Still in her soft pink scrubs, her sneaker-clad feet padded softly around the desk and picked up the papers, sending the pen that Simon had used to sign the documents rolling across the desk. “You signed them?” Kara sounded shocked, surprised.
“Yes. I’m sorry for what I said.” And Simon was sorry. More sorry than he could convey in words, because he’d never been very good with flowery speeches or finding the right words to say to Kara. Honestly, most of the time he was obsessed with his need to possess her, protect her. Tender emotions and sweet words weren’t exactly his forte.
Kara’s gaze flew to his face, scanning his features as though she were looking for something. “Why? I thought you didn’t want this.”
“I don’t.” He shrugged. “But I want you to be happy. I know the money issue bothers you.” He speared her with a dark look. “I signed them for you. But you’re still not leaving me. Ever” And the papers would never be used or important. They were just a damn poor use of trees as far as Simon was concerned.
Kara’s lips turned up in a small smile. Her eyes never left his as she picked up the agreement and tore the papers in two. And then ripped them again. And again. “You’re right. I’m not leaving you. Not as long as you love me.”
His heart racing, he replied, “That would be as long as I’m still breathing. Why are you doing that?” he asked, watching her scatter the little pieces of the contract across the desk.
“Because I never should have let money be an issue between us. I’m so sorry, Simon. So very sorry.” Her voice cracked as she moved quickly around the desk, throwing herself into his arms.
Simon savored the contact, wrapping his arms around her, closing his eyes with relief. He kissed her temple, her cheek, holding her as closely as he could without crushing her. “I shouldn’t have said what I said.”
“I hurt you because of my own insecurities. You’ve never let money be a problem in our relationship, and I shouldn’t have either. You were right. I was wrong,” she murmured quietly against his chest.
Gently, Simon brought Kara’s head to his shoulder, letting her rest comfortably against him. Where she belongs. Where she’ll always belong. “I love you. I just want you to be happy again. You seem so sad. I don’t like it.”
Kara pulled back, but only far enough to look into his eyes. “I’m not sad, Simon. I’m emotional.”
“I’d rather see you be happy emotional than sad emotional,” he grumbled, kissing the tip of her nose gently.
Cupping his cheek softly in her hand, she answered, “You’re an incredible man, Simon Hudson. Always so worried about my happiness, my safety, so willing to sacrifice for me. I love you so much it scares me sometimes.”
Simon caught her hand and brought it to his lips, kissing her palm gently. “I never sacrifice anything for you. I love you. And feel free to love me as much as you want to. You won’t hear me complaining.” Simon couldn’t hide his grin, knowing he would never get tired of hearing how much she loved him, even if she told him a hundred times a day.
Kara smiled softly. “I spent money today. Your money. Um…I mean our money. And I’ve decided that I need a car. Or maybe an SUV. Something…uh…with more space. And I want a long honeymoon. Can we use the jet?”
“Absolutely. Any place you want to go.” Thank God. Simon’s grin broadened as he asked her playfully, “Was it painful?”
Kara didn’t even need to ask what he meant. Simon understood her. “Horribly. I started out on the clearance racks, but I couldn’t find anything I wanted there so I had to move to the regular - priced stuff.”
“Ouch.” God, he loved this woman. “And how did that go?”
“Okay. My hand only shook a tiny bit as I ran my debit card,” she admitted with chagrin. “I even went to get a manicure and pedicure. I’ve never done that before. It felt…weird…but I wanted to try it.”
Simon laughed as he hugged Kara closer, reminded of just how few luxuries this woman had ever had in her life, how few things she had done that many women did on a regular basis and took for granted. “What did you buy?”
“A few things. And um…a new wardrobe. Bigger clothes.” Her voice was hushed, nervous.
“Are you planning on gaining weight?” Not that he cared. She could wear whatever size she wanted, put more meat on her bones. Her curves would be lusher, softer.
“For a while. Oh…hell! I might as well just say it.” She pulled back and put a hand on each side of his head, Kara’s pensive eyes meeting his still-teasing look. “I’m pregnant. We’re going to have a baby. That’s the reason I’m so emotional. I feel like my hormones are taking over my brain.”
