Take Me On

  He pounded into her, so thick, so hot. Sweat slicked his skin and she licked at the salt of it at the base of his neck. “Yes, baby, yes,” she crooned into his ear. For that moment, in the all-consuming pleasure of his body above hers, in hers, all her problems were forgotten. There was only this. Only him.

  “Are you okay?” he asked around panted breaths.

  “Oh yes,” she whispered, drawing the ‘s’ out when he swirled his hips and sent shivers of sweetness up her spine. It wasn’t a screaming orgasm that was about to take her under. It was one that would rob her of breath, voice, everything. She wanted it, she needed it. When he slowed his movements again just as her muscles were tightening in anticipation of the explosion, she whimpered.

  “You still haven’t begged to my satisfaction,” he reminded her evilly.

  “I hate you.”

  “No, you don’t.” He pulled out. Her wasted body nearly went limp without him inside. She felt as if she were made of hot liquid. It was no damn wonder he’d gotten her pregnant. Jesus, could anything stop him?

  “Here, baby, get on top,” he said, sliding off her.

  “I can’t.”

  “You can. Come on. I feel like I’m crushing you.”

  “But you’re not.” She so did not want to move. He’d been giving it to her just like she’d wanted. So began the male pregnancy paranoia? She hoped not. “Get back down here right now.”

  Chuckling, he obeyed, surprising her. She wrapped him in her arms and welcomed him back into her body. His nose lingered inches from hers as he moved back and forth, his eyes gazing directly into hers. What was behind them? Maybe she’d find out tonight. She’d try, anyway. If she could stop enticing him to plunder her nether regions long enough.

  Ian braced himself on his arms, and she couldn’t resist letting her hands run over the taut muscles of his biceps as he moved down to kiss her breast and gently suck her nipple. Little zings traveled from that precise point to between her legs and back again. Through with begging, she just wanted to lie here and let him love her. Because that was what it felt like now…making love. When he had to leave her again so he could move down and kiss her belly, it was okay this time. Some emotion she couldn’t possibly name engulfed her as he flattened his palm over her belly.

  “Amazing,” was all he said, and she stroked his hair, imagining this scene four months from now. Six. Feeling kicks and wiggles and hiccups while he laid his head on her stomach. Would he still be around for that? Would she want him to be? Strange to share this intimacy with someone who was practically a stranger. She’d always imagined sharing it with a husband. With Mark.

  But it wasn’t Mark who moved back up her body, kissing his way along until he reached her mouth. She met Ian’s tongue with hers. Met his body with hers, took him back inside. The flames that had abated somewhat roared back to searing life. With strong, steady thrusts, he took her to the edge and pitched her over at last.

  The fall was long and intense, Gabby’s every sense focusing on him. The smooth hardness of him, the beauty of his expression collapsing in his own long-awaited climax, the rasp of his breath. That scent they created, the one that was uniquely them. Oh God. She fell and fell, and she landed hard…and she didn’t know where the hell she was anymore.

  Chapter Twelve

  She kept saying she needed to go home tonight, but Ian couldn’t seem to let her. Every time she tried to move from the bed with its tangled sheets, he grumbled and pulled her close again. She was so warm and smooth.

  “I mean it, baby. I know I’m thirty-six freaking years old, but my family—”

  “Ah-ha!” he exclaimed. “So it comes out.”

  “Shit.” Gabby covered her face. “Okay. Fine. I’m eight damn years older than you.”

  His nipped at her neck with his teeth. “You’re the most gorgeous, sexy, fucking amazing thirty-six-year-old woman I’ve ever met.”

  “Hmm. I guess it wouldn’t do for you to never know the age of the mother of your child, huh?”

  His hand crept down to her naked belly, and he stroked circles around her navel. “How’ve you been feeling? Besides beautifully horny?”

  A chuckle met his words. “Beautifully horny, I like that. Well, let’s see. I’m starving but I don’t really want to eat, because I’m always a little sick to my stomach. I’m really sick in the mornings, but usually by noon it’s better. My boobs are killing me.” She sighed. “As soon as I get back to Dallas, I’m going to set up an appointment with my doctor there.”

