Chapter Seven
Oh shit, oh damn, oh crap, oh... no!
In her hand, Samara held several white pieces of paper. All of which was going to cause a disaster in her life.
Julian wanted a DNA test. He wanted his parental rights, and worst of all, he wanted her to marry him!
Marry him? What sort of man put a proposal in a lawyer’s letter, coupled with a very insulting DNA test suggestion? If he didn’t think the baby was his, why was he bothering to even offer her marriage?
“Oh, you bloody… bastard!”
Hot, angry tears blurred her vision as she paced her newly carpeted lounge room. He couldn’t do this, surely he couldn’t? A short phone call to her lawyer later and she realized he could. Ask for his parental rights, absolutely. Make her marry him? No.
Samara lay on her bed and cried and cried, gut wrenching, painful sobs. The baby she’d longed for, wished for, and prayed for would soon be taken from her.
No.
She fell asleep somewhere through the night, only to be woken by a door bell, well after sunrise.
Blinking her eyes awake, her clock read 9:10 am. Who on Earth would be banging on her door this early? She pulled herself out of bed, nausea swimming in her gut and rising in her throat. She grabbed for the crackers on her bed side table, chomping on one of them as she slowly climbed to her feet.
She tried to swallow but her mouth was too dry. Yuck.
The banging continued and she called out. “I’m coming!” After what felt like forever, she finally made it to the front door.
Samara squinted through the key lock to see the devil himself standing on her stoop, red horns and a swishy tail present. Pressing her lips into a thin line, she grabbed for the door. She unlocked it with banging precision and pulled it open to glare at him before she’d even thought about the intelligence of that decision. “What the hell are you doing here?”
He had the grace to look bashful, his eyes averting to the ground. “Can I come in?”
She bit her tongue, the litany of curses she wanted to hurl at him ready to jump at a moment’s notice. But there was a bashfulness to his submissive stance that made her hold her tongue, and instead, she just stepped back and waved him in.
Only then did she notice the bouquet in his hand.
“These are for you.”
Again, her first reaction was one of violence, but she’d never been one to take her anger out on poor defenseless flowers. She snatched them from his hand and marched over to her kitchen bench. “Thanks. Shut the door behind you.”
The crystal vase her mother had bought her as a house warming present sat on the top shelf and was the perfect size for her flowers, of course. She pulled it down, filled it with water, and began arranging them.
They weren’t just red and white roses, there was a combination of greenery, tulips and even orchids. As she stared into center of the vase, water twisting around the stems reminding her of how swamped she felt herself, she asked her tormentor, “What do you want, Julian?”
He pulled out a bar stool and sat down at her kitchen bench. “I want us to talk.”
Her head snapped up and she narrowed her eyes at him. “Talk? Don’t you think your lawyer’s letter said enough?”
He shook his head and held up his hands. “No it didn’t, and I apologize for that. I think I acted too rashly.”
Her temper exploded like Mt. Vesuvius. “You think? You think! I am pregnant, by the good graces of whatever deity deemed it possible, but this is still a very high risk pregnancy. I do not need this stress or this shit, Julian! I spend every day meditating, going to yoga, and eating the most organic food I can find to keep my baby alive, and you decide to threaten me with a lawyer! What are you trying to do? Make me miscarry?”
She was screaming by now as her true fears poured out. She’d put everything on hold for this baby’s health, and its own father had put its life in jeopardy. The stress from yesterday would surely leave its mark.
He stared at her, his eyes wide and his lips thin. “Are you all right?”
“Of course I’m not all right! And you can forget about me marrying you. You can wait until the baby’s born and then do your DNA test. Don’t you be thinking you’ll be putting a needle anywhere near my baby! The risk of miscarriage with an amniocentesis is 0.5%! You can go jam it up your arse.”
Breathing was becoming a problem. She panted, taking long, quick breaths. How could he do this to her?
Julian pushed himself to his feet. “I didn’t mean to distress you so much. I wasn’t thinking properly. I’m sorry.”
“You should be!”
