Miami Hot: #1 (Miami Heat Series)

by Joyce Jordan

  “Could be a boy,” Conrad challenged them.

  “Could be, but women know these things,” Sam answered.

  They clicked their glasses and toasted to Little Bo Peep.

  Moira spent the rest of the day, laying down on the sofa, her feet on his lap. Conrad had Moira’s laptop and was reading to her about what to expect with pregnancy. Sam and Lucas would indulge him when he found something to share then go back to their business discussions. He laughed when he read about food cravings, and told her he would buy her all the quesadillas she wanted. He asked her if she had any other type of food cravings and she told him she didn’t think so. Nothing out of the ordinary except the quesadillas. He was told to take it to the bedroom when he started talking about her tender nipples. Moira laughed as she realized Sam was around. Lucas just laughed at the exchange and winked at Moira.

  π

  The next day, Moira called her doctor in the morning and she managed to get an appointment for early afternoon. After her call, Conrad kept her occupied in bed. He made her a late breakfast and brought it to her in bed. He was glad she had taken the day off. Since Conrad knew the mention of marriage would set her off, he kept conversations centered around the baby. They got along well and it was a blissful morning. Later they got ready to go and meet her doctor.

  Dr. Henry Simmons raised his eyebrows when Moira told him she was pregnant. Having been her doctor for years his first thought was that she must have forgotten to take her pills. He had prescribed them to her years ago when she had started being sexually active. When she assured him she had never forgotten to take them, he told them that it could be just that it failed since pills were not 100% effective against pregnancy, or could be they were rendered ineffective during the time she had been taking antibiotics when she was sick earlier in the year. Conrad took the news quietly and apologized to Moira for his first assumption. The doctor chuckled and told Moira to undress. He left and Conrad helped her undress then lay back on the exam room bed.

  When he came back, he lightly touched her abdomen and moved his hands to different positions. He examined her breasts and she flinched when his coat sleeve touched her nipple, as he moved from one breast to the other.

  “Congratulations mom,” he said after he was done. “Based on my estimations, I think you are at least eight weeks. You will need to see an OB/GYN who can give you a more accurate estimation.” He wrote something down, “Here are two good doctors you can choose from,” he said handing her the note. “The sooner you schedule the visit the better, so you can start preparing for the baby. And in the meantime, try to eat healthy. Take good care of yourself Moira. I’m sorry your dad is going to miss this.” He stood and shook Conrad’s hand then waved at Moira and left the room.

  When they got back home, Conrad googled the two doctors. They both had good reputations. Moira decided to choose the one that was closer to both work and home. She called and made an appointment. They got an opening for Wednesday, 9am or 3pm. They booked the afternoon appointment.

  Their truce was broken the next day when Conrad brought up the ‘getting married’ thing.

  “I want us to get married before the baby comes, and it would be best we do it on Saturday before you start showing,” he told her.

  “I don’t want to get married, not now anyway.”

  “Look, I don’t want to upset you. Not in your delicate condition anyway. But I would prefer that the baby be not born out of wedlock,” he said.

  Moira rounded on him. “And what century do you still live in, Conrad? Those days are long gone.”

  “Those are my beliefs, so just be ready on Saturday. I’ll make all the arrangements since I doubt you want any part of this. Just your presence is all that I will need,” he said and sat down to put on his shoes.

  “I won’t be there,” she told him.

  “Oh yes, you will. I will dress you if that’s what it will take and march you to the court house myself. And while we are on that subject, Janet will help you find a dress. Buy whatever you want.”

  “You can go to hell,” she huffed at him. “If you want any part of this baby’s life, you better get used to be just the baby daddy, or you can renounce your rights for all I care,” she shouted at him and banged the bedroom door on her way out.

  He opened the door and flung it wide open. “In your dreams baby. We are getting married Saturday and that’s final.”

  The front door closed as she called him a bully.

