He’s sweet, but being married to Greg, I recognize a will of steel when I see it, and now that Fletcher wants Chris — Natalia — I know he won’t stop till he gets her.
“Dammit! My family is a rich and so controlling I can’t move without a goddamned body guard sniffing my ass. I left and went through all this effort to stay gone. If I date that Fletcher guy, even once, I’ll end up on their radar, and I can’t…they’ll be on me like a rash,” she hisses vehemently, her red hair only a shade lighter than her cheeks.
I sigh and take a sip of iced water, battling the fatigue that hits me on and off throughout the day.
“It’s time to stop running and make a stand. You told me so just weeks ago, Nat,” I say, using her name not only for myself but for her.
I want her to be herself, not some cooked up illusion she’s created to escape her poor little rich girl life. If I can come out of the shadows and claim a badass exec like Greg, Natalia Atkins can stop hiding and start dating guys who actually have jobs.
“Fine, but if he gets all weird on me I’m out. Jesus, I hate your mother-in-law, you know. She made me the minute she saw me, and I don’t even know why I’m fighting it, because by now she’s called my parents and sent out the rich-girl-gone-ghetto alarm.”
I snort at her dramatics and shrug.
“She’s not so bad, actually. Sure, she calls me like twice a day and keeps dropping hints about fertile ground and shit…”
I can’t even finish the sentence. Good ol’ Pat has taken to me so well I can’t stand it. To add insult to injury, my husband now plans to spend Thanksgiving and Christmas in Virginia, and Nana and Pat are trying to convince me she should stay there permanently.
Apparently they’re soul buddies and can’t even contemplate the thought of not being together daily. Even with the bread roll incidents and Nana’s memory slips.
“Look, Han, I have to run. I’ll call you later and let you know what happens with that stuck up rich boy. And for God’s sake, go to the damned doctor. You look like shit.”
She’s up and gone before I can return her compliments, and I force myself to stand and toddle back to the office. I feel like shit warmed over, and my mind keeps racing to pregnancy, despite my precautions.
I’ve been here before, and I’m not opposed to the thought of a baby; I’d just like a little more time with Greg before a baby sucks up what little freedom I have.
When I get back to the office it’s to find him pacing while Kim wrings her hands and throws me a commiserating look that tells me everything I need to know before he says it.
“You left your fucking phone in your desk.”
I ignore the anger in his tone and sit down with a huff that’s not as silent as I’d meant it to be.
“I know, and I’m sorry. I only realized after I got there and met Na — Chris.” Shit, this is confusing.
A pair of hands lands on my desk with a thump, and I jump, looking up at Greg with a frown.
“What’s the big deal? I wasn’t even gone a full hour.”
“The big deal is that I have to leave for Singapore for an emergency at one of the docks, and I couldn’t reach you. Jesus, I can’t leave you alone if I can’t trust you to think about safety. Anything can happen, and you’re stranded without a phone.”
I refrain from reminding him we live in a city with enough phones and cops that I will never be without options, and stroke his cheek instead, apologizing with enough sincerity that he finally stops glaring and straightens.
“Kim has arranged a car for you. If you don’t want to drive yourself she can get a driver—”
“No! That’s fine,” I rush to say, getting overly excited at the prospect of getting behind the wheel and being independently mobile.
It’s been a battle, but he’s finally cracked and agreed that I need my own car, which means I get to go places myself without asking him or calling a service.
Being married to a tycoon has definitely got a few advantages that I don’t mind. An hour later, and after a really intense make-out session in his office, I watch him leave.
I’m not happy or sad or anything that really matters. I’m used to this, and though I know I’ll miss him tonight and won’t get to sleep very easily, I have to admit a small relief.
The first thing I do is call the doctor, who insists that I come in right away. The car, a rental, thanks to his insistence that I get a top of the line tank if I’m driving in the city, is harder to manage in the traffic than I originally thought, but I make it to my appointment in one piece with only the smallest scratch to the bumper.
