“I love you. I tried hard not to after the Chrysalis and Germany.” She did not want to bring up Erica again because she didn’t matter anymore. Neither did their kiss.
“I love you.”
Three little words and all she did was smile. Then peppered kisses all over his face while saying, “Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.”
He dipped his hands behind her knees, then coasted up her thighs to palm her ass. Two rough hands kneaded her flesh, then she was up and in the air with her legs wrapped around his waist. “I want a proper thank you and not in your mother’s future bedroom.”
She was completely on board when he carried her from the room. Someone shouted, “Mr. Morgan.” He was promptly ignored and even apologized for the interruption.
“Open.” He ordered and since the door didn’t obey, Calista reached behind her for the knob. The moment they were across the threshold, Julius kicked the door closed and didn’t stop until he lowered her to the bed.
She grabbed his belt before he made a move. That type of action usually derailed a man’s plan. They just had to see where this was going. She knew where she was going as she freed his babymaker. Her snort morphed into a chuckle which upgraded into a laugh.
“That is not what a man wants to hear while a woman is shoving her hand in his underwear.”
She took the smooth, hard column in her hand. “I called it your babymaker in my head.” Now he was laughing until the first stroke of her hand had him choking on his tongue. She stood, forcing him to back up. She turned him around by his cock and said, “Sit.” Regrettably, she had to release him.
He obeyed and sat on the edge of the bed, his cock a pole saluting her. She went to her knees between his knees, her hands on his rock-hard thighs for balance she didn’t need. Attention focused on her, the way she wanted, Calista removed his shoe and tossed it behind her. The impact on the wooden floor a solid thud. The same with the other. Her hands traveled back up his thighs to tease his crotch. She leaned in, breathing on his straining erection as she barely missed it in the process of grabbing his pants and underwear. He helped with the removal by lifting his hips. One hard jerk and his pants came off in one full sweep. He didn’t wait for an invitation to yank his shirt over his head.
Her breath hitched. She took in his strong neck, the breadth of his wide shoulders, and hard pecs. Her gaze continued to his brick abs and the beginning of the scar on his left flank. The memory of the night they met returned. The bullets, the blood. He’d lost a kidney and part of a lung. But he had survived. She shoved the memory away because tonight wasn’t the night to dwell on the violence that had brought them together to make a new life. Tonight was a night to seize the moment and live.
His cock was pretty. Long and thick, the girth… Whew. It had been a day since she had him inside her. It had been never since she tasted him.
She started with his knees and kissed her way up his parted thighs. His tense muscles jumped under her lips. A tiny lick to his swollen balls made his hips jerk. She moved away before contact was made, and ran her tongue down his other leg then backtracked quickly to send a puff of air across his balls. He released a low moan and his hands fisted the sheets.
Calista leaned forward and brought her tongue to the underside of his length. He was warm and heavy on her tongue. His taste a mix of musk, sandalwood, and his cologne—earthy, all male. She moaned. Between her legs was a swimming pool. She pulled the bulbous head into her mouth and sucked, gently, steadily on the tip as she spread his legs further apart and made herself comfortable.
“Calista.” Her name was a drawn-out hiss.
She ran her hands up and down his thighs, getting closer each time to his balls and shaft, to rolling his sac in her palm, to sliding her hand up and down his shaft. He knew it, his abs bunching and releasing every time she drew near.
Without warning, she took him to the back of her throat and sunk her fingernails into the top of his thighs. A little pain, a little pleasure.
“Shit!” His hand landed heavily on her shoulder, the other on the back of her head.
She popped his dick out and whispered, “Quiet. There’s a whole bunch of people on the other side of your bedroom door.” Cruelly, she swirled her tongue over his tip.
“Soundproof walls. All the bedrooms.” He grunted.
Oh really. She took him back into her mouth and down her throat. He filled her mouth the way he filled her pussy, his cock so, so long, so hard. Backing off for air, she kept him in her mouth, rolling her tongue over his sensitive head. She looked up into the burning depths of his eyes. She dragged her tongue from the root to the tip. He shuddered, groaned, his eyes rolled back in his head, but then he refocused on her, and pleased with herself, she refocused on him.
