CHAPTER ELEVEN
Scott
I couldn’t quite believe I was waking up next to the woman I loved. I breathed in, savoring the amazing feeling.
I looked across at Jackie. She was lying on her side, her face relaxed in sleep. Her lips moved, parted gently, as she breathed. I watched her. She looked so peaceful, so innocent, all her cares erased in sleep. I wanted to reach out to touch her soft, fluffy hair.
As I moved, she woke. Her eyelids fluttered open. She looked into my eyes. She smiled.
“Good morning,” she whispered. “Nice to see you.”
I smiled. “Nice to see you too.”
I felt my breath suck in as she stirred, rolling closer. Her body was warm on mine, her breasts pressing against my chest. I held her close, stroking her back as we lay together. We had been woken twice during the night by Stella, but I had been amazed by how deeply and regularly she slept. I had been expecting to get no sleep, if I thought about it.
Not that I always think of sleep when Jackie is close.
I felt my loins tense with longing as she pressed into me and I wanted to take her right there. My cock was throbbing and I was so, so ready. I stroked her and then touched between her legs. She was wet there, wet and warm. I played my fingers between her folds and she moaned.
“Do I get a greeting?” she said.
“I said good morning,” I whispered.
“You did. You said it, yes. But I was thinking something more…tangible.”
I drew in a breath as her hands slid down my chest and moved to my waist. She gripped me in her hand and I groaned aloud as her fist moved along my cock, squeezing it firmly yet gently.
“You do need a more tangible greeting,” I said, hearing my voice shudder. “And I would like to give you one.”
“Mm. Good.” She smiled.
I rolled over so I was kneeling between her thighs and then slid into her. I was shivering so much I gritted my teeth to hold back. I was so close! She moaned as I filled her and I felt all my self-control evaporate as I pounded in her faster and faster and faster…
I came and she came an instant sooner, our voices mingling in a cry that was in itself a thing of beauty.
I collapsed into her arms and lay on her chest, panting and shaking, perspiring madly.
She smiled and wriggled underneath me, holding me against her. I don’t know if we dozed or not, because my awareness was somewhere else for a long while, drifting somewhere in the haze following orgasm.
I heard her cough and rolled off her. “Sorry,” I said.
“No,” she smiled at me, her palm stroking my face. I shuddered with warmth and lay where I was a moment, my arms round her.
“I should go and check Stella,” she whispered. “Be right back.”
As I listened to her talking softly to the child, I lay there, wrapped in the haze of delight and thought about how complete my life was.
Yesterday morning I had woken up full of dread, thinking that my father was about to succeed in pushing me into marriage with Alexa and that, more or less, life as Scott was ending. Now I had rediscovered the love of my life. And I had a child.
I heard the slight wail from the child subside into the soft sounds of sleepy contentment and felt my heart so full that it might burst. I slid out of the bed and went through to the sitting room to join Jackie there. As I watched my family, I knew that I was the happiest man alive.
I spent the morning with my new family. I would never have thought that such things as making breakfast, reading the paper or washing dishes could be so pleasurable. I had never, I realized, felt quite so happy about the simple facts of being alive.
Later, as it neared lunchtime, I realized I should go. I had to sort some things out. For a start, I had to make preparations for finding myself, Jackie and Stella somewhere to live. Then I wanted to propose properly—so there were some things to do about that. Then, lastly—because it was going to be the hardest part of all—I would have to confront my father.
I wasn’t sure how I was going to do that. Not only would I have to explain to him that I had fathered a child out of wedlock. I also had to explain to him that I couldn’t follow his directives in this anymore. I wasn’t his to marry off as he chose.
I looked at Jackie and Stella where they sat on the sofa together, fast asleep. I felt courage flood through me then. I could do anything for them. I just had to try.
“Jackie?” I whispered.
“I’m awake…” she opened her eyes and gave me a sleepy grin.
“I have to go, sweetheart,” I whispered. I kissed her and blew a kiss at my daughter’s sleeping face. I didn’t want to wake her. “I’ll come back tomorrow.”
“Good,” she whispered. “I’ll see you after work.”
She took the child to a day care while she was at work, one of the perks of her job, apparently. I thought about how we could make another arrangement and decided to inquire about Au pair services. If we were both working, the least we could do was have Stella in the home she was used to, taken care of by someone we both trusted. That would make us both feel more secure. “Good,” I said. “I’ll see you soon, my gorgeous woman.”
She smiled, eyes still closed. Stretched languidly and patted the child’s head. Opened her eyes. “See you soon, dear.”
I walked out of that house feeling as if my heart was flying.
I spent the rest of the day in a whirlwind of preparations. By the end of it I was fairly confident I had found an apartment that was equidistant from both our work, with a month’s notice. I’d found a new baby stroller—she’d complained about this one—and an au pair agency.
When I went into work the next day, I had the fright of my life.
“Congratulations,” Mrs Atwood, the secretary, said to me. “You two are such a good match. Your father must be so proud…now your two companies simply have to be friends. Don’t they?”