Her Pregnancy Secret Page 14

  Realizing she was in one of the building’s dead spots so there was no use calling him back, she forced herself to her knees. The last thing she wanted was for him to find her on the stairs and panic.

  Pushing up to her feet, she stood. For a second or two, she swayed dizzily. When her head cleared, she grabbed the railing and began climbing, grateful that she hadn’t sprained an ankle, or worse.

  It was slow going, but once she was safely inside her apartment, she collapsed on her couch and willed the cramping in her belly to stop.

  She had to be all right. The baby had to be all right.

  Four minutes later she heard her buzzer in the foyer downstairs. Then Michael rang her on her intercom. “It’s me.”

  “Michael!” Unabashed joy filled her as she hit the button and buzzed him inside.

  She heard the thunder of his heavy footsteps as he ran up her stairs, taking them two at a time, never slowing even when he neared the top. He ran through the door that she’d left ajar and rushed to her side.

  For the first time since their quarrel at Will’s apartment, she didn’t try to push him away when he pulled her close. She was much too thankful to be wrapped in his powerful arms while he quizzed her about her delicate condition.

  He was breathing hard, and his heart was pounding.

  He was as scared for her and the baby’s safety as she was.

  “How far did you fall?” His unsteady tone told her that he’d feared the worst, that he still feared it.

  Did that mean he wanted their baby as much as she did? That maybe his interest in her wasn’t just about controlling the North heir?

  “Not so very far.”

  “How are you feeling now?”

  “I was shaken at first. But I feel better now.” Especially now that he was here. “And lucky. I feel very, very lucky.” With a deep sigh, she laid her head against his heaving chest and listened to the violent thudding of his heart. “It’s going to be okay. Don’t worry so much.”

  “Your doctor’s agreed to meet us at the emergency room just to make sure.”

  “Michael, that really isn’t necessary.”

  “Shh,” he whispered. His eyes met hers. “It is for me, so let me take care of you. Just this once...for the baby’s sake.”

  Upon hearing the very real concern in his husky voice, the lump in her throat grew larger.

  “I’m glad you’re here,” she admitted as she pulled him closer. “So glad.”

  His powerful arms tightened around her. “Well, that’s a first.”

  She was so happy she didn’t object, at least not very much, when the team of paramedics he’d summoned arrived, checked her vitals, strapped her to a stretcher and carried her back down the stairs.

  Thankfully, her doctor, who beat them to the hospital, confirmed her opinion that although she’d been shaken up a bit, essentially she was fine. “I would suggest that you climb as few stairs as possible for a while. And as for resuming intimate relations, I advise you two to take a break for a couple of days. After that, just be careful.”

  “I like your doctor,” Michael said after the man left.

  “Because he agreed with you about the stair thing.”

  “No—because he said we can have sex in two days.”

  She felt her cheeks heat. She glanced around to make sure they were alone. “Michael! We don’t have that kind of relationship anymore.”

  “I miss it. He just reminded me of how much I miss it.” He leaned into her and cupped her chin with his fingers. “I want you all the time, and it’s been too long. Way too long,” he murmured right before he slanted his hard mouth over hers.

  “Don’t,” she whispered, but when he didn’t stop, she didn’t push against his chest as she should have.

  She was thinking about how frantic he’d been when he’d arrived at her apartment, how capable and truly caring. Maybe he wasn’t so bad; maybe he truly was trying to change.

  Or maybe her pregnancy had her feeling more vulnerable and, therefore, more forgiving. Whatever the reasons, she was glad he’d come over and so obviously wanted to take care of her.

  When his arms wound around her waist, her pulse quickened. Then he pressed her against his muscular length and her hips arched against him.

  At her response, he slid his hands over her bottom. “I missed you, missed this.”

  Desire licked through her like a hot tide. Unbidden came the realization that she still hoped he could care for her. She still hoped that maybe him wanting her in his life because of the baby could be a fresh beginning.

  Suddenly all the emotions she’d been fighting exploded, and she rubbed herself against the bulge in his slacks.

  “Too bad we have to hold off...for a couple of nights,” he whispered grimly.

  She pressed herself against him again and then smiled.

  “You’re killing me. We’ve got to stop.”

  His expression was so tender and his eyes were so warm, they melted the ice around her heart.

  Eleven

  The city sparkled in the night like a million jewels.

  Michael lay in his bed counting his blessings for the first time in a while. Thank God he’d been in town two days ago and had been able to get to her apartment so fast.

  Two days! For two whole days, ever since her fall, she’d been nice to him. When he’d come into the bistro every morning for breakfast, she’d joined him willingly. She’d even laughed at some of his jokes. When he’d called to check up on her during the day, she sometimes answered her phone.

  He was feeling lucky about sex tonight, too.

  Her pregnancy was showing—just a little—but that only made her more beautiful to him. Her tummy, which had been a smooth, flat plane when they’d met, was slightly rounded. The bump fascinated him and made him feel protective.

  She was carrying his son. He was going to be a father. Maybe after the baby came, he wouldn’t feel so alone.

