Having My Baby by Theresa Ragan Read Free Book Online Page A

twice over as she tried to imagine what her parents would think when she told them she and Derrick Baylor were dating. For some reason, the idea of such a ridiculous notion sent a chill right through her. It had been over a year since she’d been with a man. She’d made love to a total of three different men in her life. Well, that is, if she counted Roy Lester. No, she quickly decided, she didn’t want to count Roy. Two men, she amended. She’d made love to two different men in her entire life. Derrick Baylor didn’t look like the sort of man who made love. He probably had hot passionate sex every night on the hood of his car. She blushed at the thought.
    Sex was dirty.
    That’s what her mother used to tell Jill and her sister. Thomas had always been a perfect gentleman in bed. Thomas was the cleanest, neatest person she’d ever met, always making sure not to mess her hair or ruin the bed sheets if and when she could manage to get him in the mood.
    “Are you all right?” Derrick asked when she failed to respond to whatever he’d said about meeting with a judge.
    “I’m fine. I have a lot on my mind and I didn’t get much sleep last night.”
    “Is Ryan okay?”
    “He’s great. How did you know his name?”
    “A reporter told me when I showed up at the hospital as planned.”
    “Oh.” She felt a stab of guilt. “So what did the judge tell you?”
    “The judge assigned a court appointed mediator to help us figure out how to deal with our situation.”
    “Sandy thinks you want to take my baby from me. Is that true?”
    “No. Never.”
    Jill caught a whiff of his aftershave. He had to be wearing Gucci or Chanel. God, he smelled good. She didn’t have any shoes on, but either way, Derrick Baylor was tall…very tall. Her neck was beginning to hurt from the strain of looking up.
    “Why did you leave the hospital without talking to me?” he asked.
    “It’s complicated.”
    “I have time.”
    The little angel, if you could call it that, sitting on Jill’s left shoulder told her to tell him the truth: that she’d been confused and had done what she always did…followed orders. Sandy had told her she needed to get away from Derrick Baylor, and so that’s what Jill had done. She’d run.
    The devil with the red spiked heels sitting on her right shoulder also told Jill to tell him the truth. But while she was at it, kill him with kindness and make him believe she wanted to be friends. At least until her parents showed up. Then she’d really have to turn on the charm. After her parents flew back to New York, all bets were off. Although Jill knew it wasn’t fair to judge a book by its cover, so to speak, she was too tired to care. Her ideal mate could never be an athlete. She preferred intelligent males who kept their hair combed appropriately and wore suits to work.
    “All my life,” Jill began to explain, “since I was in my teens, I wanted to have a baby.”
    Derrick raked a hand through thick, unmanageable hair. “Seriously?”
    She nodded. “Most girls dream about their wedding day, but not me. I dreamt of having a baby of my own. My sister would ask Santa for a princess dress. I always asked for a baby.”
    He appeared to be listening intently, which made her wonder about him. Men didn’t listen to women rattle on about their wants and desires. Derrick Baylor obviously had a plan of his own. Fine with her. Two could play at this game.
    “Fast forward to Thomas,” she went on. “We dated for years, but he couldn’t—” Jill pulled her gaze from his. “This is too personal. I shouldn’t be talking about this with you.”
    “No, please go on,” he said. “Thomas was infertile?”
    Jill looked at him skeptically, warily, and then nodded. “We had a long engagement. During that time, I looked for help. I finally found CryoCorp. When things didn’t work out between Thomas and me, I knew right away that I would keep my appointment with CryoCorp and raise my baby on my own. No father, no