Maybe it was knowing he loved me.
Or maybe it was what this moment would mean to us if I was pregnant.
As my eyes locked with his in the mirror, the whys of it didn’t matter. Only that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with this man. My husband.
Chapter Eight
GARRET
My heart seemed to cease beating as I waited with anticipation. After washing Keaton’s hands, I’d kept my arms around her, pulling her back against my chest and dropping my face into the crook between her neck and shoulder. I took a deep breath and gave her a gentle squeeze.
“I love you so much,” I whispered as I lifted my head and our eyes met in the mirror. “And, fair warning, if this test is negative, I’m going to put all my energy into changing the result of the next one.” I winked, and she giggled, her cheeks brightening with a pretty blush.
My eyes dropped down to my watch, and I saw that it had been almost three minutes. I couldn’t wait anymore. “Ready?” I asked her with another tender squeeze.
“Yes,” she agreed softly. My breath caught in my throat, but when I saw the word “Pregnant” flashing in the tiny window, I exhaled it all out in one loud swoosh.
“Holy fuck,” I said, frozen with shock and awe. Then I snapped out of it and whooped loudly, picking Keaton up and spinning her around before smacking a hard kiss on her lips. “You’re fucking pregnant, baby!” I shouted.
She laughed and locked her feet locked around my waist, her arms and legs hugging me tight. I kissed her again, lingering this time and pouring my love into it.
I eventually pulled my head back, and my eyes roved over her face, making sure I detected joy in her features. She was beaming at me, but I had to be sure. “You’re happy about this, right?”
She rubbed our noses together like I often did to her and sighed happily. “When I was stuck living in my father’s bubble, I thought the thing I craved was to be completely free. Answerable to no one. Not responsible for anyone else.”
“And now?” I asked.
She smiled brightly. “Now I realize that all I wanted was to carve out my own path in life. That path leads straight to you and our family.”
Love filled me until I felt like I was going to burst, and having her body wrapped around mine had blood rushing straight to my groin. I carried her into our bedroom and over to the bed, where I carefully laid her down on her back.
“You’ve given me everything I thought I didn’t want,” I told her, “and now I don’t know how I could have ever survived without it.”
Keaton held my face in her hands and leaned up to kiss me sweetly. “I feel the same way, Garret.”
I slowly began to remove her clothing, tenderly brushing my lips over every exposed inch. When I lifted her shirt, I lingered at her stomach. Then I looked up into her beautiful brown eyes. “You’re growing our child in there,” I marveled. “A little piece of you and me.” I placed a plethora of tiny kisses around her belly button before I finished taking everything off until she was gloriously naked. “You are so fucking beautiful, Keaton. I’m nowhere near good enough for you, but I’m keeping you anyway.”
She chuckled and shook her head. “That’s ridiculous, but you’re wearing far too many clothes for me to use my body to convince you otherwise.”
I laughed and stood from the bed to take off my button-down shirt, slacks, and underwear. When I was completely nude, I returned to my position, hovering over her and staring into her chocolate depths.
“Turn over,” I instructed. She didn’t hesitate, and my chest warmed at her obvious trust in me. I leaned over the bedside table and opened the small front drawer. There were a few things I’d stashed in there to explore with her at some point, but after the day she’d had, I wanted her to fully relax. I grasped a bottle of Serenity Honey Rose Aromatherapy Massage Lotion and pushed the drawer closed.
I straddled her just below her pretty little ass and grinned at the sound of her gasp when my hard cock rested between her cheeks. She tensed, and I trailed my fingertips from her neck down her back, making her shiver. “Relax, beautiful. I’m just giving you a massage.”
I poured some of the lotion into my hands and set the bottle on the table. Then I methodically worked my way down her body from her neck to the tips of her toes. Keaton moaned in pleasure, and my cock kept growing longer and thicker. I tried my best to ignore it and focused on pampering my wife. When I was done with her feet, I gently flipped her over and started working my way back up. I paused at her pink, glistening pussy and licked up the moisture. Keaton cried out, and her knees dropped all the way to the mattress, opening herself up fully to me.
