The Co-Parent (The Relationship Quo Series Book 3)

by Nicole Strycharz

  She felt around to hold my shoulders, “Yeah, well anything I felt got kinda mangled when I woke up naked and alone with dinner still all over my kitchen.”

  I sighed, “I needed to think.” She gave me a look with tight lips that I read with no problem, “Alright, so yes, I needed a drink as well. What man wouldn’t? This is a pretty bizarre happening.”

  Her sudden drop in mood made me anxious, “Your life isn’t really what I want for myself.” She explained. “I’m good with sharing this baby and being part of your life, but maybe not as a…”

  I let go of her knees and sat back. “If I’m not good enough for you, what makes you think I’ll ever be good enough for the baby?”

  “It’s not about being good enough. I sense that as much as this scares you, you’re excited; excited to at least try. I think you’ll be an okay dad but not if you’re just doing it to get in my pants.”

  I looked her up and down, strange woman. “You’re having my baby, we have fantastic sex, I’m filthy rich and dangerously good looking, you’re drop dead gorgeous, you tell me what to do, like no smoking and all that, but you aren’t my girl. Know what would be simpler? Just keep your pants off and I won’t have to try getting in them.”

  She reached out for me and I begrudgingly took her hand, “First, might I say that hearing I gave you fantastic sex even though I didn’t know what I was doing, just made my day. Second, your money isn’t a factor for me. Third, we’re not a couple, you’ll have to accept that. As for the habits…”

  I groaned and she laughed, “Gabe, you can’t smoke around a baby. You can’t even smoke around me. Secondhand smoke is harmful. You don’t have to quit, you just can’t around us. The drinking…I don’t know. You can’t guarantee a clear mind when you’re drunk. This baby already has one on us with a blind mom. You have to be sharp with me. If you can limit yourself…? The drinking might not be too big a deal but the drinking and driving have to stop and don’t deny that you do it. Your coffee is always spiked which means you drive to the office that way.”

  I let her talk but all her rules are making me feel a tad suffocated. This is how I live and why am I the one making all the changes? What are the benefits?

  “What about us?” I asked this before. I’m starting to feel like the woman in this relationship. “I still don’t know if I get where this leaves us.”

  “Friends. Family. You can’t change who you are for me. You have a life. Just go live it, but know when to turn it off for our kid.”

  I frowned. Is this like a permission form to fuck other girls? I stared at her in indecision forever. Do I want this? This co-parent thing sounds like the best of both worlds but maybe it’s not.

  “When is your next doctor’s appointment?” I asked.

  She smiled, “Couple weeks. Then you can meet Jenzy too. She’s my Doula.”

  “Your Who-la?”

  “Doula, they coach you through labor and stuff. Then in four more weeks we can find out what we’re having.”

  I cocked a brow, “I thought it was a baby.”

  She laughed which made me smile. “Boy or girl.”

  “Ah. I see. What do you want?”

  She shrugged, “I don’t know. Blueberry feels like a boy sometimes but I imagine a girl. What about you?”

  I thought, “Don’t know.”

  We smiled at each other a minute and then Vicars came out. “Oh, Gilmore, you’re here.” He sounded winded, “We need to talk about the new banners.”

  I stood up and kissed Brianna on the cheek even though she turned beet red.

  “Be right in,” I said, following.

  “Great and uh,” Vicars looked back at Brianna, “You may actually go home, Miss Birks.”

  Her jaw dropped open, “I haven’t been here a full day. Mr. Vicars, you went from driving me into overtime making up for Pat’s loss to cutting me. I can’t get all this work done while I’m off.”

  “I just think it would serve you and the baby better if you rested.” Vicars added.

  She snapped I heard the snap in her head, “That’s total bull! You’re doing it because of the takeover.” I felt so split that I kept quiet. She shook her head, “If you’re about to fire me I should know.”

  Vicars was rubbing his hands together like the act would give him answers. “I don’t want to, Brianna but the changeover is causing a lot of alterations and yes some of it puts-.”

