The Baby Pact_A BDSM Romance

by Riley Rollins

  “I’ve never…”

  “I know,” he said, taking my hand. “I can’t deny the excitement… we both felt it. I can still feel it, just under the skin… in the pulse beating here in your hand.” He licked his lips and I felt another wave of dizzying desire. “But this is hardly the place for a girl like you.” He leaned closer and I could feel his lips brushing against my ear. “I want more from you than a few stolen moments and a few inches of skin.” His voice was deep and seductive… and my close call was still humming away right under the surface.

  “We need a quieter place for what comes next,” he said darkly. “I want to know the sounds you make when I finally take you over that edge. I can feel it inside you now… waiting to be set free.”

  He pulled back just enough for me to see the hunger flare in his eyes. “Let’s start over,” he whispered. “Hold on to what you’re feeling right now… Let it simmer… and ripen… just a little while longer. I’ll pick you up for dinner on Friday night.

  There’s a very special place I want you to see…”

  “Hey, how’d it go?” Reese was unloading the dishwasher when I opened the door, but took a moment to stand up and rub her knuckles into her lower back. “Is Mr. Hotshot gonna make all our dreams come true?”

  I must have taken too long to reply. She tipped her head hard to the side and opened her eyes wider. “Sutton… The party…? The freaking cake of the century…?”

  “Yes… yes, of course.” I grabbed an apron and tied it over my skirt. It was hard enough facing Reese, as flustered as I felt. There was no way I was going upstairs to change. I didn’t dare face Gran.

  “Not only did we get the job, we’re getting it for three times my asking price. He likes the cake idea, just as we presented it. Over-the-top decadence, and the focal point of the evening.” I dug into a stack of paperwork, trying to focus. Sutton’s party was hardly more than two weeks away, the bridal shower for Amelia’s friend was coming up on Sunday. And right now, all I could think about was Chase… “We still need to finalize the menus with Becca.”

  “I scheduled a phone conference for tomorrow at nine,” Tam said, popping up around the corner with a smile. “We’ll get the loose ends tied up and get it done,” she grinned. “Who would have thought that one party could open the door to a whole new world for us… And did I hear you right? Three times the fee…?”

  I nodded, feeling flushed and excited all over again. “We’ll all be seeing nice paychecks a month from now,” I answered, while my heart fluttered in my chest… and lower down, in my core.

  “I think you’re right, Tammy,” I said, letting a sudden rush of heated anticipation wash over me. “It does feel like a whole new world…”

  19

  Chase

  I was halfway to the cabin when my phone rang, jolting already overstimulated nerves and a sense of urgency that had me lead-footing the gas. I eased back and pulled off the road, irritated that what I needed most would have to wait a little longer. It sure as fuck wouldn’t wait until Friday night… I fumbled for my phone and answered without looking.

  “Chase,” Sutton’s voice was too close, too smooth. “So how was she?” he asked. “And why the fuck didn’t you set a wager on her?”

  “I’m not in anymore, and you know it,” I said, clenching my jaw. “What the fuck were you doing, anyway? Watching us from the goddamned window?”

  “From the street, actually,” he answered casually, undisturbed by my outburst. “Right across from the workplace and in broad daylight… I’d have put down fifteen thousand against, all on my own. If I hadn’t gone for her myself…”

  “Fuck you, Sutton,” I shot back, well beyond simple anger now. “I’m not competing and she’s not a fucking pick. Not for me...and sure as hell not for you.” I only just managed to keep my voice down. “You leave her the fuck alone. In fact, leave us both the fuck alone.” I could hear his soft laugh as I spoke. And just before I hung up on him, I heard him answer back.

  “I’ll see you at the party, Chase,” he laughed, the confidence in his voice more infuriating than I could bear. I threw the phone onto the seat behind me and ground the gas, leaving black rubber on the road and a cloud of dust behind me.

