“And so when you came here, telling me you were having my kid and wanted to do this whole thing—raise it—together? Shit, girl, I didn’t say the right things to you, the things you needed to hear—because, Harper, I’ve never been with a woman like you. A woman who needs the things you need. But, honey, I will give you that. I will try.”
“Jaxon,” she says shaking her head. “You don’t need to come on a white stallion and save me. I’m not asking you to change everything and be my ... whatever. I just couldn’t believe the person I got pregnant with would ask me to not be a mother. Being a mother is the only thing I’ve ever wanted.”
“Okay, but Harper, I don’t know that. I didn’t know that. So I wasn’t trying to offend you by suggesting options. I was trying to be chivalrous. I was trying to let you know there was no right or wrong way to move forward.”
“I shouldn’t have left angry. It wasn’t right of me. How could I expect you to know that being a mom is my dream?”
“Harper, I don’t know shit. I don’t even know your last name.”
“Baker. Harper Baker.”
I nod. “I’m Jaxon Lane.”
“Nice to meet you, Mr. Lane,” Harper says, setting down her tea on the side table. Good, I think the tears have finally stopped.
“Harper, I really am sorry.”
“Thank you,” she says. “For the apology. For letting me in here.”
“Harper, shit, of course I’d let you in.”
“How would I know, Jaxon? It’s pretty clear you have a history with women. How was I to know there wouldn’t be one with you today?”
“How do you know my history?”
“You seem to know what you’re doing is all,” Harper says. “I mean, with me.” She lowers her eyes, blushing. “When I’m undressed.”
I smile, shaking my head. “Well, listen, I haven’t had a woman up here, not once. That’s not why I came to the woods.”
“Why did you come here?” she asks.
“Because I needed to breathe.”
That makes Harper start crying again, and fuck me now. “What did I do now?”
“I just. You came here to breathe and I’ve just made everything a million times more complicated.”
“Not a million times more complicated. Just one time more complicated,” I tell her, smiling, pointing to her stomach.
She doesn’t respond, she looks so undone.
I don’t ask her any more questions because, while I may not know much about Harper, I do know one thing she likes. One thing she likes a hell of a lot.
Standing, I walk toward her and pull her up.
Without speaking, I take off her jacket, her sweater. After pulling off her tank top, taking in her gorgeous breasts, just fucking full and larger than ever, I get on my knees and tug off her boots, her socks, her leggings. I slide my hands over her bare thighs, resting my fingers at the waistband of her panties. I tease her, just grazing my thumb over them.
Then, noticing her swollen abdomen, I swallow hard, realizing that she really is having my child. Harper is going to birth my offspring.
It’s not that I didn’t know this in theory—of course I did. And yeah, I never expected to be a father so soon. But it still seemed so far away when I was here alone in this cabin, thinking about it.
But I’m not alone right now.
Right now, I’m holding Harper in my arms, and our child is between us, and fuck, that is some heavy shit. Some fucking amazing shit. Shit that makes me hard in a way I never imagined.
My cock grows as I press my face, ever so slightly, to her stomach. She takes a sharp intake of breath at this movement, and I know she is taken by this moment too.
Then, as the desire mounts, I press my mouth against her covered pussy, breathing in the scent of her. Inhaling her, I kiss her, running my hand between her thighs, spreading her legs. I just want to be a man that makes Harper happy.
As I pull down her panties, the ones that are wet with her heat, I know I can make her happy in this moment, at the very least.
HARPER
Oh, my heart. I try to hold back, to not give in, because I know there are things I need to tell Jaxon. Soon.
But as his tongue slips into my opening, I forget everything I need to say. I forget everything because … oh, that feels good. It feels so right.
His tongue darts into my folds. Each kiss, each hot breath of air on me, forces my legs to quiver a bit more, to spread a bit wider. When he lifts one of my legs and throws it over his shoulder, and my hands move to his shoulders for balance, I just about faint.
Because suddenly his head is pressed between my legs, licking my opening, and I feel my wetness seep out.
