“Yes, you could. I would hope that you would feel free to contact me anytime; you are certainly welcome to.”
“Then I have no questions. I would be glad to be the mother of your child.” She laughed at the silliness of her statement to this man she had just met, but she knew in her heart of hearts that it was the right choice and that nothing bad would come to her through him.
He stared at her for a moment, watching her blue-gray eyes, and her wide, warm smile, drinking her in, and then he nodded and leaned forward. “Okay, that sounds good to me. I’d like to be there for the obstetrician appointments, if that’s alright with you. As I said, I want to be there for as much of it as I can be.” He looked at her hopefully and she nodded.
“Of course. I’ll let you know when those come up,” she agreed.
Jacob pulled a thick stack of paperwork out of his briefcase and had them both sign two stacks worth of pages. There was one copy for each of them. They signed and sipped their coffees and made light conversation for a while, and after another half an hour, they were finished.
“Alright. I’ll head in to the clinic today to make the necessary deposit, and your procedure will take place a few days after that. Apparently, it takes a few weeks for them to come back with the actual results to let us know whether or not the procedure was a success, so I will expect to hear from you and I will be in touch with the physician that we have chosen for this project. She’s the best in the area. I have a good feeling about this.” He stood up and leaned in to hug her, feeling much more natural about it this time.
She wrapped her arms around him, closed her eyes and hugged him back tightly. “I think this is going to work out really well.” She released him, smiling up at him. She hugged Jacob goodbye and, as they were walking away, Kevin turned once to watch her as she strolled casually down the beach, her dress dancing around her in the wind, clinging to her curves, and her dark hair and skin shining in the sun. His heart felt warmer than it had in years, and he knew he had made the right decision.
Jacob thought the same thing and he said so. “You just did one of the smartest things I’ve ever seen you do, old friend. I’m so glad you did it.”
Chapter2
Kevin spent the next few weeks busying himself with his work and trying not to think about the procedure and how it had gone. He was working late in his office one night when there was a knock at the door. He looked up in surprise. He hadn’t been expecting anyone. “Come in,” he called out.
The door opened and Ellen stepped in, draped in a cobalt blue satin robe that clung to her body closely. Kevin’s eyes drifted over her for a moment, and his breath caught as she walked toward him, her long sable hair hanging over one shoulder, her dark eyes looking at him like he was her prey, and her full red lips curved into a small smile.
He didn’t fool himself into thinking she might be there for him, though it made him sad. “What can I do for you?” he asked carefully.
She walked around his desk and sat on the edge of it, facing him. He leaned back in his chair and she slowly lifted her left leg and placed her foot just inches from his crotch. Her robe fell away from her and he looked at her pale, bare skin as she maneuvered just enough that he could almost see what was under her robe.
She leaned forward and the top of her robe fell loose, giving him a generous view of her full bare breasts. “I just thought I would come see what you are doing. You’ve been busy lately and it made me think I should stop in and say hello,” she said in a velvety voice. He could smell liquor on her breath.
“Hello, Ellen,” he said, feeling nervous about why she was acting so seductively toward him.
“It’s been so long since you kissed me…” she whispered, leaning toward him, taunting him. He stared at her and his heart began to pound. She was exceedingly beautiful and no matter how difficult things were between them, he wanted her. He always wanted her.
He looked up at her and she smiled down at him with her sultry lips and kissed the red painted tip of her finger, slowly, sensually, and then she lowered her hand and placed her fingertip on the inside of her left knee, which was inches from his face.
“Kiss me… here.” Looking at her carefully, he turned his face slightly and pressed his lips to the place she had touched. Her smile widened. She moved her finger further up the inside of her thigh.
“Kiss me here, too,” she said softly. He closed his eyes slowly and moved his mouth up the inside of her leg, leaving a gentle, warm kiss where she had touched her skin. She lifted her other leg and set her foot on the arm of his chair, pulling it closer to her, and she pulled her robe open so that her nude body was revealed to him and he drew in his breath.
“Kiss me… here.” She touched herself lightly and then placed both of her hands on either side of his face, slipping her fingers through his hair until they were clenched behind his head, and she drew his face toward her core.
He gasped and felt his heart racing as he moved in toward her, slipping his hands under her thighs and around her hips, lifting her slightly and then closing his eyes and opening his mouth on her body. It had been so long since she had let him touch her, and the taste of her flooded him with desire.
The intimacy they were sharing had not happened between them in ages, and the intensity of it immediately ignited a white hot burning need in him. He held himself back and kissed her body tenderly at first, tasting the surface of her with his kisses, but then he began to flick his tongue over her and it took all his restraint not to delve deeply into her.
She lost her breath as he pleased her, moaning softly as he caressed her with his hot mouth. The sounds she made created an urgency in him that he could hardly hold back. He couldn’t remember the last time she had let him interact so passionately with her. Kevin grew even hungrier for her, and he could no longer withhold his desire. He thrust his tongue into her, moving it about with abandon, drinking her in and gorging himself on the body he had ached for so long and so much.
