Baby for Sugar Daddy: A Secret Baby Romance (Heartstring Dating Agency Book 6) Read online

  Baby For Sugar Daddy

  Heartstring Dating Agency Series

  Lauren Wood

  Copyright © 2021 by Lauren Wood

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Contents

  Prologue

  1. Jordan

  2. Cat

  3. Jordan

  4. Cat

  5. Jordan

  6. Cat

  7. Jordan

  8. Cat

  9. Jordan

  10. Cat

  11. Jordan

  12. Cat

  13. Jordan

  14. Cat

  15. Jordan

  16. Cat

  17. Jordan

  18. Cat

  19. Jordan

  20. Cat

  Epilogue

  Dating His Brother (Sneak Peak)

  Chapter 1

  Also by Lauren Wood

  About the Author

  Exclusive Offer

  Prologue

  There was nothing I loved more on a hot summer day than getting an invite from my friend Izzy to come lounge with her by her brother’s lavish pool. We sat side by side in our separate lounge chairs, sipping cocktails while we gossiped, laughed, and sunbathed.

  “Hey, you two,” her brother Jack called out from the back patio—looking ridiculously slick in his white linen pants and Versace button-up. “Lunch is served!”

  I drew my sunglasses down to the tip of my nose and studied the feast being brought out by their house staff. Suddenly, I began to realize this was not just an ordinary social call. They obviously had something up their sleeve, or they wouldn’t have gone to so much trouble.

  Not that the Landsons went through any trouble themselves beyond ordering their staff around, but even that was something for them. I wasn’t sure if I should feel special or trapped.

  Izzy and I peeled our sweaty bodies up from the chairs and joined him at the table under the shade of the umbrella, wrapping up in our long, sheer covers as we went.

  “Mmmm, is that shrimp cocktail?” I asked as we approached the table.

  “The best shrimp cocktail you’ve ever had,” Jack nodded proudly.

  “It’s to die for,” Izzy added.

  We settled in around the table, and I couldn’t help but get that anxious longing that struck me from time to time. I wanted to have my own bean-shaped inground pool tucked into the backyard of my manor, complete with maids to wait on me hand and foot.

  I grew up with that kind of treatment, but my father was the type who believed in working hard to earn your way in life. Which meant I was cut off from hefty unsolicited payments from his wallet the moment I graduated college. I was on my own now, and if I wanted the kind of lifestyle I was accustomed to, I’d have to earn it.

  I didn’t resent my father’s standards for me. I agreed with them wholeheartedly. I saw it as more of a challenge, and I intended to rise to the occasion. I was going to make my own way and my own fortune.

  We were only ten minutes into lunch when their real motives became clear. Jack cleared his throat and announced, “So, Cat…I have something to run by you.”

  “Mmm-hmm,” I smiled. “I knew there was something. Whatcha got for me?”

  I leaned forward and waited eagerly to hear what he had to say. It was no secret that I was on the prowl for the perfect business venture now that college was out of the way. Along with my father’s strict ideals, I also inherited his lust for the thrills of the high-dollar business world.

  “You know my friend, Lucas Meadows?” he went on.

  “The dating app guy?” I nodded.

  I knew more than I was letting on. Everyone knew that Jack had just put Izzy through hell by parading her around the world as Heartstring’s most coveted bachelorette. He was brought on to work for the successful, quickly rising company and just had to drag Izzy into it with him. It worked out for both of them since they both managed to accidentally find love through the company—even though Jack was supposed to be one of their executives. Not one of their clients.

  “That’s right,” he said. “Well…we’ve been talking for a while now, and we believe the time has come for us to sell the company.”

  I nearly choked on my bloody mary when he said it. “You want to sell Heartstring!?”

  “The time is right,” he told me, raising his brows. “The intention was always to build it to the top, then sell it off to reap the profits. Better to do it now while it’s at its strongest, before something goes wrong.”

  “Fair enough. So…what’s that got to do with me?”

  As much as my lofty confidence would love to convince me that they would consider me a potential buyer, we all knew I didn’t have access to those kinds of funds. My father certainly wouldn’t just give them to me either. I also didn’t have the reputation or history to take on something so big on my own. Not yet anyways.

  “We were thinking maybe your father would be interested,” he replied.

  Once again, I struggled to swallow another sip of my drink down. But this time I managed to contain myself as I sat the glass back down to the table and looked over to Jack with a snide smile. “You know damn well my father is too busy to take on such a huge venture at this point in his life. He has too much on his plate as it is and is going to have to do a mad dash of dumping projects and selling things off if he’s going to stand any chance at retiring before he’s in his grave.”

  I said it so coldly, only half-joking. But the words still caught in my throat. My father, Mark Whitaker, was in perfect health and still going strong. Even still, the thought of him one day leaving this world was hard to handle. That’s how close we were. I needed him to live forever.

