A Billionaire's Baby

The Terms

“Can we go through the terms again,” Clarissa asked after a moment of pause.

They walked to the bedroom together and he once again put on his clothes, not in the least bothered by the creases on his crumpled clothes. 

She went over to her closet and put on fresh new clothes, this time comfortable sweat pants and a hoodie. 

The ordinariness of them putting on their clothes in comfortable silence warmed her and make her heart flutter. She had never felt so comfortable while putting on her clothes in front of another person, not even after 10 years with Nick. She had always brought her clothes into her bathroom with her in all those years with Nick. Yet, here she was, not bothered that he could see her pulling her sweat pants up and pulling on her hoodie. 

After they were done dressing, she noticed the bare mattress of her bed and remembered pulling off the sheets. She inwardly cursed at her moment of insanity. Now she has to put on new sheets in the middle of the night. 

“Why don’t you go wait outside, let me get this done,” she told him, gesturing to her bed, resigned. She went to pull out new sheets from her drawers and to her surprise, as she placed it on her mattress, he walked to the other end to help her pull it over. 

They put on the new sheets silently. He seemed to be brooding over something so she refrained from saying anything. After they were done, as if by silent agreement, they both walked out to the living room. 

This time, they sat down together and somehow, it seemed natural that she sat close to him, leaning on him for his body heat and inhaling his heady masculine scent. She loved this clean soapy smell mixed with his musky scent from him. 

She stopped short when she noticed him looking at her in amusement. 

“What are you doing?” he asked.

She shrugged, embarrassed. “I just like cuddling close to you and you smell divine,” she replied candidly. 

He put his arm around her and drew her close. He bent to kiss her gently and then kissed her forehead.

“Why don’t we start over?” he suggested.

He introduced himself as Maximillian Forest The Third and told her he is turning 31 soon. His parents died in an accident many years ago and he has a younger brother, Jaden Forest. He owns a tech firm and often travel for work. 

“So, why don’t you believe in love and marriage?” she asked, remembering some of the terms he mentioned. He didn’t mention anything about his childhood or anything else about his parents other than that they are dead. 

His expression darkened. “Let’s just say I don’t believe in fairy tales,” he replied curtly. 

“Now, for the terms,” he changed the subject abruptly. Again, he laid out the terms of the marriage. If the child’s DNA is confirmed, he will arrange for a special license for them to be married privately. There will not be any ceremony nor any reception. Since he is a prominent figure in the business world, he will place an announcement of their marriage in the society pages so that she will be known as Mrs Maximillian Forest The Third. 

“But why do we need to announce it publicly? Can’t we keep it private?” she interrupted. 

He sighed. It was obvious she didn’t understand. 

“You will know once you move in with me,” he replied. “You can start packing now and I will make arrangements for you to move in, everything should be in place by next week,” he said.

“But…but…my rental contract is till end of the year, I can’t just leave,” she protested. She has been living in this apartment, though small, for a good three years after finishing college. It has been a good and safe haven for her for all these years. Her landlord was kind too. 

“It doesn’t matter. I can pay the penalty for you,” he replied dismissively. He went on to list out his terms of their “marriage”.

She is free to move about but she has to take utmost care of herself and their baby in whatever she does. While she is free to have friends, he would prefer that she kept her contact with other men at a minimum. 

“This is not because I am jealous. I have a reputation to keep and I do not want any rumours of my wife sleeping around with other men outside,” he said.

“But…I work in an IT firm and most of my colleagues are men, my boss is a man,” she interrupted. 

“You don’t need to work so you can quit. In fact, I want you to hand in your resignation tomorrow,” he ordered. 

“But, I want to work,” she protested. 

She liked her independence and she always believed in earning her own income even after she got married. Continuing to work has always been in all of her marriage plans with Nick previously.

“No, absolutely not. I will not allow my wife to work for another man in an IT company,” he replied. “This is not up for negotiations,” he added.

She was adamant. She will not give in. So, he is rich and can afford for her not to work. But she wanted her independence and she was not about to give it up.

“I am not negotiating. I am telling you I will continue working until the baby comes,” she said stubbornly. 

“I told you, I will not have my wife work in another company!” he said firmly, anger colouring his tone. 

“And I told you, I will continue to work!” she replied, not in the least intimidated. 

They glared at each other, neither of them willing to back down. 

“This is not the 19th century. Married women can have careers of their own, regardless of how well known or rich their husbands are, you know,” she huffed and crossed her arms indignantly.

“I can’t be sitting around in your house twiddling my thumbs whole day, I will go mad with boredom!” she added.

“Besides, you go to work so why can’t I? Aren’t you being sexist here?” she accused belligerently.

There was a moment of tensed silence as they glared at each other. She refused to back down even though he appeared to be shooting cold angry blue darts at her with his eyes. 

Finally, he sighed in exasperation.

