“She’s a pretty woman.”
“She’s not a Savage woman. You are, but we took care of that with the lipstick.” He wraps his arm around me and another SUV pulls up in front of us. Reese grabs the back door and once we’re inside, we find Royce is our driver.
“They just cleared Reginald,” he announces as he set us into gear.
“Dana is on her way to the airport,” I say. “She might want to wait on Reginald.”
“Savage told her right as they pulled away,” Royce says. “And the evidence against Martha is damning. This is over for Dana. It’s over for you two.”
“And yet so much more has just begun,” Reese says. “I know. You can stop playing dumb.”
Royce glances at me in the mirror. “We’re not telling anyone but Lori and Cole right now and not until after my appointment on Monday.”
“Understood,” Royce says.
A few minutes later we exit at our apartment and Royce meets us at the door. “Congratulations you two. If you need survival tips. Well, I have survived. You will, too. That’s about the best I got other than calling my wife.”
Reese and I enter our building with smiles on our faces. “Do you think it’s that rough?”
“Of course not,” Reese says. “People always try to scare expectant parents.”
“Expectant parents,” I repeat. “Okay, I’m scared.”
He leads me into the elevator, folding me against him even as he punches the elevator button. “Don’t stress. I’ll find a way to keep your mind off your fears once we’re alone.”
“That’s a big order.”
“I’ll practice until I get it right,” he promises.
***
Monday arrives and Reese and I attend my doctor’s appointment together. By the time we leave, we do so feeling more like official parents-to-be than ever. We are also weeks from knowing the sex of the baby and we decide when we are that far along, then we’ll announce. For now, we’re going to Lori and Cole which is exactly what we do. I join Reese at the office, and we call them to the conference room. Once they shut the door, I just can’t wait to get it out. “We have an announcement,” I say, grinning. “We’re pregnant.”
“Oh my God,” Lori says, her eyes going wide. “I knew it. I had a gut feeling.” She hugs me as Cole does the same to Reese, because apparently, the baby thing takes away the macho in them, at least a little.
Telling them feels good. It makes the baby feel real and instead of staying at work, Reese and I take a trip to a baby store and start planning for the nursery. It becomes immediately obvious that Reese wants nothing less than everything for this child and it’s really adorably sexy. When I get home, and he’s forced to return business calls, I write all about his sexy, adorable shopping in the journal I still plan to give him for his birthday.
***
One week before Reese’s party I have to tell him about that, too. He’s too attentive right now and without a case that has his interest, for me to pull off the surprise. Instead, I let him help me pick the food and plan, but I pick the cake. It’s a surprise. It’s his mother’s recipe that I’ve had the local bakery recreate with her permission.
What’s interesting is that my brothers are both attentive as well, though Reid’s version of attentive is cranky and quick, but there’s something different about him I can’t quite understand. I’m a little weird with Gabe, I decide after several calls over several days. I just can’t get over him being so willing to let Wilson be hurt, even if it was to protect me.
Finally, the night of the party arrives and I’m dressed in jeans and a blouse, ready to receive our guests, only to be surprised when Gabe shows up early to help me setup. Together we force Reese to go downstairs to have a drink in the bar while we ready the house for about thirty friends which means Gabe moves furniture while I watch. “Reid’s coming,” Gabe announces after the catering company arrives and we retreat to the kitchen island with coffee in hand. “And bringing a woman.”
I blanch. “Reid? A woman?” I’m stunned.
“She came in like a hurricane, and I do believe he’s recovering from the storm.”
“Now I know why he seems different.” I narrow my eyes at him. “Is she nice? Pretty? Successful?”
“All of the above and tough as nails. She can handle him and then some.”
“That’s good. Really good. What about you? Any special woman these days?”
“Never. I’m not that guy.”
“Reid said the same thing,” I remind him.
“Reid and I are not as alike as Reid likes to think.”
I’m curious about all that I obviously don’t know about my brother. He’s a funny guy and yet, he’s clearly cold beneath that humor. Reid is Reid. Hard and harder, but Gabe’s not that simple. He’s right. They aren’t so alike. The sound of the front door opening has me standing up as Reese calls out, “I’m here!”
I shove off my stool and race to greet him, finding him positively perfection in faded jeans and a T-shirt. I push to my toes, kiss him and then lower my voice to say, “Your last birthday before you’re a father.”
“I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
Gabe rounds the corner and greets Reese, and I leave the two men to chat. I have a gift to add a few final touches to. I hurry upstairs, shut the bedroom door, and pull out the bound notebook I had all of my journal entries laminated inside. I then go to the bed and pull out a custom-made box that has “Dad to Be” all over it, insert the notebook and then seal it with a combo of pink and blue ribbons.
I didn’t give him his baby news for his birthday. but I’m going to give him the gift of knowing that nothing he feared was on my mind over Debbie was really on my mind. Everything I was thinking was about us and our growing family.