Simon’s jaw dropped and his face took on an astonished expression as he looked at Kara, his mouth moving, but no sound escaping. Pregnant? She was going to have his baby?
Emotions rolled through him, one after the other.
Fear.
Happiness.
Anxiety.
And a healthy dose of fierce possessiveness.
“How? Why?” Stupid questions, but they popped out of his mouth anyway, his brain still trying to catch up with his emotions.
Kara burst into tears, large drops rolling down her cheeks as her face contorted with remorse. “I’m sorry. It probably happened when I was sick. I didn’t get enough of the pill in my system because I was vomiting. I should have been more careful. I know you don’t want to be a father right now. But I already love our baby so much.”
Our baby. Our. Baby. His heart slamming against his chest, he pulled her completely against him, rocking her gently. “Shhhh…it will be okay. I…I…oh holy shit. I’m going to be a father.” Intense joy spiraled through him, making his heart swell until he swore it was going to explode.
“I’m sorry,” she wailed against his shoulder.
“Please don’t be sorry, sweetheart. It isn’t your fault. Are you ready to be a mother?” He tripped over the last word, still incredulous that Kara was carrying their child; a baby conceived with so much love that he was ready to burst with pride.
“Yes. I want it so desperately. But I know you don’t. You’ve never wanted to talk about it before except to say you wanted to wait.” She sniffed and snuggled against him.
“It isn’t that I don’t want our child. I just can’t fucking stand the thought of you being in that much pain, that something might happen to you. It’s dangerous. Women can die in childbirth.” Hell, he couldn’t stand the thought of Kara being in pain for any reason. He hadn’t realized that he had actually cut her off, unable to cope with the thought of her going through what she would have to suffer to bear his child. He shuddered, still fucking hating those thoughts.
His emotions warred inside his body. He wanted Kara to have his child with a longing so painful that it nearly knocked him on his ass. However, the thought of anything happening to her was making him demented, maniacal. Simon wanted to wrap her in his protection, never let her out of his sight for a moment. Maybe he wouldn’t. Not for a very long time.
“It’s not dangerous, Simon. Women do it every day. Most women say the pain is soon forgotten once they have their child in their arms.” Her voice was breathless, hopeful. “You don’t mind?”
“I mind, but not in the way that you’re concerned about.” It bothered him because he couldn’t stop thinking about Kara hurting. And he was going to triple her damn security, whether she liked it or not. His woman was pregnant, which made her even more vulnerable. “I want a girl.” A beautiful, sweet replica of her mother. “We need to move. Buy a place outside of downtown where she can have a yard. Maybe a dog. Oh hell, whatever makes her happy. And we need to be in a good area with good schools. She’ll be beautiful just like you, so no dating until she’s at least thirty.” He scowled as he thought about some bastard laying a hand on his daughter.
His heart lifted as Kara laughed, pulling back to smile at him. “I want a boy. A sweet little boy like his daddy.”
“Girl.”
“Boy.”
> “Girl,” he growled.
Kara sighed. “Healthy. I’ll be happy if our baby is just healthy and happy. I don’t really care. He or she will be dearly loved.”
Simon felt his eyes moisten, his happiness almost too much to bear, even though he was fucking losing it about Kara’s safety. “Me, too, baby. I’d love to have either one. I just hope the baby looks like you. I’ll love our child so much and give the baby everything I never had.” A stable, happy childhood, security, love. “Are you feeling okay? You said you were emotional. Are you sick? We should see the doctor. What else do we need to do? What do you need? Tell me and I’ll get it for you.” He sounded anxious, desperate. His gut clenched, his protective instincts gnawing at his insides. Kara was pregnant. Simon needed to research the condition immediately, find out what Kara needed to do to stay healthy. Didn’t women need things when they were pregnant, special things? Oh hell, he didn’t know a damn thing about pregnant women, but he needed to change that situation immediately. How could he safeguard Kara when he didn’t have a clue what to do to protect her?
