The Baby Contract

by Amy Brent

  “Damn, sunshine. You drive me crazy.” Leo growled. I opened my mouth to respond but all that came out was a gasped moan of pleasure as he dipped two fingers into my wet and ready pussy. I could feel the shockwaves roll through my body as he thrust in and out, changing his angle so he could rub over every sensitive nerve ending deep inside me with each movement.

  The callused pad of his thumb found my clit and worked in tiny circles until my breath was panting fast and sharp out of my lungs. Now, he was the one driving me crazy. As good as it felt to have his fingers inside me, I needed something more. A deeper, razor-sharp need that had me clawing at his back and wrestling the boxer's down his hips until there was nothing left between us.

  “Fuck me, Leo,” I panted the words on a pained moan, “Fuck me now.”

  My words were all the impetus he needed. In one smooth thrust, Leo slid his big, rock hard cock all the way to the hilt. Stretching me, filling me, stuffing every inch my aching pussy as I trembled in his arms, adjusting to his size. I threw my head back, my mouth open in a wordless cry of ecstasy as waves of pleasure rolled through me, making me drunk on him.

  He stayed like that for a long moment, standing still as we both reveled in the incredible sensation of our bodies joining together. But before long, the need for more reared up again, drawing my hips up towards his, searching, begging, demanding.

  “Jesus, you’re so tight, sweetheart.” Leo’s words were a backdrop to my pleasure as he murmured against my cheek. Sweet words. Dirty words. They sent me spiraling even higher as he began to rock his body against mine, finally giving me the deep, hard thrusts that I so desperately needed.

  “Yes, just like that. Give it to me just like that.” I was incoherent, the words spilling from my lips only to be swallowed down as Leo leaned forward to capture my mouth with his. His tongue thrust in time to his cock, each ramming inside me with the same rhythm that grew frenzied.

  I could tell he was close and I wanted to feel him come. To feel him explode inside me. It would push me over the edge right along with him. I knew that. And fuck, I wanted it. All of him. Drenching me in his cum.

  “Harder, Leo. Fuck me harder.”

  "Holy hell, Quinn." His voice was rough but he followed my command, his hips moving like pistons as his cock slammed deep inside my pussy in quick bursts. Every nerve ending was on fire, crying out for a climax but still, I stayed there, burning up with need, so close it hurt.

  One of Leo’s hands trailed down between our bodies as other held me steady as he pounded into me. His fingers just brushed the sensitive bundle of nerves of my clit. Once. Twice. It was the final push that I needed to send a powerful orgasm ripping through me.

  I threw my head back, screaming out Leo’s name as every muscle inside me tightened, gripping his cock in a vise-like grip as he drove my pleasure even higher, wrenching every ounce of ecstasy that he could get before freezing, growling out his own climax as he came.

  “Fuck, sunshine.” Leo rested his sweat-soaked brow against my own with a gravelly chuckle. I joined in, laughing weakly as my arms fell bonelessly to my sides. I was so wrapped up in my own glow that it took me a moment to realize what I was smelling.

  “Burning.”

  “Hm? What was that?” Leo gave a confused look through half-shuttered eyes.

  “Burning. I smell something burning.”

  His dark eyes widened comically as he shot a distraught look behind him. “Shit, the pancakes.”

  I was still laughing as he rushed to the stove and the smoking contents of the skillet.

  ***

  Leo

  I took another bite of the burnt pancake and grimaced at the slightly acrid taste but damn if I didn't regret a single moment with Quinn, even if it did result in a nearly inedible breakfast. I glanced at her from the corner of my eye, watching the way she inhaled the steam from the ceramic coffee mug clutched in her hands. Her green eyes closing in pleasure. My coffee. But I didn’t say another word as I watched.

  She savored every moment, seeming to squeeze every ounce of joy that she could from even the smallest thing. A cup of coffee. Burnt pancakes. A single kiss. It was something I had noticed from the first. And admired, even though it was the opposite of the way I operated. She held nothing back.

  Hell, I’d practically made an art of skimming through life. Not making waves. Not leaving an impression when I packed up and moved on. It was easier that way. No mess. I didn’t let myself think about just how much I like the way Quinn loved life. The way she went all or nothing. The way she was making me break my own rules. Rules that I had lived by so long they were practically second nature.

  Don’t get involved. Don’t get in too deep. And sure as fuck never stay with the same girl more than a few days. Three days was my max. There had been a few times I’d broken that rule before and it had never ended well. Every time I would swear to myself that I’d learned my lesson. That lesson seemed far away and unimportant at that moment.

  "Sorry about the pancakes, sunshine," I said with the nod at her plate. I needed to say something to dislodge the track of my wayward thoughts. Quinn glanced up at me from across the small kitchen table and the grin she gave me was so sweet and so sinful all at the same time I wanted to have her all over again.

  She took a blissful sip of coffee before answering slowly, deliberately, “I’m not.”

  That’s it. It’s official. There’s something about Quinn that makes me hornier than a teenager tumbling around in the hay with his first girlfriend. I already want her again.

