S is for Secret Baby

by Annie J. Rose

  At the end of the day, though, there was no stopping this. There never had been. There was a reason we had slept together back in college, that night Ronny had been conceived. Somehow, we had gone from archrivals to lovers, and there was no tempering the heat of this desire.

  I soon forgot all the reasons why I might want to take things a little slower with him. All it took was the twist of Wes’s tongue against mine, his hand creeping along my hip just along the edge of my panties, the feeling of his strong and solid chest between my splayed fingertips.

  I gasped and arched into him. I pushed him back against the arm of the couch and climbed into his lap, straddling him. I could feel how hard he already was, his prick pressed up against my pretty pink panties. I shivered, aching with longing. My mind kept flashing back to those warm feelings of contentedness I had been feeling all evening, watching him with Ronny, imagining a future with him.

  I wanted him. Body, soul, everything. There was no denying it.

  Wes slid his hand along my ass, cupping my cheeks, spreading me slightly. I could feel the cool breeze against my damp entrance, and I moaned softly, biting my lower lip to contain the sound.

  Wes chuckled softly, giving a meaningful look toward the stairs. “Maybe we should go upstairs,” he suggested in a husky voice. “Might be some awkward questions to answer if Ronny hears us and comes down to this.”

  I giggled breathlessly, feeling only vaguely ashamed even though I could just picture what a mess we would make of things if Ronny did walk in on us right now. What a way to broach the subject that he was her dad…

  I gave Wes one final kiss and then rolled off of him, holding out a hand to him. I paused, holding his hand, waiting for the apprehension to come back. Maybe we were taking things too quickly. Maybe we ought to hold off on this for now.

  The worries didn’t return, though. Instead, I merely felt excited. I wanted to know what, exactly, this might lead to. More than anything.

  I tugged at his hand, grinning as I all but dragged him toward the stairs. Wes chuckled softly as he followed.

  Chapter 23

  Wes

  It was a wonder that we managed to make it to Rian’s room before succumbing to the pleasure racing through us. I could tell she was just as hot as I was, just as primed and ready to go. Something about this evening seemed to have woken something in both of us. Maybe it was some primordial sense of oneness, the feeling that we were actually a family and that we belonged together. Maybe it was just the realization that we really could bring out the best in one another.

  Whatever it was, making out on the couch had been steamier than I could possibly have imagined, and by the time Rian grabbed my hand to lead me upstairs, I could feel every pulse of electricity. I couldn’t stop myself from grabbing her and kissing her as we made our way upstairs. I would have stripped her naked and had her right there in the hall if it hadn’t been for Ronny sweetly sleeping somewhere in the house.

  I was breathless and hard by the time we tumbled into bed together. I nearly tore Rian’s clothes ripping them off her prone form. There was no patience left in either of our movements. There just couldn’t be. We were too close to the edge already.

  I forced myself to slow things down, kissing my way across her skin. I still had that terrifying feeling that this meant more than anything that had come before. If I messed this up now, who knew if I would ever get it again. I had no wish for this to be the last time, but on the other hand, if it did end up being that way, then I wanted her to know, at the very least, how much I appreciated tonight.

  She didn’t have to let me in so easily. She didn’t have to let me come over for dinner and bond with her daughter in front of her. But she had opened her life to me. There was something to be said for that.

  I wanted her to know how much I wanted more, too. I wanted her to realize how good we could be for one another. I wanted her to know what a future with me could be like, even if tonight was only a glimpse of it.

  I stared into her eyes as I fingered her slick core, watching each little change to her expression, listening to each quiet sound that fell from her lips, edging her ever closer to explosive pleasure. I didn’t think I had ever seen anything more beautiful than the way she looked spread out across those dove-gray sheets, arching her back, her creamy skin in sharp relief against the darkness of the night, lit only by moonlight.

  I knew she was close, but I was surprised when her body tensed, her mouth falling open on a soft gasp. Her head fell to the side, and she rubbed a hand against her face, overcome by pleasure. I could feel her walls twitching around my thrusting digits as she rocked crazily onto my hand, cumming hard, her folds gushing with even more wetness than before.

  I growled, unable to hold myself back for another moment. My cock needed no additional stroking to get it to full hardness. I pushed into her while her walls were still quaking with their earlier relief. She groaned out a breathy yesss and wrapped her legs around me, pulling me even closer to her, drawing me farther inside of her warmth.

  I had no more patience for finesse; I needed this. I set a rapid rhythm, knowing full well that I wouldn’t last. Then again, she had already cum once—or was it twice now? I would be well within my rights to chase my own orgasm now.

  And that was just what I did. I moved like I had never moved before, rocking into her in quick, sharp, shallow thrusts. I pressed a hand over her mouth as her cries spiraled louder and louder. I was vaguely aware of the fact that our daughter was there somewhere in the house. Our daughter. Because Rian and I were linked and always would be.

  It was the thought of that deeper connection that sent me over the edge. I spilled for what felt like forever, waves of ecstasy that were nearly more than I could handle. I fell panting to the sheets, sweaty with exertion. Rian flung out an arm, finding me in the darkness, curling toward me. I pulled her into my arms, stroking her hair with my damp fingers.