“Oh, Harper, you taste so fucking good,” he says, cupping my ass with his hands. He pulls me to the bearskin rug, and I lie on my back, legs spread apart as he instructed. “Relax, honey, let me eat you.”
So I do, my eyes close and I feel Jaxon completely devour me. As he uses a finger to press into my opening, I moan, arching my back, remembering the sensation of a climax and knowing I am getting closer to it. “Oh, Jaxon,” I pant, strumming my hands through his hair as he adds another finger to my opening. He rubs his thumb in circles, causing my entire body to writhe in pleasure.
“Oh, yeah,” I moan, “Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.” My body shakes as he hits a spot deep inside me, over and over again. “I need you in me, Jaxon,” I beg. “Now.”
I mean it. All I want is to see his thick, gorgeous cock. And even though I want to taste his come as I take him in my mouth, my pussy is screaming with desire, much louder than my brain.
And so when he pulls off his jeans, revealing that massive rod that fucked me and got me pregnant—the massive rod that fills my opening so good, so nice and tight—I feel the wave of an orgasm wash over me, just remembering. Just seeing him.
“I need it in me now,” I tell him. Jaxon doesn’t pause. He leans over me and presses his cock inside me, just like I begged him to do. My hunger for him covers me, the same way his mouth covers my own. His tongue finds mine, and once entwined, I taste myself on him. It makes my pussy come hard and fast, and at the same time his long cock hits me deep inside, a spot I could never find myself if I tried for a year. If I tried forever. Because Jaxon’s manhood fills me in a way that nothing else could—nothing else should.
All I want is this cock in my pussy, for the rest of my life.
And it isn’t fair to want Jaxon, a man who in so many ways is a stranger, to be mine, but I do. And it isn’t just because he took my virginity. Isn’t just because he got me pregnant. It’s also because he’s a man that no one else can compete with.
He lives alone in the woods, chops wood, and is dirty in ways that make me blush. His muscled arms and chiseled abs, his biceps covered in ink and his long beard, tell me he’s wild and untamed. Those are the things that make me want Jaxon. Completely.
But they are also the things that confirm Jaxon will never commit, never be a husband, never be the things I really need.
His hardest pulses through me, as the waves of orgasm continue to ripple through my body. He pulls a nipple into his mouth and the very touch sends tingles through my core. Every touch, every time we come together, all I can think is that I want more. More of him.
When we finish, he takes my hands and lifts me up.
“I need to show you something,” he says. “It’s my apology gift.”
I take a blanket from the back of the chair, and wrap it around myself. Jaxon pulls his jeans back on, and then points to the corner where something is covered in a sheet.
“That’s yours.”
“A present for me?”
“Yeah,” he says, shrugging. “I made it. For you. I mean, I know you decided to have this baby ... and I don’t know how you want me to support you in all of this ... but whatever you need, I’m here for you.”
He doesn’t offer to marry me, or something old-fashioned, and I don’t expect him to. That would be too much, too soon.
Especially since I have to tell him something that is about to change all of this.
“Go on,” Jaxon says. “Look.”
Smiling, I walk over to the corner and lift off the sheet.
What he made for me leaves me gasping.
“Jaxon ... I don’t know what to say. It’s so thoughtful.” Jaxon has carved a beautiful wooden cradle with his bare hands. I press my hand to it, and it sways gently on its rockers. Beautiful cedar is perfectly pieced. “I didn’t know you worked with wood other than—”
“Chopping it?” Jaxon smirks. “Yeah, well I grew up making furniture with my dad. Thought I’d go into business with him someday, but he wanted to retire, travel. So I said, fuck it, I’ll go into business with my buddy Dean instead. We have a wood hauling company now. Anyways,” Jaxon shrugs. “Either way, I work with wood. And so I thought this is the peace offering you deserve. The baby and you deserve.”
“It’s beautiful,” I say, holding back tears. Just barely. The words I really need to say hanging on my lips.
