by Leanne Banks
Continuing her trail of sensual destruction, she drew her sensitive lips down his abdomen. Now he felt the stiffened peaks of her breasts on his thighs. He was achingly swollen.
“Kate,” he said, trying to warn her. Before he could form another word, she kissed him intimately. All air left his lungs.
She took him into her mouth with mind-blowing strokes from her tongue. Each caress from her tongue pushed him nearer the edge. But it had been too long since he’d had her. He didn’t want to go this way.
He urged her head from him and pulled her upward.
Her eyes dark with passion, she looked at him with sensual confusion. “Why did you stop me?”
“Because I want more of you,” he said and kissed her mouth. The fact that she tasted of his essence made him wild. He quickly discarded her filmy nightie and groaned at the sensation of her naked silky skin against his.
He touched her full breasts, then slid one hand between her thighs. She was already wet and swollen. The knowledge was too much for him. Holding her with an endless kiss, he gently rolled her on her back and plunged inside her.
She gasped, and a sliver of concern raced through him.
“Too rough?” he asked.
She shook her head and rocked her hips so she enclosed him more deeply. “Don’t stop.”
Her openness did something to him emotionally, physically. His restraint ripped in two and he pumped inside her wet, tight femininity. Her ripple of climax sent him into blissful oblivion.
It took a few moments for Michael to regain his faculties. He pulled her against him.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
“That’s supposed to be my line.”
Her eyelids lowered, giving her a mysterious look. “Not necessarily.”
“If I ever see Harold Grimley again, I’ll have to thank him.”
Kate laughed and the sound made everything inside him feel lighter. How did she have such a powerful effect on him? Uneasy with the strength of his emotions, he silently held her.
She snuggled closer to him and it occurred to Michael that he could get used to this. He could grow to count on her. Michael knew that would be a mistake. Nothing was forever.
Michael turned his attention to the company with a vengeance. Kate understood that the company was like a child to him, but she missed him. Their finest moments seemed to come at night after they made love.
Summer turned to fall and she kept busy managing the move from the apartment to their new home and tutoring the girls at the home for unwed teenage mothers. She told herself that Michael’s business crisis wouldn’t last forever, but she feared another would take its place and she would essentially have an absentee husband. The possibility hurt, but she buried it as best she could.
Her doctor scheduled an appointment for her ultrasound and she invited Michael. She even went so far as to write a note on the refrigerator so he wouldn’t forget.
When she reclined on the examination table and the doctor put cold goop and the ultrasound device on her growing belly, she was by herself. As she watched the screen in fascination, she counted the fingers and toes of her baby. The joy she felt was so great that she almost didn’t need Michael, she told herself.
That night, she followed an impulse and met Donna for dinner at a trendy downtown bistro. “You look glorious,” her friend said with the slightest trace of envy. “If I knew any men who’d make a decent father, I’d be tempted to follow in your footsteps.”
Kate winced and took a sip of herbal tea. “You might not want to do it exactly the same way I did.”
Donna gave Kate a searching glance. “How’s your husband?”
“Busy with the company right now,” she said. “Very busy.”
The waiter delivered their salads and Donna lifted her eyebrows. “How busy?”
“Home late almost every night. He works most weekends.” She pushed a broccoli floret around her plate and confessed, “He missed the ultrasound today.”
“Ah,” Donna said with cool eyes. “The un-husband.”
The unusual term gave Kate pause. “I hadn’t really thought of him that way.”
“But it’s true.”
Kate didn’t want to be disloyal. “He does have a legitimate crisis at work.”
“How long are you going to give him to figure things out?”
Kate’s stomach tightened. “What do you mean how long?”
“I mean if this is impossible, you don’t have to be miserable with him the rest of your life.”
“I’m not miserable,” Kate said, feeling tears threaten. “I just wish he didn’t always seem so far away.”
Donna took a bite of salad and swallowed, then leaned forward. “You haven’t fallen in love with him, have you?”
Kate sat there silently, that small voice inside her screaming yes. Her heart sank. When had it happened? she wondered. Or perhaps, she always had. Not like this, however, she thought. She had not cared for Michael as if he were a part of her before. But now she did. Now, his happiness meant nearly everything to her.
Donna looked at her with sympathy. “Oh, Kate.”
Unwilling to wallow in self-pity, she shook off her sadness and took a deep breath. “I’m okay. This is temporary,” she said firmly, as much for herself as for Donna. She just hoped it was true.
Michael was drowning in a sea of paperwork. The VP of Wayland Inc., the company that wanted to acquire CG Enterprises, was known as “the shark.” He devoured the companies Wayland acquired until they bore little resemblance to their original state.
Michael and his legal department were working overtime scrutinizing every word of the offer in order to protect CG and Michael’s staff. One of many bones of contention was a vague clause suggesting the whole company be moved to the west coast.
Michael knew he probably couldn’t stop the takeover. Wayland was too large, with deep pockets, but he’d negotiated enough of these from the other side to know the company being acquired often possessed more leverage than they believed.
The idea of giving up his company turned his stomach, but Michael was determined to look at it from a business angle. It was the only way he could keep a clear head, and too many people were depending on him for him to lose his perspective now.