  By the time I got home, the rage I’d aimed toward Sutton had turned inward and was a slow and steady burn in the center of my chest. I’d fucked up by touching Emily and I knew it. Worse still, it had only stirred the embers I’d been trying to extinguish for more than a year. One touch of the sweetness waiting between her thighs had my need for her raging out of control. I’d been seconds from giving in, from sliding into the van beside her and leaning in to taste her the way I needed to. It had taken everything in me to stop when she’d pulled away. Even when I knew damned well that she deserved so much better…

  I tossed down a cold beer in two long swallows and headed out into the fading twilight. “I was right, wasn’t I, Emi,” I said out loud, watching the tall tops of the trees sway gently overhead. “You’re still innocent to all this… no matter how it excites you in the moment. But you need a man who can give you what you need… Deep and lasting and meaningful. Not a fast, hard fuck in the back of a goddamned van.”

  But even as I said the words, my cock stiffened at the image. The fact that she’d stopped me, right on the edge of a climax that would have left her ready and shaking had only excited me more. She was a delicious, fucking challenge like I’d never experienced before. And the challenge was as powerful and erotic a factor in the game as any other…

  I unzipped my confining jeans, finally free to give my painful cock the room it needed. Getting Emily so close to climax had done the fucking same to me. The cool air hit my hot flesh like a touch and my muscles clenched… my cock bobbed heavily, insisting on release.

  I knew I had to stop whatever was happening between me and Emi in its tracks, before it got dangerously out of hand. Oh, I could still have dinner with her on Friday, but not at the club where I’d intended to take her… with a crowded dance floor and dozens of dimly lit seating areas. It was almost too easy to fuck a girl there. No, I’d bring her up here to the cabin instead. It would be a real chance to start fresh with her… a chance to get to know her, instead of just a chance to get inside her. The sick truth was, that she’d be less of challenge to me here, with the two of us alone together. It had always been easier for me to resist a woman when the thrill of getting caught was gone. It was like I’d always wanted the danger of being seen, more than I’d actually wanted the woman herself. It was fucked up, I knew, but I needed that excitement… And Sutton was counting on it, to lure me back in. He’d made a point of targeting Emi, no doubt because he wanted her, but mostly to ensure that I showed the night of his party. He was using her, as a gauntlet to throw down in front of me.

  I’d been watching him for the last year, as he ramped up… taking bigger and bigger risks. I was dead sure he had a night planned that would take even his extremes to the extreme. He would force me to attend, if only for damage control. Because even when I’d been in the game, it had always been me drawing the final lines, calling it over, when the risk was too great. But Sutton had made it personal now. He knew I wanted Emily… and he wanted her too.

  I peeled off my shirt, in spite of the chilling air, and sat down in an old wooden Adirondack. I spread my legs out on either side and my naked rod stood straight, wet on its huge dark head, waiting… waiting…

  The last of the seasons crickets chirped lazily in the silence, as I tried to sort the riot of emotions inside me. Somewhere deep down, I knew that my first priority had to be keeping Emily safe from the Competition. If I couldn’t talk her out of taking the job, I’d have to show up at the party to keep Sutton at a safe distance. Sorting out whatever other feelings I was having would just have to wait. But it frightened me, more than I cared to admit even to myself… because no matter how determined I was to keep Emi safe, I wasn’t entirely sure if the greatest danger came from Sutton… or from me. Or how much of the d
esire I felt was simply the longstanding habit of competing for the win… But so long as I just didn’t touch her again, what did it matter…?

  So I just imagined leaning down under the tablecloth… at the club on Friday night. It was a fantasy that I could never fulfill, but still, I could almost see her, almost feel her creamy smooth thighs under my palms as I knelt under the table, hidden from everyone but her. I would spread her sweet thighs apart and ease her little panties down to the floor. While she watched the dancers on the floor and struggled to keep a sweet look of innocence on her face, I would pull her hips to the edge of the seat and use my mouth to open her up to me. She would taste of honey and spice as I licked up every drop of her sweet desire…

  I wrapped a hand around my rigid cock and pounded myself to a climax that emptied me. Every spasm, every rhythmic pulse heightened my sense of her… until I was sure I could feel her, sure I could taste her. No matter how wrong I was for her, I wanted every thick jet to be coming inside her… deep inside her frantically clenching, sweet and delicious pussy… I needed her to want it.

