“However you’d like.” On top, on the bottom. Upside down or sideways, he didn’t really care.
She rose up onto her knees, flush with anticipation and centered herself over him, then she sank down, taking him inside of her, inch by excruciating inch, until he was as far as he could go. She was hot and wet and tight.
She looked down at him, and smiled. “Hmm, that’s nice.”
She took the words right out of his mouth. She started to move, riding him slowly, as though she had all the time in the world. Her eyes drifted closed, head rolled back. She looked completely lost in the sensation, and he was so fascinated watching her, his own pleasure seemed almost insignificant. He was content to let her use him as long as she wanted, stroking everything he could reach. Her thighs, her stomach, her breasts. Every part of her soft and feminine.
She took one of his hands and guided it between her legs, where their bodies were joined. He rubbed her there, and she started whimpering, making soft breathy sounds. She began to tremble all over and he knew she was almost there. Then her body clamped down hard around him, clenching and releasing. Watching her come was the most erotic thing he’d ever seen, and just like that he lost it. It was sexual release like he’d never felt before, hot pulsations that robbed him of the ability to do anything but feel.
Katy crumpled into a heap on his chest, curling herself around him. He could feel her heart hammering just as hard as his own. As much as he hated to admit it, sex with Becca had never been like this. She had always been too uptight, too worried that she would disappoint him to just let loose and have fun. And when they were trying to get pregnant, sex became a job. Then she was diagnosed and that put an end to their sex life altogether.
Maybe he should have felt bad comparing the two, and guilty knowing that, as much as he loved Becca, Katy was everything he’d always hoped his wife would be in the bedroom. But he didn’t. Everything else was so screwed up, this seemed to be the only thing that made any sense. Even though it made no sense at all.
Maybe this was wrong, and he would regret it someday. All he knew was that for the past three years since Becca died he’d barely been able to look at another woman. Not a day passed that he didn’t ache from missing his wife. But when he was with Katy he could forget for a while. He finally felt…at peace.
It was too bad that it had to end.
* * *
Katy woke the next morning and reached for Adam, but he wasn’t there. She sat up and looked at the clock, surprised that it was almost nine-thirty. She was usually up at the crack of dawn. Of course, it had almost been the crack of dawn when Adam finally let her go to sleep.
The man had an insatiable sexual appetite, not to mention the stamina of someone half his age. After the third time she even started to wonder if he’d swallowed a couple of Viagra. Until he mentioned that, before their first night together, it had been four years, and suddenly it made sense. She didn’t even know men could go that long without sex. She had just assumed he’d been with women since Becca died. But he was sure making up for lost time.
Now it was that dreaded morning after, and as exciting and, for lack of a better word, magical, as it had been, they had to face reality. Not to mention the situation with the baby.
She rolled out of bed and took stock of the room. Blankets askew, sheet pulled off the mattress in one corner. Celia was going to walk in and know instantly that they’d had wild sex all night. Of course, they hadn’t exactly been quiet, so it was possible she’d figured it out for herself already.
Just in case, Katy spent a few minutes straightening things up, then took a long, hot shower. She half hoped that Adam had gone to work, even though she knew delaying the conversation they needed to have wouldn’t make it any easier. But he was sitting at the kitchen table drinking coffee and reading the Wall Street Journal. She’d expected him to be dressed for work, but he was wearing chinos and a polo shirt with the Western Oil logo on it. His hair was damp, so he must have gotten up not long before she did. It was the first time she had seen him wear anything but a suit or slacks and a dress shirt. In fact, she had begun to question whether he even owned any casual clothes. Apparently he did, and damned if he didn’t look delicious in them.
When he heard her enter the room he looked up and said, “Good morning.”
“Mornin’.”
“There’s coffee,” he said.
“I can’t. You know, the baby.”
“I made decaf.”
“Oh. Thanks.”
“Sit down. I’ll pour you a cup.”
She took a seat across from his, while he got up and poured her coffee. She couldn’t tell if she should be uncomfortable or not. She was having a tough time reading him.
He set a steaming cup of black coffee in front of her and asked, “Are you hungry? I could make eggs or something.”
“I didn’t know billionaire oil men cooked.”
“They do if they’re hungry and their housekeeper is running errands. Or if you don’t trust my cooking, I could take you out.”
“I think maybe we should just talk instead.”
He sat across from her. “Okay, let’s talk.”
She sat there for a minute and realized, they had so many things to cover, she wasn’t even sure where to begin. “Where should we start?”
“Why don’t we start with us.”
She grimaced. She had really hoped that was the one part they wouldn’t have to talk about. And she knew that as much as she wanted there to be, there was no “us.”
“I think we both know that this has the potential to get very complicated,” he said.
It already was. “Look,” she said. “Last night was great, but it never should have happened. Things are just so…jumbled up. We let our emotions get the best of us.”
He looked relieved. “I’m glad you feel that way.”
She knew he would be. She was letting him off easy. Giving him an out. Of course he would take it.
“But I want us to be friends,” he said.