Ellen gasped and cried out, clinging to his head and throwing her head backward in exquisite delight, until at last she climaxed and her whole body stiffened with her orgasm.
He groaned with his own need, and when she had relaxed from her pleasure, he stood quickly and began to unzip his pants, but she looked at him and held his hands in her own, pausing him for a moment. She leaned toward him, wrapping her legs around him and she placed her full red lips beside his ear.
“Kevin, baby, do you want me?” she whispered hotly.
He shuddered with desire and held her hands firmly, “More than you could comprehend.”
“Well, baby, there’s something I really need, and I want you to get it for me, would you get something for me?” she continued, running her tongue along his neck and the edge of his ear.
He closed his eyes and drew in his breath. “Anything. Whatever you need. Name it.”
She pressed her soft warm lips to his ear and whispered again. “I need a brand new Lamborghini Reventon. A red one. I need it. Get one for me,” she pleaded softly, her lips pressed lightly on his skin.
Kevin blinked a moment. “Of course, my love. You know I want to make you happy. Of course.” His groin was solid and stiff, aching with need for her, and his heart was beating against his chest a mile a minute.
“Promise?” she asked, releasing his hands and slipping her hand down to massage the bulge at the front of his pants. “Get it today for me?” She pulled her head back and looked at him.
He closed his eyes as smoldering flames of desire burned through him and his breath caught. He ran his hands over her thighs to her hips and squeezed his fingers on her body.
“Yes, Ellen… yes… today…” he leaned forward to kiss her and she pressed her red tipped finger against his lips to stop him. He opened his eyes and looked at her.
She smiled her Cheshire cat smile at him. “Good. Let me know when it arrives and maybe if it gets here quickly, you and I can pick this little rendezvous up from where it left off.” With that
, she slid off the desk and straightened her robe, smiled again at him and touched her fingertip to his nose, then turned and walked out of the room, closing the door firmly behind her.
Kevin stared after her, panting, hard, aching, and frustrated. It was the click of the door closing that snapped him back to reality. He closed his eyes. She had used him. Again. He took a deep breath and walked carefully to the small refrigerator in the minibar set into the bookshelves of his library. He poured himself a strong drink and sipped it slowly as the fires of passion that burned in him began to die down to a dull roar and finally slip away like smoke from a doused blaze.
The days that followed his encounter with Ellen were torturous for Kevin. He focused heavily on his work, and true to his word, he had a Lamborghini ordered for Ellen, though it made him feel nauseous to do it. He was always a man of his word. The astounding price it cost him didn’t bother him, it was the fact that she had used his desire for her to get it, and he had been left wanting her desperately, like an animal in a cage, starving.
One month after he and Jacob drove to Santa Cruz to meet Marina, Mac came into Kevin’s office with a less than subtle grin and a thin file. “Sir! Sir… I have some news for you.” He sounded as though he might burst with the news if he couldn’t tell Kevin right away.
“What is it?” Kevin asked, taking the file from him and pausing to smile at the excitement on Mac’s face.
Mac couldn’t hold it in. His hand shot out toward Kevin and he grinned like an elf at Christmas. “You are going to be a father, sir, the tests just came back, and they are positive. Congratulations! Oh! I couldn’t be happier for you, sir! Congratulations!” he repeated, grasping Kevin’s hand and shaking it vigorously.
Kevin was in shock for a moment, absorbing the news. Marina was pregnant. It had worked… the procedure had worked and he was going to be a father. At long last, he would have a child; a legacy through which he could pass on his life’s work and his enormous estate and wealth. He would have someone to love and raise, someone to cherish and lavish with all of his time and attention. Happiness welled up in him like a volcano of light, and it exploded in giant grins, tears on his cheeks, and a heart that pounded with joy.
He wrapped Mac in a quick embrace and then released him. “Thank you! Thank you so much, Mac! I couldn’t have gotten it this far without you! I… wow… a father! I’m going to be a father! That’s… wow… Fantastic! That’s fantastic! Let’s have a drink, Mac. Let’s celebrate!” Kevin stepped quickly to the bar and poured them both a short nip of liquor, and they toasted Marina and the baby’s good health, and Kevin’s future as a dad.
“So how is she doing? Do we know anything? Do you have any information?” he asked, searching Mac’s face excitedly.
Mac emptied his tumbler and sat down at Kevin’s desk, opening the file, and Kevin sat across from him to look at it.
“She’s definitely pregnant, and we know that it’s one child. Sometimes in cases of in vitro fertilization, there may be more than one, but this time it is a single embryo. She is almost one month along, as she did the procedure right away for you. She’s healthy and feeling well, no morning sickness or complications as yet. Her body is in excellent condition and she’s very healthy and fit, so the doctor expects this to go, in her words, 'Like a textbook pregnancy.' So we have eight months to go and everything to look forward to. How are you feeling, sir?” Mac asked, concerned.
