I looked at her bump, which had dropped lower and grown in the past three days. She wore a white fur coat to cover it, but it struggled to close around the front, a few of the buttons strained as if they’d pop off.
“It’s getting close,” I said.
“That’s right, almost time for you to be a daddy.”
“That depends,” I replied, tucking my hands into the pockets of my jeans and staring her down. She’d pushed so hard for this end result. Why? What did she really stand to gain out of being with me when she had a rich ice-sculpture buying daddy?
It couldn’t be love. She sure as fuck didn’t understand love and I hadn’t either until I’d met Allegra.
Faith tapped her fingers on the door, and the rock clunked against it too. A deeper sound that made me want to rip it off her finger and hurl it at the nearest sculpture that looked like a flaccid cock wedged between two hearts. Maybe give cupid a teabag.
“Would you care to explain that?” Faith tapped her heel in time with her fingers.
“Losing your patience, Faith?” I asked, then pressed my palms together behind my back to keep from reaching for the ring. “So am I. I’m not going to support you and the baby until I know the baby is mine.”
“I told you it’s yours,” she replied sullenly. “That should be enough for you.”
“It’s not.” In fact, I wasn’t sure she’d ever been enough for me. Too much at times, in her darker moments, during the drunken sprees. But emotionally? No, she’d never be enough for me.
“How can you say that? Don’t you know how upsetting it is? I mean, I’m heavily pregnant here. You wouldn’t want to be responsible for any harm to the baby, would you?”
I gritted my teeth. “Don’t emotionally blackmail me, Faith. I wasn’t born yesterday.”
“I’ll call my dad. He’s upstairs. Perhaps you should talk to him, explain why you can’t support his darling daughter. Tell him about your slimy little slut.” She cradled her belly in both arms, then leaned back as if to call up the stairs, then seemed to change her mind. “The one that’s such a redneck her school fight song was Dueling Banjos.”
“Do it,” I replied, “fuck it, I don’t care anymore. I’m not going to be held hostage to your bullshit. Call him down here.”
She snapped her gaze to my face, which was just now starting to regain feeling from the low exterior temperature. “You can’t be serious about this,” Faith said, “I thought we moved past this whole paternity test fiasco. We’re engaged.”
“Not by my choice. You can take the ring off, by the way. It’s not my ring.”
That got her eyebrows up. She gripped at her left hand instead of her stomach, holding the ring on like it would fall off just because I’d mentioned it.
“I won’t take it off.” Faith ground those words out.
“And I will never marry you.”
Her hand fluttered to her chest, over her heart, and she flicked her mane of red hair in denial.
“That’s right. I’m in love with Allegra and I’ll never marry you. Not even if that baby is mine. Do you get that?” I scuffed my feet on the icy front step to warm my toes, but it didn’t make much of a damn difference.
“I-uh, what? She’s twisted your mind,” Faith said, rambling now between glances over her shoulder and fish-mouthed pouts. “Yeah, that’s it. She’s corrupted you and you don’t realize how much you need me. She’s like a vacuum. She sucks, blows and then gets rolled in the closet where her fat ass belongs. Jesus, Gabe. You couldn’t even be seen in public with that trash.”
“I don’t need you.” Man, I felt like an ass for saying this shit to her while she was pregnant, but Faith didn’t get the point. She refused to acknowledge me in the simplest fucking ways and I wouldn’t stand for it any longer. I also wouldn’t stand for her constant digs at the woman I was in love with.
I got enough of that from my dad.
“You’ve always needed me. Christ, you were nothing before we got together. Just some little rich kid who didn’t know his ass from a hole in the ground. Whatever. Don’t need me...” Faith’s face turned as red as the shock of hair protruding from the white scarf she’d tied around her roots. “You think it will be easy? Giving up on us means giving up on your inheritance, asshole.”
“I’m fine with that,” I replied. Actually, the thought of freeing myself from my dad’s hold, financial and otherwise, made my brain do a breakdance of joy.