  He wanted to go with her to those appointments, but she’d be a good three hours away. Shit, this was gonna be miserable. “I’d like to go with you,” he said, cautiously putting it out there.

  “Really? I’m sure we could work that out if you wanted,” she said lightly. “Can I ask you something?”

  “Sure.”

  “This is just me being curious. How is it a great guy like you hasn’t met someone yet? Why hasn’t anyone snatched you up?”

  “I guess you’d have to ask all the silly little girls who passed me up,” he said with a laugh, tracing the soft line of her jaw with his fingertip.

  “Have you ever been serious with anyone?”

  “A couple of times. Did the cohabitation thing for a while with both. Didn’t work out.”

  “Were you in love?”

  “I don’t know if I’d go that far. I was content.”

  She was silent for a while, and he couldn’t get a good read on her. “I don’t want to be that way,” she said at last. “I think about my ex now and, you know, I think that’s all I ever would’ve been with him. Why the hell couldn’t I see that? If I’d known then what I know now, I’d have backed out of my own wedding.”

  “What is it exactly that you know now?”

  She traced her fingers up his forearm, her touch feather-light. “I know what you feel like. I know how you make me feel. At the same time, though… Ian, I can’t put myself in a position to get hurt like that again. I mean, I lost everything. And it wasn’t even mine. I never saw it coming even though I should have. I’ve thought ever since then I shouldn’t seriously offer myself to someone until I’m on my feet permanently. That’s going to be a while. Even longer than I’d originally thought, now that I’m pregnant.”

  “Sounds smart, Gabby. Sucks for me, of course. But good for you.” It hurt to say those words. But not as much as her words had hurt him. She’d pretty much shut the door on a relationship with him or anyone else. “Do you need any help? I’ll do anything I can for you when you move.”

  “I’m pretty much only taking me and my clothes. Furniture and everything I’ll get up there. Besides, what would you tell Brian?”

  He hadn’t the vaguest notion what he was going to tell Brian. For all he knew, he might have to go crawling back to Marco and Kara once his boss caught wind of this.

  Sighing, he buried his face in her hair. The warm, silky strands made him think of the lyrics to “Sweet Child O’ Mine,” his favorite song. He’d never thought to find that place with anyone. Now that he’d found it…he couldn’t have it.

  Kelsey answered Gabby’s call with a laughed “Hello,” obviously amused by something Evan or Alex had done before she picked up. Such a sickeningly happy little family. But that was okay, because she loved them intensely. After everything they’d been through with past relationships, no one deserved happiness more than Evan and Kelsey.

  “I have something to tell you,” Gabby blurted.

  “Okay,” her beloved sister-in-law said, cautiously drawing out the word.

  “First, if you’re in the room with my brother, I need you to leave it. He can’t know about any of this yet.”

  Kelsey caught on fast that something major was up. “Sure,” she said brightly. “Hey, Alex’s cartoons are blaring. Let me go upstairs.”

  She waited while Kelsey put distance between herself and Evan, listening to the phone bump along until finally a door closed. “Okay. I’m alone,” Kelsey said at last. “Wha
t’s going on?”

  “Now I need you to sit down. And do not shriek.”

  “Gabby! You’re scaring me.”

  Freaking hormones. Somehow, the concern in Kelsey’s voice made Gabby’s eyes well. She couldn’t wait any longer to prepare her for this confession. “I’m pregnant.”

  Dead silence met the announcement. So dead that she thought for a moment the call had been dropped. She checked her phone’s display. Yep, still connected. “Hello? Are you breathing? Do I need to hang up and call Evan to run up and start CPR?”

  “Gabby,” Kelsey breathed, her voice barely audible. “How are you pregnant?”

  It was too good to pass up. “Well, see, the man inserts his erect penis into the woman’s vagina, and—”

  “I know how, you freaking idiot. I mean how, how did this… Oh my God! What man?”

