‘Are you suggesting I can’t?’
‘No,’ he said, quietly, not about to start a new argument.
She sighed, her breath warm on his bare chest. ‘Sometimes I think I was pampered too much growing up. You’re always more sensible.’
‘There’s no such thing as being pampered too much, baby. You were lucky.’
He’d been deeply scarred by his childhood. She could hear it in his voice, see it in his eyes whenever the subject was broached. It always amazed her that he’d shouldered the responsibility of his life so young. ‘We’ll pamper our baby, won’t we?’ She smiled, wanting to erase the raw pain in his eyes. ‘We’ll fight over who pampers him or her most.’
‘You’ll have to show me how.’
She almost broke into tears at the simple truth in his statement. ‘No problem,’ she said, softly. ‘You’re a fast learner.’
‘Speaking of fast learners,’ he murmured, changing the subject like he invariably did when there was an allusion to his childhood, ‘I want to show you a new way to climax.’
She grinned. ‘So you’ve been holding out on me.’
‘Let’s just say I was waiting for the right occasion. Prepare to be amazed,’ he smiled faintly at her flaring glance, ‘in a very nice way, baby. Nothing weird.’ He lifted her up onto the bathroom counter. ‘Cool on your bottom? Don’t worry, you’ll warm up. Now shut your eyes. You’ll feel the sensations more intensely.’
‘I get to climax, right?’
‘Don’t worry, baby, I won’t forget. You get sulky when you don’t get enough of those. Neither one of us wants that, do we?’ His small smile was intimate, warm, alive with careless charm. ‘Now, are you going to shut your eyes or keep giving me instructions?’
‘Look, done.’ She clasped her hands in her lap, eyes closed. ‘Because you’re way better at this than me.’
‘I am.’ He could have said more, but in the interests of peaceful coexistence chose to be tactful.
‘I know what you’re thinking.’
‘I doubt it, baby.’ He ran his thumb over her smile. ‘You don’t have the experience.’
‘For your information, Mr World Class Stud, all that experience of yours is super attractive.’ She suddenly opened her eyes and grinned. ‘You don’t know how many times I’ve played that video of you with the whip.’
He stared fixedly at her. ‘I thought that was taken down.’
‘Don’t worry, it was. But like you with sex, I have special talents. I can find just about anything on the web, deleted or not.’
‘Jesus. Get rid of it.’ Surprisingly, the prospect of possible parenthood was making him high-minded.
‘I did. I just made a copy for myself. You’re my own personal porn star.’
The grim set of his mouth eased, his scowl gave way to a playful lift of his brows. ‘Then maybe you don’t need me this morning.’
‘Or maybe I need you even more.’
Leaning over, he kissed her softly. ‘Good. I like that.’
‘Show me, Dominic,’ she murmured, sliding her hand over the hard, ridged muscles of his chest, following the light trail of dark hair to where it disappeared into the waistband of his shorts. Her lashes drifted downward, her hand dropped away, and she sat eyes closed, waiting.
He stood very still for a fraction of a second, touched as always by her artless simplicity, by her open-hearted trust, by the joy she’d brought to him. Then conscious of his responsibility to offer her joy in return, of the reason he was standing here about to indulge his wife with the more beneficent of his talents, he gently placed his warm palms on the outside curve of her full, ripe breasts, exerted a very slight pressure and gently began to caress her.
‘Ohmygod – what are you doing?’ It felt like a soft electric current was spreading through her body, warming her everywhere, the energy sliding downward, bringing a delectable melting feeling deep inside.
‘Hush. Don’t talk. Concentrate.’ And he gently caressed her entire body, her shoulders, arms, slowly, tenderly, down her ribs to her waist, his fingertips sliding around to her back, over her bottom, across her thighs, between her legs, until she was almost fainting with desire, filled with bliss, a swelling, glowing need spreading to her sex, up her spine, every cell in her body vibrating with pleasure.
Dominic had mastered the practice of Tantra in India long ago, knew how to use his entire body for sex, not just his dick, understood how to promote the flow of subtle energies and magnetism to intensify ecstasy, prolong orgasmic sensation.
