ZEKE’S BABY

by Evelyn Glass

“No.”

  He licked his lips slowly. “What does this mean?”

  “What do you mean?”

  He licked his lips again, unsure of what to do. He wanted to take Stella into his arms and hold her, to never let her go, to make up for all the things he’d done wrong, but he wasn’t sure how she’d react. He wanted to see his daughter, but he didn’t want to disrupt the family dynamic between Stella and Katrina and cause either of them pain. He wanted so many things, so many wrongs he wanted to put right.

  “I would like to see her, but…”

  “But what?” she asked when his voice trailed away.

  “But I don’t know if it’s the right thing. I don’t want to screw up again. I don’t want to upset her by being this guy who suddenly shows up.” He looked at her a moment, then pulled her into a hug, needing to feel her against him. “I never suspected,” he said softly. “I’m even more of a fuck up than I thought.”

  She could hear the pain in his voice. “I’m sorry. I should have called you when I found out.”

  He nodded and she felt a wetness on her temple. “Why didn’t you?” he asked, his voice so soft and full of pain that it tugged at her heart.

  “I hated you. I didn’t want you anywhere near me or Katrina. I didn’t want to share her and I didn’t want you to hurt me or her. What if you did come back, then left again? I couldn’t have taken that and it wouldn’t have been fair to Katrina.”

  He nodded, then sniffed, reeling in the tears he hadn’t been able to contain. “I deserved that.”

  She wiggled out of his embrace, and seeing the tears in his eyes, her own eyes welled with tears. “No. I was wrong. I never gave you a chance. I shouldn’t have kept your daughter from you.”

  He nodded. He wanted to tell her it was okay, but it wasn’t. They had both made terrible mistakes, but he’d started the chain of events that led to where they were. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry for everything.”

  She couldn’t hold her tears any longer and melted into him. “I’ll have to get up soon, but will you hold me until then?”

  He nodded but said nothing, his cheek resting on her head as he held her in his embrace. After a time, he relaxed his embrace and pulled back, a hand sliding down her arm to take her hand and pull her along to the bedroom. They tumbled into the bed and he snuggled into a spoon, holding her close, enjoying the feel of her naked body against his own. Whether it was the coffee, the excitement of having Stella in his arms again, or the news that he was a father, he couldn’t quiet his mind. As she began to relax into sleep, a smile began to tug at his lips. I’m a daddy! he thought, and tightened his embrace for just a moment.

  Well satisfied she lay quiet and still, her breathing slow and regular, her eyes closed as she began to the long slide into sleep. Gabriel—she couldn’t think of him as Royal—hadn’t reacted anything like she’d expected. She’d expected surprise, of course, but from there she didn’t know. Denial, maybe, or reluctant acceptance. It touched her that he didn’t even question if Katrina was his, and had immediately understood and accepted the responsibility. She was moved that his first thought was for the welfare of Katrina, and she realized how wrong she’d been to withhold the news of his child from him. She’d made as grievous a mistake as he had – maybe more so, because it affected a child. She should have given him a chance when Katrina was an infant. If he’d bailed and run, she wouldn’t have remembered him anyway, but if he’d stayed, she would have had a father these past three plus years. Like Gabriel, she thought she was doing the right thing at the time, but, in hindsight, she could see how wrong she’d been, just like him.

  He was so different now. He’d matured and grown, and become comfortable with who he was and his place in the world. She felt sick at what she’d done. Grammy had urged her to call him time and time again, but she’d ignored the advice, always having an excuse, but they were just that: excuses. Maybe they should try again. If he could find it in his heart to forgive her, maybe she could find it within herself to forgive him. In the drowsy middle between awake and sleep, when everything seemed so clear, she decided she would like to try again with Gabriel, to give him another chance to win her and Katrina. She smiled slightly, enjoying the feel of him snuggled in warm and close, and thought of how they’d been so long ago.

  ***

  Stella swam out of the darkness of sleep with a moan, inflamed with passion and so horny she was beside herself. As she came fully awake, aching to feel Gabriel inside her, she didn’t understand why she was wound so tight. She should be relaxed, or exhausted, or both, from the previous night, but then she felt his gentle caress of her womanhood. She was unable to stifle her soft whimper as his finger brushed lightly over her clit, and she understood.

  “Oh, God, I want you so bad!” she moaned as he softly stroked her again, his touch electrifying. They were in the same spoon as when she went to sleep, so she reached between them and steered his throbbing hardness into her.

  “Fuck,” he growled low and deep as she pushed back into him, his guttural snarl like a whip crack to her desire. He pushed into her hard and deep then began to drive his cock into her, gasping with every thrust. He appeared to be as taken with passion as she was, and his need drove her own desires even higher.