She moved around the kitchen bench, and staggered to the couch, falling into the soft cushions and grabbing a pillow to cuddle for comfort. She gulped at the lump in her throat. “And I can’t believe you honestly even want a DNA test! As if this baby could be anyone else’s!”
That had really pissed her off! She hadn’t slept with anyone in months before she’d met Julian, longer if she was truthful. Accusing her of being a slut was hitting way below the belt.
Julian sat down in the couch opposite her, his mouth tight. “That wasn’t my idea.”
“Good, because you’re not getting the results for another twenty weeks.”
She held tight to her pillow and turned her face away, staring out the window where there was a clear, cloudless fall sky. Bloody stupid weather. Where was a hurricane when you needed one? Maybe it could blow Julian right over a rainbow.
“I believe you, Samara.”
She snapped her head back around. “And do you still believe that I did this on purpose?”
He didn’t blink, but there was a hardness in his gaze that answered it for him.
Of course you do.
She fell back against the pillows and let her hands fall down to the side. How was she ever going to make him understand? She would never have deliberately done this to him. Never.
****
Julian regarded Samara as covertly as possible. Her keen eyes were too perceptive for him. He wouldn’t be able to hide anything from her, so no point lying to her. Yes, his suspicions were still there that she had tried to get pregnant on purpose. But there was one thing that was bugging him. She hadn’t told him. Had no plans to do so from her reactions so far.
So, what had he been? A means to an end? A cheap sperm donor for her baby? Because, despite his lawyer’s obvious fears, she wasn’t after his money. He’d had her investigated yesterday while he stewed in his juices, and although she was nowhere near the league of his parents or himself, she was very comfortable financially. She would provide a nice life for her child, but there was no way he was going to let her do it on her own.
“It’s not that I believe you did this on purpose. I know the sex in the pool was more my idea than yours.” His mouth twisted as the piece of logic popped into his head. She hadn’t hunted him down, tied him up, and stolen his sperm. She’d engaged in very passionate, hot sex, and he’d been the one with no control.
The pill lie still bugged him though.
“But you lying about the pill afterwards…”
Her groan was immediate as she pulled herself back up to glare at him. “I don’t know how to make this any clearer. I was on the pill for over ten years. Non-stop. I couldn’t go off it because of the bleeding and the pain. I went to my gynecologist in February and told him this year was the year I was going to try to get pregnant. I had an operation to cut out all the endo in my belly and then he said I had to go off the pill if I had any chance of getting my ovary’s working again. I had plans to wait a few months, get my body super healthy, and then start IVF. I never thought I would be able to conceive naturally. Since I turned eighteen I’d been told it would be practically impossible for me to ever have a baby.”
She was panting now, her chest heaving with her impassioned story telling.
He nodded and let her words sink in. It would be easy enough to check with her doctor the facts she spouted. He’d once been a man who could tell if someone was lying with a look, but since his massive failure with his ex-wife, and ex manager, he didn’t trust his own instincts.
Because they were telling him that she was being honest.
“All right. I will believe you.” He didn’t have his fingers literally crossed, but mentally he had both hands making the motion. “But we still have the issue of the pregnancy. I want to be able to see the child every day. Living together and marriage is the best solution.”
Originally, he had balked at the idea, massively. But then it had been pointed out to him what would happen if they didn’t marry. Samara was a young, beautiful woman. She would date, perhaps not right away, but eventually she would meet someone. Fall in love and get married. And his child would call that man daddy. He couldn’t have that.
He didn’t want that. Because although he’d never wanted children, now that there was one, he found he had very specific feelings on the topic.
Marriage gave him more than full rights to his child, it gave him her. They’d been good together in Hawaii, why wouldn’t they be able to come to an agreement that would suit them both?
“You are out of your mind if you think that I would ever marry you, Julian.”
Her hand went to her belly, cradling and stroking in a protective, frantic sort of motion.
He tried not to focus too much on the bulge of his child, but it distracted him no end. His parents had always demanded he continue the line, the name. But he’d refused up until this point.
