by Terra Wolf
I laughed along with him, but I got out of the tub and covered my swimsuit with my regular clothes. He took my hand and led me to the hotel bar. We sat on stools at the bar, and he ordered a margarita. Isn’t that what you’re supposed to drink in Vegas?
“What are you having?” he asked.
“I’ll have a Shirley Temple.”
His head whipped around. This was the moment of truth, my bear paced. “What?”
“Shirley Temple.”
“Isn’t that a drink for kids?”
I jerked my chin sideways. “Do you have a problem with that? It’s not too expensive, is it?”
He turned beet red. “Of course not.”
He gave the bartender my order, but he couldn’t stop looking at me. My whole attitude changed when we left the hot tub and came in here. Now that we sat here talking to each other, I got stiff and distant again. He couldn’t help but notice.
He faced me with his shoulders squared. “So, what’s going on?”
“What do you mean, what’s going on? We’re in Vegas. You’re going to Brayden’s bachelor party, and I’m going to Julia’s bachelorette party. That’s what’s going on.”
“I mean what’s going on with you. You just met me for a secret sex rendezvous in the hot tub, and now you won’t talk to me.”
“I’m talking to you right now. How much more talking can I do?”
“Come on, Mckenna,” he chided. “What’s going on with you? I thought we put all that stuff behind us. Now we’re sitting in a bar in Vegas, and you’re ordering a Shirley Temple. You can’t sit there and tell me nothing’s going on.”
I arched an eyebrow at him, and my whole expression changed. He couldn’t understand how I could change so fast. One minute, he was talking to Helga the Horrible. The next minute, there I was, the woman of his dreams, all vulnerable and open and ripe for the taking. This couldn’t go on. I had to tell him the truth.
I took a deep breath and stared down at my hands knotted in my lap. “I’m drinking a Shirley Temple because I’m pregnant.”
He opened his mouth to say something and shut it with a click. He didn’t understand what I just said. He blinked and stared at me. He could have been struck by a bolt of lightning that fried his brain. I didn’t just say that. I wasn’t sitting here in front of him telling him I was pregnant.
My mind went into a tailspin. Almost three months of sneaking around, banging me on the side, taking me out to dinner, running errands for Brayden and Julia and then taking me back to his place afterwards—almost three months of doing it and it never crossed either of our minds to wonder if I would get pregnant.
I read his thoughts written all over his face. Everything he thought was true about his life changed as surely as mine did. He could never go back to being a free agent. A thousand details of child support and car seats and doctor bills clouded whatever remained of our relationship.
I was pregnant. He was a father, and I was the mother. We would have a cub, a child. I never wanted to be pregnant before, but now that I was, I embraced it. My bear was so protective of this little cub already. What he did no longer mattered. I would take responsibility. I would become the mother this child needed.
I glanced back and forth between my hands and my face. I couldn’t sit here with him staring into space. I jumped off my stool. I waved both hands. “I knew it was a mistake to tell you. I never should have said anything. I’m going upstairs to get my suitcase. I’ll get a flight back. You can explain to Brayden that I had to go. I don’t care what you say. Just explain it.”
I started to walk away when his hand shot out. He snatched my wrist out of the air. He yanked me back so hard I lost my balance. “Sit down, Mckenna. You’re not going anywhere.”
15
ELLIS
Mckenna gasped when I jerked her back. That startled fear in her eyes woke me from my stunned shock. I eased her back down on the stool. “Sit down, Mckenna. Please.” I took both her hands. I had to stay calm.
She was pregnant! She was going to have a cub—my cub! This was the culmination of so many of my dreams, I had to struggle to get a grip on myself.
She wouldn’t soften no matter what I did. I had to make this right. “Please don’t walk away. You didn’t make a mistake by telling me. I’m just surprised. I couldn’t be happier. I always dreamed of us being together and having cubs, and now that it’s happening, I don’t know what to do with myself.” Hysterical laughter boiled out of me. I couldn’t contain it.
