The only good thing about being in the hospital was that I hadn’t seen Nicolas in two days. He didn’t want to visit too often. He was afraid it would attract the paparazzi. However, I suspected that wasn’t the real reason. I saw the discomfort on his face every time he walked into the room. He didn’t like hospitals.
I wondered how he was going to survive forty-eight hours of labor—which is how long it took my mom to give birth to me. She reminded me every time I did something I shouldn’t have in high school.
I lay back and closed my eyes, the low volume on the television like white noise from one of those fancy machines Kelly always insisted were the only way she could sleep in almost any time zone. I missed Kelly. She called a few days ago, but I told her to stay away. I really didn’t want her to meet Nicolas. I could just imagine the things she would say to him in an effort to help me. But it wouldn’t help. It would only make things worse.
I must have drifted off to sleep because the next thing I knew, that kind nurse was standing at my side, injecting glucose into my IV line.
“Fifty-two,” she said.
I groaned. I was never getting out of this hospital.
The nurse patted my shoulder sympathetically. “They bumped the numbers down another unit. I think they might have it this time.”
And she was right. Two days later, I was pulling on the jeans I’d worn into the hospital only to discover they were too tight around my middle. I pulled my t-shirt down and it, too, was shorter than it had been before. I stuck my head out the bathroom door and caught the kindly nurse just as she was leaving with the debris from the IV she’d just taken from my arm.
“You wouldn’t happen to have a rubber band, or something, would you?”
She glanced at my belly and managed not to laugh out loud. “I’ll go look at the nurse’s desk.”
“You need new clothes,” Nicolas said from his perch against the wall by the door.
“Thank you for reminding me.”
He studied me for a second. “There’s a maternity shop on Rodeo Drive. We can swing by there on the way home.”
“Sure,” I said. “I can afford…wait, I don’t think I can afford to walk through the doors at a shop like that.”
“Who said you were paying?”
“I don’t want anything from you, Nicolas.”
“Yeah, well, that’s my kid—kids—in there. I can’t have you walking around with your belly hanging out, or wearing cheap clothes that might contain some sort of chemical that could hurt the babies.”
I glared at him, ready to say something that wasn’t very lady-like, but the nurse came back then with a rubber band. She even helped me fasten my jeans with it, tugging them closed enough so that I wasn’t exposing myself when Nicolas led the way outside ten minutes later.
When we drove down Rodeo Drive, I had flashes of every romantic movie I’d ever seen. And when we walked into the maternity shop and a sales girl looked down her nose at me, I had a very vivid image of Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman. The only difference was, my Richard Gere was standing next to me.
“How can we help you, Mr. Costa?” one of the sales girls asked.
“We need a complete wardrobe, including lingerie and formal attire. Do you think you can handle that?”
The woman bit back a smile. “Of course.”
And suddenly I was a princess, pushed into a soft chair and plied with tea and cookies and everything I could ever want. Models who were much taller, much thinner, and definitely not pregnant, paraded into the room in a variety of clothes, talking about things I would never understand—like cut and seams and the different fabrics—until my head was spinning and I was just saying okay to make them stop. Nicolas stood at a distance, watching. He did that a lot, watching me and the people around me from a distance, like he was directing the action around him instead of participating in it. I would have preferred him to sit by my side and offer his opinion on my choices, but that wasn’t Nicolas.
When they brought out the lingerie, I blushed and decided I’d had enough.
“I’m tired,” I said, standing and nearly toppling the low table that held the tea cups they kept refilling. “Could we just…”
Nicolas was immediately at my side. “Of course.”
He guided me to the door, then turned to speak to one of his bodyguards. The man disappeared inside as we got into yet another SUV—this one a white Cadillac—and merged into the late evening traffic.
“Are you hungry?”
I nodded. “But I’d have to take a shot, and I’m not sure about doing that in public.”
“Then we’ll pick something up and go back to the house.” He glanced out the window—actually looking up from his smartphone—and said, “It’s a nice night. We could eat on the back veranda.”
“That actually sounds nice. I feel like I’ve been cooped up inside for too long.”
Nicolas looked at me, actually holding my gaze for a full minute before his eyes slid down to my growing belly.
“How do you feel?”
“Tired.”
He reached over to touch my belly, but he stopped himself just before he made contact. “Have you felt them move yet? You’re almost eighteen weeks.”
“Not yet.”
He nodded, a dark look crossing his face. Did he think I was lying to him? Or was there something else?
He was such an enigma that it drove me nuts. I wanted to reach over there, grab his face, and make him tell me everything that was going on in that head of his. But I didn’t. I stared out the window and watched the scenery as we sped across the city, headed back to his house.
I was actually looking forward to being there. I guess it was true that almost any place could feel like home if you were lonely enough.
And I was definitely lonely enough.
