His mouth next to her ear, Simon growled. “No contracts. Nothing between us. Not now. Not in the future. You’re mine. You’ll always be mine.”
Her irresistible fragrance surrounded him, drowning him in desire, his body begging his mind to take her. Feral need engulfed him and he pulled her head back gently by her ponytail, covering her mouth with his as she parted her deliciously tempting lips to argue.
Kara whimpered a sweet little sound of need as his mouth devoured hers, Simon swallowed the noise with hungry lips, desperate to claim his woman, to brand her with his touch until she could think of nothing but him, needed nothing but him. She tasted like coffee, peppermint, and pure carnal desire, and it nearly drove him mad. He plundered, taking her mouth, groaning as her tongue slid along his, claiming him. His heart thundered against his chest wall, wanting to tell her that she had owned him forever, since the first moment he saw her. Probably, if he was honest, long before that. He had waited a lifetime for the woman he held in his arms, and he would never let her go.
Releasing her lips reluctantly, Simon buried his face in the side of Kara’s neck, panting for air and struggling for control over his rampant, covetous emotions. His hands slid down to her shapely ass, cupping it, pulling the heat of her core against his swollen cock.
“Simon,” Kara moaned in her husky fuck-me voice, her warm breath wafting over his ear.
Animal instinct slammed him in the gut, uncontrolled and wild. Nothing, absolutely nothing, was important at that moment except the driving desire to satisfy his needy mate.
“I love you,” she panted restlessly, her teeth biting gently at his neck.
This time, her words went straight to Simon’s heart, the pleasurable pain striking him directly in the chest. “I love you too, sweetheart.” Resting his forehead against her shoulder, he closed his eyes, floored by the strength of her emotions, humbled by the fact that this woman truly loved him. Him. The man. Not the billionaire or the material things he could give her. He bore the scars of his past, inside and out, but Kara never seemed to see anything except a man worth loving. She was a miracle, his miracle. “No more talk about prenuptial agreements, okay?”
He felt her silky hair brush against his jaw as she shook her head, pulling back slightly to meet his eyes. Frowning at him, she answered, “We have to talk about it.”
Nope. They sure as hell did not have to talk about it. She could drop the whole ridiculous idea and just kiss him again. And again. Simon wasn’t about to make the most incredible, happiest event of his life into a fucking contract. “You know I already revised my will. We went over it.” He’d made damn sure Kara would always be taken care of, no matter what happened to him.
She nodded slowly. “It’s one thing if you leave me unwillingly by death. But what if…”
“Not happening,” he replied swiftly, his jaw tightening at the thought of losing Kara. “This is forever. I’m not signing a damn prenuptial agreement. You and I are not a fucking business deal. This is about you and me. Together. For the rest of our lives.” Simon’s green-eyed monster was clutching at him, irritated at the possibility that anything could take this woman away from him. Not happening.
Pushing against his chest, she wriggled out of his hold. “I want you to know that I’m not marrying you because of your money.” Her voice wobbled and her lower lip trembled.
Oh, fuck. No. “Don’t cry. I don’t like it.” Actually, he hated it. Seeing her cry practically brought him to his knees, made him want to give in to just about anything she wanted. Luckily, she rarely cried unless it was tears of joy and Kara never used his weakness at seeing her cry as a weapon. “And it’s always been quite obvious that you aren’t after my money.” More than obvious.
Giving him a wide-eyed, astonished glance, she replied hotly, “How can you know that? You supported me while I finished nursing school, paid my expenses, buy me outrageously expensive gifts. I want you to be able to trust me completely.”
Shit! Seriously? The woman knew every one of his dirty little secrets, things that he had never revealed to another soul, not even his brother, Sam. “I’ve trusted you with every detail of my life, Kara. I trust you. I wouldn’t be marrying you if I didn’t. I don’t need a prenuptial agreement. I don’t want one,” he rasped, trying to squelch his anger, his hurt over the fact that as much as he had poured out his soul to her, she still didn’t completely trust him or the fact that their relationship would never come to an end. “If you had enough faith in me, you wouldn’t need it either.”
