by Andre, Bella
“Wait a minute.” He advanced on her. “I’m not trying to control you.”
She lowered her voice into a bad imitation of his. “Seven days, Sophie. Of course you’re moving in with me. And sex is non-negotiable as long as you keep those pillows under your knees and worry about every single thing you do all day and night from now on to keep my precious baby safe.”
He wasn’t going to laugh. But it didn’t help that she was not only the sexiest naked woman he’d ever seen, but also the cutest. Sophie had always seemed so serene, borderline submissive. But ever since the wedding, she’d been full of sparks and fire.
And it aroused the hell out of him.
Unfortunately, she saw his barely repressed laughter. “You should know, any progress you just made with me on your weeklong marriage quest has just been eradicated by that stupid smirk on your face.”
She moved to whirl away from him and into the bathroom, but he reached out to snake an arm around her waist and pull her against him, the clothes and shoes she’d been holding falling to the floor. Her breath was coming fast as she looked up at him.
“I made some progress, huh?”
She made a furious little sound, then laid both of her palms flat against his chest and shoved, hard enough that he actually fell back on the bed.
“The orgasms might have won you a few points,” she told him in a voice that could have cut through steel. “But the way you’re acting now just put you back into negative territory. Way back.”
With that, she reached into his closet, grabbed a long, blue-and-red-striped dress shirt, gathered up yesterday’s clothes and shoes and stomped into the bathroom, slamming the door hard enough that his windows rattled.
Jake knew he should be worried about pissing her off, but the truth was he liked seeing this side of her. Not just because she was gorgeous with flushed skin and flaming eyes when she cut him down to size…but because he’d never expected her to be full of such fire.
Yet again, little Sophie Sullivan was surprising him. In—and out of—bed.
But the surprises weren’t over yet, because when he heard the shower turn off and she came out of the bathroom a few minutes later, she was wearing his shirt like a dress, belted around the middle, stopping just above her knees, her legs and feet bare in her heels. Her hair was wet around her shoulders, and she looked as sexy as it was possible for a woman to be.
“You look beautiful.”
On a disbelieving snort, she said, “I look like a poster from the eighties. But it’s better than putting on dirty clothes.” She wrinkled her nose. “I hate that.”
“Wait a minute,” he said as he approached her, “are you saying you don’t have anything on under my shirt?”
Her eyes got big, and she started backing away from him. “We should go soon. The appointment is in forty-five minutes, and we still need to stop by my apartment so I can put on normal clothes.”
“Forty-five minutes?” He pretended to think about it for a moment. “That should be enough time for what I have in mind.”
A look of pure lust shot across her face. But a moment later, she had on her best librarian expression, the one that told him he was being too loud and unruly and was on the verge of being kicked out of the building if he didn’t shape up right away.
God, how he loved the idea of making love to the prim and proper librarian…and turning her into the wild lover he now knew she was underneath it all.
She narrowed her eyes at him as if she could read his mind. Knowing her, she probably could.
“Go shower and get dressed, Jake.”
He could tell how much she wanted to look down at his boxers to see if he was aroused…which he was. Hugely. But she determinedly kept her gaze on his face. “I’ll be waiting for you in the kitchen.”
It would have been so easy to grab her again, to push her up against the wall and be inside of her in five seconds flat. And, boy, was Jake tempted to do just that, to fill his hands with her soft curves, to taste that sweet skin, to slide bare into her slick heat again.
But he’d been serious when he’d told her he needed to ask the doctor if sex was okay. So he let her run.
For now.
***
Oh, God, when Jake had been advancing on her, a beautiful lion about to pounce, those dark eyes full of enough sensual intent to take her breath completely away, it had been all she could do to walk away from him.
Especially when what she really wanted was to throw her arms and legs around him for yet another trip to paradise.
Thank God he’d gone to take a shower. It would give her room to breathe. And to try to work off her agitation with him…and ever-present arousal.
Sophie was pacing Jake’s kitchen when her cell phone rang. She was praying it wasn’t someone from her family calling. Not because she didn’t love talking to her mother or siblings, but because she hated the thought of outright lying to them. It was bad enough that she was going to make sure to avoid them for the next week.
But when she saw that it was Lori calling, she knew she had to pick up. After their talk last night, and the fact that Lori knew Sophie had gone to tell Jake about the baby, her twin had to be worried sick about her. And if she hadn’t been so shell-shocked by coming face-to-face with Jake again, she would have remembered to call her sister to tell her that everything was okay.
Only, she thought as she pressed the talk button, how could she have possibly said that?
Lori didn’t waste a single breath before saying, “Why didn’t you call me last night? I swear I was about to come over to Jake’s house and knock down his door.”
Sophie had never doubted her twin’s love for her, not even when they’d been having their worst fights. But now, her sister’s love helped fill up all of those parts of her that were scared and hollow.
“I’m sorry, I can’t believe I forgot to call you. It’s just that when I saw Jake and told him—”
Lori cut her off. “What did he do? What did he say?”