  “Shh! I haven’t told anyone but the man and you. I want to keep it that way for now, all right? I’m not ready for it to be out there. First I’m the dumped bride, and now I’m knocked up out of wedlock. I almost wish I could get out of here in a couple of weeks without anyone knowing.”

  “You cannot do that. I’ll tell everyone before I let you do that.”

  “You evil bitch.”

  “Who is the father?”

  “You wouldn’t know him.” Gabby pressed the heel of her free hand to her forehead. “Really. You wouldn’t.”

  “Doesn’t matter. I want to know about him. You said he knows?”

  “He knows. He’s, um…he’s one of Brian’s employees.”

  “Gabby!”

  “I know, okay?”

  “Your mom told me you came home with a tattoo a while back.”

  “I came home the next morning with way more than that, it seems.”

  “So it was your artist? Does Brian not have…I don’t know, rules against that?”

  Gabby scoffed. “Oh, please, he hooked up with Candace the first time because he gave her a tattoo. I’ll remind him of that little fact if I need to. But Ian’s worried what Brian will think about…all this. Yeah. That’s a problem.”

  “I don’t even know what to say. What are you going to do?”

  “What is there to do? I’m having a baby. I’ve thought of all my options. This is the only one I can live with.”

  “What will you do about school?”

  “I’ll just…I’ll deal with it. I’ll take a leave of absence when the time comes.” She remembered her and Ian’s conversation the night they conceived. “Take life as it comes at me.”

  “Did you say the father’s name is Ian? What does he think about it?”

  “I think he’s in shock. We’ve talked about it. He wants to be involved, but…I don’t know. We were only supposed to be together for one night. Now he’s someone I’ll have to deal with for the next eighteen years.”

  “Oh, at least,” Kelsey said, not being helpful at all. “Do you like the guy?”

  “Luckily, yes. I like him a lot. He’s…he really seems like a great person, from what I know.” She chuckled. “Damn, he’s hot. He’s literally wanna-have-his-baby hot. I think back, and it’s like, no wonder I got pregnant.”

  Kelsey’s laughter rang out. “Well, it’s good you feel that way, I guess, considering you are having his baby.” There was a long silence after their humor died away. “God. I don’t know what to say. You have to tell your mom.”

  She didn’t want to think about it. “I realize that.”

  “You shouldn’t worry too much about it, you know. It doesn’t matter if you’re not married. She might freak at first, but the woman thirsts for grandchildren, and she’ll take them any way she can get them. She’s going to be overjoyed.”

  “I hope so.”

  “And you have to tell Evan.”

  “No.”

  “Then let me.”

  “Kelsey, no. Not yet, please. He’ll tell Mom. He won’t be able to resist.”

  “The longer you wait, the harder it’s going to be.”

  “But I don’t have many answers right now, and I’m only going to be met with a million questions.” Even worse than the thought of telling her mom was telling her dad. She’d have to let her mother do it. “I’m not ready for that.”

  “So you’re going to burden me with being the only other person who knows.”

  “Please understand. I had to tell someone. Except for Ian, I kinda feel all alone.”

  “It doesn’t have to be that way. We’d all be there for you.”

  “For now, it does have to be that way.”

  “I’m so worried about you.”

  She wanted to seethe over that. She wasn’t sixteen. Problem was, at this very moment, she was as helpless and dependent as a sixteen-year-old. She had money that was her own, but certainly not enough to sustain herself and a kid for very long. Being reliant on her parents while she went to school was one thing; they were fine with it because they were so proud of her following her dreams. Being reliant on them for raising her extramarital child, though? They might not be so thrilled about that.

  She could fix it, though the option wasn’t one she liked to consider. What if it they refused to support her now? What if the dream of medical school had to trade places with the dream of having children? One of them attainable, one of them all but gone. She could always go back to nursing, they might say. Pay for her mistakes. Nursing would support her and her baby, but she would have to kiss med school good-bye.

  “I’m sorry you’re worried. But I’m trying to remain focused on the joy of the situation,” Gabby said a tad more icily than she intended. “Because if I don’t, I might go off the deep end.”