  I wanted her to love it…

  20

  Emily

  Friday

  “Emily… Emily…!”

  Gran’s shrill voice had me rushing to pour her coffee and grab up a few of the crossword puzzle books she liked. I’d tossed and turned most of the night… the last several nights in fact.

  Thank god for work. Organizing, shopping and prepping for Sunday’s bridal shower had almost been enough to keep the last few days moving along. Almost. But nothing had been distraction enough to make me forget about Chase’s fingers, or how close I’d come… to coming…

  I’d been carrying that around with me ever since, aware of a brand new kind of hunger inside me, a new sensitivity. Somehow it seemed like it belonged not only to me, but to Chase as well. And it didn’t seem right to finish alone, what we’d begun together. So I had carried it with me for days… this ripe, tingling sense of anticipation. And nothing had dulled its edge. Not even the dread of having to tell Gran I would be going out again tonight…

  “Breakfast, Gran,” I said, as cheerfully as I could. “I’m sorry I can’t stay while you finish,” I added, helping her to sit up and setting her tray over the blankets. “Mrs. Williams will be here by eight to help you with your bath and take care of lunch.” I watched her frown from under my lashes. “You remember, we have the bridal shower coming up in a couple of days…?”

  “I remember,” she said, annoyed. “And you’re busy. Too busy to take care of your own grandmother.” She sipped her coffee and stirred in another spoonful of sugar. “May Williams is an old woman and a gossip,” she grumbled under her breath, “although she does play a decent game of rummy…”

  I smiled to myself as I took a fresh nightgown out of a drawer. Both widowed long ago, Justine and May had been devoted friends and neighbors for the last forty years. Neither was a young woman anymore. And their competitiveness at cards was nothing less than legendary in our building. They were more alike than either cared to admit. They shared a deep and grudging affection…

  “Well, at least this is a respectable job,” she went on, turning her attention back to me. “You won’t be wearing those awful new uniforms?”

  “No, Gran…,” I said, straightening her quilt. “No, not for this one.

  But we have another… a much bigger event coming up. We’ll have to wear them then…” I heard the uncertainty in my own voice and forced myself to sound more confident than I felt. “Gran… I’ve been wanting to tell you…”

  “How do you expect to ever meet a nice young man and settle down?” she went on, cutting me off. “Always working downstairs… and then dressing like a tart when you’re out serving.” She shook her head disapprovingly. “You should be trying to find a husband… thinking about a family of your own. You’re not getting any younger, you know.”

  I bit into the side of my cheek and counted to ten. Slowly… steadily… before I answered. “Yes, Gran,” I said, finally. “Of course I think about those things, but I enjoy working… and so do Reese and Tammy. We’re learning, and challenging ourselves. It feels good to succeed.”

  I sat down beside her and held my breath for a moment, forcing myself to stop. All my life, I’d had to explain myself to her, and I didn’t like how it felt. Sure, I thought about marriage and kids… someday. But I was only twenty three. And I hadn’t really lived much in those short years. I wanted fun and excitement… Chase had been right. I did want to be the girl behind the bar… so long as he was the man behind me…

  “I have a date tonight,” I blurted out. “His sister is the woman who’s throwing the bridal shower on Sunday. We’re going to dinner and I’ve asked Mrs. Williams to take care of your dinner and getting you settled at bedtime.” I was talking too fast and I knew it. “You wanted me to meet a nice man and I have,” I added, jutting out my chin. “He owns his own business and he’s been very kind to me…”

  “Well, I’m glad you finally got around to telling me yourself,” she grumbled. “I was beginning to think Reese was the only one I could count on.”

  “Reese…?”