‘Can you feel that at the base of your spine?’ His voice was soft, low, his touch incredibly gentle.
She nodded, unable to speak because of the pleasure expanding inside her, the contact of his fingers so light it felt as though he was worshipping her body, adoring her with his touch. A stream of delight rippled through her senses, strangely fulfilling as if joy and consummation blended, as if the hot deep throbbing inside her marked each beat of her heart. As if she were being gently transported with soul-stirring rapture into a land of sensory enchantment.
When her consciousness was fully aroused, Dominic cupped each breast and bending his head, gently sucked first one nipple, then the other, milking her slowly and rhythmically until she was so intensely provoked, she was flowing wet, softly panting. And when she finally died away in an uncharacteristically mute orgasm, the all-pervasive ecstasy pulsed, quivered, thrilled every glowing cell in her body for long, blissful, exquisitely protracted moments.
He stood very still afterwards, attuned to her body, to his, filled with a deep sense of wonder as always when he looked inward, when he allowed himself to feel life pulsing within himself.
‘You’re amazing.’
Her eyes were still shut, her voice no more than a whisper, her pinked cheeks and delicate beauty, her breathless innocence always taking his breath away. ‘And you’re my happiness,’ he said on a soft breath. ‘I’m going to pick you up now. You don’t have to open your eyes.’
‘I may never open my eyes again,’ she said as Dominic lifted her in his arms and walked from the bathroom. ‘That was so beautiful, I don’t have words to describe it.’
‘There’s a few thousand books on the subject if you want a vocabulary,’ he said, casually.
‘You are amazing, you know,’ she whispered, opening her eyes, and gazing up at his firm solid jaw, then higher until she met his smiling blue gaze.
Just well trained. ‘If you say so, baby,’ he said, pleasantly, then bent to kiss the fine bridge of her nose. ‘Now, do you want to sleep, have breakfast, tell me how much you love me?’ he finished with a grin.
‘To the ends of the earth and beyond. Truly, Dominic.’
He smiled. ‘And me, you, past the star line.’ Placing her on the bed, he pulled a quilt over her and sat down beside her. ‘So now that you’ve had your wake-up orgasm, what’s on the agenda? Breakfast?’
‘Melanie and I are eating breakfast somewhere. I forgot the name of the place. Then we’re going shopping for maternity clothes.’
‘I’ll take you.’
‘Melanie’s driving.’
‘Jake’s driving. I’ll take you.’
‘Are you going to control every minute of my life?’
‘Every second, baby,’ he said in a voice that even other CEOs knew better than to question.
‘Well … OK, I suppose.’ She suddenly grinned. ‘Are you coming into the stores with us? Maternity clothes, Dominic. Your favourite.’
He smiled. ‘I’ll wait in the car.’
*
And so her pregnancy advanced, Dominic in charge, as benignly as possible. Kate accommodating him with only occasional resistance because they both understood the essential seriousness of the situation. Although when Kate passed the dreaded three-month mark, they both marginally relaxed. And by the time she was six months pregnant and feeling really fine, even Dominic was able to banish the worst of his fears.
The doctors were within shouting distance, an emerg
ency surgery had been constructed in the house next door. Kate’s monthly exams were all perfectly normal. She was healthy and vigorous, the baby as well.
Although the baby’s robust weight gain triggered a new concern for Dominic. Kate wasn’t a big woman. What if the baby was too large? He was assured by Dr Nye and the other six doctors he questioned that he needn’t worry.
He still worried.
As Kate’s due date approached, she and Dominic rarely went out.
They walked around the block in the morning and evening because Kate was supposed to exercise moderately. Dominic adjusted his long stride to hers, held her hand and talked of baby things because Kate was completely preoccupied with the child. She bought clothes for the baby with a boundless optimism while Dominic grappled with the awful memories of the baby clothes left behind in London. Kate had one of the bedrooms made into a nursery and she, Melanie and Melanie’s girls kept busy discussing paint colours, fabrics and furniture. She seemed completely immune to the past, confident, assured, all her emotional baggage from her miscarriage put aside. He marvelled at her complete reversal, but was cheered by her happiness. They picked out baby names, or rather she did. He cared nothing for the name so long as the baby was healthy. Katherine could name it Rock or Plumtree with his blessing.