“I need your hot body and some ice cream,” she answered in a sultry voice. “But first I need a shower.”
“Me? You need me? Should we be doing that?” Sex was safe when a woman was pregnant, right? Shit, he really had to look that information up immediately.
“Oh yeah. We should be doing it a lot. I’m horny all the time. Hormones,” she whispered as she gently took his earlobe between her teeth and nibbled.
Christ. He had no control when it came to Kara. His cock throbbed with the need to bury himself inside her welcoming heat. “We should be careful,” he answered, his mind already filled with erotic thoughts, his caveman wanting to take control. My woman. Pregnant. My baby.
Mine. Fucking completely mine.
“I need sex. Lots and lots of sex. Hot, sweaty, crazy sex,” Kara told him emphatically. “And I expect you to meet my needs since you knocked me up.”
Yeah. He had. He’d planted his seed inside her and it had taken root. An animalistic, male satisfaction slammed into him. “How crazy exactly?” Simon shifted, his cock ready to explode inside his jeans. “What’s safe?”
“Any way I want you to fuck me. I’m only at about five weeks pregnant right now. Some women get tired, sick or lose their sex drive during their first trimester, but not me. I want to get laid at least five times a day.” Kara rubbed against him sensually with a small, breathy moan. “Don’t be afraid to make love to me. It’s safe. And I need you. In every way.”
At that moment, Simon wanted to meet any needs Kara had, give her whatever she wanted. “I’ll take care of you, baby. Always. And you’ll tell me how you feel?” If she just wanted him to hold her, cherish her, be close to her, he’d do it quite happily. His inner beast might be snarling because of the way Kara was rubbing against him, but Kara’s needs would always come first.
“Right now I want a shower. I want to orgasm. And I want ice cream,” she answered insistently, moving out of his arms, walking toward the door, her hips swaying sensually.
Shit. How was he supposed to not act like a possessive maniac when he was marrying the sexiest pregnant woman on the planet? “I’m up for that.” Literally. His cock was as hard as granite.
Simon followed in Kara’s wake, catching up to her at the bottom of the stairs and wrapping his arms around her from behind. Hands stroking her still-flat belly, he whispered, “I love you. Ask me for anything and I’ll do it. No questions asked, no negative replies.”
She relaxed, letting her body rest against him. “I thought I just did.” Laughing, she entwined his fingers with hers, both of them covering her stomach protectively. “I just…need you. I feel needy as hell. I’m not myself right now. Please try not to take anything I do or say personally. It’s not you. It’s hormones right now. I think they’re eating my brain.”
“Be needy. Be grouchy. I won’t even tell you not to cry.” Well…he’d try not to anyway. Shit, Simon hoped she didn’t cry a lot. He’d be a wreck by the time the baby was born. “Just don’t ask me not to worry, or be protective, or be concerned about your happiness and safety. I can’t do that,” he growled, his fingers clenching hers.
“You won’t be bossy?”
Simon gulped. “No.” Okay…maybe not quite so often.
“Or demanding?”
Uh…he could manage to tone it down, couldn’t he? “Nope”
“Domineering? Controlling?”
Well, crap. She was hitting him where it hurt. “I’ll try,” he told her sincerely.
Kara burst out laughing, a full belly laugh that he hadn’t heard in more than two weeks, a delighted sound that made his heart soar. She laughed so hard she snorted. “I give you twenty-four hours. Those traits are so deeply embedded in your DNA that you’ll never make it more than a day.” She continued to chortle as she went toward their bedroom, making his mouth go dry as she lifted her scrub top over her head, revealing an abundance of smooth, silky skin.
He chuckled, knowing she was probably right. But it wouldn’t keep him from giving it his best. “A week at least,” he called after her in an arrogant tone.
Her laughter rang out louder, stronger, drifting through the hallway and echoing back to him, making him grin ever broader. Damn it. She knew him too well.
Shaking his head, he walked to the kitchen to get his woman her ice cream.