  “This doesn’t mean anything,” she murmured as she lay down on his bed and eased out of her black lacy bra.

  “Right.” He attempted to suppress his excitement as his eyes feasted on the silky skin and voluptuously soft curves she revealed. “Of course not.”

  She was still wearing her pants and he his jeans.

  They’d eaten Chinese earlier in the evening because he’d wanted Peking duck, and she’d indulged him by accompanying him to a favorite restaurant that wasn’t far from his penthouse.

  In a corner booth of a glossy black dining room accented with white marble monkeys dangling from the ceiling and golden dragons encircling the walls, she’d eaten jellyfish and oxtails with increasing rapture. He’d feasted on Peking duck presented with scallions, julienned cucumber, delicate crepes and amber-colored hoisin sauce.

  Of course they’d shared, nibbling off each other’s plates and feeding each other—although she’d been much fonder of his duck than he’d been of her jellyfish. His glass of plum wine had glittered on their table like an enormous jewel. On their walk home they’d stopped at a chocolate shop for plump, chocolate-covered strawberries. Now they lay in his penthouse bedroom lit with silver moonlight.

  They’d talked for hours about themselves. He’d told her more than he’d ever told anyone. At one point, when he’d confessed how ashamed he’d felt of the homes he’d lived in with his mother, Bree had placed her hand on his.

  “My mother was a little like Anya. She chose her men for what they could give her. I thought all women were like that.”

  The soft shining light in Bree’s eyes had eased the tension caused by the memories and confessions. Normally he never told such stories because they made him feel weak and powerless, but sharing them with Bree had made him feel closer to her, and less alone.

  It was a beautiful night. Not that he
had the slightest interest in the sweeping panorama of gilded buildings or the immense park beneath them, all of which had been selling points before he’d signed a contract and applied to the board to purchase the apartment.

  No, his body’s terrible longings had taken him over; it was she alone who compelled him. But unlike the first night they’d been together, his feelings for her now were honest. He liked her as a human being, and he wanted her to like him, too. He knew it would take a while, but he intended to show her he would never again treat her with anything less than the respect she deserved.

  Her breasts were fuller than they’d been that first night, their tips dark and tight. He wanted to pull her close, lick her nipples and revel in her fecundity. But he knew better than to rush her. What they had was still too fragile.

  “It’s just sex,” she said.

  Not to him, not anymore.

  “Whatever you say...as long as you’ll keep getting naked for me,” he murmured.

  She laughed.

  Nothing like a good meal to ease her anxieties and turn her on, he thought.

  Finding out that she was carrying his child had made him feel far more closely connected to her. She had never slept with another man. She’d chosen him.

  Her justifiable fury and their separation combined with his fear for her and the baby after the fall had taught him that she meant even more to him than he’d imagined. Not that he was comfortable with the depth of his feelings for her.

  After her fall, with the help of her mother, he’d convinced Bree to move into his penthouse for a few days. So once again, she was installed in his downstairs guest suite behind his kitchen. He was in the process of acquiring the first-floor apartment he’d mentioned to her earlier, but he hadn’t told her yet because he didn’t want to argue about it.

  For the past two evenings they’d spent the early hours after work together, and in an effort to gain her trust he’d deliberately kept things light and friendly. He hadn’t touched her.

  After meeting her doctor at the E.R., he’d brought Bree straight home and put her to bed. When she’d said she was ravenously hungry, he’d ordered pizza and served it to her on a tray in her room. Afterward, he’d sat on her bed and they’d talked. He’d been pleased that she’d wanted to know everything he’d done while he’d been away. He’d loved telling her of his adventures and business problems. Then he’d caught up on her activities in New York. He, too, had been thrilled that the bistro was doing better.

  He’d stayed in her room for a long time even after she’d shut her eyes and fallen asleep. He’d liked listening to her gentle breathing, liked knowing she was safe in his home...and that their baby was out of danger.

  “Kiss me,” she whispered now, bringing him back to the present. “I want you to undress me. Then I’ll undress you.”

  A sizzle of heat shot straight through him. With a long sigh, he reached for her and pulled her close.

  Coiled around him, with her breasts nestled against his chest, she fitted him perfectly, like the vital piece of a missing puzzle. Holding her, he felt good, safe, on fire. He would feel even better when he was inside her.

  With deft expertise they began to undress. Then with a silent moan, she slid her fingers along his nape.

  “Oh, how you turn me on,” she said.

  “You could have fooled me,” he said with a smile.

  “I’m probably being a fool again, but I can’t help myself.” Brushing her parted lips along his jawline, she kissed her way down to the base of his throat.

  He made a silent, secret vow to be good to her, to believe in her, no matter what. Maybe in time, he would win her.

  He threw his head back so that her mouth and tongue could have easier access. She was warm and soft, everything he needed and desired in a woman but hadn’t known he had to have.

  He’d missed her so much while he’d been away. Every night he’d lain in his lonely hotel bed thinking about her hair, craving her body and that oh-so-intoxicating scent of strawberries.