  The thought flicked through my mind and I was bare seconds from sweeping the plates to the floor and hauling her up on the table so I could feast on her instead. The strident ringing of a cell phone stopped me before I could make a move.

  Quinn glanced at the caller ID for a moment before answering.

  "Hey you…I know. I'm sorry I didn't call you back earlier…." I forced down another bite of pancakes, trying desperately not to look like I was eavesdropping even though my ears were perked to catch every word. As Quinn spoke, I couldn't help but notice the obvious familiarity with whoever it was on the other end of the call. It had a slick, greasy feeling sinking inside me and with a shock, I realized it was jealousy.

  Me? Jealous? That’s impossible. I don’t get jealous. I never get jealous. I’ve always been the love em’ and leave em’ type. That’s my motto. I don’t do clingy and I sure as fuck don’t do relationships.

  So why do you care who she’s talking to, then?

  Before I could come up with a reasonable answer, Quinn was talking again.

  “…I already told you, Jonah. I’ll be there. I promise. I’ll meet you there and we can talk then, okay?...Bye.” Quinn hung up the cell phone and even though I told myself I wouldn’t, I couldn’t stop the words from forming on my lips and I sure as hell couldn’t silence them.

  “So, who was that? A friend?” I tried to sound as casual as possible, the whole time wondering what the hell I was even doing. Why did it matter? I didn’t know the answer to the question to that, and if I was honest with myself, that scared me.

  Quinn shrugged, oblivious to my inner turmoil. Thank god for small mercies.

  “It was my brother. Calling to check in on me for the hundredth time because he still thinks I’m ten years old.” She shook her head in frustration but I was too busy sighing in relief to notice. It didn’t occur to me to wonder why I’d feel relieved but then she was talking again.

  “I have to go meet him out on the outskirts of town. Just found out we were left our grandfather’s property but I have no idea what sort of shape it’s in. It’s basically sat abandoned for the past twenty years.”

  Her words triggered a memory, a conversation I had, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. It sat there, on the tip of my tongue. Quinn spoke more about the property as I tried to work it out but then, like puzzle pieces falling into place, it all came into terrible clarity.

  “Wait a
minute, did you say Jonah?” Dread quickly replaced the relief that had been so short lived.

  “What?”

  “Jonah. When you were talking. You called your brother Jonah?”

  “Yeah. That’s his name.” Quinn gave me an odd look across the kitchen table and I couldn’t blame her, “Why?”

  “Jonah Moore? And that would make you…”

  “Quinn Moore. Yep, that’s generally how names work.” She tilted her head to the side, examining me as if I’d suddenly grown two heads. I felt just as confused.

  Quinn was Jonah’s little sister.

  My best friend’s little sister.

  My best friend’s little sister who he had practically raised and treated more like a daughter than a sibling. Hell, overprotective didn’t even begin to cover Jonah’s attitude.

  I didn’t know what the hell I was going to do but I did know one thing. If Jonah ever found out about us, I was a dead man. Plain and simple. He would kill me.

  “Um, well. I’m sure you have to go and uh, get ready. I should really…My shift at the bar starts pretty soon,” Sure, if by ‘pretty soon’ I mean two hours. But I was in full on panic mode, still trying to process this new turn of events. “I gotta get to work, so…”

  “Alright,” Quinn said slowly, still staring at me oddly but at the moment, I didn’t care. I was more worried about keeping my hide intact. “I’ll see you later?”

  “Sure, yeah. See you later.” I jumped to my feet, my mind racing as my more than healthy sense of self-preservation kicked in and I tossed Quinn a distracted wave as I threw on jeans and a more or less clean shirt before racing from the apartment and down the stairs to the bar. What the hell did I get myself into? And even worse, what the hell was I going to tell Jonah?

  Chapter 8

  Leo

  I rushed behind the bar and straight to the back stock room. The shelves were stacked precariously with boxes of bottles of liquor and beer, garnishes and mixers. Distracted, I clocked in, grabbing one of the black half aprons that hung on pegs by the door and tied it around my waist. My mind was still far away, up the stairs in the apartment I'd just fled to be exact. Dread and guilt still swirled inside my gut, thinking of Jonah. I was fucked.

  “What the hell are you doing here, Leo? Your shift doesn’t start for another two hours.”

  I jumped at the sound of Stella’s harsh voice and turned around to face her, forcing a confident grin on my face.

  "I just wanted to get an early start on inventory. I know what a stickler you are." I poured as much honey into my voice as I could manage but I could tell by the dubious look on her face that she wasn't buying it for a second.

  As far as I’d gathered, Stella had been the manager of Lucky’s since it had been established, and she treated the damned thing more like a child than a bar.

  “Uh huh,” She placed her hands on her ample hips as she stared him up and down, “Is it trouble or a woman?”

  “Excuse me?”

  “Are you trying to hide from some sort of trouble, or is it a woman?” Stella shook her head, “You know what, knowing you Leo, it’s one and the same.”

  I shrugged, pasting a guilty smile on my face that I hoped looked charming, and not as sickly as it felt. Her words stung. More so because of the truth in them. But I couldn’t let her know that.