  She looked away and started to search for her purse before shoving things into it. Vicars is kind but spineless. He talks to his employees like they are all his buddies.

  “Brianna,” I poured authority in her name and she stopped. “Mr. Vicars is still your boss. Like it or not you need to demonstrate some respect. ” She didn’t look betrayed by my point, only a little regretful. “Before you leave, pop in to see me, please.” It wasn’t a question.

  She nodded and I left with Vicars.

  When he and I were done he left and my phone had twenty missed calls from my father. I ignored them.

  By the fiftieth call, I answered. “Hello.”

  “According to the headlines, you didn’t handle this the way I taught you at all.” That was his only thought.

  “I had a DNA test done. It’s mine.”

  “And there’s no reason it should be public knowledge! Do you understand the power you’ve given this woman?” He went on.

  “She’s not out for money,” I defended. “She wants independence more than anything else.”

  “Then give it to her! For Christ sake, Gabriel walk away! Children take, they don’t give. Any romantic notions you have about this are wrong. This is about money. This is about deceit.”

  I stood and walked to the window, “I understand how much you regret me, I grew up understanding that but this is different.”

  “You aren’t ready for this you idiot! What kind of father will you make, eh…a drunkard with no self-control? You have responsibility when it comes to business not life and you will realize when it’s too late what this witch did to you.”

  I embraced the anger and tried to shut it. I don’t want to lash out at the only parent figure I’ve had. “It’s my mistake to make. I’ll deal with the consequences. What I need from you is advice I can use. Some shred of support. Anything, I’ll take it.”

  “You want words of wisdom, yeah?”

  I hesitated then nodded, “Yeah.”

  “Convince her to abort your whelp. Only a mistake could come from another mistake.” Then he hung up.

  I found more comfort in the dead sound of the line than in his voice. I know how deep the malice goes. Still, I’d hoped just a little that he would offer me something. Anything. Even just hope.

  Like she promised I heard a knock and in walked Brianna. She had her purse over her shoulder and she looked ready to chew glass. I went to sit and she came over to stand by me.

  “This fax came in for you and these calls…I typed them down.” She explained.

  “Perfect,” I took a glance but then I was just watching her.

  “Also,” she took a folder and leather bound book from her briefcase. “This is the ledger from last year,” she said handing me the book. “This folder is all the tax information.”

  I made myself look but when she bent to lay the folder down, the hem of her suit came up. It’s tight and stops above the knee. It’s the same steel gray as my eyes and the vest over the white button down is snug across her breasts and a bit strained against the bump. You would have to look hard to even see it.

  “Thank you,” I told her.

  “Yeah, and,” she held out a document, “This needs signing. You may want to read it. It’s about the new shipping boxes.”

  The skirt is so tight over her ass it’s giving me a hard on. I can see us last night. I can remember how it felt to push her down, ass up and press into her. “What is it again?” I asked.

  She tapped it like it would help me focus, “Signature. New boxes. Read.” She answered like a robot.

  I
sat back and bit the top of my pen. I put that bump there. My smirk was unforgivable. Sexiest woman in the office and I’m the one that knocked her up without even trying. It’s like I have Olympic swimmers for sperm.

  “You can lay on the desk.”

  She frowned, “What?”

  I winced, “It! I meant it. You can lay it on the desk.”

  She bent over me to do it, grumbling. I leaned to the side and took in the skirt riding up again.

  “Can I go now?” She huffed.

  “I wanted to offer you a job.”

  “No thanks; I don’t feel like being known as the girl who screwed her way up.”

  I laughed, “You would have to do a lot more screwing to get something like a job from me. I’m doing this because you’re good. You’re great at your job and I want you as my secretary. You would get all your hours back and get paid more than before. I have secretaries in my offices all over the globe.”

  She shook her head, “I can’t work for you, isn’t that like a conflict of interest?”

  “You’re eventually going to have to take something from me, Brianna. Your stubbornness is admirable but irritating as fuck.”