  “That’s what I said,” Jack grumbled, rolling his eyes over to Izzy.

  “And I said he could handle it,” she retorted. “With your help.”

  “Hmmm.” I leaned back in my chair and considered it.

  Daddy wasn’t going to hand me anything—not money or a job, or anything else I was determined to earn. But if we went into something of this magnitude together, it would solve the problem of my freshness on the scene. No one would question my capability in running something of that size with so little experience on paper, and he wouldn’t have to feel like he did me any favors. He’d be so busy with his other work, he’d have no choice but to leave it to me—to sink or swim.

  “That’s why I told Izzy we should talk,” Jack said, popping shrimp into his mouth. “Mark has that partner of his, Jordan Ashford, under his belt. If he was on board, you’d be an unstoppable team and the perfect fit for taking over Heartstring.”

  “I like the sound of that,” I grinned, my mind already racing with the potential.

  It was a win all the way around. I’d get to make my name in the business world—pay my dues, earn my title and hefty salary. Daddy wouldn’t feel like he did me any favors.

  And there was the bonus of him.

  Jordan Ashford. My god, what a perfect specimen of my type he was. In fact, Jordan may have been solely responsible for molding my type and my high standards for men. It was a unique type, and so far he was the only one I had ever met who actually fit the bill.

  Lunch went on. Jack and Izzy continued chatting. But I was a million miles away at just the mention of his name.

  My eyes drifted back ov
er to the sparkling crystal blue water of the pool, and I was instantly transported back to that day when I was fifteen. I was sitting around my parents’ pool—just like this. It was in the middle of July and blazing hot.

  My father and Jordan, ten years my senior, had only just started working together. I could still remember it so vividly. I wasn’t a romantic for anything but business and making money. But the first time I laid eyes on him…that was the closest thing to romantic love I had ever experienced.

  I was flipping through teen magazines and drinking virgin daiquiris with my friends. We thought we were so cool in our new bikinis and fresh tans. I was listening intently to some scandalous story my friend Megan was telling when suddenly, there he was.

  Daddy came out the back door of the house, having just finished his meeting with Jordan—who was tall with dark hair and gray eyes. Even back then he was a snappy dresser. My father wouldn’t have looked twice at him if he wasn’t. His muscles strained against his designer suit, and he just had this air to him, like he knew he was hot stuff.

  And boy did I ever know it, too. He already had my attention, even before he paced the edge of the pool on the opposite side from us and said to my father with a whistle, “Nice pool.”

  “Take a dive if you want!” my dad told him. “I’ll have someone bring you a drink.”

  “Really?” Jordan perked up. “Don’t mind if I do.”

  He walked over to one of the lounge chairs and began to strip right in front of my teenage eyes. That moment was when I officially lost any shred of innocence I had left, because as I watched his dark rippling muscles be set free from those expensive clothes…my mind was riddled with dirty thoughts I didn’t even know I was capable of thinking.

  Things only got worse when I watched him dive into the water and emerge again with water glistening across every inch of his perfect body. My mouth and throat were suddenly dry and tight. No amount of virgin daiquiri in the world would fix what Jordan was doing to me. Only he could do that.

  “Cat!? Cat! Catherine! Hellloooo!” my friends teased, realizing how distracted I had become.

  The memory merged with my current life as Izzy snapped her fingers to get my attention.

  “Oh, sorry,” I offered, clearing my throat. “Sorry. I was just…imagining the potential of your idea.”

  Slowly, I floated back down from my Jordan Ashford cloud as I had done so many times before.

  That day, when I first saw him, I instantly fell in love. It was just a silly teenage crush, really, and I never told a single soul. But the thought of him still made my mouth water.

  “So you’ll do it?” Jack asked.

  “Huh?” I struggled keeping my feet on the ground, out of my sex-daze fantasies about my dad’s business partner. “Oh. Oh yeah. I mean…I obviously can’t say we’ll do it. But I’ll mention it to my dad and see about setting up a meeting.”

  Jack cracked his knuckles together and shot up from his chair. “Excellent. Keep me posted, Cat.”

  As he went inside, Izzy turned to me with a curious look in her eyes. She was no doubt wondering what sent me shooting off into space, but she didn’t ask. Maybe she knew. Hell, anyone with eyes could see how hot Jordan was.

  “Should we jump in for a bit?” she proposed.

  “Yes, please!” I shot back. I was in desperate need to cool down after thinking about him.

  1

  Jordan

  “You know I never turn down new ventures,” I said to my partner, Mark, over my shoulder as I straightened my tie in the mirror. “But a company this size?” I whistled. “That’s ambitious enough to make even me a little hesitant.”

  Mark smirked and took a sip of his scotch. “Tell me about it. But I have to say…my little Kitty Cat really sold me on the idea. It’d be a team effort. Of course I don’t need to tell you…you’d be taking on the brunt of that effort.”

