“I was at the coffee shop the other day for work, and this lady showed up,” I explained, the words tumbling out of me before I could rethink the wisdom of telling her about it here in the office. There was no one nearby who could overhear, though. Anyway, it was only a matter of time before people found out about the pregnancy, and I doubted it would take too much sleuthing to figure out who the father was.
Especially since Kelly seemed to want to make it known all around town.
“It was Kelly, Adam’s ex-wife,” I continued. “Only she told me that he was still her husband and that he was controlling and all this stuff.”
“Oh brother,” Vera said, rolling her eyes. “You cannot hold a crazy ex against him, though.”
“I know,” I sighed. “I just got scared. I started thinking about how I barely know Adam at all and how all those things could be true.”
“Now you’re starting to sound like the crazy one,” Vera teased, and I knew she was right.
“I just don’t know what to say to him now,” I admitted.
“Does he know that you saw his ex?” Vera asked.
“Yeah, he came over to my place and we talked about it, but I asked him to leave,” I explained. “I just didn’t know what to say.”
“Hmm,” Vera said. “Well, I guess either way, you probably don’t want to talk about it at work. I have a thing tonight, but maybe tomorrow we could go for a mocktail and figure out a way to win you back your man?”
“He’s not my man,” I protested. “I mean, even before this whole thing with his ex, we agreed that we weren’t going to date or anything until I wasn’t an intern anymore.”
“Do you really want him to miss out on that much of the pregnancy?” Vera asked, raising an eyebrow at me. “Or does he not want to be there for you? If it’s the latter, kick him to the curb.”
I sighed. “I don’t know,” I admitted. “He said that he wants to be there for the doctor’s appointments and stuff, but I don’t know exactly how involved he wants to be or what he wants or anything. We haven’t really talked about any of it.”
Vera shook her head. “Do I need to remind you that the two of you are going to be parents?” she asked. “Whatever your feelings are for one another, you have to be able to communicate. Starting with this.”
I nodded, knowing that she was right. The trouble was, I didn’t know how to open that conversation with him. I knew that I couldn’t just walk up to his office. No doubt he was busy, with all that time that he’d been taking off lately. Moreover, it wouldn’t be proper for us to have a talk like that at work. We were still trying to keep this whole thing under wraps, as far as I was aware, and that meant that at work we were nothing more than colleagues.
What was I supposed to do, though? I couldn’t just text him and say, sorry, I was an idiot, can we forget that Saturday ever happened? Or worse, sorry, I was an idiot, can you please be with me through this whole pregnancy?
That was what I wanted, though. I wanted him to be there. I wanted to be with him. I wanted to raise this baby together, the two of us, a team.
That night, I lay on the couch trying to think up ways to explain to Adam all the things that were going through my head. Then, I started scheming ways to get him back. Would he even listen? I would be basically admitting to him that I hadn’t trusted him. I wasn’t sure how he would take that. I was just glad that Risa was working tonight. She had been pissed on Saturday when I came home in tears, and it would take her a little while to forgive Adam even if technically it wasn’t his fault.
She’d come around when she found out that I was in love with him, though; she was bound to.
Wait, in love with him? Yes. The thought felt right inside my head. I couldn’t imagine spending the rest of my life with anyone else. If it had been anyone else’s kid growing inside of me, I didn’t think it would be so easy for me to imagine giving up my career to raise the little one.
I had to get Adam back. I only hoped it wasn’t too late.
Before I could put any of my plans into action, however, there was a knock on the door. Adam was standing there on the other side, a bouquet of flowers clutched nervously in one hand. It wasn’t the flowers that he passed to me, though. Instead, he handed me a piece of paper. I stared curiously down at it.
Then, I started laughing. He had handed me a police report which outlined the fact that he had told police that his ex-wife was harassing me.
“I mean it,” Adam was saying, “if she gives you any more trouble, you call the police on her. They’ll take care of it. I promise.”
I knocked the flowers out of his hand as I lunged forward to kiss him. Neither of us cared.
I yanked him inside with me, kicking the door shut. Something surged inside me, and for the first time, I recognized that that bolt of electricity wasn’t just lust. No, there was a deeper emotion there. I thought that I had lost him for good, but I hadn’t. He was here.
I kissed him until my lips tingled, until I was breathless and whimpering my need each time his teeth raked against my lower lip. “I’m sorry,” he murmured against my mouth.
“Shh, I’m sorry,” I whispered right back. Meanwhile, I stripped him out of his shirt and dropped it to the floor, not caring that we were in the middle of the hallway still.
We continued to kiss messily as Adam walked me backward toward my room. I tripped and nearly fell, and that was all the invitation he needed to lift me up into his arms. I wrapped my legs around him as he carried me. Our tongues battled for dominance, plunging in and out of one another’s mouths.
He set me down gently on the bed and pulled his mouth away from mine, staring seriously down at me as he stripped me bare. His darkened gaze raked across my body, drinking in every inch of my skin as he slipped out of the rest of his own clothes.
