Pregnant by the Rival CEO

“Why didn’t you send them after my friendship with Adam went south?”

“You can’t be serious. Didn’t you hate my entire family at that point?”

He had to think hard about that. “I definitely told myself I hated all of you, but I never truly felt that way about you. Or your mom. You were both so kind to me.”

“Would you have actually read them?”

He had to be honest. “Probably not. I was insanely angry those first few years. I probably would’ve just thrown them away.” If only he could have thrown away that anger instead, he wouldn’t be in this position right now. If only things with Adam hadn’t ended the way they had. “Can you tell me what they said?”

Her face flushed with bright red. “You would ask that, wouldn’t you?”

“I’m curious.”

“Of course you are. They were all about you. Who doesn’t want to hear about a bunch of love letters someone wrote about them?”

“Just tell me one thing.” His curiosity was getting the better of him. It was difficult not to be fascinated by the idea of someone being that preoccupied with him. The thought of Anna feeling that way was nothing short of awe inspiring.

She laughed quietly and walked her fingers across the table until she took his hand. It covered his arm in goose bumps. What she could do with a single touch—it astounded him every time. “It depended on the day. If I was dealing with it okay, I would just write and tell you how much I missed you, but then I would write about normal things happening with me. If I was sad, then it was a lot about how much I missed you.” She cast her eyes aside as if she was trying to summon her courage. “And then there were the times when I was feeling lonely in other ways. That’s when I wrote to you about what I wished would’ve happened that night.”

Now he was really kicking himself for having turned her down that night. “Dammit. Really? And you threw those away? I’d pay just about anything to read that.”

“How about if I just show you instead?”

Her eyes glinted with mischief, warming him from head to toe. Was he the luckiest man on earth? Because it sure felt that way. He not only needed her at that moment, he needed to have her as his forever. He couldn’t imagine a moment without what they had together. That meant he needed to double his efforts to stop the LangTel takeover. Then he could tell her he loved her. Then he could find a way to smooth things over with Adam. Then he could go to Tiffany’s, buy her a big fat ring, and have what he knew he couldn’t live without—Anna.

Eleven

Anna could no longer tiptoe around Adam. Hiding her relationship with Jacob had become ridiculous. His birthday had illustrated that they were moving in a good direction, but they were both clearly holding back. She’d sensed it all night from him, that there was something he was dying to say. Was it that he loved her? If those were the words he wanted to say, the only thing she could imagine stopping him was Adam. There was no other explanation.

Could she persuade Adam to set aside the feud? The more she thought about it, the more convinced she was that it could be fixed. If she could get her two favorite guys to bury the hatchet, everything in her life would be better.

Anna buzzed her assistant, Carrie. “Can you let me know when my brother is out of his meeting? I need to speak to him this morning.”

“Sure thing, Ms. Langford. Anything else?”

Anything else. Maybe get Adam’s secretary to slip a shot of bourbon into his coffee cup. “No, Carrie. Thank you.”

Twenty minutes later, Anna got the call. “Mr. Langford can see you now.”

She strode down the hall, feigning the confidence that wavered inside her. Her relationship with Adam had improved so much since he’d had his revelation about how hard their father’s death had hit him, but she still had no idea how he would react to this news. Would he feel betrayed? Would he be angry? He’d be entitled to either reaction. She only knew that the time had come to finally own up to everything. It was her only chance to have Jacob, for real.

“Hey. What’s up?” Adam asked, glancing up from his computer screen.

His upbeat and affable tone convinced her she’d gotten the timing right. This was the morning for progress. “I was hoping to speak to you for a few minutes about something personal.” She closed his office door behind her and took a seat opposite his desk.