  Her laugh was a welcome sound, “You only want me to work for you so you have a better chance of laying me again. I’m not stupid. I can feel you scoping me out right now. Doesn’t the baby belly slow you down at all?”

  I took her hand and walked her closer until she stood between my legs. “I want you for your skills too. I swear it. It’s like twenty percent about skills and eighty percent about sex.”

  She tried to back up but I sat forward and held her hips, “And no, the bump doesn’t slow me down, it might actually be lighting the torch.” I slid my hands down and grasped the hem of her skirt. I slowly pushed up but she caught my hands.

  “Wait.” She licked her lips. “Every time we have sex you disappear.”

  I pushed her skirt up regardless of her little bit of fight then pulled her down. She straddled my lap and I pushed her purse off her shoulder. “I know I’m confusing,” I said near her lips. “Let me stumble through this.” I pressed her back so she would come to me and I kissed her. She wants this as much as I do. It’s in her kiss. It’s obvious.

  She pulled back, “You have to stop using my urges against me. It’s not fair.”

  I unbuttoned her vest, “I’m the father of your baby. If you have urges you should use me to satisfy them.”

  Her breathing came quicker, “You need to learn that there are other ways to be intimate and if I keep giving you what you want you’ll never get it. Besides, you keep thinking it means we’re together.”

  I felt her breast over her blouse, cupping and squeezing until her nipple was so hard I felt it through her bra and shirt. “Just shut up and give in.”

  She reached up and gripped my hair before kissing me hard on the lips. Much better.

  I opened her shirt front to find her in a sheer white bra. I jerked her to me and kissed down her neck and shoulder before biting at the material over her breast then sucking at her nipple through it. She grabbed at my shirt sleeves and rocked her hips into my stiff cock. I pressed my hand down between us and settled it over her stomach.

  The life growing there is ours. We made it. I fathered it. She’s mine, I’ve branded her in a way. Part of me is living inside her and even she can’t debate that. They’re both mine and she’ll have to live with it.

  I moved to stand and kept her legs around me so I could lay her over the desk. Her legs opened and I stripped my jacket. It’s too hot. She makes my blood hot. Red hair splayed over the papers and documents.

  She felt for my waist and unbuckled my belt as I felt up her skirt. She’s wet again I can’t say I’ve ever found her any other way.

  “God, you’re such a pain in the ass,” she panted. “I want you to just stop but,” she yanked my pants down, “I want you inside me again too.”

  I smiled and bent over her to kiss her deeply. She wrapped her fists in my collar and arched her back to snake into my front. It made a ripple of heat drive up my core.

  “Sorry I had to boss you out there, all part of the job.” I confessed about putting her in line with Vicars.

  She closed her eyes as I felt at her, “maybe I liked it a little.”

  I pulled her panties sideways and sheathed myself between her folds. My first thrust was so quick and forceful it slid her further over the desk and caused a bunch of things to fall. I grasped her hips and dragged her back to me then drove in again. If she got too far away, I brought her back but when I got frustrated I turned her over.

  She laid across my desk on her forearms and hiked her ass up knowing what I wanted. I angrily shoved her skirt up out of the way then buried myself again. She tends to sap me of air.

  I leaned over her back and pulled down her bra straps so I could lick and kiss at her bare shoulder all while riding her into the wood of my desk. I want to pervert her. I want to ruin her for thinking of other men and I want her to need me. Her walls closed around my dick and pulled at me until she cried out.

  I pulled her with me when I sat back in my chair. She’s so new to sex and positions that I had to keep her from turning to face me. I made her come down on my cock while she was still facing the desk and I brought my hips up to fuck her in world jolting knocks until she laid her back into my chest.

  I grabbed the cups of her bra and peeled them down before toying with her peaks. She’s so telling with her sounds. She’s a noisy little hellion. With one hand on her breast, I dropped another to her clit and forced her to make a sound I’m sure the whole office heard. Oh well. It’s my office.

