The Baby Arrangement

by Lisa Dyson

  Nick took her hand in his and led her to the elevators. He pushed the button for the sixth floor when they entered. All she wanted him to do was kiss her again, but she wouldn’t beg. The thrill of knowing that they were going to be alone together in his condo was almost more than she could stand.

  Right now she didn’t care if this was her pregnancy hormones making her feel this sexually excited or not. She knew how she felt and she wasn’t leaving here until Nick did something about it.

  They walked down the hallway to his door. He unlocked it and opened it, allowing Bree to walk in first.

  Even though she’d been there before, she was still impressed by how gorgeous and comfortable his place was. She loved the neutral colors on the walls and the warm hardwood floors, with furniture covered in browns and tans. She turned to Nick as he closed the door. “Did you decorate this place yourself?” The question had suddenly popped into her head.

  He scowled. “Long story. Let’s get dinner started and I’ll tell you all about it.” He took her coat and hung both his and hers in the closet next to the door.

  “This is a great view,” she said as she looked out the windows in the living room.

  “Yes, it is.” His tone was deep, sexy, smooth.

  She turned to look at him and found him watching her, not the view. His expression revealed hunger—for her. She actually felt her face heat, and she was definitely not prone to blushing.

  He made her nervous all of a sudden, so she asked, “What’s for dinner?” Besides me. Her insides quaked at the thought.

  “Any preferences?”

  She followed him as he walked to the large, modern kitchen that was probably the main reason he’d bought this place.

  He opened the freezer drawer in the stainless steel, French-door refrigerator. “I have chicken, ground beef, pork chops.” He spoke over his shoulder. “Anything sound appealing?”

  Just watching you lean over the drawer like that. Seeing his butt from this angle made her remember how firm it had been when she’d gripped it as she—

  “Bree?”

  She blinked. “Oh, whatever you want is fine. I’ll eat whatever you make.”

  He closed the freezer and turned around to face her. Their gazes met and he stepped toward her. “I can’t stop thinking about you. About us. Together.” He slowly unknotted the long scarf she wore, the backs of his hands brushing her sensitive breasts. He pulled the scarf from her neck in a leisurely manner and tossed it onto the counter. Then he placed a hand on each side of her waist and pulled her pelvis to his. He was already hard and she wanted him more than she’d ever wanted anything in her life.

  She moved against him and loved when he groaned into her neck. “You’re killing me,” he whispered, before kissing her neck with his open mouth.

  She sucked in a breath, snaking her arms around him to grasp his behind. She ran her hands up and down his butt and upper thighs, loving the solidness of him.

  He turned them around so her back was against the fridge. They kissed then, hot, passionate kisses that made her legs weak. He cupped her breast, teasing her nipple through her sweater with his thumb and forefinger. She wanted to rip her sweater off and bare herself to him. She wanted his touch everywhere all at once. She couldn’t get enough.

  When he slipped his hands under her sweater to her bare back, she could hardly breathe. His mouth moved again to her neck, and she desperately wanted it on her breasts.

  The next thing she knew, he’d placed a large palm on each side of her behind and lifted her. She automatically wrapped her legs around his waist and shifted her hands to cup his bearded face while they continued to kiss.

  He carried her that way down the hall to what she assumed was his bedroom. She didn’t care. She just craved release.

  As they tumbled onto his bed, he flipped her on top of him. He pulled his mouth from hers and looked into her eyes.

  “Two questions,” he said as he gasped for air.

  “Better be quick ones,” she managed to answer.

  “Is this what you want? I don’t want you to regret it.”

  She couldn’t help laughing. “If you only knew how much I want this—”

  “Second question,” he said, cutting her off. “Is it safe?”

  That one stopped her. “Safe?” Then she realized what he meant. “Yes, it’s safe.” From all the reading she’d done—unless specifically told not to—sex was safe all through the pregnancy. “But I like that you’re concerned.” She kissed him quickly. “Now can we get on with it?”

  He laughed then. “Some romantic you are.”

  “Hey, you’re the one who stopped to ask questions,” she reminded him. He lifted her long sweater above her waist and started undoing the zipper fly on her skinny jeans.

  She nearly stopped breathing when he planted a kiss on her bare skin just above her panties. After he helped her wiggle out of her jeans, she crossed her arms in front of her body and stripped off her sweater over her head. She tossed it onto the floor, not caring that the move was completely out of character for her.

  She lay back in only her bra and panties, watching Nick take in her entire body with his eyes as he removed his own clothes. By the time he was down to his skivvies, which showed every inch of his erection, she could hardly stand it anymore. “If you don’t get over here soon, I’m going to melt into a puddle right here on your bed.”

  He grinned, a sexy grin that spoke volumes. He slid on top of her then, playing with her nipples and kissing her skin from the back of her ear to the inside of her thighs.

  But she was still wearing clothes and so was he.

  So she maneuvered under him to scoot down low enough to reach into his boxer briefs to wrap her hand around his erection. He buried his head in her neck and moaned before taking the hint and removing his underwear.