She blinked at me. “You did?”
I couldn’t keep my hands off her. “Of course! This is the best news I could hope for. You’re pregnant! We’re going to have a child. You’re the only woman I ever wanted to have cubs with.”
She narrowed her eyes at me. “You’re not joshing me, are you? You’re not upset about this?”
I drew her close. “Is this what kept you at a distance all this time? Did you worry I would be angry and push you away again?” I closed my eyes against the pain in her face. “Don’t answer that. We’re together now. That’s all that matters.”
“What do you mean, we’re together?” she asked. “We’re not together. We’re not even involved.”
I struggled to keep my voice calm. I had to keep reminding myself. Go slow. Don’t scare her away. Don’t move too fast. “I know we’re not, but I want to be. I want us to be the real deal. I want us to be a family.”
Her eyes fell out of her head. “You do? Since when?”
“Since forever, Mckenna. Don’t you know I always wanted you?”
She sank back on her stool. “No, I never knew that.”
“Well, I did. Maybe I didn’t really realize it until we got involved this time, but now that it’s happening, that’s what I want. What do you say? Is that what you want, too? We could have it all, you and me.”
“You know that’s what I want, but....”
I waited for her to continue. “But what?”
Her chin fell on her chest. “But nothing. That’s what I want, too. That’s what I always wanted. I just never thought you wanted it.”
I burst out laughing, but when her head shot up to stare at me, I swallowed it down. I had to be a rock for her. I had to be steady and rational. I couldn’t show her how much I was busting to grab her and tackle her to the floor right there in the bar.
I settled for kissing her knuckles. “Come up to my room. Let’s blow this popsicle stand and get off somewhere where it’s just the two of us.”
She let out a shaky sigh. “All right.”
That’s all I needed to hear. I guided her by the hand to the elevator and back up to the eleventh floor. I unlocked the room and showed her inside. When I closed it behind me, I turned around to see her standing on the balcony.
I came up behind her and wrapped my arms around her waist. She swayed in my embrace. I closed my eyes and inhaled a deep breath of her hair. She was pregnant, and she was all mine. She wanted it all. She wanted everything I could give her. She was my mate.
My heart threatened to explode out of my chest with love for her. I would give her everything. I would protect her and provide for her.
Her voice startled me. “It looks different now, doesn’t it?”
I kissed her hair. “What does?”
She nodded at the city spread out below us. Lights winked on, and the strip gleamed and shimmered into the distance. “The whole world. It looks different. I never thought it would be this way. I thought getting pregnant would be a nightmare, but it actually makes the world look so much more beautiful. It looks bright and clean and wide open. I feel like I could stretch out my hand and the world would fall into it like a ripe peach.”
Her words stabbed my heart. I almost burst into tears, she made me so happy. That’s exactly the way I felt. The whole world was ripe and ready to be picked, just like her. I buried my face in her neck, and she leaned into me.
I whispered into her pearly skin. “Be mine, Mckenna. Be mine forever. Let me claim you.�
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She traced her fingers through my hair. “Shh. Shh. Everything’s okay now.”
My soul couldn’t contain so much happiness. I sank my teeth into that choice skin between her neck and shoulder. The air sucked through her teeth, and a delicious quiver passed down her body. When I pulled away my bite mark remained. She was mine now, forever. No matter what.
She turned to kiss me, passion flowing through her body. She wanted me all over again. That teaser in the hot tub only made her hotter than ever, the same way it always did.
Isn’t that what I brought her up to my room for? No, I brought her here to keep her with me, to keep her in my life and never let her go. I turned her around, so her body was facing out on the balcony. She rolled her back against me, and a moan escaped her mouth. She let go of the railing to grab my hips. She pulled me against her and bent over under my weight.
