Mountain Man's Secret Baby

by Lauren Wood

  “You sure haven’t been acting like a parent,” I pointed out. “Then maybe we should settle this at court? I want full custody of Sophie,” she said which made Emma gasp. Isabella just added fuel to the fire of my raging anger towards her.

  “Maybe you have forgotten Isabella?” I spat out her name. “But it was you who gave me legal and physical custody over Sophie. Now, I allowed you visitations and such but to go to court because you suddenly want Sophie? What if in the near future you decide you don’t want her anymore? This is no easy case Isabella, you will lose,”

  Isabella literally growled at me as I fumed at her. “Emma is mine! And you can’t do anything about that. You’re free to visit Sophie any time but you won’t be staying in this house so I suggest you check into a hotel… Even if Emma wasn’t here I still wouldn’t agree to your idea because I don’t love you,” I growled. Isabella whirled around and stormed into the house to leave through the front door, not before pushing the maids aside which caused them to drop all the shopping bags.

  Once the front door was slammed shut I pulled Emma closer to me. I nuzzled my head into her neck because her scent calms me down. “I’m so sorry Emma,” I told her. She cradled my head as she said “It’s alright Bash. She is Sophie’s mother and she deserves to be here no matter of her mistakes in the past. But what if it’s a good idea for you both to get back together again?”

  I pulled away to look into her gorgeous eyes. “Even if it seems like a good idea I would never allow it. I love you Emma,” those words made Emma surprised. I guess she didn’t expect to hear those words from a bachelor like me. But she has to get used to it because I meant when I said that I wanted Emma in my life permanently.

  “Not even Isabella can get in my way for loving you. Sophie might be my world but what’s a world without happiness? You’re my happiness Emma,” I told her softly as I pushed a strand of hair behind her ear. Tears brimmed her eyes as she stared at me lovingly with a beautiful smile.

  “I love you too Bash,” she said as she cupped my face and pressed a big kiss on my lips. My hands traveled to her bottom and gave it a light squeeze which made her gasp as she stared at me with wide eyes. “Bash! Not here, we’re going to get caught,” she scolded me.

  Damn, I love it when she scolds me.

  “That didn’t stop us when we did it on the stairs… kitchen… car, should I go on?” I pointed out a few places where we had sex. Sometimes I couldn’t believe that it was Emma who was fucking me because she seemed so passive during our first time. But the next ones were pure fucking. Bodies slamming together, lewd sounds of skin slapping skin, fluids squishing around, and grunts and moans would fill the room.

  Emma turned red as she remembered all of those intimate activities. She playfully slapped my shoulder as her head whirled around making sure nobody heard what I said and this made me chuckle at her. “If you’re so scared of getting caught then we could go to our room?” I offered. I expected her to start dragging me like she usually does but instead she said “We should go check up on Sophie to see if she’s okay,”

  I could feel my raging boner cry out loud from the rejection. Emma’s eyes drifted downwards and spotted the huge tent in my pants. She chuckled and said “I’ll go first to Sophie to make sure she’s okay while you get rid of that. Then maybe afterwards you can help me take a bath,”

  Such a tease.

  “But I need your help to get rid of it,” I said which made her laugh out loud. “You can take care of yourself besides I can’t always think about you, I have to think about Sophie as well,” she said. She’ll never know how much that means to me. She gave me a kiss and winked at me before going back inside the house.

  And this is why I love her.

  THE END

  BAD TO THE BONE

  A BAD BOY SECRET BABY ROMANCE

  Chapter One

  It was too easy. The feeling never went away and I was left with many regrets in my life. I wanted something different. Every day was the same thing. I woke up and showered. I put on my clothes and went to work like everybody else did. I saw the sheep moving through life with no purpose and it sickened me.

  The bench was uncomfortable, but it was the perfect way to see if I was under surveillance. The police and other agencies had fingered me for certain crimes without being able to follow it up in court. I had a contingent of lawyers ready and willing to do what I paid them for. If they couldn’t, then I could certainly find some other firm that would.

  It was a nice day with the birds chirping. The old man sitting near the edge of the lake was feeding the ducks pieces of bread. I wanted to shake the living daylights out of him. Bread was not good for their digestive tract. It would’ve been better had he brought along some rice. He was under the mistaken impression this was good for them or maybe he just didn’t care.

  Two things were a constant in life. Death and taxes were something nobody could get away from. I found a way to limit exposure to my revenue by squirreling my money away in tax havens like Caribbean Banks. Nobody asked any questions. Money was king with any accountant worth their salt.

  He stood out like a sore thumb in the crowd made up of mostly young mothers and dog walkers at this time of day. His suit was a beacon to others that he didn’t belong. He got some interesting stares on his way over to the park bench I was currently occupying.

  He was angry at the world and I could see the chip on his shoulder. It was easy to recognize these traits. I had been a study of human nature for too long not to see trouble when it was coming my way. He got my name from a vast network of underground contacts. It meant that he was in need of my services and was willing to pay a hefty sum to get it.