“Hope those are happy tears, then, Harp,” he says, smiling. “So you think this will work for the baby?”
“Um. Sort of.” I look up at him, my heart laced with so much emotion, it’s filled to the brim.
“What do you mean, sort of?” he asks, not understanding.
“Well, we’re going to need two more,” I tell Jaxon. The father of my children. “Because, Jaxon, I’m pregnant with triplets.”
Chapter Seventeen
JAX
No fucking way. Triplets?
“Is this some prank, Harper? Because I don’t get the joke.” My chest pounds at the words, because fuck. This is just way too much. Too soon.
Her hand runs across the smooth wood of the cradle I’ve carved for our baby. Singular. And now ... her eyes are filled with emotions, but I don’t know this woman well enough to know which emotions they are.
“It’s not a joke. I wouldn’t joke about this.” She walks over to her purse, sitting by the leatherback chair, and pulls out pictures. Crossing back to me at the cradle, she hands them over. “See for yourself. Three babies, Jaxon. It’s pretty obvious.”
I take a deep breath and hold up the photos. The ultrasound images are damn clear, just as she said. Three distinct babies. A technician has typed a 1, 2, and 3 over the heads as if it wasn’t clear enough. Oh, it’s clear all right. Crystal.
“Say something....” Harper says. “I mean, I’ve been thinking about it all day, ever since Doctor Vance dropped the bomb. I just need you to say something. Anything.”
Being a father was on the periphery of my mind, I guess. But shit, I’m twenty-eight years old. Not ready to be tied down in the least ... and this one-night stand has gotten ridiculously out of control. Triplets? Fuck, I’m way over my head.
“Jaxon, what are you thinking?”
What the hell am I supposed to say to her? That I just wrapped my head around one kid, and now we’re having three? That I’m trying to be a fucking man here, but have no desire to be a father? Can’t say that. She’s already a mess; my truth would just destroy her.
“So what happens next?” I ask.
She huffs. And I know this moment is wrought with intensity and I should be fucking spinning out of control right now, but damn, she is adorable when she gets worked up.
“What happens next?” She snorts, suddenly sounding more of a cynic than I would have believed possible. “Next I push three people from my body.”
“Okay, I know that,” I say, raising my hands in defeat. “I mean, like, what did the doctor say? Are the babies healthy? Are you healthy?”
Maybe I finally said the right thing, because at least she begins wiping her tears away.
“They’re healthy. And I guess I’m not surprised about there being more than one baby in there, because I really am huge for only being three months along. I’ve seen my mother carry so many children, and she never showed like this, so soon. But it’s pretty obvious I won’t be able to hide it from them much longer.”
“And you want to hide it?” I ask. Her family dynamics are seriously screwed up. It’s one thing if she was sixteen year old–but Harper is a woman. She shouldn’t be scared of her parents.
“I just know that as soon as I tell them ... my life will change. Forever.”
“How so, exactly?
“They’ll never look at me the same way. My place in the church family will change. Everyone will see me as less-than, used. Everyone will think I’m a sinner.” Harper walks over to the chair by the fireplace and sits down with her hands on her stomach, protectively.
I sit in the chair beside her, looking for words that won’t upset her—or at least for words that won’t upset her more.
“But you said you wanted babies ... to be a mom. Do you still mean that, now that you’re having triplets?”
“I don’t know, Jaxon. When Doctor Vance pointed to the three beating hearts, it felt like ... I know this sounds weird, but it felt like a miracle. Like, for some reason I have the privilege of carrying three babies? That’s amazing. But then, driving here, the weight of it started to overwhelm me. Like, I can barely stand on my own two feet, and now I’ll have three pairs of feet depending on me ... for everything. I don’t even have a home of my own, any means of supporting them—how can I expect to do this?”
“I’ll help. I’ll do whatever you need.”
“What does that even mean, Jaxon?”
“I don’t know,” I tell her, honestly. Because I have no fucking clue what it means. I just know I need to step up to the plate. Somehow.
“I need more than I don’t know.”
