by Lia Lee
He frowned. “I don’t understand.”
Jessica pushed herself up against the headboard and looked into his eyes. Her brown orbs seemed to be tinged with concern and fear, which was stupid. He was the one who’d fucked up here. Besides, there was nothing she could do that would ever make him mad at her. Nothing.
“I’m pregnant.”
His heart sped up. After LeeAnne’s death, he’d never thought of expanding his family. He wasn’t even sure how Cara would feel about all of this, but he’d never dared to hope. His penthouse was even so cavernous that it felt empty with just him and his daughter… so he’d once in a while wished he could have had the large family he and LeeAnne had planned years ago. This couldn’t be happening, could it?
Jessica mistook his silence for anger. “They’re yours, you know? I haven’t slept with anyone else. I… I was a virgin when I met you. You have to know you were my first.”
Brent swept her up in his arms and kissed her, his tongue tangling devilishly with her own. To his relief, she returned the caress, tasted him as eagerly as he tasted her. Eventually, they broke the embrace – went back to gasping for air.
When he could speak again, he said, “No, you don’t understand. I just… After so long with LeeAnne gone… We’d planned a huge family, and I never thought I could have one again. I thought I’d die alone.” He frowned, finally noticing her words. “Wait… ‘they?’”
Jessica nodded and started picking at the threads of the blanket pulled up to her waist. “I’m four months and some along. The doctor says it’s twins. I don’t know the sex yet, but if you want to be, you’re a dad. Three times now with Cara.”
The smile erupted over his face without him even trying. It spread so wide that he felt like it might split his face in half if he let it. “Twins? Together?”
She nodded. “I ran because your father was so cruel. I know you’re not, but Donald Sanderson is in your life. I don’t want him to teach my children how to be ruthless like he is. You shouldn’t want him to set a bad example for Cara either, but I know he’s her grandfather and LeeAnne might have felt differently about him.”
“My father is an asshole. LeeAnne hated him, too, but he let that slide because he liked her family name. God, no. I’m done with him” Brent grabbed one of her hands tightly in his. “After what he said? How he dug into you like that? I’d never let him near you or near Cara.”
“I don’t understand.”
“I told my father to go to hell. Cara and I moved back to my penthouse, and neither of us will ever have anything to do with him again. You’re right; he’s a monster, and I don’t want that kind of influence over Cara. I just… For so long he was her only other family, and I wanted her to have someone besides me after LeeAnne, but he’s dangerous and cruel. I never want Cara to think that’s okay.”
Jessica swallowed hard. “That’s great, but your dad… What if he gets mad? What if he goes after my dad? I’m so scared because I’m not ‘good enough for you’ that he’ll do something to ruin Dad or blackmail him. I know the kind of pressure he must have put on that senator, and that was just over bullying Cara. Okay, not that I didn’t kind of agree, but still!”
“I’ve had a long, persuasive talk with Father. He’s going to leave us alone. I promise. I just… If you choose to come back with me, it’ll just be us and Cara. I’d never let Dad play his mind games with the children the way he has with me.”
Tears flowed freely down Jessica’s cheeks, and Brent hated himself then. Hated himself for making the woman he loved so miserable, for making her cry. He hated himself for making her run so far. If she felt bad about not telling him about the babies, well she shouldn’t. He clearly hadn’t given her a good reason to trust him.
Brent knew what he had to do.
Getting to his knees, he pulled the velvet box from his pants. It was the only reason he hadn’t gotten to San Francisco faster. He’d gone to Cartier’s and picked out the ring he wanted for her. Opening up the box, he hoped that the large, princess cut diamond said everything about the commitment he intended to make to her that his fumbling hadn’t been able to.
“Jessica Billings, I love you. Even before I knew about our twins, I wanted you to marry me. I know we still have so much to get through: trust issues, your father’s feelings, and the pregnancy. We have so many things we have to weather to get our happy ending, but I know we can. Because, honestly, I can’t live without you, and I don’t want to. Please, say you’ll marry me?”