It took Simon about a nanosecond to regret the words, wanting to take them back the moment that they left his stupid mouth. Kara’s beautiful face fell, every ounce of hurt showing in her expressive eyes that were filling with tears. Shit. What kind of dumbass statement was that? Instead of appreciating the fact that Kara wanted him so much that she was willing to give up any financial gain from their marriage just to show him how much she cared, Simon had slung the hurtful words at her out of frustration and more than a little fear. And the words weren’t the least bit true. Kara had always had faith in him, even when she probably shouldn’t have had any, even when he hadn’t had faith in himself. Problem was, he wanted more, needed her to believe in them as a couple. Although she balked whenever he bought her something because of her past financial situation, Kara had never seemed to question the fact that they were soul mates, destined to be together forever…until the last few weeks. Her recent hesitance scared him, terrified him into starting to consider that maybe it was she who might want out some day. Her notion that she owed him and didn’t want to share everything, especially his wealth, bothered the shit out of him. It made every lingering insecurity he had jump up to bite him in the ass.
Spearing a hand through his hair with a remorseful sigh, he told her softly, “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.”
He watched her carefully, his heart breaking as Kara angrily swiped away a tear that escaped from her liquid blue eyes as she answered, “You wouldn’t have said it if there wasn’t some truth to it. Maybe you’re right. Maybe this is all a mistake.”
His eyes turned dark and turbulent. “What kind of mistake?”
“Us.” She gestured at him and then at herself. “Maybe we shouldn’t be considering marriage right now. Maybe there’s just too big a difference in our circumstances.” Hands shaking nervously, she swiped at both her eyes, the tears coming so fast she couldn’t keep up with them.
What. The. Hell. He’d waited, fighting against every instinct he had to make her his wife immediately, for nearly a year. And now she was questioning their upcoming marriage? Because he was wealthy? It wasn’t like his money was something new, something unknown. He’d been a billionaire long before they met. Cursing under his breath, Simon stepped forward, reaching for Kara, but she pulled free, backing away from him with a strangled sob. Dropping his hands, he fisted them at his side. Jaw clenched, he forced himself not to reach for her again. In the year that they had been together, he and Kara rarely fought, and he had never seen her look this fragile…except for the time she had been attacked and nearly killed by two violent junkies. Even then, she hadn’t looked this freaked out. When his woman was really angry, she got in his face and told him off. Their arguments fired hot and blew over quickly, usually resolved with a compromise and earth- shattering make-up sex.
Did we wait too long? Is she getting cold feet?
Wishing he had just thrown her over his shoulder nearly a year ago and swept her away to Vegas on his private jet, Simon answered, “We are getting married and you need to tell me what’s really going on.” Trying to keep his temper and his voice level, Simon clenched his fists harder, nearly cutting off all the blood circulation to his fingers. Kara had never backed away from him, rebuffed his attempts to comfort her. What had happened to the woman who would throw herself into his arms whenever she needed him? And, damn it, he wanted her to need him. Her rejection was killing him.
“I don’t know if I can marry you.” Her
statement was released with a mournful sob.
Screw it. Simon couldn’t watch her tears another damn moment and he didn’t for the life of him understand what she was trying to say. All he knew was panic, desperation, and pain. Panic at the thought of losing her, desperation to fix whatever was wrong, and an unholy agony from hearing her say that she wasn’t going to marry him. To hell with that. “You’re marrying me. No fucking prenuptial. I need you, Kara. I’ll always need you. Please don’t do this.” His statement was low, dangerous, spoken like he was barely able to contain his caveman instincts…which he was. Right now, he wanted to pin her to the wall and get inside her so deeply, take her so thoroughly, that she never again considered saying that she couldn’t marry him. Hell, if she needed a reminder of how they fit together, how much he wanted and needed her, he’d be glad to give it to her. Right here. Right now.
Eyes wild, Kara backed up as he followed slowly, stalking her until he had her pinned to the wall beside the door. Her eyes shot to his face, then the door, and back to his face.