  The man with the dark hair sat back to back with me on the other bench. He seemed rather nervous, but his conviction was never in doubt. The way he carried himself had the air of sophistication and money. It also reeked of desperation.

  “I’m gathering you are Scarlet. I seriously doubt that’s your real name. I don’t want to play hardball, but this has to be done my way. Revenge is a dish best served cold.” I was getting this feeling and I was usually pretty good at reading people.

  “I got the file and I believe that I can help you with your current situation. It’s going to take a few days. I need to make sure there are no variables unaccounted for. I’ve never failed in the past and I don’t intend to start now. There is the formality of the money. I require half up front and the other half upon completion of the job.” I didn’t take anything more than they could afford. I made sure to check out my clients extensively before even mentioning a price.

  “Money is no issue. I’ve tried to let the courts handle this. It became painfully clear his lawyers are better than the system. My sister deserves more than to be forgotten. I blame myself for what happened. I won’t go into lengthy detail and it’s really none of your business.” His attitude was a bit irksome and I felt like he was trying to insert his own dominance. He was going to have to learn the hard way this woman had more bite than bark.

  “I’m sending you a discreet e-mail with instructions to send me the required compensation. I believe that I can get my hands on what you want. Try to refrain from mentioning this without some kind of code. There’s no telling if someone is listening in.” The black leather coat hugged my frame and it had been with me for as long as I could remember.

  “I did mention this will have to happen my way. I have been through the wringer. I don’t want to make the mistake of trusting somebody to do what I can’t do. I want to see his eyes and I want him to know who’s responsible.” I was a loner. I enjoyed a certain amount of anonymity. The distraction of having somebody with me was going to cause some considerable angst.

  “Calvin I understand how what happened has affected you. Everybody deals with grief in different ways. Justice is in the eye of the beholder. The bible states an eye for an eye. This is a concept I can get behind.” The business I was in wasn’t exactly my first choice of vocation.

&nbs
p; I actually wanted to be a veterinarian until my whole family was slaughtered in a house invasion. I was only 13 years old at the time and I came home to find them lying in a pool of their own blood. I was traumatized and it sent me down a destructive path of least resistance.

  I had been clean for almost 10 years. It wasn’t easy getting the monkey off my back. It was only when I was in rehab that I met a man willing to take me underneath his wing. He was dying and the drugs had helped him to cope with the disease ravaging his body.

  This new client was trying to keep my undivided attention.

  “I want the same treatment for him. He needs to feel what it’s like to step into the shoes of his victim. I don’t care that it was in the heat of the moment. I want satisfaction. Having a hand in this will finally give me closure. This is one caveat not negotiable.” He wasn’t listening and I was tired of using a softer tone. I tried to keep my composure.

  “I’m reminded of a person I used to know. He told me getting personally involved with anything can only lead to heartbreak. Take a step back and look at the bigger picture. The authorities will automatically finger you as the culprit. You need to have an airtight alibi for your comings and goings.” The blue jeans were a nostalgic trip down memory lane. I learned a long time ago my body could be a weapon.

  “I’m way ahead of you and that is one thing you don’t have to worry about. I want my pound of flesh and nobody’s going to stand in my way of getting it. I’m through sitting on the sidelines. You could say that what happened made me fully understand how life can be fleeting.” He was learning a valuable lesson. Others would grieve, but they wouldn’t have the balls to pick up the mantle of responsibility.

  “I see that there’s no way I’m going to talk you out of this. I believe you might have to find somebody else to do your dirty work. Lose my number.” I wanted to leave, but I was going to give him one last shot to let the professionals deal with this.

  “If it was about killing him then I would have bought a gun and done it myself. I have to put aside by differences with my family over this particular issue. They think I’m all talk, but they don’t know what has been festering inside me.” I could feel the strength of his words and how he felt like people had disappointed him.

  “I can’t do this without a considerable bump in pay. If I have to have you tagging along then I need your assurance that you’ll do exactly what I tell you to do. I don’t even know why I’m letting you get underneath my skin. I should tell you to go to hell. I won’t make light of your plight.” I was contemplating how I was going to incorporate him into the mix.

  “I need to be the one to put the final nail in his coffin. It gives me no pleasure to end somebody’s life. I think that you can attest to the fact that there are evils in this world. The shadows are ripe with consequences beyond anybody’s imagination.” He was dead set on this course of action. I needed to keep him close to prevent any unnecessary attention coming to my doorstep.

  “I’m sending you a preliminary amount. This could change if you make things more complicated than they need to be. I want you to pack up one bag. Come to the address I have attached to the e-mail. You will be living with me under the same roof and I will be teaching you everything you need to know about becoming invisible.” I got up and stretched my limbs with the mirrored sunglasses helping me to survey my surroundings.

  “I wasn’t expecting you to say that. I’m not going to question you for the reason why and maybe I don’t need to know. We need to find some way to work together. It’s obvious you like to work alone. This is going to throw a major wrench in your plans.” I glanced over to see his broad shoulders. I purposely made a circuit around him on the way out of the park.