  Falling asleep with Rian in my arms was the capper on top of an already perfect evening. There had been sweetness, there had been sexiness. Overall, it was everything I wanted, for the rest of my life. If only I could find some way to make this last.

  The last thought I had before I drifted off to sleep was that I was pretty sure things were going to be all right. We might not have worked out all the details just yet, but I had a feeling that things weren’t out of our reach. I had a feeling we could find some way to make things work.

  And I sure hoped that would prove to be true. I didn’t know what I would do otherwise; I already couldn’t picture my life without these two perfect angels in it.

  The following morning, I smiled to wake up with Rian in my arms. I nuzzled her cheek, lightly kissing her forehead. But then, I looked past her and saw the time on the clock. I swore and scrambled backward, untangling myself from her.

  “What’s wrong?” Rian asked, looking sleepily toward the clock. Her eyes widened. “You have a meeting,” she said, as though I might not have realized. She started babbling apologies. “I forgot to set an alarm, I’m so sorry. I should have known better.”

  “Don’t worry about it,” I said, giving her a quick kiss as I fumbled the buttons on my shirt closed. I was really glad we didn’t seem to have done any damage to it the night before or this could be really awkward. “Neither of us was thinking about it.” It was no more Rian’s fault than mine.

  In fact, it was more my fault than hers. She might have been the one who started the make-out session downstairs, but I was an adult and I had known what my schedule looked like for this morning. I should have been thinking about it.

  The truth was, I hadn’t woken up this late in years now. I hadn’t slept that well, or that deeply, in years now either. Something about Rian…

  I pushed those thoughts away for now. The last thing I needed was to get distracted and end up back in bed with her. I didn’t have time for that right now. I was already going to be cutting it close if I wanted to make it to my meeting on time.

  Rian rolled o
ut of bed as I was finishing dressing, pulling on a silky, navy blue robe. She stood on her tiptoes and kissed me on the cheek. “All right if I come into work a little late today, boss?” she asked teasingly.

  I snorted and kissed her properly on the lips, allowing myself to linger there for maybe a second longer than was wise. When it came to Rian, though, it seemed like all my logic went out the window. “See you later,” I told her.

  Fortunately, I made it to my meeting with two minutes to spare. I should have known that wearing yesterday’s clothes wouldn’t go unnoticed, however. They weren’t the same clothes I’d worn to work the previous day; I’d gone home and changed before dinner. But my shirt was wrinkled from spending the night in a heap on the floor, and from head to toe, I knew that I probably looked a little unkempt and haphazard.

  Sure enough, Beth called me out on it as soon as I came out of the meeting, raising an eyebrow at me. “You look… casual today,” she said, her voice dripping with barely veiled meaning.

  I fought the urge to roll my eyes. “Couldn’t find my iron,” I lied, my tone just as dry. With a hard look, I challenged her to say something else about it.

  To my surprise, she did: “Guess you didn’t make it home from Rian’s last night? What did you do, sleep on the couch in your clothes?” she asked.

  I blinked at her. “How did you know I was at Rian’s?” I asked, glad that she had at least kept her tone down somewhat while accusing me of something that could probably get me fired.

  “You were there for dinner, according to your calendar,” Beth said.

  I nearly swore out loud. I had forgotten that she had access to that calendar or I never would have been that specific about my plans for the evening. It wasn’t like I had needed any reminder of it anyway; I had mainly put it in there so that Beth wouldn’t try to schedule me for a work dinner with some of our clients.

  I had been stupid, in retrospect. And Beth might have accused me of having slept on the couch in my clothes, but from the way her eyes had narrowed with jealousy, it was clear she had another suspicion about what the sleeping arrangements had looked like.

  “What I do outside of work is none of your business,” I said, trying to make my tone as firm as I could. I couldn’t let her know that I felt guilty knowing that my carelessness could have gotten both me and Rian in a lot of trouble with the company. If Beth knew I was guilty, it was only a matter of time before she tried to use the knowledge against me.

  Beth’s eyes widened in feigned innocence. “I was just trying to make sure you didn’t miss any appointments,” she said. “I would never do anything like go snooping through your personal business. After all, we’re friends as well as coworkers. I like to think so, at least.”

  I frowned. It was on my lips to tell her that we weren’t friends. She was just my employee, and only because I had inherited her from George. I knew that wasn’t something she wanted to hear, though, and the last thing I needed was to give her another reason to be jealous or to go to HR about the dinner I’d had with one of my coworkers the night before.

  I tried to remember what, exactly, I had put into the appointment I’d made in the calendar. To my relief, I didn’t think I had specified the place or mentioned any details of it. Maybe I could play it off as a meeting of coworkers if I had to. Something about it being a planning meeting, or else something about a celebration dinner after the success of our pitch in New York. Hell, maybe I could even get Devin to vouch for me.

  Would he do that, if it came down to it? I knew he liked working with me, and liked working with Rian even more. But then again, with me out of the picture, he might think that he would have better access to her. Except that he must realize that if I got into hot water over this, she would, too?