He didn’t want to screw up his kid as his parents had practically tried to do with him. Boarding schools, nannies, no affection or love. What sort of father would he be after the example he’d been set?
But that had all been before Samara’s body made his baby. Everything was different now. He would be different.
His mother would be thrilled once she found out.
“Samara. Think of all the advantages marriage to me entails. Unlimited money to expand your business, take on more people, not to mention what it would mean for our child. The best schools, the best of everything.”
She pouted a little, her gaze not meeting his. “It’s my child.”
He clenched his jaw tight. In the eyes of the law, she was dead wrong, but he had to be gentle. Obviously, his lawyers letter had sent her into an absolute melt down which could not have been good for the baby. “Samara, please don’t push me. I am the father. Fifty percent of that baby’s parents.”
He left the rest unspoken, but even that seemed to agitate her as she stood up and moved to the kitchen.
“Do you want a drink or something?”
“Water would be great. Thank you.”
Perhaps they needed a better compromise, or more time. They had twenty weeks after all. He was sure he could convince her by then.
Samara served him up a big glass of water and he swallowed it down, his throat unusually parched. He’d headed over here feeling determined, but it was only now that he was realizing that this was probably the most important conversation of his life.
“Look, Samara. We can do this, I’m sure. I want this to work and I’m sure we can hash out a solution that works for both of us. After all, we worked really well in Hawaii together.”
That drew a tiny smile from her and his heart fluttered in a strange way. He’d forgotten how much her happiness affected him.
“I suppose so.”
Her shoulders were slumped and he tried not to be affected by her defeated posture. The main reason he’d hunted her down after so long was because he wanted her in his life. She was normally such a unique person. So vivacious and lively, happy. This sadness didn’t suit her at all.
“All right…” He thought fast, what were his options? “Well…. I will look into buying an apartment closer to here, maybe even in the same building. That would give us more time together.”
She raised her head, her clear eyes watching him. “Sorry. Do you mean you want to spend time with me, now? Or us, when the baby’s born?”
“Probably better to start looking now. The market around here is tightly held.”
She had bought in a nice area, and he admired her for that.
“Yes. There’s great schools too.”
She reached over to her bag and began riffling through it. His stomach dropped with worry. Was she going to throw his lawyer’s letter literally in his face?
That had been a dumb idea. He’d realized it pretty much as soon as the letter was sent. Aggression and lawyer letters were not the way to deal with a situation like this.
“Here’s some of the pictures the doctor took on Tuesday.”
She passed him two small black and white photos and for a moment he didn’t know what he was looking at. Just blotches of white and out of focus shapes.
“There’s the head, and nose…” Samara explained, running her fingernail over the picture.
The photo transformed and suddenly, Julian could see a baby.
“Oh my God.” He couldn’t believe it. There was a whole person in the photo and he hadn’t even seen it.
“The doctor asked me if I wanted to know the sex, but I didn’t. I like the surprise.”
He just nodded, not caring about that. Up until two days ago he wasn’t having a child at all, so its sex wasn’t important to him.
She pressed on. “Do you care what it is?”
“Uh…no. Not at all.” He tore his eyes away from the picture and slowly placed it down on the table.
A baby. He really was going to have a baby. His throat tightened and his chest began to squeeze tight, the air in the room thinning out so he couldn’t breathe.
“Um, I think I need to go. But, can we organize a lunch, or dinner… Some time when we can talk.”
So many things to sort out. He needed to change. Everything. His life did not suit a child.
“I have a hospital appointment next week if you want to come?” she asked, her voice a little anxious.
Why not? In for a penny, in for a pound. It would probably help him understand how this had all happened in the first place. “Yes. I would love that. Email me all the details, yeah?”
He was not coping suddenly and he needed to get away. Guilt or pure panic, he wasn’t sure which, but they were chasing him and he couldn’t get away fast enough. He turned toward the door, when he saw the flowers and he realized why he’d come here in the first place.
A calm washed over him. He would change. He was sure he could.