“You’re fine with being poor?” Her lips twisted in opposite directions, like two sausages trying to pull apart at the corners. Like being poor was the worst possible outcome her addled mind could conjure. God, how had I ever thought I loved this tart? Even as my friend?
She wasn’t beautiful inside or out. Though, that was probably because I could finally see her true colors.
“I’m fine with being happy. God, I’m actually over the fucking moon. I’m telling you this once, Faith, so read my lips. I never thought I’d feel this good in my life.” I grinned, baring my teeth. “And it’s all thanks to Allegra.”
“Douche,” Faith snapped.
“I want a paternity test, Faith, and I won’t take no for an answer. If you don’t give it to me, I’ll tell daddy dearest about your fun and free college years. Understand?”
“You wouldn’t dare.”
We both knew that George would disown her if he found out about her ‘romantic’ history. Her father was as much of an asshole as she was. He blamed me for the pregnancy and believed that I’d tricked her into the sack.
“I’ll do whatever it takes,” I replied. “I’ll tell him about your gang bangs, your threesomes with other women and even about that time you went down on the entire football team so you could win that bet at Michael Slatterley’s twenty-first birthday party. I think there might even be a cell phone video of that one. I’m done being Mr. Nice Guy.” I trudged down the front stairs and towards my car.
“Don’t do this to me, Gabe,” Faith called after me. “You’ll regret it.”
I looked at her one last time. The woman I’d thought I loved. Nothing but a posturing, climbing, over-reaching piece of shit.
“Take that ring off your finger.”
Chapter 45
Ally
I sat on the sofa, staring out of the window at the snowfall. It was Valentine’s morning and Kelly had called at least twenty times to chat. I’d deal with her later. Right now, I needed to think.
Things with Gabe were not easy. I wanted to be with him and believe everything he said, but as soon as we got close to anything real, another problem seemed to crop up. This engagement thing was… ugh, I couldn’t deal with that thought.
Faith with a huge rock on her finger and Donovan Moreno’s smug smile.
But I still couldn’t resist Gabe. He felt like the other half to my whole. And I hadn’t heard from him since the rushed note he’d left on my fridge. Had he changed his mind? Decided that Faith was the one for him after all? Caved to his daddy? There was nothing worse as a woman than feeling so damn insecure. It needed to stop. I had to go all in. Or not.
I chewed my bottom lip but stopped when I tasted blood. God, no use assaulting myself because I couldn’t have the feeling of control that I so desperately wanted. Control was simply an illusion anyway. A weak straw that we clutched at in times of discontent.
Codsworth hopped onto my lap and settled in, purring gently.
“This is all your fault, you know,” I whispered, scratching him between the ears, appreciating that furry sweet spot which made him raise his chin. His tiny teeth peeked out of his lips and I transitioned to scratching his bearded chin instead. “If you hadn’t been upstairs, I would never have met Gabe.”
Thank God he’d saved my cat. I could do without the turmoil, especially on a holiday glorifying love. Snow tinkled against the window and settled on the sill. This was the whitest February I’d ever seen.
I shifted Codsworth and curled up under the knit blanket I’d pulled off the end of my bed.
I grabbed my cell and swiped my thumb to unlock the screen. I tapped through to my music and selected a track: Elastic Heart by Sia.
I couldn’t get enough of her music.
“You won’t need an elastic heart,” Gabe spoke up from the doorway.
“I didn’t think I’d see you again this soon,” I said, then clicked the song off, so we could talk properly.
Amusement twitched the corners of his luscious lips. He straightened them and his expression darkened. “You don’t believe I’ll do right by you.”
“Can you blame me, Gabe? Yesterday was amazing, but I can’t help but wait for the other shoe to drop. Every time we get close—”
“Yeah, I know,” he said, raising his calloused palm. “I know. We get close and then we’re pulled apart, whether it’s from your side or from mine.”