Sophie looked at the closed bedroom door, and even though she could still hear the sound of the shower running, she lowered her voice as she said, “He was pretty surprised.” That was pretty much the biggest understatement ever. “But…he said he wants to try to make it work, Lor.”
“Wow,” Lori said, and then, “that’s good news, right?”
When Sophie didn’t answer, because she simply didn’t know how to explain everything she was feeling right then, her twin suggested, “I know you wanted to deal with Jake on your own first, but I really think you should talk to Mom about this. She’d understand, you know she would.”
Sophie knew her sister was right. When they made bad decisions, even when they completely screwed something up, their mother never acted disappointed in them.
Still, that didn’t change what Sophie knew deep down in her heart: After two decades of being surrounded by her family, she and Jake needed these seven days to themselves.
“I can’t talk to her.” Her voice shook a little bit as she said, “Not yet.”
“Well, then, maybe I’ll just have to accidentally—”
“No! I’ve never told her about you-know-who even though I’ve wanted to every time I see what the relationship is doing to you.” Sophie couldn’t believe she had to remind her sister of the pact they’d made with each other when they were really, really young. They’d vowed never to betray each other’s secrets. “So you can’t tell her about me and Jake and the—” She put her hand over her stomach. “The baby.”
She heard the shower shut off, and she said, “Thanks for calling, and don’t worry if I’m out of touch for the next week or so, okay?”
Lori said a very reluctant, “Okay,” and then Sophie hung up the phone and put it back in her purse.
***
In the clear light of day, she forced herself to go back over her list of all the reasons Jake was bad for her. He’d never love her the way she loved him. And after their one night together, when he’d touched her
like she mattered—then disappeared—she knew better than to ever give weight to that hope again. If she hadn’t gotten pregnant and come to tell him the news, she knew with absolute certainty that he never would have come after her. Rather, he would have avoided her completely, just the way he’d avoided numerous Sullivan family events in the past two and a half months that he would otherwise have attended.
Only, their lovemaking this morning had seemed different from their first night together. She hadn’t had as many orgasms, but it had still been better. Because Jake really seemed to want her, not just that fantasy bridesmaid she’d had the makeup artist and hairstylist put together for him.
This morning, she’d felt like he was touching her because he couldn’t bear not to.
Of course, he’d gone and ruined that theory right away when he’d jumped off her and shoved those pillows under her knees. Jake was the last person on earth she would have thought would go nuts over pregnant women, but it only confirmed the main fact she needed to remember at all times: He clearly wanted her for the baby, not for herself. And if some great sex was thrown in along the way to having that kid, who was he to say no?
She opened the fridge to see if there was anything in there that could settle her slightly nauseated stomach, but the smell of last night’s leftovers had her slamming it shut a few seconds later, muttering, “I could probably be any pregnant woman, and he’d be losing it over me. The big jerk probably has some kind of weird pregnant-woman fetish.”
“What’s that about fetishes?”
She spun around, hand over her heart. “I didn’t know you were out here.” Not wanting to have to explain herself, she picked up her bag and headed for the door. That was when she suddenly realized something strange. There were no books anywhere. Not on the coffee table or the counter, and especially not sitting around in piles on the floor like at her place, tripping her every time she went out to get a midnight snack.
But when he put his hand on her lower back, her questions about his lack of reading material fled as she focused her thoughts on ignoring how good his touch felt…and how nice his manners were.
It’s because of the baby, she reminded herself.
He kept his hand on her back as they walked out to the car, and when he started gently massaging her tight muscles she could barely hold back a moan of pleasure at how good it felt. He knew exactly how to touch her, exactly how rough or gentle to be without her having to give him any guidance at all.
Simmering with the arousal she couldn’t fight no matter how hard she tried, as they drove in silence to her apartment, she noted that he drove the way he made love, his big hands controlling the wheel of his expensive car gently, but firmly.
Her body heated up, and she squirmed in the passenger seat, pressing her thighs together to try to stop the ache. Of course, every second she was with him—and every time they made love—that ache only grew deeper. Stronger.
“I’m only human, Sophie.” Jake’s eyes flicked to her face, then her breasts and legs, naked beneath his shirt. “Keep looking at me like that, and I’m going to pull over so we can take care of the problem.”
“There’s no problem,” she assured him, but her voice was ragged enough that she knew it was clear she was lying.
How could she reconcile the Nice Sophie she’d been her whole life with the wanton woman in Jake’s car who wanted to spread her legs wide for him and let him do whatever he wanted to her in the middle of downtown San Francisco traffic?
Thank God they pulled up in front of her apartment thirty seconds later. “I’ll be back in a couple of minutes. You can wait in the car.”
She shoved the door open and nearly fell out onto the sidewalk in her hurry to get away from temptation. She could only imagine how small her apartment would feel if Jake were in there with her…and how hard it would be to keep her clothes on around him so that they actually had a chance of making it to her doctor’s appointment on time.