The “let’s still be friends” speech. How many times had she heard that one? She gazed into the inky depths of her cup, so he wouldn’t see how much this was hurting her.
And let’s face it, even if he suddenly decided that he wanted a wife, that he wanted her, she would never cut it as the future Mrs. Adam Blair. He was way out of her league. Not to mention that he was here, and she was in Peckins. It was an impossible situation.
“Katy?”
“We could be having a baby together. That means we’re more or less stuck with each other.”
He arched one brow. “You make it sound pretty awful.”
Because for her it would be. For a while anyway. But it was imperative he didn’t know that. Because then he would feel guilty, and things would get uncomfortable. That was the last thing she wanted.
She forced a smile. “That’s not what I meant. And of course we’ll be friends.”
“After talking to Dr. Meyer, I think we have to face the fact that it probably is ours.”
“I know I said that I wasn’t ready for a child of my own, but now that it’s a possibility…I could never just hand it over to you.”
He reached across the table and curled his hands over hers. She wished he would stop doing that. Stop touching her. He was only making it harder. “Katy, I would never expect you to do that. If it’s our baby, we’ll figure out a way to make it work.”
Our baby. Hearing him say that gave her shivers.
She pulled her hands from his, before she did something stupid, like throw herself in his arms and beg him to love her. To at least try.
“What about the surrogacy agreement?” she asked.
“Null and void, I guess. We’ll have to work out some kind of custody agreement and child support. But I don’t want you to worry. Financially, everything will be taken care of.”
Custody and child support? What a nightmare.
“I don’t want to wait for the birth for the DNA test,” she told him. “I want to
do the amnio. As soon as possible.”
“The doctor said there are risks. Is it really that critical to know so soon?”
Not for him, maybe. But it was for her. “I need to know what to feel.”
He frowned. “I don’t understand.”
“Either way, this is your baby. You’re the father. But what am I? The baby’s mother or just the aunt? I can’t bear spending nine months thinking I’m going to have my own child, only to find that I have no maternal rights.”
“I guess I never thought of it like that. Of course we’ll do the amnio.”
And until then she would just have to try to stay partial, try not to get too attached. Just in case. Because having her heart broken again so soon would be more than even she could bear.
“I also think we shouldn’t talk about this with anyone but the doctor,” she told him. “Not until we get the results. I can’t put my parents through that.”
Although, ironically, they were in the same situation as Adam. Whether it was Becca’s baby or Katy’s, it was still their grandchild. Only Katy’s dilemma was unique.
“Whatever you want,” Adam said. “I know this isn’t what either one of us signed on for, but we’ll make this work, Katy. Everything will be okay.”
Eventually, she hoped.
She looked up at the clock, saw how late it was getting and said, “I really need to get home.”
“You don’t have to run off.”
Oh, no, she did. The longer she stayed here, the more her heart hurt. “I have to get back to the ranch, and you probably have to get to work.”
“I have been taking a lot of time off lately.”
She took a swallow of coffee then got up and dumped what was left in the sink.
Adam got up, too. “I’ll walk you out.”
It was another scorcher, and she found herself looking forward to the cooler weather of autumn. She opened the truck door and turned to say goodbye, and Adam was right behind her. Startled, she stumbled backward and hit the front seat with the small of her back. He stepped closer, caging her in, and suddenly she couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think straight. And he knew it.
“One last kiss?” he asked, but he was already leaning in, taking charge.
No, no, please don’t do this, she begged silently, but then his lips were on hers, and Lord help her, she couldn’t deny him. His arms went around her, crushing her against the solid wall of his body. His fingers tangled in her hair. And she melted.
“Come back inside with me,” he whispered against her lips. “Just one more time, and I promise I’ll never ask again.”
She wanted to, more than he would ever know. But she couldn’t. Her heart was already splitting in two. He thought they’d had really awesome, no-strings-attached sex. But the strings were there, invisible to the naked eye, and she had to back away, before she became hopelessly entangled.
* * *
Adam watched Katy drive away, feeling…conflicted. Which was not a familiar feeling. He didn’t want her to leave, and at the same time, he knew it was for the best. He cared about Katy. And though she was trying to hide it, he could see that she had pretty strong feelings for him. The last thing he wanted to do was hurt her. Especially now.
“I hope you know what you’re doing.”
He spun around to find Celia standing in the front doorway watching him. “Your note said you were running errands.”
“I was. Then I got home.”
Great. “You could have said something.”
“But then I wouldn’t have been able to eavesdrop, would I?”
At least she wasn’t shy about admitting it. “How long have you been here?”
She folded her arms across her chest. “Long enough.”
Long enough to hear something that was putting that disapproving look on her face. The look that, since he was a small boy, always preceded a firm lecture.
He really wasn’t in the mood.
“I assume you don’t plan to marry her,” she said.
“That would be a correct assumption. We don’t even know for sure that the baby is hers.”
“And if it is?”
He wouldn’t marry her then, either.
She stared at him, tight-lipped.
“Don’t do that,” he said, walking past her into the house. “I’m not a kid any longer.”
