When he was protected, he lifted her up again and pressed into her heat, groaning when her body gave way to his invasion, holding him tight in her wet channel. “Tell me if I’m hurting you,” he ordered, but his hands were on her soft bottom, lifting her up as he thrust into her.
“Don’t stop!” she screamed, her legs tightening around his waist while her arms wrapped around his neck. “Don’t you dare stop!”
Several thrusts later and he felt her screaming once again as her climax hit her hard and fast. With that throbbing, she pulled him over to his own release and he couldn’t stop, feeling himself pour into her. The orgasm went on and on and he almost tumbled to the floor. It was only through sheer force of will that he protected her, carrying her over to the sofa where he fell onto the cushions, Mindy still intimately connected to him as she fell against his chest.
He sighed, more content than he had been in a long time. Mindy’s soft body pressed against his and he couldn’t seem to stop touching her. She was so soft, so sweet and beautiful. He wanted…
NO! He wouldn’t go there. He wouldn’t wish for something he couldn’t have. He’d done that once and the results had been devastating.
Five years ago, he’d decided that he wouldn’t ever hope for forever with a woman. Never again!
Chapter 3
Mindy stared at the calendar, her fingers trembling as she did the mental math. Two weeks late. Yep, it was official. Her period was now a full two weeks late.
Gus was going to be furious, but Mindy couldn’t stop the happy bubble of excitement that hit her with the realization that she was going to have Gus’ baby.
Yeah, he was going to be livid. Every day, they ate lunch together. She talked, he listened. He walked her back to the building but never touched her. Never glanced at her.
Until Friday night. Then they couldn’t seem to get enough of each other. He would come to her place or she’d go to his. They’d never again chanced getting caught by having sex in his office, but it was always an urgent, insane meeting when they came together every Friday night and their connection was explosive! They couldn’t seem to keep their hands off of each other and Mindy had gone on birth control that first week.
Apparently, she’d been too late.
Yes, she was incredibly happy. No, she didn’t want Gus to have to take responsibility for the baby. He didn’t seem like the kind of man who would want children.
So what was she going to do? Mindy couldn’t stay on in her job, working right across the hallway from the father of her baby, especially when he most likely didn’t want children.
So…?
“What’s wrong?”
Mindy looked up from her computer to find Gus standing in front of her desk.
“Um…?”
He leaned forward, those huge, delicious shoulders looking so enticing, it was hard to believe that this man wanted her the way he did. He could have any woman in the world and yet, he wanted her!
“You didn’t come down for lunch. What’s wrong?”
Mindy glanced at the clock on the lower area of her computer screen, shocked to find that it was well past noon. Looking at her desk, she realized that she hadn’t done any work today, her mind completely focused on her pregnancy. Or possible pregnancy. She was late, but she hadn’t taken a pregnancy test. Until then, she could pretend as if it weren’t real. It was just a possibility and…Gus was still waiting for an answer.
“Umm…”
He pushed away, running a hand over his face. He paced back and forth in front of her desk, then came back, hands fisted on his hips. “I was too rough last Friday. That’s it, isn’t it?”
If Mindy hadn’t been head over heels in love with this man, his words and his worry at this moment would have tumbled her head long into that space. Standing up, she came around her desk and wrapped her arms around his lean waist, resting her head against his chest. After that last time, they hadn’t touched each other in the vicinity of their offices. So this was unprecedented.
She felt his arms come around her slowly, but then they tightened almost too much. When they loosened slightly, she looked up at him, her arms still hugging him. “You weren’t too rough, Gus. You’d never hurt me. I know that.”
“Then what’s wrong?”
She smiled and pulled out of his arms. She thought about holding off on talking with him, but the worry in his eyes made her stomach hurt. Since there were no flights in or out today for the Steele employees, she decided to take a break and talk to Gus.
“I think I might be pregnant,” she told him, admitting it boldly. Leaning against her desk, she braved looking up at him, needing to see his reaction.
Nothing. He continued to stare back at her.
But she knew him better now. A lack of expression didn’t mean this big huge, lumberjack wasn’t thinking and feeling. This man felt deeply and she could see that in his eyes now. He was worried.
Gus watched her carefully, his gut tightening as he looked down into her beautiful blue eyes. Flashbacks to his first wife, her anger at finding herself pregnant. It had taken him weeks to convince her not to abort their child. Then he’d listened to her complain about the way her body changed over time, the months of agony. Everything was blamed on him, on the baby.
Was Mindy like that?
He didn’t want to think about her hating their child but…
“I’m sorry,” he told her, remembering the time when he’d forgotten a condom. It had only been for a moment, but obviously, that moment had been powerful.
He watched her pretty lips press together and knew that he’d said the wrong thing. Anger started eating at him, fury that she was going to tell him she didn’t want the baby.
“Let’s not jump to any conclusions,” she told him and stood up, walking around her desk. “I’ll find out tonight.”
Rubbing a hand over the back of his neck, he felt like roaring out his frustration. He’d done it again. It hit him suddenly that he was in love with Mindy. And this was stronger, more powerful than anything he’d felt for his ex-wife. This was crazy love. This was a tender, harsh, painful and miraculous kind of feeling. He’d fallen for a woman and the results could once again be devastating.