Jessica eyed the ring, her mouth hanging open. Her eyes seemed to be as wide as saucers and grow even larger with her shock. Brent’s heart pounded hard against his breastbone as he waited for her to answer. It seemed the wait took eons.
“I… Of course, I’ll marry you!” she said, finally seeming to find her voice. “Please, I love it.”
He stood and slipped the ring on her finger. It fitted perfectly, and the large, glittering diamond matched her eyes, made her even more gorgeous than she already was, and that should have been impossible.
“I missed you,” he said.
“Missed you, too. Mom said she and Harold were going out to this play today. We should have the house to ourselves by now.”
He chuckled, thinking of Fran – whatever her reasons – playing matchmaker for them. “Are they now?”
Jessica nodded and licked her lips. “I’ve really wanted you. I don’t mean just to be held or to cuddle. Not that fighting didn’t suck really hard, too. I missed being with you.”
He stood up and slipped off his jacket. “Have you now?”
She grinned, a lascivious light coming to her eyes. “What did you have in mind, Mr. Sanderson?”
“What were you hoping from me, Mrs. Sanderson?”
She sat up and slipped off the long cotton sleep shirt she’d been wearing, freeing her breasts. Maybe it was his imagination, but he swore he could already see the effects of the pregnancy on her, from the glow of her skin to the swollen roundness of those delectable mounds. “I think you know what I was hoping for, Brent.”
“Babe, I thought you’d never ask.” Then, he made short work of his clothes, getting naked soon after he’d ensured the door to her room was locked. When he was ready, he spread the blanket from off her hips and groaned at the sight of her pale legs and creamy thighs. The only thing separating him from what he truly wanted was a thin pair of cotton underwear. “God, you’re beautiful.”
She blushed. “You’re the only man to ever tell me that, you know?”
“Good. I want to be the only man to ever tell you that. I want it to be the first thing I say to you every morning and the last thing I tell you as we fall asleep. You’re gorgeous, and any idiot boy who never told you that in high school and at college had no idea what he was missing.”
“You don’t have to…”
He kissed her belly, where their twins were already growing strong. How could anyone be more beautiful than the mother of his children? “I do though. I took you for granted, and let someone hurt you. I never want to do that again.”
Brent wasted no time after that. Leaning up, he let his tongue trace over the rigid peak of her nipple. Pulling it into his mouth, he suckled at it, tasting the sweet sweat of her body as it tripped over his tongue. She moaned and begged him for more. He stopped only long enough to help her ease the underwear off her hips and to the floor. Then, Brent climbed up over the bed so that he was hovering over top of her. He put his mouth on her other breast, flicking and flipping his tongue over her areolas. With one hand, he held himself up. With the other, he let himself enjoy the feel of her velvety soft skin as he trailed his fingertips over her hips.
She mewled, sounded so much like a kitten, his sweetheart.
He broke away from the succulence of her breast long enough to answer. “Oh, not yet, babe. I have so much pleasure I want to give you. So much planned now that I know we have the afternoon free and for us.”
“Need you now,” she commanded. “I need all of yo
u, Brent. This time can be fast, but I need you back, please.”
He couldn’t resist the pleas of his fiancée, couldn’t bear to deny her what her heart truly wanted. Grinning, he shifted his hips enough and angled his cock right over her waiting channel. “Are you ready then?”
“God, more than ready, Brent. So wet for you, please!”
He slid into her, and his eyes rolled back at the heat of her pussy. Her core was made for him, her tight, little pussy fit him as tightly as any glove fit the hand it was made for. That’s what he thought, that she was made for him.
Because she was fucking perfect.
With one hand, he found her clit and started to play with it, let his thumb flicker over it, until she bucked against him and then scraped eager nails over his back. They bit into his skin, a hint of pain that enhanced the pleasure of their lovemaking. Moving his hand away, he gripped her hips instead, allowing him to angle perfectly into her pussy, allowing him the chance to press up hard against her clit as they fucked.
“Ready?”
