Released: MC Secret Baby Romance (New Adult Contemporary Biker Romance)

by Casey Elliot

  Chapter Four

  Brianne took a deep breath. This was crazy… insane, even. Was she losing it? Why the heck was she showing up like this? Maybe it was a sign that they hadn’t exchanged numbers.

  She felt her heart thump hard in her throat. It was crazy to be standing face-to-door with his silver trailer. She hadn’t seen him in three months, and even then, she’d only seen him that one time; that one, solitary time. They weren’t exactly on familiar terms. Heck, she barely had even remembered his name.

  She’d pretty much vowed to put every single thing from Texas out of her mind the moment she left her crappy, cheating, ex-boyfriend and this hick town behind her. It wasn’t like he was a bad guy. On the contrary, he was a very good guy. She remembered waking up that next morning, his arm slung over her bare breasts, and the night’s memories flooding in. She remembered him getting up and making the two of them breakfast. She even remembered how sweet he’d been by buying herself a bus ticket home to New York.

  She had felt bad. It was an expensive ticket. She promised to pay him back, but he told her it wasn’t necessary. It was his winnings from a night or two before. No big deal. It was sweet; sweeter than she’d ever imagine her first one-night stand to be – but after it was over, it was over. She promised herself to let it slip away just like everything else that night. That was, until about two weeks ago.

  Two weeks ago, her life changed forever.

  She took a deep breath and tapped on the door, only to find, after waiting for a couple of minutes, that no one came to the door. “Jax!” she yelled out, running down the steps and running over to the side of the trailer. Wasn’t like there were a whole lot of places he could have been hiding, but she didn’t know what else to do. She didn’t know how long he’d be; whether to wait, whether to look elsewhere.

  Not like she would know where the heck to look for him. She didn’t know anything about him, nothing except the fact that he rode bulls and lived in a dinky trailer.

  She sighed, defeated, shuffling her feet to her car until something caught her eye; a brown leather saddle sitting on the picnic table just beside her car. Her eyes squinted and she looked closer at the branding on it.

  J Cinco Ranch.

  The address was in small letters below it. That was close.

  Maybe he worked there? If he didn’t, then perhaps they could at least give her some sort of insight on where she could find him.

  He deserved to know. It was the only reason she brought her butt all the way back across the country to a place where she’d been burned months ago.

  She found herself captivated by green rolling hills, as the sign J Cinco Ranch came into view. Were there even hills like that in Texas? Was she even still in Texas? She looked at her phone’s GPS and twisted her brows in confusion. Did he really work there? If so, then why the heck was he living in a dinky trailer right off of a rodeo? This place looked expensive. It looked like someone could have paid him enough to have a decent place to live.

  There were cattle grazing in a pasture to one side, and horses on the other. She was entranced by the beauty of it all, and her eyes couldn’t stop flitting back and forth. It was like a large, hard to capture, picture. She had even slowed the car down to take it all in.

  There was a lot to take in, though; miles and miles of it. She wondered if she’d ever reach a house or a barn or any sign of human life until she reached a gravel road with a large – mansionesque – plantation style home off in the distance, a barn, and then several barns and buildings sitting aside and spread out over the horizon. Her mouth fell open in shock. Being from the city, she’d never seen anything quite like this before. Not even when she had lived in Texas for the short time that she had.

  She didn’t even realize there was country-side like this in Texas.

  She gripped hold of the steering wheel and whipped her head side to side, looking for any sign of human life – and that’s when she saw him. His rippling muscles flexed, as he carried a saddle from the barn closest to the house, and toward a large black horse tied just outside it. She parked the car smack dab in the middle of the drive and hopped out.

  “Jax!” she called out, wanting to kick herself as soon as it blurted from her mouth. There had to be a smoother way to do all of this.

  He looked confused. She couldn’t blame him. She was confused, too. In reality, she wasn’t even sure why she had come all this way to tell him in the first place. He just seemed like a good guy, like he deserved to know.

  “I’m pregnant…” she blurted out again; this time in a whisper. She didn’t have to wonder if he’d heard her though because his eyes widened, mouth fell open, and immediately dropped the saddle that he was carrying... that is, before he started gagging… literally gagging.

  “Are you okay?”

  She really wanted to kick herself this time. Why had she not eased him into it?

  He crumpled over and continued heaving for a couple of moments before wiping his mouth and nose, and glancing back up at her. His eyes were red, puffy, and watering.

  “You’re sure?” he asked, wiping his mouth.

  She nodded. “It’s been three months. I’m pretty sure.”

  “Whoa, what?!” a little girl called out from around the corner of the barn; basically out of nowhere. Had she been there the whole time?

  “Go inside, Janie.”

  “Janie, chill out,” Jax said for the fourth or fifth time. “Stop being nosy!”

  Truth was, he didn’t know what else to say. He was floored. Hadn’t he used a condom? Did it break? He faintly remembered toward the end that it had felt even better than usual; way better than usual, actually.

  Dang. It really must have broken.

  How had he not realized, then? How had he not pulled out?

  Footsteps pounding against dirt sounded out, and when he shook himself free of his stupid inner monologue, he saw Janie running toward the house full-speed. He groaned. He knew exactly where she was going.

