by ANDREA SMITH
“What the fuck are you doing here, Ian? Tristan barred you after you made that spectacle a few weeks back?”
“Yeah, well guess what? I’m here, aren’t I? He’s not going to keep me out of my own club or away from the mother of my child.”
It was only four o’clock and Ian was already drunk. What the hell had happened to him? I fought off the feeling of guilt that was starting to creep in, reminding myself that it had been his choice. It was Ian who wanted our marriage over; it was Ian who wanted to sell his half of the club. I had no reason to feel guilty about his choices.
“This isn’t your club anymore, Ian. This is not your baby either.”
“Well I guess we’ll be seeing about that in a few months, won’t we love? I fully intend to exercise my paternal rights in the meantime, by keeping my eye on you and making sure that you are keeping yourself healthy. So I will be popping in from time to time to visit you.”
“That is where you are mistaken, Ian.” It was Tristan’s voice behind him now. He was calm but his voice had a distinct edge to it that said he was in no mood to be fucked with by another one of Ian’s drunken tirades.
Tylar was behind the bar, taking care of the drink orders that I had neglected. I watched closely as Ian turned to face Tristan. He wouldn’t back down. The problem was, a drunk Ian was a stupid Ian. He wouldn’t know when quit. I was sick of these scenes at the club.
“So Mr. Tristan,” Ian sneered, “I hear you’re living alone these days. I’m happy to hear that because I wouldn’t want you poking your dick into my wee one’s little head now.”
Ian chuckled at his own crudeness.
(Oh Christ! He’s a blubbering idiot!)
I saw Tristan’s face darken. He was livid at Ian’s crude display. He started to say something, but Ian interrupted him.
“Yeah, I hear you’re slung quite long between your legs there, mate. Hmmph, I suppose Giner could take that better than the one what was in here whining about you a week or so ago.”
(What the fuck? Who is he talking about?)
Tristan grabbed Ian by the scruff of his neck, lifting him off the ground. His feet dangled several inches above the floor like a puppet. If I hadn’t been so horrified, I would have found it amusing.
“Mr. Hatton, you have been barred from this establishment. If I need to call the authorities to have you removed, I will. You are not to return here again or both Gina and I will file criminal trespassing charges against you. Do you understand?”
“Piss off, mate” Ian sneered, trying to wriggle free from Tristan’s strong grasp. He didn’t succeed. He was forced to look into Tristan’s very green and very angry eyes.
“Gina is carrying my baby. We have proof; you just need to accept that and move on with your life and out of ours. Have I made myself clear?”
(Holy Shit!)
By this time Ian had comprehended that the safest thing to do was to shut the fuck up and leave. He gave Tristan a brief nod. Tristan relaxed his grip; Ian shrugged free of his grasp, smoothing out his jacket as he departed. Tristan followed him down to make sure that he left the establishment.
I went over to where Tylar was filling a mug with draft beer.
“Do you believe that shit?”
“Oh my God Gina, that was hot!”
“No Tylar; I want to know who the bitch was that was in here talking about how Tristan was hung.”
“Oh come on, Gina. Ian was drunk. He was making shit up to start trouble.”
“If that’s the case, then how would he know that Tristan is, well, you know, hung like a freakin’ horse?”
We both started giggling at once.
“Hey,” she said, “Do you suppose that Libby was in here? You know she has an axe to grind still with you and Tristan.”
I considered that for a moment. It did make sense. We hadn’t seen her in a while but that didn’t mean she didn’t occasionally stop in when neither Tristan nor I were here. I mean Ian had been barred for a while yet he had apparently managed to sneak beneath the radar if he was in fact here a week or so ago like he said.
“You’re probably right, Ty.”
Tristan was back up on the mezzanine heading towards the bar. He looked like a man on a mission.
“Tylar, thanks for helping out at the bar. Could you hang around for just a couple of more minutes? I need to talk to Gina.”
“Sure,” she replied, smiling. “Take your time.”