  “She told me you had a date with a young man and that you’d be heading over to her place afterwards… that you two have so much work left to do. Something about a complicated cake design. She said you’d be working so late that you might as well stay the night at her place.” She patted my hand sharply, approvingly. “That’s fine, I suppose, if the work just won’t wait.”

  “No…,” I said slowly, blinking. “This design is the biggest challenge we’ve ever taken on…”

  “Alright then,” she said, nodding and pushing the tray of half-eaten breakfast aside. “You have my permission. Find that deck of cards before you go running off…

  And I want to meet him when he picks you up,” she added, as I carried the tray to the door. “I’m not so old and sick that I’ve lost the ability to judge a man’s character for myself.”

  “Say thank you…” Reese smiled evenly as I came down the stairs, and put her tube of pink frosting aside.

  “The hell with that,” I answered back, wrapping my arms around her neck and giving her cheek a noisy kiss. “How about a raise and my undying gratitude?”

  “How about time off after the Sutton party?” She grinned, her brown eyes teasing. “I could use about a week on the beach and seven delicious mornings of sleeping in…”

  “Done,” I smiled back. “Along with a raise. And god, do I owe you for this…” I tied on my apron and set to work making white frosting rosettes on a parchment covered tray. “I think you might have just bought me an evening I won’t ever forget.” I felt that familiar, deep throb of anticipation inside and let out an unsteady breath. “With Chase… and without anyone to answer to at the end of the night… I can’t thank you enough for that, Reese.”

  She picked up her tube and smiled at me again. “You work too damned hard for someone so young. You deserve to have some fun for a change… I know you like him, Em. And he certainly seems into you.”

  I blushed and smiled against my best intentions as she went on.

  “But remember, you two only just met. Let him get to know you… and find out who he is, underneath the obvious six three and gorgeous…

  You know what they say, honey,” she said, looking at me with affection, “If you can’t be good,

  make sure bad is really, really worth it.”

  21

  Chase

  “I don’t mean to sound like such a basket case, Chris.” Amelia’s voice sounded ragged, exhausted. “I thought I was handling things… But then this whole photo spread came out with another story. And the press just won’t leave it alone,” she said, her voice breaking. “Cliff told me it was only one time… with that… with her… But the article, the pictures… I trusted him, Chris. And I believed his lies. I even thought there was a chance we could make things right again…” She broke off, sobbing softly. It felt like my h
eart was breaking inside my chest…

  “Lia… my god, honey… I’m so sorry. I’m so fucking sorry.” I paused, waiting for her to collect herself, sick inside that men had the power to wound women this way… down so deep that some of them never recovered. I felt heat, and shame… and my anger swelled.

  “I’ll have the story crushed before morning,” I told her. “I know it doesn’t help with what you’re going through. And I know you may not be able to hear this right now…,” I stopped, listening to her sniffle and cough. “As much as it hurts, this has to be better than living with a lie, Amelia. He was never good enough for you, not even before all of this…”

  “I believed him… when we got married, and he said he had changed,” she said quietly. “I wanted to believe in him… I thought that he loved me...”

  “Maybe he did, honey. I hope that he did,” I sighed. “Maybe it’s just that people can’t change who they really are inside. Maybe it’s not even fair to hope for…”

  She made a soft, painful sound in her throat and I heard the chime of the doorbell in the background. “Oh… god… what time is it?” she asked, blowing her nose. “Shit… shit… I forgot all about it. That’s got to be Emily… We had a meeting to go over a few loose ends before the bridal shower.” I heard rustling sounds. “And I’m an absolute mess…”

  “You’re always beautiful, Lia,” I said, meaning it. “And Emily will understand… trust me. Go answer the door and make yourselves a pot of tea or open a bottle of wine. I’ll be there in less than twenty minutes, sweetie. Just don’t let her leave before I get there.”

  I made a single call to my lawyer on the way to the car. It didn’t fucking matter what it cost, or even that the story was already out. I’d do whatever I had to do, to keep my sister from being hurt any more than she had been already. I shot the car into gear, the tires squealing, the sound echoing off the concrete walls of the parking garage.