“Hey, it’s Mike. Buzz me up and I’ll come to your door and get you.”
Did I want him to come to my door? That was more like an official date sort of thing and I wanted this to just be friends. I should just go down and see him in the lobby.
Buzz.
Kendra pressed the button to let Mike into the building. “What are you doing?” I yelled in a panic.
“Letting him up. Stop being so weird about this.”
“I’m not being weird. This is just me,” I shrugged.
“Yeah, well stop over thinking everything and just go have fun. If the topic comes up then ask him. If there’s a love connection then maybe you should go for that instead of worrying about this whole baby thing. Maybe he’s the one?”
“He’s not the one,” I rolled my eyes at Kendra. “I’ve already established he’s not the one. Do you remember me telling you how he acted at his clinic? No, we are going to be friends.”
“Okay, Julia.”
She was patronizing me, I saw it in how she pressed her lips together and gave me a slight look from the corner of her eyes. It didn’t matter if she believed me or not. Mike was going to be my friend and nothing more. I’d already done all the work to decide on this baby and Mike was helpful in giving me the idea of using someone I know. Certainly hearing that from him made me think about it much more than I had before. But we were just friends.
I opened the door right away when he knocked and pushed myself out into the hallway before Kendra could talk with Mike. The last thing I needed was for her to start in with her questioning and innuendo about what she knew. Nope, she wasn’t getting near him.
“Hey,” I said as I held onto the door so Kendra couldn’t come out. “Should we get going?”
“I could come in and say hi to your roommate, if you want me to?”
“No, no, we better get going. Kendra hasn’t been feeling well,” I grabbed Mike’s hand and pulled him down the hallway as I heard Kendra open the door behind us.
“Have fun you two love birds,” she yelled just as we got to the elevator.
I shook my head back and forth as Mike smiled at the outburst. I couldn’t even bring myself to respond to her though and instead just stepped onto the elevator in silence.
Mike looked so handsome in his dark washed jeans and funky t-shirt. His effortless look probably took him two minutes to put together while I had agonized over which jeans and t-shirt I should wear for over an hour. Then I tortured myself over how to wear my hair and how much makeup to put on. It was a whole afternoon process for me and I still wasn’t sure I’d made the right choices. Finally, I settled on my loose-fitting boyfriend cut jeans with my favorite Kansas City Royals t-shirt. My hair was pulled back in a simple ponytail and I’d only put on some mascara and blush for makeup.
This wasn’t a date, this was my chance to get to know Mike and see if he really would be a good option for my donor. If things felt right I was going to ask him that night… Well, if I managed to get myself together enough and muster the courage. But it definitely wasn’t a date.
“Thanks for asking me out on this date,” Mike said as I froze solid in place. “I was worried you wouldn’t want to get together anymore after all that happened. I’m glad you called.”
“What are friends for?” I said in a bit of a panic.
“Yep,” he replied while pressing the button for the ground floor.
“It will be fun to get to know each other some more. Plus, I haven’t been bowling in ages. I’m really excited.”
“Me too.”
It was awkward between us as we sat in the Uber and made our way to the bowling alley. Mike looked like he wanted to say something to me but every time he was about to talk he got quiet and then turned to look out the window.
When I tried to make an effort at small talk, it didn’t turn out that well either.
“The weathers been much warmer lately, that’s cool,” I said randomly.
“Yeah, better than how cold and windy it was earlier this week.”
“Yep,” I replied lamely.
Ugh, the tension going on between the two of us was insane. I had to think of something to loosen us up or there was absolutely no way I was going to be able to ask Mike to give me his sperm.
As we pulled up to the bowling alley Mike held the car door open for me and out of nowhere I slapped him on the butt as I walked past him. Something took over me, some demon flirting part of my brain that I wasn’t even aware existed.
“Game on,” he laughed and slapped my ass back on our way into the building. “I’m going to kick your butt.”
“I doubt it. I’m pretty damn good at throwing balls around.”
“Nope, I’m not buying it. Prove it,” he laughed.
We gathered our overly stinky used shoes and went to our assigned lane to start the evening of bowling fun. The light hearted feel of the night was finally there and I was optimistic we could work this out and I might just have the sperm I needed to get pregnant.
Mike was a funny guy. Throughout the evening he threw out one liners and jokes that had me laughing harder than I remembered in a really long time.
“Knock them out, those pins deserve it after the way they’ve been acting tonight,” he rooted me on as I went up for my last frame of our first game.
Sure enough my ball went straight into the gutter. I clearly remembered being much better at bowling than I actually was. I’d barely managed to bowl 100 while Mike was closer to 300 in his score.
“Dang, I think you’re going to win,” I joked.
“Let me show you how to do this,” he said as he grabbed the ball and came around behind me.
His arms wrapped around my body and I felt his breath on the back of my neck. Every inch of my body tingled with excitement. His touch was invigorating, it drew out so much lust in me that I had a hard time remembering to breathe.
I swallowed hard as he put the ball in my hand and wrapped his around mine. He wiggled his hips a little behind me before pulling my arm back and checking my swing.
