For nine years, Tayla Broussard has been Jerome “Rome” Tatum’s safest person.

She knows the billionaire businessman behind the numbers, the plans, and the carefully controlled life. She knows when he is worried before he says a word. And she has spent years convincing herself that being his best friend is enough.

Until Rome asks her for the one thing that could change everything.

His chance at fatherhood is disappearing. He doesn’t want a wife just to have a family, and there is only one woman he trusts enough to carry his child.

Tayla.

The arrangement is supposed to be simple. A contract. Clear boundaries. No confused feelings.

But there is nothing simple about carrying the baby of the man who already feels like home.

As pregnancy pulls them closer, years of buried attraction finally become impossible to ignore. Sunday dinners begin to feel like family. Friendship turns into something hotter, deeper, and far more dangerous.

Because Rome has loved Tayla much longer than she knows.

And Tayla has spent her entire life preparing for the day someone she loves decides she is too much to keep.

When Rome’s need to protect their future turns into decisions Tayla never agreed to, the woman carrying his child must decide whether being wanted is the same thing as being truly chosen.

And for the first time in his life, Rome will discover that money can buy houses, security, and contracts—

but it cannot buy the woman he loves.