by Parker, Ali
“At least I have that to look forward to.” Not feeling slightly sick almost all the time would be a welcome return to normality.
Doctor Evans grinned, giving my belly a pointed look. “You have that and a baby at the end to look forward to. Should we take a look at what’s going on inside there? Get your first look at your own, personal little miracle?”
I nodded enthusiastically, more than ready to be done with the talking and get the show on the road. “Please.”
“All right.” He reached for a bottle with clear gel in it and squeezed a generous amount onto my exposed abdomen. When he set the bottle down, he fiddled with the ultrasound machine until a black and white image with some numbers and my name appeared on it. “Today, we’ll be looking for a heartbeat and I should be able to give you an estimate of how far along you are. Ready?”
“As I’ll ever be.” My breath caught as he took the wand out of its cradle and brought it to my stomach. Within seconds, a grainy image appeared on the screen.
Blake and I both stared at it, enthralled by the image the doctor pulled up. He pointed at a tiny blinking speck on the screen with his free hand, holding the wand still on that spot with the other. “Well, well. Congratulations Mom and Dad, that right there? That is your baby’s heartbeat.”
Blood rushed to my ears as I blinked at the white flashing blip he was pointing at. Tears filled my eyes. The world around me faded away. The only thing I was aware of outside of that tiny blip was the squeeze Blake’s hand gave mine. That was our baby we were looking at.
Chapter 55
Blake
On the way to my father’s house to meet with our lawyer after the doctor appointment, my heart kept racing. “That was the most incredible thing I’ve ever seen.”
It had to be the tenth time I’d said it, or some variation, within as many minutes, but I couldn’t stop. I couldn’t get over it.
As soon as the doctor pointed at that grainy, weirdly shaped blob with the flashing light that was the heartbeat, everything changed. I had expected it probably would, but I hadn't known how.
It was like someone had finally given me glasses when I hadn’t even realized I couldn’t see properly before. In a heartbeat—a literal, actual heartbeat—my view of just about everything I knew and believed in had been altered.
When I looked at the pregnant woman and their children in the waiting room before we went into the exam room, I saw red, swollen women I felt sorry for. The incessant chattering of their toddlers had annoyed me, and a part of me wanted nothing more than to bolt with Aston in tow.
Walking out, however, those same women no longer looked red and swollen, but glowing, as they carried the babies they would be meeting so much sooner than we would be meeting ours. The annoying toddlers were suddenly kids, sweet little people I wanted to stop and have a chat with.
Our rental car, a sporty red two-door that many men would give their left testicle to drive even once, now seemed small and impractical. It wouldn’t be able to hold a car seat and as such, would be off of my list going forward.
The family sized homes we drove past on the way to my dad’s no longer seemed unnecessarily big, or like the bricks they were made of were there to anchor their poor owners to one place for the rest of their lives. When I used to see houses that was all I saw. Bricks, designed to weigh me down to make sure I always had to return.
Driving to Dad’s now though, I couldn’t help the jealousy coursing through me, that all these people had a home to go to where they would have been able to sit down after a trip to the doctor like ours, and immediately start planning a nursery. It was irrational to feel jealous about it, but I still found myself wishing we were on our way back to a place we both called home.
She smiled as we took the final turn to my dad’s house. “It really was pretty incredible, wasn’t it? Can you believe we’re having a baby together?”
“Yes,” I said honestly. The last hour had made me realize I wasn’t only ready to have a family with Aston, I really wanted one. “This is only the first one. Let’s hope there are plenty more where that came from.”
Aston’s gaze darted to mine, her eyes wide and surprised. “Plenty? Are you serious?”
“Absolutely.” Whatever it was inside me that had clicked into place and made me see the world differently, it also made me realize how much I loved Aston. I wanted it all with her, and only her. A dozen or so kids, a house, and even a couple of dogs, some sort of retrievers, maybe.
Fuck, I’d even throw in a white picket fence if that was what she wanted. It would definitely have to be reinforced by proper fences or walls to keep my brood safe when I was on the road, but we could cross that bridge when we got there.
Outside my father’s gate didn’t feel like the right time or place to tell her any of that, though. I rang the doorbell instead and was quickly buzzed inside.
The lawyer and my father were already waiting when I walked into Dad’s study, leaving Aston with Mom again. She seemed happy about it and my mom gushed over how good Aston looked. Telling her the news was on the tip of my tongue since she’d clearly picked up on some kind of vibe between us, but I wanted to tell her and Dad together. Preferably without a lawyer present.
“Blake,” Dad said. There was no welcoming hug this time. He was all business, dressed in a sharp suit. It didn’t look like he’d spent so much as an hour in the hospital, never mind more than a month. He gestured to one of the wingback leather chairs and took a seat beside the lawyer in another. “Thank you for coming. David will take you through everything you need to sign.”
David was Dad’s longtime friend and lawyer. I’d known him since I was about seven. It was still weird to be the one talking business with him now, even though I’d been doing it for years. He took a manila envelope out of a gleaming black briefcase and handed it to me.
