“There’s the head, and nose…” Samara explained, running her fingernail over the picture.
The photo transformed and suddenly, Julian could see a baby.
“Oh my God.” He couldn’t believe it. There was a whole person in the photo and he hadn’t even seen it.
“The doctor asked me if I wanted to know the sex, but I didn’t. I like the surprise.”
He just nodded, not caring about that. Up until two days ago he wasn’t having a child at all, so its sex wasn’t important to him.
She pressed on. “Do you care what it is?”
“Uh…no. Not at all.” He tore his eyes away from the picture and slowly placed it down on the table.
A baby. He really was going to have a baby. His throat tightened and his chest began to squeeze tight, the air in the room thinning out so he couldn’t breathe.
“Um, I think I need to go. But, can we organize a lunch, or dinner… Some time when we can talk.”
So many things to sort out. He needed to change. Everything. His life did not suit a child.
“I have a hospital appointment next week if you want to come?” she asked, her voice a little anxious.
Why not? In for a penny, in for a pound. It would probably help him understand how this had all happened in the first place. “Yes. I would love that. Email me all the details, yeah?”
He was not coping suddenly and he needed to get away. Guilt or pure panic, he wasn’t sure which, but they were chasing him and he couldn’t get away fast enough. He turned toward the door, when he saw the flowers and he realized why he’d come here in the first place.
A calm washed over him. He would change. He was sure he could.
He swiveled back around and injected as much sincerity into his tone as possible. “Please ignore everything in that lawyer’s letter. We can work things out ourselves, and we have time. There’s no rush.”
She nodded, her eyes a little shiny. “Thank you. I appreciate that.”
He nodded once more and left, his thoughts and feelings whirling around in a big mess that was quite cathartic. He had to let go of his pre-conceived ideas and get on board with this new plan.
For the first time since he’d found out about the baby he was beginning to think that things might actually be okay. She was a sensible woman, and he’d forgotten that in the stress and hassle of the past few days.
Perhaps his luck with women, and people, had finally changed.
HE WAS LATE. She’d told him not to be late.
“Samara Jenkins?”
Her name was called by the nurse and with anger gripping her stomach, she pushed herself to her feet from the hospital waiting room. The doors of the lift opened with a melodic ding and Julian rushed out.
“I’m sorry I’m late.”
He looked properly contrite and she was surprised about how quickly her anger dissipated and happiness filled her. She was actually very relieved to see him and that surprised her.
She’d spent the week trying to come to terms with the fact that she would now be sharing her precious miracle with another person, and although it initially stung, she was warming to the idea that her child would have both a mother and a father who loved them.
“It’s okay.”
He smiled at her and they both walked over to where the nurse was directing them into one of the suites. They sat on the leather chairs and her obstetrician walked in.
“How are you today, Samara?”
“Good, Alex.” She indicated to the powerful man in a suit next to her. “This is Julian King. The father.”
She gave her obstetrician credit, he didn’t blink an eye, simply turned to Julian and shook his hand. “Nice to meet you. I’m Doctor Alex Lilliac. You must be excited about your little miracle here.”
Julian’s smile was forced. “I was surprised, to be honest. Samara told me that she believed she couldn’t conceive naturally.”
She resisted the need to roll her eyes. Let him ask his questions and check if she was being completely honest. She’d never lied to him, not on purpose anyway.
Alex sat down and stared straight at Julian. “By all accounts, she shouldn’t be able to. I’d estimated at least three rounds of IVF, and then perhaps a surrogate if she couldn’t carry to term. Samara is amazingly healthy and so is the baby, considering the limitations of her body.”
Julian nodded and swallowed. If he had any more questions, he kept them to himself.
“Would you like to take a quick look at your child?”
Julian nodded and Samara stood up and lay down on the doctor’s table.
Alex grabbed his small ultrasound machine, applied the clear lubricant to the head, and ran it over the swell of her belly with gentle proficiency.
The baby’s image popped onto the screen and her heart thumped in happy bliss.
“There you go, Samara. Beautiful, clear image. Nice strong heart beat.”
Julian was hovering around, and his eyes were transfixed on the screen. “Is everything okay?” he asked, his voice a little strained.
“Yes. So far, so good,” Dr. Alex said, his fingers tapping on the buttons as he measured the length of the baby’s spine.
“But there could be problems?” Julian asked, twisting around and looking at the doctor with concern written into the mini wrinkles on his forehead.
“Yes, there can always be problems, and with Samara’s past surgeries and history, there are risks. But we monitor her every week and we’re hoping for a good outcome.”
“Yes. I can’t wait,” she agreed, focusing on the beautiful natural birth she wanted in her mind. Visualization was key and the doctor had said that he would support her in her attempt.
Dr. Alex checked her blood pressure, weighed her, asked a few more questions, then they were out the door.
Samara tugged her scarf tighter around her neck. Winter was on its way.
“Thanks for coming, Julian.” She turned to see that strange look on his face again. She laughed, enjoying the glazed expression that clearly indicated that he was speechless.
He shook himself. “Ah… I. Would you join me for dinner?”