  “I’m so sorry,” Brianne said. “I shouldn’t have come.”

  He had to admit the reaction she’d gotten out of him wasn’t one he would have ever expected to have. He had thrown up for Christ’s sake! What did that tell her? She held a look of confusion, sadness, and maybe even a little rejection. Her eyes kept averting from him. She bit her lip and blinked rapidly; tears welling up in the brims of her eyes whenever he finally caught a glimpse of them.

  “I don’t expect anything from you; no money, nothing like that. I know that you’re struggling.”

  She was babbling now… a lot, so he grabbed her arm and pulled her to him, cradling her gently. “No…” he trailed. “I want to know, and I want to care of you.”

  She looked up at him, confused. “Who was that little girl?”

  “My sister.”

  “Wait. If that’s your sister… do you two work here together? She looks too young to work.”

  He laughed. “As soon as you can grab a rake or carry a bucket, you’re old enough to work at the ranch. So, she does work here, but this is my family’s ranch.”

  Her mouth fell open in what looked like shock, and he couldn’t help but laugh. Of course, she thought he was dirt poor… he lived in a small, rolling tin can, and that’s the only place she’d seen during their one night together.

  He wasn’t like his brothers in that regard. He didn’t use his parents’ success as if it were his own. Sure, he worked hard on the ranch, but it wasn’t his. It was theirs. But, if it had been either one of them, the money would have been the first thing they would have bragged about to a woman as beautiful as Brianne.

  “Is it true?!” Julie yelled, tears of happiness in her eyes, as she jogged up toward the barn. Her hands were fiddling in front of her, rising and falling to her mouth as she approached, and he could do nothing but cringe in response.

  “That’s my mom…” he sighed, knowing that he now had to introduce everyone. He knew though, that it wasn’t a good time to mention the provisions in his
father’s will… he hardly even knew her.

  Chapter Five

  “That’s the heartbeat,” the lady doctor had said sweetly, as she pressed the ultrasound into Brianne’s tummy. She still couldn’t believe it was there; that there was a life inside of there; a life that the two of them made.

  Jax’s hand had squeezed hers firmly. That’s what she remembered the most. He’d held her throughout the entire appointment, and for the entire car ride for that matter.

  “I’m not the best at responsibility, but I do plan on cowboying up,” he’d said, as they drove toward his home. She didn’t even know what that meant.

  “Manning up,” he’d said, causing her to roll her eyes.

  The country thing really just wasn’t for her, not by a long shot, but she could tell that’s what he loved, so she nodded, as light smile curving at her lips.

  They were virtually strangers, which made it even more amazing that he was so willing to be so involved in everything. He was the most considerate man she’d ever met in that regard, and she’d been enjoying getting to know him over the couple of weeks.

  He always called to check on her; to make sure the baby had the best of everything. “Money is no object,” he had said time and time again. In truth, she hadn’t been struggling financially since her college days, but it was nice to hear that the baby could have more than even she could give it.

  “This place is a dump. It’s nowhere near good enough,” Jax said, as soon as they took a step into his trailer.

  She laughed. “You know I don’t care about where I stay, as long as I have a comfortable bed, and from what I remember, you have one.” She’d been staying in a motel down the street from the rodeo until the doctor’s appointment. Any place seemed better than that.

  He chuckled. “That’s truthful, but I think you’d be more comfortable at the house. My mom has servants that can care for you both.”

  “I don’t need anyone to take care of me!” She was laughing; nowhere near offended. It was still very sweet that he wanted to take such good care of her. “I’m not incompetent, you know.”

  She wasn’t sure where all the doting was coming from, but she liked it, and truthfully, she was surprised just how much she liked him. She was a little scared, though. With the way that he was acting, she knew something about herself that could have made things a little more complicated than it already was.

  She knew that she could fall in love with him.

  They went line dancing that night to celebrate the first successful doctor’s appointment. He couldn’t believe he’d actually gotten her to agree to it. “Country is not my thing,” she kept saying over and over and over again. No matter how much she seemed to love the ranch – which he was increasingly happy that he had gotten her to agree to stay at – she didn’t love Texas. She didn’t love the hats, she didn’t love the music, she didn’t love the words. She didn’t love any of it.

  But damnit all, he’d gotten her to line dance with him.

  The Do-Si-Do shuffle was the latest and greatest, and she was laughing, cheering, and getting into it more than he’d ever thought possible. He loved seeing that side of her; the side of her that he’d been seeing more and more as each day went by.

  “You know,” he said, as soon as they joined arms with each other. “That dress is so incredibly sexy.” He didn’t know what was coming over him. There was something sexy about watching her dark, curvy body, dancing in a nice flowy yellow dress. There was something about it that had gotten his juices flowing.

  She pulled away from his neck and looked in his eyes. "You like?" she asked, almost seductively. He didn’t know what happened after that. The next thing he knew was that he was fueled by her with his hands squeezing her thighs just before moving his fingers upward and playing at the thin amount of fabric that draped over her hips.