Chapter Four
Maddie Reynolds chewed on her thumbnail, a look of total concentration on her face, as she flipped the pages of a medical file on one of her five-year-old patients at the clinic. It was seven p.m., way past time for her to get home and try to get some rest, but something about the case was nagging at her. She had to be missing something, something important. Timmy was tired, listless, having occasional vomiting and diarrhea, and it had to be more than a virus. The poor tyke had been that way for weeks.
Sighing, she leaned back in the chair of her office in the clinic, grimacing as she bit a little too hard on her fingernail. She’d need to consult a pediatrician, run more tests. Sending up a silent prayer that Timmy’s mother would show up at her next appointment with her son, Maddie closed the file. The poor kid didn’t have an easy life, and his mother wasn’t exactly consistent.
“Hello, Madeline.”
A husky baritone sounded from the doorway of her office, causing her to leap to her feet, ready to push the alarm button on the side of her desk. The free clinic wasn’t in a good neighborhood and poor Kara had already come close to getting shot here.
“I didn’t mean to scare you.”
A cold chill ran down Maddie’s spine, but not from fear. She recognized the voice. Eyes narrowing, she focused on the body and face behind that smooth-as-velvet masculine tone and the man standing right in front of her. “How did you get by Simon’s security? And what in the hell are you doing here?”
Sam Hudson shrugged and stepped into the room as though he owned it. Even dressed casually in a pair of jeans and a burgundy cable-knit sweater, the man oozed power and arrogance, carried it on those wide shoulders like an elegant mantle. “They’re my security too, Sunshine. They work for Hudson. Do you think they would do anything other than let me by them with a polite good evening?”
Arrogant bastard. Maddie’s heart raced and her palms grew sweaty. She wiped them over her denim-clad thighs, wishing she hadn’t showered and changed in the tiny shower in the back of the clinic before coming into her office. Maybe it would have been easier to face Sam in her professional attire, her hair confined in a conservative knot. Trying to push a flaming corkscrew spiral behind one ear, she stiffened her spine, trying to make herself appear taller than her five-foot-three height. “What do you want, Sam? This is hardly your neighborhood. And I don’t think you need the services of a hooker?” Her voice was hard, brittle. Damn it. Why couldn’t she act nonchalant? So many years had come and gone since that heart-shattering event with Sam. He was a stranger to her now. Why couldn’t she treat him like one?
Moving closer, he answered darkly, “Would you care, Sunshine? Would it matter to you if I fucked every woman in the city?”
“Ha! Like you haven’t already? And stop calling me by that ridiculous pet name,” Maddie answered sarcastically, but her heart was racing and her breath caught as Sam moved close enough for her to catch a whiff of his enticing scent of musk and man, a spicy aroma that made her slightly dizzy. His scent hadn’t changed, and it was still as tempting as it had been all those years ago.
“Why are you still here? My security alerted me that you were here after dark. You should be home. This neighborhood isn’t safe during the day, much less at night,” he growled softly.
“Simon’s security” Somehow, she couldn’t associate the two men, even if they were brothers. Simon was nice and had a heart of gold underneath his gruff exterior. Sam was the devil himself, Satan disguised as a GQ model, with more money and power than any man had the right to have. Especially a man like Samuel Hudson.
“What if some thug got through security, found you here alone and vulnerable?” He moved closer, so close she could feel his warm breath caressing her temple.
God, he was so tall, so broad and muscular. Sam had worked construction when she had known him years ago, hard physical labor that had given him a sculpted, perfect body. Strangely, it hadn’t changed one single bit. How in the hell did a man maintain that awesome body sitting behind a desk? Backing away from his intimating presence, her ass bumped against the desk, leaving her no space to move away farther.
“A man could take advantage of a woman alone in an empty office,” he continued, his voice low, dangerous.
Maddie pushed against Sam’s chest, trying to get free of her wedged-in position between him and the desk. “Move. Back off, Hudson, before I’m forced to send your balls into your throat.”
His muscular thigh moved over hers, immobilizing the possibility of kneeing him in the groin. “I taught you that move, remember. And never tell your attacker your intensions, Madeline.”
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