Chapter 12
He ordered from some Chinese place and I had a heck of a time trying to figure out how many carbs I was going to eat out of the noodles, egg rolls, and sweet sauces that he’d ordered. I finally made an educated guess and filled the syringe with insulin, but then my hand shook when it came time to actually inject it. They made me do it a dozen times in the hospital, but there was a difference between injecting a potentially lethal substance into your body in a hospital setting where nurses were waiting to bring you back to life with an injection of sugar, and doing it in the privacy of your own home where only you and the father of your child—both quite uneducated about this condition—were there to provide sugar if a mistake was made.
“Do you want me to do it?” Nicolas asked.
He seemed sincere, so I handed the syringe to him.
“Where do I…?”
“A fatty area,” I said. “I was doing them in my hip in the hospital.”
He nodded as he came to stand beside me. I tugged at a corner of my jeans and pulled them down just enough to expose the area where I had intended to inject myself. Nicolas picked up the alcohol pad I’d already prepared and pressed it to my flesh, making me hiss a little with the suddenly cold. And then his fingers were moving over my hip, pushing back my clothes, the contrast between the cold alcohol and his hot fingers distracting.
Would I always feel this sort of reaction whenever he touched me?
He carefully injected the insulin, moving quickly, but proficiently, making me wonder if he had experience with needles. And then thoughts of Aurora filled my mind, of her illegal drug use and the substances he’d supposedly seen her take. Did he help her inject herself with meth or heroin? Did he help her boil down crack cocaine and inject it into a vein?
Those thoughts made me shudder. Nicolas must have thought it was a reaction from the shot because he tugged my jeans back into place and whispered, “All done,” in my ear.
I pulled away from him, the scent of his cologne so intoxicating that I wasn’t sure I could control myself if I didn’t.
We ate in silence for a few minutes, both of us lost in our own thoughts. And then he poured himself a glass of
wine, staring into its depths rather than drinking from it.
“I have a new project coming up in a month. It films here, so I’ll be close, but I won’t be at the house for the majority of the day.”
“Okay,” I said, as I picked at a spicy egg roll. I thought I was going to eat a lot, but the babies had shifted and my stomach was already screaming that it was full.
“Constance will be around if you need anything. And one of my security guys will always be within screaming distance.”
“That’s reassuring.”
“I just…I didn’t know that you would be having health problems when I agreed to this project.”
“I didn’t either.”
“I know.” He put the wine glass down and studied me for a second. “This has just made the whole thing a little more real for me.”
I looked away. It had always been real for me. So real I’d called a lawyer while I was in the hospital. I wanted to know what my options were after the babies came. But his advice hadn’t been very hopeful. He’d promised to look over the contract, but he didn’t think I’d be able to keep the babies or even share in any part of their lives if Nicolas didn’t agree to it.
Not very encouraging.
“Aurora was pretty excited about it,” I said suddenly, needing to hurt him in some way for reasons I couldn’t even begin to explain. “She talked about decorating the nursery and buying all these cute little outfits. She even showed me one once, a pretty little sailor suit she couldn’t pass up in a department store.”
“It was just a passing infatuation with Aurora,” Nicolas said. “A new thing to keep her busy for a while. She was always flitting from one thing to another.”
“When she talked to the doctor and learned her eggs were dividing, she’d been so excited.”
“Yeah. And then she went upstairs and snorted so much coke up her nose that she passed out with her head on the hors d’oeuvre plate.”
There was such bitterness in his voice that I wanted to slap him. How could someone be that bitter about the woman he swore to love, honor, and obey for the rest of his life? Was that really how he looked at the marriage vows?
“You know, you don’t have to constantly prove what an asshole you are,” I said, dropping my napkin onto my plate and pushing away from the table.
I didn’t get far. He came up behind me and grabbed my arm, spinning me around so quickly that I got dizzy and nearly fell. As it was, I had to snatch at the front of his shirt to keep from toppling over.
“I hate you,” I said, pushing back in an attempt to get away from him. “I hate everything you’ve done to me and everything you did to Aurora. I hate that you’re going to take these babies from me and raise them to be little self-centered asses just like you.”
“You don’t hate me,” he said, his voice dangerously low as he moved closer to me. “And your body definitely doesn’t hate my touch.”
I glanced down and realized my nipples were once again betraying me, standing up straight against the thin material of my tee.
“My body’s not itself,” I muttered in disgust. “It’s so confused it doesn’t recognize a snake despite all the warnings my brain is sending.”
His mouth curved in a brief flash of humor before he took a step, closing what little distance there was between us, his body pressed against mine.
“You want me,” he said softly. “Despite everything you’ve said and done, you want me. I know it. And you know it.”
“I don’t.”
“Oh, you do.”
I stared at him, and I knew I had my mouth hanging open. The nerve of the man! Did he really imagine I was going to have sex with him? I would not sleep with him again—even if he were the last man on Earth. Who the hell did he think he was? I tried to move away, but he held tight to my arm, jerking me even closer to him. If not for my belly, we would have been chest-to-chest, lip-to-lip. And then his arm snaked around my waist, and he pulled me closer until I couldn’t breathe. I felt the length of his erection against my lower belly, and I stilled. I looked up at him, and his pupils were dilated, his breathing ragged. My legs immediately turned to jelly. I curled my hand where it still held onto his shirt, burying itself there. His mouth was on mine, and we were kissing with such deep hunger that it shook me to the core. He slanted his mouth over mine and sucked my lower lip. I moaned deep in my throat and moved impossibly closer, searching for more. When I gasped for breath, his tongue slipped in and began to slowly drive me crazy. I kissed him back with everything I had, sucking on his tongue with such hunger that he groaned and pressed against me. I slipped my hand beneath his shirt and touched him everywhere I could. I writhed against his erection, but it was not enough. I wanted more.