  She threw her head back on my shoulder and panted so hard. I held her throat in place and licked at the back of her ear until she trembled and evidence of her pleasure leaked down my shaft.

  I held her hips and pumped into her until I felt my dick thicken and then I marked her some more. More of myself now painted her body selfishly and I squeezed her to me until the aftershocks wore off.

  “Wait by the elevators and I’ll take you home,” I whispered.

  She reached back to cup my cheek, “I can get home fine on my-.”

  I thrust upward and even with a decline in erection I was hard enough to hit her spots and make her quiet. She sucked in a breath.

  “I can’t protect you from the paparazzi if you don’t wait. Understand?”

  She nodded.

  I kissed her then helped her stand. I helped her button her blouse and right her skirt but between the flush and the hair, I don’t think she’ll fool anyone. Not sure I want her to.

  Chapter Sixteen

  BRIANNA

  Eighteen weeks. I’m eighteen weeks now and somehow Gabe and I have found this strange routine. He comes over a lot and brings me so much food I have to freeze some of it to make room. If he’s not bringing food it’s money. I have to constantly battle him. Like right now.

  “Take it!” He shouted.

  “No!” I shouted back.

  “Oh my God, Woman! Take it!”

  “I don’t need a credit card!”

  “It’s to a maternity store. An elite one. The kind that movie stars go to. Take it!”

  I stood with my arms crossed in my apartment, “I. Don’t. Need. It.”

  “You told a coworker your clothes aren’t’ fitting properly. So obviously you need maternity clothes. I now sign your paychecks so I know you’re broke. Take it!”

  He put it in my hand but I slapped it against his chest. “I have the savings from my parents! I’m not going to school, so there is plenty of money in there. I’m just frugal.”

  He breathed through his nose then shoved the card in my back jean pocket, “I don’t know any other pregnant women, so you’ll take it or I got it for nothing.”

  I grumbled and walked away to get a fruit bowl I made, out of the fridge. “Fine,” I mumbled before popping a strawberry into my mouth. “Thank you, I guess.”

  “See, was that so hard?” H
e said.

  His voice is terribly seductive when he gets what he wants.

  “Yes, actually.”

  I heard him open my fridge, “Do you have enough fruit?”

  I rolled my eyes, “I have half of Guadalajara in my fridge, Gabriel.”

  “No, you have half of California. Local is better.”

  I smiled to myself as I ate. “Did some reading, did ya?”

  “I did but let me tell you, there are some frightening things on the web about pregnancy. You crave fruit most days, yeah? So I read something that said if you don’t eat what you crave the baby will come out with a birthmark the same shape as the thing you wanted but didn’t get.”

  I laughed, “So my mom must’ve been craving butterflies…”

  He was at my back in a split second and caressing my thigh where my birthmark was. “I happen to love that one.”

  I turned to face him, “We have to go or we’ll be late. Today you meet Jenzy and Chloe.”

  “I remember.” He squeezed my ass. “But when I take you home…” he kissed me.

  I don’t know if this agreement is such a wise thing. We aren’t together but when the need hits we have sex. I know logically it’s far from smart but my body is always on overdrive for sex. I would make out with a pillow if I had to but a pillow wouldn’t have Gabe’s fingers.

  We made our way to Bella’s Bonding Birth Center, which is where Jenzy’s office is. She works under one of the best midwives in California. As soon as I hit the door Jenzy’s voice hit my ears with, “Hello, Beautiful!”

  I smiled and hugged her when she came close. My Doula already makes me feel all the things a Doula should. Safe, content, relaxed, zen. She’s so bright with energy I feel positive about what’s supposed to happen in a few months.

  Chloe came from the back room in the direction of Jenzy’s office. Her voice alerted me, “Hey!” she came over and hugged me. “Long time no see.”

  “Yeah,” I sighed, “I’m sorry. Just straightening all this stuff out.”

  “Like having a millionaire’s baby?” asked Chloe.