“Come on, Gina,” he said, holding up the counter-top so that I could follow him outside of the bar. He took my hand and pulled me over near a table outside of the immediate bar area. Once then, he turned me to face him.
“Gina, I love you. I don’t care whose baby you are carrying it doesn’t change the fact that I love you. I can’t stand being apart from you. Baby come back - please?"
I looked up into his magnificent eyes and I knew that he meant it. Still, he had put me through some shit. I wasn’t sure he should get off that easily.
“I will think about it, Tristan. I can’t give you an answer right this second. I’m the one that needs a little time right now, okay?”
He nodded, smiling, pulling me to him. I pulled back, still wanting to make my point with him.
“And for the record, Tristan; this baby is yours. I will have DNA testing done just as soon as possible-”
“Gina - that is not necessary, babe,” he interrupted, trying to quiet me.
“Let me finish, Tristan. I will have DNA testing done so that there is never any doubt. And when those results come in, I will personally have the pleasure of shoving them up your ass, do you understand?”
He smiled, and nodded. “I understand babe. I deserve it. I love you, Gina.”
I heard Tylar squeal with happiness over at the bar where she apparently had made it a point to eavesdrop on our conversation.
CHAPTER 6
It was my third week living back in the apartment with Tristan. I loved having the master suite now with the kick-ass bathroom and the huge closets. I had naturally taken Trey’s old closet which was fine with Tristan. We had gotten my furniture out of storage and moved into the apartment. Tristan had taken me shopping for accent items and the apartment looked fabulous. We still had the nursery to decorate. I had decided on a new color scheme.
Tristan had gone to my doctor’s appointment with me the previous afternoon. We were expecting a baby boy. Tristan was thrilled by the prospect, I could tell. I had phoned Tylar immediately upon returning home to share the good news. She didn’t seem all that enthusiastic. I wrote it off to the fact that she said she had been in bed all day sleeping between puking. She was still in a snit about how much time Trey was spending with the new partner, Amber. I listened as she went on and on about it. I loved Tylar. She was my best friend, but there were times that I wanted to slap her. This was one of those times.
Tristan had worked an earlier shift at the club today so I was expecting him home at any time. I had made lasagna from scratch. He loved it; in fact, he loved everything Italian that I made. I guess being a Valenti had paid off.
He was in the door just before six. I had set the table with candles to make it romantic.
“Hey sweet baby,” he greeted me, immediately coming over to where I was standing in the kitchen. He wrapped his strong arms around me, pulling me against him. God, he could make me tingle in my special places. He was the first man to ever make me feel all warm fuzzy, and cuddly. That was so not me in the past. Ian and I had a very different type of interaction. It had been more of a one-on-one; most of the time I had gotten my own way with Ian by nagging and wearing him down.
Tristan was very different. He made me feel soft and feminine and totally let me have my way when it was the right thing to do. However, Tristan could hold his ground and be relentlessly stubborn when he took a position that differed from mine. He was not temperamental like Trey; yet he had his limits.
We kissed playfully. “I missed you,” I said, which again, was something I found mysel
f saying to Tristan that I had never said to Ian. The dynamics were so much hotter.
“I missed you,” he whispered, his hands now moving down my back and over my ass gently.
We ate dinner and discussed our day’s activities. I told Tristan about my call to Tylar. He picked up on my irritation with her.
“Gina, I’m sure she’s excited about our baby boy. Trey says that she has really had a time with this pregnancy already. I guess she’s sick all of the time; extremely fatigued. Give her the benefit of the doubt, babe.”
“I know, I know,” I said, waving my hand dismissively. “It just sometimes seems like it’s all about her, you know?”
“Maybe you ought to go out and visit with her for an afternoon, babe. I mean, you haven’t had much time to spend with her and I’m sure she would like some company. Besides, I want you cutting back your hours at the club some.”
“Define ‘some’,” I replied.
“Like maybe cut back to 12 hours a week?”