  “Let’s get out of here…” he groaned in her ear, as soon as he felt the heat between them start to scorch. Their line dancing didn’t even resemble the other dancers anymore. He knew it was only a matter of time before someone started hooting and hollering and making a show out of their touching. They were being way too obvious. She nodded in response, and he smirked before grabbing her hand and pulling her away from the center.

  Truth was, they were too far from the ranch. He didn’t want to wait that long. Not even just that, though, every single one of his family members were at the house, and he didn’t want that sort of awkward how-do-you-do pleasantry crap that would have commenced before the making out could have begun. That was a mood-killer if there ever was one.

  So, he took her to the trailer.

  “This isn’t because I don’t think you’re good enough for a better environment. It’s just private here…” he trailed, feeling guilty as soon as he took his pregnant sort-of-girlfriend one step into his small trailer.

  “Shut up…” she growled, eagerly taking his lips in an assaulting whirlwind of passion.

  My God, he loved her hips more than anything in the world. They were thick, just enough to grab on to, and they led up to the sexiest thin waist he’d ever seen. Brianne was the perfect example of the shapeliest hour-glass he’d ever seen. Truly, she was the sexiest woman he’d ever been with. That made him feel even gladder that she was the mother of his unborn child; maybe with any luck, he’d be stuck with her for a while.

  He smirked, and her hands floated to the bottom of his shirt, urging him to lift his arms so that she could pull it off of him without even bothering unbuttoning. He loved feeling wanted by her, probably because he wanted her so much.

  Her lips attached to his as soon as the plaid button-down was slung away from him, and the next thing he knew, he was taking her bra off. He wasn’t sure when it happened exactly or how long it had been; all he knew was that he had been entranced by her kiss.

  "Pants...off..." he gasped as soon as Brianne let him up for air.

  Chapter Six

  “So that was your plan?” Jax’s brother, Jimmy, fired out as soon as Jax came down the stairs. He’d been upstairs helping Brianne get ready for their annual rancher’s club dinner party. It was a huge event that all the local ranchers in the area attended, and it was usually thrown at their ranch. It was something his dad had started years ago; something about making a community stronger and more unified or whatever.

  He sighed at his brother’s outburst. Both he and John were standing there, right at the bottom of the stairs, looking like a couple of want-to-be thugs.

  “You’re going to steal my inheritance?”

  John balled up his fist and launched a punch directly into Jimmy’s shoulder, scowling.

  “Our inheritance,” John corrected.

  Jimmy sighed and nodded,

  “Our inheritance.”

  Jax rolled his eyes. Clearly, their mom had told the other two the contingency in their dad’s will, and clearly, they were pissed that he was the only one that had gotten anyone pregnant, but he didn’t have time to explain. He didn’t have time to fight, and he sure as heck didn’t have time for them. So, instead of debating with either of them or defending himself for that matter, he pounded through them. He didn’t have time for them or their idiocies. He had to get ready for the dinner.

  It was strange being at a dinner as fancy as this one. It was odd seeing a bunch of fancy dishes served to men with cowboy hats. Heck, it was odd seeing a bunch of fancy dinners being served period, especially in a house like this one… which she was still getting used to, to be honest.

  Brianne had grown up in a modest house with modest dinners. It wasn’t until she got out of college that she’d made any money at all, and even then, that was only for a short time. She’d just gotten into the swing of making real money again when she found out that she was pregnant with Jax’s child.

  She hadn’t intended on staying so long, but now that she’d been there, she couldn’t help but fall in love with some of the people. Not all; namely the douchebag brothers of his that kept looking at her and whispering to
one another with permanent scowls plastered on their faces. She wondered if it was because she was black or if it was the fact that they thought she was some sort of whore. Whatever it was though, it was pissing her off.

  “So, you like what you see?” Jimmy asked, cockily.

  Brianne twisted her brows and put her salad fork down to speak. “What do you mean?”

  “This place; the ranch, the family… this huge dining room, and all these folks sitting around at this nice dinner... all of it.” He leaned forward, almost menacingly in his chair; close enough so that he could whisper to her.

  “Do you like it?”

  She was still confused, but nodded. “Yeah, it’s really pretty here.”

  It really was. The dinner was lovely with ten round tables covered in high-quality linen, and with china and crystal laid perfectly over top as the settings. The tables each held a dozen white roses as the center pieces, and they were spread out over a large dining hall lit with chandeliers galore.

  It was gorgeous.

  “The dining room is really nice, and this dinner is great.” She didn’t know what all they wanted her to compliment the family on, but whatever it was, she was sure that she could do. The place was beautiful; probably the most beautiful place she’d ever seen, let alone stayed at.

  Jonathan scoffed before stabbing his salad angrily. “Yeah, so glad to be of assistance.”

  “What?” She really didn’t know what the heck they were talking about now. Why were they being so bitchy all of a sudden? This was the first time she’d met them after the weeks she’d been in town. Julie had introduced them just before she had a seat at the table with them. It was quick and to the point; almost businesslike, which seemed strange when she thought about how close Julie was to Jax and Janie, and how incredibly emotional she usually was with them. It was clear they weren’t around very often; almost as if there were some bonds that had been broken because of it, so what the heck did she do to them to piss them off already?