***
Two hours later, the party is in full gear, my gorgeous husband is the center of attention, and we are surrounded by friends; Lauren and Royce, Cole and Lori, being the ones who stay close to us, above all others. It’s almost time for cake and gifts. I want mine to come first. I grab his hand. “Come with me,” I say.
His eyes light with mischief. “Why?” he whispers, leaning in close. “What are you going to do to me?”
I laugh and give him my back while tugging on his hand. With a quick rush through the crowd, I lead the way to our bedroom and once we’re there, I point to the chair. “Go. Sit. Shut your eyes.”
“Should we do this while the guests are downstairs?”
“Yes. Because we aren’t doing what you keep hinting at. Go sit, husband.”
He kisses me and does as ordered. “Shut your eyes.”
“Okay. Eyes shut, sweetheart.”
I grab the box and set it on Reese’s lap. I sit down next to him. “Okay. Your gift that was supposed to be part of the baby news.”
He opens his eyes and smiles at the box. “Future dad. That I am.”
He opens the lid and pulls out the book, giving me a curious look. “When I found out I was pregnant and decided not to tell you right away, I started writing down all of my thoughts so you’d know you didn’t miss anything.”
He flips it open and starts to read before glancing over at me. “This is perfect, Cat. Absolutely perfect.”
“Now you know Debbie wasn’t on my mind.”
He leans over and kisses me. “Perfect. Like you.”
“Some of my thoughts are pretty silly when I read them now. You’ll get a few laughs.”
He refocuses on the book and flips to a random page and gives me one of those laughs now. “You wondered if you tasted differently?”
My cheeks actually heat on that one. “I—well—yes. I did.”
He sets the book aside. “No, you do not, but why don’t I make sure right now.”
I squeeze my legs together. “No. Not now. And it’s your birthday. I do you.”
He stands up and pulls me to my feet. “We do us, sweetheart.”
“And baby Olive.”
“And baby Olive.”
***
Two months later…
I open the new journal I’ve been keeping to document my pregnancy and start to write:
Today I’m thinking about the night of Reese’s birthday, my father showed up and he could have ruined the night. He was rude and horrible to Reid’s new woman and he had me shaking all over. I think of this today because my father has never been a man to show love and affection, and while yes, this causes me pain, it also drives home the contrast between him and Reese. Sometimes it’s what we don’t have that makes us appreciate what we do have. And if we don’t, we should. I hope that one day my child will read this and remember to appreciate what she has. Yes, she. We found out today that we’re having a girl. For now, we’re calling her Olive, for fun, but we’re torn between the names Ashley and Heather.
Reese appears in the doorway and holds up an envelope. “A gift from your brother Reid, delivered by courier.”
“A gift from Reid and he doesn’t even know I’m pregnant yet.”
Reese sits down next to me. “He said to open it together.”
I grab it, unseal it and pull out a document. “It’s the paternity test. You’re not the father. Well, not of Debbie’s baby.” I set the document aside. “Just the father of Heather.”
“Heather.”
“Yes,” I say. “I like Heather.”
“As long as it’s not Olive,” he teases, and pulls me down on the couch with him, where we do not keep our clothes on, nor do we shut the door, though those days will soon be history, once baby Heather arrives. Which is exactly why Reese seems to believe we should spend as much time without clothes as possible now, while we can.
***
Six months later…
I wake in the hospital bed to find that Reese has snuck into bed with me, and our daughter, baby Heather, is asleep in a bassinet next to us. I smile and tangle my fingers in my husband’s hair, but he doesn’t wake up. I snuggle closer to him and close my eyes right as Heather makes a soft sound. Reese is up in an instant, awake for our daughter, then he didn’t even notice me playing with his hair. That tells me he’s that comfortable with me touching him, and that he’s going to prove me right and be an amazing father. Which makes me wish that for my daughter, that all of her dreams come true, and that she ends up with a man just like her father.
The End
***
Don’t miss Carrie and Reid’s second book, Dirty Rich Obsession: All Mine coming December 26th!
https://dirtyrich.weebly.com/dirty-rich-obsession.html
***
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I'm the bastard child, son to the mistress, my father's backup heir to the Kingston empire. He sent me to Harvard. I left and became a Navy SEAL, but I'm back now, and I finished school on my own dime. I'm now a few months from being a billionaire myself. I don't need my father's company or his love. My "brother" can have it. I will never go back there. I will never be the mistake my father made, the way he was the mistake my mother made.
And then she walks in the door, the princess I'd once wanted more than I'd wanted my father's love. She wants me to come back. She says my father needs to be saved. I don't want to save my father but I do want her. Deeply. Passionately. More than I want anything else.
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TURN THE PAGE FOR A SEXY EXCERPT!
A SEXY EXCERPT FROM THE BASTARD
Eric
“This is a bad idea,” she whispers, but her voice is raspy, affected, the taste of her hunger damn near on my tongue.
I kiss her, a quick brush of lips, and a lick that has the heat between us damn near explosive. “Still think it’s a bad idea?”
Her hands flatten on my chest but they flex rather than push. “We both know this is wrong.”
