“Why?”
He lowered his head and pressed a kiss to her lips. “Because I’m your fiancé and I should not be the last to know that my fiancée who’s carrying our child, is home alone, sick.”
She walked over to the couch. His emphasis on our made her light-headed. London was claiming her unborn child as his! It caused a warm feeling to flow through her. She didn’t like the way her heart was reacting to his statement one bit.
“It’s a fake engagement. Our marriage isn’t going to be real.
And this baby is not yours.” She saw the hurt look on his face, and she instantly wished she could take those words back.
“Thanks for putting things back in perspective. I thought you wanted my help.”
He was doing her a favor and she was acting like an ungrateful brat just because she was vulnerable and afraid of the things he made her feel. “London, I’m sorry. That was completely uncalled for. I’m just having a bad day and needed to take it out on someone.”
He took a seat on the sofa across from her and gave her a goofy smile. “Glad I could be of service.”
His comment was met by silence.
“Do you need me to fix you something to eat?”
Her eyes widened. “You can cook?”
He met her curious gaze with a wide smile. “I’m the son of the ‘chicken king.’ Of course I can cook. My father taught me how to fry fish when I was five.”
Bianca playfully rolled her eyes heavenward. “I should have known. Hmm, I’ve never had a man in my life who could cook.”
“Now you do.” He rose from his seat and came to stand in front of her. “What can I get you?” he asked, then reached up and loosened his tie.
She noticed the way the shirt emphasized his wide shoulders and swallowed the knot in her throat. “I had soup and crackers a couple of hours ago. I don’t think I can handle anything else right now.”
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“You need to keep up your strength.”
His concern for her and her baby’s welfare touched Bianca.
“I know. But help yourself.”
“I wouldn’t mind some water if you have some.”
She nodded. “There’s bottled water in the refrigerator.”
While he walked into the other room, she took a deep breath and tried to calm the sensation traveling through her body. Only when she took a deep breath, the spicy aroma of his cologne filled her nostrils.
London returned and took his seat again. She watched while he took two thirsty drinks and finished the bottle. When he met her gaze again, his eyes were intense and her breath caught at the look she saw.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” she asked.
“Like what?”
“Like that.”
A smile flirted around his lips. “Maybe I like what I see.”
She struggled not to roll her eyes. “I know I look like crap today.”
“Bianca, you could be wearing a burlap sack and you would never look like crap.”
She smiled. His compliment was sweet.
London looked at her as if he were starving and she were a doughnut in a Krispy Kreme window. A part of her wanted to believe that what he said was true just as badly as she wished the proposal and their engagement were real.
He rose, moved over on the couch beside her and took her hand in his. She gasped. His touch elicited sensations throughout her body and feelings she didn’t want to have for him. “We still need to go and shop for an engagement ring for you. I could do it myself, but I want you to get what you want,” he said, holding her gaze.
She swallowed and snatched her hand back. “Look, London.
This is a mistake. I don’t know why I even considered the possibility. But it’s stupid and impulsive. No one will ever believe we’re in love.”
“I beg to differ. I think we’d be quite convincing,” he said as he raised a hand and stroked the side of her face.
Her skin heated on contact. “No, we wouldn’t.”
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London met her gaze. “Are you saying you’re not attracted to me?”
“I—I didn’t say that.” She stumbled over her words. She hated being unsure of herself. Every since he’d returned home, London had had women running after him, hoping to snatch the son of the “chicken king.” She refused to be anything like those silly, giggling women.
“I’m waiting.”
He was so cocky. She wanted to act like it bothered her, but instead it was one of the qualities she found most attractive about him. He’d always been demanding, and right now he demanded to know how she felt about him. She wasn’t about to swell his head.
He was handsome—that was a given. She was even attracted to him, but neither of those were reasons for them to get married.
Bianca tossed an angry hand in the air. “Stop trying to get in my head! Regardless of whether or not I am attracted to you, that isn’t a reason to get married.”
“What about the baby?”
Needing to put some distance between them, Bianca rose, strode into the kitchen, and retrieved a bottle of water for herself.
She should have known that London was going to follow her. As soon as she shut the refrigerator there he was, standing between her and the door.
He took his time, drawing his gaze from her feet back up to her face and when he finally did, her heart thumped heavily beneath her breasts.
“I often imagine how it would feel to have your legs wrapped around my waist. Or better yet, spread on my bed with them wide open, begging for my lips against your tender flesh.”
She was stunned into silence.
“Quit looking at me that way, otherwise I might be tempted to satisfy that hungry look in your eyes.”
She gave a strangled laugh. “I’m not looking hungry. And if I am, it’s because I need more than soup and crackers.”
“Liar! The look you gave me has nothing to do with food.”
“That’s not true!” she exclaimed. “If I wanted you, I wouldn’t beat around the bush about it.”
“I think we’re good together.”
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She took another drink and shook her head. “It will never work.”
His eyes blazed into hers. “I think it will.”
