by K. C. Crowne
She pursed her lips and nodded, as if accepting that what I’d said was true.
“Yeah. But that’s no excuse. It’s not like we had a one-night thing and that was the end of it. We’re discussing something huge between us, and that something is complicated enough on its own without us adding sex into the equation.”
“As good as the sex might’ve been.”
A smile formed on her gorgeous lips, a smile that I could sense took hold in spite of herself.
“Fine. It was good. I had a really serious itch and that really scratched it. But I’m sure I don’t need to tell you that we absolutely, one hundred percent, can’t be doing anything like that from here on out. There’s no way I’m going to be the surrogate of some guy I’m having a fling with.”
“And that’s totally fine with me. Giving in to what we both wanted once is understandable. But from here on out, we’re going to need to be professional about this whole thing.”
She smiled and gave a quick nod, as if pleased I was on the same page with her.
“So,” I said. “Does that mean you’re still considering being my surrogate?”
Another nod. “Yeah. Just as long as this—” she circled her finger over the bed, “doesn’t happen again.”
“Of course, of course.”
She took more clothes from the pile on the bed, putting them on under the covers. When she was dressed, she climbed off and stood up. Despite what we’d only just talked about, the urge to get those clothes right back off and Carly into my bed again came over me.
I was well and truly fucked.
I needed to get her out of the house so I could have a break from the absolutely ludicrous level of attraction I had for her.
“I should get going,” she said.
Her words were almost a relief. “Yeah, let me see you out.” I hopped out of bed and together we made our way back downstairs where Carly put on the rest of her clothes.
“Do you think you might be ready to check out the agency? It might help you make a final decision on the process,” I asked.
Her face turned serious, and she nodded once. “Yeah. Let’s do it this week. Any time after school hours should be good for me.”
“Then I’ll give the agency a call tomorrow and get back to you when I have a time.”
“Perfect.” She stepped over to the brunch spread and popped a bit of potato into her mouth, giving it a quick chew and a swallow, then a smile. “I might be expecting a few more homecooked meals like this if I’m going to be carrying your baby.”
“You agree to this thing, Carly, and I’ll earn a damn Michelin star cooking you whatever you want.”
Once she was ready, I led her to the door.
“Talk to you soon,” I said.
“Yeah. Looking forward to it.”
Major tension hung in the air between us. It was the sort of tension that screamed out for a kiss, maybe even more, to break it. Thankfully, Carly only gave me one last smile before stepping into the snowy, late morning and heading to her car. She climbed in, started the engine, and pulled away.
I watched her car disappear around the bend, and as soon as I was alone, I scolded myself for what I’d done.
What a fucking mistake. The sex had been amazing, but what was going on between Carly and me was so delicate that I couldn’t believe I’d almost fucked it up by giving in to my improper desires.
That thought led to more thoughts about the sex. God, what a romp that had been. I closed my eyes and imagined her on the couch in front of me, my fingers inside of her as I brought Carly to orgasm with just a touch. I imagined having her up against the wall, her sexy legs wrapped around me as I drove into her with wild abandon. I pictured her on top of me, her perfect tits bouncing in front of my face as I came inside of her.
The thoughts were enough to make me hard where I stood in the entry hallway. And all I wanted was to get her in bed with me again.
Restraining myself was going to be harder than I thought.
Chapter 12
CARLY
A bath was all I could think about after I’d left Ryan’s place. Whenever I was stressed or upset or needed to relax, a bath was my go-to thing. And as the snow picked up during the drive home, it seemed like nature itself was making it even more tempting to jump into a nice, hot soak.
I arrived home right as the snow went from light flurries to total whiteout. Daisy bounded up to me as I entered, and I made sure to give her some good behind-the-ear scratches. The sky was grey as smoke, and the wind was beginning to pick up. The house seemed extra small as I stepped over the threshold and shut the door, the warm, toasty air from the furnace wrapping around me right away. I looked about as I took my coat off, realizing that I could probably tuck my house into the corner of the first floor of Ryan’s place and you wouldn’t even notice it was there.
Ryan lived in a different world than me. There I was, struggling to pay the bills, and there was Ryan, so rich that he could throw a little money my way and have me considering carrying his freaking child. But I was most definitely considering.
Some hot tea sounded like the perfect complement to my bath, so I put on the kettle and grabbed my favorite owl mug from the cupboard. As the water heated, I found myself reflecting on what had happened, how I’d gone over there for a chat and some eggs benedict and ended up in his freaking bed.
But I didn’t get too much time to think it over. The door to Adam’s room opened then closed down the hall, and he appeared in the living room a few moments later. He was dressed in jeans and a heavy, cable-knit sweater, a black knit cap pulled down so low I could barely see his eyes.
“What’s up, dude?” I asked over my shoulder as I grabbed the box of chamomile tea from the top shelf of the pantry.
He pursed his lips, which meant one of two things.
“Alright,” I said. “Are you in trouble or are you about to ask me for something?”
“It’s the car,” he said. “I was going to go on a date later and I wanted to see if I could take it out.”