“Mmmm,” I moaned in pleasure at her taste. As I started to move away, she whimpered in protest. I kissed her mound and continued up. “Don’t worry, beautiful. I’ll give you what you need.”
My hands journeyed over her stomach, up her rib cage to cup her perky little tits. They just filled my hand, so round and plump, her hard nipples poking my palms. I massaged her there as well, adding little nips and sucks here and there. She was beginning to writhe beneath me, and it was shredding my self-control.
I wanted to shove my dick into her tight pussy and pound away until we both blew apart in ecstasy. But that wasn’t what tonight was about. It was about showing her just how much I loved her. Worshipping her body that carried our little one.
My touches and caresses were almost reverent as I slowly drank from her lips. Our pace was unhurried, our movements soft and loving. When our bodies joined, our souls blended into one and we couldn’t tell where one of us ended and the other began. When we reached our peak, we tumbled together into oblivion.
Afterward, I held her close, soaking in the feel of her pressed against me and promising myself she would always be mine.
Still, a nagging thought tainted my happiness. I needed to come clean about why I’d really married her in the first place but decided it could wait until the next day. Keaton’s soft, even breaths told me she’d fallen asleep. The tranquil expression on her face was what I’d been aiming for, and I didn’t want to disturb her rest. She needed it, especially now that she was pregnant.
And I didn’t know what her reaction would be. Which pushed me to put it off a little longer.
…
“My dad called,” Keaton announced as she sauntered into my office. I scooted my chair back and held out my hand, making a “come here” motion with my fingers. She closed the gap between us and sighed as she sat in my lap and laid her head on my chest.
I ran my fingers through her soft, wild curls and kissed her temple. “What did he want?”
She pulled her head back and looked up at me, her nose adorably scrunched and her brown eyes clearly annoyed. “There’s a fancy charity dinner thing coming up that will be filled with donors, and he wants us to attend. Play up the whole ‘big, happy family’ thing.” She rolled her eyes and put her head back down.
Anger festered inside me as I contemplated how to respond. I didn’t want it to spill out near Keaton—she didn’t need to worry about my relationship with her father. “I told him I wasn’t going to allow you near the campaign,” I answered coolly, though my jaw was clenched with the effort.
She sat up straighter and rotated her torso so that we were face-to-face. “Apparently, you only said something about the campaign office and stumping?” It was a statement, but she ended it like a question as she watched me curiously.
“Fucking semantics,” I ranted. “I’ll call him and tell him no.”
Keaton put a calming hand over my heart. “Actually, I was thinking it might be a good idea to go.”
My brows shot up in disbelief. “What?”
“Hear me out,” she requested as she patted my chest. “Let’s use this to our advantage. We’ll agree to go to this one event, but then we are done. We can tell him that we are staying married and having a baby in a place where he’ll be forced to stay calm to keep up appearances.”
I laughed and rubb
ed our noses together. “Sneaky.”
She shrugged and grinned.
“All right, beautiful,” I gave in.
It was a good opportunity to segue into the conversation about my job, but she smiled impishly as she wiggled her butt on my rapidly hardening dick. My brain emptied as the blood rushed down, leaving only one thought. My wife riding me in my chair, her sexy tits bouncing in my face, and watching her come.
When the night of the event arrived, I still hadn’t had the talk with Keaton. We’d been so blissfully happy, I hadn’t wanted to bring up a potentially distressing subject.
I waited in the downstairs living room, dressed in my tux and nursing a whiskey. I was still pissed that we were attending the dinner, but I’d made it very clear to Norris that this was a one-time thing and then we were done. He’d tried to argue, but I’d shut him down and hung up the phone.