This couldn’t be happening. She couldn’t feel the same way I did and want all the same mind-blowing happiness. What did I ever do to deserve a woman like this? Without really meaning to, I got hard for her again. I got hard for her heart and mind and soul. She excited my bear, not just my body.
She massaged down my thighs and back up between them to the package inside my pants. She nudged it to aching solid hardness. Could I keep up with a woman like that? Could I give her everything she wanted and keep her satisfied?
I never doubted myself before that moment. I wanted nothing in the world but to fill her up and keep her filled. I wanted to give her everything she ever wanted. I wanted to keep her careening through space on an endless sea of orgasm, and I wasn’t sure I could do it.
She didn’t give me a chance to balk. Without looking, she crept her delicate fingers up my cock to my waistband. She hummed under her breath while she untied my shorts. She got it out, and the heavy cock fell into her hand.
She stroked it alive, and I couldn’t keep off her any longer. I attacked her blouse to expose the damp swimsuit top underneath. I pawed her breasts in aching lust. She was mine. She was all mine. I never had to hide how I felt about her. I never had to sneak around. I could kiss her in the middle of Main Street. God, I loved her so much! I never wanted to be anything but hers. My whole life belonged to her.
I clawed up her skirt and ripped her bikini bottoms off. I had to be inside her. I had to fall asleep in that glorious embrace of her flesh around me. She bent forward and angled my cock between her butt cheeks. She stirred her own juices with it and guided it home.
I stared over her head at the city falling into night. My lips curled back from my teeth, and I howled in ecstasy at that burning fire incinerating my life to ashes. I existed only in her and because of her.
She eased her ass back against my hips to plunge my shaft into her forbidden zone. She bumped her voluptuous curves into my ever-increasing thrusts. This was the greatest gift anyone could give me.
She danced in my arms in the glory of life-giving pleasure, and the words crashed through my brain on endless waves of cosmic realization. She was pregnant, and she was all mine. She would give birth to my children and live in my house. We’d go driving on the weekends and shopping on the weekdays after the kids got home from school. We’d be so normal no one would recognize us.
I would come home from work and take a shower, and after dinner, she and I would crawl into bed together and do...this. This heaven, this rapture, this eternal daydream—this was what I had to look forward to for the rest of my life.
16
MCKENNA
My phone rang, and Julia popped up on the screen. “Hey, girl. Are you coming over for the rehearsal dinner?”
I laughed at her. “Of course! I’m in the wedding party, aren’t I?”
Her voice came from far away. “I guess so.”
I crossed my arms over my chest. “All right. Spill it, girl. What’s bothering you?”
“Have you seen Ellis Johnson recently?”
My blood ran cold. “I haven’t seen him since Vegas. Why?”
“Brayden hasn’t seen him, either. No one knows what’s up with him. We aren’t even sure if he’s still coming.”
I thought fast. “Why wouldn’t he come? Why would he go to all the trouble of helping us with the wedding plans and coming to Vegas for the bachelor party, only to disappear?”
“That’s what I thought, but that’s what happened. No one knows where he is or if he’s still in the wedding party.”
“Well, has Brayden called him to find out what’s up?”
“No, but...”
“Don’t you think you ought to at least ask him? He’s just a phone call away.”
“I guess so.”
“He’s a busy guy. And his family… has a lot going on.” I didn’t want to mention Celeste. “I’m sure it’s just a miscommunication. Call him up and make sure he’s coming to the rehearsal.”
Julia’s voice brightened. “You’re right. I’ll call him.”
“Why don’t you have Brayden call him?”
“Actually....” She hesitated. “I was hoping you would offer to call him.”
“Me! Why would I call him?”
“You spent the most time with him after the engagement party. You know him the best.”
I smacked my lips. “I don’t know him better than Brayden. If anybody’s going to call him, it should be that fiancé of yours.”
Julia laughed. “You’re right again. Sorry to bother you.”
“No, bother at all. I’m sure there’s a perfectly logical explanation for all this.”