“Mostly from yours,” I replied and stuck out my tongue to lighten the mood.
He chuckled. “Allegra, I told you I want to be with you for good. You’re my woman and I’m your man. I’m sure there will be bumps in the road just like in any relationship, but nothing will pull us apart for good. And that’s a promise.”
“That remains to be seen.” I pointed and Codsworth sprang off my lap, wandered up to Gabe and curled around his legs. “Traitor,” I growled, and it was too playful. How would he take me seriously — Gabe, not my cat — if I couldn’t express how I felt without joking about it?
“The bakery’s closed,” Gabe said, glancing over his shoulder.
“I left it unlocked for Kelly, in case she decides to come over. It’s Valentine’s. She said she got me a present.”
“That’s right. I have news. Good news,” he said, then sucked in some air, almost like a last gasp before he took a plunge.
“Do I want to know?”
“Definitely,” he said, then beckoned and stepped out of the room. His footsteps rang on the wooden boards and came to a halt in my bedroom.
He had to know I wouldn’t be able to resist him. This was his way of getting the upper hand. I licked my lips, tasting the remnants of hot cocoa, and rose from the sofa.
I walked through to my bedroom, fingers crossed behind my back, pinched together until the circulation cut off and they went all tingly.
Gabe had positioned himself by the window and stared down at the road below.
“Another Valentine’s. Another winter almost over.”
“I think that every year. Time’s passing us by.”
Gabe balled his hands into fists and faced me. “I won’t let that happen. Man, I—” He broke off and laughed out loud.
“What is it?”
“I’m fucking this up.” He shook his gorgeous head, then sucked in a breath of cozy bedroom air. “I’m trying to tell you I won’t waste any more time. Life’s short and I want to spend it with you.”
My eyelids fluttered like a starlet out of a Hollywood movie. It seemed cheesy, but this had to be how it felt to be stuck in a romantic moment on the silver screen. Apart from the lack of candles. Candles and roses made everything better.
“Allegra?”
“Sorry, my brain cut out for a second there. Could you repeat that?” Yeah, I was going to milk this moment for all it was worth.
Gabe walked up to me and took me by the arms. “I’m going to spend my life with you.”
“How?” Not the most eloquent reply.
“I spoke to Faith. I told her to take the ring off her finger, it’s never going to happen.”
“Are you serious? You did that?” I slid my hands onto his chest.
“It’s you, Allegra. You’re it. You’re my life.”
I couldn’t help falling deeper for him. Each moment that passed drew me closer and made me want more, even though I was terrified it would fall through again.
“I love you,” he said and bent his neck, lips inches from my own. “Only you.”
“Only you,” I whispered.
Our kiss revived my soul. I was destroyed and sucked into him, parts of me mixing with the person I believed he was.
I couldn’t pull away.
Gabe slipped the straps of my top from my shoulders, he kissed the bare skin there, sending tickles across my skin.
He undressed me slowly, peeling pieces of clothing from my flesh and tracing his path downward with kisses until he kneeled in front of me and parted my legs.
“You’re a queen, Allegra,” he murmured. He licked over my clit and sucked gently. “My queen.”
I lost myself in the noises he made, the gentle licks, nips and groans. His need for me was what got to me the most. My legs shuddered from the pleasure and my knees caved in, but he caught me in one, strong arm and picked me up.
He carried me to the bed and laid me down, then buried his face in my folds again. He wanted me to lose myself in the pleasure, in our love.
I grasped the sheets in both fists and arched my back, gasping. Pleasure twirled through my core, a thread which started at his lips and arced through my insides, all the way to my mind.
Gabe paused and I groaned a complaint. “So close.”
He stroked between my lips, collecting my wetness, then sucked his finger. “You taste fucking fantastic.”
I gulped and slapped my palms onto his shoulders, then tried tugging him upwards. “I want you inside me.”
It was his turn to moan, a long, throat-scratching growl of desire for me. Just for me.