“It’s good to see you, Blake. I don’t have a lot of time this morning, so I’m going to explain what’s going on and what you have to sign. When I’m done, I’ll need to head back to the office.”
I nodded. David never had time to dawdle. I gave him credit for it, though. Many lawyers wasted time simply to increase their billable hours. David never did. I attributed it to the fact that he didn’t need an increase to his billable hours, because he probably already billed every hour of every day legitimately.
“Your dad explained the situation with Danny to me. The documents in that envelope are what you’ll both need to sign to transfer full custodianship of the company to you. It will kick start the transition of power from your father to you.”
“Okay.” It didn’t surprise me that David already had all the facts and had the paperwork ready to go. “How long will the transfer take?”
“Legally,” David said, “as soon as both you and your father have signed those documents, you are in control.”
“Wow.” That was fast. This was really happening. “Good. Dad needs to stop worrying about this so he can focus on his recovery.”
“I agree,” David nodded. “Full control of the company will rest with you, though your father remains as part of the board of directors. All of your duties and responsibilities are outlined in the memo I included in the envelope. Read through it, let me know if you have any questions.”
“David’s firm is on retainer any time you need them,” Dad added. “Their advice has been invaluable to me. I hope you’ll find them helpful, too. You can contact them about anything. They know things even I don’t.”
David chuckled, snapping his briefcase shut and rising from his chair. “That’s about the size of it, gents.”
“That’s all you came here to say?” I asked, incredulously. It was a super short meeting considering the enormity of the consequences.
He nodded, and replied. “Short and sweet. The legalities are all in place, all we need to finalize everything is one signature from each of you.”
“One signature and my company will no longer be under my control,” Dad commented. He didn’t s
eem at all sad about it. “It will be in the best hands possible outside of my own. You’re going to do great things there, Blake.”
“No doubt,” David said, reaching out to shake my dad’s hand before extending his hand to shake mine as well. “Good luck, Blake. My personal telephone number is on there as well. Feel free to call me anytime, no matter what time of the day or night it might be.”
“I appreciate that, thank you. Believe me, I won’t hesitate to call if I need to, but hopefully not in the middle of the night.”
As promised, the lawyer left immediately after the meeting. He told Dad to take his time working through the contracts with me and that he would send someone over to pick them up once we had them signed.
When he was gone, I walked over to Dad’s desk and picked up a heavy letter opener. It had an engraved wooden handle and fancy designs on the blade. “I remember when Danny and I got you this. It was for your birthday when I was fifteen.”
Dad grinned fondly. “Much simpler times. The two of you were worried something would happen to me if I kept opening letters by hand because I’d nicked my finger earlier that week.”
“It was a serious concern.” I was again reminded about how Dad and I had always taken care of each other. Danny had laughed about my idea to get him a letter opener for his birthday at first. Until I had convinced him it was a worthy gift because anything that could cause Dad pain or hurt him in any way was to be avoided.
Now he was entrusting me with what was most important to him. I would have to take extra good care of it now, and of him. Better than ever before.
“You two boys meant everything to me then,” Dad reminisced. “Your mother was gone, but you two were still here. I made a mistake not being the father to you I should have been. I built the company from nothing, but it took too much of my time.”
I shook my head. “You were the best father you could be.”
“But still, not the father I should have been,” he insisted. “I definitely wasn’t the husband I should have been.”
“She’s back now,” I reminded him when I saw that pained look I knew so well creeping into his eyes.
He nodded sadly. “How much time we’ve both wasted, though. You’ve got a good woman with you now, Blake. If I sign these papers, the last thing I want is for you to go down the same road I did.”
“I won’t,” I assured him firmly, believing it more than I ever had. “I’ve learned from you, Dad. I’ve seen how it tore you up to lose Mom, no matter what you gained with the company.”
Dad reached for the silver cased fountain pen he always carried in his pocket, unfolding the documents I handed him. “I hope I’m not dooming you to the same purgatory I was in by doing this.”
“You’re not,” I told him. I’d never been more certain of anything, than I was that I would be there for Aston and the baby, despite the pressures of running the company.
He touched the pen to the paper. I heard him scribble his signature, then he handed it back to me. “Good luck, son. Always remember that I’m right here if you need me. My recovery is going well, I’m not some fragile old man turning himself out to pasture.”
Giving me a crooked grin, he heaved himself out of the chair. “Take some time and look those over. I’ll go have some lemonade with the women. We’ll be out on the deck.”
The young man David sent to pick up the papers arrived just as Aston and I were leaving, later that afternoon. It had been a big day for me. The responsibility of it all had settled around my shoulders.
Instead of feeling like a burden though, it enveloped me and fit as snugly as a comfortable old sweater. It felt like it should have been there all along.
Aston and I arrived at the hotel after grabbing dinner at one of the restaurants on the beach near Dad’s house. She didn’t look any worse for wear after our long, life-changing day. Upbeat as ever, she smiled as we entered the suite. “Home, suite home. See what I did there?”
