“My turn,” I requested, kissing his lips.
He flipped me over, spread my legs, and dove his face into my pussy, our musk and pleasure still slick on my mound. He lapped it all up, then thrust his tongue inside me over and over. His tongue soothed my ravaged insides, and I found myself rolling into a sweet climax as I shuddered and flooded his mouth.
When we were done, he kissed my pussy, belly, and breasts, coming to rest on my mouth.
“What do you say? Shower, eat, and get you home?” He seemed sad but committed to doing the right thing.
“Sounds perfect.” My hand caressed his stubbled face, loving his beautiful heart.
He was showing me so much respect that it was hard to resist, but I didn’t want to burn us out too fast. Everything was already moving at the speed of light. I told myself it was fine if he was a one-night stand. I had a miracle gift I’d always treasure from that night. When I accepted the job working for him, I figured I’d use this time to get to know him and perhaps advance my career. When he wanted to pursue something more, I still thought it would be dating and a few fun nights, but what I was feeling now… the love, the adoration, and respect; that was a forever kind of feeling, and it scared me.
It frightened me because I doubted he was in the same lane. He was willing to honor the fact that he had a child, and I appreciated that; however, marriage, monogamy, fatherhood, he already said, he wasn’t in for that. I had to go home to gain some distance again.
We ate a nice breakfast of fruit and muesli which had already been laid out for us.
“I have stuff that isn’t so healthy if you want it. Lorna just knows what I like. She can make you anything.”
“This is exactly what I wanted for breakfast,” I said pouring myself a bowl of cereal.
After we ate, we showered, and he drove us in his Land Rover to my apartment.
When we got to my place, I kissed him and prepared to say goodbye… for now. “I had the best night. It was magical. Thank you,” I said as I opened my door and stepped out of the car.
He seemed a bit panicked as he ran around the car to meet me. I was already marching up the steps to my apartment. Why I was running from him, I had no idea. Clearly, I had more issues with us than I cared to address.
“Woah, there.” He took my hand gently, back to his commanding alpha self again. He looked down at the wrist he was grabbing and curled his fingers around my hand to hold it. “I’m not sure why you’re running, love.” His finger stroked my hand.
“Me either,” I bowed my head.
“Can I see her? I won’t if you don’t want me to, but… I want…” He took a deep breath. “This is hard… I don’t want to rush you or overstep. I’m an asshole, usually. I’d run from me too because if I were being me, I’d just follow you in. But, I want your permission. This is still your life.”
I squeezed his hand and thought for a minute. “Sure. Come on in. Welcome to my crazy,” I said as we walked up the stairs to my apartment. When we got to the door, I turned to him. “Just to warn you, my roommates will probably freak.”
“Consider me warned.” He smoothed his hand on my back. “Nothing really scares me.”
I opened the door and walked in. Melody was playing guitar on the couch, and Charlynn was in the kitchen washing baby bottles. Shocked and awestruck, Melody stopped playing as soon as she saw Sinclair.
“I’m home,” I announced as if I were on a television sitcom.
Melody just stared at Sinclair. I forgot how dashing he was. He did sort of stop traffic. Neither of my roommates had ever seen him, only heard me babble on about him. Of course, there was the legendary fucking from Halloween, they certainly knew all about that. Just before my date, I told them the truth about him.
“How was everything?” I asked to break the silence.
“She’s a total dream. I love her. I love her,” Melody gushed.
Charlynn yelled from the kitchen not turning from her dishes to look at us, “I love her too. Don’t let Melody fool you into letting her babysit without me. Hey… aren’t you supposed to be fucking the baby daddy? I thought we told you to stay the whole weekend,” she scolded as she finished the last of the bottles.
Sinclair gave me a sweet glare and whispered, “I could have kept you all weekend? Hmmm.”
Charlynn turned off the water. “What happened? He turned out to be a dud? Maybe he just needs a mask to get it up.” When she turned around her mouth nearly hit the floor.