He climbed onto the bed, covering my body with his. I shivered, but not from any sort of chill. His fingers tickled my sides as he stroked lower and lower, until his digits were between my legs and plying the sensitive bundle of nerves at the apex of my folds. I gasped and arched against him, begging for more.
And more he certainly gave me. I could feel the smile against my cheek as he thrust into me hard and fast, driving the air from my lungs, bringing out an audible gasp. Again, the quick snap of his hips. I wrapped my legs around him again, using my ankles to urge him on.
Every time I was nearly at the brink, however, he would draw back, kissing me again, sweetly caressing my breasts and my belly. His fingers cupped my cheek and tangled in my hair. “God, you’re beautiful,” he said reverently.
“Adam,” I whined in response, my hips giving little encouraging movements as I tried to get him to thrust into me faster, to give me all he had. In answer, he slammed into me three times in quick succession, then did something with his hips that had me moaning at the intense feeling of his cock dragging along my walls, still buried deep inside of me. He repeated the same sequence a few more times, until my fingers were twisted in the sheets and my toes curled with pleasure.
He nibbled at my earlobe and dragged his fingers down along my skin. He clutched at my hips in a bruising grip and began to pound into me in quick, sharp, deep thrusts that had me practically screaming as my orgasm unfolded.
He continued until I was so oversaturated with pleasure that I thought for sure I would explode. My eyes rolled up in my head, and my fingers spasmed against his muscular shoulders as I scrabbled for any sort of grip to keep me conscious.
Adam groaned as his own burst of pleasure caught up to him. He thrust into me one final time, spilling seed in never-ending waves. I could feel his prick twitching inside of me, could feel the answering pulsations of my pussy. The sensations were almost too much to bear, but I never wanted to let him go.
Finally, he pulled out but pulled me into his arms. For a long moment, neither of us spoke. Then, Adam propped himself up on one elbow. “Three months is going to seem like a very long time,” he said seriously, and I couldn’t help but giggle.
Adam shook his head. “I don’t want you to find another job,” he said. “You’re talented. I want you on my team.”
“Maybe once everything is settled, we can talk about that,” I said quietly. “For now, I’ll stick out the internship. At least until it’s too much to bear.”
It was Adam’s turn to chuckle. He lightly kissed the top of my head. “I want to be here for you,” he murmured. “Whatever you need. I don’t just want to be there for the doctor’s appointments, I want to be there for everything.” He took a deep breath. “Which means that if anything happens, and I mean anything, I want you to tell me about it. Especially if Kelly is involved. Can you do that?”
I nodded against his chest. Somehow, all my fears from the other day seemed to have evaporated. Maybe it was just the fact that he was willing to go to the police in the name of my protection, or maybe it was the legal assurance in that document that Kelly was his ex-wife rather than current wife. Whatever it was, I was starting to feel like maybe, somehow, this might work out.
After all, we had never had a problem with chemistry. The only thing left to do now was wait until my internship was over so that we could explore that chemistry to its fullest extent.
“I still think it’s probably best that we not meet up much until your internship is done,” Adam said suddenly. “Otherwise, I think stuff like this is bound to keep happening. I can’t seem to keep my hands off you.”
“I wasn’t complaining,” I said dryly.
“I didn’t think for a moment that you were,” Adam said. “I want to get to know you, though. As though we were dating rather than just sleeping together.”
“How are we going to do that if we never see one another?” I asked.
“There are these things called phones,” Adam said.
I laughed. “I guess that’ll work,” I said, knowing full well that no phone call would come close to the feeling I had now, lying in his arms.
I felt safe, warm, happy. I felt like all was right in the world, unexpected pregnancy included. I snuggled closer to him. “Do you think you could stay the night, at least this once?” I asked, holding my breath as I waited for him to answer.
Adam’s arms tightened around me briefly. “I’d like nothing better,” he murmured.
Just as I was dropping off to sleep, he spoke again. “Maybe I shouldn’t say this now, but you’re the first person I’ve actually slept with since my divorce. I should’ve known you’d be trouble.”
I giggled and kissed his chest. “I didn’t hear you complaining,” I quipped, echoing his earlier words back at him.
He was chuckling as I drifted off to sleep.
Epilogue
Mindy - Three Months Later
I watched carefully as the movers brought in the last of my boxes and set them in the living room. I couldn’t really remember what was in those ones, and the written label on the side, Misc, wasn’t really helping. It didn’t really matter now, though. I had plenty of time to unpack and figure out what was in each of the boxes. After all, I lived here now.
“What are you smiling about?” Adam asked, sounding amused as he came up behind me, wrapping his arms around me and my growing belly.
“I’m just happy to be here, that’s all,” I said. It was the truth, too. We had finally made it to the move-in date, and I couldn’t be happier. Even though we hadn’t really stuck to the whole not-dating-until-I-wasn’t-an-intern thing, the past few months had been difficult. We had wanted to be discreet, and most of our talking had been over the phone, as I lay in bed at night staring up at the ceiling.
Tonight, I got to share a bed with Adam again. Even if I didn’t get anything more than cuddles and kisses, I couldn’t wait.
