Joanna
Four months later
“Oh my goodness, Tobias. You really went all out for this,” I said, glancing around the office, dumbfounded. I had initially planned a baby shower, but then fell in love with the idea of having a gender reveal party instead. And Tobias had happily offered to let me hold it at the office.
“That way, all our co-workers can attend,” he’d said.
What I hadn’t expected was for him to completely transform the place. Decorations practically lined every inch of the walls, there was an enormous and gorgeous cake in the corner, and banners hung everywhere, teasing, ‘Boy or Girl.’
It brought tears to my eyes.
Tobias laughed. “You sure are an emotional little thing these days, aren’t you?”
I playfully slapped his arm and then hugged him. “It’s the hormones!” I said.
He kissed the top of my head. “Ahh, that’s right. I’d forgotten about that.”
Moments later, Anderson rounded the corner. “Okay, the food should be here soon,” he announced. “But I have a little early treat for you.” Grinning, he produced a tub of strawberry ice cream from behind his back.
“You are too good to me,” I said, smiling.
Anderson grinned and kissed me.
“All right. I’m cool with it, but it doesn’t mean I want to actually see it,” Tobias said, giving a disgusted shudder that made both Anderson and I laugh.
Slowly but surely, the office began to fill as our guests arrived.
“So what time are we doing the big reveal?” Libby asked after the food had arrived.
“When everyone is done eating, I guess,” I said, glancing toward Anderson.
He shrugged his shoulders. “Hey, don’t look at me. You run the show,” he said.
“Oh, Joanna, he is a keeper,” Libby said, laughing. “He already knows the rules!” She looped her arm through mine. “Come on, let’s mingle and then eat.”
“Sounds good to me,” I said. “Even though I feel guilty. I ate another tub of ice cream already. I’m going to be big as a house when this is all over.” I rubbed my stomach, which had just started to show.
Libby laughed. “Girl, this is the one time in your life when it is perfectly fine to eat what you want! Enjoy it!”
I laughed, letting her walk me around the office to greet our guests. A time or two, I could have sworn she glanced over my shoulder, making eye contact with someone and winking.
“Libby, what are you doing?” I asked, catching her in the act again. I tried to follow her gaze, but couldn’t determine who she was looking at. All I noticed was Anderson. He was wearing an equally goofy expression, making me think they were up to something.
“Oh nothing,” she said. “So, what do you want to eat? Want me to fix your plate?”
“Sure…”
“Okay, I think it’s officially time,” Tobias announced. He had Libby had pulled two chairs to the middle of the room for me and Anderson, after everyone had eaten and mingled for a while. “Can we get our guests of honor over here to take their seats?”
Anderson grabbed my hand, and we made our way over. He and I already knew the gender of our future bundle of joy, but it was exciting to watch everyone else eagerly waiting. He squeezed my hand as we sat, and Tobias and a couple of our co-workers began pushing a large box toward us.
“You do the honors,” Anderson said.
“Let’s do a countdown,” Libby said. “Ten…nine…eight…” she began, and everyone else joined in.
When they got down to one, I stood and pulled the top off the box, grinning ear-to-ear as pink balloons floated out.
“It’s a girl!” everyone shouted, and broke out into applause. I glanced around, my heart bursting with joy as people cheered and whistled.
And then something caught my eye…
One balloon in particular staggered behind, slow to rise with the others. There was a box attached to it. A small black box…
“Anderson?” I said confused, “was that there when you ordered the balloons?”
Suddenly, the room filled with gasps. I turned around, finding Anderson standing behind me on one knee. Grinning, he reached for the balloon with the box attached to it.
“Oh my God…” I said, cupping my hand with my mouth.
“I could think of no better time to do this. I can’t even put into words how happy you’ve made me.” He opened the box, and the biggest sparkling diamond I’d ever seen, surrounded by white gold, stared up at me. “Joanna, will you marry me?”
