Nine Month Contract

Eli never asked his brothers to meddle in his life. But when they post a wildly blunt wanted ad on his behalf — grumpy mountain man seeks surrogate, grunting fluency a plus — he can't exactly argue with the results. He's a man who made up his mind: he wants to become a father, and he's doing it on his own terms, in his mountain home, no romance required. Then Trista shows up for her interview.

She's opinionated, she's spirited, and she walks in wearing cowboy boots. Even Eli's pet goat is immediately won over. She is, against all odds, exactly the kind of person he'd been holding out for. So he offers her the contract. Simple, practical, no complications.

Except nothing about Trista feels simple. The arrangement calls for home insemination — clinical, straightforward, nothing to it. But when the night arrives, the lights are low, the cheap wine is poured, and the supplies are laid out on the kitchen counter, Eli realizes something that throws a wrench into his very carefully laid plans. He doesn't just want her to carry his child. He wants more than that. A lot more. And wanting more was never part of the deal.