“Well, you’re definitely pregnant,” I hear forty minutes later as I lie on the exam table waiting for a diagnosis.
“But—”
“The birth control the obstetrician prescribed is a pretty effective one, Mrs Lucas, so I’m a little flummoxed. But the test is a hundred percent positive.”
I feel the bottom drop out from under me as he pats my shoulder gently and leaves so that I can dress.
It’s… It should be impossible for me to be pregnant. Like the doctor says, when I’d spoken to the OB I’d been sure to get birth control that would nix the pregnancy scares right in the bud.
And here I am, pregnant.
Well there goes the honeymoon, I think, stomping to the car with a snort that makes me feel guilty. I should be really happy right now, and not in the least annoyed at the little cell currently nesting in my womb, and yet I am sooo annoyed.
I don’t want a baby. I want long nights of making love. Getting tipsy at New Year’s. Lazy Sundays in bed — okay, till maybe seven — with relaxation and a little romance.
“Shit.”
It’s just past four, so I call Kim and tell her I’m heading home instead of fighting traffic back to the office. I should call — no, he’s in the air right now, and I hate cell phones and airplanes together.
I’ve watched Air Crash Investigation. A lot.
My phone dings, and I smile when I read Nat’s message telling me Fletcher’s got the green light and will be taking her out tonight. Go, matchmaking Han!
I dial her number and glance back at a dark SUV that’s tailgating me.
“Slow down, asshole,” I mutter just as Nat answers.
“Nice. Should I be apologizing for something?”
“No. Sorry. I’m driving, and there’s a road pig on my ass. So, date?”
“Wait! You’re driving? He finally caved on the car?”
“No. He hired me a car and insists on taking me to pick out Lord only knows what indestructible thing. He was supposed to shotgun my first drive, but he had to fly to Singapore, so I’m foot loose and fancy free tonight. So, date?” I hint again, keeping an eye on the SUV behind me.
The guy’s on my ass in a big way, and I have no option but to speed up a little, even though it scares me to drive this fast.
“Yeah, he called, and I laid it all out for him. Nothing glitzy or…”
I stop listening for a second when the SUV comes closer, and curse, halting her enthusiasm.
“God, this guy,” I mutter.
It’s while I’m glancing back that a truck cuts in front of me. I swerve and tap the brake lightly. When nothing happens I slam my foot down hard and gasp when it hits the floor, leaving me frighteningly aware that I have no brakes, a truck a few inches in front of me, and absolutely nowhere to go but into oncoming traffic.
The last thing I hear as I smack head-on into the truck is Nat screaming and the sound of twisting metal as the car flips and starts rolling.
Chapter Thirty Seven
I don’t wake slowly like I assumed I would, but burst back to consciousness with a frantic panic that steals the air from my lungs. My first thought is for the baby I’ve just learned I’m carrying, and I go to grab my stomach and shove a hand between my trapped legs.
When it comes away dry and blood-free I sob and allow myself to look around. Twisted metal and glass fill my vision, along with the smell of gasoline.
I’m trapped in the car, smashed up against the seat and the door, and my head is pounding so violently it takes me a while to realize I’m hanging upside down.
“Han! Hannah! Jesus, what the hell is going on!”
I hear frantic screams, Nat’s frantic screams all around me.
“Nat.” It’s a choked whisper, a croak of pain, and I realize everything on me hurts, especially my right arm where it’s trapped between my body and the mangled door. “Call…Greg. Accident.”
It’s all I get out before the black spots swirling in my vision become a pall of unconscious.
***
“I should never have let her drive, but she was so excited, and I didn’t… No, they said everything’s fine… Concussion and broken… Don’t tell her yet…”
I’m swimming through fog, a thick soup that keeps dragging me under just when I think I’m finally reaching the surface. I’m not complaining, not when I feel no pain or fear, but every time I hear his voice it makes me fight harder to resurface.
