Call Her Mine

by Melissa Foster

  Ben gathered her in his arms, resting his cheek against the top of her head. He felt her heart racing as fast as his.

  “I’ve been doing the same thing,” he admitted. “Last night, while you were sleeping, I just stared at her for the longest time, telling myself not to feel so much. But it’s an impossible task because she’s so little, and so frigging cute and innocent. I didn’t even want to leave her with Piper to come here, and the thought of going to work . . . ? It feels like I’ll be abandoning her, too.”

  Aurelia tipped her face up and said, “Maybe we shouldn’t hold back. Maybe it’s better for her if we let our love come out, so at least she’ll know what it feels like to be loved. The books said babies feel everything their caretakers feel. And love is good, right? Even if we’re sad if she eventually goes to someone else, isn’t some love better than none?”

  Relief swamped him. “God, Rels,” he whispered. “You just made everything I’ve been struggling with feel okay. I agree. You and I held back from each other for too long. Let’s not do that to B. Regardless of what happens here, let’s show that sweet baby girl as much love as we can while we wait for the truth to come out.”

  “That sounds perfect to me.” She smiled and said, “I’m a little less nervous. Are you still nervous?”

  “Insanely . . .”

  “Then take a deep breath, pretend you’re negotiating a business deal. Imagine you’ve just taken over a big corporation, you’re in the boardroom with other bigwigs, and you have to keep your cool. You’ve got this, Benny boy. I have faith in you.”

  And just like that, she centered him. He straightened his spine, holding tightly to Aurelia’s hand as they climbed the front steps and knocked on the door.

  A pretty blonde peeked her head outside, and after a few seconds recognition shone in her eyes. “Ben?”

  “Yeah,” he said uneasily, wishing he remembered her name. “Hi.”

  She stepped outside wearing a maternity shirt over a very pregnant belly and capris, pulling the door partially closed behind her.

  Ben cleared his throat to hide his relieved smile, and he squeezed Aurelia’s hand, reading the same relief in her eyes. Although he wasn’t sure why he felt so relieved, considering that this nailed down the mother as the woman in Los Angeles, who would be about as easy to find as a needle in a haystack.

  The blonde looked curiously at them and said, “What are you doing here?”

  “I, um . . .” His mind went blank. “You’re pregnant. Rels, she’s pregnant,” he said stupidly.

  She rested one hand on her belly and smiled. “Married, too. It’s been a long time since we’ve seen each other.”

  “Married? That’s great,” he said too enthusiastically. “Congratulations. I wasn’t sure you’d remember me.”

  “Of course I remember you.” She looked sheepishly at Aurelia and said, “We helped each other get over some stuff a while back.”

  The door opened behind her and an enormous man stepped onto the front porch. Ben was six one, and this guy had at least three or four inches on him and probably thirty pounds of muscle. He put an arm around the blonde and said, “Everything okay, Jenny?”

  Jenny! That was it!

  Jenny smiled warmly and said, “Yes, fine. Ben is . . . an old friend. He was just . . . ?”

  “Uh, funny story.” Ben fumbled for words. “We—”

  “We were wondering if you taught couples yoga,” Aurelia said quickly. “We heard it was really great for couples looking to connect on a higher level. But maybe you don’t teach it anymore, since you’re pregnant? So we’ll just be going. Sorry to have bothered you.” She tugged Ben down the steps and said, “Good luck with your baby!”

  They hurried to the truck, both of them chuckling.

  Aurelia flopped back against the passenger seat, exhaling loudly. “Whew. For a moment there I thought you had another baby coming, but then Paul Bunyan appeared.”

  They both laughed, but the thought wasn’t really funny.

  Ben started the truck and said, “Couples yoga? Connect on a higher level?”

  “What did you want me to say? ‘Sorry, Mr. Muscles, but Ben had sex with your wife . . .’?”

  “They weren’t married back then,” he reminded her as he drove away. “I wouldn’t sleep with a married woman. You know that, right?”

  “I know. Now you can tell me how great I am for getting you out of that debacle.” She flashed a cheesy smile, and her phone vibrated with a text. “Oh my gosh, Ben. My heart is melting.”

