It's a Boy!

by Victoria Pade

  He sped up, moving with the same method only more rapidly. Diving into her, pulling out. Diving in with that extra oomph just before he was out again. That extra oomph that she learned to meet.

  With impeccable rhythm and timing, perfectly matched, they rode wave after wave. Each one taking Heddy nearer and nearer to what they were striving for. That peak that—when she reached it—was like an explosion inside her that rained shards of the most glorious, glittering pleasure, stealing her breath, stopping time, suspending her in a place she never wanted to leave.

  Somewhere in the middle of that Lang reached his own pinnacle, intensifying hers even more and sending shudders of stronger pleasure through her, through him, melding them into one. Clinging to him, Heddy could only hang on as it all washed through her, over her, taking her will and setting her free.

  And then it all began to ebb, and Heddy felt herself tumbling slowly down the other side of that peak. Drained and weak and supremely satisfied, she wilted under the weight of Lang.

  Her arms were still around him and she pressed her palms over every inch of his hot, sweat-dampened back before she lost even that strength and her arms had to fall back to the mattress in complete surrender.

  He kissed the side of her neck and dropped his forehead to the bed just above her shoulder, moaning softly.

  Then, in a passion-raspy voice he said, “Where are your keys?”

  “My keys?”

  “Your car keys.”

  “In my purse. Downstairs.”

  He pushed himself up and away from her and walked toward the door.

  Despite her confusion, Heddy reveled in the luscious sight of his naked backside, of a bare derriere so fine it was almost enough to get another rise out of her.

  But then he was gone, and she felt as if she had become part of the quilt and didn’t have the energy to move.

  Instead she just lay there, listening to the sounds of him padding down the stairs then back up again.

  From beneath hooded lids she stole another glimpse of the naked man whom Greek statues could have been modeled after.

  He went to the head of the bed and flung the quilt and the covers aside. The next thing Heddy knew he was picking her up again then depositing her on the cool, crisp sheets that he crawled into with her.

  He eased a long, muscular arm underneath her and rolled her as close to his side as he could get her. Close enough for her leg to fall over his before he yanked the blanket and quilt over them both.

  “Your keys are hidden,” he announced then.

  Heddy laughed. “You’re holding me hostage?”

  “For tonight. Just for tonight. But yeah... There’s no way I could let you get away from me tonight. Tomorrow I suppose I’ll have to let you go. But tonight is mine. You’re mine.”

  Heddy just laughed. She was too tired, too spent to argue even though she thought that she probably should. Plus there was another part of her that was already inching toward wanting him again and she couldn’t put up any kind of fight that might prevent that.

  So she just nestled her head into the hollow below one of his massive shoulders and closed her eyes.

  “Okay, but anything after tomorrow and it hits the newspapers,” she jokingly threatened. “The headline will be ‘I Was Held Hostage by a Camden.’”

  “‘And Used as His Love Slave,’” Lang contributed, resting a warm hand on the outer curve of her bare breast.

  “Or ‘And I Made Him My Love Slave,’” she amended.

  He laughed a throaty laugh. “Whenever you’re ready,” he said, bringing his other arm around to hold her even as she felt him relaxing into sleep.

  Chapter Nine

  “No! Can’t go down there! Immuh ’fraid. There’s dragons an’ hippos an’ sheep down there!”

  Lang closed his eyes, dropped his head forward and shook it in disbelief and frustration. It was Tuesday evening. He hadn’t slept worth a damn Sunday or Monday night. He’d forgotten to do laundry and had to do it in a hurry when he and Carter had come home for the day. It had taken so long that Carter was late getting to bed while they’d waited for his pajamas to dry. And now the toddler’s newest obsession was sucking up more time.

  At GiGi’s Sunday dinner Lang’s brother Dane had brought Carter a DVD as a gift. An animated movie about a dragon. Lang had set it up for Carter to watch when he’d grown weary of the lengthy adult dinner the way he always did on Sundays.

  No one had understood why Carter had been afraid of the kid-friendly dragon in the movie. He’d watched the entire thing hiding behind the sofa, merely peeking out to see what was on the screen, but pitching a screaming fit if anyone tried to turn it off.

  Lang had no idea how hippos and sheep had been added to the fear list but ever since Sunday Carter had been insisting that he was afraid of all three, and that all three were hiding somewhere to get him. Mainly in places he didn’t want to go anyway, but still, he was insistent.

  “I can’t leave you up here on your own,” Lang told him. “You get into too much mischief. So come on, I’ll carry you and I won’t let any dragons or hippos or sheep... Sheep? Really? Sheep?”

  “Sheep ’r bad!”

  “Okay, I won’t let any dragons or hippos or even sheep get you. I promise. But we need your pajamas so you can go to bed!”

  Carter frowned at him but Lang had had a long day, so without further preamble he picked Carter up and headed for the basement laundry room.

  “They’re gunna git me!” Carter lamented, hooking an arm around the back of Lang’s neck like a vise and hiding his face in Lang’s shoulder.