A knock sounded on his door and he frowned. He’d told the latest assistant to turn away all visitors and callers. Irritated, he turned back to his work. The door opened and he didn’t look up. “I’m busy,” he said.
A long silence followed. “I thought you might like some cookies.”
Michael glanced up to see his wife in the doorway. His chest tightened, and he was filled with a dozen opposing emotions. Lord, what a sight for sore eyes. He tossed his pencil on his desk and stood. “Come in. I thought you were Legal. Those guys are doing a bang-up job, but I’ve had it up to the gills with them today.”
“Getting close?” she asked, walking toward him with a small bag in her hand.
Michael rubbed the back of his neck and shook his head. “Don’t ask. Did I hear you say something about cookies? What have you got in that bag?”
“I’m assuming lunch was coffee.”
“You assume correctly,” he said and looked her over from head to toe. She looked all shiny and polished in a black dress and stockings, yet very pregnant. He felt a strange yearning sensation. Looking at her reminded him how much he’d missed her. They hadn’t made love as often because he’d been gone so much. There was a strained quality between them caused, he knew, by his absence, but he couldn’t change it. Not now, anyway. “You look beautiful,” he told her. “You look more pregnant every day.”
“Which brings me to the bag,” she said, giving it a gentle shake.
“Cookies?”
“And Cupcake,” she said with a lopsided smile.
Curious, he took the bag and looked inside. Beside the cookies something was nestled in tissue paper. He pulled it out and looked at a black-and-white photo in a picture frame. The photo was an ultrasound.
The ultrasound he’d missed. Michael swore. “I missed it.” He swore again. “It was a week ago, wasn’t it?”
“Yes,” Kate said.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I did,” she said. “I used several different modalities, including a note on the refrigerator.”
He looked at her calm expression and didn’t know how to respond. “I would have expected anger.”
She glanced away and thought for a moment. “If anything, I was more hurt than angry. But to be brutally honest, I feel pretty lucky. I got to see Cupcake move, and suck on a thumb. I got to count fingers and toes. You’re the one who missed out. I brought you the picture on the off-chance that sometime you’ll look up from your paperwork, and it might make you smile.”
Her words were soft and the gesture sweet, but her honesty ripped at him. It wasn’t his goal to hurt her. “I apologize.”
She gave a slight wince. “Apologize to yourself.”
His chest tightened. She hadn’t seemed so distant from him in a very long time. “Why did you bring the cookies and the photo to the office?”
“To remind you that you are more than CG Enterprises.” She bit her lip and hesitated. “I can’t make you share yourself with me, although God knows I wish I could. I can’t make you want to be with me. For that matter, I can’t make you want me.” She placed her hand over her full abdomen and chuckled. “Especially now. The only thing I can do is remind you every now and then that life is more than work and so are you…and I hope someday you’ll see it too.”
Again her calmness bothered him. He almost preferred her in-your-face demands. She had retreated from him. He moved toward her. “You have this all wrong. I still want you as much as I—”
She shook her head as if she were embarrassed. “I understand,” she said. “I’m big now.”
Michael pulled her into his arms. “Dammit Kate, don’t put words in my mouth. I know what I want and I want you. You being pregnant with my baby just multiplies the feeling. Do you have any clue how sexy it is knowing I helped put that baby in you? If I weren’t afraid of hurting you, I’d show you on that desk right now.”
He kissed her at the same time he deliberately placed his hand on her belly. Roiling with too many emotions, he took her mouth, hard. A moment passed and he felt a trace of wetness on his cheek, then tasted a salty tear. He pulled back and saw the tears on her cheeks, and he had the sinking godawful sense that he was going to lose her.
Ten
Three weeks later Michael sat in his office at six o’clock at night. He was nearing the end of negotiations, he could feel it. He just hadn’t quite figured out how to get a little more leverage for CG in this deal. The shark had already made surprising concessions.
The phone rang and he narrowed his eyes at it. He almost chose not to answer it, but thought of Kate. She only had three weeks until her due date and he damn well wasn’t going to miss the birth of their child.
“Hawkins here,” he said.
“Hawkins is supposed to be here,” Kate said.
The pseudo-snooty tone in her voice made him smile. Since the day she’d visited him in his office, there was still a slight uneasiness between them, but it hadn’t stopped him from making love to her. Michael was determined to remind her frequently that she belonged with him.
“I’m nearing the end of this,” he told her.
“Yes, but the end is not going to happen tonight. I need you to come home now,” she said.
His chest tightened. “Is anything wrong?”
“We discussed this. You told me if I need you to come home for any reason all I have to do is ask. I’m asking.”
“I want to know the reason,” Michael said, wondering if he would be making a trip to the hospital tonight.
“You will when you get home,” she told him, and hung up on him.
Michael pulled the receiver away from his ear and stared at it in surprise. The woman had hung up on him. She’d never done that before. Pique warred with worry. He replaced the receiver in the cradle, grabbed his jacket and headed out the door. Providing his wife wasn’t ready to give birth, he planned to have a little discussion about phone etiquette with her as soon as he arrived home.
