step inside and slap my hand across the opening, holding the door for a young woman I’ve never seen before.

  “Thanks,” she says, offering me a small, rather shy smile before pressing her back to the opposite wall, standing as far from me as she possibly can. Her grip on the smartphone she’s holding tightens, causing the narrow bones in her hand to press against her pale skin.

  Probably a new employee. One that doesn’t want to make a bad impression – and just as importantly, one who didn’t plan on finding herself stuck in a small space with her boss.

  I lean a shoulder against the elevator wall as the doors glide closed.

  “Which floor?” I don’t have to consciously think about keeping my tone low and gentle. It’s an instinctive response to the waves of tension rolling off the slender woman.

  She jumps. Her head snaps up and she stares at me with bright green eyes that, even though I’m positive I’ve never seen this woman before in my life, seem somehow familiar.

  “What?” she squeaks.

  I bite the inside of my cheek to prevent a smile and wave my hand at the control panel before me. “Which floor,” I repeat, “do you need?”

  I wonder if I hadn’t asked if she would simply have stood in that corner and ridden the elevator with me all the way to the top, and not said a word. If she would have waited until I stepped off the elevator before finally selecting a floor…

  “Um.” She looks at her phone. “The forty-ninth floor.”

  “Nice.” I tap the corresponding button. “One floor below me. Looks like we get to ride together.”

  She murmurs something inaudible and stares at some point on the wall like it’s the most amazing thing she’s seen in her entire life.

  Amused, I cross my arms over my chest and study her, not bothering to disguise my curiosity.

  She didn’t know what floor she wanted, meaning one of a few things: she’s either here for a meeting, or this is her first day or … I pause for thought. The floor directly beneath my penthouse office consists of primarily human resource offices. While it’s possible that she works in that department, I’m willing to bet a week’s pay that she’s actually here for an interview.

  She’s tall, just a couple inches shorter than me. While she’s a few pounds heavier than the current fashion, I like the way the curve of her hip fills out the skirt of her budget hunter-green suit that is far more conservative than anything the women I know wear. Her long, auburn hair is swept back into a low ponytail that shows off her high cheekbones. Not a classic beauty, but pretty in a girl-next-door kind of way. More than pretty, actually. Stirring, somehow.

  She seems older than she looks, as well. I’d bet she can’t be more than a few years younger than my own thirty-five – but she looks a decade better for it. I reassure myself that I’m aging gracefully. I hope it’s true…

  As the elevator hurtles upwards, I run through a mental checklist of what I know about her. Pretty. Nervous. Quiet. Clothes that are cheap but clean and actually drape nicely on her. My gaze drops down to her hands. No rings, so not married or engaged.

  Good.

  That last thought startles me, forcing me to look a little deeper at my observations.

  Not being the kind of guy to downplay or hide from the obvious, I’ll admit it. I’m attracted to her. Really attracted. Attracted enough that I might need to do something about it. I’m not a man who likes missing out on adventure.

  My mind plays out a little fantasy of me crossing to the opposite side of the elevator and pinning her to the wall, immobilizing her with my body as my lips lay claim to hers.

  As her knees turn to butter, I’ll slide that cheap paisley-patterned scarf she’s wearing from around her neck and use it to bind her hands to the rail as she moans into my mouth. My hands will bunch in the fabric of her shirt, grabbing large fistfuls of it and pulling, make the buttons scatter as I shove it down her arms until her bound wrists stop me.

  I’ll lower my head, taking the peak of one full breast deeply into my mouth. Her cries will fill the small elevator as she bucks and thrusts herself against me.

  Beneath my feet, the elevator glides to a halt. A small bell chimes just a second before the doors slide open.

  I jerk myself out of the fantasy and shift my weight, trying to find an angle that will disguise the fact that my cock is now tenting the front of my pants. A cough dies in my throat, and I glance around, wondering whether I’ve been caught.

  I needn’t have bothered. The redhead scurries out of the elevator without casting a single glance in my direction.

  “Nice meeting you – and good luck,” I call out as the elevator doors start sliding shut.

  The woman gives no indication she’s heard me. Probably because that would mean acknowledging my presence, something she seems desperate to avoid at all costs.

  I blow out a heavy breath and focus all my attention to trying to regain some control over my body. What the hell just happened? I haven’t had a reaction like this to the mere presence of a woman, especially one dressed so conservatively and just as clearly uninterested in me, since I was a teenager. And while this fantasy may have been brief, it was definitely more intense than any other fantasy I can remember.

  Ever.

  If the elevator ride had lasted just a few seconds more, I might have crossed the elevator and attempted to turn fantasy into reality.

  Obviously, it’s been too long since I was last with a woman. Especially a woman like that. Hell, I don’t even know what it is about her that’s got me so…invigorated. Just a glimpse at this girl makes me feel like a horny teen all over again…

  The elevator dings its arrival at the top floor and I step out, still feeling flushed and aroused.

  I dig my phone out of my pocket and scroll through my contacts, searching for the name of the supermodel I had dinner with … four months ago. At the time, she’d made it abundantly clear that she was very interested in turning our little business dinner into something … less formal. I was too busy to take advantage of her of
fer, but maybe the next time she’s in town I should.

  “Hey, boss.”

  Ben Dern, my head of security, pours himself a cup of coffee from the pot my personal assistant always keeps hot. “How was that business trip to Brazil?”