He swiveled back around and injected as much sincerity into his tone as possible. “Please ignore everything in that lawyer’s letter. We can work things out ourselves, and we have time. There’s no rush.”
She nodded, her eyes a little shiny. “Thank you. I appreciate that.”
He nodded once more and left, his thoughts and feelings whirling around in a big mess that was quite cathartic. He had to let go of his pre-conceived ideas and get on board with this new plan.
For the first time since he’d found out about the baby he was beginning to think that things might actually be okay. She was a sensible woman, and he’d forgotten that in the stress and hassle of the past few days.
Perhaps his luck with women, and people, had finally changed.
****
He was late. She’d told him not to be late.
“Samara Jenkins?”
Her name was called by the nurse and with anger gripping her stomach, she pushed herself to her feet from the hospital waiting room. The doors of the lift opened with a melodic ding and Julian rushed out.
“I’m sorry I’m late.”
He looked properly contrite and she was surprised about how quickly her anger dissipated and happiness filled her. She was actually very relieved to see him and that surprised her.
She’d spent the week trying to come to terms with the fact that she would now be sharing her precious miracle with another person, and although it initially stung, she was warming to the idea that her child would have both a mother and a father who loved them.
“It’s okay.”
He smiled at her and they both walked over to where the nurse was directing them into one of the suites. They sat on the leather chairs and her obstetrician walked in.
“How are you today, Samara?”
“Good, Alex.” She indicated to the powerful man in a suit next to her. “This is Julian King. The father.”
She gave her obstetrician credit, he didn’t blink an eye, simply turned to Julian and shook his hand. “Nice to meet you. I’m Doctor Alex Lilliac. You must be excited about your little miracle here.”
Julian’s smile was forced. “I was surprised, to be honest. Samara told me that she believed she couldn’t conceive naturally.”
She resisted the need to roll her eyes. Let him ask his questions and check if she was being completely honest. She’d never lied to him, not on purpose anyway.
Alex sat down and stared straight at Julian. “By all accounts, she shouldn’t be able to. I’d estimated at least three rounds of IVF, and then perhaps a surrogate if she couldn’t carry to term. Samara is amazingly healthy and so is the baby, considering the limitations of her body.”
Julian nodded and swallowed. If he had any more questions, he kept them to himself.
“Would you like to take a quick look at your child?”
Julian nodded and Samara stood up and lay down on the doctor’s table.
Alex grabbed his small ultrasound machine, applied the clear lubricant to the head, and ran it over the swell of her belly with gentle proficiency.
The baby’s image popped onto the screen and her heart thumped in happy bliss.
“There you go, Samara. Beautiful, clear image. Nice strong heart beat.”
Julian was hovering around, and his eyes were transfixed on the screen. “Is everything okay?” he asked, his voice a little strained.
“Yes. So far, so good,” Dr. Alex said, his fingers tapping on the buttons as he measured the length of the baby’s spine.
“But there could be problems?” Julian asked, twisting around and looking at the doctor with concern written into the mini wrinkles on his forehead.
“Yes, there can always be problems, and with Samara’s past surgeries and history, there are risks. But we monitor her every week and we’re hoping for a good outcome.”
“Yes. I can’t wait,” she agreed, focusing on the beautiful natural birth she wanted in her mind. Visualization was key and the doctor had said that he would support her in her attempt.
Dr. Alex checked her blood pressure, weighed her, asked a few more questions, then they were out the door.
Samara tugged her scarf tighter around her neck. Winter was on its way.
“Thanks for coming, Julian.” She turned to see that strange look on his face again. She laughed, enjoying the glazed expression that clearly indicated that he was speechless.
He shook himself. “Ah… I. Would you join me for dinner?”
Hmmm… Where would this go if she agreed to dinner? No where she wanted at the moment.
“I’m not sure, Julian. If we are going to co-parent, that is one thing, but if you are trying to make a relationship between us work, I’m not sure that’s ever going to happen.”
