I'd only just summoned an image in my head, of Libby in a curve-hugging white silk gown when my phone began to buzz. I answered without looking at the screen.
"What the fuck do you think you're doing?" Elaine's voice was piercing. "The ink isn't dry on our divorce papers and you're fucking getting married again?"
"Thoughtful of you to call, Elaine. But what I do isn't any of your business anymore." I was working hard to keep my voice calm. "You had me served, if you'll remember. And everything between us was over a long time before then."
"And you don't give a shit how this makes me look?" I held the phone farther away and took a long, slow breath. "What will everyone think, when you turn around and marry some stray off the streets right after we settled the divorce. Goddamn it, Jack. I've got my pride." Her words were long and drawn out. I'd forgotten how her southern drawl often came out along with her claws.
"You're only right about one thing," I said. "We settled our divorce. And I gave you everything you asked for…"
"Nowhere near what I deserved…," she shot back.
"We're over, once and for all, Elaine. And the woman I'm about to marry is no fucking stray." The word came out through my teeth, like an expletive. "She's the most honest and kind person I've ever known. She's everything I've ever wanted…"
"You don't fucking understand, Jack…"
I cut her off, gently, patiently the way you would an upset child. "No, Elaine. I do understand.
For the first time in my life, I really do."
16
Libby
I stretched and flexed my shoulders when I heard Jack's car heading up the drive. He was earlier than he'd said, and I was excited by the sound of his steps on the gravel. I'd been working on my sculpture since he'd left. It was far from finished, but I wanted him to see it anyway. There had been something special about this piece from the very start. I wanted to see if he could feel it too.
"Libby." He stood in the doorway, his hair a mess, but his eyes warm and soft on me. "I can't tell you how good it is to come home to you."
"Come over here," I said, reaching out a hand toward him. "Close your eyes… give me your hands."
I guided him to my chair and put my hands on his broad shoulders, sitting him down. I stood behind him and covered his hands with mine. "Forget everything," I whispered in his ear. "Keep your eyes closed and forget the whole world. The only thing that exists right now is your hands… your fingertips…"
I guided them to the piece on the table and helped him take the plastic cover off. Then I put his hands on the clay. I let my hands rest lightly on top of his. He had beautiful hands, with long, sensitive fingers. They were large and strong, but touched the clay with a lightness, a delicacy that made the surface of my skin tingle.
He explored the curves, the angles, what was smooth and what was still rough. He found the places where I'd just begun to create a few tiny details. The folds and the gentle valleys. The only sound in the room was our breathing. And he took his time. All the while my hands on his.
"It's only just beginning…," he said softly, into the silence. "But it's gentle and beautiful. It's familiar to me somehow, but I don't know…"
"I don't either," I said, smiling. "Not just yet. But it's going to be beautiful, I know that. All I have to do is help it find its way…"
The next thing I knew, Jack was standing beside me, towering over me, his hands touching my skin the way he'd touched the clay. His mouth found mine and I was lost in him. His touch, the taste of his lips. He was salty and sweet, making me want more. His cock would taste like this, I thought wildly. It was huge and pressing hard into my belly. I rocked my hips against him and the moan that escaped him made me bolder… frantic. It wasn't right, I thought, to have a man's child in your belly before you got to have the man himself…
I slid my hands up under his shirt and hit rock hard pecs. But the skin was like velvet under my fingers. He groaned and peeled my blouse off in a single move. I was naked under it, and my nipples were aching with need. All the air left my lungs when he took my breasts in his hands and he dipped his head. I was spilling over, swollen and tender. He caught one thickening nipple in his mouth, sucking and licking all at once. I wrapped a leg around his hips and my skirt climbed higher… High enough my soaking wet panties were pressed tight up against his slacks.
"God, Libby… I want you so fucking much…" His face was buried in my cleavage, his hands cupping my ass as he rocked his length along my barely covered pussy. "I've wanted this since I saw you… all fucking curves and sweetness…"
"Please... oh, please god…," I panted back. "I want this too. I fucking need this, Jack…" Even to my own ears it sounded like begging. But I was beyond caring. My body, my heart… wanted this man. It couldn't be wrong, not when it felt like this… not with everything between us already…
He pulled back, looking at me like he wanted to devour me whole. I might have been frightened… if I hadn't been feeling it too.
"I don't want to hurt you," he said, kissing me, tasting me, shaping me to him. "I was supposed to keep this… just… business…"
"You won't hurt me," I moaned, his tongue finding the throbbing curve of my throat. "And there's nothing wrong with wanting…"
"Christ...," he cursed, sweeping me off my feet. "You have a body that would tempt a fucking saint," he swore, his breath hot in my ear. "I can't risk the baby, Libby. I won't…
But so fucking help me, I'm going to have you tonight. I can't wait any longer."
For a man who couldn't wait, he was taking his sweet, fucking time.
I was stripped bare and there wasn't an inch of my flesh he hadn't discovered… that he hadn't tasted. All except for the single few inches left inside me that were screaming out for him. His pants were still on, his cock all but ready to break free on its own.