I placed the soles of my feet on the bed and played with my pussy, bringing myself even closer to climax. Putting on the show for him now that I knew how that move made him lose his mind, I wanted to use it. A lot.
“Jesus,” he said, watching me, running his thumb along his lower lip. His breath was hot against my skin.
I shivered, lifting my ass off the sheets, lost in the moment. I wanted to come for him, I wanted him to see my pussy tighten and release, inches from his lips. I wanted him to know how badly I needed him. That the thought of him could send me straight over the edge.
I turned my head, bit down on the sheet and exploded into my climax. An ass clenching, mind-searing orgasm. I yowled through the fabric, my vision blurred with white lines of passion.
“Fuck,” Gabe said, hoarse with desire. “Holy fuck.”
He scampered up my body and entered my swollen entrance with a swift thrust.
“Now it’s my turn.”
I screamed his name. The only sound that I could push past my lips.
Chapter 46
Gabe
A week had passed since Valentine’s and the snow hadn’t stopped. I kicked up the powder outside my car door and locked it. I’d spent my ‘long weekend’ with Allegra, mornings and nights in bed, afternoons curled up together, watching movies and kidding around.
It was the best time of my life. Fuck parties and clubs, hell, it was better than the rush of fighting fires.
Her love was… I didn’t have a word to describe that perfection. Just being with her. In her presence. Getting to know her likes and dislikes. Finding so many things in common. Who would have known she had a love of Jane Austen and Tommy Boy? Life with Allegra was fucking nirvana. Except Kurt Cobain was on her dislike list.
I hurried up the stairs to my apartment and unlocked the front door. I walked in, slammed it shut and dumped the keys on the counter. I’d come home to give Allegra some space, and to pick up a few clothes.
She wouldn’t say it, but I got the distinct impression she wanted me to stay with her as much as I wanted to be there. Even though her apartment was smaller, it didn’t matter. All that mattered was the company.
My phone rang and I took it out of my pocket and checked the caller ID. Faith.
Suddenly, getting clothes didn’t matter that much. Shit, the only day I’d been apart from the woman of my dreams was to give blood at the clinic Faith had chosen to do the paternity test.
I swallowed and watched her name flash on the screen. No sense delaying this shit.
“Yeah?”
“Gabe, baby, h
ow are you doing?”
“Cut the crap.” She’d told both our fathers about my insistence on the test and my dad had already called to cut me off. I’d conveniently forgotten to answer my phone.
“Ouch, I would be offended, but I know you’re nervous.” Faith’s voice quavered then and hope grew in my chest.
I paced back and forth, burning a path through the floorboards of my apartment.
Creak, creak, creak.
Tell me the truth, you traitorous bitch.
“Speak, woman, what do you have to tell me?”
“It’s not your baby.” She choked on the sentence, then coughed, hacking out her demise on the other end of the line. “It’s not your baby. You’re not the father. Are you happy now?”
I punched the air in triumph, but frowned a second later. Yeah, I was fucking over the moon about this, but kinda bummed at the same time. Allegra and I had a clear path to the future, no complications… but the baby? I’d grown accustomed to the idea of having a son.
“Gabe, I just wanted you to know—”
“Save it, girl, there’s nothing you could say to make me respect you again. You’re a liar. You knew that he might not be my son, that he probably wasn’t, but you still tried to tie me down for your own selfish gains.” I sat down on the edge of the stained, beige sofa, then jumped up again.
This changed so many things.
Allegra and I were on track and this could only make it better. And my father…
“So that’s it? You’re done with me? You’re done with the family? And for what, dammit? Some whore who—”
I hung up on her. I refused to spend another second listening to her negativity.
I walked through to the kitchen and poured myself a glass of water, then downed it. I couldn’t stop shaking; my arms were pumped from this adrenaline. Allegra would be over the damn moon.
Line: Alpha Billionaire Romance Page 42
