by Alexa Riley
“Just tell him,” Mark says. I shake my head and start to make my way through the crowd as well, wanting out of here. There are too many people. It makes me uncomfortable. Mark follows behind me in the direction of my dorm room.
“Come on. I’ll go with you. You have to tell him eventually. All you’re doing is making yourself sick. It’s going to come out one way or another.”
I know he’s right. I freaking aced my last semester. But it was only because if I didn’t have my nose inside a book, all I would do is obsess about Calder. I could barely lie down and sleep because every night he’d come popping back into my mind, his hurtful words playing over and over in my head. They just wouldn’t stop. I’d starting reading my school books until I’d pass out.
“You know. I was serious when I said I’d marry you. I think we’d be good together.”
I glance over at him. He just holds up his hands. “I know, I know,” he says with a smile on his face, not seeming upset by my clear refusal. He’d offered when I first told him I was pregnant and had a little bit of a meltdown on him. It was sweet that he’d do that. I don’t love him like that and I know he doesn’t love me either.
Mark just has a shitty family and wants his own. I think he thinks I’m a quick way to get that. The closest we’ve ever gotten was that almost-kiss nearly a year ago, something he never tried to repeat. We’ve both settled into a solid friendship that I love so much I’m debating staying here in the UK.
He has a townhouse here and offered me a room if I wanted to put off going back to the States to face my father. I’d been toying with the idea of just kind of showing up with the baby. Look, Dad, see what I have! It might be hard for him to be so upset with a cute, squishy, little baby in my arms.
As for Calder, I have no idea how I’ll tell him. I’ve often wondered if I even should with how he acted about being married. If he felt that way about marriage, I can’t see him wanting to have kids. But it would be so wrong to keep it from him. Maybe if I opened by telling him I'm letting him off the hook, he’d be more accepting. I push those thoughts to the side. I need to focus on my dad first.
When we make it back to my dorm room, I let us both in. Mark closes the door behind us and I pull off my graduation gown, tossing it on my bed, and look at my baby bump.
“Maybe if I wear something baggy, I can cover it up tonight. I think I have—” Suddenly, the door explodes in, hitting the wall with a bang that makes Mark and me both jump.
Calder stands in the doorway with a look I’ve seen before. He’s pissed. His anger floods the room. I take a step back, then another. Mark goes to stand in front of me.
“Get the fuck out,” Calder growls in a low deadly tone, sending chills up my spine.
“I’m not going anywhere. Who the hell are you?” Mark fires back.
I look around Mark to see Calder step into the room, using his foot to kick the door closed behind him, shutting the three of us in together.
“Who am I? Who the fuck are you, and why are you in her room?”
“He’s my fiancé,” I half-shout, trying to push my way past Mark, my anger egging me on. For some reason I want to make him madder, jealous even. Make him feel a slice of what I’ve been feeling these past few months. I want to get in his face and scream. All out of character for me, but he does this to me. Has me doing things I’d never thought I’d do. Like let a man I barely knew sneak into my bed and take my virginity. I can’t believe he’s here, bursting into my room and asking questions that are none of his business.
Calder is across the room in two giant steps, grabbing Mark by the collar of his graduation gown, and thrusting him against the wall. I grab a hold of Calder, trying to pull him off Mark before he hurts him. They might almost be the same size, but it’s safe to say Calder still has a good fifty pounds of solid muscle on Mark.
“Please stop. Don’t hurt him,” I beg, regretting making up the lie and pulling Mark into my own mess.
Mark grunts and pushes against Calder, who doesn’t move even an inch. I pull harder on him, but nothing. He’s like a freaking boulder.
“Tell him you’re not marrying him, Felicity.” Calder doesn’t even look at me when he says the words right in Mark’s face. His deep and heavy breathing reminds me of a bull ready to charge.
“I’m not marrying him,” I confirm, but he still doesn’t let him go.
“Now tell him to leave.”
“Mark, can you please give Calder and me a moment?”
“No fucking way. I’m not leaving you with him. He could hurt you.”
“I’d never fucking hurt her,” Calder fires back.
“If you are who I think you are, then it’s too fucking late. She’s been hurting for months.” Mark’s voice is calm, but the room goes deathly quiet. Calder slowly lets him go, and I see what might be pain flash in Calder’s eyes.
“Mark. Please. I really should talk to him. Then I’m going to go to dinner with my father.” I just need to get this over with. Mark is right. I’ve been making myself sick over this whole mess. I need to come clean.
“You want me to go with you?” he asks. Calder goes to grab him again, but I snatch his arm away in time. He actually stops at my touch.
“No, I need to do this, but thank you. I’ll be fine.”
“All right. Call me if you need anything.”
“She won’t,” Calder bites out.
Mark just shakes his head and leaves the room.
“Your fiancé,” Calder spits the word like it’s disgusting, “so easily left you here with another man.”
I feel my face flush. I still can’t wrap my mind around the fact that he’s here, standing in my dorm room. Why now?
“What are you doing here?”