“Baby daddy’s here.” Sinclair smiled.
“Oh fuck,” Charlynn gasped. She looked at him and giggled. “I’ll just be right over in the corner chewing on my sandal. Guess it went well.” She laughed, brushing off the incident.
“I’d say it did,” Sinclair played along.
“No complaints here,” I added, thoroughly embarrassed.
“I’ll leave my number with you just in case. Maybe you can give me some pointers. I’m kind of useless without my mask.” He was at ease and joking, so not the Sinclair I’d seen in the past.
“Oh my God, don’t.” I rolled my eyes.
“Is she awake?” I asked in a whisper thinking, she wasn’t with them so was probably asleep.
“I just put her down,” Melody said, mirroring my whisper.
“Okay, I’m just going to take baby daddy to meet his spawn.” I raised my eyebrows, and everyone laughed.
“Hope there aren’t any horns,” he teased as he followed me into my bedroom.
He… Sinclair Harris, this formidable boss, and producer, was in my tiny Hollywood apartment chillin’ with my kooky roommates and it all felt good. Wow, another overwhelming thing to throw on the fire. Arianna was sleeping peacefully in her crib. She really was the most beautiful baby in the world, so tiny, peaceful, and perfect.
“Here she is.” I took his hand. “Arianna Rayne Sandoval. Your daughter.”
Chapter 19
Sinclair
She was an amazingly beautiful little being. I couldn’t do anything but stare at her perfect fingers and toes. Her tiny face was angelic. Everything about the child was divine. I could see why Reyna wanted to rush back home to her. I’m surprised I even got her for one night. It hurt that she’d given Arianna her last name, but whose name would she have given her? She didn’t know who I was. In any other context, I’d be so grateful and relieved she wasn’t saddled with me or my legacy. Looking at her now, I wanted nothing more than to legally claim her as mine.
I decided not to broach the subject with Reyna at that moment, she was right, she was processing a lot, as was I. I made a note to address it at some later date. I wanted them both to have my name. As I stood before that crib in an old Hollywood apartment with her delightful roommates, it felt like family. The only person missing was my brother Sage… Shelton, we could abandon somewhere, but Sage would love it here.
He’d especially love Melody. I noted her playing the guitar, and she was quite good. I couldn’t even count how many times I’d walked in and caught Sage playing the guitar, just as she was. This all felt so right. I wanted to reach down and scoop little Arianna into my arms, but I’d heard rumors about how hard babies were to get to sleep, so I left her to rest.
“She’s perfect, like a miniature you,” I said as I wrapped my arms around Reyna and kissed her. “She’s perfect, Rey. I’m in awe.”
“Yeah, she’s amazing.” Reyna’s face cast an ethereal light.
I’d seen her have that look before, momentarily while we were having sex. Such an indescribable beauty. I couldn’t pinpoint it, but now looking at her gazing at our daughter, I knew exactly what that look was… it was love, pure and unconditional love.
“Thank you for allowing me into her life, Reyna. I promise I will do everything in my power to honor my role as her father. We don’t have to do this now, but this week, I want you and me to discuss finances and her care.” As I expected, she moved to protest, but I put my finger up to her lips.
“No, you’ll not fight me on thi
s one. I’m her father. If you want, we can get a paternity test to prove it, but I’m one hundred percent sure it’s not necessary.” Even though there may have been a remote chance, the baby wasn’t mine, I didn’t care. I believed Reyna. And if for some reason, I was wrong, I was still going to be this child’s father… forever.
“She’s yours; there hasn’t been anyone else.” I moved past the disappointed look on Reyna’s face, most likely motivated by my even mentioning paternity.
“I have absolutely no doubt, and I’ll make sure she’s well cared for.” I felt compelled to kiss Reyna, so I leaned in and seized her mouth.
We kissed passionately for a moment before I broke away. If I continued to kiss her, I’d have to make love to her… truly and earnestly make love.
What we’d been doing was fun, but I wanted to love her… give myself over and never look back. Instead, I left her to her roommates and our baby.
