Chapter 3

Jeffrey sat behind the large mahogany desk in his office, rocking the chair back and forth. The office interiors were nicely decorated and you could tell how expensive the furniture was just from the look of it. He rummaged through some files on his desk, seemingly searching for a particular one. He found it and flipped through the pages of each document, his eyes scanned the table and landed on something.

Sighing heavily, he picked up the will and looked through it again. Few days ago after his father's death, they had all gathered to hear the will Connor Simmons left behind. As expected he was entitled to most of his father's properties since he was the first child and son. Estates, lands and other businesses his father once possessed were handed over to him. But Jeffrey couldn't take over them. Not until he had a child.

In his will, the top wealthiest man in all of New York City had clearly indicated that before his first child, Jeffery Simmons could lay a hand on any of his property, he had to get a child first. A child who would serve as an heir to the Simmons property. Not only would the child be a next of kin, he would also be a symbol for their family.

This should have been no problem for a man with a social status such as Jeffery. As the son of a billionaire, ladies would kill to be seen with him. However, this request his father had made had proven to be a difficult task for him.

Ever since high school, Jeffery had sworn never to get emotionally involved with any lady, talk less of getting married. This was due to a heartbreaking event that happened with his ex-girlfriend when he caught her cheating on him with his best friend. The scene had left him broken and hurt. He never recovered from the shock and had since kept his vow of not getting intimate with a woman. He hadn't broken that vow and he wasn't even ready to do it now.

Jeffery needed to continue his father's businesses so when the clause of the will was read to him, he found out, much to his dismay that he would have no choice but to father a child. After brainstorming on how he was going to perform this without getting married or having an affair, he had arrived with the idea of surrogacy. He could father a child and still keep his vow. Jeffery had however made himself anonymous when he had thrown it open to the public. He couldn't beat the gossips and looks and rumors and even the shame that would spread like wildfire when the public discovers that a whole Simmons family had an heir through surrogacy. It would be a huge disgrace to them and cause a lot of controversy. Jeffery wasn't one who liked controversial situations so coming out unknown and with a secret identity had been his big plan.

Not wanting a situation whereby he would have to select from a few applicants, Jeffery had thrown in a huge amount of money, precisely seventh million dollars. This had attracted a lot of ladies from all over New York and even from neighboring states. He shook his head as he dropped the will, taking a mental note to call his father's lawyer later on and went back to skimming through the application files. He looked through tons of forms laid out on his desk. When he got fired, he resorted to checking only their pictures and leaving out other information in the form. He would look through those later.

Geez! I just need one lady! He almost shouted when he had skimmed through all the files and had not been able to arrive at one. Banging his hands on his table in disappointment and frustration, something caught his eyes. It was a picture of a girl with light hair and hazel eyes. The eyes seemed to draw him closer to them like a magnet and his attention was shifted from the other files to this particular one. He scanned through her other pertinent information and discovered that she was twenty years old. He picked up her file, pushing the others away and got up walking towards the door and out to meet his secretary, the file still firmly clutched in his hands. He had made up his mind, this girl, Charlotte Houston had been chosen.

***

"This?" Amy asked, raising up a pair of leggings and boots with a flimsy blouse up to Charlotte. Charlotte shook her head vigorously causing Amy to laugh out loud.

"How about this?" She asked, holding up a blue and white striped gown. It was nice but Charlotte shook her head again, saying it was too casual.

Amy picked up another grey coloured dress. It was a gown that was so perfectly fitted on Charlotte. It had beautiful stones and pearls on the chest area of the dress that would glisten in the dark. There was a small pleat at the bottom of the dress which stopped just below her knees.

"This should be perfect." Amy suggested, tossing the dress to Charlotte who was already impatient. Charlotte had been so excited when she got an email that she was chosen to be the surrogate. Her joy knew no bounds and right away he reached out to Amy to help her with choosing an outfit since she was requested to come over to his house.

Charlotte hurried into the dress and Amy helped her put on light makeup. They got out and stopped a taxi. Charlotte got in.

"Good luck, Char." Amy wished for her.

She gave him the address and the taxi drove off. Charlotte arrived and got off after paying the driver. She looked around and walked towards the building written in the mail. It was truly infamous because she had never heard of this place before and it was located in a small area. She got in and a lady dressed in black, from her gown to her shoes and bag came Forward immediately to introduce herself as Helen, the secretary to the person who had initiated the act of surrogacy.

"I'm Charlotte. Nice to meet you Helen" Charlotte replied, stretching her hands for a handshake. Helen took the handshake and walked her to a seat at the far end of the restaurant. They both sat down and the lady brought out a document with about five pages.

"This contains the terms and conditions of the surrogacy. Please read through and let me know if you agree."

Charlotte carefully went through every single word on the document and the clauses were multifarious. One of them includes not telling anyone the identity of the surrogate founder. This made her more curious. Who exactly is this man and why is he putting up an act of surrogacy with an unknown identity?

She was to give birth to the child traditionally which would literally mean that the surrogacy involved her having to sleep with the man. After thinking through, she sighed and decided to agree to all policies since she badly needed the money. A spot was shown for her to tender her signature and she did so.

"Now for the last part of the agreement." Helan said and stood up, signalling to Charlotte to follow her. Charlotte did so gingerly and followed her to a limousine. They both sat in and the driver drove them to the supposed house of the surrogate's founder. Charlotte's heart started to thump in her chest as they got closer to their destination.

Helen exchanged a few words with the limousine driver whose name she learnt was Gerald. After they were done talking, Helen led her into the house. They arrived at the front porch and Helen had to type in a code for the double doors to open. They got in and Charlotte was dumbstruck yet again. If the outside was beautiful, then she could not find words to describe the interior decoration of the house. The walls and tiles had class and elegance written all over them. Two golden chandeliers hung from the walls in the living room and she could not help but marvel at the chairs. She sat down in one of them and was surprised at how the chair seemed to swallow her. It was so soft and comfortable she could stay in it forever.