  “I understand,” Kelsey said. “I don’t mean to make you upset. But please promise me you’ll tell your parents soon. You need emotional support. You hate me saying I’m worried about you, but I can’t help it. I’m a worrier. Have you been to a doctor yet?”

  “No. I got three positive tests three days ago, and that’s where we are.”

  Kelsey chuckled. “I think it was three for me too. I was in total shock.”

  At least Evan had already proposed and their wedding plans had already been underway. Gabby managed to refrain from sharing Brian and Candace’s little secret. Apparently, they didn’t want to spread the word yet either, or Kelsey would be crowing about it. Gabby made a mental note to call Brian and check on them.

  “Are you okay? Like, right this minute? You’re good?”

  Gabby had to laugh. “Am I standing on a stool with a noose around my neck? No. I’m good. Promise.”

  “I hate being so far away! Dammit. We need to get together. You and I, we’ll figure this whole thing out.”

  “Can you come up for a few days?”

  “Possibly. Though I might have a better idea. Girls’ weekend in Destin before you go back.”

  If she went back, given the darker turn her thoughts had taken. But ohhh, the beach sounded heavenly. The Rosses owned a condo in Destin, Florida, right on the white sands of the Emerald Coast. Though her parents used it frequently, she hadn’t been in a few years. She could so do with some sunshine and waves. An abundance of salty Gulf air to clear her head. “I would love that.”

  “Let me see what I can get worked out, okay?”

  “Sounds good.”

  “I love ya, girl. Talk to you soon.”

  Gabby ended the call and sat staring at her phone without seeing it. It was probably true this would get harder the longer she waited. Hell, she could march downstairs right now and blurt out her news to her mother and get it over with. While her mom might be overjoyed to have another grandchild, Gabby didn’t think for a second she wouldn’t be disappointed in her eldest.

  She’d always been the good child. Brian had been the rebellious one, often getting in serious trouble. Evan had been the player, leaving a trail of broken hearts in his wake. Gabby had often scolded them both for their choices right alongside her mother. Now? Ugh. She could imagine all of them lining up to shake their fing
ers at her—her younger brothers no doubt with malicious glee in payback for all those times she’d done it to them.

  It was okay. She wasn’t ashamed. They might be ashamed of her, but none of that would matter five years from now—her standard approach to dealing with stress. The uncertainty, though, was terrible. The thought of meeting all their many questions with I don’t know or I guess we’ll see. She’d never lived that way. She didn’t know how.

  For a terrible moment, she longed so hard for her old life that her chest ached. Her home with Mark. Her friends. School. Mark himself. Steady, level-headed Mark, who’d apparently put on such a façade of contentment that he deserved an Academy Award. Again she thought about everything she was supposed to be enjoying right now, everything that had been snatched so cruelly away from her at the last possible moment.

  She’d told Ian she didn’t want contentment and that she should’ve run out on her own wedding. She wanted much more than that in her life. Joy, happiness, excitement, love. But stability was also high on her list. Way high. Right now, she felt so unstable she might topple over. That surely didn’t mean she had to trade in everything else to have it, though, right?

  Weakness engulfed her, and for yet another even more terrible moment, she toyed with the idea of calling Mark. What would she say? What was the point? If there had been even the slightest, tiniest, most miniscule chance of going back, it was gone now. She was pregnant with another man’s child. For all she knew, Mark had moved on too. Maybe to a fake-chested trophy-wife type who was sleeping in the very bed the two of them had shared.

  She picked up her phone again. Instead of dialing her ex-fiancé, though, she dialed Brian’s cell. He answered just as she thought it might go to voice mail.

  “Are you guys okay?” she asked.

  “We’re good.” There was no mistaking the weariness in his voice.

  “How is Candace feeling?”

  “She was really sick this morning. Laid around with a cold rag on her head until almost noon. I think she’s better now.”

  “Poor thing. Tell her to keep some crackers and a Coke by the bed. She needs to eat and drink first thing when she wakes up.” That was what she’d begun to do as of yesterday morning, and it seemed to help stave off the nausea.