Stacking her hands on his straining erection, she worked his length while lapping at the salty pre-cum weeping from his slit. Deep-throating him again, she went back to stacking her hands and working him over.
“Fuck, baby, that’s it.” Julius dropped back onto his elbows. His pupils blown, eyes unblinking and filled with unadulterated lust burned into her with unspoken promises of retribution. She wanted it, wanted to suffer as he suffered on the edge of bliss.
Calista backed off, but kept him on her tongue, toying with him. A fine tremble racked him, leaving him quivering and sweaty even though the room was cool. He was close. Fuck, she was close, her thighs wet, her pussy hollow and aching to be filled. She wasn’t done with him, not yet. She wanted all of him, every drop, and wouldn’t stop until she had exactly that.
Cheeks hollow, she drew him deeper into her mouth, took him to the back of her throat again and again. No hands, just his hard length and her warm wet mouth. She slurped, licked, used every trick she’d learned and some she just invented to make him explode.
His hips flexed, driving deeper, rocking further, he gripped her head tightly. Control slipped from her fingers as Julius fucked her mouth.
Suddenly, she was on her feet. Her pants undone and pooling around her ankles. She helped kick them and her shoes off. Then Julius pulled her onto his lap, her legs splayed and dangling over his thighs. Her sweater went up and over her head to be tossed aside. The lacy bra yanked from her shoulders, her breasts heavier lately and ultrasensitive tumbled free. He palmed both, squeezing her nipples. The jolt of ecstasy went straight to her clit. A sharp yank and the matching panties went bye-bye. Naked and exposed, her body open for his use. Her ass in his hands, Julius lifted her. She held on, her arms wrapped around his shoulders. His blunt tip parted her wet folds and slid home on a single thrust. She gasped, feeling so beautifully full. It was forever between this moment and the last time they were together. Oh, wait. It was yesterday. It just seemed like forever.
He set the pace, moving her body up and down his shaft in no hurry at all. She whimpered at the sweet thickness splitting her in two. Whimpered at the abrasion of her nipples dragging across his pecs with each and every penetration. Her breasts bounced, their heaviness an unaccustomed weight. He tipped her body and brought a hard nipple to his hot mouth to suck. Pleasure, harsh and desperate stabbed her with each pull on her sensitive breasts. Each pull brought her close to exploding.
“Oh! Fuck me!” Her core fluttered in agreement.
“What do you think I’m doing?” He grunted and angled her hips for deeper thrusts.
“You are doing gre—at.” The last word broke on a strangled gasp as he slammed into her and kept her there to grind his pelvis against her clit. Then she was gliding on his cock again, his speed picking up.
Calista locked her heels in the small of his back. The leverage was perfect to aid in her destruction. His hips rose and her hips came down in a symphony of limbs entwined, tongues dueling, minds melding, and a meet of flesh meeting flesh. A ripple of pleasure dragged her down. On the edge of the abyss, she was about to fly apart. No. Not yet. It feels too good. Too right. And just when she thought she could stave it off and keep their merging bodies going, Julius’ pace stuttered a
nd the first spurt of cum flooded her. She came on a groan, the blissful waves drowning her in perfection. Me and him, him and me, we, us, perfection.
Julius laid her on her back and pounded into her core, driving deep, kicking off another orgasm. This one as powerful as the last. He swallowed her scream with a raw kiss as she ripped apart, her body torn asunder from the brutal passion. Her heart shredded from the love consuming her.
The journey back to reality was slow. The multiple orgasms left her a lethargic mess. She lay half dead yet sated. So sated she couldn’t move when he kissed her. Couldn’t budge when his mouth trailed down her neck to nuzzle one breast. A kiss, a lick, a suck. She whimpered at the torture to the oversensitive peak. But he moved one to the other breast and delivered the same sweet torture.
“Julius.”
