Chapter 3: The Rules

I drove to the hotel which housed the restaurant I had agreed to meet Dax at. My stomach felt a little nauseous.

I reluctantly handed the valet my keys and twenty bucks. Unfortunately, this emptied my wallet.

The hotel looked elegant and luxurious and stood several stories high. It had gold on the name of the hotel sign and entrance. Even the bellhops wore expensive looking uniforms in the shade of a royal purple.

When I walked in, people stared at me without trying to hide it. I felt majorly underdressed with my black slacks, flats, and bright blue blouse.

Why did these people have to judge me? I was already out of place without their staring.

I had to go up to the sixth floor to get to the restaurant. I noticed elegant light fixtures throughout the restaurant, and the servers had black and white formal wear on.

Their tables had expensive looking glasses, tablecloths, and napkins set on them. I could even see the view of the city skyline from the windows. The sun was just starting to set, so there was a faint pink cast spreading over the sky.

I searched around for Dax. I had never met him but had seen pictures on billboards all over the city, advertising for his company.

It didn’t take me long to find Dax sitting at a booth. He had a serious expression and power drifted off of his presence. I noticed he had very defined cheekbones with bright blue eyes and had perfectly coiffed brown hair. His outfit looked like a top designer suit and was perfectly pressed.

I sat down across from him.

He greeted me, “Hello I’m Dax Ryan. Pleasure to meet you.”

“I’m Danica Winters. It’s nice to meet you too.”

Dax slid a document towards me from his end of the table. He continued to remain professional as he looked over at me.

Dax spoke in a deep tone and said, “We’ll go over all the terms of the agreement, so that you understand how this will work Miss Winters.”

“I understand, but please call me Danica. Miss Winters is too formal.”

“I prefer to keep this more formal, but if this makes you more comfortable.”

He sure was a CEO. I had never seen someone this serious before. Not even my manager talked to me formally at the restaurant.

The waitress came and got our drink orders. I ordered water because it was free, and I wasn’t sure if he’d make me pay for my meal or not. It was just to be safe.

Besides, we weren’t on a date. It was a professional meeting. This reminded me that I hadn’t been on a date in quite some time. Maybe I had to fix that soon.

When she left, he continued talking, “The first term is your payment for carrying this child. You will receive one million dollars after delivering the child. But you won’t have any parental rights, as this child will be mine after birth.”

The thought of not having parental rights felt weird to me but I didn’t oppose. I knew the baby would be biologically mine even if I had no parental rights.

I just hoped I wouldn’t end up getting attached to the baby. It was possible. How could I not get attached? I pushed the thought away and realized I had to answer him.

I said, “I understand every term of the agreement. But I was wondering if I can ask a few questions.”

I knew it was a big risk to even ask but wanted to. There were some things that I wished to know.

Dax replied, “It depends if the questions are regarding the agreement or not. I’m willing to answer questions if you’re confused on any of the terms I’ve laid out.”

Why was he so impersonal? I just wanted to be friendly towards him. Maybe he wasn’t a people person. I hoped I could break his walls down.

“Could you please tell me about you? What do you do outside of work?”

His face turned into an unreadable expression. He said, “I prefer to keep this professional Danica. Let’s get back to anything regarding the agreement.”

I should’ve known he’d shoot down the questions about him. I wasn’t going to let this go, however.

Dax sipped on his water while I felt a change in the atmosphere. He really wanted to keep this strictly business. I genuinely just wanted to learn more about him.

It wasn’t like I was going to ask super personal questions to him. What was wrong with a little small talk? I didn’t think it hurt to chat about non-work-related things at times.

Before I could say anything else, the waitress came back. She seemed kind of tired, as I noticed her eyes were a little bloodshot. I related as a fellow waitress. Days were long.

She took Dax’s order, and I almost thought she sounded a little flirtatious. Maybe I was imagining that.

“What would you like to order hon?”

Dax kept a neutral expression and said, “I’d like the mushroom asiago chicken.”

The waitress wrote down his order and then asked, “Will this be one check or two?”

“Put it under one check please,” Dax answered back.

She nodded in acknowledgment before asking me, "What would you like to order hon?"

"I'd like the baked tilapia with a cup of lobster bisque."

The waitress wrote my order down before walking away from us.

I waited until she was out of sight before I spoke up again. “Why won’t you let me get to know you? I’d like to know the man who is going to raise my biological child. Isn’t that fair?”

Dax got quiet and avoided my eyes. I seemed to have struck a nerve. Maybe he wouldn’t want me to be his surrogate anymore.

It made me a little nervous that maybe I had just blown my chances. I really needed think before speaking sometimes.

My mom used to tell me that I had no filter and said whatever I wanted. It sure got me into a lot of trouble during my school days.

He took a sip of his drink and said, “I would rather we keep our relationship strictly professional. I’d drop these kinds of questions if I were you Danica.”

Who did he think he was? I just wanted to be kind to him, but he kept blowing me off. It kind of made me mad.

He could at least have the decency to answer one question. I wasn’t asking him for his life’s story.

Suddenly I got bold and asked, “Why do you even want this child? Have you always wanted to be a parent?”

Dax’s expression turned into one of annoyance. “I’m going to stop you right there. I want to make it clear that I don’t have any intentions of being a parent to this child.” He sighed and continued, “I only want this child as an heir. Nothing more, nothing less.”

My mouth almost dropped open. How could he only want a child for an heir? It was hard to tell if this man actually cared about anything besides work. That was the opposite of me.

I never wanted to make work my top priority and made time for other things. Working all the time without anything else mattering seemed like a dull life to me. Why would he put all of his energy into work?

I had no idea I’d be signing up for the position for someone like this. I had no idea how I’d get through being a surrogate for Dax but was stuck with it. Whether I liked it or not, I was Dax’s surrogate and had to deal with him from now on. This was only the beginning, and I had a long way to go.