Hmmm… Where would this go if she agreed to dinner? No where she wanted at the moment.
“I’m not sure, Julian. If we are going to co-parent, that is one thing, but if you are trying to make a relationship between us work, I’m not sure that’s ever going to happen.”
His jaw tightened visibly and she knew that she had her answer. He wanted a proper relationship, or at least an attempt at one, and she wasn’t sure they’d ever get past the scars that had already been sliced and badly healed.
“Julian, I’m not sure you will ever trust me how I need to be trusted, and I don’t think I’ll ever quite believe you’re here for any other reason than an unwanted baby. It’s a mess.”
He shook his head, reaching out for her hands, and she let him take them. “What do I need to do to convince you to at least give us a chance?”
She glanced to the side. What would it take for her to trust him again? She had no idea. “There’s lots of things and yet nothing specific. I don’t know what to say. I don’t even know how we’re going to work out custody arrangements.”
“Stop talking like that. I don’t want to discuss custody. Forget about the baby, if you can, for one minute. I came back for you, Samara. I waited and waited, hoping you’d call, come visit, anything. Finally, I couldn’t stand it any longer, and I found you. Don’t you understand? I want you!” His eyes were so sincere and his words were every bit as beautiful as she’d imagined in her most secret of fantasies. But how to believe him?
“Julian, I don’t want you to be so closed up and secretive all the time. If there’s even a chance that we could make this work, I need you to open up. Let me know you, how you feel about everything. It’s the only way I’ll allow a relationship to develop.”
He leant forward slowly and pressed his lips to her forehead, sending ripples of soft pleasure out through her body.
When he leaned back, his eyes were shadowed but unguarded.
“I’m the man I am, and I know I can be hard to understand. So, I’ll try to give you what you want. I will. That’s all I can promise.”
She sighed and pulled away a little. That was something she supposed.
He lifted a hand and stroked it down her face. “Are you sure there isn’t a short cut to this, Samara? We got along so well in Hawaii.”
Trust the international businessman to want to close the deal early.
“I don’t know, Julian.” She let her gaze meet his again. “Let’s just give it some time… I suppose.”
That’s what they needed… And lots of luck, love, and laughter.
He smiled, not moving to get closer, though a small part of her wished he would. No one had kissed her since their last night together in Hawaii, and her body missed him, craved his touch.
“We have lots of that.”
JULIAN BOUGHT an apartment in Samara’s building a month later and moved in straight away. Leaving his multi-million-dollar apartment in central Manhattan was easier than he’d thought. Cathartic even, to get away from a living space that held nothing but bad memories for him.
He invited Samara to help him decorate the new apartment. The poor thing had been neglected for far too long from people who’d last renovated in the 80’s. He didn’t care how she changed things or what she did. He wouldn’t be living there long. He was on a mission. A life mission. He was building a family, and he didn’t care where he had to live, or what he had to do, to convince Samara that they would be perfect for each other’s futures.
He went along with all of her plans for a second home for their baby, a second nursery, a second bed for him. He had no intentions of living in his apartment building long term. He would buy her a big house opposite central park, or out of town. He didn’t care. As long as that vivacious, fun, sexy woman he knew in Hawaii came back into his life.
Because he missed her, the Samara who had so enchanted him for the two short weeks he’d enjoyed her presence. And he only realized it as she began to re-emerge. When she began to smile, and flirt, and arrange their lives with her concise brain, he fell more in like and lust with her.
He couldn’t admit to himself that it could be more than that, just yet.
Despite Samara’s reticence, he would never give up on them being together and as the days ticked over and they spent more time together, he knew he was doing the right thing. Pursuing the right woman.
“Would you come and meet my parents on the weekend?” he asked her over breakfast one Sunday morning. One of their many rituals.
He was still giving her lots of space to do everything she needed to do, and with his work commitments, he was still flying all over the world. But if he was in New York, he saw her every day. For a meal, a meeting, a chat. He found any excuse to see her, watch his child grow.
They hadn’t even kissed since Hawaii, yet the attraction between them grew by the day. Every smile, every flirt of her eyes sent a shiver of desire through him.
“Ah… I suppose I can. Why? Do they want a run down on the Waikiki project?”
He laughed. Hardly. “Ah, no. My parents want to meet the woman who’s having my baby.”
Samara, who was drinking fresh orange juice, choked and spluttered, orange specks of fruit splattering over the shiny bench top.
Yeah, I felt the same way initially. “What’s wrong?”
Samara picked up a white napkin and wiped at her mouth before cleaning up the juice that surrounded her plate. “I… uh, I hadn’t really thought about your family and how they’d react at the news. What did they say?”
His mother had been interesting indeed. “Well, to start with she was shocked. I have always declared that I would not have children.”
Samara’s eyebrows shot up and her head shook as she took the croissant from the plate in front of her, tearing at the end. “You didn’t tell me you never wanted children.”
He shrugged, belatedly realizing that he may have chosen the wrong thing to tell her out of that conversation with his mother, but he pushed on nonetheless. “Well, to be honest, I think I told them that just to annoy them, on one level. They were so adamant that I produce an heir for them, I just…”
She smiled at him, her eyes lighting up with mischief. “Didn’t want to give them the satisfaction huh?”