***
Jake knew he should be feeling guilty about the dirty thoughts running in circles in his head, about the fact that he’d been ten seconds from making good on his threat to pull over and put his hands and mouth all over Sophie.
But, damn, if she wasn’t the hottest thing he’d ever come across…and so transparent that she couldn’t possibly keep her lustful thoughts from passing over her face one after the other as she sat next to him in the small interior of his sports car.
Two and a half months ago, she’d given herself to him without a second thought. Now, even though she clearly wanted him as much as he wanted her, he could see her intent was to withhold every part of herself that she could. Yes, she’d agreed to be in his bed, but even though that should have been more than enough for him, it wasn’t. Not anymore. Not after having had all of her once before.
What, he wondered, would it take for Sophie to open up to him again? To trust him the way she’d trusted him in Napa?
A heavy weight settled in Jake’s gut as he silently acknowledged her valid reasons for not trusting him. She would never believe him if he told her he wasn’t the kind of guy who slept with a girl and then left her hanging for months. He’d always been clear with his lovers about expectations, about the fact that they couldn’t have any. And he’d never slunk away in the middle of the night like a coward.
Until Sophie.
And he had no idea how to make it up to her.
No question, the sexual connection he and Sophie shared was as good as it got. Their desire for each other wasn’t going anywhere, no matter how hard she tried to slam the brakes on it.
But that wasn’t enough. He’d always liked Sophie, but now that he was seeing the different sides to her—the smart and the sexy, the complicated emotions and the simple pleasures she took from beauty and food, the spark that sprang from the serene—he realized he wanted her to like him, too.
And that, he already knew, was going to be the biggest hurdle of all, considering he’d be hard-pressed to come up with reasons why she should.
Sophie came back to the car wearing a soft, long-sleeved sweater dress in gray that did more for her curves than he figured she knew. She’d put on a little makeup and brushed her hair until it shone. She buckled her seat belt and sat with her hands primly clasped on her lap before telling him the address of her doctor’s office in a tight voice.
He couldn’t help but smile at the way she was trying so hard to rein in all that passion she’d been losing the battle to just minutes before. His lovely, foolish girl. Didn’t she realize she should just give in already?
“We’re going to be late,” she snapped when he didn’t start the car. But when she finally turned to him, whatever she’d been about to say fell away, confusion taking its place. “Why are you looking at me like that? What are you smiling about?”
She was so easy to rile up. He could already see he’d never get tired of putting sparks into her pretty eyes.
“Whatever you have up your sleeve,” she muttered, “you’d better just forget it.”
The truth was, he didn’t have anything much up his sleeve for the time being. He wanted to get through this doctor’s appointment first before he moved on to his next step in convincing her to marry him. But Sophie didn’t need to know that. Especially not when he found he liked having her on her toes, anticipating what he was going to do next.
Whether she’d ever admit it or not, she liked it, too.
“Don’t you wish you knew?” he said in as sensual a tone as he could muster around his grin, then sped off into traffic before she could say another word.
Fourteen
Sophie checked in with the receptionist, then sat on one of the padded leather seats in the waiting room and picked up a magazine. She was determined to ignore Jake. But, of course, that was nearly impossible, with all the other women in the room staring at him in wonder.
These women were all pregnant, for God’s sake! What were they doing looking at a stranger like that?
It wasn’t that she wa
s possessive about him, she told herself, just that they were behaving inappropriately. Their husbands wouldn’t be pleased if they knew the way their wives were practically bowing down prostrate before Jake’s male beauty.
“So,” he asked one of the women, “how’s your pregnancy going?”
Of course, he couldn’t just leave it alone, could he? The woman beamed at him as though he were the Second Coming.
“Really great.” The woman leaned in close as if she were telling him a secret. “I’m having a boy.”
Jake leaned closer and grinned at the woman. “That’s great.”
“I’m having a girl!” another woman from across the room piped in.
Jake smiled at her, too. “Congratulations.” He nodded at the women. “There really is nothing prettier than a pregnant woman.”
Sophie had never seen people look as happy as these women did after he made his proclamation. What was wrong with them?
And why did she feel so pathetically jealous?
“I knew it,” she muttered into her magazine, and the woman closest to her raised an eyebrow.
“What do you know?” he asked, putting his hand on her knee.
Why did he have to be so warm? And why did she have to love being touched by him so much? Way too much.
She purposefully uncrossed and recrossed her legs so that he’d have to slide his hand away. I knew you were one of those pregnancy fetish creeps, was what she was thinking, but she simply said, “Nothing.”
He leaned in close, and she could feel his breath on her earlobe. “I’ll find a way to convince you to tell me later, you know.” His tongue flicked out against her earlobe before he pulled away, and she barely swallowed a lust-filled moan before it escaped her lips.
Angry with herself for having absolutely zero control over her hormones around him, she hissed, “You’re a pervert, that’s what!”
