Time held for a moment, the way it always did right before he made a big decision.
“Okay.” He hated the way his stomach twisted. “I’ll do it. For the company.”
“Excellent, sir,” Jane said with a hard smile. “I have a list of potential brides for you. They’re all in advertising, so they know what to do. I can have the agreement and a pre-nup to you by the end of the day.”
Jackson nodded, feeling like he was being led by the nose to slaughter. This was how stallions felt on their way to become geldings.
“I would recommend choosing someone that you get along well with, so I’ll have you do some interviews first. You need someone bright and bubbly. You should like her and most importantly, the public should like her. She needs to be good with kids, especially babies.”
The phrase, “bright and bubbly” stuck out in Jackson’s mind. Good with kids. He looked away from his desk and directly at Jane.
“You want someone to rival Jessica?” A thought was already turning in his head. “Someone who is sweet and kind, loves kids, and would look good on a billboard?”
Jane nodded. “Not model good. Mother good. She needs to be attractive, but more girl-next-door and less your usual Barbie-doll. The market must believe that she’s a real person.”
Jackson smiled. He already knew the perfect woman for the job. Someone he got along with and was possibly the most cheerful person he’d ever met.
“I won’t need y
our candidates,” Jackson informed Jane. “I have someone in mind. As long as I can convince her, she’ll be perfect.”
Jane looked at him. “Just give her that smile you gave me earlier and she’ll say yes to anything you ask. I would have married you on the spot if you’d asked me, and I’m already married.”
Jackson grinned. He thought he’d lost his touch with Jane, but he still had it. He really could get to any woman in the world with that smile.
Chapter 3
Jackson
* * *
Jackson’s hands sweated. They were sticky and hot, and he wiped them nervously on his pants the entire way down the elevator.
He hadn’t been this nervous since junior high.
Asking out women was easy. He could smile and get any woman he wanted to hop in his bed for the night with hardly any effort. However, the idea of asking Emma to marry him and have his child to save his company made him nervous.
So, halfway down to the lobby, he decided he wasn’t going to ask her directly. He was going to take her to dinner. That made his palms dry a little, but his heart still raced in his chest. He still made him nervous. She had turned him down before. She was one of the few women that consistently told him no.
He didn’t know why she said no to him. As far as he knew, she wasn’t seeing anyone, and even if she was, he was fucking Jackson Weathers. No woman said no to him. The fact that she could say no actually made him like her more. She was unobtainable.
Maybe that was why his hands shook as the elevator doors opened. Maybe that was why the butterflies in his stomach suddenly came to life. He had done hundreds of high power meetings with men and women worth billions, their entire companies on the line, and he hadn’t been this nervous.
It had to be her. Emma was special.
He took a deep breath, licked his lips, put on his smile, and walked into the coffee shop.
She was at the register counting change out for a customer. He watched her for a moment. Her dark hair was pulled back in a simple ponytail under her company hat. He’d never seen it down, yet he had a feeling it would look lovely framing her slender face and big hazel eyes.
She wasn’t model skinny, which he actually liked. She had real curves to her body that his hands ached to hold onto. She was real, which after dating hundreds of fake women, was suddenly very appealing. His hands started to shake again.
“Mr. Weathers, you’re back.” She looked up at him and her smile lit up her face. He felt warm just being with her and those damn butterflies kicked it up a notch.
“Hello, Emma,” he greeted her. His voice cracked.
“What can I get you?” she asked, ignoring his voice crack for which he was thankful. How did she make him feel like a sixteen-year-old boy just by smiling at him?
“Actually, I’d like to get you something,” he told her. He leaned casually against the counter. “I’d like to get you dinner tonight.”