His jaw tightened visibly and she knew that she had her answer. He wanted a proper relationship, or at least an attempt at one, and she wasn’t sure they’d ever get past the scars that had already been sliced and badly healed.
“Julian, I’m not sure you will ever trust me how I need to be trusted, and I don’t think I’ll ever quite believe you’re here for any other reason than an unwanted baby. It’s a mess.”
He shook his head, reaching out for her hands, and she let him take them. “What do I need to do to convince you to at least give us a chance?”
She glanced to the side. What would it take for her to trust him again? She had no idea. “There’s lots of things and yet nothing specific. I don’t know what to say. I don’t even know how we’re going to work out custody arrangements.”
“Stop talking like that. I don’t want to discuss custody. Forget about the baby, if you can, for one minute. I came back for you, Samara. I waited and waited, hoping you’d call, come visit, anything. Finally, I couldn’t stand it any longer, and I found you. Don’t you understand? I want you!” His eyes were so sincere and his words were every bit as beautiful as she’d imagined in her most secret of fantasies. But how to believe him?
“Julian, I don’t want you to be so closed up and secretive all the time. If there’s even a chance that we could make this work, I need you to open up. Let me know you, how you feel about everything. It’s the only way I’ll allow a relationship to develop.”
He leant forward slowly and pressed his lips to her forehead, sending ripples of soft pleasure out through her body. When he leaned back, his eyes were shadowed but unguarded.
“I’m the man I am, and I know I can be hard to understand. So, I’ll try to give you what you want. I will. That’s all I can promise.”
She sighed and pulled away a little. That was something she supposed.
He lifted a hand and stroked it down her face. “Are you sure there isn’t a short cut to this, Samara? We got along so well in Hawaii.”
Trust the international businessman to want to close the deal early.
“I don’t know, Julian.” She let her gaze meet his again. “Let’s just give it some time… I suppose.”
That’s what they needed… And lots of luck, love, and laughter.
He smiled, not moving to get closer, though a small part of her wished he would. No one had kissed her since their last night together in Hawaii, and her body missed him, craved his touch.
“We have lots of that.”
****
Julian bought an apartment in Samara’s building a month later and moved in straight away. Leaving his multi-million-dollar apartment in central Manhattan was easier than he’d thought. Cathartic even, to get away from a living space that held nothing but bad memories for him.
He invited Samara to help him decorate the new apartment. The poor thing had been neglected for far too long from people who’d last renovated in the 80’s. He didn’t care how she changed things or what she did. He wouldn’t be living there long. He was on a mission. A life mission. He was building a family, and he didn’t care where he had to live, or what he had to do, to convince Samara that they would be perfect for each other’s futures.
He went along with all of her plans for a second home for their baby, a second nursery, a second bed for him. He had no intentions of living in his apartment building long term. He would buy her a big house opposite central park, or out of town. He didn’t care. As long as that vivacious, fun, sexy woman he knew in Hawaii came back into his life.
Because he missed her, the Samara who had so enchanted him for the two short weeks he’d enjoyed her presence. And he only realized it as she began to re-emerge. When she began to smile, and flirt, and arrange their lives with her concise brain, he fell more in like and lust with her.
He couldn’t admit to himself that it could be more than that, just yet.
Despite Samara’s reticence, he would never give up on them being together and as the days ticked over and they spent more time together, he knew he was doing the right thing. Pursuing the right woman.
“Would you come and meet my parents on the weekend?” he asked her over breakfast one Sunday morning. One of their many rituals.
He was still giving her lots of space to do everything she needed to do, and with his work commitments, he was still flying all over the world. But if he was in New York, he saw her every day. For a meal, a meeting, a chat. He found any excuse to see her, watch his child grow.
They hadn’t even kissed since Hawaii, yet the attraction between them grew by the day. Every smile, every flirt of her eyes sent a shiver of desire through him.
“Ah… I suppose I can. Why? Do they want a run down on the Waikiki project?”
He laughed. Hardly. “Ah, no. My parents want to meet the woman who’s having my baby.”