  “Fine, don’t tell me,” She said, finally throwing her hands up in the air as she turned to walk back out towards the bar, “you might as well start on the inventory since you’re here. And keep it straight this time, got it? I nearly didn’t order enough whiskey after last time.”

  “Believe me. That would have been a blessing.”

  “What was that?”

  "You got it, boss," I said, louder this time and with one last, hopefully convincing smile in her direction. Stella just shook her head once more before stomping back out front. Some women were beyond even my considerable charm, and Stella definitely fell into that limited category.

  Thinking of women I could charm had my thoughts spiraling straight back to Quinn, and more specifically, her psychotically overprotective older brother’s reaction if and when he ever found out I messed with his little sister.

  I had met Jonah when I'd first moved to Coral Springs a few years ago and we'd hit it off right away. I didn't usually care to make friends in new places. In the back of my mind I always knew that I'd be moving on, usually sooner rather than later, and after a while, it just didn't seem like the effort was worth it.

  But something about Jonah had clicked. Kindred spirits or some shit. He'd told me a little bit about his sister, enough for me to figure out real quick that he didn't want me asking about her. And I'd overheard some of the other members of the close-knit town about how ‘the Moore girl' was a bit of a troublemaker and that's why she was away at school. They'd all made it sound like she really was some sort of kid. I'd assumed she was a teenager at most!

  Now, to find out that the girl who’d been wrecking his bed for the past few nights was Jonah’s little sister? It was enough to shock any man. And make them damned worried for their own safety. Especially after some of the horror stories I’d heard about how Jonah had dealt with her past boyfriends.

  I’m not her boyfriend, I tried to convince myself.

  No, you just fucked her. That’s all. Do you really think Jonah will split hairs about that?

  I shook my head but couldn't dislodge the reasoning of my own thoughts. What the fuck was I going to do? With no answer to that question, I peeked out of the window to see to the front of the bar. I had been hiding back there long enough to hopefully avoid Quinn when she came downstairs to leave.

  I needed to get my story straight before I saw her again because whenever she was within a ten-foot radius of me, all my brain cells shut down and all I could think about was bending her over the nearest surface and taking her over and over again until we were both sated and exhausted.

  “Damn it, man. Get a hold of yourself.” I muttered under my breath. I had to adjust my suddenly tightening body, ready at just the thought of her. After a few deep breaths, I made my way back out to the front of the bar.

  Grabbing a dishrag, I went to work wiping down the glasses, shooting Stella what I hoped was a casual glance.

  “Hey, Stella. You’ve lived in Coral Springs a long time, right?”

  “Born and raised here, just over on third street. Why?” Stella didn’t look up from the checkbook she was going over that lay spread out on the bar in front of her.

  “You’ve known Jonah for a while then? And his sister?”

  “Yeah. The poor Moore kids.” She shook her head, clicking her tongue in sympathy, “Everyone knew John and Becca were addicts, not fit to have kids. But we didn’t know how bad it was until they just up and left. Abandoned their kids, dumping all their debts and shit on ‘em. It wasn’t right.”

  I cocked my head, listening. I’d known that they’d had some sort of trouble growing up but Jonah didn’t like to talk about the past. Now I guess I knew why.

  Stella was still speaking, “Jonah was seventeen or eighteen at the time but Quinn was only ten, the poor thing. Jonah practically raised her after that. We all saw how hard he worked for her. He gave up everything to give her a shot. He’s a good man, Jonah is. Nobody ever messed with Quinn though, that’s for damn sure.”

  “Oh yeah?” I asked, swallowing hard past the sudden dryness in my throat, “And why’s that?”

  “Well, because Jonah’d kill ‘em, for start.” Stella snorted out a caustic laugh as she shot him a look, “Take Eli Peterson, for a start.”

  “What, uh, what happened to Eli Peterson?” I forced the question out, at the same time needing and dreading the answer.

  "It was a while ago. Quinn was still in high school and Eli started sniffing around her. If you ask me she encouraged the boy. What teenaged girl wouldn't be flattered by a little attention from the star quarterback, you know?"

  “Uh huh. What happen
ed, Stella?”

  “Well, Eli and Quinn went out on a date to some football game. There they were, sitting in the stands and Jonah come barreling across the field and up the bleachers like an angry bull. Now, no one could say for sure if he’d pushed him or not but there was a fight and Eli took a tumble down the stairs. Ended up in the hospital. Cracked a couple ribs. Broke his leg in two places and was out for the rest of the year.”

  "Jesus," I muttered under my breath.

  “I mean, that’s not the only instance, but it is the first one to spring to mind.” Stella chortled to herself, “It sure kept those boys away though. Drove Quinn insane.”

  “I bet it did.” I looked down at the tumbler I was wiping down in my hand but I didn’t really see it. All I could see was Jonah, furious at me messing with his sister, coming at me with a baseball bat and smashing in my kneecaps.

  I can’t tell him. The thought echoed in my mind and I knew it was the truth. Jonah could never find out about what happened.

  I’ll just keep it a secret. And it can’t happen again.

  That last thought was quite a bit harder to swallow. Because even now, even knowing that Jonah would certainly try to skin me alive if he ever found out, I couldn’t make myself regret spending a single moment with Quinn.