Whoever this dude is, she thought to herself. He has to be a wealthy multi-billionaire.

"It's time." Helen's voice snapped her out of her reverie.

Time for what, she almost wanted to ask before remembering that she had to fulfil the last condition of the surrogacy which was having sex with him. Smoothing out her dress, she followed Helen up the stairs and into a large bedroom. A man with short, curly hair sat I'm front of a desk, with his back to them.

He raised his hands on dismissal. "You can go, Helen."

Charlotte swallowed as Helen walked out of the room and the man slowly turned to face her. This is it.

"Hello, Miss Houston." It was her hazel eyes. It had caught Jeffrey's attention. It went well with her blue hair which showed how adventurous she was. He liked her already.

A bizarre part of him suddenly imagined if his child, which she’d bare him, would inherit this obvious rebellious streak… or her beauty in general.

Charlotte was shocked to her bones seeing the man before her. She wiped her head around to be sure she was in the right house. She only saw Helen's receding figure and no one else. Charlotte blinked hard to be sure she had business mogul Jeffrey Simmons before her. "Jeffrey Simmons." She whispered, holding unto the backrest of the sofa in the large living room then sat without being requested.

"I don't think it's nice to sit before you're told to."  He told her while purposely looking at anywhere but her. He sat next to her and chuckled inside of him as the corner of his eyes watched the young lady scramble to her feet.

Everyone knew the famous Jeffery Simmons. Of course, Charlotte knew him but she never knew he was this handsome with his tall, huge body and perfect chiseled face like a potter had just done his best work on his face. Their skin color was in contrast. His was a nice perfectly tanned brown color while she was light skinned. She also loved his curly hair which was well combed to the side. Simmon could easily be mistaken for a Greek god. He was perfect.

He pointed at where she had sat. Charlotte understood; murmured a quiet thank you and sat on the sofa still stunned that she was in the house of Jeffrey Simmons. Jeffrey went into it right away, "You've gone through the contract, right?" Charlotte only gave a nod. "You understand it?" Jeffrey asked and she gave another nod. Charlotte was lost in his deep blue eyes. It reminded her of the sea. She really didn't understand  and she had a lot of questions but she kept mute. "Any questions before we proceed?" The man raised an eyebrow.

Charlotte shook her head a little. "The conditions stated in the contract..." She trailed, staring at anywhere but his direction. She was nervous.

"Your identity– under no circumstances should be revealed to anyone, the baby would be conceived traditionally, you would be staying over here till the baby is born. Which do you have issues with?"

“I do have one request though.” She mumbled and when he grunted, she took that as an indication to continue.

“I have my siblings who are in my care, and since I have to live in your home until I birth this baby, I’ll like to ask that my siblings come live with me.”

Jeffery pondered on the request for a few moments before letting out a small shrug. “Sure.”

The quick relief that crossed Charlotte’s face was indication enough that, his agreement to her request had meant so much to her, but Jeffery was quick to push that thought away because it was none of his business.

The two discussed the term of contract before Jeffrey asked Helen to get the file which Charlotte signed without any argument. Right away, she received a huge part of the agreed money in her bank account, which made her breath hitch for a few seconds. Charlotte was more than excited that she had some money to help her brothers start with their treatment.

As the two made their way up the stairs, Jeffrey carefully pulled down her zip. With how fast he had done it, one would know he was an expert in undressing women. Charlotte's bare back was revealed. Only her pink bra stayed. He stopped in his tracks and placed his hands on her shoulders stopping her from moving. He was surprised at the sudden urge to kiss her gleaming soft bare skin, but he shoved that thought aside as he deftly unhooked her bra.

Charlotte felt her skin tingle and her heartbeat accelerated. They made their way to a bedroom with the upper side of her body completely bare, which made her feel vulnerable and nervous because she could feel his intense blue eyes drinking her up. An unexpected flick of her left nipple made a stuttered cry fly past her lips before she instantly clamped her mouth shut in embarrassment, while faintly listening to him chuckle a little.

Jeffery stopped before the huge bed and so did she. Charlotte was marvelled at how beautiful the interior of this room was, but she couldn’t focus on that for long, because her mind was drifting back to the man who was currently standing before her, making her breath hitch in her throat when she finally glanced up into his face.

“Nervous?” He asked and she noticed the mocking quirk of his brow and the amusement in his voice, which made her summon enough bravado to fold her hands on her bare chest as she rolled her eyes.  

“Of course not.” Charlotte responded haughtily.

“Good, because for a moment there, I could have sworn you were as jittery as a virgin.” He mused as he slowly closed the distance between them. Charlotte unconsciously found herself taking a small step away from him, as he took another step forward.

Charlotte was appalled. She was no virgin and she wanted nothing more than to tell this stupidly handsome man to go fuck himself, but she wouldn’t dare utter those words because of what was obviously at stake.

She did scowl at him though. His response was instant, he huffed out an amused laugh and then he reached out to thumb her right nipple, making her exhale a sharp breath and tremble at once.

“So, Miss Charlotte, will you give me your verbal consent to proceed with this part of the contract agreement?”

Charlotte swallowed emptily and slowly nodded her head, gulping at the way he kept eying her bare chest. Something about the look in his eyes was making her shudder.

“I need you to use your words, Miss Charlotte.”

“Yes, I consent to this.” Charlotte finally whispered just as she felt Jeffery’s cold fingers dig into her waist as he tugged her against him, making her brain reel instantly.