  Before he could get back onto the bed and onto her, she wrapped her hand around him again. She bent her head and put her lips around the tip, teasing him with her tongue.

  “Bree,” he gasped as he held both sides of her head. “If you don’t stop now, I can’t promise—” He didn’t need to finish his sentence. She got the picture.

  She gave his penis a loud smacking kiss and reached around to unclasp her bra. She tossed it with the rest of her clothes and fell back onto the pillows, her legs spread in invitation.

  Nick didn’t need more incentive than that and he went straight for her panties, first rubbing her crotch erotically with his fingers over the cloth and then moving it aside to play with her flesh.

  When she could stand it no more, she pulled at her underwear and Nick dragged it down her legs. He rubbed his erection against her wetness and she wrapped her legs around him, urging him inside her.

  When he finally slid all the way into her and quickly brought her to orgasm, she realized that this was the absolute best way to end her already wonderful day.

  * * *

  ROXIE WAS WORKING late at the office that evening when she had a visitor. “Pete? What are you doing here?” She hadn’t heard from him since he’d left on his business trip several weeks ago. He must not have liked that she’d turned down his dinner invitation. But she wasn’t the kind of woman who cheated on her boyfriend.

  Now he stood in her office doorway in navy dress pants and a navy-and-white-checked shirt with the sleeves rolled up to reveal his strong forearms, his navy tie hanging loose. How easily she could forget that she was in a relationship.

  “I thought you might still be here. I had to talk the guard into letting me in. I was hoping you might have heard from Nick or Bree today,” Pete said as he stepped through the doorway and put his hands on the back of the chair facing the other side of her desk. “Nick’s not answering his phone, and his mom can’t reach him, either. There was a problem at the restaurant.”

 
Roxie’s eyes widened. “What happened?”

  “Nothing serious.” He didn’t elaborate.

  “I haven’t heard from either one of them. Bree took the afternoon off to go to Delaware on personal business. Maybe Nick went with her.”

  Pete nodded. “With the way this day is going, I hope the fact that Nick’s not answering his phone isn’t a harbinger of bad news on their end, too.”

  “I thought the restaurant was closed on Mondays,” Roxie said.

  “It is. We rented it out for use as a pop-up restaurant.” He came around the chair and sat down across her desk from her.

  She really wished she wasn’t as attracted to him as she was.

  Pete leaned forward, his folded hands on the desk, and lowered his voice. “A fight broke out and some furniture was broken.”

  “Oh, no! That’s terrible.”

  He nodded. “I know. The police were there and broke things up, but I really need to let Nick know as soon as possible.”

  “Let me try Bree,” Roxie said as she picked up her office phone and began dialing. “Hey, Bree,” she said when voice mail picked up. “Please call me when you get this. And if Nick is with you, have him call Pete. It’s important.” She hung up the phone and looked at Pete, who nodded approvingly. “I don’t know what else to do,” she said. “I hope nothing’s wrong.”

  “The only other thing I can think to do is to go to his condo to see if he’s there. I can’t believe he’s not answering his phone.”

  “I could go check at Bree’s condo, too,” she suggested.

  They both stood at once to do just that, when their phones rang almost simultaneously. “It’s Bree,” Roxie told Pete with a sigh of relief.

  He nodded and gestured with his cell phone. “It’s Nick.”

  They answered their phones. “Where have you been?” Roxie asked Bree. “Is Nick with you?”

  “Calm down, Rox. Yes, Nick’s here. He’s talking to Pete right now.”

  “Are you all right?” Roxie demanded. “You weren’t in an accident or anything, were you?”

  “Of course not.” Bree sounded upbeat and happy.

  “Well, you had us worried.”

  “Us?”

  “Pete and me. He just showed up at my office to find out if I’d heard from the two of you. Seems there was a problem at Nick’s restaurant.”

  “Oh, no. Hey, I’m going to hang up and see what’s going on. I’ll fill you in later on what happened in Delaware.”

  “But—”

  Bree disconnected before Roxie could ask where she and Nick were. Obviously, they were together from what she’d just said. But, for all Roxie knew, they were still in Delaware.

  “Nick’s filled in,” Pete told Roxie after he’d disconnected. “He’s going to contact insurance. Man, I told him there were easier ways to make money, but he wouldn’t listen to me.”

  “Make money? Is The Fresh Pantry in trouble?”

  “I shouldn’t have said anything. Keep it to yourself, okay? Everything’s fine. I’m just a worrier.” He made it sound like he was backpedaling for some reason.

  “So the restaurant is financially healthy?” She wondered if Bree knew there might be a problem. Roxie couldn’t imagine Bree hiring Nick as a restaurant consultant if she thought his restaurant was in financial trouble.

  “Oh, sure, it’s all fine.” Pete seemed to be trying hard to sell her on that fact. “He’s just a little overprotective after what happened about a year ago.”

  “A year ago?”

  Pete nodded. “Yeah, he pretty much got left at the altar. Not figuratively—she actually called it off a week before the wedding. He was pretty torn up about it. They’d been together over three years. It took not only a toll on his heart, but on his finances, too. He insisted on buying back her part ownership of their condo.”