“Nothing, huh?” Walking backwards, she started unbuttoning her jeans. “You know, I’ve never been with a hotel chain czar before.”
Coming up to the suite, I had been beat after the day we’d had. When Aston kicked off her jeans and stood in front of me wearing only sheer white panties and a pale pink cardigan, my exhaustion fled at the speed of light.
My eyes narrowed on hers as I unbuttoned my shirt while moving toward her. “Really? Never? I think it’s time we changed that.”
Chapter 56
Aston
Blake did a double take and froze as he watched me shimmy out of my jeans. It was a risk to try and seduce him after the day we had, but I needed to feel that connection to him. I thought he was on the same page as I was after today, that we were in this for the long haul together.
To be sure, I needed the physical connection along with the emotional one. I would be able to tell whether or not he felt the same.
Blake’s eyes zeroed in on mine. Shit, as sensitive as I was, I was pretty sure he would be able to make me come with nothing but a look. That look, in particular, was likely to make me combust spontaneously.
A tingle of pleasure shot through me as his eyes widened and his pupils dilated. I loved that I still affected him the way I did, and hoped it wouldn’t change once I started showing.
Never in my wildest dreams would I have expected that the sexiest, most beautiful man I had ever laid eyes on would look at me the way he did. Especially not such a short time after I dropped the bomb of a lifetime on him.
My entire body was humming as he kept his eyes locked on mine and stalked me with a powerful grace, like he was a panther and I was the prey. Or in this case, some kind of prize.
“Are you sure you’re up for this?” he asked, with a quiet growl against my mouth.
I felt my head bouncing up and down instantly, my body reacting before my brain had a chance to catch up. Blake set me on fire when he was like this.
He wrapped his strong arms around me and kissed me like he meant it without another word. Words weren’t necessary between us at times like this.
Heat spread through me as his kiss lit my nerve endings, causing them to spark and come alive. It was always like this with Blake. He did things to me I couldn’t logically explain.
Wrapping my arms around his neck, I pushed my chest against his. My fingers threaded into his hair. Taking it as his cue, he grabbed my ass and lifted me against him. I loved it when he did that, but I knew he wouldn’t be able to make me feel as light as a feather much longer.
My hands trailed down his sculpted back, and suddenly I was on mine. I sank into the mattress with his divine weight pressing into me. Nibbling at my collarbone before he pulled his shirt over his head, he threw it to the floor as his lips found mine.
We were skin to skin as he crawled over me. It felt incredible. His hands slid to my thighs and he squeezed them with want.
He licked the shell of my ear with the tip of his tongue before moving on, caressing all the sensitive spots on my neck, to my shoulder as he slid down my body, trailing kisses over my chest and on my bare stomach.
My hips moved of their own accord. A soft moan escaped as they brushed his hard bulge. He groaned at the contact, kissed the underside of my breast, and then clamped his warm mouth over one puckered nipple.
I gasped, craving more. I would never get used to that feeling. My fingers dug into his shoulders, then his hips. I needed to touch him, anything to anchor me as the intense sensations he was causing threatened to take over.
The way he touched me was almost reverent, like he was worshiping me, adoring me. I tugged at his hair and he looked up at me as he flicked his tongue over my nipple.
Crawling back up, he brought his lips to mine in a searing kiss until there was nothing else left in my mind, my world. There was only Blake. Only the fire burning in his eyes and his touch on my hot skin.
Our legs tangled together. I twisted my legs and he rolled us over, giving in to my silent demand. Our kiss didn’t break until he felt
my hands at his trousers.
I slid down his body, relished the way his breathing became more ragged the further down I went. The hard plastic disk of his button slid easily through its hole, then I pulled down on the metal tab of his zipper. He lifted his hips helpfully, his eyes never leaving mine as first his trousers then his black boxer briefs hit the floor.
I planted his hips between my knees, trailing my fingers over the hard lines of his chest, then his abs. He held onto my gaze, flexing his hands on my thighs as I twisted my fingers into the soft tuft of hair under his belly button.
Finally, I moved further south to his erection. His eyes darkened stormily when I took hold of its base with one hand and stroked its length with the other.
“Fuck, Aston.” He moaned as his fingers tightened on my thighs. I ran my fingers over the head of his cock and the muscles in his stomach tensed.
I loved seeing him losing control underneath me, because of me. My hands moved over him again, eliciting another low groan. He was so damn hard, yet his skin was so soft. The juxtaposition fascinated me.
When I looked up, his eyes were closed. The muscles in his throat were working and he was tense with restraint. A thrill shot through me to know I was causing him to look like that, it thundered through my body and settled as an ache in my core.
He let me get in only a few more strokes before his eyes snapped open and he rolled us over so that my back was against the bed again. My hips strained against his.
Friction. I needed friction. He drew away just enough to deny it.
“Blake,” I pleaded.
Suddenly, his palm was pressed to my sex. “Damn, you’re soaked.”
His eyes fluttered closed just as his finger grazed my clit. I nearly lost it.