“Oh my God! Yes!!! A million times yes.” This was all I ever asked for and much more. I leaned away and gave him a goofy smile. “I love you, Mr. Lawrence. You’re the man of my life.”
“I love you too, future Mrs. Lawrence. You’re the love of my life.”
“I can’t believe you’ve done this.” I glanced at the ring, already in love with it.
Our lips met again, but this time our kiss was more passionate, both of us lost in each other despite being in the center of everyone’s attention.
“How about we go for a quickie somewhere?” he whispered with a mischievous glint in his eyes. “You know, to ‘celebrate’ this properly.”
I winked at him. “I think that’s a great idea.”
He caught me by my hand and led me away from the crowd. “We’ll be right back,” he said to Tobias.
I caught Tobias’s gaze, flushing when he shook his head. He knew exactly what was cooking, just like Libby, who gave me a satisfied grin.
“We aren’t going anywhere,” Tobias replied before he continued his conversation with one of the managers next to him.
“I feel we’re like teenagers who are sneaking around, trying to escape their parents,” I said, letting him take me to his office. Since everyone had gathered in the main office, the rest of the building was deserted, which provided us more privacy.
“Well, at least we don’t have to hide anymore.”
He locked the door behind him and backed me to his desk, already unbuttoning my blouse.
“We have to be really quick about this,” I said and unfastened his belt.
“Yeah. Really quick.”
He pressed me against the table and took off my shirt, which left me in my bra.
“Do you think they know what we’re doing now?” I asked before I pulled his shirt over his head and tossed it aside.
“I don’t really care about that at the moment.” He pressed his head against my chest, kissing my skin frantically. “Right now, all I care about is being in you.”
I moaned when he continued leaving kisses down my belly. He stopped before he reached the waistline of my skirt, looking at my stomach with adoration. “I can’t believe our girl is in there right now.” He caressed my bump. “We created a new life.”
I laced my fingers into his hair, returning his loving gaze. “Yeah. It’s amazing.”
He left a soft kiss on my bump, which caused flutters in the pit of my stomach. He continued undressing me until I was left only in my pumps.
“Naked and mine. The perfect combination.”
He stepped out of his pants and boxers before he brought me on top of the desk, stopping in between my legs. I wrapped them around his waist and ground against him, inviting him to take me right now.
He dug his fingers into my hips when he plunged inside of me, his fast breathing matching mine. “Too good. I can’t believe how lucky I am to have you.”
He started moving, and I met his hips with mine. I supported myself against his desk when his thrusts became harder, captivated by his eyes. My heart was thumping against my chest furiously, the rising pleasure taking over me, and I felt like I was going to come any moment…
“Anderson!”
I clamped my hand across my mouth when I fell apart, drowning in blissful pleasure that spread through every part of me. He pulled out of me and flipped me around, making me stand. “Bring your ass high in the air and support yourself against the desk.”
I did what he had told me, moaning when he slid into me again. He stroked my ass cheeks lovingly, moving in and out faster than just a couple of moments before.
“So sexy. I just love fucking you from behind.” His hand moved smoothly up my spine and reached my hair. Grabbing a handful of it, he pulled me up and against him, attacking my neck with his wet kisses as he increased his tempo. The pressure in me was quickly reaching its peak, my pussy throbbing too fast.
“Ah! I’m so close!”
“Yes. That’s it, Joanna. Come for me.”
I grabbed his head from behind and arched my back, shouting his name when my orgasm erupted.
“The way your pussy squeezes me… Damn. I’m so close.”
His thrusts turned even heavier, consuming me, and a couple of moments later he finished inside of me, his breath on my neck hot and uneven.
“Wow. That was quick,” I joked, feeling well-spent.
He burst into chuckles, pulling out of me. “Hey! Don’t complain. I’m going to take my time with you later.”
I turned around to kiss him, on cloud nine. “I know,“ I nibbled his lip. “I was just kidding. Besides, we’ve already spent more time here than we should have.”