Samara, who was drinking fresh orange juice, choked and spluttered, orange specks of fruit splattering over the shiny bench top.
Yeah, I felt the same way initially. “What’s wrong?”
Samara picked up a white napkin and wiped at her mouth before cleaning up the juice that surrounded her plate. “I… uh, I hadn’t really thought about your family and how they’d react at the news. What did they say?”
His mother had been interesting indeed. “Well, to start with she was shocked. I have always declared that I would not have children.”
Samara’s eyebrows shot up and her head shook as she took the croissant from the plate in front of her, tearing at the end. “You didn’t tell me you never wanted children.”
He shrugged, belatedly realizing that he may have chosen the wrong thing to tell her out of that conversation with his mother, but he pushed on nonetheless. “Well, to be honest, I think I told them that just to annoy them, on one level. They were so adamant that I produce an heir for them, I just…”
She smiled at him, her eyes lighting up with mischief. “Didn’t want to give them the satisfaction huh?”
“No.”
“Well, what else did they say?” she asked, her posture relaxed now as she ate more of her breakfast.
“They were very happy, actually. Especially when I told them it was you. My mother holds you in high regard. She loves women who are ambitious, and hard working. As I said, they want to meet you.”
“How do they feel about the fact that we aren’t, you know…a couple?”
He grinned and didn’t answer, taking a bite of his own croissant, the melted cheese and ham making his mouth water and a moan escape.
“Julian! Come on! I’m not going if you’re not honest with me.”
He chuckled and prepared to spill his guts, a new and quite strange part of their relationship. “No secrets” was their main rule and so far, they seemed to be doing well with it.
“Honestly? My mother told me to marry you immediately. I told her I’d asked when I first found out and you’d turned me down, and rightly so.”
This caused Samara to sit back and smile at him. “Really?”
“Yes, really. I told her that it was the right thing to do, considering we didn’t know each other very well, but that I was still hoping to convince you to take me on.”
She giggled at that, her cheeks flushing with a beautiful happiness he hadn’t seen in a long time. “Take you on. Please!”
She rubbed her big belly in that gorgeous way she had and lust kicked inside him with a sudden-ness he wasn’t expecting. “Ah… Samara, can I feel it?”
“Oh. Sure.” She swiveled around off her chair and walked around the table to him.
He twisted on his stool and opened his legs, grabbing her and bringing her in.
She came into his arms and the cloud of her subtle lilac perfume teased his nose. He ran his hands up her side and cradled the swollen flesh that held his growing child.
The babe kicked out against his hands, the shifting of the flesh beneath his palms a minor miracle. “I wish I could sleep next to you and feel him through the night.”
“Him, huh?” she asked, her hands stretching up and running her fingers through Julian’s hair.
His breath caught in an odd way and his heart began to pound. God he’d missed her touch. He moved his hands around behind her waist and tugged her tighter.
She stared down at him, and although she didn’t move closer, she didn’t move away. He needed to kiss her, his heart screamed at him to do so. He cupped her jaw in his palm and pulled her closer, the soft skin of her face calling to him to caress and enjoy her.
Her lips touched his with the softness of butter and he groaned as flames licked at his soul. He needed to touch her, if only like this.
He licked at her lips and she opened up for him, a moan rolling through her throat as he delved deeper. Tasting her sweetness.
She pulled back, her breathing rapid. “I’m not ready for this.”
He knew she wasn’t, but he needed more. “I need you, Samara. I know you aren’t ready for sex. But I need to feel you against me. Feel close to you. Would you lie with me? Let me hold you?”
“With clothes on?”
He’d prefer not. “Underwear? I need to feel your skin. Please?”
He hated the tone of begging he could hear in his own words, but as Samara’s face transformed, he no longer regretted the words.
“I’d love that.”
She took his hand and pulled him to her bedroom, the duvet still rumpled from her sleep. “I just got out of here,” she joked while she unwrapped her top and awkwardly undressed.
Julian tugged at his own clothes, shedding everything except his cotton boxers, which were already tenting. He gestured down to his errant body part. “I have no control over him, so I apologize in advance. It’s been a long time for him.”