Keaton breezed into the room, and I almost dropped the tumbler of liquid onto the floor. “Damn,” I breathed. She looked fucking gorgeous. A strapless, silky red dress clung to her body until it reached mid-thigh, then flared out so it swished around her shoes as she walked. And her shoes…fuck. My cock was practically dripping at the sight of them. They were at least five inches high, black, and consisted of multiple straps that crisscrossed from her toes up to her calves, with a bow on the heel. They looked like an erotic present I couldn’t wait to open.
Her curls were somewhat tamed and held back by diamond clips I’d bought her one day when we’d been wandering up 5th Ave. Her brown eyes were highlighted with just a touch of sparkle around them, and her lips were blood red. I almost fell to my knees and begged her to forget the event and let me spend the night fucking her into a damn coma.
She glided toward me, and that’s when I noticed the high slit in the skirt that showed way more of her sexy legs than I was comfortable with. I didn’t think it could get worse until she did a little spin and I saw the back. Or lack thereof.
I started shaking my head as I stalked up to her. “No fucking way. Go upstairs and change,” I growled as I put my hands on her shoulders and turned her around before giving her a nudge to get moving.
She dug her heels in and looked at me over her shoulder, her brown pools clouded with hurt. “You don’t like it?”
I sighed and spun her back around, taking hold of her biceps and looking deeply into her eyes. “I think you look like my every wet dream come true, beautiful. And so will every other fucking man there.” I rotated her once more and patted her ass. “Now go change so I don’t end the night in jail for laying out every motherfucker whose eyes linger on what belongs only to me.”
Keaton stepped to the side and faced me, her hands planted on her hips and her lips set in a stubborn line. “I’ve been waiting my whole life to be able to wear whatever I want, feel sexy, and not be the modest, good little girl that my father made me out to be. I’m finally able to just be me and I won’t let you take this from me.”
I cursed and squeezed my eyes closed, pinching the bridge of my nose as I took a deep breath. When she put it like that, how could I deny her? Sighing, I opened my eyes and took her hand, bringing it to my lips. “Let’s go.”
She nodded with a triumphant smile and headed out of the room. Her back was straight, and her head held high, making me grimace once more at the amount of skin on display. It was going to be a long fucking night…
We rode in silence to the Four Seasons, where the event was being held. I dreaded the moment we walked into the banquet hall, and it was as I expected. Every eye was on my gorgeous wife as we entered. I threw dark looks at a few men who were practically leering at her. They quickly averted their eyes and made themselves scarce.
As the chatter began to pick up again, I noticed Keaton’s body tense and followed her line of sight. Her father was marching toward us with a fake smile plastered on his face.
“Dad,” Keaton greeted politely.
His smile grew even wider as he lightly embraced her, though his eyes were narrowed and filled with disapproval. “Keaton, dear. So nice to see you. Shall we step away somewhere quiet and catch up?”
I put my hand on her lower back and moved closer, reminding her I was there if she needed me. But I let her take the lead, knowing the only way she would be truly free was to stand up to her father.
He gestured in the direction of an open area in front of the built-in bar at the back of the room. Keaton’s dress stood out as we weaved our way to our destination. It was a splash of color among the room’s neutral colors, natural silk wall coverings, and Italian marble. But it wasn’t just the decor, it was as though there was an unspoken dress code—the invitees all seemed to blend in with their surroundings.
When we were far enough away to not be overheard, Norris turned his back to the guests and glared at both of us. “What the hell are you wearing, Keaton?” he hissed.
“A dress, Dad,” she replied drolly. I kept my expression hard as I stared at Norris, but inside I was smiling from ear to ear. I loved her sass.
“You look ridiculous,” he snapped. Keaton tried to fight it, but I saw the wounded look in her eyes. I clenched my hands into fists, fighting the urge to slam Norris up against the wall and make him apologize for upsetting my wife.
“I’m trying to maintain a certain image, and having you show up dressed so completely inappropriately is damaging.”