“I know you want some time love, so I’m going to go. Monday, though, at some point, I’d like to figure out when we’ll see each other again.” I took her hand and kissed her knuckles, wanting oh so much more.
“Okay. Let’s figure it out on Monday.” She seemed a bit dazed, but I accepted it as being just too much, as she had said.
She walked me to the door. Her roommates were still there. One was on her laptop, the other on the guitar. I waved to them casually, “Bye everyone. I hope to see you soon.” I kissed Reyna again. “I’ll see you on Monday. Be at work on time,” I pretended to be the tyrant as I slapped her ass, and I walked away only turning to say, “Goodbye, sweetheart.”
“Bye, Sin.” She closed the door behind me.
I’d never felt so alone as I did standing in the hallway of her apartment building. I was close to her, to them… and yet so far away.
It seemed like I’d left a piece of my heart behind. I’d only known Reyna for a short time, but she was such an incredible human and our baby… all I wanted to do was hold her and be her father. I was lulling myself into the fantasy that raising a child was easy and a commitment to a woman I barely knew wasn’t hard. My heart, though, was tugging at me, telling me to march back into her apartment, scoop her up, and bring my family home. God knows I had enough room for them… all of them, even the roommates.
Life, with all its privileges, suddenly seemed so unfair. All I wanted was to hang out with my baby, Reyna, and her lovely roommates. Instead, I was in my Land Rover heading back to the mansion on the hill… the loneliest place on earth. These huge emotions I couldn’t place. The only thing that could give me solace was my passion for movies. So, I spent the rest of Saturday watching an independent movie marathon in my basement movie theater. Michael brought me lunch and dinner there and probably worried a little about my state of mind. He didn’t say anything other than a mention in passing that the woman I had over the night before was lovely. I couldn’t have agreed with him more.
Monday was equally torturous, if not more so. I got into the office early after spending a good deal of time laboring over what I was going to wear. I felt giddy delight knowing I’d see Reyna again, and I wanted to wear something both masculine and sexy. No one was in the office when I got there, but I’d played out the moment of her arrival over and over again in my head.
In truth, all I wanted to do was lock her in my office and make love to her on the sofa, but she deserved better. She wasn’t the kind of person you bent over a table. I was realizing this, and while our sex was fun, I needed to make love.
Unfortunately, I was going to have to pretend nothing was happening between us at work. It was in neither of our best interests to announce our relationship as we didn’t really have one… yet. I had planned to let people know soon. It was my company, and I didn’t want to hide my child or my interest in Reyna; however, it would mean finding her another job, and we weren’t ready for that step… at least I wasn’t.
I knew the moment she arrived. People had begun filing in, and I heard their conversations outside my door. It was the usual morning banter, but every word set my nerves on edge. Why wouldn’t she just get there already? Then, after what seemed like hours, I heard the sweet trill of her melodic voice. Not only that but suddenly the air was filled with the faint scent of sandalwood and lavender. She gave everyone a kind greeting as she made her way to her cubical outside of my office.
Finally, she’d arrived. Perfectly on time, she was as calm and effervescent as ever. I was the one on edge. Every moment waiting for her was torture.
She waved at me as she set her things down and sat at her desk. “Good morning, Mr. Harris,” she said with a smile.
“Reyna,” I barked in a curt tone of voice. She knew I hated being called Mr. Harris. She was being snarky and was going to get away with it, because to most, I was Mr. Harris.
I smiled, hiding my agitation. “Good morning, Reyna. Mr. Harris is a math teacher, and I’m your boss. Could you come in here for a moment please?” I sounded more stern than I’d hoped as a look of concern flashed across her face.
“Sure.” She casually sauntered into my office, holding her notepad.
As soon as she walked in, I closed the door and turned her toward me. “Good morning, Mr. Harris?” I couldn’t help myself; I grabbed her and kissed with all my pent-up emotions.