Then he thought about Chloe and changed his mind. Chloe wasn’t a devastation. She was a delight. Every moment he spent in her company was like a precious gift. His ex-wife didn’t think so, and Mindy probably wouldn’t either, which was why he’d never introduced the two of them even though he suspected that Chloe and Mindy would get along extremely well.
“I just want you to know that…” she paused and Gus felt his stomach muscles tighten even more. “Well, if I am pregnant, I’m…” every muscle in his body tensed, waiting for whatever she might say. “Well, if this is a baby,” she told him, her pretty fingers fluttering over her stomach, “then it will be okay. I won’t ask you for anything but…I can’t abort a child. I know that others do and that’s their choice and they have to do what’s right for their conscience but…this is a baby and I love it already.” She laughed, a self-deprecating sound and Gus wanted to pull her into his arms and kiss her. He held back, but only because his relief was making him a bit dizzy.
He watched as that delicate hand reached up to rub her forehead. “No. I’m always on time. I can set my calendar to my monthly cycles, Gus.” She looked up at him and shrugged slightly. “I really think that I’m pregnant.”
He waited a single heartbeat before he released the emotions welling up inside of him. Once the floodgates were opened though, he moved like a bolt of lightning, grabbing her and pulling her into his arms.
“I love you,” he whispered a moment before his mouth covered hers. “Damn, I love you!”
Mindy heard the words but didn’t believe them at first. Then he was kissing her and she couldn’t ask him to repeat the words or to clarify them. As his mouth moved over hers, she tried to think, to understand what he was saying. But whenever Gus kissed her, it was like her world and her mind just st
opped. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back, showing him with actions that she loved him as well.
When he finally lifted his head, she smiled tremulously up at him. “You love me? Really?”
“Yes.”
She laughed, thinking that was so typically Gus. Just one word, but when he spoke, it meant so much more!
“I’ve loved you so much for so long! I can’t believe you feel the same way.”
He pulled back and the serious expression in his eyes warned her that she might not like what he was about to tell her. “I need you to come over to my place for dinner tonight though.”
She pulled back, not sure she liked where this conversation was going. “Why?”
He stepped back, his hand once again rubbing the back of his neck. When he looked down at her, Mindy thought he looked far too serious and it frightened her. “I need you to meet someone,” was all he would say.
Mindy tried to understand, but he wasn’t giving her any clues.
But at that same moment, Olivia walked into the office. “Hey Mindy,” she started off, but then her eyes looked between the two of them and she stopped. “Should I come back?” she asked.
Mindy straightened and shook her head. “Nope.” She turned to face Gus. “Whatever it is, we can talk about it tonight.”
He was already out the door so she turned to Olivia. “What’s up?”
Mindy watched with increasing happiness as the door shut behind Gus. He loved her! The worry she’d started out with this morning was quickly blossoming into a golden sunshine hovering just over her shoulder. “Um…Gus is…”
“You’re dating Gus?”
Mindy’s eyes shot to her friend. “Please, don’t say anything about that to anyone. No one knows.”
Olivia laughed. “Of course we all know! You eat lunch with him every day.”
“Yes but…”
Olivia leaned her forearms against the top of Mindy’s computer, smiling down at her friend. “His staff is talking about how good things have been lately and…”
“Yes but…”
Olivia leaned in further and put a hand to Mindy’s arm. “Hey, it’s okay! Nothing bad is going to happen! Gus is a good guy. He’s like Pete, just a good man all around.”
Mindy knew that but… “You and Pete are happy?”
Olivia rolled her eyes. “Incredibly! Although he still makes me sit through every Mariner’s game. He said something the other day about getting season tickets.”
Mindy laughed, knowing that her friend was a Nationals fan. Coming from Virginia, she had two choices of baseball teams to follow; the Nationals or the Orioles. “Come to the dark side, my friend. You’ll never love the Nats the way you’ll love the Mariners once you understand that they are far superior.”
“Anyway!” Olivia replied, rolling her eyes. “The wine you got last week for the flight to San Diego, it was excellent. Can you stock up on that for Logan’s next flight? He asked for it specifically.”
Mindy immediately got to work, pushing her pregnancy possibilities to the back of her mind for the moment.
But several hours later, she was once again thinking about Gus and a possible pregnancy. But now, she was second guessing everything that had occurred earlier. She still couldn’t believe that Gus loved her. It seemed impossible that a big, gruff, gorgeous man like Gus could love a mousy woman like her.
She was sitting at her desk, staring at…nothing when the door to her office opened up. There he was, looking big and huge and…awesome!
“Are you sure?” she whispered, her eyes conveying her trepidation.
He walked over to her and took her hand, gently lifting her out of the chair. “About what?”
“That you want me? What if I am pregnant? You don’t have to be a part of this baby’s life. I promise, I won’t ask for anything. I won’t give up the baby though.”
His hand reached up to cup her cheek. “Come,” he said softly, but with a strange roughness to his voice.