Samara was covering her belly as though she was self-conscious. “How long’s too long?” She gulped suddenly then shook her head. “Sorry. I shouldn’t have asked. I probably don’t want to know.”
He laughed loudly at that one and pulled back the covers, lying down amongst the sweet smell of her skin. “By too long, I mean, since Hawaii.”
It was by far the longest he’d ever gone in his adult life, but something hadn’t been right. He’d dated a few women, tried to convince himself he could go back to his old life, but he hadn’t made it past a single dinner.
She continued to stand and stare so he threw back the covers. “Come on. I need to hold you.” She stood in her tiny pink lacy knickers and a bra that barely contained her swollen breasts. His cock jerked in his shorts just looking at her.
A brilliant smile lit up her face as she sat on the bed, swiveled around, lay down, and shuffled back until she had her gorgeous round arse pressed against his aching cock.
He settled his arm around her belly and kissed the back of her neck. She smelled like flowery soap and home. He closed his eyes and sighed as she nestled into his body.
She pulled his arms tighter around her and placed his hand on her belly, his child shifting and kicking out at him. “He’s so active today.”
She nodded and wiggled her bum into his groin.
Julian’s cock responded with its own wiggle and he groaned. “Hey. You need to stop that. You know how much I desire you.”
“Do you?” she asked, her voice catching in a way that told him how vulnerable she was feeling being with him like this. “I mean…even with this huge belly?”
He could tell her in words how much she meant to him, how beautiful her belly was, but actions spoke much louder. “Samara, seriously? Can’t you feel me?”
He ground his pelvis against her, sliding his rigid staff up and down the crease between her buttocks, the tension against his flesh causing a moan to pass through his lips.
She gasped and pressed back against him and her initial complaints that she wasn’t ready for more, floated right out the window.
Inside his head, Julian was losing the battle. The fight to maintain the distance he’d agreed to. “Samara. If you don’t want me to make love to you, I’m afraid you’re going to have to get up, or kick me out of bed, because I’m about to seduce you.”
He ran the tip of his tongue around her ear for emphasis.
She grabbed his hand that lay on her belly and his chest squeezed tight. Was she really going to kick him out of bed?
Instead, she wriggled even closer, turning around slowly so that she was soon staring up at him, her bright green eyes open and vulnerable. “I want you too. So much, I can’t even explain.”
He dove down on her lips, a groan rolling through him as her unique taste blew apart his senses. “Fuck, I’ve missed you...” he said against her skin.
Her lips parted and he took advantage, letting his tongue dive between her open mouth. Their tongues danced and played and she rolled closer. Julian reached behind her and flicked open her bra with a quick twist of his wrist. He pulled at the lacy confection and pushed it aside, greedily fondling the abundant flesh that had become available to him.
He broke their kiss and pulled away, staring down at the beautiful woman in his arms. Her face flushed with passion, her skin as soft as the skin of a peach.
“God, you’re so beautiful.”
“Even with…” She trailed off as she ran a hand over the changes in her body.
“More so. Our baby makes you even more beautiful to me.”
Her eyes glistened. “I’ve never heard you say that before.”
“I know, and I’m sorry I was so against this at the start. I was wrong. You, and this baby, are the best things in my life. I wouldn’t change anything, except I wish I’d known earlier, and I could have shared more of this with you.”
Her gaze dropped away and fear rippled through him. Had he said the wrong thing?
“I’m sorry. I was trying to be honest, if that wasn’t right…”
She shook her head and her hand cupped his jaw as she met his gaze once more. “No, it’s me that is sorry. I should never have kept my pregnancy a secret from you. That was wrong.”
Her lip quivered and he wished all the words away, but he knew it was probably the time that it all came out, finally. “What is done, is done. I don’t care about any of that anymore. I just want us to move forward, as a family. I’m so excited for that, Samara.”