Keaton’s face blushed pink, and she blinked rapidly to hold back the moisture gathering in her eyes. I lost the last vestiges of my patience and grabbed Norris’s arm in a painful grip. He winced before looking at me, and I found satisfaction at the glimmer of fear in his eyes. Yeah, he, of all people, knew I had a reputation not to be fucked with.
“Let’s talk outside the room,” I seethed. He painted another insincere smile on his face before turning around and making his way to an exit.
Chapter Nine
KEATON
It didn’t surprise me that my dad thought I looked inappropriate, since he’d always been super strict about what I wore, but it still stung to hear him say it out loud. Even more so because he did it in front of Garret. My cheeks heated, and my eyes filled with tears before I looked down at the floor. I was afraid to see pity, or even worse, agreement, in my husband’s eyes.
But I needn’t have worried, because when my gaze jerked back up at his deep growl, I found his hazel eyes filled with fury and his hand wrapped around my dad’s arm.
I stroked my hand down Garret’s back to get his attention.
His eyes softened when he turned his head to look at me. “It’s okay, beautiful. You stay in here. I’ve got this.”
I hated the idea of Garret being forced to deal with my dad. I wished it wasn’t necessary. That we could both turn around and walk out of here without ever needing to see him again. But that wasn’t possible. Not without my dad causing all sorts of trouble down the line. That was the absolute last thing we needed, especially with a baby on the way. But I also loved it, because I’d never had anyone protect me the way Garret did. “Okay.”
He kissed my forehead gently after I nodded my agreement. My dad snorted and opened his mouth, except he didn’t get the chance to say anything because Garret strong-armed him toward the banquet hall entrance and down the limestone stairs into the hotel lobby. I found myself following after them, drawn by the way my father didn’t struggle in Garret’s hold.
“That’s odd,” I muttered to myself. My dad wasn’t one to make a scene, but he also wasn’t the kind of man who let anyone else tell him what to do. Ever. I was stunned by how he seemed a little afraid of my husband. But also…smug. As though he held something over Garret’s head. And I didn’t like that. Not even a tiny bit.
I wouldn’t be surprised at all to learn that he’d gotten some security firm to run a deep background check on my husband and found something he thought would keep Garret in line. That was his go-to solution, after all.
Several people stopped to stare at me with worried looks as I stomped down the st
airs while muttering to myself. Or at least that’s how the women looked at me. The men, on the other hand…they didn’t look too concerned by my behavior. If anything, it seemed to make them more curious about me. One guy in a tuxedo broke away from his group of friends at the bottom of the stairs and moved toward me. I shook my head and flashed the giant rock on my finger at him as I followed after Garret and my dad. He was lucky my hubby hadn’t seen his approach, because he would’ve found himself being hauled out of here instead of my father.
It only went to show how pissed Garret was at my dad, or else he’d never have left me alone at a party while I was wearing this dress. Or in any outfit, really. My husband was beyond possessive of me and pretty much never left my side when we were out in public. Or at home in private. Oddly enough, it never made me feel trapped. Instead, it was kind of empowering to know such a dynamic man wanted me near all the time.
The ease with which he’d left me behind didn’t bode well for my dad. I quickened my pace to try to catch up with them, since they’d already gone through the glass doors and I wasn’t certain which way they’d headed. The heels I’d chosen to wear tonight were gorgeous, but they didn’t allow me to move very fast, and I ended up a few minutes behind them by the time I made it outside.
“Darn it!” I rose up on my toes and swiveled my head first to the right and then to the left when I didn’t spot them.
I walked as quickly as I could once I found them about a block down the sidewalk, huddled against the building. They were completely focused on each other and didn’t see me nearing them. Garret was more than able to handle anything my dad threw at him, but I wanted to be at my husband’s side when Dad dropped the hammer so we could face him down together. Except once I got there and slid my palm against Garret’s, I wanted to yank it away as I heard what my dad was saying.
Bought for Protection (Bought by the Billionaire Book 3) Page 6