She finished drinking her water and didn’t bother to comment.
“Okay, how about this. If I kiss you and you feel nothing, then I will walk away.”
“What?” She knew that wasn’t about to happen because she still couldn’t forget the kiss he’d given her last night. “London, go home. We can try to come up with a different solution tomorrow.” She quickly scooted around him and headed toward her bedroom. Feeling self-conscious, she desperately needed to run a comb through her hair. Instead of leaving as she had ordered, London followed her.
“I thought I asked you to leave.”
“It’s too late for that. We’re already engaged.”
“Well, I want to be unengaged.” There was no way she could be married to him. Not with the way she felt about him. He moved closer. She tried to put some distance between them, but his body was positioned in such a way that she was trapped between him and a wall.
“I don’t think that’s really what you want.” He pulled her into his arms and before she could take her next breath, his mouth came down on hers. On contact, she released a sigh of surrender.
Immediately, she softened against him. She closed her eyes and when he touched the tip of his tongue to hers she forgot that he was simply trying to prove a point. All she wanted was to taste him.
He thrust his tongue between her lips and explored the inside of her mouth with intensity. The taste of spearmint flooded her senses. Arching against him, she groaned when his erection prodded her inner thigh.
If she had any sense, she’d shove him away and kick him out of her house after telling him the deal was off. But she couldn’t think straight. All s
he could do was feel, and right now every inch of her body wanted him. Every beat of her heart made her more desperate for his touch.
He pushed a spaghetti strap off her shoulders with impatient hands. The cool air touched her skin, hardening her nipples. But she was far from cold—London made her feel scorching hot. The heat of his hands was on her breasts, stroking, squeezing. Fire 90
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raced through her veins. His warm lips traced a hot, wet path from her mouth, down along her neck, not stopping until his lips closed over a taut nipple. Bianca cried out, her head slumping back in pleasure. This was the way it was supposed to be. London laved her nipple with his tongue, gently sucking and nibbling with his teeth, then repeated the torturous play with the other breast. His hands and lips worked her flesh with skill and know-how.
Her legs may as well have been made of gelatin because they were barely holding her up. Only London’s grip on her waist kept her from falling onto the floor.
“London?”
He raised his head and Bianca saw desire shining in his eyes.
Suddenly nervous, she tried to draw his mouth to hers but he held back, his eyes smoldering with scarcely controlled restraint.
“Do you want me to stop?”
The look in his eyes told her he wanted her. Maybe almost as much as she wanted him. Knowing that made everything in her hum with desire of her own. “Tell me now if you want me to stop,” he demanded.
“No, don’t stop,” she said softly then lifted her hands to his chest. Wanting to feel his bare chest against her, she undid the button of his shirt and pulled it free of his pants then slid it over his wide shoulders and onto the floor. His skin lay bare beneath her touch. She ran her hands over the hard chest and along his flat, rigid stomach. Looking up she met the intensity burning in his eyes and the yearning that had been mounting for the past couple of days exploded inside her. Bianca pulled him down to meet her mouth. He palmed her buttocks as he lifted her and nudged his erection deeper between her thighs.
London drew in a long, deep breath. With a low growl, he moved her until she felt her back against the wall, then reached between them and loosened the string of her sweatpants and pushed them down over her hips. Frantically, she kicked them away and she cried out when London ripped her panties from her body. The fierceness of his actions should have frightened her; instead, it fueled her hunger. Her body arched forward.
He held her with one hand, while he unfastened his buckle and allowed his pants to fall to the floor. Instantly, he kicked them away.
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Bianca stood back, licking her lips as she watched him slip out of his boxers. Her mouth dropped and her body tingled at the size of his hard, thick length. Oh, but the rumors were true.
London Brown was truly blessed.
With her back against the wall, London grabbed her buttocks, lifting her off the ground. “Baby, wrap your legs around my waist.”
Obediently, Bianca locked her legs together around his hips and as soon as she did, he grasped her buttocks with both hands, and entered her in one powerful thrust, filling her completely and pushing her over the edge of reason. She arched her back and hissed in a breath.
“Move with me,” he ordered desperately.
He didn’t have to ask. Her hips had a mind of their own and were following his rhythm, rocking with him, wanting him deeper.
“Oh, baby,” he moaned and tightened the hold on her thighs.
The frustrated look on his face, said he was fighting for control.
“What’s wrong?”
His eyelids flew open and again she witnessed the desire burning within them. “You. That’s what.”
She knew exactly what he was feeling because she felt it, too.
Yet it was too late to slow down. Way too late to stop at this point.
Her eyelids fluttered closed again as she twisted her body and rocked her hips, meeting each pulsating stroke. Cursing, London pulled out and plunged into her again. Her eyes flew open in astonishment as she climaxed, the contractions tearing through her body.
“London!” she cried out, her nails digging into his shoulders.
He answered by silently driving into her again and again until she thought she would die from the prolonged pleasure. With one final thrust he came. Clinging to him, she felt the explosive spurt of his orgasm.