“Fuck, Harper, you can live here,” I say, running my hands through my hair, throwing out the first thing that pops into my mind. “I have money, I’ll give you money.”
“Money isn’t going to solve everything.”
“In this situation, it’ll solve an awful fucking lot.”
I stand, a ball of nerves. Did I seriously just tell Harper she can move in? What the hell am I thinking? I go to the kitchen and pour a few inches of whiskey in a tumbler, then begin pacing the room.
“It just sounds ... crass,” she says, her nose scrunched.
“Well, get used to it, honey. I’m a fucking man. Okay? I don’t know what pansy-ass preachers boys you’ve spent your life with, but that ain’t me.”
“I know what you are, Jaxon. You are practically a stranger. And, no offense, you have an amazing body ... but I need more than that.”
Now it’s my turn to snort. “Beggars can’t really be choosers, Harp.”
“That isn’t nice, to call me a beggar. I didn’t mean to get pregnant.”
“You’re also the only woman I’ve ever met over the age of eighteen who isn’t on birth control.”
“I don’t believe in using birth control, Jaxon. Which is just, like, the five hundredth thing you don’t know about me.”
I stop pacing, turn toward her. “Well, then, enlighten me, Harper, the mother of my children. Tell me what I need to know.”
“You wanna know things about me, Jaxon?” She shakes her head, standing, and coming toward me. She stops at my feet, pointing her index finger at my chest. “Then you need to be nice and act like a gentleman and ask me questions about myself. Get to know me as someone other than a girl you like to sleep with.”
“I’ll do some of what you want, honey. I’ll ask you questions and play nice, but I won’t be a gentleman. I’m rough. And hard. I’m wild, and I think that is exactly why you’re so undone when you’re with me. You think you want to tame me, but you don’t. A tamed man doesn’t fuck like a free one.”
Harper sucks in a sharp, quick breath, and I take that as my fucking cue. I wrap my arms around her and pull her into a deep, long kiss.
A kiss that keeps her from talking back, because, right now, I want her to remember why she returned. Why she’s come back for me, come back for more.
She didn’t come back here�
��twice—because she wants to talk. She keeps coming back because she wants to lose her fucking mind.
HARPER
His mouth on mine causes a stirring deep within me. Again. I swear this will never get old. I love it when he tells me what I need, what I should want. I love it when he takes control ... because right now I am so over my head that I don’t want to be in control at all.
Instead, I’ll lose myself in him.
He says he’ll let me stay here? Fine. I don’t want to face reality at home.
He says he’ll throw money at the situation? Good. Because I have literally zero dollars to pay for doctors and maternity clothes, and I’m not even thinking about the actual needs of infants. Times three.
He wants to kiss me, undress me, drop to his knees and lick me? Wonderful. Because, when he does that, he makes me forget.
Everything about his plan is better than the alternative, which is me going home and facing my family and figuring out how to be a grown-up. I don’t want to grow up if it means less of Jax’s mouth on mine. I don’t want to be an adult if it means no more midday orgasms. No more of th—
Ohmigod ... Jax has pressed his hands down the front of my pants and ... ohh....
“Jax, that feels so ... so ....”
“Shush, honey. You need to stop thinking. You need to forget.” It’s as if he’s reading my mind.
I squeak out, “Okay,” before kissing him again. His lips are so soft, and the complete opposite of his rough beard. His mouth devours mine, his tongue caressing my own as he holds the back of my head with one hand. I moan, pressing my body against his.
His other hand touches my folds, his fingers deftly finding the spot that turns my desire on in a deep, more heated way. He dips his fingers into my opening, causing me to claw at the waistband of his jeans, wanting him undressed. Now.
“I like it when you get all excited,” he purrs in my ear. His hot breath sends a shiver across my skin.
I can’t suppress my smile, and I don’t want to. I want to give in to this moment, because that is what this cabin, what being with Jaxon has always offered—an escape.
The Mountain Man’s Babies: Books 1-5 Page 10