  He thrust into her hard, every swift insertion sending searing pleasure burning through him. He’d slid into sleep while holding her snuggly to his chest, only to snap awake a few hours later, the bedroom window brightening with dawns first ruddy light. He didn’t know if it was the knowledge that maybe, just maybe, she was going to give him a chance to win her back, or she was the mother of his daughter, or their passionate encounter only a few hours earlier that had reawakened his feelings for her, but he wanted her unlike any other woman. He’d teased her awake with gentle touches, her soft sighs and slow squirms as she slept making him aching for her. Having her come awake only to immediately plunge him into her wetness had only ratcheted up his desire even more.

  “Oh my God, that feels good!” she whimpered, her climax coiling up for an explosive release, his pants and grunts as he thrust into her making her burn with need. “Faster!” she begged, needing the hard, fast, pounding strokes to push her over the edge into sweet oblivion.

  He rolled her to stomach, placing his legs outside of hers and entered her again, clamping his legs tight against hers. He groaned loudly as he began to drive into her hard and fast, his legs squeezing her tight around his shaft.

  “You feel so big!” she wailed softly as he pounded into her. She’d fallen into a rut and had forgotten how exciting and satisfying sex could be with a dynamic and skillful lover. She moaned again as he drove into her hard and fast, her orgasm swelling within her.

  He lowered himself, taking her lips as she twisted her head around, his left hand reaching around her to roughly massage her right breast as she twisted. It was what she needed and her climax rolled over her, her kiss becoming frantic as she burned with the intensity of the pleasure, their tongues dancing as he continued to pound into her.

  She clamped down on him as she crashed into her orgasm, increasing her tightness even more. He flung his head back, barking out his release as he began to pound into her franticly.

  His cry of pleasure and hard pounding strokes drove her orgasm on. Suddenly, he pulled out and flipped her to her back, handling her as if she weighed nothing, then plunged into her again, her knees caught behind his arms as he drove in deep. She flung her head back in pleasure, then snarled at him as she wrapped her hands around his head and pulled his forehead to hers as he slammed into her.

  “Oh, shit! You’re going to make me come again! Fuck!” she growled, feeling wicked as he gasped and snarled while hammering into her, fucking her like she hadn’t been fucked in years.

  He’d fought through the searing pleasure of his release, the brief pause as they changed positions enough to allow his orgasm to wash out of him. He released one leg, letting it fall away as he held her up with a hand between her shoulder blades. “
I want to feel you come all over my cock,” he growled, his voice hard and demanding.

  She moaned loudly, losing herself in the moment, his fast plunging cock shredding her with pleasure. “I can’t take it!”

  “You have to take it!” he grunted, never slowing his driving hips.

  “I can’t!” she cried softly, releasing his head and shaking her own head franticly as her orgasm spooled up.

  “You’re going to take it until you fucking come!”

  She pushed herself away from him and fell to the bed before placing her hands against the wall and pushing hard as she whimpered softly, her body alive with motion. He fell across her, supporting most of his weight on his elbows as he held her head and took her lips as he thrust himself in hard and deep.

  She relaxed out of her orgasm with a long sigh of relief, her arms going around him to hold him into the kiss. “That was incredible,” she murmured, panting softly as the aftershocks of her orgasm ravaged her.

  “You’re incredible.”

  They lay in a cuddle a moment, kissing and touching, when she suddenly went rigid. “Do you have on a condom?”

  He felt a flash of heat roll over him. “No. I didn’t even think about it.”

  “Do I have anything to worry about?” she asked, all the warmth gone from her voice.

  He swallowed hard. “I’m clean. Are you on the pill?”

  She relaxed a bit. “Yes. You’re sure I don’t have anything to worry about?”

  “The last time I didn’t use a condom was with you.”

  She relaxed a bit more. “What would you have done if I hadn’t been on the pill?”

  He touched her cheek and smiled. “Had another kid to love in a few months?”

  She smiled at him. “You don’t love Katrina. You don’t even know her.”

  “I know. But I hope to have a chance to get to know her someday.”

  She smiled and touched his lips with a finger. “How about later this morning?”

  He smiled, then it slowly faded. “I would like that, but what does that mean for us?”

  She felt her own smile slowly fade. “I would like to try again, I think, but we have to take it slow, okay? We have a lot of history to overcome.”

  He covered her lips with his own. “As much time as we need,” he whispered as he pulled back, watching her eyes, allowing her to see he was committed to doing whatever was necessary to make it work, to get to know his daughter, and to earn the trust and love of her mother.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  Stella groaned as she swam up out of sleep for the second time that morning. The sex had been incredible, but with less than four hours sleep, she felt like warmed over death. Thank God the romp this morning had been a quickie that had only last a half-hour or so. She didn’t know how she was going to make it through the day already, and if they’d spent a couple hours fucking their brains out this morning, she would probably end up face down in batter.

  She was splayed across Gabriel, his hand laying comfortably on her back, his other on her arm. She felt a peace and contentment like she hadn’t for as long as she could remember. Part of it might be the fact that she’d climaxed more in the past six hours than she in the past two or three months, but part of it was also the comfort of being back in Gabriel’s arms.