  “Very mature King,” he heard Sam saying as he watched from his bedroom door. “You running in circles again?”

  “Fuck you Ford!”

  Sam laughed. “Like I said, very mature indeed.”

  “I don’t have time for this,” he hissed. “I’m going to work.”

  “Okay, have a nice day honey,” he called out in a girl’s voice.

  “Fuck you!”

  Conrad closed the front door to Sam’s laughter. He drove to work like a mad man. Everyone he came into contact with suffered. He calmed down a bit when his dad stopped by. He was happy about the grandchild and happy to be getting a daughter. “Sure, I can be there at the courthouse on Saturday,” he said thoughtfully.

  “I’m still waiting to see if I can get a judge to do it on Saturday, that way her friend Sere can attend. If it fails, we may have to push it to Friday, unless we can get someone who will agree to come home, then maybe we can have it at home if you don’t mind dad.”

  “Nonsense, son. Your mother would be proud. Among all her gardens? She will be smiling from above.”

  When his dad left, he saw him make his way to the cafeteria. He got a hug and huge smile from her. Well at least she liked one of the King men. And if Little Bo Peep turned out to be a boy, then that would be two King men. He would have to work on her to get back into her good graces. He would rather die than to let her go. And maybe this marriage thing wasn’t so bad after all. He got to keep her forever. What is it they said? ‘…Till death do us part…’ Conrad laughed at the irony of that. He would probably be dead before they signed the papers. If he wasn’t careful, she would be the death of him and he may never see Little Bo Peep. He swore when he realized he kept referring to their baby as a girl. And where the heck did she get that name? But it souned better and better everytime he said the name or thought about it.

  “Moira tells me there isn’t going to be any wedding anytime soon,” his dad said from the door. He hadn’t realized he had left Moira.

  Conrad grunted. “She’ll come around. I’m still working on her,” he said.

  “Son, when will you learn that you catch more flies with honey? See,” he said waving his pastry box at him. “That one is going to keep you on your toes. It’s going to be interesting watching you flounder.”

  “Dad, I need you on my side, not hers,” he said and started pacing. “First Sam, and now you. Lucas too seems to be on her side.”

  “I know where my bread is buttered, so of course I am on her side.” He waved his box again and laughed at his misery. “Now, I’m going to my office for a couple of hours, then I’m going to see if I can squeeze in some tee time.” William turned at the door, “Keep me updated,” he said and left.

  π

  Wednesday afternoon, Moira arrived at the doctors offices with five minutes to spare. She had filled the patients forms online the night before and printed then signed them. She hated filling out forms whenever she saw a new doctor, and if she could download the forms ahead of times, she always did that. When she got in she found Conrad flirting with the ladies in the front office. She rolled her eyes and checked in. She laughed when the grandma that was checking her in got all dreamy when he kissed her. She hadn’t meant to, but he had just caught her unprepared.

  “Oh, honey, you caught the cream of the crop in that boy,” grandma told her.

  “No Denise. I caught the cream of the crop,” he corrected her.

  Grandma Denise laughed. “He’s a smooth one for sure” she said fanning herself. “If I were
younger, I would fight you for him.”

  “What? A young girl like you. You can still fight for me,” he said and winked at her.

  “You know what Denise, do me a favor and take him off my hands,” she said with a sweet smile.

  Denise hooted with laughter. “I like you.”

  Moira smiled then took back her ID and insurance card and took a seat and leaving them to their flirting. But before she had even sat down for a minute the nurse called her name and they followed her. She took her weight, blood pressure readings and temperature, then had them follow her to an exam room.

  The doctor came shortly after. He shook hands with them both and introduced himself as Dr. Andrew Chandler. He was in his mid forties. Moira felt relaxed as he talked and told them what to expect from him as a doctor. He left for a few minutes giving Moira time to undress, then he came back after a few minutes. He started by doing a full body exam, then told her he would move on to the transvaginal ultrasound so they could try and determine how far along she was.

