by Rye Hart
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN - REED
I had sped to the airport and couldn’t wait for the flight to be over so I could get to Bella. The window of opportunity was closing in fast, and I would have to take another approach soon. My first step was buying her house and getting her set up so we’d have more privacy.
I longed for the times we’d be together and hoped that before long we’d be together all the time. I had considered a ring but thought it might be a bit soon to ask her. That was something that could wait, but not too long if it’s what it would take to make me a father.
I arrived at Bella’s house, eager to see the place fully furnished and try out the new bed. We’d been using a blow-up mattress the past couple of times I’d been over, but the bed I’d custom-ordered had arrived the day before with a few other things. Bella had been tired when I called the night before and knowing she’d had a rough one, I encouraged her to go to sleep. She’d had the sniffles and been so zoned out, that I was worried she’d come down with a cold or the damned summer flu.
I put my key in the door and went inside, but Bella wasn’t there to greet me. “Bella?” I threw down my keys and went to the kitchen, but she wasn’t there either. Wondering if she was sick, I headed to the bedroom, but then when I saw that the bed was not assembled, I turned around and found her tucked in and sound asleep on the sofa.
She looked so peaceful and beautiful that I walked across the room and knelt at her side. I pushed her hair away from her face; her face was flushed, her lips appearing much darker than usual. I leaned in and kissed her forehead, and she stirred, pulling her arms up to stretch and yawn.
“Reed?” she said in a sleepy voice.
“Yeah, did you forget I was coming today? It’s after six. Are you hungry?” She pushed the blanket off of her and confusion creased my brow.
“What’s that?” I examined her foot which was stuck inside a medical boot.
“It’s fine. It’s nothing.” She waved her hand like she didn’t want me to make a big deal of it, but I was growing angrier by the minute wondering why she hadn’t told me.
“What happened to you and when? Why haven’t you told me?” I tried to keep my cool, but that wasn’t my strong suit.
“Stop yelling at me.” She gave me a hard glare and took a deep breath. “I was helping the delivery men into the house and stepped on the stoop wrong. I twisted my ankle, and it’s sprained.”
“And you didn’t tell me because?”
“Because I didn’t want you to kill yourself getting here and I’ve been so tired.” She yawned and rubbed her eyes. “Besides, I had something else to tell you, and I wanted to tell you in person.”
She stared at the floor, and her hands wrung together like she was twisting a rag.
“Tell me.” I braced myself, wondering if it was what I’d longed to hear from her or if it was something else. It was the longest two minutes of my life as she gathered the strength to tell me.
“Reed, I’m pregnant.” She opened her eyes and found me smiling. A look of confusion washed over her.
“You are? You’re sure?” My chest swelled with pride, and I felt the relief of knowing my financial stability was intact for at least the rest of my life. I felt like I had everything all of a sudden; a wonderful girlfriend who I adored, my little heir in the oven, and my fortune to take care of us all.
“Yes. Are you really happy? I didn’t know if you would be.” She placed her hand on her tummy, and it hit me.
Fuck. She was carrying my baby. Mine; a life I created.
“I’m happier than I can even explain, right now, Bella. The happiest man alive.” I realized that it wasn’t about the money, either. It was about this amazing woman who was carrying a baby for us to love together for the rest of our lives. I realized I wanted to do that with her too. I wanted to be a father to this baby, and be the man my own father had never been.
I pulled Bella into my arms. “Are you happy, Bella?”
She let out a sigh. “I’m not sure what I am. I know it sounds horrible, but I’m scared to death. I know I wanted this in the past, but now I just wanted time for me...” she trailed off.
I felt a sinking feeling in my gut. “Are you saying you don’t want this baby?” I asked.
“No, Reed, I want it, I do. I just feel so confused. It’s not a good time for me is all I’m trying to say.”
I turned my back to her and walked away a few paces. She followed behind me and continued talking. “Reed, it’s all just happening so fast.”
“I need you to be completely honest with me, Bella. Tell me how you feel.” I was an inch from her face, and I could feel her breath with every heave of her breasts.
“I’m scared you’re going to realize how fast it is and leave me once the novelty of this wears off. Or that you’ll think I’ve done this to trap you. I swear I haven’t. I wouldn’t do that to you.” Her words were like a punch in the gut. I’d trapped her. I’d done all of this on purpose. I realized in that moment that I could never tell her or I’d lose her.
“I know you wouldn’t. I’m not going anywhere. I love you, Bella. I’m going to take care of you.”
She collapsed against me, and I lifted her up and took her into the bedroom where our brand-new mattresses were stacked in a corner ready for use. I stepped around the disassembled headboard. “Looks like I’ve got my work cut out for me.”
“I’m sorry. I hurried them out when I twisted my ankle.”
I let out a long calming breath. “I’m glad you’re okay. You promise me, no matter what, that you won’t keep something like that from me again.” I hooked my finger into her shorts and tugged them down, and she put her hand on her tummy again and then met my eyes.