Kevin had to stop for a moment and gauge his feelings. He was elated beyond measure and there was a happiness in him that he had never known. It was as though his whole world and his whole life had suddenly opened up and wonderful possibility was his. He had no idea how to answer Mac.
“I’m so good that I’ve never been better. I don’t know how else to describe it,” he said with an ear to ear grin.
Mac grinned back. “Well, sir, when you are holding that child in your arms, I think perhaps the joy you have this morning may be topped, but until then, this is probably as good as it gets. I’m so pleased for you, sir, congratulations, again!” Mac beamed at him.
“You’ll let me know when the appointments are scheduled? I don’t want to miss any part of it.”
Mac nodded. “Yes, sir. I’ll make sure you get to each one of them.”
“Great!” Kevin looked at the medical report in total bliss. He had a new life to look forward to and no end of excitement in waiting for it.
Chapter3
Over the next few months, Kevin focused on his work and anticipated the arrival of his child. He was able to share his excitement with Jacob and Mac, and that was enough for him. Marina was in her fourth month before they went to a doctor’s appointment together.
Kevin wasn’t sure if he was more nervous or excited, but he had arranged to pick her up from her home to take her to the appointment. When they arrived, he stepped out of the car and looked up at the moderate little house. It was brightly colored in a warm yellow with white trim. He thought momentarily that the brightness of it reminded him of her personality, and it made him smile. He walked up the steps to the front porch where she was sitting in a comfortable looking rocking chair, enjoying herself.
He hadn’t seen her since they’d met on the beach in Santa Cruz, and he felt refreshed just looking at her. Her long hair hung in big curls over her shoulder, and she was wearing a sundress that hugged the curves of her chest, but then drifted loosely from there down to just above her knees. She looked at him and smiled widely, then she stood and walked to him, wrapping her long dark arms around him in a welcoming hug.
Her hug was neither swift nor awkward, it lasted a long moment, as though she was truly glad to see him, and not only was he welcomed there with her, but he was cherished and appreciated.
Kevin was pleasantly surprised by it and he looked down at her when she released him, and paused, then said, “You know, no one has hugged me like that but my father, and he passed away the year I went to college. It’s been quite a long time since then, and it’s really very nice to be hugged like that. Thank you.”
She tilted her head and her warmth shone through her smile at him. “It’s my own personal rule that I don’t let go first. I hug like I mean it until the other person lets go, then I let go, too. You never know how badly someone might need to be held.” Her smile stayed on her beautiful face and her blue-gray eyes were alight with an inner peace and happiness that he found completely foreign and entirely fascinating.
She noticed him looking at her stomach and smoothed her hand down over her dress, holding it tightly to her. There was a slight swell beneath her hands. She smiled up at him. “Our little one is coming along. I think it takes after me. I’m never in a hurry; I just take my time and go along about my way. This one seems to be doing the same thing.”
“I cannot imagine such an unhurried sort of lifestyle. It must be very relaxing… very peaceful,” he said thoughtfully.
She nodded. “It is. I can’t imagine living differently; I don’t invite stress into my life. I get to the same places at the same time as everyone else, but I just go at a pleasant pace and enjoy everything around me as I go. It’s much nicer that way.”
He was silent a moment, watching her, just soaking her in, and then he lifted his elbow to offer it to her. “If you’re ready, shall we go?” He was thinking to himself that she seemed like just the kind of down to earth, relaxed, happy kind of person that he would want to raise his child. He mentally thanked Mac for finding her.
They went to the appointment, and on the way she told him about how she had been feeling and how the pregnancy was coming along. She had a few bouts of morning sickness, but they had been few and far between and she recovered quickly. She discovered that she was sleeping more often, and she did notice that now, in her second trimester, she was feeling much stronger and healthier. She said she loved being pregnant and it suited her. He had to agree; she seemed to glow even more than she had when he met her, and that was saying something.
She watched him, watching he
r intently, and it brought her happiness and sadness together. He was incredibly handsome; he had soft brown hair that was carefully combed into a wave over his forehead, and it was cut short around the back and at the neck. He had dark brown eyes that seemed to go from mysterious and foreboding to sad and then to curious and happy, like clouds moving over the sun. His dark eyes were set into his clear fair skin and were framed by low brows and high cheekbones. He had a straight nose, a chiseled jaw and a soft smile.
He seemed to her to hold a wealth of secrets within him, and his face was a mask that he carefully operated so that nothing would be discerned about what was going on inside him, except what he wanted to be known. It made him very mysterious to her. She wondered what all of the secrets were behind his mask, and she knew that it would take a person a long time, maybe a lifetime, to unravel them.
Marina had agreed to be the mother to his child because she could tell right away that he was a good and honest man, that he was dedicated to anything he committed himself to, that he would love their child all of his days and do anything to care for and protect it, and that was of the utmost importance to her.
The Baby Shower Page 30