“Right. Thanks.”
I hung up, but I couldn’t shake the questions hanging in the air. I hadn’t seen Ellis since Vegas. He never called. He never made any lame excuses to spend time with me or ambush me behind the mulberry tree. Maybe he changed his mind about us and everything.
Even if he got busy with work, what could be more important than this baby? So, what if we still had seven months before the baby came around came around? I still needed him. Didn’t he understand that? Didn’t he know I would start to worry if he went AWOL?
I could call him up, too. He wasn’t more than a phone call away from me, either, but he might as well be on another planet as far as I was concerned. What could he be doing? What could he be thinking?
A couple of seconds later, the phone rang. It was Julia again. “Hey, girl. You were right. Brayden called him. He’s super busy with work, but he’s coming to the rehearsal dinner, so we’ll see him there.”
“What did I tell you?”
Julia laughed. “You’re always right, Mckenna. Hey, could you do me a favor?”
“Sure. Name it.”
“I need you to come with me to the final fitting for my dress. I’ve got no one to go with me, and I need someone to...”
“What—no one?”
“Nope. You’re the only one around. My sister Teresa is out of town, Helena had to take Ricky to the doctor, and all the other bridesmaids are too busy with their own stuff. Will you come? I really need you.”
“You know I’ll come. When do you want to go?”
“This afternoon, three o’clock.”
“Sure. No problem.”
“After we leave the fitting, I need you to come with me to the florist. I have to make the final arrangements for the decorations for the hall, and I have to give them the last grand for the flowers.”
“Okay. Since we’ll be out together anyway, I might as well.”
“Thank you so much. You don’t know what this means to me. You know I was never any good at doing this type of thing alone. I need someone holding my hand.”
I sighed. “Don’t we all.”
“Yeah. I’ll pick you up at two-thirty.”
I waited until I hung up again to let my heart sink into my shoes. So, Ellis really was busy with work. That only made me feel worse. So, there I was at the bottom of his to-do list. That was just great, and me getting more and more pregnant all the time.
I could understand if he got run over by a
bus and was laid up in intensive care for the last six weeks. I wouldn’t even have minded if he got some dread disease and got put into quarantine, as long as only the extreme circumstances kept him away from groveling at my feet.
Okay, so it wasn’t as bad as all that, but how about a little phone call? Even a text would do. What could be so important that he would leave me hanging like this? Was Celeste in that much trouble again.
I went through all the same agony of uncertainty and insecurity I went through she had issues the first time. What could cause him to avoid me like this? What could cast such an insurmountable rift between us? Was this the relationship I had to look forward to for the rest of this child’s life?
I fretted and worried myself into a state of high tension until Julia pulled up at my door. I shoved every thought about Ellis out of my mind and ran down the steps. I hopped into her car, and away we went.
Nothing was more important than making Julia feel special on her wedding day. I had nine months to be pregnant and twenty more years after that to be a mother. Julia had one day. I could put off whatever distress this caused me to focus on her.
She drove to the dress shop and parked in the parking lot. When I threw the door open, her hand fell on my arm. “Wait a second, Mckenna.”
My eyes popped. “What’s up?”
There, right in front of my eyes, she burst into tears. She covered her face with both hands and blubbered. “I don’t know if I can go through with this. Do you really think Brayden’s the right guy for me? I shouldn’t even be talking to you about this. You’re his sister, for Christ sake. I don’t know what to do. I can’t stop thinking I’m making a terrible mistake.”
I stared at her with my mouth open. “Are you serious?”
She nodded so fast the tears flew of her cheeks. “I mean, I love Brayden and all. He’s the most perfect guy I can imagine, but marriage is supposed to be forever, right? What if I make a mistake? Or what if Brayden makes a mistake? What if I’m certain and he’s not? I’m a human and he’s not! Does that matter? What if the wedding is a disaster and I’m humiliated in front of everyone?”