London leaned against her, his panting slowly returning to normal. She unhooked her legs from around him, sliding down until she stood and felt a sense of loss as their bodies pulled apart.
Cupping her chin with his palm, he raised her head. Dismay crossed his face at the silent tears running down her cheeks.
“Bianca? Baby, did I hurt you?”
“No.” She shook her head. “You didn’t hurt me.”
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His thumbs wiped away the moisture on her face. “Then why are you crying?”
“This might sound crazy, but I’ve never…” Her face burned with embarrassment “I’ve never…sex has never felt like that before.”
Absently, his fingers caressed her cheek and neck. “Never?”
“Never.” She struggled to find the words to describe what she had experienced. “It was incredible.”
“Really?” He teased her with a smile.
“You’re getting a kick out of this, aren’t you?” Bianca accused, too happy to take any real offense.
He shook his head, his face suddenly serious. “No, Bianca. I feel honored that I was the first one to give you that pleasure.
We’ve got a lot to look forward to.”
Leave it to him to remind her of the engagement and ruin the moment. “I think we need to rethink this marriage thing.” After what he’d just done to her, there was no way she could be married to him and leave in a year with her heart intact. She pushed him away, then reached for her clothes and quickly slipped them back on. What in the world had she been thinking? But that was it. She hadn’t been thinking. It was as if London had cast some kind of spell on her. Panic filled her lungs. She took a shaky breath.
There was no way in the world she would be able to go through with the engagement. Not after what just happened. Not with the things London made her feel. There were so many emotions racing through her that she didn’t know how to begin to sort them out, and wasn’t sure she wanted to. “I think I’m going to just tell my parents the truth and deal with the consequences.”
He hesitated for a long moment. “Are you sure that’s what you want to do? I’ve already offered my services, and I’m a man of my word.”
He was definitely that and a lot of other things. She was just starting to see how much more there was to this man. The rumors about his prowess in bed were true. Unwanted jealousy began to surface. She pushed that feeling away.
“Listen, we need…” Bianca’s voice trailed off as she heard a door open then close. The next thing she heard was someone walking down the hall calling her name. She turned to London with a look of panic. Quickly, she combed her fingers through Angie Daniels
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her hair and moved to stand in front of the door, just as it was pushed open by her brother.
“Sorry for barging in, but the front door was unlocked and when you didn’t answer you scared the crap out of me,” Jaden said with a frown.
“What do you need?” Bianca stepped forward, blocking Jaden’s path, hoping to block his view of London in her bedroom, as well.
“I wanted to talk about dinner the other night. I was wrong, Bianca, butting into your life and asking London to snoop around.” His voice sounded like he was sincere, and most other times she would have been willing to listen to him sweat, but this wasn’t one of those times. “Maybe I’m overprotective and need to let you grow up but you’re—” The words died on his lips when movement over her shoulder caught his eye. “Is someone in your room?”
“Nope,” she said too quickly.
“I think there is.” B
efore she could stop him, Jaden stepped completely inside the room and spotted London just as he was tucking his shirt in his pants.
“What the hell is going on here?” Jaden demanded as his eyes traveled from one to the other until it stopped at Bianca, when he realized her shirt was on backwards. Anger blazed from his eyes. “Why you—”
Before Bianca could step between them, Jaden lunged at London, fists flying. London ducked but not fast enough to avoid Jaden’s fist. The blow knocked him backward. He quickly regained control, but she could tell that he didn’t want to fight her brother. Instead of balling his fist, he stood up tall, his stance rigid, preparing for another punch.
“Jaden, stop!” she screamed and stepped between them. But fueled by anger, Jaden jumped around her and charged at London again. This time London blocked Jaden’s punch with his forearm.
“Jaden!” Her screams echoed through the room, but Jaden ignored her and let loose another punch. London ducked, then pushed Jaden away with enough force that he fell back on the bed. Bianca sprang into action and landed on top of her brother, immobilizing him.
“Get off me!” he yelled.
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“No, not until you listen!”
He stilled and Bianca stared down at the protectiveness blazing in his eyes. All three of them were breathing heavily. The men glared at each other. Jaden’s eyes blazed with suspicion.
“I’m listening. Somebody better start talking.”
In a panic, Bianca searched her mind for something, anything she could say because the look in Jaden’s eyes told her that as soon as she moved, the fight would be on again, and this time he meant business. “We’re getting married,” she blurted out.
She heard Jaden’s quick intake of breath.
“What? You’re kidding, right?”
“No, I’m not kidding. Call, ask Mother, she’ll tell you it’s true.” Bianca rose from the bed and moved over to where London was standing and put her arm around his waist.
Jaden sat up straight on the bed and looked more confused than she’d ever seen him look before. “You and London are getting married?” he asked incredulously.
“That’s what I just said.”
He looked at her, then at London, then at her again, and started shaking his head and laughing at the same time. “Quit pulling my leg.”
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