  Calvin wore the dark business suit like a shield of armor. His hair was uniformly cut with not a single hair out of place. Even standing, I could see that he was over 5’10 with about 180 pounds of solid muscle underneath his belt. The blue eyes were disarming and the slight fuzz on his face gave him the air of a rebel without a cause.

  He was a novice getting in way over his head. I looked down at my phone to see the required amount signaling an end to my hesitation. I was going to have to keep a careful eye on him. It wasn’t hard to spot the kind of man who could attract the opposite sex like bees to honey.

  Having him underneath my roof was going to cramp my style. I had a simple way of living and he was going to disturb the monotony of boredom. Quiet and reserved as how my neighbors would describe me. I didn’t socialize, but I tried to emulate pleasant greetings in passing. It made me choke on the very idea of making nice with the neighbors.

  Calvin wasn’t the kind of man I gravitated toward sexually. I liked the strong and silent type, but he was opinionated with no filter to limit what he was going to say. It was going to be interesting to live with him. There was going to have to be some ground rules and one of them didn’t revolve around him wearing clothes. I did like what I saw and I had no problem mixing business with pleasure.

  Chapter two

  I had to make sure all of the tools of the trade were securely stashed away. I didn’t want him to feel like I was throwing my profession in his face. He was obviously distraught and looking for any kind of life support. Running on empty fueled by hatred was going to leave him exposed and vulnerable.

  I heard the doorbell and I got this jittery feeling like I had been drinking too much coffee. This would be the first time I had ever had a guest stay over for any more than 1 hour of unbridled passion. It was time for them to leave after the deed was done. Kicking them to the curb was necessary to acquire my beauty sleep. It was also a defense mechanism to keep myself from falling too quickly for a pretty face.

  It was one of the many things my benefactor had taught me over those three months in rehabilitation. His words still followed me like a dark cloud. Losing him had sent me into an emotional tailspin. I climbed out of the abyss by focusing on the work I had inherited in his name.

  Jason knew that I was struggling from the moment I entered onto the premises. We got to talking and he finally opened up about his past. It was a little jarring to hear him speak of the cold and clammy hand of death with such callous disregard for human life. It finally dawned on me this was my way to exact my own personal vengeance.

  I think he enjoyed the attention and how fascinated I was by his stories. When we got out, I knew that he was on borrowed time and I took full advantage of his need for personal comfort. I didn’t have to sleep with him and he was more a father figure.

  The annoying reminder that Calvin was waiting at the door was making the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

  “Keep your pants on.” I had on the same blue jeans, but this time the top was a sweater with nothing on underneath it.

  I felt constricted in underwear in any form. I didn’t believe in the necessity to dress up for the occasion. I was more at home casual without putting on airs. I didn’t even bother cleaning up not really caring what his opinion of me was. I did a quick inspection of the bathroom and got rid of some of my tricks to what most would consider my fountain of youth.

  “I’m getting some dirty looks from your neighbors. They might call the cops if you don’t open the door soon.” My hair was in disarray and in desperate need of a washing.

  I couldn’t remember when I did a wash for my clothes. They must’ve been piling up and would need to be taken care of.

  “Come in already. You can take the room down the hall on the left. The one at the far end is off limits and the one across from it is for authorized personnel. I think you understand what I mean by that. When my door is closed nobody is to enter for any reason. If you don’t think I’m serious then take the risk and see for yourself.” I walked ahead of him feeling like he was watching my every move. Being in an enclosed space was never one of my favorite things to do.

  I was surrounded by death at an early age. I had become numb to those things that would make most people cringe and close their eyes in horror. I believe
that the punishment should fit the crime. It was my signature and something that carried with it a distinct scar on my soul. The faces of my victims were horrible people and deserved a fate worse than death.

  “There’s not a feminine touch in here. It’s clinical…cold and impersonal without anything to give it that homey feeling. I don’t mean to judge, but you could really use some light in this place.” The drapes were drawn to give me the illusion of privacy in a world of chaos.

  “Don’t even think about opening up those drapes. I like things a certain way and I’m not comfortable with change.” I had to take a shower and running from the law last night was a perilous ordeal. I had gotten too caught up in what I was doing to see the writing on the wall.

  “I’ll find some way to amuse myself. You don’t even have a television. What the hell do you do for fun?” I turned and pointed to an array of books on a shelf. I found losing myself in the moment through other characters something of a reprieve.

  “It wouldn’t hurt you to crack a book once in awhile. There’s plenty of food in the cupboards and the fridge. I live modestly, but I can afford anything you want. Make a list and post it to the fridge. My lifestyle is pure. I don't put anything into my body that isn’t organic. You know how many pesticides go into store-bought food every day?” I didn’t want to preach, but I had to do something to get it off my mind.

  My faithful companion was raising his ugly head. I considered my sex drive a man with only one thing on his mind. My thoughts were cluttered with death, but there was always that crack in my armor to allow an unsuspecting victim into my lair.

  “I do see that you have an eclectic mix in your collection. I’ve always been partial to mysteries.” I enjoyed a more subdued kind of literature. I needed the space between my life and what I found within the pages of some literary masterpieces.