She moaned and nodded. “Always for you, Brent.”
He didn’t need to be told twice after that. He’d been crushed without her, too, and he needed this as much as she did. It was more than physical. This was the melding of souls, the bonding of lives. He’d made her a covenant with his ring, but now he was fulfilling the promise with his body, too. With his essence buried deep inside of her.
The thought of her soon, round with his twins, made his cock hard and he pistoned his hips hard. Finding a fierce rhythm, Brent pounded into her. She screamed and raised her hips up to meet him with every thrust. He felt his balls slapping against her, had the heady scent of her need and musk as well as her lilac perfume saturating the hair. Her nails scraped his back again, and it was all too much, such a twisting, dizzying spiral of want, need and hunger.
Of fulfillment.
His balls tightened, and Brent knew it wouldn’t be much longer. “I can’t hold back anymore, babe.”
“Give me everything. I want it all. Want you,” she panted out.
He came then. His climax hit him hard and flowed over him with the power of a tsunami, raging through his bones, his muscles, and every damn nerve ending. His hips seemed to develop a mind of his own as he kept pumping them forward. He came fast and furious, filling Jessica with everything he had. It must have sent her over the edge too because she wrapped her ankles tightly around his back and screamed. The noise of her orgasm almost tearing through his eardrums. She shuddered, and her pussy tightened around him, a massage of muscles and warmth.
When they were spent, he fell onto the bed beside her and gripped her to his chest. Easing himself fully out of her, Brent leaned over and kissed her temple. “I love you, babe. I always will.”
She smiled, and even now, happy tears were pinpricks at the corner of her bright, vibrant eyes. “I love you too, Brent. I love you so much. It’s all so hard. My dad, Cara – I don’t want anyone to get hurt.”
Brent rubbed at his swollen jaw. “Well, from here on out. Cara adores you, and I think it’ll be okay.”
“But I disappointed my father. I don’t know how he’ll ever even look at me again.”
“Shh,” Brent said, kissing her deeply, his tongue straying over her own, trying to prolong the kiss as far as he could. “We’ll worry about that tomorrow, Mrs. Sanderson. Tonight – tonight we have each other.”
“And our family.”
“Yes.” And then he reached out for her rounded stomach, for the miracles growing deep inside of her. “We have them, too.”
Chapter Nineteen
Jessica
She wasn’t sure if bringing Cara to SeaWorld counted as a bribe or not. Okay, it had to since she’d also bought a giant stuffed otter with her own money as a “Sorry I traveled without notice” gift which clearly was doubling as a “So, you’re going to be a big sister, are you okay with that?” gift. Either way, Jessica wasn’t sure if the giant otter with the bright lilac bow around its neck was going to be enough. Sure, Cara had mentioned she’d always wanted siblings. The girl just hadn’t said she’d be okay with Jessica being the mom. God, it would be such a betrayal for Cara – who was far from stupid and in middle school – to figure out exactly what she and Brent had been doing all along.
The last thing she or Brent had ever wanted to do was hurt Cara. After all, the little girl had been through her own kind of hell at her school. The last thing she needed was to feel stabbed in the back by her sitter-come-friend.
Jessica sat on the bench in the middle of the eatery at the park and hugged the otter to her as if it could hug her back. Offer her comfort.
Finally, Brent and Cara crested the hill.
Cara’s face lit up with a beaming smile when she saw Jessica. Running across the open tarmac and to the table, Cara laughed. “Jessica! I wish you’d told me you were going away to San Francisco for a week. It’s like forever since I saw you.”
Jessica winked at her and handed her the otter. “I think it’s been a week since we saw each other, you just confirmed it.”
“Well, it feels way longer, and I have all these stories from homeroom I wanted to tell you. Besides, I thought you had your internship!”
Jessica sighed and clutched her left hand tighter. She had her right hand over her left, making sure to hide the ring. She was thrilled that she and Brent were engaged, that their family would hopefully come together if Cara understood and accepted it. Still, some things would have to wait, and finishing college and getting into grad school were two of them. The internship was another. She couldn’t be bumbling around the zoo at eight or nine months, could she?