  “That’s awful.”

  “I know. I just hate seeing him busting his butt to make some extra money and then have things like this fight mess things up even more.”

  * * *

  AFTER BREE AND NICK had returned their calls, they set down their phones. When their phones had gone off simultaneously, Nick realized he’d missed several calls and texts from Pete while his phone had been on vibrate. Instead of answering, he’d only wanted to throw the devices out the window and continue snuggling with Bree in his bed. After they’d exhausted themselves and grown chilled, they’d burrowed under the covers and must have drifted to sleep.

  Waking up with Bree in his arms was something he could get used to. She fit perfectly against him and her skin was so soft. He couldn’t stop touching her.

  Now they looked at each other from opposite sides of the bed. “I need to go to the restaurant,” Nick said softly. “I don’t want to, but there was a fight and the police were called.” He came around the bed to her side and reached for her hand. He told her what he knew about the situation. “I want to stay with you. I want you to spend the night.”

  Bree smiled sadly. “I’d like that, too.” She leaned closer to kiss him. “But I understand. Go. You need to get to the restaurant.”

  He kissed her quickly, then deepened the kiss to taste her once more. He ran one hand down her neck, over one breast and lower until he touched her most intimate place. He chuckled when she wiggled against his hand at the contact.

  Finally, she pushed him away. It was a good thing, because he wasn’t sure he would have stopped himself otherwise.

  “Come on,” she said. “Let’s get dressed, and I’ll go with you to the restaurant.”

  “You don’t have to do that.”

  “I know. But you went with me to Delaware. It’s the least I can do.”

  He kind of liked that she’d do that, so he didn’t try to talk her out of it.

  “Mind if I jump in the shower first?” She’d gathered her clothes and held them in front of her.

  He grinned. “I’d suggest I join you, but we’d never get out of here. Go ahead. Give a yell when I can get in.” From the look he gave her, he was recalling their shower on the island, too.

  They were pretty quick getting to the restaurant and under normal circumstances, Nick would have been more upset about what happened. But he’d just had incredible sex with the mother of his child, and he was feeling pretty damn good. He wasn’t about to let this incident get him down.

  He and Bree drove his car to the restaurant. And he thought it was a good sign that she was willing to come back to stay at his condo once things were straightened out here. They entered by the alley door and walked through the kitchen to the dining room, where several people were cleaning up.

  He’d left his assistant manager in charge while the pop-up was renting the space, and he came right over to Nick. “What happened here?” Nick asked while Bree stepped away to walk around the dining room to assess the damage.

  “Some patrons got into a fight. I don’t know what it was about, but it seemed like a domestic dispute. A few tables were overturned and there was glass all over the place. The police were called, and I have a report number for the insurance company.”

  Nick nodded. “Was anyone hurt?”

  “An ambulance came at the same time the police arrived, but they just treated a few people for cuts and then left.”

  “Where’s the chef who was hosting the pop-up? John something?”

  “He just left a little while ago. He feels awful about it.”

  “I’m sure he does. He’ll feel worse if our insurance decides not to cover it and finds him liable.” Nick had made sure to double-check his insurance coverage before agreeing to allow anyone to use his restaurant for pop-ups or bartending classes or anything else.

  They spoke for a few more minutes, and then he caught Bree’s eye across the dining room. She’d taken a seat at a table and had
been looking at her phone.

  He smiled, and she smiled back. He wanted to take her home again and spend the night with her. She appeared so young and vulnerable with her long, wet hair pulled into a ponytail and sans makeup except for some lip balm she’d had in her purse.

  Suddenly, Pete showed up with Roxie in tow. They’d come in the back way, also.

  “Hey, guys,” Nick said. “You didn’t need to come down.”

  Roxie gave him a little wave and continued walking over to where Bree was seated.

  Pete said, “I wanted to make sure you didn’t need my help here.” He looked around. “Seems pretty well cleaned up. So where were you? Several of us tried to get ahold of you, but you weren’t answering your phone.”

  Nick shrugged. A gentleman never told. “Sorry. I guess I had it on vibrate.” It wasn’t even a white lie, just not the complete truth. Certainly a better way to go than to discuss what had gone on between Bree and him.

  “You slept with him again?” Roxie’s voice carried to where Nick and Pete stood.

  Bree shushed her, but it was too late.

  Nick couldn’t even look at Pete because he knew he was about to take a boatload of crap about his sex life.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  “MAN, YOU HAVE a big mouth,” Bree informed Roxie after she’d practically shouted to the entire room that Bree had slept with Nick. Again. Not that there were that many people in the restaurant’s dining room, but enough to embarrass Bree.

  And for Nick and Pete to overhear...

  “Sorry,” Roxie said, appearing adequately apologetic. “I was just surprised. You’ve been saying that you don’t want a relationship, don’t want to raise your baby. But here you are sleeping with the baby’s father.”

  “That doesn’t contradict anything,” Bree insisted. “Sleeping together doesn’t make a relationship, and it hardly makes me change my mind about raising children.”