He took her hand and led her out of the office, locking the door behind her. He led her out of the building and over to his car, ignoring hers that was parked only two spaces away.
“Where are we going?” she asked when they joined the rest of the commuters that were moving along the streets of Seattle.
“You’ll see,” he said and Mindy could have sworn that the man actually smiled. Well, as much as a lumberjack could smile, she thought.
Sitting back in the passenger seat, she did what she normally did when she was nervous. She talked. Not really about anything in particular, but just chatted away. She discussed her conversation with Olivia, their romance, how she knew that Olivia and Pete were meant for each other which was why she scheduled them together as a team so often. She’d seen the sparks, knew that they had a lot in common, even if Olivia did root for the wrong baseball team. Thankfully, they’d worked out their differences. Now she just needed to find someone for Miranda, one of the other pilots that worked for Steele Industries Aviation. She was a sweet woman, smart and sassy and so much fun. But also shy when she was around men.
When Gus pulled up outside of the drugstore, she knew exactly what he wanted. She smiled over at him and touched his arm. “I won’t hold you to anything that was said earlier today if I get a pregnancy test and it comes back negative, okay?” She said the words, but her throat choked up at the possibility of him not really loving her. But if he didn’t love her, then she needed to know that now. She also needed to give him an out, just in case he’d only said he loved her because of the potential for a child being involved.
He stared at her for a long time, then pulled his phone out of his pocket. “Hi. Can you stay for an extra half hour tonight?”
Mindy listened to him, not sure who he was calling. But when he nodded, said, “Thanks,” and hung up the phone, she was too nervous to ask any questions.
Then confusion sprang up when he backed out of the parking lot. “You don’t want me to get a pregnancy test?”
He turned around and put the car into drive. “We need to talk. You need to know some things about me before we move any further with this.”
She sat there silently for the next few minutes until he pulled into one of the city parks. This was one of her favorites because it looked out onto Puget Sound. It was heavily wooded, but still had a few open spaces where a person could sit and watch others walk by.
“Come,” he said and took her hand as he led her down one of the pathways. She knew exactly where they were heading and walked along silently beside him. For the first time in her life, she was too nervous for even nervous chatter and remained silent. He must have understood, because his huge hand squeezed hers gently as they walked.
When the path ended and they walked towards one of the benches, he sat down next to her. “First of all, let me explain that I didn’t want to fall in love, Mindy.” He saw the hurt in her eyes, the way she bowed her head and he put a finger under her chin, lifting her eyes back up to his. “It was a losing battle. From the moment you took the job and burst through the doors of your office that morning, I was lost. I fought it with everything I had, but you won out anyway.”
Mindy smiled, just a tentative smile, but the tension in her shoulders eased somewhat. “Why don’t you want to love someone? Everyone needs someone to love.”
He chuckled and took both of her hands. “I thought I was in love once. I was married.” He lifted her onto his lap when he heard her gasp of surprise. “I know, not something I advertise to many people.” He sighed and looked out at the Sound. “In almost every way but one, my marriage was a colossal mistake, Mindy. The woman I married was a selfish bitch who married me for my money and the security I could provide. She wanted a big house and glamorous travel. So when I bought the small house, she was furious with me. She demanded a bigger diamond ring, a trip to the Caribbean every year and other things.”
Mindy blinked, trying not to cry for the pain this horrible woman must have inflicted on a ma
n as sweet and sensitive as Gus. He only looked like an unfeeling lumberjack. But after weeks in his company every day for lunch and spending Friday nights and Saturday mornings with him, she knew that he was a sweet, gentle giant who felt things very deeply. One just had to know how to interpret his facial expressions to know what he was feeling. He was tender and caring, passionate and lustful. He was everything she wanted in a man, and never knew could possibly exist in one human being.
“She should have been thrilled to have you,” she told him, her voice filled with sincerity.
He looked at her strangely. “You really mean that, don’t you?”
“Yes,” she asserted, leaning into him. “You’re the kindest, most gentle man that ever existed! I love you for all of the sweet things you do for me.”
“For you?”
The blush that stole up her cheeks made him laugh softly. “Okay, well, I like the things you do to me. But also the gentle way you’re so protective and concerned, the way you take care of me and let me take care of you.”
“You don’t want a huge house up on the top of the hill?”
She cringed. “No. I prefer to run in the mornings and living on the top of a hill means I’d have to run back up the hill to get home after a run.” She leaned forward and kissed him gently. “I’m not that dedicated of a runner.”
He looked into her blue eyes and read the sincerity there, nodding. “If you’re pregnant…?’
“If I’m pregnant, I won’t trap you Gus. What we have together…it’s enough.”
She started to slide off of his lap, but he held her firmly. “What if it’s not enough for me?”
Mindy looked up at him. “What are you saying?”
He looked out at the Sound, then back at her. “What if I want you to marry me?”
She held her breath, not really sure if he meant what he was saying. “Gus, you don’t have to marry me if I’m pregnant.”
He shifted his hands along her bottom, then turned to look directly into her eyes. “What if I want to marry you even if you’re not pregnant?”
Wild for Him (The Steele Brothers Book 6) Page 4