“Shh.” He continued to her bump. First, caressing her skin with a light touch, then kissing her bump with a tenderness that left her teary-eyed.
He looked up, his eyes shiny. “I love you. Both of you.” He crawled up her body and hovered over her. His piercing gaze pulled her in and wouldn’t release her. “Marry me. You, me, and baby. One family. Be the mother of my child and be my wife.”
He’s only doing this because of the baby, her cynical side spewed poison in her ear. But she knew the truth. A man didn’t follow you to the Cayman Islands, didn’t give up his beach house mansion to strangers, didn’t transform a room in his penthouse for an elderly woman with dementia if he didn’t love you.
His hand settled on her bump, his thumb drawing lazy circles on her skin, waiting, waiting for her answer. It was easy to give.
“Yes. I’ll be the mother of your child and… Mrs. Calista Coleman-Morgan.” He beamed as she tested the name out.
“Mr. and Mrs. Morgan,” he said, his voice authoritative.
Just like that, it was a done deal. “Yes. I’ll be your wife.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
C alista felt wonderful. The past month brought a flurry of changes to her body. Her breasts were fuller and sensitive. Her hips were rounder and her skin glowed, but most notable, the morning sickness had ended last week, and her appetite had returned with a vengeance. Everything tasted wonderful. If she didn’t pump the brakes, she’d be the size of a house by the time she delivered. At sixteen weeks pregnant, she couldn’t camouflage her bump any longer. She gave up her undertaker wardrobe in favor of a pumpkin colored maternity sweater dress, celebrating the upcoming All Hallows Eve, and a pair of tan boots.
She came to the board meeting alone after waking up in a cold, empty bed. Just a pregnant woman and her three bodyguards: Virgil, Luke, and Steve. She studied their résumés. Two former marines. One ex-Ranger. They were adequate. Not as good as her, Scotts, Edwards, and Sunny.
Calista turned her attention back to the folder in front of her. She had questions; however, she wasn’t sure how to pose them without seeming foolish.
“How are you feeling?” Erica asked, sitting beside her. Her gaze dipping to Calista’s bump.
The concern in Erica’s eyes surprised her. It wasn’t expected, but nice. Her hands rubbed her protruding abdomen. “Better.” She pointed to the scraps left from her breakfast burrito on the plate in front of her. “I can keep this down.”
“When are you due?”
“May.”
“God. That seems like forever.”
Calista chuckled. “It is forever.”
“Can you feel it? Moving? Kicking?”
“Not really. Some flutters here and there.” She rubbed her abdomen and saw Erica watching her hand. “You can touch me.”
Erica stretched out her hand and carefully placed it on Calista’s bump. “It’s firm.” She jerked her hand away as if the contact burned.
Calista laughed. “It is.”
“Is it weird having a person in your body?” Erica asked. Calista gave her a pointed look that had her sister choking on a laugh. “You know what I mean.”
“Well, it’s not like I went to sleep yesterday with a flat stomach and woke up like this. It’s a process you get used to. I’m halfway through it.” Erica kept staring at her bump, fascinated by it. “Do you want kids?”
“No. Maybe? Someday? I don’t know. I need a man first.”
Erica was a supermodel ten with bone straight golden blonde hair, icy blue eyes, and classic features. “I can’t imagine that being a problem for you.”
“You’d be surprised,” Erica murmured under her breath. “There’s quantity and there’s quality.” She eyed the men at the table. “I’ve had plenty of the former. Not enough of the latter.”
Calista smiled, not quite believing they were having a normal sisterly conversation. “I was in the same boat. Having sex. Not making love. Bodies joining with no real connection. Then I met Julius.”
“He loves you. It’s obvious to anyone with eyes. And I see the way you look at him. You love him too. You two look good together. That baby will be gorgeous.”
If he takes after his father. “Thanks.”
Erica shrugged as if it were nothing. “Rhodes quit,” she blurted and caught Calista off guard.
“Really?” That was unexpected.