“Don’t even think about it,” he rumbled, slamming a hand beside each of her arms, boxing her in, cutting off any hope of her escape. “Talk to me,” he demanded roughly, needing to soothe her pain…and his own. After spending the last year blissfully happy with a woman he loved more than life itself, Kara’s sudden irrational behavior was out in left field. He was usually the one who was a controlling, dominant asshole and Kara was his voice of reason. “Are you okay?” he asked gruffly, his eyes searching her face. If something was wrong, he’d fix it. There was nothing he wouldn’t do at the moment to make her smile again, take away the confusion and pain he saw reflected in her eyes.
As long as she doesn’t say she can’t marry me. If she says it again…I’ll lose it.
Kara nodded hesitantly and then shook her head. “Yes. No. I don’t know.” She put her forehead on his shoulder and started to sob like her whole world was ending. Lifting her hands, she clenched at his t-shirt, fisting large portions of the cotton at his waist while she saturated the top half of the garment with her tears.
Holy Christ! Completely baffled, Simon wrapped his arms around her, his grip so tight she squeaked.
“Can’t breathe,” she mumbled as she sucked in a labored breath.
“Shit. I’m sorry. Kara, I don’t understand.” Simon loosened his hold immediately, keeping her pliant body against his, feeling completely helpless and hating every moment of it.
She twisted in his arms as a series of sharp raps sounded on the wood frame of the door and his older brother Sam strolled, uninvited, into the room.
Using the distraction to her advantage, Kara slipped from Simon’s arms and made her escape. “I have to go. Maddie is expecting me at the clinic.” Her explanation was rushed and breathless; as she hurried out of the open door like her ass was on fire, skirting around his brother as she went.
“No! Kara. We aren’t finished. Don’t you dare leave right now,” Simon bellowed loudly after her retreating figure. Angry and completely desperate, he plowed after her, determined to track her ass down until she explained what was going on.
Simon never made it out the door, his brother jerking him back into the room with a strong grip on the back of his shirt. “Whoa, bro. Let her go. It doesn’t look like you were resolving much of anything.”
Simon turned to face his brother, absolutely livid. “Take your fucking hands off me. She’s going to listen.”
Sam let his brother turn, but firmly gripped Simon’s shirt in the front, pulling his younger brother closer. Nose to nose, Sam drilled Simon with an icy stare, his voice as cold as his eyes as he replied, “Oh yeah, you both looked like you were totally ready to have a rational conversation.” Sam shook Simon lightly. “Calm the hell down and think about what you’re doing. The woman was dissolving in a puddle of tears. You love her. Is this really the mood you need to be in when you talk? You’ll say stupid things that you’ll regret later. Trust me.”
Deflated, Simon’s body relaxed, allowing Sam to loosen his grip. “Fuck. I already did.” He flinched as he heard the door to the condo slam closed, his heart sinking to his feet at the realization that Kara had left their home. Left him.
Sam stepped back and grabbed Simon by the shoulders, asking quietly, “You good now?” His older brother was really asking if Simon had a grip on himself.
“Yeah. Yeah, I think so.” Shrugging off Sam’s light hold, Simon dragged himself back to his desk, slumping into his computer chair. Burying his face in his hands, he groaned. “I really need to talk to Kara. Work things out. Something’s wrong.”
Sauntering to the circle of computers, Sam grabbed up a chair, swinging it around and seating his large body in the chair backwards. Resting his forearms on the back of the chair, Sam locked his fingers together and shook his head, causing the curly blond locks of his hair to ruffle lightly as he told Simon in a grave voice, “Bro, you really need to work on your communication skills. If that was working things out, I’d really hate to see what happens when you two are having an argument.”
Chapter Two
“You’re not sick. You’re pregnant.”
Kara cringed, her head shooting up to give the vivacious redheaded physician walking through the door of the exam room an alarmed stare. Her jaw dropped and she shook her head. “How is that possible?”