“Fine. You can continue working but on one condition,” he relented. “I do not want any rumours of any affairs with any men from your workplace,” he stressed.

She rolled her eyes. 

“I have been working there for a couple years now. If I wanted to have any affair with any men from my workplace, I would have had several affairs by now. Seriously, do you think so little of me? Do you honestly think I jump into bed with just any man??” she asked, tears filling her eyes, threatening to spill over.  

She was hurt. 

Does he really think she is such a slut that she sleeps around with any man? Why doesn’t he believe her when she told him that he was the second man she has ever slept with? 

Noticing the hurt in her face, he frowned. He cupped her face, looked into her tear-filled eyes and planted a gentle kiss on her forehead. He gently wiped the tears from under her eyes and tightened his arm around, pulling her close to him. 

“I didn’t mean to hurt you,” he said in a way of apology. “We barely know each other and I have to admit, trust is not my strongest point and I have not really been in a serious relationship before this,” he said.

She buried her face in his chest and breathed in. He smelled so good and it felt so nice to cuddle close to him. She felt warm, protected and all tingly. 

“Lets get back to the terms,” he said. He appeared uncomfortable with her cuddled next to him but did not say anything. 

The marriage will last until the baby is at least 5 years old. However, if they could not stand each other by then, he would file for a divorce and she will receive a handsome settlement amount. The child will of course continue to live with him after the divorce. 

“Wait, what?? No!” she protested. The child is as much hers, why must she give it up if he divorced her.

“We can’t stay married if we could not stand each other’s company. That is not good for the mental wellbeing of my child,” he said.

“And if we can still get along? Do we stay married?” she asked. 

He laughed bitterly at her optimism.

“We are two strangers with completely different personalities. I am sure you find me overbearing and even sexist, as you said earlier, I doubt that we can stand so much proximity for so many years, in fact, five years is an optimistic number,” he said.

She was speechless. The fact that they had to argue for her to continue working was a case in point. But, that doesn’t mean they can’t make it work. 

Her parents had a good marriage for many years. There was never a mean word among them. They only divorced after her mother had an affair with a younger man…from work. 

Perhaps, he had a point about her continuing to work after marriage. Maybe a long-term monogamous relationship could drive people to seek exciting affairs outside, she thought. 

But she was not her mother. Seeing how her mother broke her father’s heart was enough to make her pledge to herself that she would never ever cheat on her partner. In the 10 years with Nick, she had not once strayed or looked at another man. 

“Okay, fine, if we are arguing every day by then, I suppose it will be better if we separated but I do not agree that the baby goes to you. Can’t we have joint custody? If we agree now and not let any bitterness ruin our relationship, maybe we can keep it civil even after we separated?” she suggested even though she was determined to make it work. 

If they had such strong chemistry in bed, maybe they can make it work somehow. Maybe they could even learn to fall in love with each other, she hoped. She did not mention love. He had mentioned that he does not believe in love several times. It would not be easy to win him over with the “love” argument. 

He thought over her suggestion for a while and agreed to it. 

“As long as we keep our emotions in check, I am sure we can remain civil. If there were no so-called love involved, I am sure, we can get along well and part civilly when the time comes,” he said, as if he read her mind about learning to fall in love with each other. 

“Well, those are all the terms. I will have my lawyer draw up the pre-nup and our terms of marriage and he will be contacting you in a few days,” he said and he stood up. It looked like he was ready to leave.

She grabbed his arm. “Can you please stay the night with me? Keep me company?” she asked simply, looking at him imploringly. 

He looked at his creased, crumpled clothing and then at her. He removed his coat and placed it on the arm of the sofa. 

“I suppose my clothes are beyond repair anyway. Do you have a large T-shirt I can change into?” he asked.

“Yes of course,” she jumped up and went to her closet. She still have some of Nick’s clothes. She rummaged through her closet and found Nick’s old Harvard T-shirt and sweat pants. 

“Here, they belonged to my ex, I forgot to return those to him, I suppose he doesn’t want it either,” she said, handing the clothes to him outside.

He looked at the Harvard t-shirt and shrugged. He peeled off his own crumpled clothing and changed into the casual clothes she gave him without turning away. 

Instead, feeling shy suddenly, Clarissa turned away. The sight of his naked torso brought back the many things they did in her room and her bathroom just hours earlier. 

“Come, it’s late. You need to rest and I understand you have to work tomorrow, right?” he said. He placed a hand on her waist and guided her to the room.

“We will be sleeping this time, nothing else,” he said sternly as he settled her down on the bed like she’s a child. 

He tucked her in and then tucked himself in next to her. He wrapped his arms around her, spooning her. She felt so protected in his arms. She snuggled close to him and suddenly feeling so exhausted, she finds herself falling asleep almost immediately.

“Good night, my future wife,” he whispered and kissed her cheek tenderly before he too fell asleep.