  I felt sick at the fact that I even had to think about things like this. I knew I should never have gotten involved with Rian. Things had spun out of control way too quickly. How could I pull back now, though, when I knew the secret she had been keeping for all these years was the fact that we had a daughter together?

  Things the night before had gone so well, and it only made me want more with her. Was I ready to risk my career for this, though?

  In any case, if I was risking my career, I didn’t want Beth to be the first person at work to know about it. So I told her a lie about the reason for the dinner: “It was a planning meeting,” I told her. “I didn’t put any more specific details on there because what we’re working on is still a secret. I don’t want anyone to be able to leak anything to one of our competitors.”

  Even as I said it, the lie sounded weak. After all, that just wasn’t the way that I did business. I trusted everyone who worked for me. What’s more, I didn’t want anyone in the company to believe I didn’t trust all of them. That was no way to stoke company morale.

  “Please stay out of my private business,” I said to Beth one more time before retreating to my office. I couldn’t help feeling like she had won this round. And what’s more, I couldn’t help feeling that I had revealed too much about everything. It was Beth’s job to handle my personal calendar so she could make sure there were no scheduling conflicts there. Even if there usually weren’t, it would look suspicious for me to revoke her access now, especially if George had always been open with her.

  The question was, how much had I revealed, and how much proof would she need to bring things crashing down for me and Rian? Did she have enough motivation to ruin things, or would her sense of self-preservation keep her quiet for now?

  I had to hope for the latter, even though I knew she was jealous of Rian, given Beth’s own unrequited crush on me. I realized now that I probably should have been sterner with her from the start, even if I had been afraid to rock the boat too much when George had handed the company over to me.

  It was too late to change things now, though. Things would happen the way that they were meant to. I just hoped I hadn’t cost me and Rian that beautiful future I had imagined just last night. I wanted that future more than I could say.

  Chapter 24

  Rian

  I found myself humming on my way into work that morning. The previous night had been as close to perfect as I ever could have hoped for, and I really had the feeling that things between me and Wes might actually work out the way I wanted them to. Waking up next to him had been nice, even in spite of his hasty exit when he had realized what time it was. I had felt bad for that, but he had made it clear he didn’t think it was my fault.

  In any case, I couldn’t blame him for rushing out; I knew he had to get to work. I did, too, and I needed to get Ronny in to school. She was already late for her first class. It was worth it, though, and the school bought my lie about letting her sleep in to rest up after the hospital.

  I made it to work as quickly as I could, and even though I hadn’t missed anything important, not being the one with meetings that morning, I couldn’t help feeling naughty as I came in. If only they all knew what I had done with my night. If only they knew how I had woken up.

  Not that I would ever tell anyone that, not even Angie—or at least not yet. What Wes and I had was private, just between us, and that almost made it all even more special. It was another secret, but this was one I felt better about keeping.

  The day went by quickly, and when I got a text from Wes at the end of it telling me that he wanted to spend some time with Ronny over the weekend, it only made me smile even more. I liked the fact that he was already thinking about being there for her as much as he could. There was a part of me that was still a little worried, and I knew it was just my motherly protectiveness kicking in. I didn’t want anyone to hurt Ronny, and I had never really had to let anyone else in before.

  Then again, I had managed to be okay with the idea that she was going off to school, spending more time with her classmates than she sometimes did with me, and I had managed to leave her alone with Angie while I went to New York to close the deal with Devin. So I supposed I could get used to the idea of this as well, if
I gave it enough time.

  Besides, I wanted this. I was still fantasizing about a future with Wes, and the more I thought about it, the more I wanted it.

  Reality turned out to be even better than my fantasies. The weather turned unseasonably nice over the weekend, and Wes ended up taking me and Ronny to the park for a picnic. I had to laugh at the gesture, when Wes showed up with the picnic basket on Saturday morning. “Sorry,” I said, seeing his affronted expression, “I’m just trying to picture any guy in New York taking us for a picnic.”

  Wes frowned. “Central Park, isn’t that a thing? I thought people went on picnics there.”

  “Maybe,” I allowed. “But not when they’re newly dating.”

  The words slipped out easily, and I couldn’t regret them when I saw the teasing twinkle they brought to Wes’s eyes. “Newly dating, huh?” he asked. “Is that what we’re doing?”

  I shrugged evasively. “Maybe,” I said.

  “I guess I’ll have to bring flowers next time,” he said.

  I snorted. “Wes Brown, are you a hidden romantic?” I couldn’t help asking. Because really, I needed to know what I was getting myself in for. Guy starts showing up with flowers and things starts to feel a little serious, you know?

  Wes grinned crookedly at me. “I don’t think there’s anything hidden about it,” he said, winking at me. Just then, Ronny came running into the hall and flung herself toward Wes, who barely had time to pass me the basket before he scooped her up into his arms. “Hey, you,” he said, blowing a raspberry on her cheek that had her shrieking with giggles in no time.

  He continued in his role of Super Dad while we were at the park. Ronny laughed, thrilled, as he pushed her on the swings, then shrieked with giggles as he chased her all around like an overprotective hen, clucking comically the whole way.