I took several tissues and cleaned myself before I put my clothes on. By the time I was done, Anderson was already fully dressed and waiting for me.
“I just can’t wait to get some alone time with you again,” he told me.
“Insatiable, are we?”
“When it comes to you, always.”
His lips were soft on mine this time, our kiss slow and heart-warming. I had never felt safer and happier than now, all those dark memories before him long forgotten.
“What are you thinking about?” he asked me on our way back to the party, our hands connected.
“I’m thinking about how lucky I am to have you. I came here searching for shelter, but I found something most amazing instead. You make me the happiest woman alive, Anderson. I’m just so happy.”
We stopped right in front of the doors of the main office, and he pulled me in for one more kiss.
“And you make me the happiest man alive. All that matters now is that we finally found each other.” He placed his hand over my stomach, his tender touch and words almost bringing tears to my eyes. “I’m ready to make many more happy memories with you. And our child.”
“We will. Many many more. That is a promise.”
All I could think about was how I had come to Chicago to escape a nightmare, only to wind up living my dreams.
Filthy Daddy
Ellie Wild
1
CALEB
“Good morning, Mr. Preston.”
I glanced up from the crisp copy of the Times that I was reading and saw a pair of long bronze legs tucked under a white mini skirt, strutting towards my desk.
“Good morning indeed,” I said back, folding the paper as my eyes moved upwards. “Take a seat, Miss--”
“Jeffries,” she leaned across my glass desktop to offer me her manicured hand and, in the process, and lingered just long enough to give me a view of the hot pink bra peeking intentionally through the gape in her silk blouse.
“Jade Jeffries,” she added, before dropping into the tufted velvet armchair positioned directly across from my desk.
“Pleasure to meet you, Miss Jeffries,” I nodded, my eyes still sizing her up. Platinum blonde hair, fake-baked bronze skin, pink glossy lips -- hot pink, to match that lacey bra.
If you were to consult the slew of tabloids that report on my dating patterns, they’d inform you that I have a type -- tall, blonde, curves in all the right places -- and Miss Jade Jeffries certainly fit that bill. She knew it, too; I could tell by that coy little smirk she’s wearing.
“The pleasure is all mine, Mr. Preston,” she said, folding one bronzed leg over the other and letting her skirt ride up a little too high on her thigh.
“Please,” I say, “Call me Caleb.”
“Caleb,” she repeated slowly, pressing her pink glossed pout into a smug little smirk. Then she nodded at the folded newspaper on my desk and asked, “Were you checking out my article in the Times?”
“Not unless you cover the market,” I smiled, but her face stays blank. “The stock market,” I clarified.
“Oh,” she shrugged her shoulders indifferently. “No, that’s not really my cup of tea.”
“No?” I raised an eyebrow and leaned back in my chair. “What is your cup of tea?”
“Rich, hot men,” she said, raising a defiant eyebrow back at me and pressing her lips into another smug smirk.
Of course, I thought. I could have told you that the moment she strutted into my office, her fuck-me heels clicking against the tile floor and her lips pressed into that glossy pink pout.
Women like Jade Jeffries were a dime-a-dozen in Manhattan. Aspiring Carrie Bradshaws, lured out of Midwest mediocrity by the glitter and glitz of New York City; lured by the false promise of rent-controlled brownstones, well-paying writing jobs, bottomless Cosmopolitans, closets full of Manolos, ‘rich, hot men’ lined up on every street corner ready to offer up the kind of dirty, shameless sex you could only have in a city full of strangers.
“Men’s style,” she clarified, still holding my gaze intently. “I profile rich, hot men for the style section.”
“I see,” I say, crossing my legs and folding my hands over the knee of my grey sharkskin suit. “And I meet those requirements, do I?”
“Of course you do, Mr. Preston,” she cooed, her eyes flashing suggestively.
“Caleb,” I reminded her.
“Caleb,” she smiled. Then she bit down on the corner of her plump bottom lip and added, “You’re a bit of a legend.”