He'd carried me upstairs, laying me down on his bed like I was something precious, breakable. "Not yet," he'd said through his teeth, when I'd reached for his belt. "I want you satisfied before you touch me, sweetheart. I'm not going to risk fucking you. Not now… not so soon after… I can't risk hurting you or the baby. And I can't trust myself when you're looking at me like you are right now…"
‘How?" I demanded boldly. "Tell me how…"
"Like you could swallow my cock so deep inside I'd be lost…," he answered. "You're so sweet, so soft… so luscious… I don't think I could have you just once… without wanting you forever…," he kissed me deeply and touched his fingertips to the place where I craved him most. "But I want you totally satisfied, baby…" He pushed two long, hot fingers into me, achingly slowly as I felt myself clenching for more. "I'm not going to stop until you come on my tongue." He dipped his face down to my core and my hips bucked all on their own. "I want you spent and exhausted by the time we get to me…"
I ached and cried out as his mouth took me in. He didn't just lick me. He took me inside his mouth, working with his fingers and his tongue. He eased off when my cries hit the high notes, and worked me harder when I moaned deep and low. It could have been minutes, it lingered like hours… And when I came, it seemed to last forever.
I ached and he gave.
I needed and he was there.
I hungered and he was everything I craved.
When I collapsed in his arms, he held me, stroking my face.
"Beautiful," he said easily. "Just like I knew you would be."
17
Jack
I'd intended to let her sleep. Fuck the goddamn hard on that was damn near to exploding on its own. She was the mother of my child and I'd be damned if I was letting it have its way.
But her eyelids fluttered back open only minutes after she'd come. She tasted sweet and juicy, just like I'd known she would. What I hadn't expected was for her to climb up on top of me, sitting on my thighs as her hands worked to free me. I sprang out, thick and throbbing with the pace of my heart. She shifted and slipped my pants down, leaving me raw, naked and pounding. "Put your
hands on me," I groaned, grasping them and guiding them onto my enormous shaft. "I can't fuck you, I can't risk hurting you… But god, Libby, I need the feeling of your skin on me."
I arched back as she grasped me. What was already huge got even bigger. I was like putty in her hands. Thick, hard, demanding putty with a fucking mind of its own. She started to stroke me, using both hands on my length. "Oh my god, Jack," she breathed. "Oh, my god."
Before I knew it, she had me in her mouth. She'd slipped her ass back along my thighs and in one move had fallen forward, engulfing me in a world of hot, wet, silk. "Oh, Christ…" I barely got the words out.
She took me in as far as she could, resting her heavy breasts on my thighs, working her hands and her mouth together. I could feel the sides of her cheeks on my shaft, the muscles moving as she sucked. "Oh… fucking… shit…," I gasped out. My balls were huge and tight, ready to explode. I clenched my teeth, holding out as long as I could bear it. But everything about Libby was overwhelming… Fucking everything…
I reached down, grasping her curls in my hands. As much as I wanted to come in her mouth, I wanted something else even more. I took her perfect ass in my hands and slipped her hips up and over mine. Her soft, sweet, hot pussy lips wrapped my cock. She was so slick, so ready for me… but I didn't dare thrust up inside her…
"Just work yourself on me, baby." I moved her back and forth on my shaft, feeling her hard little clit sliding on my length. "Rub that fucking sweet pussy on me and make come all over your little belly."
She was breathing fast and hard as she fell into her rhythm. She knew what I wanted… just what I needed… and she used her pussy the way she'd used her mouth. Sliding up and down along my cock, faster and faster.
"God, Jack I want you inside me so much," she gasped out, her shoulders falling forward with her movements. Her breasts were in my face, her nipples against my cheeks as her hips worked. I held her tight, using my hands to help her move, setting a pace that had us both racing for release.
"Fuck, baby." I was so close, my cock was already seeping. It would have been so goddamned easy to slip right in… "I want you, sweetheart," I gasped out as she rode me faster. "So fucking much… so fucking deep…"
Her thighs clenched me as her climax shook her and I could feel the spasms as her pussy tightened along my shaft. A second later, she took me with her over the edge and our bodies drove frantically against each other. Hot pulses of come covered my belly and hers as we held onto each other…
And even long, long into the night, even once we finally slept, we never let go.
I woke before she did, and eased myself from under the sheets without waking her. Her long lashes fanned out over creamy skin, her lips were still swollen from my kisses…
I wanted her all over again, even more powerfully after having had a taste of her. But I knew I'd been right to hold back last night. We were, at most, only a few weeks away from confirming that Libby was pregnant. And fuck, if I was being too cautious. There was nothing I wouldn't give up to protect that child.