When I finally do I feel achy and groggy, and I open my eyes to see a golden head resting beside my thigh and a strong hand cupped around the fingers of my right hand.
“Greg,” I moan, and he springs to life like a live wire, his sherry-colored eyes bloodshot and panicked before they land on me and freeze, tearing up.
“You’re awake.”
My hand is heavy when I try to lift it and swipe at the moisture rimming his eyes, and I look down to see a vivid white cast surrounding it from above my elbow all the way to my fingers.
“No, no, lie still. It’s broken in two places but—”
“Oh God, the…”
My hands go to my stomach in a frenzy before he stills me with a kiss and a tired smile that shows just how worried he’s been.
“You’re fine. The baby is fine,” he murmurs softly, his eyes glowing fiercely with a joy that steals my breath. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
I answer only after he helps me sit up and cradles my head as I sip at a glass of tepid water. It helps with the rawness in my throat but sets up a queasy swirling that tells me better than anything that the fetus is still in there.
What? I just found out about the baby. I haven’t had a chance to name it yet. Plus, I like “fetus.” It has a certain ring to it that my dorky side can’t resist.
“I was on the way home from the doctor when that…did they get that asshole in the SUV? He pushed me straight into the truck in front of me,” I growl, groaning when my head protests the volume.
My words upset him, ruining the moment, and I wince guiltily when his face loses that glowing joy.
“The police are pulling up the footage. They think one of the highway cameras may have caught the accident,” he says, and I can see just how upset he is when he pulls away and starts pacing.
I kinda think this is how he stays in such great shape, because he hasn’t been to the gym once since we got married. Honestly, I don’t know where he’d find the time.
“I want you to tell me exactly what happened, from the moment you left the doctor’s office. Exactly, Han,” he barks.
I really don’t feel up to a replay of the accident, and I say so, leaning over to get the water cup. All I want to do right now is lie back and hope the jackhammer in my skull stops trying to realign my brain tissue.
“Han, please.”
“Fine. I got onto the highway and Nat — Chris, oh this is so goddamned confusing. Natalia texted me, so I called her, and no, Greg, the phone was on the speakers like you told me, so don’t even start yelling at me,” I warn. “But the whole time I kept seeing this idiot in a dark-colored SUV pushing me. I sped up a little because I was scared he was going to hit me.”
“You should have skipped over.”
“I was going to, when the truck swerved in front of me. I tapped the brake a little to avoid it, and that’s when the SUV sped up.”
“After the truck cut you off?” he asks suspiciously, and I scowl.
Swear to God, if he tries to go back on getting me a car because some bozo can’t drive properly, I’ll scream.
“Yes. After. I couldn’t go anywhere but into oncoming traffic, and the brakes weren’t working right.”
So I’d ended up hitting the truck and flipping the car. Shit, the rental company is not going to be pleased. I can guarantee there’s nothing much left of the little hatchback.
“What do you mean?”
“Well, I hit them as hard as I could. I figured him rear-ending me was a whole lot better than hitting a truck, but when I stood on the pedal it hit the floor like a limp noodle.”
I want to state for the record that I’m not telling him how fast I was going when the brakes failed because I’m smart and I actually want a car of my own before my ninety-fifth birthday.
Luckily he’s so fixated on the brake failure I’m saved from lying right to his face. He processes the information with a thoroughness that makes my head pound before nodding and shifting gears.
“How are you feeling?”
“Eh, better than dead. How are you? You look like shit,” I say as he lowers himself to sit beside me and strokes the tips of my fingers on my right hand.
“I’m fine. You, on the other hand, the doctor said the seatbelt saved you. Good girl,” he murmurs, touching my belly gently.
I roll my eyes, letting him know that the odds of me not wearing my seatbelt after the hour-long lecture he’d given about the damn thing, are and will ever be in his favor.
“So when can I get out of this dump?”
“Tomorrow morning,” he mutters, planting a gentle kiss on my head. “Have I told you how happy I am?”