She slammed the door. “Then stop acting like one.”
Wow, he hadn’t seen her this angry in a long time. Not since the time he stole the headmaster’s keys, took his Beamer for a spin, then crashed it into a tree. His father, whose attention he’d been trying to get, had been too busy to come get him, so he’d sent Celia. And boy was she pissed. Just like now.
And for what?
“I really don’t see why you’re so upset,” he said.
“I’m upset because I like Katy, and you’re breaking her heart.”
“That’s ridiculous.” He walked to the kitchen and she followed him. This had nothing to do with Katy’s heart. “She’s understandably upset. It’s a complicated situation.”
“She’s upset because she loves you, estúpido. And you’re too much of a chicken to admit what you know is the truth.”
He took a sip of his coffee, but it was cold, so he dumped it in the sink. When he turned back to her, she was staring at him. He sighed. “Okay, I’ll bite. What is the truth?”
“That she could very well be the best thing that has ever happened to you! She’s your soul mate.”
An unexpected surge of emotion had him turning toward the window. “I buried my soul mate three years ago.”
She stepped up behind him, touched his shoulder. “You buried your wife,” she said softly, “but not your soul mate.”
That wasn’t the way he saw it.
“How long are you going to keep her up on a pedestal, pretending everything was perfect? I cared for Becca, and I know you loved her in your own way, but you were never half as happy with her as you are with Katy. You have this light in your eyes when you talk about her, and you probably don’t realize it, but you talk about her a lot. And when you’re with her…it’s just so obvious that you two are meant to be together.”
Celia was obviously seeing things that weren’t really there. It was no secret that she hadn’t been crazy about the idea of him marrying Becca. She never thought they were a good match. But she had been good to Becca nonetheless. Even when Becca sometimes hadn’t been so nice to her. Becca wanted to be his entire universe and she’d been jealous of his relationship with Celia.
And yes, they’d had difficult times, and marital troubles, and instead of facing them he’d buried himself in work instead. But that wasn’t her fault. He hadn’t given their marriage a chance to be better.
And if he had, if they’d had a perfect marriage and had been blissfully happy, losing her would have been even more unbearable.
“I won’t bury another wife,” he told Celia.
“You don’t get to choose who you love. The question is whether or not you accept that love.”
“I’m content with my life just the way it is, and when the baby is here, it will be perfect.”
“You really believe that?”
“I know that.” He looked at his watch. “Now, I need to get to work.”
She frowned and shook her head, as if she was thoroughly disappointed in him. But the last thing he needed was her playing matchmaker.
Did he have feelings for Katy? Of course. Could he love her? Without a doubt, but that didn’t mean he should allow it. He wouldn’t make that mistake again.
Thirteen
Though he planned to hold off until their regular manager’s meeting, Adam couldn’t wait to announce his good news. And after speaking with the rest of the board of directors, it was agreed that the sooner he set things in motion, the better. Though it meant shuffling a few meetings around, he gathered everyone in his office later that afternoon.
“I have a bit of good news,” he said, then added, “Personal n
ews,” gaining the rapt attention of everyone. “I’m going to be a father.”
Emilio grinned, while Nathan and Jordan just looked stunned.
“I wasn’t even aware you were seeing anyone. Much less seriously enough to father a child,” Nathan said, obviously anticipating a public-relations nightmare on the horizon. “Tell me she isn’t the daughter of anyone important. Or, God forbid, underage.”
Adam laughed. Leave it to him to expect the worst. “There’s no scandal here. It’s mine and Rebecca’s child.”
Nathan blinked. “Oh.”
Jordan looked confused. “How is that possible?”
Adam told them about the embryos, and Katy’s offer to carry the baby. For now, that was all they needed to know.
A lot of backslapping and handshakes followed, but he wasn’t finished yet.
“There’s something else. Something I’ll be announcing formally in a few months. But I wanted to tell you all first. After the baby is born, I’m stepping down as CEO of Western Oil.”
Three mouths fell open in unison.
“Stepping down?” Nathan asked. “You live for this company.”
“I’ll still be on the board. I just won’t be as involved in the day-to-day operations. I want to be there for my child.”
“Had you considered hiring a nanny?” Nathan asked.
“I could do that,” Adam said. “But I promised myself a long time ago that when I had children, I would be there for them. Not a ghost, like my father. Especially since I’m raising this child on my own.”
“Which raises the question, will you look outside the company for a replacement, or promote from within?” Emilio asked, getting to the heart of the matter.
“I’ve already spoken to the board. It was agreed that we would promote from within.”
The three men exchanged glances. That meant that for the next eight months they would be under a veritable microscope, their every decision and act used to judge them. Three friends—two of them family—in competition for the brass ring. It had the potential to get very ugly. How they all handled the stress would be a determining factor to the board’s decision.
“So who would you choose?” Nathan asked, knowing that the board would most likely follow Adam’s lead.
The Tycoon's Charm: The Tycoon's Paternity AgendaHonor-Bound Groom Page 11