  “I won’t let ’em get you. I would never let that happen.”

  “Can you fight ’em good as Ninzsa Tortle?” Carter whispered.

  “I can,” Lang said with confidence as, still holding the clinging toddler on one hip, he opened the dryer door, rummaged for what he needed and went upstairs again.

  Once he had the little boy dressed and tucked into bed, Carter once more played the dragons, hippos and sheep card to get Lang to stay with him until he fell asleep. This, too, had been happening since Sunday night and Lang had now learned that it was easier and quicker to give in than to fight it.

  “Okay, but you know the deal—no talking and you have to close your eyes.”

  Carter had learned the terms and did as he was told.

  “Sit by my plillow,” the closed-eyed Carter commanded.

  Lang also did as he was told and sat with his back against the headboard. He rubbed Carter’s brow to soothe him to sleep, sympathetic to the toddler’s fears because he was wrestling with some fears of his own.

  Of things that were much scarier than dragons and hippos...and sheep.

  Since Saturday when Heddy had spent the night, he was scared out of his mind over what he was feeling for her. Over what he wanted. Over what he just couldn’t stop wanting.

  In fact, he’d spent the past three days in silent panic.

  Regardless of how guarded—or according to his family, how closed off—he might have been before he’d met Heddy, she had somehow slipped in anyway. It was as if his feelings for her had developed and grown but camouflaged themselves enough to fool him into thinking that they were smaller than they were and that he could manage them. Control them. Walk away from them when the time came and have them dissolve.

  Then they’d spent Saturday night together.

  And the camouflage had dropped away and he’d been shocked to discover the extent of the feelings hiding behind it. There they’d been, bigger than he was.

  He hadn’t so much as called her since she’d left Sunday morning but he also hadn’t thought about anything but her since then, either. And how much he wanted to hear her voice. To see her. To be with her. Every minute of every day and night.

  Righ
t at that moment he would have given his right arm to be able to walk out of Carter’s room, down the stairs and find her waiting for him to spend the rest of tonight with...

  But what if she doesn’t feel the same way?

  He couldn’t shake that question any more than he could shake the rest of it. It had been jabbing at him alongside every single urge to call her, to see her, to be with her.

  After all, he’d wanted Audrey as much as he wanted Heddy, and Audrey hadn’t felt the same way about him. Hell, he wanted Heddy even more than he’d wanted Audrey. Which only meant that it could be even worse for him if Heddy didn’t want him.

  Worse.

  And Audrey’s rejection had been bad enough.

  He really, truly, didn’t think he could go through what he’d gone through again.

  So for the past three days he’d been doing his damnedest to talk himself out of these feelings he had for Heddy. To make them go away.

  Only nothing had worked. Not reminding himself that there was a bad history between their families. Not reminding himself that he had enough to deal with in terms of the newness of parenthood. Not reminding himself that he and Heddy had come together merely for business and that that was how it should have stayed. Not even trying to find some kind of fatal flaw in her that could help stamp out the feelings.

  Nothing.

  If anything, every day that went by without seeing her, every hour, every minute, only made him want to be with her all the more.

  He wanted her so damn bad it hurt.

  And that reminded him of the way he’d felt after Audrey.

  Full circle. Around and around he’d been going for three days.

  He sighed in disgust with himself and glanced down at Carter.

  Who was peeking up at him through the slit of just one eye.

  “Close it,” he ordered the toddler.

  Carter wiggled around to reposition himself, tucked Baby under his chin and closed his eyes again. “Rub over here,” he suggested, pointing to his cheek.

  Lang smiled and buffed the soft skin of one chubby cheek with the back of his index finger.

  And returned to those musings that he just couldn’t escape.

  He’d made it through the aftermath of Audrey and not only figured out how to go on, but also managed to find a way to want to. But not without a plan. A plan that demanded extreme caution. That demanded that he not go out on a limb for love again. And he’d been fine with that. It had worked for him for the past three and a half years.

  Until Heddy.

  And now he was a mess again.

  How had this happened?

  This is the year for that question, isn’t it? he thought. First over Carter, now over Heddy.

  But Carter had been an accident. A twist of fate.

  He didn’t know what Heddy was.

  Except that she was great.

  She was the complete package. Beautiful. Sweet. Kind. Funny. Easy to talk to, to be with.... And sexy as all hell without even knowing it.

  Perfect.

  She was perfect. At least for him. And Saturday night had cinched the deal because he’d never had a night as good as that one....

  Another glance at Carter and Lang could tell the toddler was finally asleep. He carefully got off the bed and left the room, leaving the door only partially closed the way Carter liked it.

  No, Heddy was not waiting for him when he got down the stairs. His living room was empty. And that was how it felt—everything without her felt empty. He felt empty without her.

  “Damn!” He cursed himself as he swung through the desolate living room and went to the basement to get the rest of the laundry.

  Where there were still no dragons or hippos or sheep.

  But Lang’s own fears were very real. And torturing him.