  He stopped at the corner, and she turned the phone toward him, showing him a picture of B in the baby swing with one of the pink blankets he’d bought her tucked around her. All the tension that had been simmering beneath his laughter disappeared, replaced with the most contented feeling.

  “Isn’t she the most beautiful baby you’ve ever seen?” Aurelia said softly.

  His heart swelled with love, and when he shifted his gaze to Aurelia, it grew even bigger—because of the talk they’d had about showing their love for B and for the woman who was clearly going to give her more love while she was with them than she could ever hope for.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  WEDNESDAY EVENING AURELIA’S apartment smelled better than an Italian restaurant. It had been an emotionally exhausting and uplifting day. Between their visit with Jenny, squeezing in work on their laptops, and caring for B, Aurelia had been in overdrive all day. She was glad Ben had offered to make dinner. He’d been adorable sneaking in gropes and kisses while he cooked, as if he had to sneak around the baby. But she had to admit, those furtive touches and sensual kisses had left her body humming all the way through dinner, which was delicious. Now, as she bathed B in the new baby bath Piper had bought and Ben did the dishes, even the thought of those stolen kisses made her hungry for him. But since she had no idea how long B would be awake, she tried to push away those naughty thoughts and focus on the baby.

  “This is much easier than using a pillow, isn’t it?” she said as she shielded the baby’s eyes and rinsed her hair. She leaned in close, smiling into B’s curious eyes. “You are such a good girl. You like your bath, don’t you?”

  As she gently bathed the baby, she felt overwhelmingly happy about finally allowing herself to open her heart completely to beautiful B. She marveled at her adorable little nose and Cupid’s bow lips, her tiny fisted hands, and the way her downy-soft hair turned pitch-black when wet. She carefully wrapped her in a cute hooded towel, which made her look like a little bunny, and swaddled her the way Piper had taught her. There was so much to learn about caring for B, but Aurelia felt like she and Ben were doing pretty well for having been thrown into the situation. Ben always came out on top in sink-or-swim situations, but this was a big one, and she wondered if all new parents transitioned from freak-out mode to calm acceptance as quickly as Ben had.

  She carried B into the bedroom and chose a snuggly white sleeper with little yellow ducks across the chest, which Piper had washed and left on the bed for them. She’d washed all of the new clothes and blankets. She’d also washed the baby things Ben had brought over. Of all Ben’s sisters, Aurelia had always thought of Piper as the least maternal. Boy, had she been wrong. It had taken Piper as long to finally say goodbye to B as it had for Ben to give her instructions before they’d left that morning.

  “Ready for some snuggly pajamas?” Aurelia said as she laid B on the bed and began putting on her diaper. “So now we know that your mama is the woman from Los Angeles.” Her heart hurt a little at that, because part of her thought that the woman didn’t deserve to be mentioned. She didn’t deserve to have been given such a wonderful gift as this baby. But having grown up missing the mother she’d never known, Aurelia couldn’t bring herself to take the possibility of knowing her mother away from B.

  She dressed B and held her hands as she kissed her cheeks.

  “Who your father is might be up in the air right now, but you should know that Benny and I love you, whether you’re his or
not.” She kissed the baby’s hands, and then she lifted her into her arms, breathing in her sweet smell. “You are safe, and you are loved, peanut, and no matter where you are in this world, nothing will ever take our love away from you.” She moved her hand in soothing circles on the baby’s back and closed her eyes, wishing there was some way for the baby to remember what she was about to say. “You need to know that just because your mom had to give you up doesn’t mean she doesn’t love you. It means she loved you so much she wanted the best for you. That’s a lot of love, B, and I can only imagine how hard it was for her to leave you.”

  She sensed Ben’s presence and opened her eyes.

  He was standing behind her, and he leaned down to kiss the baby’s head. “I love you, B,” he whispered, and then he pressed a kiss to Aurelia’s temple and said, “And I love you, too, Aurelia. I don’t want to hold back anymore, not from either of you.”

  The now-familiar fireworks went off inside her, and she turned toward him. “Oh, Ben.”

