Brandon (Members From Money Book 19) Read online

  Brandon

  She’s pregnant by another man, will he be able to move past this?

  A sexy romance by Katie Dowe of BWWM Club. Features another free bonus book.

  It only took one mistake to change Yanique’s life forever.

  After a one-night stand, she is now pregnant, and the father wants nothing to do with the baby!

  Determined to raise the baby on her own, Yanique takes a job at a publishing house, owned by the eccentric self-made billionaire, Brandon Reynolds.

  After avoiding the pitfalls of love and relationships all his life, Brandon is surprisingly taken by his new employee.

  But not wanting to deal with heartbreak again, Yanique refuses his advances.

  However the closer she becomes to him, the less she’s able to resist his charm!

  And if they want to take their relationship to the next level, there is one thing they have to come to terms with: Yanique’s baby.

  Can Brandon move past the fact that she is pregnant with another man’s child?

  Find out in this emotional yet sexy romance by Katie Dowe of BWWM Club.

  Suitable for over 18s only due to crazy hot sex scenes!

  Tip: Search BWWM Club on Amazon to see more of our great books.

  Free: Get Jason from the Members From Money series where YOU'RE the star!!

  Hi there. As a special thank you for buying this ebook, for a limited time I want to send a copy of Jason free of charge directly to your email! It's a personalized story, meaning you'll add a few details about yourself (these won't be shared with anyone else) and you'll become the star of the story!! :D

  You'll be emailed a new chapter once a day for 7 days. You can get it by clicking the cover below or going here:

  Direct link: www.afroromancebooks.com/personalized-jason-members-from-money

  This book is so exclusive you can't even buy it. As well as sending daily emails with the story, I'll also send you updates when new books like this are available.

  Copyright © 2017 to Katie Dowe and AfroRomanceBooks.com. No part of this book can be copied or distributed without written permission from the above copyright holders.

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Bonus Book – The One

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

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  Chapter 1

  “It was a one night stand. A mistake that both of us regretted the morning after.” Wayne pulled his jacket around him as he made to end the conversation. He kept glancing at his watch as if he had somewhere urgent to be and maybe he did.

  “But now there is a baby involved,” Yanique whispered urgently trying to keep the occupants seated around the opposite table from hearing what they were saying.

  “I told you that I am practically engaged, Yanique,” he told her brutally. “You should have ensured that you were on something before we got into it.”

  “What about you?” she hissed feeling sick to her stomach. “We were willing participants. Look, that is beside the point. It has already happened. I am not asking for a ring just for you to own up to your part and help me to raise this child.”

  “It was a one night stand,” he repeated between his teeth as he pulled back the cuff of his expensive grey silk jacket to check the time on his silver Movado watch. Wayne Barrett was a very powerful lawyer in one of the largest law firms in town. They had met at a party a month ago and had hit it off immediately. Yanique had been feeling particularly down because of the death of her best friend in a hit and run accident that had happened six months ago and had not been able to shake the gloom surrounding her so she had decided to go out and try to bury her grief in gaiety even for one night. They had started dancing and then drinking together at the bar and that had led to him taking her home. She had invited him inside for a drink and they had had fast and energetic sex without her thinking about the consequences of unprotected sex. Now it had come to bite her in the ass. She could just imagine what Shelly would have said to her. “Girl, it happened already and none of us is perfect although I thought you were!”

  “What does that mean?” she demanded as he got to his feet.

  “It means that there is no guarantee that the baby you are carrying is actually mine is it?” His cold brown eyes raked her as she stood before him. She was very attractive with shoulder length black hair and a face that reminded him of ‘Olivia Pope’ in the hit television show ‘Scandal’. It was what made him go over to her in the first place and the sex had not been bad even though he had found her to be a little inexperienced. But she was beneath him as he had better things to look forward to. He was getting married to the daughter of the senior partner in his law firm. A milky white girl with blonde hair and cornflower blue eyes. Along with her he was getting a promotion and a sumptuous spread in the Valley to call his home. He came from the projects and had fought his way out of it by borrowing money to go to law school. He had reached it now and he had no intention of letting a little mistake stop him now!

  “You bastard!” Yanique whispered agonizingly.

  “I have to go.” He looked at his watch again. “If you have the idea of coming to my office and creating a stink, forget it. I am a lawyer and I play dirty.” With that he left her standing there and never looked back.