As he said the words that he’d been afraid to say to anyone, even the shrink his mother had forced him to go see, he knew they were true. Samara represented a new chapter, hell, a new book for his life. He’d start everything anew. And he’d do it better.
“Make love to me, Julian. Please.”
The words were his undoing, and he pressed his lips to hers once again. This time they met with tenderness, and understanding, and Julian’s once broken heart sung with joy. This woman was worth loving, worth taking the risk on.
A part of him screamed with the fear of it. He could be wrong. Again.
Samara’s hands clung to his arms and her sweet moan made all thoughts fly from his head.
He broke their kiss and moved down her body. Kissing the rapid pulse at the base of her throat, the line of her sternum between her breasts. Then he lay back and admired her larger breasts, the darkened nipples.
“I can’t wait to see our child suckling from here.” He plumped both breasts with his hands and moved his lips to one taut nipple.
Samara gasped and grabbed the back of his head, holding him tight to her.
He took his time, enjoying the taste of her soft skin in his mouth, the warmth and pleasure radiating off the woman in his arms. He pushed her onto her back, to kiss the darkened line down her belly, loving the idea that his child rippled beneath his lips.
“Turn over for me.”
She stared down at him as he grabbed a hold of her panties and dragged them down her long legs. She was thicker everywhere and he loved how healthy and strong she looked. Perfect for carrying his son. Or daughter.
He stood up, and pushed his own boxers down his hips, his cock bouncing eagerly out in front of him. She slowly began to roll, then get onto all fours.
Staring down her back, he admired the line of her spine, the roundness of her arse. “Damn, you’re sexy from this angle.”
He put his hands on her inner thighs and tapped until she opened wider. He knelt on the floor and used his hands to open her up, until the glistening cleft of her waiting body came into view. “I can’t wait to taste you.”
She gasped and pressed back as he extended his tongue and ran it along the line of wetness.
A moan erupted from Samara’s throat and he responded by moving lower, flicking her clit with his tongue and using his lips to stimulate her. Her moans became a constant, muffled sound as he teased her, kissed her and finally thrust his tongue deep inside of her.
“Ah… oh, God! Julian!”
Julian put his hand on his cock, the tip wet with precum and his balls aching for relief. He stroked himself a few times, the tingles of orgasm already teasing him. Impatience gripped him. He didn’t want to wait a moment longer. Pushing himself to his feet, he grabbed her hips with his hands, pulling her back so that the tip of his cock nudged her swollen folds.
His chest ached with the strength it took to take this slowly. He needed her to know how he felt, but he also desired her so damn much.
“I adore you, Samara, you know that?”
She reached one of her hands back, and linked their fingers at her hip, her breaths coming in pants as her skin glowed with heat. He thrust slowly forward, forcing himself to remember how long it had been for her. For both of them.
Slow down.
Samara’s tight body gripped him like nothing he’d ever felt. He slid home and a tremor of bliss ricocheted all over his body.
Yes. He was home.
He began to move, his body driving him towards the completion it had been starved of for so long. Samara moaned and gasped, squeezing him tight, and he knew she was as tightly wound as he was.
He thrust harder, and faster, tendrils of heat curling inside his belly as his impending orgasm began to tighten his balls.
“Ah... I… Oh, Julian!” Samara began to convulse, her pussy squeezing him tight then rippling around him.
He let go of all control, grabbing her hips hard. He sunk his cock her harder and faster until his orgasm ricocheted through him. White light exploded inside his head and he cried out as his seed pulsed from his cock.
Samara screamed out as she began to come again.
He held on tight as she milked him over and over, her cries pure rapture in his ears.
When Samara finally stopped shuddering and slumped into the bed, he withdrew, and fell forward, landing next to her and pulling her over into his body.
“Wow.” She panted, her eyes closed, her face flushed and glowing.
He kissed the back of her neck and let all the feelings she’d invoked in him rush through him. This was right. She was right. Everything in his world now, was right.
“Thank you.”
He closed his eyes and let the drug like effects of their lovemaking overwhelm his brain and he drifted off to sleep with a smile on his face.