As he pulled into the driveway of their new home, he noticed the lights on the Christmas tree were illuminated. It gave him a warm feeling knowing Kate was waiting for him, but at the same time he told himself not to count on her. He secretly wondered if she might leave him if he lost the company. He rejected the notion, but a doubt remained, bothering him like a sore tooth.
Pulling into the garage, he stopped and got out. He frowned when he looked through the kitchen door and saw darkness. His trickle of worry turned to a stream. He pushed open the door. “Kate?”
“Surprise!” a group of voices chorused. The light flashed on and Michael gaped at the small group before him. He saw the head of personnel and his wife, two guys from the legal department, Dylan and a redhead, Justin and Kate. It took him a full moment before he remembered it was his birthday. After his mother died, he hadn’t celebrated it much because it fell so close to Christmas.
Kate smiled and stepped forward. “Happy Birthday, Michael.”
“How did you—?”
“You forgot it was your birthday, didn’t you?” Kate asked, shaking her head. “This makes me feel a little better about the ultrasound,” she murmured under her breath.
Justin walked up to join in. “Your wife here looks like she’s about to pop.”
Michael slid his arm around Kate. “Yeah, she looks beautiful.”
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Kate’s lips twitch. “I’m providing my husband with a tax exemption,” she said, speaking Justin’s language. “By the way, Michael and I have been discussing names and we’re thinking of using yours if it’s a boy.”
Justin’s expression was a mixture of surprise and bewilderment. “Is that so?”
“Yes, we’re also considering you as a candidate for godfather.”
Justin’s eyes grew wide. “Godfather!”
“Yes. Michael said you might be reluctant, but I told him I have this feeling you secretly love children.”
Justin looked like he’d been poleaxed. The sight was so comical Michael couldn’t prevent a chuckle.
Kate glanced up at Michael with a secret gleam in her eye. “Excuse me while I get you something to drink.”
“Godfather,” Justin repeated after she left and cleared his throat. “I may not be the right guy for the job. No offense, Michael, but I don’t like kids. I didn’t even like being a kid when I was one. Maybe Dylan—”
Dylan walked into the conversation, eyeing Justin with suspicion. “Maybe Dylan what?” he interjected.
Justin tugged at his collar. “I was just suggesting some alternatives for the godfather of Kate and Dylan’s baby.”
“Me?” Dylan asked.
“Hey, I took a turn with the best-man thing. It’s your turn now.”
“It can only be my turn to be best man if you get married.”
Justin shook his head adamantly. “Absolutely—”
“Sorry I’m late,” a blond woman said as she entered the room and laid eyes on the three men and the redhead standing next to Justin. Her gaze lingered an extra second on Justin before she looked back at Michael. “Happy birthday.”
Michael frowned, unable to recognize her instantly. There was something familiar about her.
“The cookie girl,” Justin said.
“Alisa Jennings,” Michael said, feeling a pang of nostalgia. “How did—?”
Alisa reached forward and gave him a quick, warm hug. “Your wonderful wife. We met just before your wedding. We performed a little mission impossible work to get some photos of you copied.”
“Photos?” he echoed.
“For the wedding reception,” she said, then laughed. “Just like a guy. You must not even have noticed.”
For the life of him, Michael couldn’t remember seeing pictures at the
brief wedding reception. He’d been too busy keeping an eye on Kate to make sure she didn’t run.
Dylan stepped forward and kissed Alisa’s cheek. “I heard you were engaged,” he said smoothly.
She turned cool. “I was,” she said. “I’m not now.” She appeared to glance over his shoulder at the redhead behind him. “Alisa Jennings,” she said. “Lovely dress.”
“Thank you. I’m Vanessa.”
“And you,” Alisa said, turning to Justin. “I hear you’re spinning straw into gold with the stock market.”
“Slight exaggeration,” he assured her in a rare humble moment. “Did you bring any cookies?”
She lifted her hands. “Fresh out.”
“What are you doing in St. Albans?” Michael asked.
“I’m a translator for a company performing a merger with a French company.”
“And your art?” Dylan asked.
She hesitated. “In my spare time,” she said, and Michael noticed she didn’t meet Dylan’s gaze. “I need to thank your wife for inviting me,” she told Michael.
“She’s probably at the bar fixing me a drink.”
Alisa smiled. “You got lucky,” she said and headed for the bar.
“I think I’ll get a drink, too,” Vanessa said.
“Great legs,” Justin said with a sigh after the women left. “I have to say the cookie girl has grown up very nicely.”
Dylan stared after her.
Justin nudged him. “Hey, didn’t you two have a puppy-love thing?”
Dylan nodded. “Teenage crush. We met again briefly while we were in college.”
“Oh really?” Justin said, his tone full of innuendo.
“Can it, stock stud,” Dylan said in a rough voice, surprising Michael.
“Here are the photos,” Alisa called from the other side of the room. “On the buffet.”
Curious, Michael made his way to the buffet. Arranged on top stood a collection of photos of him as a child. An odd assortment of emotions hit him as he studied them. In most of them, he looked lost. He remembered feeling lost and trapped. He remembered how helpless he’d felt when other people made life-changing decisions for him without his consent.