“Are you serious, Tristan? So does that mean you will be working even more hours? I don’t think so, dude.”
I cleared our salad plates and went back to the kitchen to bring out the lasagna.
“How about this? If you cut your hours to just two shifts per week, I promise that I will put a night manager on and be home here by six every evening.”
“What about weekends?” I asked.
“I won’t work anymore Saturdays at all.”
“Okay, you have a deal.”
After we finished dinner, Tristan helped me clear and clean the kitchen.
“Tristan?”
“Yeah babe?”
“I wanted to ask you something about what Ian said a few weeks back; about some girl being in the club prior to his visit and talking about the size of your pecker.”
“I have no clue as to who he was referring to Gina, I swear; and to answer the unasked question, its no.”
“What’s no?”
“I have not slept with any other woman since you. Period.”
“Tristan, did I even ask you that?”
“You didn’t have to, Gina. The fact that you’ve been curious as to who said it or even if someone really did say it tells me it has been on your mind since then. Am I right?”
“Well Tylar thought maybe Libby had been in and that’s who Ian heard it from.”
“Sweet baby, I have not seen Libby in the club since before I left her sorry ass. I know that she came in to stir shit up after that with you, but to my knowledge, she has not been back.”
“Okay. Just sayin’.”
I had fallen asleep in bed waiting for Tristan to finish up in the shower. His Blackberry was chiming on the nightstand by his side of the bed. I woke and started to reach for it as he came out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around him.
“I got it babe.”
“Hey Mom,” he answered, walking back into the bathroom with his sexy swagger going on. I couldn’t make out the gist of the conversation but it wasn’t really all that late so I doubted whether it was any type of emergency or family crisis.
Tristan came out of the bathroom several minutes later in his boxers. He climbed into bed next to me, putting his Blackberry back on the nightstand.
“Come here you,” he said pulling me over. “Mom sends her love.”
I crawled up against his still damp body. “So is everything okay with the family?”
“Oh yeah; she just called to let us know the good news that Nigel and Tess’s surrogate is expecting. I think she said the due date was early November.”
“Wow, fucking fantastic,” I said making no effort to mask my sarcasm. “A baby due in early August, one in early October and the third in early November. At least we know for certain that two out of three will be biologically connected to your parents.”
I turned away and scooted over, pulling the covers up under my chin. I’m not sure where that had come from but it felt way better letting it out than continuing to keep it inside gnawing away at me.
“Gina - what in God's name?” Tristan was off the bed and circling around to my side. “Do you want to tell me what that was about?”
“I’m just verbalizing what was probably going through your head, that’s all.”
“Don’t you fucking put words into my mouth Gina, or presume to know my thoughts, because you obviously do not!”
(Eek - he is pissed!)
“Fair enough, Tristan. Then maybe they are my thoughts, okay? Don’t you think I might be a bit insecure with all these Sinclair babies on the way and worried that mine is not? I mean for Chrissake, Ian has ruined this pregnancy for me!”
He immediately sat down on the bed and pulled me into his arms.
“Gina - did you hear nothing that I said to you several weeks back? I said that I love you and that means unconditionally, sweet baby. I don’t care whose DNA this baby carries; he is yours and he is mine. Do you understand that?”
I nodded. I was kind of choked up with emotion at what he said and it didn’t sit well with me. I wasn’t like Tylar; I didn’t do well with tears. They were a sign of weakness.
“Tristan?”
“Yes?”
“Get your ass into bed. I want to thoroughly fuck you.”
A slow smile spread across his handsome face. He climbed into bed. I shed the tee shirt of his I was wearing and my panties followed. I pushed him back against the pillows and straddled him.
My lips traced a path down his muscular chest and flat belly. I loved the feel of him underneath me. I grew wet for him already. He was well-muscled and firm. I noticed his long, thick shaft was hard for me. I had totally freaked when I had first seen him. I had only been with one other man before Ian; that was someone I didn’t want to think about - ever.