  As soon as Dr. Chandler told her she was seven weeks pregnant, she knew the baby had most likely been conceived that Valentine’s night. That was when she had agreed to have unprotected sex with Conrad. She had still been taking meds, but hadn’t known that they could interfere with her birth control pills. She listened as she was given prenatal instructions. It was all still quite hazy but today she finally got confirmation and even saw Little Bo Peep as a little mark on the screen. Half the time she couldn’t even see what the doctor was referring to. It seemed to be a lot of black and white and wondered if it ever came in color.

  She thought Conrad might have gone back to work, but he followed her home. Somehow as long as they were not talking about the impending marriage they got along fine. The sex was even better if that were possible and they slept clinging to each other all night. Moira was glad Conrad didn’t spoil their first view of their baby by bringing up the dreaded topic. As soon as they got in Moira jumped him and Conrad whisked her to the bedroom. He was more gentler now, but still fucked her as hard as she cried for. They couldn’t get their hands off each other, but with the morning light, Conrad had to spoil everything by reminding Moira that she still needed to get a dress.

  She had thought that by now he would have come to his senses. Moira didn’t want to get married just because she was pregnant. And yes it was double standard but she wanted to get married for love and her wedding day be the most beautiful day ever. She already knew what she wanted to do, she just needed to put her plan in action, and hopefully before Saturday.

  So she told Conrad what he wanted to hear. She was tired of his pestering. “You know what?” she said to him. “I give up. I’ll take some time later today and tomorrow to go looking for a dress.” Then she walked out of the bedroom and went to work.

  As soon as she reached work she made a call. She was answered on the second ring. Her caller assured her he would take immediate action. Moira was told to wait for further instructions later that evening. Feeling relieved, Moira got to work. She tried to act as normal but sometimes it was hard. She left early and met Janet at a bridal shop. They looked at a number of dresses, but Moira said she didn’t like any of them. She told Janet she would try again the next day, but she didn’t need to be there. Janet finally agreed but she wasn’t happy about being left out of dress shopping.

  Fortunately when Moira’s long awaited call came through, none of the men were home yet.

  “Act normal, your flight will be ready for take-off anytime after 1pm. Try to make it before 4:30pm. Don’t take anything,” her friend told her. It was a short and to the point call. “We’ll talk when you get here.” And they disconnected the call.

  When Conrad offered to take her shopping the next day, Moira almost had a heart attack. He clearly wanted this wedding to happen and was offering to go shopping? Moira declined and said it would be a bad omen if he were to see the dress before the wedding. She, however, couldn’t get out of someone driving her. So she agreed, her mind going in circles on how she was going to evade the driver.

  That night she was hungry and she made her sexual hunger known. They barely caught a few winks. Moira knew she needed something to hold onto for a while as she sorted out her messed up life.

  Conrad being a man, was just happy to have so much sex in a night and without having to beg for it too. He hoped even after marriage it would continue. He had heard some men talking about how their wives stopped wanting sex when they got pregnant. So he just thanked the higher ups for his good fortune.

  π

  Moira didn’t give herself time to think. She wasn’t sure how long she would be away, so she baked lots of goodies for William. She put the boxes in the walk in fridge and froze some of the mixture she made. She would send instructions later. She had more faith in her team since the time they had all come up with different pastries and desserts to introduce and each one had taken a week to see how the King International employees reviewed them. Since then she had been giving them more and more tasks and trusting them with the menu items. She knew while she was gone, everything would work out fine. The only person she was worried about was Stu. She didn’t know how she could warn him without giving herself away, so she hoped he would understand when she finally sent him word.