“It’s okay, you don’t have to show me,” I said trying to cut the sexual tension, but it didn’t help.
“So you start with the ball here,” Mike said as he ignored my comment and put the ball in front of me. “See that second arrow on the ground? Let’s aim for that one.”
“Um, Okay,” I nervously muttered. “But I’m sure it’s just going to go into the gutter.”
“Nope, let’s think positively. You’re going to pull your arm back and then when you release I want you to twist it like this,” he rolled the ball a little in my hand to show me the twisting motion.
“So pull it back and twist while I release it?”
“Try to wait until just before you let go of the ball and keep your eye on that spot on the floor so you know where you’re aiming,” Mike said and took a step back.
“What are you doing? You’re not going to help?”
“I think you should give it a go. It’s my final frame, I’m counting on this strike,” he smiled back at me.
I closed my eyes and took a few steps back to start my walk up to the lane. I could feel him looking at me and tried not to think too much about it as I envisioned the ball flying out of my hand the way I had seen him throwing it so far that evening.
Slowly I held the ball in front of me and took my steps up to the lane while pulling it back and twisting the ball as it released from my fingers. I kept my eyes on the spot of the ground, just like Mike said and then watched in amazement as the ball barreled down the lane. At first it looked like the ball was going to go straight into the gutter but then something started to happen. The slight spin I gave it made the ball curve toward the center pin and then bam!
“I got a strike!” I yelled and jumped into Mike’s arms.
“That’s my girl,” he said supportively as he hugged me.
Our hug turned from friendship to much more though as we held onto one another. I felt so comfortable in his arms, s
o welcomed, it was nice. The problem was that I was bad at relationships and I didn’t want to ruin this friendship by making it into some short term relationship when I could have so much more with Mike. He could be my baby’s father. This friendship could be exactly what I was looking for and the perfect solution to me wanting a baby and needing to find a sperm donor.
As we pulled apart from our hug I finally felt the nerve to ask Mike what I’d been contemplating all night long. In a sudden burst of courage I pulled his hand and brought him back to the chairs so I could ask him.
“Mike, will you be my sperm donor?” I asked as I held onto his hand and looked into his eyes hopefully.
He blinked a few times and then pulled his hand away from me. Before the words came out of his mouth I already knew the answer was going to be no. It was written all over his face. “I can’t,” he said. “I’m sorry.”
“No, no, it’s fine. I liked your idea of asking someone I know and I thought about you and how we had become friends. It’s totally okay,” I said as I tried to hold tears back. “Should we play one more game or head out? I’m feeling really tired, maybe we should go.”
“Julia, I can explain.”
“No, there’s no need for all that. I totally get it. Let’s just go,” I said and hurried over to the counter as I pulled my rental shoes off.
“I had a great time with you tonight, Julia. I was caught off guard by your request though. I thought we had something going here. I’m sorry.”
“Of course, don’t worry. We are still friends. I’d love to go bowling with you again very soon. I’m going to just go with the anonymous donor. I think that’s the best option for me.” I really was just saying anything I could so Mike didn’t talk anymore.
We grabbed an Uber and drove in silence back to my place. When we got there, I jumped out and said, “Thanks for a fun night. I’ll talk to you soon,” as I hurried toward my building.
“Julia,” Mike started to say. “We can talk about it more if you’d like.”
“No, no, I totally get it. No worries. Have a great night,” I said and hurried into the building.
Chapter 8
Mike
All she wanted was my sperm.
I had genuinely thought she wanted to go on a date with me. We had the chemistry and there was that something extra between the two of us that I just couldn’t explain. A level of comfort that I really enjoyed when I was around Julia, but it wasn’t at all what I thought it was.
How had I been so wrong about everything?
Julia had me locked into the friend zone harder than I could ever remember being. It was probably for the best. A relationship likely wouldn’t have worked out anyways, but damn I sure would have like to give it a try.
“You look out of it today,” Sheryl said as I showed up for work Monday morning. “Is everything okay?”
“Yeah, a rough weekend.”
“Aren’t all of your weekends rough?” she joked.
“Please tell me Bruce is actually here.”
“Yes, he’s in his office.”
“Thank God, I couldn’t manage another Monday like we had last week. I swear I didn’t eat or drink a thing for twelve hours trying to jam all those patients in. How does today look?”
“Half as busy as last week,” Sheryl laughed. “Dr. Simon will be taking care of his own patients.”
“Ha, ha, you’re so funny,” I snarled back at her as I walked down the hall to Bruce’s office.
We had worked out our issues over the last week and things were normal between us again, but I honestly was still waiting for the next time that Bruce didn’t show up again. I didn’t trust his promptness would stay. Building our business to the size that it was had taken a lot of hard work. I just didn’t understand why Bruce wasn’t taking part in it anymore. For so many years he had wanted the same thing I did, but now he always seemed distracted by his love life.
“Morning,” I said as I let myself into his office.
“Good morning. I’m here and ready to work again,” he said barely looking up from his paperwork.
“I appreciate your newfound dedication, Bruce.”