I moved down the length of Tristan’s body. I wanted to feel his manhood in my mouth. I loved sucking him dry every chance that I got. I loved that my tongue could drive him to a heated frenzy. His hands would fist in my fair as he moaned and writhed underneath me. Sometimes he would have his way and lift me up, lowering my sex down onto him. Tristan preferred finishing inside of me.
My tongue swirled around the tip of his shaft; my hands were busy flexing and softly jacking him. He moaned with pleasure.
“Come on, sweet baby. I need to be inside of you.” He lifted my hips up off of him and lowered me onto his very erect manhood.
“Mmmm, that’s my sweet Gina,” he whispered watching me. “That’s my sweet lover,” he said. I rode his penis up and down, back and forth; our eyes locked as we watched one another. Tristan and I always kept our eyes opened when we made love. We loved watching each other from the beginning to the climatic end. His eyes got even greener right after he climaxed.
I was moaning now with the pleasure that his manhood was giving me deep, deep inside. He was rolling his hips; his hands were massaging my breasts roughly and his eyes were boring into mine with lust and passion. We were there on the edge. He pinched my nipples bringing me pleasure and pain; my climax exploded and he was right there with me, lifting me up and down on his shaft as I felt his throbbing start. I cried out in ecstasy, as we both shuddered in pure pleasured release.
Tristan was always good for a second round which was one of the things that I loved about him. Ten minutes later he was kneeling behind me, his hands braced on each of my ass cheeks, rocking his manhood in and out of me steadily as I groaned like a cat in heat.
We slept woven around each other afterwards. This type of intimacy was foreign to me. Ian and I weren’t the best sleep companions. Tristan needed to be touching while we slept; it had taken some getting used to for me, but now I found it strangely comforting and secure.
CHAPTER 7
I took Tristan’s advice and drove out to visit Tylar the following afternoon. I had called her earlier to make sure she felt up to having company. She seemed genuinely happy about me coming out. I played with Preston in the downstairs family room while Jean went out to the barn to let Tylar
know I had arrived.
“Well look at you, Gina,” she said her cheeks rosy from being outside. “Pregnancy definitely agrees with you.”
“Thanks, Ty. I feel really great.”
“God, I wish I did,” she replied, taking a seat on the couch and stretching out. “I have no energy at all. My doctor is raising the strength of my prenatal vitamins, plus he put me on two additional supplements. I have really put a lot of responsibility on Marcus as far as the horses go. Of course, Trey has been no help with all the hours he has been working with the new junior partner. I’ve told you about Amber, right?”
(Like a million fucking times, girlfriend!)
“Yes, I believe you’ve mentioned her to me.”
“Well get ready to meet her today. Trey called a little while ago and he is having her come out here since they have to work late. She is going to be staying for dinner. They should be here anytime. I want your opinion, Gina.”
“Sure, Ty. So what else has been going on? I suppose you heard the news about Nigel and Tess’s surrogate?”
“Yeah, isn’t that great? Susan called last evening. She is so excited about all of these babies coming.”
“Yes, it’s lovely,” I replied, rolling my eyes.
“Okay Gina. What’s up with that?”
“Nothing. I don’t know. I guess it’s just me feeling insecure, that’s all.”
“Hey - did I tell you that I am pretty sure my baby is going to be a boy, too?”
“Really?”
“Yeah. I figure with this pregnancy being so damned different than when I was pregnant with Preston, it must be a boy that I’m carrying. You know like how I was horny all of the time with Preston, and now the thought of sex is kind of repulsive to me. It’s really strange.”
“I’ll bet,” I said, “How does the Hot Nazi feel about that?”
She rolled her eyes and smiled.
“About like you would expect. You know Trey. So, how are things with you and Tristan?”
“We’re doing great. I agreed to cut back to two shifts a week; Tristan agreed to cut his hours by hiring a night manager. We’re enjoying some good sex; I’ve got no complaints.”