“We’re getting married.” Calder looks down at me, his eyes hard. His voice is firm. It’s probably the same tone he uses to command his company. A do-it-or-else voice. He looks tired though. I can tell by his eyes he hasn’t slept in days. Even his suit looks like it’s been slept in. His hair is messy and his sleeves are rolled up, showcasing his tattoos.
“Who told you?” He has to know. Why else would he show up here demanding I marry him? I won’t do it. I won’t marry a man who doesn’t love me. I don’t have it in me, no matter how tempting the offer is. No matter how many times over the last month I’ve dreamed about him showing up and telling me he made a mistake and begging me to give him another chance.
Then he’d find out about the baby and be filled with joy. Silly girl dreams. Ones I shouldn’t be having. I have to grow up. Take this seriously. I’m about to be a mother myself. “I won’t marry you just because you got me pregnant. I hate you!” I scream the last part around the lump that has formed in my throat.
He leans in, his mouth only a few inches from mine. “Oh, you’ll marry me, or else.”
Chapter Eight
Calder
I feel the wicked smile pull at my lips at my demand. She’ll marry me no matter what she says. Then all of her words hit me, and I stop.
“Wait, what did you say?”
Felicity crosses her arms in front of her chest, a defiant look on her gorgeous face. A face I’ve dreamed about every night for the past few months.
“I’m not marrying you because I’m pregnant. That’s the worst reason in the world. And it’s not fair to our child.”
I’m frozen solid and speechless. She’s pregnant? With my baby? I got her pregnant the first and only time we had sex? Is that even possible?
I’m just staring at her, and she huffs out in annoyance.
“Are you going to say something, or are you just going to stand there like a giant rock?”
My eyes go down to her belly, and I see a small bump showing through her dress. A small baby bump. Feeling overwhelmed, I fall to my knees in front of her and grab her hips. She lets out a little squeak, but I pull her to me, bringing her belly closer to my mouth. I place my lips on the rounded bump. I close my eyes and mumble my thanks to whatever is in th
e sky above us for giving me this gift.
“Calder?” Felicity’s voice is confused, but I hear a hint of something else there, too. Something that sounds like longing. “Calder, what are you doing?”
I give her belly one last kiss and then look up to her eyes, still holding her close.
“You’re going to marry me. Today.”
Felicity pulls back at my words, but my hands don’t let her go too far.
“You have a girlfriend!” she shouts at me, and I can’t help but let out a laugh. She’s obviously had this on her mind if this is her defense.
“That’s over now,” is my answer. She must think Sidney and I were together. I haven’t so much as looked at anyone in that way since long before I ever met her. But I certainly wouldn’t even think of another woman after laying eyes on her.
Felicity shuffles her feet a little, indecision running through her. I won’t have her trying to get out of this, and I’ll make her do it. I don’t care what kind of leverage I have to use.
“You’ll marry me, Felicity. You’ll marry me, or I’ll stop all business with your father. Immediately.”
It’s the ace of spades in my back pocket and she knows it. The gasp that she lets out, followed by the angry look on her face, lets me know she gets my drift.
“You wouldn’t,” she seethes.
“Oh, I would. There isn’t anything I wouldn't do to have you.” I squeeze her hips, pulling her back to me so all the space she’s tried to gain is gone. “I’ll make sure there’s not a company or person in New York that will hire him. I’ll even spread the word globally. You will marry me, or it’s the end of his career. The choice is yours, sweetheart.”
The use of the endearment makes her even angrier, but I don’t care. I’m not playing fair when it comes to her. Reaching down, I slide my hands up her bare thighs and feel her muscles start to tremble.
“Calder.” Her voice is soft now, but she still has her arms crossed, unwilling to let herself open up to me.
“Felicity,” I say in the exact same tone, trailing my hand a little farther up, reaching the hem of her dress.
“You can’t just show up and blackmail me into marrying you. That’s not how things work.”
Her arms uncross and fall to her sides, her hands starting to reach for me but then pulling back.
“I’ve thought about you nonstop.”
“That doesn’t mean anything,” she huffs.
“You’ve thought about me, too.” My hands run under her dress until my fingers find the edge of her panties. I hear an intake of breath, and her hands finally go to my head, gripping my hair.
“Th-th-that doesn’t matter.”
Pushing her dress up, I expose her panty-covered pussy to me, and my mouth waters. I didn’t get to taste her that first night, and it’s all I’ve been dreaming of.
“It’s all that matters, sweetheart. You and I have something that can’t be so easily broken.”
Leaning forward, I press my nose and mouth between her thighs and inhale her scent. She smells like sunshine and lilies, and it’s the most perfect thing I’ve ever experienced.
“Calder. I can’t. I’m not strong enough to make it through this again.”
Her admission is soft, but I hear every word. Her grip tightens on my hair, but she doesn't even try to pull me away.
“You’re going to be mine, Felicity. You’ll never be without me again.”
With my words, I fist her panties in both hands and rip them off her. Her pussy is clean shaven and damp with her arousal. My mouth waters, and then my anger flares.
“Did you show this to that boy? Did you show him what’s mine?”
Her legs tremble as I push them open, looking at her exposed pussy.
“N-no. Never.”
“You were saving it for me, weren’t you?”