“No.”
“Well, what else did they say?” she asked, her posture relaxed now as she ate more of her breakfast.
“They were very happy, actually. Especially when I told them it was you. My mother holds you in high regard. She loves women who are ambitious, and hard working. As I said, they want to meet you.”
“How do they feel about the fact that we aren’t, you know…a couple?”
He grinned and didn’t answer, taking a bite of his own croissant, the melted cheese and ham making his mouth water and a moan escape.
“Julian! Come on! I’m not going if you’re not honest with me.”
He chuckled and prepared to spill his guts, a new and quite strange part of their relationship. “No secrets” was their main rule and so far, they seemed to be doing well with it.
“Honestly? My mother told me to marry you immediately. I told her I’d asked when I first found out and you’d turned me down, and rightly so.”
This caused Samara to sit back and smile at him. “Really?”
“Yes, really. I told her that it was the right thing to do, considering we didn’t know each other very well, but that I was still hoping to convince you to take me on.”
She giggled at that, her cheeks flushing with a beautiful happiness he hadn’t seen in a long time. “Take you on. Please!”
She rubbed her big belly in that gorgeous way she had and lust kicked inside him with a sudden-ness he wasn’t expecting. “Ah… Samara, can I feel it?”
“Oh. Sure.” She swiveled around off her chair and walked around the table to him.
He twisted on his stool and opened his legs, grabbing her and bringing her in.
She came into his arms and the cloud of her subtle lilac perfume teased his nose. He ran his hands up her side and cradled the swollen flesh that held his growing child.
The babe kicked out against his hands, the shifting of the flesh beneath his palms a minor miracle. “I wish I could sleep next to you and feel him through the night.”
“Him, huh?” she asked, her hands stretching up and running her fingers through Julian’s hair.
His breath caught in an odd way and his heart began to pound. God he’d missed her touch. He moved his hands around behind her waist and tugged her tighter.
She stared down at him, and although she didn’t move closer, she didn’t move away. He needed to kiss her, his heart screamed at him to do so. He cupped her jaw in his palm and pulled her closer, the soft skin of her face calling to him to caress and enjoy her.
Her lips touched his with the softness of butter and he groaned as flames licked at his soul. He needed to touch her, if only like this.
He licked at her lips and she opened up for him, a moan rolling through her throat as he delved deeper. Tasting her sweetness.
She pulled back, her breathing rapid. “I’m not ready for this.”
He knew she wasn’t, but he needed more. “I need you, Samara. I know you aren’t ready for sex. But I need to feel you against me. Feel close to you. Would you lie with me? Let me hold you?”
“With clothes on?”
He’d prefer not. “Underwear? I need to feel your skin. Please?”
He hated the tone of begging he could hear in his own words, but as Samara’s face transformed, he no longer regretted the words.
“I’d love that.”
She took his hand and pulled him to her bedroom, the duvet still rumpled from her sleep. “I just got out of here,” she joked while she unwrapped her top and awkwardly undressed.
Julian tugged at his own clothes, shedding everything except his cotton boxers, which w
ere already tenting. He gestured down to his errant body part. “I have no control over him, so I apologize in advance. It’s been a long time for him.”
Samara was covering her belly as though she was self-conscious. “How long’s too long?” She gulped suddenly then shook her head. “Sorry. I shouldn’t have asked. I probably don’t want to know.”
He laughed loudly at that one and pulled back the covers, lying down amongst the sweet smell of her skin. “By too long, I mean, since Hawaii.”
It was by far the longest he’d ever gone in his adult life, but something hadn’t been right. He’d dated a few women, tried to convince himself he could go back to his old life, but he hadn’t made it past a single dinner.
She continued to stand and stare so he threw back the covers. “Come on. I need to hold you.” She stood in her tiny pink lacy knickers and a bra that barely contained her swollen breasts. His cock jerked in his shorts just looking at her.
A brilliant smile lit up her face as she sat on the bed, swiveled around, lay down, and shuffled back until she had her gorgeous round arse pressed against his aching cock.
He settled his arm around her belly and kissed the back of her neck. She smelled like flowery soap and home. He closed his eyes and sighed as she nestled into his body.
She pulled his arms tighter around her and placed his hand on her belly, his child shifting and kicking out at him. “He’s so active today.”
She nodded and wiggled her bum into his groin.
Julian’s cock responded with its own wiggle and he groaned. “Hey. You need to stop that. You know how much I desire you.”
“Do you?” she asked, her voice catching in a way that told him how vulnerable she was feeling being with him like this. “I mean…even with this huge belly?”
He could tell her in words how much she meant to him, how beautiful her belly was, but actions spoke much louder. “Samara, seriously? Can’t you feel me?”
He ground his pelvis against her, sliding his rigid staff up and down the crease between her buttocks, the tension against his flesh causing a moan to pass through his lips.
Tropical Tryst: 25 All New and Exclusive Sexy Reads Page 37