  Now that she was in his arms, the time he’d spent without her in those lavish surroundings seemed drab and empty. If he’d never met her, he would have gone on seeing and being seen with the world’s most beautiful women, but feeling restless and empty because he felt no emotional involvement. He would have gone on closing deal after deal all the while longing for something more. He would have had no idea what “more” he wanted, other than more of what left him feeling so empty.

  “Kiss me back,” she begged.

  Their mouths met, open and equally needy. Once he started kissing her, he couldn’t seem to stop.

  The tips of their tongues flicked against each other and then mated. Heat flooded him, pulsing between his legs. He wanted her, all of her, especially her heart and soul.

  For a long time they necked like teenagers, teasing each other mercilessly by remaining partially dressed until their need grew to such a fever pitch they tore each other’s clothes off, their bodies contorting so their mouths wouldn’t have to part.

  When they were both naked, he gently eased her onto her back, spread her legs apart and positioned himself so that his sex touched hers. She gasped in breathless delight at the liberty.

  He rubbed himself against her. “I want to be with you like this all the time. When I kiss you, I feel you here. Even on the first kiss, I felt you here.” His voice was so raw and intimate she blushed.

  “I feel the same way.”

  He stroked her hair and stared into her shining eyes that finally dared to meet his. He savored the shy warmth in her gaze as well as the heat of her body underneath him. Then slowly, oh-so-slowly, she arched upward, inviting him, and he slid inside her. Holding on to his wide shoulders, she let out a shudder and tugged him closer.

  “Why do I want you so much?” she whispered as she began to writhe. “Why?”

  “Just accept it like I have.”

  “So, I’m doomed...just like my mother before me.”

  “Don’t say that,” he muttered fiercely, hating that she felt that way. She’d become so important to him.

  He withdrew and then pushed deeper. She cried out and pulled him back. Then he lost all control and carried her over the flaming edge.

  * * *

  Afterward as he lay sated in the moonlit dark with his arms looped around her perspiring body, she turned to him. “You’ve had a lot of women and I haven’t had anyone else. Since there’s a lot lacking in my sexual education, there’s something I have to know—”

  “Don’t,” he muttered in a low, hoarse tone, feeling awkward. “Don’t ask me about other women. They don’t matter to me—do you understand?”

  She tensed. “I don’t mind about them so very much.”

  He knew better than to believe that, but he said nothing.

  “I mean...sometimes I do mind, just not so much at this moment. I’m the odd duck, you see, who never would...maybe because I was too shy or too busy or maybe because my mother was always telling me that the minute I had sex with a guy, he would have all the power.”

  “What did she mean by that?”

  “The reason she married my father was because she was already pregnant with me. She wanted to have this big career, but she felt she had no say in her life after she got pregnant with me.”

  He tensed, wondering where she was going with this. “Oh.”

  “You wouldn’t believe how guilty she made me feel.”

  “What they did before you were born isn’t your fault.”

  “Bijou is not a logical person. She said sex can ruin a woman’s life if she lets it, that more good women have been brought down by bad men than she could count, that it’s women who always pay the price for mistakes in love. And she paid dearly.”

  “It’s not always just the women who pay,” he muttered gloomily, t
hinking of Anya.

  “Bijou didn’t want me to ruin my life the way she did.”

  “Then why has she been okay to me?”

  “That doesn’t make sense. When I told her I’d made this huge mistake and had gotten myself pregnant with your child, she didn’t have much to say at first. She’s impressed with you, with who you are, with what you’ve achieved. I don’t know. Maybe she just likes it that you’re rich.”

  “Ouch.”

  “Well, you asked. She must approve of you for some reason.”

  He smiled, glad that her mother seemed more or less on his side, whatever the reason.

  “So, about those other women,” she persisted. “Is the sex always this good?”

  “No,” he muttered fiercely. “How can you ask that?”

  “Curiosity.” She ran her fingertip down his nose. “You see, I researched you. I saw who you dated. They’re all so beautiful. So much more beautiful than I am.”

  “Bree, baby, you have to understand—they were just going out with me to get things they wanted. Models are into enhancing their image, their brand. I was sort of using them, too. Sex like that, when it’s between two people who are out for what they can get, is like...well, it’s like a sport or a commodity that you both enjoy but neither of you feel all that deeply about. I was a single man, in need of an escort to parties and feminine companionship. Don’t worry about those women because they don’t matter at all.”

  “I don’t matter either,” she murmured. “Not really. You’re only with me because of the baby.”

  Was she right? Then why did he enjoy doing things with her so much, like eating dinner, talking and laughing? He’d liked her in bed from the first. From the beginning he’d felt connected to her—even when he’d thought she was after the North money, even then, he’d liked her.

  She was beginning to matter to him so much it scared him.

  Instead of reassuring her, he kissed her.

  * * *

  Spiked high heels clicked impatiently on the wooden floor as the Realtor pointed out the many charms of the truly lovely apartment Michael wanted her to move into.