‘You sure now?’ she said, looking up at him as she lay in his arms one evening. ‘You like James for a boy and Rosie for a girl?’
‘I do,’ he said. ‘They’re perfect.’
Her gaze narrowed. ‘You’re not just saying that to be nice?’
Of course he was. ‘No. I couldn’t have done better. And you’re the one doing all the work. You should be able to name the baby anything you wish.’
She soft exhaled. ‘Good.’ Reaching up, she brushed her fingers along his jaw. ‘Happy?’
‘I’m happy as long as I’m with you. Wherever – it doesn’t matter. But I need you beside me.’
‘It’s frightening sometimes,’ she whispered, tears in her eyes. ‘Loving you so much. You have to belong to me always … and for ever. Tell me you will, Dominic, you have to,’ she said, suddenly filled with inexplicable alarm.
‘Hush, baby, don’t cry,’ he whispered, softly. ‘I’ll belong to you and you to me till the end of time. And when you get frightened, I’ll pull up the drawbridge, close the gates, shut out the world so it’s just you and me.’ He glanced down, ran his hand lightly over her belly. ‘And him or her. No one else gets in. OK?’
She nodded, sniffling. ‘You’ll be glad when I’m not pregnant anymore.’ She swallowed the lump in her throat. ‘I won’t be so weepy.’
‘I’ll mostly be glad when I can stop worrying. About you and the baby and everything that can go wrong.’ He smiled slightly. ‘Although each passing day eases my concerns a little more.’
‘Because they can save the baby at this stage.’
He nodded. ‘But I need you to be OK too.’ That fear was constant. But he drew in a small breath, then grinned because he wasn’t going to voice his worries and add to her apprehensions. ‘Just so you know, I’ve threatened all the doctors so I’m anticipating a smooth delivery.’
‘Maybe you should talk to me about that,’ Kate said, her eyes instantly alight, a teasing note in her voice. ‘Seeing as how I’m intimately involved in the process.’
‘You don’t threaten, or I would have.’ He tapped her tummy very lightly. ‘Hear that, baby? I’ve got your support team on their toes and standing by.’
‘Jeez, Dominic, you’re going to piss them off.’
‘Nah … I was diplomatic.’ Or rather Max was, along with the bonus cheques he’d dispensed. ‘They don’t mind. Don’t worry, baby, everyone will treat you gently.’
*
But when Kate went into labour, she insisted on staying at home.
‘Absolutely not!’ Dominic snapped, moving to pick her up.
Which was exactly why she hadn’t told him before, although Patty knew because she’d had Dominic’s bedroom cleaned so you could literally eat off the floor. ‘Don’t you dare touch me!’ Kate screamed and when he jumped back, she said in a more normal tone, ‘Get the midwives first. This is going to take a while.’
‘I’m getting Melanie, too. Scream all you want about that. I don’t give a fuck,’ he said, harshly.
‘Why would I scream?’ she said, sweetly.
‘Okay.’ Dominic kept his gaze on Kate as he punched in his sister’s number on his cell. ‘Come over. Katherine’s in labour and she won’t go to the hospital. I’m calling them now … all of them? OK – hurry.’
The midwife Melanie had used, along with three others, were next door and arrived minutes before Melanie rushed in. His sister managed to calm Dominic, with a soothing tone of voice and a lengthy explanation. Kate had been counting on that and cast a grateful glance at her sister-in-law when Dominic finally sighed in acquiescence.
‘OK,’ he said. ‘But if there’s the slightest problem, I mean the slightest problem, we’re going to the hospital.’ Then he’d scowled at Kate so fiercely she put up her hands in surrender. ‘You better fucking mean it,’ he growled.