  She met one of Conrad’s protection guys, Shawn, at her apartment a few minutes after 12 noon. After she dressed in something more comfortable, they took off. She took him to a couple of bridal boutiques and made her rounds and came out saying she didn’t find anything she liked. It was now after 2pm and Moira was getting nervous. Next they went to the mall and she went into Macy’s, bought a few dresses, some t-shirts, a couple of pairs of jeans, and sportswear, and added a couple of shoes. Moira piled on some socks and lingerie and then went to pay. Shawn followed her everywhere. Clearly his instructions from Conrad were not to let her out of his sight.

  “Can you take this to the car while I go into that bridal shop,” she asked him and pointed to the shop across.

  Shawn didn’t want to leave her alone, but clearly saw the futility of dragging along packages. She told him if she was done she would wait for him by the benches in the middle. As he left, Moira entered the shop and when she thought enough time had passed she left and took off in the opposite direction. She walked quickly and hoped for a cab to be outside next to the movie theatres. As soon as she got there a cab was coming to a stop. She opened the back door and gave him the address of her old apartment. “Please hurry,” she told him. Then she called her contact and told him she was ready and should be ready for pick-up in about fifteen minutes.

  Chapter Twenty Seven

  Moira was glad to be back again. She had been here only once and had loved it. Unfortunately the trip had only lasted a few days. Hopefully this time it would be for much longer, but not too much. She wouldn’t like to extend her welcome despite the hospitality of the De Marco family.

  He met her outside, as the chauffeur opened the door for her. “Moira! So glad you made it,” he said coming forward.

  Moira finally smiled since she had left US soil. “Antonio,” she cried and ran to him.

  “Come inside. It’s cold,” he said as he guided her indoors. “I’ll show you to your room, where you can freshen up and then you can tell me all about why you ran away.”

  “Yes. And thanks again for letting me stay here. I had nowhere else to go.”

  “I’m just glad you thought about me. And by the way, your brother called,” he told her. “And don’t worry, I told him the truth. At the time you were not here, so as long as he doesn’t call again, you are quite safe here for as long as you want.”

  “Thank you. And I’m sorry to put you in such a position. I hope Sam won’t hold it against you,” she said sadly. “I would hate to ruin your relationship with him.”

  “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it,” he told her. He opened the door to the suite she had used on her last visit. “I trust you will like the accomodations, hmmm?
And I took the liberty of furnishing you with a few clothes. You haven’t gained much weight,” he said looking at her body. “Flora will help you,” he said and a maid suddenly appeared. “Let me know if you need anything else,” he added and took his leave.

  “Hi Flora. I’m so glad to see you again. I don’t know why Antonio insists you help me when I’m used to doing everything myself,” she said.

  “Hi Moira,” Flora said shyly. “I’m glad you are back. Did you not come with Sam?” she asked.

  “No, and it’s a long story. I just needed somewhere to go and think. And my good friend Antonio was kind enough to take me in.”

  “Okay, but I hope you get to go to parties this time. Antonio filled your wardrobe with lots and lots of gowns. It will be nice to dress you up,” she said smiling and then opened the closet. “Too much?” she asked at her shocked expression.

  “Yes. How and where will I ever get to wear all those dresses?”

  Flora giggled. “Well, you can at least try them all and pose like a princess. But in the meantime, let me run you your bath,” she said.

  Moira walked into the closet and wondered what Antonio had been thinking when he filled the closet with dresses upon dresses that she could never get the opportunity to wear. Even if she stayed months, she wouldn’t get to wear them all. At least there were some serviceable clothes available. Moira saw a few pairs of jeans, t-shirts and sweaters. She pulled one of each from the piles and found underwear then she laid everything out on the bed. By the time she went to join Flora in the bathroom, her water was filling up the tub. She undressed and sank into the deep bathtub. Flora left her to her own devices and she took a moment to enjoy the water. Her mind drifted back to the last few hours in Miami.

  She had been so nervous when she evaded Shawn. She hoped he didn’t get chewed by Conrad for that. It was only when she was in the air, that she had breathed easy. As soon as she had been picked up, she had disconnected her phone from the battery and put the pieces in her handbag. She had been the only passenger.