I don’t wait for her answer before my mouth descends on her sweet, sweet pussy. The taste of sugary desire hits my tongue, and I nearly take her to the ground. I hold her hips while my mouth sucks on her tender flesh, licking my way inside her.
I feel her lean back a little and let go of my hair to grip the desk behind her. The room is small, but I’ll make do for right now. I don’t have the patience to wait and take her to my hotel room, so this will have to do.
Pulling one of her legs over my shoulder, I growl against her wet heat. I lap up all that she gives me and feel my cock swell with every lick. Her hips start to push against my mouth, and I feel her body tense. I grab her other leg and throw that over my shoulder, too, so that both of her feet are off the floor and I’m gripping her ass to keep her from falling.
“Give it to me, Felicity. Don’t deny me.”
I suck her clit into my mouth, and she starts to shout. Her voice rings out in the small room, and I feel my cock leaking into my underwear. It’s all I can do to hold off from cumming, but I want to wait until I have more time. She doesn’t say my name, but it’s my mouth she cums on. I’ll make her scream it when my cock is buried ten inches inside her body.
Slowly and softly, I lick her as she comes down from her high. I rub her legs and pet her warm skin, being gentle with her delicate body. As if she realizes I’m being affectionate, she tenses and kicks her legs off my shoulders, putting distance between us.
“You can’t just come in here and take over, Calder. I don’t even know you.”
She angrily pushes at her dress, all of the pleasure I just gave her vanishing into thin air. Looks like I’ll have to make her cum about thirty more times before she’ll give me what I want. Fine. Challenge accepted.
“You’ll have plenty of time to do that when we’re married.” I lick my lips, getting to my feet and stepping closer to her. “I’ve apologized and told you every day what I want with you. That doesn’t seem like enough, so I thought it was time to show you.”
“What are you talking about?” She nearly spits the words at me as she turns and goes over to a dresser, taking out a pair of white cotton panties.
I pick the destroyed ones off the floor and tuck them into my pocket.
“You might as well leave those off, sweetheart. I’m not done with you yet.”
She growls and fists the underwear in her hands but doesn’t look at me. “You can’t tell me what to do,” she says, but doesn’t make a move to put them on.
“You’re going to be my wife. I think there are some rules we can make for one another, don’t you?”
“Stop saying that. I haven’t agreed to anything.”
I walk over to her, taking her hand and pulling her over to the bed. I sit down first and make her stand between my legs. In this position, we are almost eye to eye. She’s so short that even when I’m sitting, I’m still taller than her.
“Felicity. What choice do you have? I’ll ruin your father’s career. And our baby needs a father.”
Reaching down, I rub the bump growing on her belly. Our baby. I’m going to be a father. The thought makes my heart feel light. I’d never considered marriage and a baby before Felicity, but now all of that hope is in my grasp and I’ll do whatever it takes to make it a reality.
“I have plans tonight.”
I look in her eyes and see there is trepidation there. Something is off.
“You have a dinner with your father and his assistant tonight, don’t you?” I ask, knowing full well she does. I saw her father speaking to her after the ceremony.
“Yes,” she says, not looking at me.
“And you haven’t told him about the baby, have you?”
“No.” Her teeth are gritted, and she doesn’t like that I can read her so well.
“Look, Felicity. I tried to play by your rules. I tried to give you time and space. I told you all that I would offer you if you would only give me a chance. I explained everything about that night, and you continued to ignore me. I hate that it has to be like this. But it will be like this.”
My words are firm, but there is confusion on her face.
“You never expl
ained anything to me. You were an asshole that morning, and then I never heard another word. I was in pieces, Calder, and I had to take care of myself. Thank God for Mark.”
At the mention of that boy’s name, I see red.
“Don’t you dare say his name. You’re mine. And our baby doesn't need to hear another man’s name on your lips.”
“What makes you think this baby is yours?”
It would have hurt less if she’d just stabbed me in the heart. But instead, I just look at her and her triumphant smile. She knows her words cut straight through me, but she doesn’t feel the least bit sorry about it.
“Careful, sweetheart. Your soon-to-be husband doesn’t like being disrespected.” I stand from the bed and look down at her. “And I can tell when you’re lying. You and my baby need to get ready. We’ve got a dinner to attend tonight.”
Chapter Nine
Calder
Walking into dinner, I feel Felicity pulling on my arm.
“Please, Calder. Not like this. Let me talk to him first.”
“No,” I growl and pull her forward. “You know the consequences if you don’t agree to this.”
I feel her stiffen and then finally she takes a step forward.
We enter the Varsity Hotel and walk through the lobby and straight into the restaurant. I’ve got Felicity on my arm so that there is no mistaking she and I are together.
When we see Bill and Becky at the table, I can practically hear her heart beating, she’s so nervous. Before we walk over, and before they spot us, I pull Felicity off to the side.
“Look at me,” I say, gently holding her chin. “You’ll be fine. I’m going to be next to you the whole time.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of.”
Her nervous joke makes me smile, and I lean down, taking her lips. For the first time in months, my heart seems to ease. It’s as if her lips have quieted everything around us, and we are now once again in perfect harmony.