“A date, huh?” I asked as I opened the little box of tea and pulled out a bag. “Who’s the lucky lady?”
“A girl. You don’t know her.”
“A girl I don’t know. Wow, you’re really selling her.” I flashed him a sly smirk as I dropped the bag into the owl mug.
“Her name’s Shannon. And it’s just a first date kind of thing so I don’t really know her, either. She does cross-country track.”
“She’s a runner, huh? Then throw some snowshoes on her and hop on her back, have her carry you to get some dinner.”
“Funny,” he said. “So, can I use the car?”
“Hm. You do all your homework?”
“Did it Friday night.”
I leaned to the side and looked out of the living room window over his shoulder. “What about this snow? I don’t know if I want you driving out in it.”
“It’s supposed to let up later today. And I’ll shovel the car out and clear the sidewalk and driveway if you let me take the car.”
“You’d be doing that anyway. But…alright – as long as you’re not out too late and it’s not blizzard-ing.”
“Yes!” he said. “Thank you times a million.”
“Anything for true love.”
“It’s not true love,” he said, screwing up his face after he spoke the words as if it were the lamest thing he could think of. “She’s just some girl from school.”
I chuckled. “Anyway, where are you off to now?”
“A study group at Tyler’s house.”
“Good answer. Check in with me later and we’ll talk about the car thing.”
He gave me a thumbs up as he started toward the front door.
“Coat!” I said right as he placed his hand on the doorknob. For some reason, I always had to talk Adam into dressing weather appropriate.
“What? It’s not even that cold out.”
“It’s literally snowing, dude. And I don’t know what girls
your age are into these days, but I can bet anything showing up with fingers missing from frostbite isn’t a turn-on.”
“Fine, fine,” he said, letting out the sort of sigh that could only come from a teenage boy before grabbing his winter coat off the rack and throwing it on.
“Hey, Adam.”
The words came out of my mouth before I’d even known why I’d said them. But when he stopped, regarding me with an expectant expression as he waited for me to speak, I realized what I wanted.
Part of me felt the need to ask him about the surrogacy thing. After all, if I were to say yes to this whole thing, he’d be dealing with me for nine months while I carried the baby to term.
Then he shot out a “see ya!” before hurrying outside.
Once he was gone, a tinge of anxiety ran through me at the idea of Adam driving around in the snow later. At least Tyler lived down the street and Adam could walk there. As I finished my tea and made my way to the bathroom, I allowed myself a small smile at the idea of how much I’d turned into a mom over the last several years.
Maybe that was what Ryan saw in me, why he seemed to think I was perfect for the job.
I turned on the water, sticking my hand under the downpour and adjusted the knobs until it was at the perfect temperature. When I had the water just where I wanted it, I stood up, shed my clothes, and slid into the water.
It was heaven. There were maybe three things better than slipping into a hot bath, and one of them just happened to be sex with an insanely hot doctor.
But the moment I was chest-deep in the water, a thought occurred to me that made my eyes go wide with shock.
I’d slept with Ryan unprotected.
Shit. My heart began to race faster. What the hell had I been thinking?
Well, I hadn’t been thinking. I’d gotten so caught up in the passion between us that the idea of protection hadn’t even occurred to me. Obviously, it hadn’t occurred to him, either. I let out a worried sigh, trying to talk myself down from how stressed I’d become at my stupid decision.
I told myself that he was a doctor, which likely meant the odds of him having STDs or anything like that were slim. And he didn’t strike me at all as the kind of scummy guy who’d sleep with someone and not tell them if that were the case.
I felt a bit better that I hadn’t gone over to his place for a nice brunch and come back with a full belly and a case of Herpes.
What the hell had I been thinking letting him finish inside of me like that? Well, that wasn’t a hard question to answer. I’d been thinking about how hot it was, how delicious he tasted, how much I loved having his big, skilled hands all over my body.
I tried to calm myself down. Sure, sex led to pregnancy – that’s what it was for. But it didn’t always lead to it. I remember Mom making some comment about how they’d been trying for kid number two for so long that they’d began to wonder if I was going to be an only child.
I remembered this, of course, because I’d been totally grossed out by Mom essentially saying that she’d been having tons of sex with Dad – not exactly what you want to hear from your parents when you’re a fifteen-year-old. But the memory had major relevance to me now. It meant that tons of couples had to try for years to have kids. The odds of Ryan and I hooking up once and me coming away pregnant were slim.
I felt a little better. The main thing, I reminded myself, was that it couldn’t happen again. I was still on the fence about whether I wanted to do the whole surrogate thing. But if I did, Ryan would be totally off-limits when it came to sex. He’d have to be a sexual non-entity.
Made sense. But just thinking of Ryan and sex in the same moment was enough to put images of him in my head, ones of how freaking sexy he looked naked, his athletic body working like a fine-tuned machine as he brought me to orgasm over and over.
I thought about how he’d effortlessly picked me up and pinned me against the wall, my legs wrapped around him as he pushed inside. His cock was perfect, thick and long, feeling so good inside me that I’d found myself wondering if it had been made for me and me alone.