My tongue demanded entry into her mouth as I tasted her minty-fresh breath and pressed my demanding cock against her mini skirt. “I missed you,” I breathed as I finally parted from her lips.
“I guess you did.” She laughed.
Her hand came up to my mouth and smoothed over my swollen lips. I bit it as she traced my mouth and sucked on it. She pulled her thumb from me and gave me a playfully pained look.
“Ouch, you little monster.” She crossed her eyes and shook her head. “You know, Electric Plum isn’t your color.” She smoothed the rest of her lipstick off of my mouth. “You’re going to get us into a lot of trouble, Mr. Harris if you don’t behave… remember the indelible wisdom etched upon your happy trail. Let’s not get me fired, shall we? Now was there any real business you needed to discuss?”
Ah… how was I going to get through the day without having her? “No, carry on.” I slapped her ass and turned back to my desk.
She glared at me, then opened the door, and returned to her cube.
Ken, the asshole was there, ready to pounce. “So, how was your weekend?” he asked planted against her cubical wall.
He was an incredibly handsome young man and was going places in the company if I didn’t fire him for looking at Reyna first. Molly loved him, and admittedly, he was a hard worker, good at development. He’d already brought us one amazing script we were able to snag before a bidding war began, and he was working on securing another. He was sort of indispensable. I, however, was brewing an intense hatred for the man.
“I just did weekend things. You?” Reyna fired up her computer and nearly ignored him.
I wanted to rush over to Ken and scratch his eyes out but refrained.
“Well, we had the premiere on Friday. Can you believe our opening weekend? We rivaled Predator, the Regency Pictures flick. I think we either beat them or tied for biggest box office. We’re on fire…”
“No, Ken, you imbecile,” I wanted to say. I’m on fire. It’s my company, and at the moment, he was on my land… oh if only murder were legal.
“I was pretty shattered after the party. I didn’t really see you there. I mean you were only there like for a minute. I looked everywhere for you. One minute you were with Sinclair and the next you were completely gone. What was that all about?” He leaned in closer, trying to get her attention.
I was going to kill him. Ken was better suited for Reyna. He was more her age. She was twenty-eight, and I had just turned thirty-nine in July. They had much more in common than she and I did. He was young and up and coming, and so was she. I, on the other hand, was a demanding millionaire who was used to getting what he wanted. The only thing Reyna and I really had in common was our baby, but a
t least we had her. There was other stuff too, but we were still working our way into each other’s lives… so fuck him.
“My car broke down,” she answered plainly, “and I needed to get it to the shop before it closed. Sinclair knew about it, and since my boss isn’t a total tool, he left the party to give me a ride home from the shop,” she tossed off casually.
“How gallant. So, that’s what happened. I’d heard you went home with him,” he lowered his voice to a whisper, so I could barely hear what he was saying.
“God, no.” She laughed. I thought her response was a bit excessive. “I ordered a pizza, and my roommates and I binged-watched Stranger Things on Netflix. Not very gossip-worthy, I’m afraid.” She shrugged her shoulders and attempted to go back to work.
“Guess not. I slept in on Saturday; then we did some pickup shots for the rest of the weekend. I’m producing this cool indie film. You should meet the director; I bet he’d have a small part for you. We still have a few roles left to fill.”
No… oh no. She is not going to be in that fucker’s movie.
“Sorry, I’m an abysmal actor.” She wasn’t an abysmal actor at all actually. She was quite good at role-playing, but it worked. I didn’t want her going anywhere near him.
“You’re so gorgeous, though…” He was going to be a dead man soon.
“Thanks, but I’m definitely not gorgeous enough to make up for a shocking lack of skill.” She flashed him a smile and turned her back on him to pick up a pile of scripts.
“I’ll respectfully disagree. You should see the first film we did; it’s on YouTube.” He hovered over her and opened the web browser on her computer.
That was enough; I couldn’t stand it anymore. I cleared my throat to get their attention. “No personal web browsing on the company computer,” I yelled out my office door.
Unexpected Surprise Page 13