  He lowered his lips to hers, kissing her slow and sweet. But slow and sweet wasn’t nearly enough. She’d waited years for this very moment. Her pulse was racing as he pulled back, and she trapped his lower lip between her teeth, earning a masculine, rumbly growl. Holding his predatory gaze, she dragged her tongue along his lip.

  “Aurelia,” he said in a long, heated breath. His eyes shot to the baby, and a sinful grin lifted his lips. “She’s sleeping.”

  She turned toward the playpen, and Ben moved behind her as she bent over and laid the baby down. She felt Ben’s hard length against her as she rose with her back to his chest. He brushed her hair to one side and began kissing her neck, sending scintillating sparks beneath her skin. His mouth was warm, and every touch of his lips made her insides swell and heat. When he sealed his mouth over her flesh, lavishing her neck and shoulder with openmouthed kisses, sucking and teasing until she was panting and even more needy, she pressed her bottom against him. His hands pushed beneath her top, palming her breasts. She ground against his erection, soaking in the feel of Ben Dalton not just wanting her, or touching her, but doing it possessively, whispering dark promises against her skin. “I want to love every inch of you, to taste your arousal, to feast on your body.”

  Desire pulsed inside her, growing and filling her until she felt it would seep out of her pores. He squeezed her nipples as he drove her wild with his mouth. Her body trembled and her knees weakened. Just when she didn’t think she could take it anymore, he turned her in his arms, kissing her roughly and demandingly. His tongue plunged deep, devouring every dip and crevice of her mouth. He tore off her shirt between urgent kisses, separating only long enough to rip it over her head, and he made quick work of stripping them both bare. Good Lord, seeing Ben Dalton in briefs had been glorious—but seeing him in all his masculine beauty was beyond delectable.

  His eyes locked on hers as he lifted her off her feet and onto the bed. Her mouth watered as she reached for him, but he grabbed her hands and pinned them to the mattress, kneeling between her legs.

  “I have been dreaming of this for years. Tonight you’re mine, Rels—all mine—and I’m going to love you until all those years we waited disappear.”

  He lowered his lips to hers in a scorching kiss that left her burning for more as his magnificent mouth traveled lower. He trailed tantalizing kisses and scintillating bites over each breast, slowing to love them until she was on the verge of release, writhing and moaning, arching and begging.

  “Ben, please!” She rocked her hips in an effort to get what she needed.

  “Shh, sweetheart,” he whispered, and glanced at the playpen. “If you wake her, I’ll have to stop.”

  She snapped her mouth closed, earning a wicked grin and more as his hands took over, fondling and caressing her breasts as he tasted his way down the center of her body. He nipped at her belly, dragged his tongue around her belly button, before plunging into it and then slowing to a mind-numbing rhythm. His tongue moved in and out of her belly button in ways she wanted to feel between her legs. She clenched her mouth shut, clinging to the sheets as he teased his way south, finally reaching the apex of her thighs. Thank God she’d shaved her legs and trimmed the promised land. She lifted her hips and spread her legs, giving him an open invitation.

  He placed feathery kisses along her inner thighs, and she held her breath, willing him to take more. His hands slid down her belly and clutched her waist as his mouth covered her sex, and the first touch of his tongue sent her hips shooting off the mattress. He pushed them down and did something wicked with his tongue that sent pleasures tearing through her core and had her moaning uncontrollably. She closed her mouth, trying to quell the noises, but there was no way to silence the pleasure coursing through her as he licked and sucked and thrilled her beyond her wildest imagination. When he brought his hands into play, he sent her flying through the sky on ribbons of ecstasy. Every slick of his tongue, every touch of his fingers, took her higher, and when he pushed his fingers inside her and intensified his efforts with his mouth, light exploded behind her closed lids. Her hips tried to rise off the bed, but he held her there, deepening and quickening his efforts, sending her soaring again and again, until she could barely breathe. When she finally, blissfully, drifted back down to earth, he took his time loving his way up her body. Her nipples were overly sensitive, and he must have known, because he circled each one with his tongue before placing shivery kisses on the taut peaks. And then he lay over her, the head of his cock nestled at her entrance. He smelled like her, and when he kissed her, she didn’t care that he tasted like her, too. She was so lost in him, so greedy for him, she heard herself whimpering.