“Yes, I am dedicated again. This is my stack of patients for the day; I’m just making sure I’m up to date on what’s going on with each of them.”
“Cool. Alright, I guess I’ll leave you alone to work then,” I said and made my way back out of his office.
Something definitely seemed off with Bruce. Maybe that whole incident with the woman at his house had thrown him off? Or maybe there was something else going on with him, I wasn’t really sure but I was very happy to have him in the office to see his own patients that day.
The day was relatively uneventful until about three o’clock in the afternoon when I saw Julia in the waiting room. She was there for her appointment with Bruce and I did my best to stay out of sight. I certainly didn’t want her to be uncomfortable about coming to our office. Just to make sure I was out of the way I grabbed Bruce after I heard the nurse call Julia’s name. I pulled him into my office to talk really quick before she came down the hallway.
“Hey, this girl Julia Rivas is a friend of mine. I’m going to take a little break while you see her. I don’t want it to be uncomfortable if she sees me here.”
“If she’s your friend, why would it be uncomfortable?” Bruce asked.
“Well, she asked if I would be her sperm donor and I told her no. I just don’t want it to be weird now.”
“Oh, okay,” Bruce said as he left my office. “I’ll offer her mine if she wants. I’m happy to do it.”
“No, I didn’t mean…” I started to say and then heard Julia walking down the hall with the nurse and quickly shut my door.
For a moment I stood at the door contemplating coming out and running into Julia. It wasn’t the cool thing to do, but at least I could talk to her and try to explain why I had said no to her offer so quickly.
I was flattered that she had asked me. And if it had been some other female friend of mine I might have said yes. But something told me that it was wrong to do that for Julia. Maybe I was afraid that it would have put me in this endless friend zone when I really wanted to have more with this girl? Maybe I was just a jerk who didn’t want to help a friend out? Either way I definitely wasn’t comfortable with Bruce being involved.
What had I done? I didn’t want her to have Bruce father her child. There was no way that was a good idea. She should use an anonymous donor, that was best, or so I thought. There was no way she would want Bruce to do it. He wouldn’t offer it to her and I knew she wouldn’t bring it up to her new doctor on their first visit. Or at least I really hoped they wouldn’t have that conversation.
I continually opened my door to see if Bruce was done seeing Julia. Five minutes went past and then five more. How long was he going to stay in there? This was getting ridiculous. I’d never known Bruce to spend so much time in one room. Then again I didn’t normally pay attention to how much time he was in a room, but I was sure it wasn’t nearly as long as he was in there with Julia.
The anticipation was killing me. I finally came out of my office and was pacing in the hallway when Sheryl found me.
“You have a patient in room two that’s been waiting for a little bit,” she said and handed me the chart. “You should probably head in there if you want to stay on schedule today.”
“Yes, I’m sorry. Just a second, I need to talk to Doctor Simon really quick.”
“He’s doing an initial consult with that woman you know. I think he takes a little bit with those. You probably have time to see your patient. I’ll tell him to wait for you when he comes out.”
Reluctantly I hurried in to see my patient. It was a quick check up to monitor the gestational progress of her early pregnancy. I took ten minutes with her and focused on her issues as much as possible while trying not to worry too much about what Julia and Bruce were talking about.
Sure enough as I came out of my room Bruce was standing ther
e waiting for me. He had a cocky smile on his face like he knew he was about to say something I wasn’t going to like. My stomach sank before he was able to say a word.
“So, she’s interested in having me do it. Are we okay with this now? Did you go over the contract with the lawyer? I’m cool with it if you are.”
“No. No I’m not cool with it,” I said in a panic. “You can’t father Julia’s baby. Bruce, you are not going to be giving her your sperm. No, absolutely not. Your swimmers are not going anywhere near her.”
“So the legal stuff is not in order?” he said playfully.
“No, I think that is fine. The lawyer didn’t have too many concerns but I haven’t finished checking all of that out. I mean you can’t father Julia’s baby. You are not putting your fluids inside of her. I won’t allow it.”
“Why?” he asked still smiling at me annoyingly. “And you won’t allow it? I wasn’t aware that this was a decision you were part of. Perhaps you should have come and sat in on the consultation,” he laughed.
“You are not saying yes to her. Please tell me you didn’t already agree to that?”
“I haven’t agreed to it. I told her I needed to step out. There seems to be a little unfinished business between the two of you. She asked about you. I saw it in her eyes. She doesn’t want me to father that baby. So is there some unfinished business?”
“Yeah there is,” I said. “Where’s your damn contract at?”
Bruce walked into his office and grabbed a contract which was scarily located right on top of his desk, as if he was ready to use it at any time. I took the contract from Bruce and went right to Julia’s door and knocked.
My hands shook and I tried to calm myself down before entering the room. I didn’t want to act like some crazy jealous boyfriend but I was not okay with Bruce fathering her child. Especially since she and I had been together. I’d already had my body inside of hers. I’d already felt her orgasms around me. No, if anyone was going to father this child it was going to be me.
“Come in,” she said softly.
“I’ll do it,” I blurted out. “Sign this and I’ll do it.”
Built for Pleasure Page 9