  After Audrey he’d been in such a funk that he hadn’t been able to see straight. He hadn’t been able to work. He hadn’t been able to get his brain to function enough to do anything but mope. He’d been lost. He’d had to figure out how to do just about everything in life on his own.

  He’d gotten together with Audrey when they were both just kids. Fourteen. And not only had he loved her, he’d done everything from then on with her in mind. Or let her just do things for him.

  She’d picked out his clothes. She’d told him how she thought his hair looked best. She’d kept track of all the birthdays in his family and usually recommended the gifts he should buy. She’d arranged their social life. She’d accepted or declined invitations. She’d basically done everything.

  When she was gone, he’d had to step up his game on all of those fronts, too. So he’d been miserable and inept at pretty much everything except for his job.

  “At least I’m not in that deep,” he muttered to himself as he took the laundry upstairs to fold—yet another thing he’d had to figure out how to do after Audrey.

  Which gave him another way to look at things.

  Maybe he was grasping at straws, but what if now was the time to see if it could work out with Heddy because he wasn’t in as deeply with her as he had been at the end with Audrey?

  When it came to his feelings, he was already a goner—he wanted to deny that but he couldn’t. So he gave in and just admitted it to himself—Heddy was in his blood and already being away from her made him miserable. He hated it, but he knew that if she wasn’t in his life, it was going to be as difficult for him as losing Audrey had been. He cared for Heddy that much. He wanted her that much. If he couldn’t have her it was going to kill him....

  But if he took the leap now and got shot down, at least their lives weren’t too entwined yet.

  “That’s some skewed logic,” he said out loud.

  Still it made a certain amount of sense to him. If she wouldn’t have him, it would wipe him out emotionally. But at least at this early stage he could go on with the day-to-day. And hide what he was feeling.

  The way he’d been hiding what he was feeling since Sunday morning.

  But he was crazy about Heddy. He wanted her in his life. Permanently.

  There was just no way around it.

  And while he also had his hands full with sudden parenthood, the truth was that parenthood was better when Heddy was there, too. That the three of them made a better family than he and Carter alone did. That seeing Carter through Heddy’s eyes helped him appreciate the little boy. It helped him have more patience and made him a better parent.

  Everything was just better with Heddy along because she was the right fit. The perfect match. The complete package.

  He was already all-in.

  And the only chance he had to find out if she might be all-in, as well, was if he laid his cards on the table. If he told her what he wanted.

  He just hoped to God that it was something she wanted, too.

  * * *

  Heddy was worried when she received a phone call from Lang at nine o’clock on Tuesday night asking if he could see her right away.

  Of course she’d said he could come over—she’d been aching to see him since she’d left his house on Sunday morning.

  But she’d also been a barrel of confusion since then and the insistence and anxiousness in his tone didn’t help matters.

  Knowing that she had about half an hour before he arrived, she threw on a better pair of jeans and a double layer of T-shirts. She reapplied the makeup she’d already washed off for the day and brushed her hair—leaving it the way she knew Lang liked it, long and loose around her shoulders.

  Then she paced.

  And agonized and felt guilty and excited all at once, wondering why Lang was suddenly on his way to her without explanation, after she hadn’t heard from him since they’d slept together.

  Was he coming to tell her that sleeping with her had been
a mistake? And if that was the case, could it affect the grant or the arrangement to sell her cheesecakes to Camden Superstores?

  She didn’t think her business, her livelihood, could be ruined the way her mother and grandfather’s bakery had been. She thought the paperwork protected her. But still it worried her.

  So did the idea of him coming for more of what they’d shared on Saturday night.

  She was just so confused.

  For the past three days she’d been torn between aching to see him and feeling guilty and disloyal again. There had been a moment when she’d wondered if he might have been the worst thing to come into her life, the same as his father had been the worst thing to come into her mother’s. Because why else would she feel so good and so horrible at the same time?

  The sound of Lang’s SUV pulling around to the rear of the house interrupted her fretting. She opened the back door before he’d even turned off his engine, then feasted on the sight of him when he got out of his car.

  Tall and lean, broad-shouldered and commanding, dressed in jeans and a plain white crewneck T-shirt under a leather bomber jacket, he looked more incredible to her than anyone ever had before. Even as she told herself it probably would have been better if she’d never set eyes on him again.

  He was carrying his smartphone out in front of him and talking into it as he headed for her. “Okay, here we go. We’re on our way in.”

  Then he reached her and said, “Hi.”

  “Hi,” she returned, her greeting having more of a question as she looked from him to his phone and back again.

  When they went into the house, he turned to face her from the center of the living room as she closed the door. Then he resumed his phone conversation. “Are you guys with me?”

  Two voices answered via the speaker on his phone. One male. One female. Both assuring him that they were indeed there.

  Lang waved Heddy over and she went, curious.

  “Say hi to Heddy,” Lang instructed when she was close enough.

  They did.

  Then to Heddy, Lang said, “Say hi to Jani and Cade—he’s at my house babysitting.”