  She was amazed how quickly she’d become comfortable with him, as if he’d been gone for weeks, not years. Her feelings for him had bubbled up from the depths, dimmed and tarnished, but still there. Even after what he’d done to her, and his four year absence, she felt more for him than she did Tony, or any man since he’d left.

  She yawned and stretched, her movement waking him. “Good morning,” he breathed, not opening his eyes.

  “I have to get up,” she murmured but made no move.

  “I know. I have to go, too.” He was still a quiet for a moment, the moved to kiss her. “I enjoyed last night and this morning…and thank you for telling me.”

  “Do you want to see Katrina?” she asked quietly.

  “Can I?”

  “I’m going to go see her before work. You can go with me.”

  “What about Connie? Are you sure she’ll want me around after what I did?”

  Stella paused as she thought. “I think she’ll forgive you since I have. Everyone makes mistakes. She tried to get me to call you when I found out about Katrina.” She shrugged. “I should have listened.”

  “You should have, if for no other reason than I could have helped support her. I would have done the right thing.”

  She smiled. “I believe you.” She gave him a quick kiss then sat up before she decided to call in sick to stay in bed all day. “I have to shower and try to wake up.”

  He nodded. “I have something to do today, but I’ll see you tonight?”

  “You’d better,” she murmured as she staggered to her feet.

  As she showered he dug around in her kitchen. He didn’t cook, but peeled her an orange and poured breakfast cereal into a bowl while the coffee maker earned its keep.

  She stepped out of the bedroom dressed in her store uniform, the most beautiful women he’d ever seen. She smiled as he handed her a cup of coffee with a splash of milk.

  “Thank you,” she sighed as the tasted it. He had it almost right with the milk but had forgotten the sugar. As he poured milk over the cereal she added a couple of spoons to her coffee.

  “Mind if I hop in the shower?” he asked.

  “No, but you’re not going to eat breakfast?”

  “No. I’ll grab something later.”

  She shrugged. “Suit yourself.”

  When she stepped into the bath a few minutes later, he was out of the shower, standing at the sink brushing his teeth with his finger. She smiled as she walked up behind him and reached around to caress his manhood softly. He immediately began to stiffen and her smile widened. He certainly wasn’t a one and done, and despite her promise to herself she was going to take it slow with him, she was looking forward to Sunday afternoon, when she didn’t have to be back at work until eleven o’clock Tuesday morning. She was going to wear his ass out and find out just how many times he could fuck her in forty-eight hours.

  “Looks like somebody is ready to go,” she purred as she kissed his back.

  He didn’t say anything as his finger worked on his teeth. He finished and spat toothpaste into the sink before rinsing his mouth. “You keep that up, somebody else had better be ready to go,” he teased with a smile.

  “Is that so?”

  He turned and pulled her in tight as he stared into her eyes. “Count on it.”

  She quickly kissed him with a giggle, feeling his pull again, then wriggled out of his arms. “Later. You need to get dressed if you want to meet Katrina.

  He smiled and ran a hand over his face, chin and neck then scowled. He was a bit scruffy, but for some reason it looked good on him. Most of the bikers she saw at the diner, including those from the Iron Kings, had the bad boy look down to an art. While Gabriel had the same swaggering self-confidence and ripped and toned body as a lot of bikers, he was clean cut, clean shaven and minus the tattoos. That suited her fine as she preferred men with short hair and little to no body art. Especially when they looked like Gabriel.

  “You look fine,” she said, reading his mind. “Katrina probably won’t let you pick her up anyway. It takes her a little while to warm up to new people.”

  He nodded, then stepped around her and into the bedroom where he picked up his clothes and began to dress. “I’ll follow on my bike, if that’s okay. I’ll leave straight from Connie’s.”

  “What have you got to do today, if you don’t mind my asking?”

  “I have to ride to Charleston and pick up a few things for the club. The entire club is going.”

  “But you’ll be back this evening?” She didn’t own him, but for reasons she couldn’t explain, she didn’t want him spending the night in Charleston.

  “Absolutely,” he replied as she slipped his feet into
his boots. “It’s a quick down and back. We should be back by six, seven o’clock at the latest. I’ll see you at the diner tonight.”

  She nodded and smiled, relieved. “Good.”

  “I’m ready,” he said as he stood. He looked a bit rumpled, wearing the same clothes he wore yesterday, but he couldn’t help that. He would stop for a quick change before he joined his brothers.

  ***

  He opened the car door for her, being on his best manners, then pulled her into a quick kiss before she settled into her car. He trotted to his bike, his ass getting wet as he sat on the dew-covered seat. Normally he would have wiped it dry with a towel first, but he wasn’t home and he didn’t have time.

  He followed her to Connie’s. He couldn’t have found the small house on his own, but as he followed her, he recognized landmarks here and there. He’d been to Connie’s house a few times with Stella, and she had always been welcoming, but he steeled himself to accept whatever abuse she heaped on him without comment. He didn’t need her approval, and he wouldn’t damage his chances with Stella by being anything other than the perfect southern gentleman, no matter how nasty she got.