  “Are you on the pill?” he asked hastily.

  “Yes, but maybe you should use three condoms just so your supersonic sperm don’t get me.” She giggled and felt him smiling against her lips.

  “I’ll do whatever you want, Rels. I want you to feel safe.”

  “I always feel safe with you. I trust you, Ben. I was only teasing.”

  “God, I love you.”

  He slanted his mouth over hers as he entered her inch by enticing inch, until he was buried to the hilt, filling her so completely she didn’t want to move.

  “Hold me just like this,” she said against his cheek as she wrapped her arms and legs around him. “I want to remember every second of us.”

  He cradled her body beneath him, his strong arms reaching all the way around her as he said, “Do you feel that perfectness? Nothing could ever replace this, Rels, not in a million lifetimes.”

  She leaned back so she could see his face and was overwhelmed with love. “Kiss me.”

  Their mouths came together languidly, and she knew he was trying to savor every second, just like she was. But there was no slowing their passion, and their desires took over, thrusting and grinding to a frantic rhythm. She wanted to feel every slam of his hips, every press of his fingers onto her flesh, every nip and bite. Her insides pulsed and burned. She felt the pull of an orgasm just out of reach as he slowed his efforts, kissing her so deeply she lost sight of where she ended and he began. It was the most miraculous feeling of oneness she’d ever experienced. He pushed his hands beneath her ass, lifting and angling her hips so he could love her deeper. She bit down on his shoulder to keep from crying out from the immense pleasures he caused. Just when she thought she’d reached the peak, he withdrew all but the broad head of his cock, repeatedly stroking over the magical spot most guys couldn’t find with a road map—sending her up, up, up again. And when she finally caught the brass ring, he thrust in deep and followed her over the edge. Her name sailed off his lips in a rough growl she knew she’d never forget.

  CHAPTER NINE

  BEN KISSED HIS way up Aurelia’s ribs as the sun streamed in through her bedroom windows. He wondered how he’d ever found work—or anything else for that matter—so enthralling. Now he knew nothing could compare to the woman lying beside him. They’d done nothing but make love and care f
or B for the past thirty-six hours. Sure, they’d taken a few hours to catch up on work, but for the most part they’d either been loving up the baby or loving on each other, and he’d never been happier. Aurelia’s apartment felt like more of a home than his big house ever had, which finally made sense to him. She’d always owned his heart, and how could a house feel like a home when she took part of it with her every time she left?

  Aurelia made a sweet sound as she rolled onto her stomach and whispered, “Ben.”

  He crawled over her, pressing his erection against her ass, and kissed her shoulder. “Too tired for us, babe?”

  “I want you,” she said sleepily, eyes closed. “But you have to do all the work. I fed B at five.”

  She lifted her hips, and his arm circled her belly as he kissed her spine and said, “You can say no.”

  She looked over her shoulder, her hair covering one eye. “Have you ever known me to hold my tongue?”

  “Actually, I love the things you do with your tongue.” He nipped at her back, earning a sensual moan.

  “Then we have something in common. Now stop talking, because . . .” She pointed to B sleeping in the playpen, and then she went up on her knees, aligning their bodies, and pushed back, her body swallowing his cock. Her head fell between her shoulders and she hissed, “I’m never going to be too tired for this.”

  Two incredible orgasms later, Aurelia lay in Ben’s arms with her head on his chest. She ran her finger over his pec and said, “I think we’ve made each other into sluts.”

  He kissed her, laughing softly. “I’ll be your slut, your slave, whatever you want, Rels. We waited so long, we deserve to be drunk on each other for an eternity, and I’m pretty sure we sent Ten-Second Ben packing.”

  She looked curiously at him. “Ten-Second Ben?”

  “That first night on your couch . . .”

  She laughed and slapped her hand over her mouth, eyeing the playpen. “Oh my gosh,” she whispered. “That’s hilarious. I would have called you Ten-Inch Ben.”