  “Great,” I groaned sarcastically. “And the brunt of the profits I hope?”

  “Now, now, Jordan. You know I’m not putting my name anywhere near this thing without an agreement to a three-way split,” he countered.

  “I just hope I’m in the position to make those kinds of demands by the time I’m your age,” I winked, grabbing my suit jacket out of the closet.

  “Take on something like this and you just might be,” he winked, tipping his glass.

  We finished up our drinks in my penthouse, then headed down to the lobby where my car and driver were waiting for us outside. I was jazzed for the meeting at Heartstring, even if nothing came from it.

  When Mark and I first met, I had to lay the charm on thick. I had spent years building his trust along with our working relationship. It didn’t take long for him to call me partner, but it was only recently that he actually started treating me like one. I couldn’t blame him. A guy with his experience and reputation had the right to be choosy in who he took on as his mentee. With no son of his own, I was honored to be the chosen one. Not just honored, but I had gotten pretty rich from our partnership too—which was always a plus.

  But then there was Cat, who was apparently done with business school and eager to spread her wings in our world. She had been grooming herself for this kind of life since she was a kid, from what Mark told me. So I couldn’t help but wonder why she wasn’t in my shoes.

  “About Cat’s involvement in this whole thing,” I said as we climbed into the back of the Rolls-Royce. “What would it be exactly?”

  “Essentially this is her baby,” Mark explained. “She wants to hit the ground running with something big. But you know I don’t have the time for another full commitment, no matter how lucrative it is. This is the perfect venture for her, but I want you heavily on board to make sure she doesn’t sink. She’s never handled anything of this size before.”

  “So, I’m what…a spy? A babysitter?” I grimaced.

  “A little of both. Most importantly, you’re our partner.”

  “I am used to wearing many hats,” I admitted.

  The truth was, I didn’t know if our involvement was for Cat’s reassurance or for Mark’s. All I knew is she felt capable of handling it, and from what I heard about her—I was inclined to agree.

  My old alumni buddies told me school was a joke to her because she breezed through it so easily. She aced everything without so much as breaking a sweat. There were rumors that she didn’t even have to buy half of the required textbooks because she either already owned them or knew everything they had to say. People made the mistake of thinking she was overly confident, but had to bow down to her when she passed all exams with flying colors. Not to mention she was the teacher’s pet in every class and had a close relationship with all of her professors. Even before she graduated, they saw her as more of a colleague than a student.

  Throw that reputation in with the rave reviews from all of her internships, volunteer business advisories, and her long list of relevant extracurriculars—she was a force to be reckoned with…on paper, anyway. I didn’t know what that translated into in person. Given her reputation for working for fun, I wondered if she might be a little uptight. But her dad was a suave, laid-back guy…so that was hard to picture.

  Of course, there was no way to know for sure until I saw her again. The last time I had any direct contact with her, she was barely legal. Not that I would ever dream of laying hands or eyes on Mark’s daughter. Even though as a teen she was obviously already a looker. Then there was her mother, who was every bit as gorgeous as you might imagine a wife of Mark Whitaker’s to be.

  I snapped out of my vague memories of Cat as a teenager as the car pulled up outside the impressive Heartstring building—lined with gold siding, massive windows, and a full forty stories shooting up into the sky.

  “Just remember. No firm decisions today,” Mark reminded me. “No matter what we think about it, we can’t walk out of there with a promise of anything more than to think it over. They think we’re selling them on our position to buy it. We need to turn the tables and
make them realize they’re the ones who need us. Make them sell it. Make them convince us.”

  “Does Cat know that?” I asked, stepping out onto the sidewalk and re-buttoning my suit jacket.

  Mark flashed me a pitying smile. “It really has been a long time since you’ve talked to her.”

  “I think the last time we exchanged words she didn’t have much to say beyond whatever she was reading in Teen Vogue or Seventeen magazine.”

  “Oh yeah,” he huffed. “I guess she did take a little time off from Forbes and Entrepreneur so she could be a normal teenage girl for a moment. You must have caught her in that phase. It didn’t last long.”

  I followed him through the front revolving doors. The moment we entered the lobby, he lit up at the sight of the dark haired woman waiting there on a leather couch. For a split second, I thought maybe he had a mistress I didn’t know about.

  But as she walked over, I realized that was no mistress. That was Cat herself—Mark’s own daughter. Her transition into adulthood was more breathtaking than I had prepared myself for.

  Everything seemed to move in slow motion as she stood and crossed the lobby, flipping her auburn hair over her shoulder as she went. My eyes started at the shiny black stilettos on her feet and traveled up those long tan legs of hers, pausing on the perfect V of her stiletto skirt before finally resting on her icy blue eyes. Okay, maybe they rested a bit before that too—around the cleavage that poked over top her white button-up blouse. It wasn’t until she looked over to me that I quickly caught myself, realizing that my mouth was hanging wide open.