Dr. Madeline Reynolds came to a stop in front of the exam table Kara was seated on and folded her arms in front of her. “You’re a nurse. Do we really need a refresher on anatomy and physiology?” Maddie lifted her arms and made a circle with the middle finger and thumb of her left hand while inserting her index finger of her right into the circle. “Part A is inserted into part B, which may result in pregnancy.” She shrugged, smiling at Kara as she dropped her hands to her side. “You know the other details.”
“I’m on the pill, Maddie. It’s not possible.”
“You know it can still happen. And I think it’s entirely possible that you conceived soon after you had that stomach virus between Christmas and New Years,” Maddie answered, her voice contemplative. “You missed your period recently, didn’t you?”
Kara nodded reluctantly. “But I still took my pill every day when I was sick. I didn’t forget. And I didn’t take any antibiotics that would interfere with the effectiveness of my pill,” Kara answered, her voice panicked.
Maddie gave her a wry look. “But you were vomiting every day for a week. I suspect most of your pill came right back up and was never dissolved in your bloodstream.”
“Shit, shit, shit.” Maddie was probably right and Kara was experiencing some serious denial. All of the symptoms had been there. She just hadn’t wanted to acknowledge them. Cursing herself for not thinking about the possibility that Maddie had just mentioned and using an alternative method of birth control, Kara’s eyes dropped to the floor.
“You were sick. Don’t blame yourself because your brain was scrambled.” Maddie handed Kara the paper in her hand. “Here’s the result of your HCG. It’s positive. You know the test is pretty damn accurate, but we can repeat it in a week if you want to.”
Kara took the test results from Maddie, staring down at the positive result in shock, her eyes flooding with tears. Again. “I can’t believe it. Oh God, how am I going to tell Simon?”
Maddie plopped her ass on a rolling stool, wheeling herself between Kara’s feet, which were dangling from the exam table. Snatching the test results from Kara’s trembling fingers, Maddie dropped the sheet of paper on the table and grasped both of Kara’s hands, staring up at her with a concerned expression. “You think Simon will be upset? Kara…I don’t think he will. You’re getting married in a month. It’s a little soon, but I think he’ll be delighted. And I know you want kids.”
Kara looked down at Maddie, her expression grim. “I do want children. I’m thirty years old and I’d like to have more than one. But any time I bring up the subject with Simon, he shuts it down immediately. He wants to wait.” She covered h
er flat stomach reflexively, sighing at the thought that she was carrying Simon’s child. She wanted this baby desperately, already loved it. “I don’t think he’ll be happy. His expression looks pained every time I talk about it. And we fought this morning.”
“About?” Maddie prompted gently.
“I was being a raving bitch. I haven’t been myself for the last few weeks. That’s why I wanted you to run a few blood tests. I think I knew I could be pregnant, but didn’t want to admit it. I feel so emotional all the time, so scared. I had a premarital agreement drawn up by an attorney to protect Simon and he wouldn’t sign.”
Maddie squeezed Kara’s hands lightly. “You know, I like that man more and more every day. Good for him. He trusts you enough to know that you would never screw him.” Maddie smirked. “Not financially anyway. Any other billionaire with Simon’s money would have already had your signature on a prenup the moment he put that gorgeous ring on your finger. Why would you argue about that?”
“I insisted he sign. He refused. Told me I didn’t have enough faith in him. Then I told him that maybe we should reconsider this marriage because we were just too different. God, I don’t even know why I said that. Simon is like a missing piece of my soul, my other half. I don’t know what I’d do without him. We fit in every way except for the money. I guess I panicked.”
Kara shuddered as she remembered the shattered look of pain on Simon’s handsome, beloved face and wanted to start crying all over again. Why had she said that? Simon was her world, and she knew he felt the same. The man had suffered enough pain in his past. He shouldn’t have to receive it from the woman he loved, the woman he wanted to marry and spent the rest of his life with.
“You’re pregnant, girlfriend, and your hormones are raging out of control. It’s normal to be a little touchy, do and say irrational things, and to have mood swings. Tell Simon. Let him understand and be there for you. You need him right now,” Maddie told her in a persuasive tone.
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