“I promise. We both do.” She smiled, and I dropped her shorts and crushed my mouth against hers, kissing her deep before trailing down to her breasts which I cupped over her shirt before I slipped my hand beneath it and found her nipples.
A moan escaped her mouth, and she rolled her hips upward. “Those are so sensitive. I think it’s the pregnancy.”
“I’m going to have fun knowing that.” I brought my mouth to one and suckled and then let my teeth drag along the underside of them and down to her tummy where I kissed the soft skin that would soon stretch for my baby.
“Do you want a son or a daughter?” She tilted her head and glanced down at herself.
“I’d like a healthy heir. That’s all that matters to me. They’ll be amazing like their mother and loved either way.”
“I feel the same, but I’m partial to the idea of a son. I’d like to have a little Reed running around,” she said.
I trailed my mouth down farther, and she squealed out in pleasure.
“Is this more sensitive too?” I pushed a finger into her already dripping slit.
She hissed out a breath and arched her back. “I hope you’ll like my new body. You should enjoy the skinny me while you can.” She made a face, and I wasn’t sure she was happy about the impending changes.
“You’ll always be sexy to me, Bella.” I pushed her shirt up, and she helped me slip it over her head. When I had her good and naked, I stood up, letting my gaze linger on her body as I undressed. “You’ll tell me if that ankle hurts, even if I’m about to come.”
“I promise, but I have a feeling you’re about to make all my pain go away.” She put her arms around me and pulled me close, centering her slit against my cock and stroking it up and down with her juices coating it.
I couldn’t wait to come inside her again and again, and I reached down and centered my cock against her sopping wet snatch and pushed against it. “You’ll tell me if I hurt you.”
“I will.” She rolled her eyes and lifted her hips, taking my cock halfway in one thrust. Then she leaned up to my ear. “I promise, I won’t break.”
CHAPTER NINETEEN - BELLA
I didn’t want him to be gentle, but I knew if I encouraged him to be brutal with me, that he’d lose his shit. He was going to be so pr
otective now that he’d drive me crazy before nine months was up. I’d have to settle with a milder encouragement.
“I swear I won’t break, Reed. You won’t hurt the baby. It’s very safe in there.” I wrapped my ankles around his hips and pulled him deeper, his cock spreading me nice and wide around it, my tender channel gripping him, milking him with my motions. I couldn’t be still.
His cock worked in me nice and slow, and at this pace, I wasn’t going to come anytime soon. “Please, Reed. Fuck me harder.” He growled and sped up, lifting my leg with the boot up over his shoulder.
“I’m trying to be gentle with my little mama.” He gave me a smoldering smile and then thrust harder and picked up his pace. “You want it like that?”
“Yes, please. Fuck me. Please, Daddy.”
His eyes flashed as a smile spread his lips. “That’s so much dirtier than you think, and I want you to call me that from now on.” He rubbed a hand against my bare mound grinding his thumb against my clit as he worked me. He picked up the pace until he was pounding into me nice and steady and sure enough, my orgasm consumed me, taking away all my other senses as I soaked him.
Usually, he’d edge his release for me, but with me in my delicate condition in his mind, and with the clumsy boot on my foot, he didn’t hold back. His release followed shortly after mine and he ground himself hard against me, and I felt the tingle, and his pulsing cock as his load shot into me.
“I love coming inside you, Bella and filling that hot little hole.”
I loved it too; it made things so much more intense knowing we didn’t have to stop. He gave me a kiss and pulled me into his lap.
“Want to shower with me?” I kissed him nice and slow, and he met my eyes shaking his head.
“I just remembered I need to make a call. So you get cleaned up, and Daddy will take you out for dinner.”
“It’s a deal. But I’m not calling you Daddy.” I giggled thinking how ridiculous that would be in front of our friends.
“When we are alone, and you’re naked you will. Deal?” He spanked my ass so hard that a trickle of his cum threatened to drip. I clenched tight to hold it in place.
“Yes, Daddy. I better get to the shower before we both need one.”
He chuckled, and I got up and hurried into the bathroom.
After removing my boot and balancing against the wall, I decided to fill my tub. While the water ran, I dressed in my robe and strapped on the stupid boot to go out to let him know I was going to soak a minute. I didn’t want to take too long if he was starving, but he wasn’t in my room. I walked out, and the living room was empty too, and it wasn’t until I went toward the kitchen that I found him facing away from me against the counter, on the phone. I tip-toed up and stopped in my tracks when I heard his next words.
“No, she can never know about that. I don’t want her to know I knocked her up on purpose. Things are going too good—”
He must have caught a glimpse of me because his face paled and he turned to face me. “I’ll call you back.”
“What did you mean? You knocked me up on purpose?” My hand went to my stomach and tears pooled in my eyes until they spilled down my cheeks. I thought of all those times we’d had sex, the times in the shower when I wasn’t certain he’d been safe. He had deceived me in the worst way. My stomach rolled, and I turned to run for the bathroom, forgetting all about the sprain in my ankle and the bulky boot on my foot.