“Quit. Fired. It was a mutual decision. I connected him with an investment banker needing additional security. Gave him a glowing reference.”
Calista’s brows nearly touched her hairline. “Really?”
Erica scoffed and didn’t lower her voice. “I know everyone thinks I’m a bitch, because I am. I don’t want to be a bitch to you.”
Calista kept her opinion between her lips. Her expression said enough.
“Yes, really.” Erica huffed. “Though we’re never going to be besties, we don’t have to be enemies. This company needs us to work together.”
Erica seemed sincere. Only time would tell; however, today Calista would take her sister’s statement at face value. “Hey, I don’t want the Fifth Avenue townhouse. I’m never gonna live there. I’ll sell it to you. Market value.”
Erica’s eyes lit up. “Yes. I’m very interested.”
The glass door opened, and Julius entered the room as if he owned the place, which he kinda did. She loved seeing him move, loved seeing him in a suit, knowing what was hidden beneath the layers and how she was the only one to peel those layers away, leaving him bare to her eyes alone.
“You’re late.” Calista called him out the same way he’d called her out at her first meeting instead of throwing out a greeting as others had.
His smile was all kinds of sexy without an ounce of humility. “Didn’t get enough sleep last night.”
Thank you for her God-given tan hiding her blush. He hadn’t lied. They’d kept each other up until the wee hours of the morning.
Erica cleared her throat and started the meeting with a review of minutes from the last meeting. Which morphed into a review of each department because little had been decided from the last meeting.
Once again, she understood the bottom line, that being the company was in the red, hemorrhaging in some places, trickling in others. There was clear evidence of mismanagement, but she couldn’t point the finger at anyone or anything. And instead of addressing the problem, everyone hemmed and hawed, and danced around the issue when she wanted to yell at them to do something. Bryn Co. employed thousands of people, thirty percent of the workforce was highly skilled. The rest ranged from mid-wage to predominately low-wage earners. People who lived paycheck to paycheck. They needed their jobs.
Added to the problem was Bryn Co. being a mishmash of companies ranging from the biotech division that was in the black, to a biofuel company that was deeply in the red. No, that wasn’t quite right. All the companies were subsidiaries of the biotech firm. Cosmetics. Pharmaceutical. Fuel. Equipment. The last two—the two with the most worker bees—were bleeding money. Who was in charge of those companies and why weren’t they being held responsible?
“Our stock is down twenty percent since the last quarter. Our projected earnings for this qua
rter will fall short of projections, which will mean another hit going into the new year.”
The chief financial officer cleared his throat. “I ran the numbers you requested, Ms. Bryn.” He addressed Erica but his gaze cut to Julius. “And the solution is simple. Eliminate the equipment division.” A PowerPoint presentation started on the flat screen showing exactly how much money the company would save once they got rid of an entire division. Five hundred jobs.
“We cut the equipment division, we stop the hemorrhage. We add the solar panel component manufacturing, and we’re in the black.”
That was another two hundred jobs. Calista felt sick and she couldn’t blame it on morning sickness.
“There’s time to make a decision. Next on the agenda,” Julius said, and the board meeting proceeded. But all Calista could think of was those seven hundred faceless jobs. Seven hundred families missing a bread winner. She wasn’t so far removed from the daily grind she couldn’t sympathize. The millions she’d inherited hadn’t erased her memory for being one paycheck away from disaster. She couldn’t just let this happen. There had to be a way to save their jobs.
He came to her, pulled out a chair next to her and sat. “What’s wrong?”
Calista blinked. The room had cleared, leaving them alone and she hadn’t even realized it. She looked at him, then at the people milling outside the room. They were in a fishbowl, and with only two fish left, all eyes were on them, surreptitiously, but yeah. On them. Never one to seek unwarranted attention, a part of her wanted to hide, but that wasn’t her life anymore. Her responsibilities now entailed more than herself and a client. Her hand stroked her bump as her gaze went to the people milling about outside of the conference room.
Plain and the Billionaire's Seduction (Plain Jane Series Book 3) Page 17