Nicolas broke the kiss and focused on the sensitive area behind my neck. He kissed and licked me there and, when he nipped that place, I began to tremble. In such a short time he’d brought me close to that cliff and my desperation was growing.
Damn, the man knew me well. Too well.
“We need to stop now,” I gasped and then lifted his shirt and placed my mouth on his turgid nipple. I licked it and suckled. He swore softly under his breath.
“In a moment…”
He sank his hands in my hair, and I felt my scalp tingle. “This is crazy,” I said as I shuddered with need.
“You’re killing me.”
“I don’t know what’s happening to me,” I muttered moving to the other nipple. I was shaking with desire so intense that it washed all common sense from my mind. “I’m on fire.”
“You’re burning me up,” he growled when my hand snuck down to rub against his swollen head through his jeans. He lifted me up then and placed me on the edge of the table. He tugged at my clothes, ripping the rubber band from its temporary fix.
He groaned as he tugged my tee away from my swollen belly.
“Jesus…I have to taste you now,” he said, as he placed his mouth on my already sensitive nipples, returning the favor, practically kneeling before me. It was a powerful feeling, having this undeniably dominant man on his knees in front of me. And then he stood, needing to taste my lips again as much as I wanted to taste his. He moved between my legs, his manhood pressed against my mound. The effect of his denim clad erection against me was too much. I wrapped my legs around his waist and pulled, moaning at the combined assault of his mouth and his manhood. Suddenly, the pressure began to build. I felt everything fade away and narrow down to a single trajectory of intense pleasure. I stiffened and shut my eyes as I hovered on the precipice. Waves of pleasure began to waft through me and suddenly, everything exploded. I heard a low wail, and it was not until Nicolas covered my mouth in another very wet, very sexy kiss that I realized the wail was coming from me.
I slowly came down from my climax. My limbs felt heavy, and my eyes were heavy. I was gasping for breath and wondering what the hell had happened when I felt his hands around my bottom. He pulled me to the edge of the table, tearing my jeans—my panties—from my body. I felt his tip against me. Just like that, I was hot and hungry again. I wriggled closer and bit my lip to stop the cry that was just begging to come out. He felt so good. I opened my legs wider to let him know I was ready and, without a word, he slid deep inside of me, biting his own lip as a groan slipped out. He wanted to be gentle. I could see it in the intensity of his stare, in the tremor of his hands.
“It’s okay,” I said. “They’re protected.”
It was as though that was all he needed to hear. He rammed into me with such force that a scream tore from my mouth. He pulled out of me, and I whimpered in protest before he rammed into me again.
“Oh…ah…I…this is…!”
I was incoherent. I could not form a single sentence to save my life. This was more intense than anything I had ever experienced. I forced my eyes open and looked into his. They were ablaze with passion as he stared intensely at me. I could see that he was at the edge of control. When he slammed into me a third time, I felt my sex begin to clench aroun
d him and knew that I was at the cusp of another fantastic orgasm. I tried to hold back, to see how much I could take, but he was having none of it. He slid his hand between us and pressed his thumb against my clit and, just like that, I fell apart. I held onto him and jerked, screaming, as the orgasm carried me high into the air. Then, I felt myself shatter into a million pieces. I heard him shout my name as his own climax hit, and it triggered mine again.
We collapsed against each other, each shuddering at the strength of the passion we’d just experienced.
“What the hell was that?” he murmured.
I trembled in the aftershock, ridiculously glad that he didn’t deny the power of what had happened.
“Crazy…,” I said, still not able to speak coherently. “Just crazy.”
“Yeah,” he said and then kissed me.
It was different from the hungry kiss we’d shared earlier. It wasn’t even the wet I-can’t-wait-to-be-inside-you kiss we’d shared just before he’d slid into me. This one was gentle and sweet, but no less intense. I sighed and knew I was in trouble.
Slowly, he broke the kiss and touched his forehead to mine. “You are incredible, Ana,” he said at last. “I don’t know what to do with you.”
“Take me to bed,” I suggested, too tired and aware of the change between us to deny this…whatever it was anymore.
He didn’t have to be told twice. He gathered me into his arms and carried me up the stairs like a bride on her wedding night. Only this bride was already five-months pregnant and without benefit of the legal ceremony or even the love of her man.
One thing at a time, I supposed.
Chapter 13
I was in the middle of a wonderful dream. The babies were here, sleeping happily in perfect white cribs and Nicolas had his arms around me, telling me what a wonderful life we were all going to have together. The dream made me smile, even in my sleep.
BOUGHT: A Standalone Romance Page 24