And so am I. Seeing his joy is infectious, the shove I need to make the maternal instincts rush forth.
I do spend the rest of that day ‘resting’ while people stream in and out of my room. By the time morning rolls around I’m so inundated with flowers, cards, balloons, and stuffed animals it looks like a gift shop.
One thing I do appreciate about what’s happened? I now appreciate every minute Greg is with me.
Chapter Thirty Eight
“Hannah! For God’s sake, stop that.”
I giggle at that groggy growl and keep licking at his erection, enjoying my first ever undirected exploration of his cock. When he snarls a curse and goes to pull me away, I give out a growl of my own and clamp down hard, using my teeth as a warning.
It’s been two weeks since I bum-rushed a truck, and he hasn’t so much as touched me sexually. I’m tired of waiting for his nerves to calm.
When he groans and grabs hold of my hair I open wider and pull his length deeper, using rapid flicks of my tongue to tease the thick vein running down the side.
“Fuck. Darlin’, you have to stop.”
But he doesn’t pull me away as he groans the words. Instead his hands push me a little closer while his hips thrust gently. I take my time with him, enjoying his taste, the gurgled sounds of pleasure, and the power that seizes me.
When he’s tensing and crooning I bob my head faster and apply a stronger suction, swallowing as deeply as I can. That does the trick and I feel him come, shooting his seed down my throat in strong spurts that last long and leave him gasping and slumped into the mattress.
I stop only when I feel his hands fall away and crawl up his body with a self-satisfied smirk and soothing kisses that rev me up in the worst way. By the time I reach his lips I’m grinding my clit into his thigh, unconsciously searching for relief.
Pregnancy hormones have taken my lust to a new level of intensity, and the added stimulation of giving him a blow job doesn’t do a thing to cool me down.
“You’re wet,” he purrs against my lips, grabbing my ass to grind me into the muscle of his thigh.
“Hmm, I guess I must have enjoyed that a little too much,” I purr back, spearing my tongue into his mouth to share his salty flavor.
He flips me onto my back with a growl and latches onto my breast, his eyes
never leaving mine as he sucks and bites me to a writhing need.
“You liked the power, I think, but I think I need to remind you who’s in charge here.”
I moan when he releases my nipple with a pop and sits back on his haunches to look down at my exposed sex. A single finger strokes down from the valley between my breasts and stops directly on my clit, just resting there.
“I think we should take this slow. Real slow.”
“No.”
I’m begging, and I don’t care, just as long as he gives me what I need and doesn’t spend hours torturing me with his wicked mouth.
“Please, Greg. I ache.”
That finger presses down the barest bit and starts a gentle, circular motion that has my hips grinding up, seeking a harder pressure. He’s so controlled I can’t stand it, and I’m considering giving myself an orgasm when he thrusts a finger into me and growls, losing all thought.
“Jesus. You’re always so ready for me,” he snarls, pulling his finger out to line his cock up to my opening.
He bottoms out on the first thrust and I scream my pleasure, pushing back into him with every thrust.
“Oh God, you’re so beautiful.”
I don’t quite agree, since I’ve seen my sex face, but I’m too lost in the sensation of him filling me, taking me and owning me, to do anything but fuck him back and reach for the orgasm pooling low in my belly.
It strikes so fast I bow up and shriek, pulling him closer when the contractions start. I’m convulsing, pleading, screaming out my pleasure when he tenses above me and fills me, his own orgasms hitting so strongly that we’re a sweaty, fluid-slicked mess when it’s over.
“I love you.”
He grunts and rolls to his back, pulling me onto his chest for a kiss that curls my toes.
“You’ve gotten what you want, minx. Now go back to sleep, my baby needs you strong.”
What a lovable bastard, I think, snuggling down with a contented sigh.
One of these days he’s going to slip and let those words out.
LAWSON (A Standalone Billionaire Romance Novel) Page 55