Jeez, was he a mind-reader or was she that transparent? But she and Melanie, the midwives and Patty had gone over every detail of the delivery a thousand times and Melanie’s last two children had been born at home. Kate was relatively confident. Besides, Dominic practically had an entire hospital next door. Plus, she thought, with the mystical confidence that had sustained her throughout this pregnancy, she just knew the baby was fine and all the doctors’ exams had corroborated that fact. So really, her fake surrender was inconsequential. ‘I mean it, Dominic, really I do,’ she said with a smile. ‘If anything goes wrong, the hospital for sure. Now help me walk.’
For the next six hours, Dominic walked with Kate, her hand in his, holding her up when a painful spasm brought her to a standstill, helping her lie down from time to time so the midwives could massage her and help her relax. Melanie ran the remote, and kept them distracted with music, TV or conversation. Until the contractions reached a point where Dominic insisted the doctors be called in. He stared hard at his sister until she backed him up. ‘Just in case, baby,’ he said, softly, helping Kate back to bed. ‘They can sit downstairs if you don’t want them up here.’
Eventually, the contractions were so close together, even Kate didn’t mind some help. The midwives and the doctors did their job, everyone working as a coordinated team because Dominic had emphatically warned them that he didn’t want any turf battles while his wife was suffering.
In the end, though, Kate was amazing and he told her so, kissing her between contractions, wiping her forehead with a damp washcloth, giving her ice chips when she needed them, holding her hand through it all. She endured the pain with a grim stoicism, squeezing his hand hard during the worst of it, while he counted for her, helped her with her breathing, wished he could suffer in her stead.
And then someone suddenly said, ‘You’re almost there, Mrs Knight.’
Kate shut her eyes, took a deep breath and almost broke Dominic’s fingers.
A moment later, an elated voice said, ‘It’s a girl.’
Kate’s eyes opened, she smiled at Dominic and whispered, ‘You can stop worrying now.’
‘I love you so much, baby,’ he whispered, feeling the weight of the world lifting from his shoulders. She was safe; he hadn’t lost her. Leaning over, he brushed her damp curls from her forehead, then bent and kissed her gently. ‘Now I have to get the world wrapped up in a bow for you.’
She smiled. ‘Show me our baby first.’
It took a moment for her words to register; he was so grateful Katherine was alive, that she’d survived. Then he looked up, surveyed the busy scene, found Dr Gregory holding the baby and raised his brows.
‘She’s a healthy little girl,’ the doctor said, knowing Dominic’s concern, why he’d been brought in at enormous cost to guarantee the baby’s life. He carried her to the bed and gave them their first glimp
se of Rosie. ‘Give us a few minutes to warm her under the lamps,’ he said. ‘Just a precaution.’
Ten busy minutes later, with everyone quickly doing their job, the baby had been examined, weighed and dressed, Kate had been bathed and put in a new nightgown, the bedclothes had been changed, the doctors had confirmed both Kate and the baby were in good health. Then Melanie shooed everyone out of the room. ‘I’ll have some food sent up. And we’re all downstairs if you need us,’ she said before closing the bedroom door.
‘Hungry?’ Dominic asked, standing at the bedside, his gaze on Kate, his daughter in her arms.
‘Not right this minute.’
He smiled. ‘She looks like you.’ He lightly touched the baby’s small hand, and the tiny fingers closed on his thumb.
‘You’re crying.’
This man who’d been alone most of his life looked up, his eyes moist. ‘I don’t cry.’
Kate held out her free hand.
He blinked. ‘Well, maybe just this once,’ he said, taking her hand.
‘We have a family now, you and I,’ she whispered, knowing what had brought him to tears.
‘You’ve given me an incredible gift, Katherine.’ The blue of his eyes were luminous with love, his smile for her alone. ‘Ring the bells, fire the cannons, send out messengers far and wide to proclaim the miraculous birth,’ he said with a grin. The baby suddenly opened her eyes and looked up at her father.
‘Did she hear me?’ he whispered.
‘I don’t know. You’re the one who read all the baby books.’
‘She’s looking at me like she sees me. And she’s still holding my finger.’
‘She’s going to be amazing.’
Dominic smiled. ‘Of course. She’s yours.’
‘Ours.’
‘The amazing part is yours, baby. I’m seriously pleased she doesn’t look like me.’ Then his smile broadened. ‘One question. Will she always have pink hair?’