“Am I?” I raised an eyebrow, even though I already knew the answer to that.
“I had to fight off the entire style department to get this interview,” she said triumphantly. “We were all jumping at the chance to undress Caleb Preston.”
“Undress me?” I raised an eyebrow.
“Figuratively, of course,” she said unconvincingly. “For the profile.”
“For the profile,” I repeated, nodding firmly.
I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t considered letting Jade Jeffries undress me. I’d be lying if I said my cock didn’t twitch in my pants when she walked in, and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t think about bending her over the desk, pressing her tits against the glass and yanking her skirt up around her waist…
Jade Jeffries and I both knew she didn’t come here for an ‘interview.’ She didn’t come here to wax poetic about my Tom Ford mohair suit or my suede Burberry Oxford shoes.
And she didn’t come here for sex, either.
She came here for the thrill of fucking someone famous. She wanted a taste of that Manhattan fairy tale; a story she could tell her gaggle of girlfriends, giggling gleefully between sips of a six-dollar Cosmopolitan. She didn’t want to fuck me, she wanted to fuck my persona. I was nothing more than a novelty; an item on her bucket list. ‘Rich, hot man.’
And, ironically, when the novelty wore off, she’d be the one running to Page Six to accuse me of being the grade-A asshole; the user, the playboy, the womanizer.
That was the pattern… that was the real Manhattan fairy tale, people using each other for fame, pleasure, excitement, thrill… anything and everything but love.
“This profile,” I said, leaning forward and resting my elbows on the glass desktop. “Let me hear what you’ve got so far.”
“You want me to read it to you?” she frowned, confused.
“If you don’t mind, of course.”
“It’s not done yet,” she said. “I’ve just written the introduction…”
“I want to hear it,” I smiled encouragingly. Then I added, jokingly: “It’s not every day I get to hear what people really think of me.”
She shrugged, then she reached into the Canal Street knock-off Goyard tote that was resting on the floor by her fe
et. She pulled out an iPad and brought the screen to life with a swipe of her thumb, then she reclined back in the armchair and began reading aloud:
“Caleb Preston is no stranger to mixing business and pleasure; billionaire hotel mogul by day, party-loving playboy by night, Preston is equally infamous among Manhattan’s upper crust elite for his cut-throat business acumen and his insatiable appetite for hot blondes.”
Jade paused, her eyes flicking up at me, almost daring me to respond.
“So far, accurate,” I nodded.
She pursed her lips proudly, taking my remark as a compliment, then continued reading:
“Since inheriting the Preston Hotel empire at the tender age of twenty, the hotel heir has spent the last decade maintaining an impressive collection of international 5-star properties, and an equally impressive private collection of international supermodel girlfriends. The Preston Hotel is world-renowned for style and elegance, and it’s only fitting that the man at its helm would have a wardrobe to match.”
She clicked off the iPad’s screen and glanced up at me expectantly.
“Sounds like you’ve got me figured out, Miss Jeffries,” I smiled, as I leaned back into my chair.
Jet-setting billionaire playboy with a designer wardrobe and a flock of hot blondes… it was a role I was used to playing. I’ve played this character, or some variation of it anyway, since I was a teenager.
I was born into the lap of luxury; the heir to a hotel empire that had been meticulously cultivated by five generations of Preston’s before me. Success was never an option; it was a requirement. It was always assumed that I’d be the next in line… that I’d inherit the throne and take over my father’s empire.
What wasn’t assumed was that I’d inherit my father’s billion-dollar empire when I was just twenty years old, after both of my parents died unexpectedly in a freak accident.
I stepped up to the plate. I took the reins. I put on a suit and sat behind my father’s desk, and for ten years I have managed this billion-dollar global company. But that wasn’t a story that sells tabloids… that was just a footnote; a little detail that was tucked away somewhere amidst splashy photospreads depicting my playboy antics and sexcapade exploits.
Baby Makes Three: A Brother's Best Friend's Secret Baby Romance Page 16