I closed the bedroom door behind me and headed for the shower, turning the water on full blast. The cold hit my skin with a shock, but warmed fast. All I could think about was Libby. Her taste… her touch… her sweetness…
As the sun rose outside the window and I remembered every moment, each exquisite inch of her skin, there were other feelings too, more complicated ones that kept creeping in. What had happened between us had been perfectly natural. An attraction based on the unusual circumstances we were in. Two unattached people, living together for the next nine months. About to experience one of life's greatest miracles together… Soon we'd be presenting ourselves as a happily married couple. It was natural that we'd both gotten carried away, understandable that we'd wanted to give in…
I stood under the water, letting it run through my hair, down my chest. It was good to have gotten it out of our systems… and good it hadn't gone any farther than it had. But still…
My cock stirred, stiffening again. Hell, I still wanted to fuck her. I wanted to fuck her now, and when we found out she was pregnant. And again when her belly started to grow round and her breasts grew even heavier… Ripe and delicious… like my own fucking fertility goddess…
All I wanted was her, all I needed was her. And yet we'd both signed that fucking contract. And the deal between us was still just business.
There was no place for a relationship in my life. And I knew Libby felt the same. She signed the papers, stating once the baby was born, she'd be out of our lives forever. No matter what else might happen between us, nine months from now, we'd be signing divorce papers and she'd be packing up her bags. The thought made something in my chest constrict painfully.
What I'd experienced with Libby in these last few weeks had made me feel things I'd never felt for any woman before. Even without having taken her completely last night, without having truly made her mine, I felt a deeper connection to her than I'd ever experienced before in any other relationship.
But the agreement between us had nothing to do with connection or relationship. It was about creating a child. My child. She'd made it perfectly clear she had no desire to be a mother herself. And I'd already been through that painful experience before…
While my heart and my body wanted more, so much more, I knew I had no right to complicate Libby's life with desires she didn't share. I didn't want to confuse her. And I couldn't imagine doing anything to hurt her… I owed her too much.
No, last night hadn't been a mistake. At least not for me. I prayed Libby wouldn't regret it either.
But I also knew it wouldn't be fair, to ever let it happen again.
When the time came, I knew that for her own sake, I would have to let Libby go.
18
Libby
I pushed the hair back out of my eyes and pulled the cover over the clay. I'd promised Jack I wouldn't swim again without him, and I'd kept my promise. But I wandered out to the edge of the water anyway, squinting from the sun. There was no one around to see and I bent down splashing water over my hair and tee shirt. It was really getting too cool to swim anyway, but the sun was warm on my skin and I stretched out on the white sand.
The night Jack and I had… well… let's say been together… was almost a week ago now. I could still feel him on my skin. Every time I looked at him, I felt the same hot, flood of desire roll over me. But something had changed between us. And we hadn't talked about it. Not yet.
It was almost as if he'd had his fill of me. Oh, he was still kind and attentive. Almost too attentive. It seemed like he knew what I needed before I did. And he was always there, with a warm smile and those velvety brown eyes… But he'd never reached for me again. And I wasn't sure he ever would.
Sometimes, I'd catch him watching me. In the evening, when we were curled up in our matching chairs. Watching a movie… or just watching the fire in the fireplace. We talked about his work and mine. How I was feeling. What the baby might look like. If I could feel her inside me yet…
His eyes would shine and we would laugh together. We'd spent hours on the phone with his mom and India, vetoing or approving wedding ideas. I couldn't think of a time I'd ever felt so completely content. So truly happy. And when our eyes would meet, I could swear he was feeling the same deep pull inside that I was. That instinct under all the rest that draws us toward that one right person…
But he'd never reached out for me again. And despite my crazy baby hormones, I think I knew it was for the best. After all, it had never been me he truly wanted. Even though he was kind and thoughtful and caring… The only reason I was here was all about the baby. I had no right to want anything more from him. And the contract made that perfectly clear.
When I was alone like this, I knew it was really all for the best. What sense was there, in developing the sexual attraction between us any further? After the baby was born, I had a life of my own and a career to pursue. It had been enough for me before Jack, and it would be enough f
or me again. For the next nine months, it had to be the baby that came first. That was a commitment I took very seriously. But after that, Jack and I would go our separate ways. It didn't matter that I'd allowed myself to fantasize about having more. No matter what we were pretending at, we weren't a real couple. And nothing about the marriage would be real either.
It was just that sometimes, if I let my mind wander, it felt good pretending it could be real. That he was taking care of me, too… and not just the baby. I liked to imagine having a real family of my own… even though I knew it just wasn't in the cards. I didn't even know what it felt like, to be part of a real family. How can a woman be a mother when she never had one herself?
I heard the tires roll up the drive and turned toward the sound. Jack was heading toward me, India smiling at his side. I'd forgotten our plans until just then.
Today she was taking us both out to lunch. And later, while Jack was being fitted for his tux, his sister and I would be picking out my wedding gown.
"If you don't choose this one, you're out of your mind, that's all I have to say." India sat with a glass of champagne in her hand while I looked at my backside in the mirror.
"But it's so… so…" I twisted around to look from the other direction, as if that would somehow make it appear smaller. "Big," I added.
"Like the rest of us would kill for, you mean." She stood up and waved her glass. "You've got all the right curves in all the best places, Libby. Now stop being critical, and just look…"
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