Assuming she got that far. She’d heard twins usually came four to five weeks early. Also, ouch. That was going to hurt more than she ever wanted to imagine.
Forcing a tight smile to her lips, Jessica looked at Cara as the girl sat down on the bench before her. She hugged the overstuffed otter to her chest yet still managed to regard Jess a bit suspiciously.
“Okay, why is everyone staring at me like the sky is falling? I don’t get it.”
Jessica sighed and waited for Brent to slip next to her and place his hand in hers. “Cara, we have a lot to talk about.”
Cara nodded. “I kind of guessed that.”
Jessica’s eyes widened. “Huh?”
“You’ve been giving Dad these googly eyes for months, and Dad hasn’t ever smiled this much that I remember. I kind of had a hunch. Then, you asked me about how I’d feel about a little brother or sister… So I’m thinking you might even be preggers.”
Brent whistled beside her. “I should have known.”
Cara smirked. “Please, Dad, I’m in middle school. I’m not a moron. It was pretty obvious stuff was going on.”
“Are you mad?” Jessica asked. Her heart was in her throat. Cara had become her friend over the last four months, but she’d hidden so much from the younger girl. What if she held it against Jessica? What if she were simmering and furious over all of it? “I can explain… Well, I can’t completely explain, but I can try and get you to understand. I just… I bet you’re mad.”
Cara set the otter to her side and frowned. “Maybe. I’m mad you didn’t tell me. You both treated me like a little kid, and I’m not. I’m also not dumb. I could so tell.” She looked up at Jessica, and those blue eyes of hers were so limpid and sincere. It broke Jess’ heart, made it crack into nothing to know that she’d put that pain there. “I thought you liked me, Jess.”
She reached out and stroked Cara’s cheek. “I do. I thought you’d be mad about your dad and me. I know I was supposed to be around and take care of you, not do other things.”
Cara nodded. “But you and Dad will trust me from now on?”
“Peanut,” Brent started, “we promise to tell you everything from now on. We want you to know everything about your new siblings.”
Cara’s eyes went wide. “Wait, huh? What do you mean more than one?”
Jessica blus
hed, feeling the intensity of everyone’s gazes on her. “I’m having twins.”
“Is it two boys? I’d love some little brothers to play soccer with,” Cara asked.
“We don’t know yet, actually,” Brent said. “We called the doctor today, and we have an appointment in a few days to get an ultrasound and find out the sexes. Would you like to come?”
“What about school?”
“I think that with your perfect attendance record over the years, you can afford one special occasion,” Brent said. “We want you to be able to enjoy everything. That’s okay, right? You don’t mind having Jessica in our lives like this or having new siblings?”
Cara sighed. “I’d be a total jerk if I didn’t like the babies already. Also, I don’t care about that. I just… Promise me that you two will never lie to me again? It hurt feeling like you were keeping stuff from me, and it hurts now to know for sure that you were.”
Jessica reached up her hand and let her charge… No, now her stepdaughter. Just wow. She let her stepdaughter-to-be look at the ring. “No more secrets. You’ll know everything we know as soon as we do, and we won’t treat you like a little kid.”
“Good,” Cara said, a smile breaking out over her lips.
“Besides,” Jessica said, “it was also about protecting myself.” She sighed, realizing how selfish it all sounded out loud. “I mean, I was supposed to be there to just take care of you. It wasn’t supposed to be about your dad. I was scared you’d think I was only ever babysitting you for him, and I wasn’t.”
Cara petted the otter. “I know you wouldn’t, Jess. We’re friends, and I totally believe that.”
Jessica leaned over and hugged her, gathering the little girl and the fluffy otter both in her grip. She loved the feel of this – loved knowing that Cara and Brent weren’t going anywhere and that Donald Sanderson wouldn’t be a factor in their lives. Still, her father was in the wings, and she couldn’t imagine telling him. That disappointment in his eyes.
But that was later.