“And yet you followed me here.”
“You said that already.”
“You knew what would happen,” I accuse.
“I was angry.”
I certainly know where anger and family collide, in ways I won’t explain to anyone. My jaw sets hard and I release her, putting a wide step between us. “Stay or go, but if you stay, you’re going to end up naked.”
“I know your father’s an asshole, but my mother loves him and my father’s company is now a part of this one.”
“The part where I said that if you stayed, you’d end up naked.” I reach for her and pull her to me. “You did understand that, correct?”
“I don’t scare off that easily. If I did, I wouldn’t be working for your father and under your brother.”
“It’s me I want you under,” I say, molding her close, my hands sliding up her back.
“I’m too young and stupid for business, but I’m just right to fuck?” she challenges.
“I’m warning you, Harper, not talking down to you. And if you’re young and stupid, so was I.”
“You wanted to be here,” she says.
“Yes,” I say, tangling my fingers into her hair. “I wanted to be here, just like I want to be right here, right now, with you.” My mouth closes down on hers once more, a deep thrust of tongue that’s as unforgiving as my father would be if it came down to choosing her or Isaac. It’s all about demand and I expect her to push back, to give me the rejection that sends her to the door and me to the fucking airport. That’s not what I get.
Her hand on my chest doesn’t push me away. She moans and her elbow softens, those perfect curves I’d admired from a distance now pressed nice and close, right up to the moment she jerks back. “My God. What are we doing? You’re my stepbrother.”
I walk her back against the wall, my hands caressing up her ribcage to cup her breasts. “I told you,” I say, stroking my thumbs over her nipples. “I’m not your fucking brother. Not now. Not ever.” I cup her face, lean in and my mouth finds her mouth, and if she thought my tongue unforgiving before now, she was wrong. This is unforgiving. It’s in my blood. It’s who I am, who I was born to be. A bastard who wants her.
I have this sudden need that consumes me. I shove my hand into the top of her dress, fingering her nipple. She makes this soft, sexy sound that has my cock twitching, expanding beneath my zipper. As if she knows, she presses her hand to my crotch and holy fuck, I need inside this woman. I push off the wall and shrug out of my jacket, my gaze raking over the tops of her breasts. Her teeth scrape her bottom lip, and I want that mouth on my body. I want my mouth on her body.
I toss the jacket, rip away my tie, and she doesn’t run away as I half expect she will. She closes the space between us, her fingers on my buttons, working them down my shirt, but when one hand slides down to my crotch, I react. I slow things down before I fuck her and this is over, and when it is, I’m gone. Suddenly I’m not ready to leave, which is why I turn her to the wall, and force her hands to its surface, yanking down her zipper before I pull my shirt over my head. I step into her, my erection at her backside, my lips at her ear.
“You saw me watching you across the pool,” I say, my fingers catching the straps at her shoulders.
“Of course I saw you. You wanted me to see you.”
“Yes. I did. I wanted you to know I wanted to fuck you.” I shove the straps of her dress down her arms. “I wanted you to know I wanted you naked.” I pull the dress down, and with no bra to contend with I have it down her hips and to her feet. I lift her and kick it away, taking a moment to appreciate just how perfect her heart-shaped ass is before I turn her to face me.
My fingers tangle in her hair and I pull her to me. “And since you’re here,” I add, “I will assume you got that message loud and clear.”
“I’m still angry and you’re still an arrogant asshole, but apparently it doesn’t matter, so fuck me before I come to my senses.”
I press my cheek to hers, my hand on her cheek, lips by her ear. “I promise to use my tongue in all the right places to make sure you have no regrets.”
She pants out a breath that tells me my words affect her and I’m right there when she does, kissing her again, drinking her in, and damn she tastes good; one part innocence, one part a drug that knows how good it feels. And she does feel so fucking good.
I scoop her up and carry her through the living area to the bedroom, because hell, I don’t know, it just feels like I should fuck her on the bed, though I could have easily kept her right there by the door. I want this woman. I want her in a bad way and I wanted her from the moment I saw her by that pool. I set her on her feet and I pull her close. “This is where I lick and you come on my tongue.”
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NEW STANDALONE COMING IN MY LILAH LOVE SERIES!
This series is a suspense series with a steamy side of romance! The first two books are available now, but the third book can be read as a standalone as well!
https://www.lilahlove.com/
***
A NEW PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLER COMING SOON!
A PERFECT LIE is definitely far and away from what I usually write, but I am so excited about it! I hope you’ll check it out!
https://aperfectliebook.weebly.com
ALSO BY LISA RENEE JONES
THE INSIDE OUT SERIES
If I Were You
Being Me
Revealing Us
His Secrets*
Rebecca’s Lost Journals
The Master Undone*
My Hunger*
No In Between
My Control*
I Belong to You
All of Me*
THE SECRET LIFE OF AMY BENSEN
Escaping Reality
Infinite Possibilities
Forsaken
Unbroken*
CARELESS WHISPERS
Two Years Later Page 22