  *****

  Yanique poured the steaming water into the cup and watched the color change as it hit the tea pouch she had placed into it. Her hand trembled a little bit and she put away the kettle. She was not hungry but she figured that she had to put something inside her stomach to sustain the life she was carrying. She sat by the window of the small kitchen and stared out into the yard. It was the beginning of fall and the leaves made a colorful backdrop against the greenness of the grass. She would have to rake up pretty soon, she thought absently as she waited for the tea to cool. She had been incredibly stupid! And she had never been stupid. She had been the product of a single parent with her father running off when she was only two and a mother who had struggled to send her to school. She had used books as a way of assuaging her resentment and anger at her father and had become a voracious reader. She had decided to take it a step further and when she went to college she had done the editorial course. She had just gotten her dream job! Editorial assistant at Reynolds News and Media where she would be doing what she loved best: diving into the printed word! She had done the interview last month and had been called back two weeks ago. She had been picking out the appropriate clothing to wear to such a fine establishment when she had felt the nausea attacking her! At first she had thought that it was an ulcer but when it persisted she had gone to do a check-up only to be told that she was a month pregnant! She had not believed it and had reached for the phone to call Shelly when it hit her that her friend was gone forever! She had cried in her pillows as soon as she reached home but like her usual positive self she had gotten up and reviewed the situation. She was twenty-five and pregnant from a one night stand. She had made a mistake which was going to come with consequences. She dared not tell her mother just yet because it would bring back bad memories for her and she would be so disappo
inted! Maybe it won’t be so bad! Maybe she was worrying needlessly. Wayne had not called her but she had not called him either. Maybe if she called him and they met and she told him about her pregnancy they could come to some sort of an agreement and maybe just maybe they would get together for the child. The minute she saw him at the restaurant she knew that all those maybes would be a resounding no! He had looked at her as if she was wasting his time and had seemed impatient and restless as if he could not wait to get away!

  She took up the cup and blew on the tea. Before she could drink a single drop, the tears came!

  *****

  Brandon Reynolds looked at the ratings for a moment and then got to his feet abruptly. He was irritable and impatient for the past few days and everyone around him realized that so they ended up avoiding him. His mother and sister had been accusing him of neglecting the family gatherings but he was frankly in no mood to socialize. For the first time in his life he felt lonely and edgy as if something was missing. His father had started the company with just a small newspaper in town and it had grown rapidly. Radford Reynolds had died ten years ago leaving his son in charge at the early age of twenty and the boy had managed to turn the company into a multi-billion one with television, radio, and magazines all over the world. He ignored the ringing of his cell phone on his desk as he walked over to the window to look down on the midday traffic. He heard the discreet knock on the door and called out to the person to come in. His secretary Betty poked her stylish black hair in and looked at him. “The editor for ‘Ladies Journal’ has been trying to reach you.”

  “I will call her back,” he said without turning around.

  “And your one o’clock is sitting in the foyer.”

  “Give me a couple of minutes.”

  Betty closed the door quietly and went to relay the message.

  Brandon Reynolds was tall and commanded respect whenever he stepped into a room. He had black hair and blue eyes which he had inherited from his dad and a stubborn tilt to his chin. He was very attractive but he never smiled. His face was stern and forbidding and made people stay far away. He had been in a few casual relationships but nothing serious because he had never given himself. With a sigh he went back over to his desk and returned the call before telling Betty to send in the person.

  *****

  “You don’t start working until Monday, what are you doing here?” Gabrielle Lynch asked her in surprise as she came into her office.

  “I wanted to familiarize myself with the layout of the magazine,” Yanique said with a forced smile on her face. She had been telling herself all weekend to come clean with the attractive older woman with the kind smile and grey in her thick black hair. She was going to have to tell her about the baby some time!

  “I had a good feeling when I hired you and I was not wrong,” the woman said with a beaming smile. “Pull up a chair,” she indicated.

  Yanique did and looked with interest at the mock-up of the latest magazine that was due out in December.

  “We are doing a spread on the ‘wives of the Elite Club’ and the work they have been doing around the world. These women are quite phenomenal and very visible. They are wealthy wives of very wealthy men and they are also extremely stylish. People tend to look at these aspects and the fact that they are making a tremendous difference in the lives of the poor.” She pointed to a photo of a group of them handing out care packages to families of the victims of a horrible mass murder at a school a few miles away. “They go all around and are not afraid to get their hands dirty so to speak. They organize counseling sessions, provide food, get people to the hospital, and the list is endless. This month they have their annual cancer drive function and we also want to capture that as well. Brandon Reynolds is also a member of the club.”

  “I read that somewhere,” Yanique told her.

  “How long can you stay?” Gabrielle asked her.

  “I have nothing else to do,” Yanique told her truthfully.

  “Good. I think you should start working today.”