It was going to be strange to settle into a new routine, but I couldn’t help feeling excited about it. I was a little over five months pregnant now, but I was going to be doing some freelance web design work for another company. It was all stay-at-home work which should be perfect for my schedule. Adam and I had already briefly discussed the idea that I might want to go back to a more traditional office job after the baby was born, and he supported me whatever I decided to do.
It was a heady feeling, having a partner who really had faith in my decisions. I hoped it was a good sign for how our parenting partnership would actually go.
The very same day that my internship at Designed by You finished up, I had marched upstairs to Adam’s office and hauled him up by his lapels to kiss him. He had handed me a key to his apartment in the very next breath, explaining that he had already hired movers.
“By the way, do you want to take one last look at the paint choices for the nursery? The decorating team is coming in this weekend, remember,” Adam said.
I groaned. “How could I forget?” I asked, but I was mostly teasing. I was pretty sure that he had scheduled the interior decorators to come that week in particular because he knew my parents were going to be in town. With the guest bedroom becoming a nursery, there would be no way for them to stay with us. Adam had put them up at one of the swankiest hotels in town, and they couldn’t be happier, but I had a sneaking suspicion there was that ulterior motive there.
Still, I wasn’t complaining if it meant that my first weekend living with him, we would have the place all to ourselves at night.
Adam lightly stroked my belly, which was getting bigger every day. A little baby boy. “I probably shouldn’t look at the paint again or you know I’m going to change my mind,” I sighed. We had decided on a beautiful shade of brick red for an accent wall, with the rest of the walls a pretty dove gray. I was still worried that it would be too dark in there, but I really loved the colors.
“Better now than once it’s all painted,” Adam joked.
I shook my head. “I’ll live with it,” I said.
“My dad sent over another onesie for him,” Adam added.
I giggled. “Pretty soon we’re going to be getting it from both sides, as soon as we tell my parents that it’s a boy,” I reminded him. We had held off until we could tell them in person, but that would be this weekend. Mom had already been cooing over mini footballs for newborn photos, reminding me that these days they were appropriate for either a boy or a girl.
This little boy was going to be spoiled rotten by his grandparents, that was for sure. But as long as he could feel the love, I had a feeling he would grow up to be just fine.
Adam pulled away and turned me around so that I was facing him. He gave me a quick peck on the lips. “So, what do you want for dinner tonight? I’m thinking we need to celebrate.”
I sighed, giving him a sheepish look. “I know we talked about going out, but I’ve really got it in my head that I want spaghetti, only I also really want to stay in my yoga pants and not get dressed up,” I said. “So we couldn’t go to La Piazza.”
Adam grinned at me. “Believe it or not, I already had a feeling that might be the case, and I stocked up on everything I’d need to make spaghetti here,” he said.
“And garlic bread?” I asked hopefully.
“Can’t have one without the other,” Adam said, winking at me.
“You’re a saint,” I said, shaking my head as I followed him into the kitchen. I gasped at what I saw there. “You did not make your own pasta!”
Adam chuckled. “Come on, if I hadn’t made the pasta myself, it would have been too easy.” He winked at me, and I shook my head again as I sat down at the kitchen table to watch him finish up the cooking.
I was starting to learn a lot about him. Like the fact that he loved cooking. Like the fact that he doted on me like crazy, whenever he got the opportunity. We’d had a number of long talks, and I felt like I knew just about everything about him, including all there was to know about his history with Kelly and his period of one-night stands.
A lot of that s
tuff, like the one-night stands, was safely in the past. The doting gave me some clue of how we were going to build our future together.
Already in the corner of the kitchen sat a highchair, just waiting for a little toddler who was still to come into this world. It wouldn’t be long now, though.
I continued to watch Adam as he stirred ingredients on the stove. This time when he looked over his shoulder and saw me smiling, he didn’t ask why. Instead, he smiled sweetly back at me. I had never felt more complete in my life.
The End
Daddy’s Secret Baby (Sample)
Enjoy a free sample of one of my other novels.
1
Arianna - Nine Years Ago
Phew.
The moment has come.
I peeked out the window to check the road. Dad had left thirty minutes ago, and I figured things were safe. He hadn’t turned around to come back for anything, and with the field for the nightly pickup game being twenty minutes away, he was probably already there, which meant he’d be gone for three hours.
It was a town tradition. Every summer on Tuesday and Thursday evenings, there were pickup games of all sorts in the field across town. Some nights, it was baseball, other nights, soccer or football. Tonight, it was basketball. Out there on the outside courts with the lights on and the vendor’s station open. Dad always tried to get me to go to the games. But tonight? I was sick.
Not really. But he didn’t have to know that.
I scurried away from the window and rushed for the home phone. I picked it up and dialed Simon’s number, letting it ring twice.
Then, I hung up. I did it one more time, signaling to him that things were safe, knowing he’d be waiting for my signal.
I wanted, no needed, to see him so badly it nearly hurt.
For him to take me in his large comforting arms, caress my body, and kiss me the way he always did, which would leave my panties wet.
Boss’s Secret Baby for Christmas Page 16