Just like that, I was horny again. The point of the bath had been to forget about my worries, to put Ryan out of my head for a little while. But, of course, he was the first thing that had popped into my mind as soon as I was free from distractions.
My eyes wandered to the showerhead, excitement building between my thighs as I realized what I really needed to relax.
Fuck it.
I sat up, grabbed the showerhead, and turned it to the setting I needed for total bliss. Then I closed my eyes and brought it under the water, a smile forming on my lips as I thought about the gorgeous man who was in the process of changing my life forever.
I woke up that next morning feeling pretty damn good, considering how much I had on my mind. The rest of Sunday had been spent getting my lesson plan in order for the next week, which meant I was good and prepared.
In fact, I had a smile on my face as I dressed for the day, and even a spring to my step as I got the leash on Daisy for her first walk of the day. I knew without a doubt that getting to school and taking my place in front of the kids would get me in the right mindset. Whenever Ryan got in touch with me about the meeting at the clinic, well, I would handle it when it happened.
My phone buzzed right as I opened the door to take Daisy out, the brisk morning air rushing up to greet me. Once I was outside, I yanked off my glove with my teeth and took my phone out of my pocket.
It was a text from Ryan.
Hey! Good morning. How’s everything with you?
Once I’d read the message, I shoved my phone back into my pocket and slipped my glove on before starting off with Daisy.
I didn’t like it. Sure, Ryan’s heart was no doubt in the right place. After all, he was doing the gentlemanly thing of getting in touch after we’d slept together to make sure all was good with me. I wasn’t much for random hook-ups, but few feelings were worse than sleeping with a man only to have him drop off the face of the earth when he’d gotten what he wanted.
But things weren’t like that with Ryan. He wasn’t some guy I’d met off Bumble or something – he was a guy I’d potentially be having a kid for. And if we were going to do that, we’d need to be professional. That meant no date-y stuff, no texts to check in. And zero emojis.
I finished the rest of the walk with Daisy, getting my heart rate up just long enough to cast off the last traces of sleep. I arrived back home to see Adam at the table with his phone in his hand and a big bowl of frosted mini wheats in front of him. I said good morning, and he mumbled a response, his eyes still locked on the screen. The washing machine rumbled gently in the laundry room. Adam must’ve put a load in and started it.
“How was the date last night?” I asked, taking off my coat and tossing it onto the back of the couch. Daisy hurried over to Adam and curled up at his feet.
“Fine.” It wasn’t a curt fine, more the sort of fine you say when something was, well, fine and you didn’t want to talk about it.
I almost pressed him for more details. But before I did, I remembered how I was at that age – having a parental figure ask about your love life was about the most awkward thing imaginable.
So, I skipped it. But I knew that before too long I’d need to sit down and have a conversation with him about all that stuff. Adam had always had a way with girls, and over the course of his junior year with him turning out to be a basketball star, he’d only become more of a ladies’ man.
Then again, I’d had unprotected sex that last weekend – was I really an authority on responsible bedroom activities?
My phone shaking again in my pocket got my mind off the subject. I took it out to see that it wasn’t another text from Ryan, but a reminder from the phone since I hadn’t actually checked the message.
I thought about what I wanted to say and typed up my message.
All good here; hope the same for you. I’ll be watching for your text about the agency.
I hit “sen
d,” and a pleased smile took hold. I was happy with the text. It was neat and professional, while not too icy. Well, maybe a little icy, but just cold enough that he had to know where I stood on the matter of our communication.
A response came a few moments later – nothing more than a thumbs-up emoji. Perfect. That meant he’d gotten the message and wasn’t going to push the matter.
But as I leaned against the couch and tucked my phone back into my pocket, a touch of longing took hold. Ryan hadn’t done anything wrong, of course. He’d just checked in to make sure I was feeling OK. It was perfectly understandable and even respectable behavior.
I added it all up. He was handsome and smart and fun and respectful and had the social savvy to get hints without them needing to be explicitly spelled out. There was also the little matter of him being amazing in bed.
All of it added up to him being a one-in-a-million catch. But I couldn’t be viewing him like that. He was a business partner, and that was all. No boyfriend, no anything else.
A loud noise from the washing machine derailed my train of thought.
“Shit!” Adam called out.
“Language!” I said without thinking. But when I laid eyes on what had caused him to cuss like that, I quickly forgot about the matter of his potty mouth.
Sure enough, the washing machine was going crazy, gushing out water from the bottom as it made that awful clanging sound over and over. Adam sprang out of his chair and hit the power button on it, which stopped the noise. But the water still came out, a puddle forming and spreading out and covering the tile floor of the kitchen. Daisy barked, rushing over to the border of the puddle, and dabbing her paw in it.
“It’s the pipes,” Adam said. “Let me try something.”
I hated to be so useless, but I didn’t know a damn thing about plumbing. Adam took hold of the washing machine, his sneakers splashing in the water as he did. I came to my senses and hurried into the bathroom, grabbing all the towels I could find. I rushed back into the laundry room, dropping them onto the water and soaking up what I could.