I hit the floor, and Reed rushed around the counter. When he tried to help me, I freaked out.
“Don’t touch me!” I cradled my tummy and crawled out of his reach. He knelt there, wide-eyed and his hand out like he was approaching a wild animal.
“Are you okay? Did you hurt yourself?”
“Why did you say that you did this on purpose?”
“I can explain, Bella. If you’ll listen and let me help you up, I’ll take you to the couch.”
He approached me slowly, and I hissed, pushing at his arms as he tried to touch me.
“Dammit, Bella. I’m going to pick you up and take you to the couch!” He came at me with such force that I had no time to react, and I had a feeling if I had fought him, he’d have won anyway. I went limp in his arms to make his task harder.
He lifted me up and placed me gently on the couch, and I curled into a ball, inching myself away as he sat next to me.
“Before I tell you what I have to say, I want you to know I love you, and it changes nothing.”
“It changes everything.”
“Hear me out, for heaven’s sake, Bella. Right before I met you, I was hit with a bit of a shocker. I had assumed that when I turned thirty, I’d inherit the bulk of my father’s multi-billion-dollar estate. I’ve been living off of the trust, which will end at thirty when the billions kicked in.”
“Lucky you, so why knock me up. One last conquest? A celebratory challenge?”
“Would you let me finish? I found out that if I didn’t produce an heir by my thirtieth birthday, then I wouldn’t get the inheritance and the money would go to charities and I’d be left with nothing.” His tone had softened, but I couldn’t sympathize. He’d not given me any choice, and it was all for money.
“I don’t care about your fucking money. I wasn’t ready for this. I wanted to have time for myself, and now I’ve got to raise a child and all so you can have your precious money! And you were never going to tell me!”
“I love you. I didn’t want you to think I did this for any other reason. I never wanted to hurt you, Bella.”
“Get out!”
“This is my house, Bella. I’m not leaving you. I love you. This is about so much more than the money now. In the beginning, yes, that was my motivation, but along the way I fell in love with you. I don’t even care about the money for me anymore, Bella. I want something real and lasting with you—with us. We’ve created a life, and I want us to be a family.”
“Is that part of it? We have to pretend to be a family for you to get your money too?” I snapped at him.
He shook his head. “It’s not my money.”
I stopped and looked at him, confused. “I don’t understand.”
“The part of the conversation you didn’t hear in there was me ordering my lawyer to draw up papers giving you full control of my estate once the baby is born. It’s your money now, Bella. Yours and our child’s.”
I nearly passed out when he said those words. I would be in full control of $2 billion. Still, I was so hurt that he had deceived me. All the money in the world wouldn’t fix that.
“I don’t want your goddamn money, Reed. And I don’t want you.”
The hurt that flashed across his face was visceral. I knew I’d cut him, but in my mind, he’d had it coming. I expected an argument, a show of his power, but instead he bowed his head and a tear slipped down his cheek.
Without another word, he got up and walked out.
*
It would be some time before I’d see him again. He didn’t push himself on me, but he did take care of me financially, and I let him. After all, it was his child I was carrying.
Kayla had been my biggest supporter otherwise, and finally, at four months, she’d gone with me to see the first ultrasound that would determine the sex of our baby.
“You’re glowing, Bella. Just think, when we leave this appointment, you’ll know if you’re having a son or a daughter, and Auntie Kayla will be able to buy gender-specific presents and plan your baby shower.”
“Don’t go spending a ton of money. This little one will have more than enough of what he or she needs.”
“Speaking of Daddy Babybucks, don’t be mad, but-”
My head snapped around to see her wince. “You didn’t.”
“You’ve been miserable without him, admit it!” She held a hand up defensively.
“So what? He lied to me. ”
“Yeah, I get that, but tell me something, if he’d asked you, what would you have said?”
She knew I’d have been all f
or it. That I’d always wanted a baby and that I had had enough faith in Reed to try.
“I’d have said yes. But he didn’t ask.”
“And since you sent him packing, he’s miserable, Bella. Rick said he’s not eating, he’s not sleeping. He’s afraid you’re not going to let him see the baby too.”
The thought of strong Reed having a tough time was enough to tug my heartstrings, and I’d been very careful not to let myself feel sorry for him or miss him too badly. But it was hard not to have him there with me through it. When I’d learned I was pregnant, I’d been so relieved that he’d been excited and that he’d wanted the baby. I had wanted someone to go through it with me, someone to share the experience with, and Kayla hadn’t been my first pick.
“I’d never keep the baby from him. I’d like to see him, but I’m still angry. I don’t know if I can forgive him, Kayla. I want to, but I’ll always know he lied.” I wondered if that was why he’d never wanted me to know.
“Yes, he lied, and it was a total asshole move, but he loves you. And don’t forget that he signed all of that money over to you. In my opinion, he’s more than proven that he’s in this for the right reasons, regardless of how it all started out.”
I knew she was right and that my own stubbornness was making me as miserable as it was apparently making him.