  *****

  Yanique reached home at quarter to seven exhausted but not minding it in the least. She had spent the day working, looking at spreads and making corrections, giving instructions, and she had enjoyed it immensely. It had been enough for her to forget her problems and she had not mentioned the fact that she was pregnant to her boss. She had convinced herself that she would wait until the time was right! She had ignored the calls from her mother and had decided that she would talk to her when she came home. She was not going to tell her yet. She had to find the right time as well. She took off her jacket and hung it on the peg in the living room before taking off the boots she had worn. She walked in her stockings over to the sofa in the living room and sat down heavily. On Fridays she usually hung out with Shelly. They had been friends since high school and through college and had remained close. She had been a nurse at the local hospital and had been going to work at night when a car ran a stop light and plowed into her vehicle. She had died instantly. Yanique had spoken to her just before she left for work and had teasingly told her to take the night off and let them go to a club together. She wished she had insisted! She curled her feet beneath her and rested her head back, closing her eyes. She missed her so much that sometimes it was like a physical ache inside her chest! “Oh Shelly,” she sighed. “I wish you were here, girl!”

  *****

  “Eat!” her mother told her briskly as she put the plate of crispy brown fired chicken along with the potato salad in front of her daughter. Yvonne Wright had been a single mother all her life and had not bothered to go into another relationship when Yanique’s dad had run out on them. Yanique had asked her when she was little growing up why she and her dad had never married and her mother had told her with a hint of sadness that he had not been the marrying kind.

  Yanique took one scent of the delicious fried chicken and knew she was going to hurl! She excused herself hurriedly and fled to the small bathroom. She brought up the eggs and sausages she had eaten for breakfast and leaned back against the cool tiles. Her eyes flew open as she heard her mother’s steps outside. She tried to scramble up but did not make it in time as her mother stood there in the doorway looking at her knowingly.

  “When were you going to tell me you are with child?” she asked her reprovingly.

  “I was hoping never to tell you.” Yanique got to her feet slowly and went to rinse her mouth out at the sink. “I am ashamed, Mama,” she sighed wretchedly.

  “Why?”

  “It was a one night stand and he does not want to have anything to do with me.” She turned and faced her mother squarely. Yvonne Wright was a quietly attractive woman with a gentle demeanor quite unlike her own daughter who had a fiery spirit and did not suffer fools gladly. Yanique looked a little like her except that she had far surpassed her mother in beauty with her thick black hair, smooth cocoa brown skin, full lips, and flashing dark brown eyes. She was tall and curvaceous and had a small dimple in her left cheek.

  “Well then we are just going to have to bring up the child by ourselves,” her mother said decisively. “I brought you up by myself and I can’t say I did a bad job of it.”

  “You did a terrific job,” Yanique said with a tremulous smile as she came forward.

  “I am glad to hear that.” She hugged the beautiful girl briefly and linked hands with hers. “Come on, I will get you something to soothe your stomach and put something in it to give my grandchild some sustenance. How about some soup?”

  “Sounds good. Mama?”

  “Yes, honey?”

  “Thanks.”

  “You are welcome.”

  *****

  MaryAnn Reynolds held the vase up to the light and admired the prisms of colors flashing through the thick glass. She was a collector and had always been. She traveled all over the world collecting expensive vases and sold them to high end antique stores. Not that she needed the money because her son provided for them extremely well. She just loved to keep hers
elf occupied. She looked up as her twenty-five-year-old daughter came into the room. Leanne Reynolds was a tall beautiful brunette with blue eyes much like her brother’s and was a lawyer at one of the largest law firm in town. She was a criminal lawyer and had a ninety percent success rate. She still lived at home in her own suite and had no plans to move out just now. MaryAnn despaired on ever having grandchildren from her two very successful children.

  “Mother, what are you doing up so late?” She dumped her satchel on one of the sofas and sat down, easing her feet out of her shoes. It had been a very long day.

  “I have a client coming by tomorrow first thing and I want to make sure these are in tip top shape.” It was almost eight-thirty at night and the housekeeping staff had already turned in for the night. “How was your day?”

  “Awful!” Leanne ran slim tapered fingers through her heavy dark hair and sighed. “My star witness failed to show and the judge told me that this is the last time she will grant me a continuance. I am now going to have to have someone look for her. It’s a double murder case, Mother, and the star witness is the housekeeper. I have a feeling that she is scared out of her wits and is being threatened by the son. There is a clear indication that he did it for the money but I need the witness’ statement.”

  “The Maroni’s case?” MaryAnn put away the vase she had been studying and went to pour them both some wine.

  “The same.” Leanne accepted the wine gratefully and sipped. “I would like to wipe that smug look off the bastard’s face and rub a guilty verdict in it. He had the nerve to whisper to me as he was leaving that when all this is over he would like us to go out to dinner.”

  “Darling, be careful.”

  “I can deal with scums like that, Mother, don’t worry. Have you heard from Brandon?”

  “Your brother is pretty scarce these days.” MaryAnn sighed. “I have not heard from him in three days. He was supposed to come over today so we can have dinner but he did not show up. The next thing I knew was he had gone off to New York or Chicago.”