Maybe once he fed her, he’d stop hovering over her like some overprotective parent. She stopped in her tracks. But that’s exactly what he was—a parent—and so was she. She shook her head, went through to her bathroom and quickly stripped off her work clothes. She looked at herself in the mirror.
“Nothing to see here,” she murmured out loud.
But her hand settled on her lower belly, and for a moment she stopped to think about the changes that were happening inside. Changes that would force her to make monumental adjustments in her life. For a moment it all seemed too much and far too hard. But she reminded herself of what Kirk had said about wanting to be there every step of the way. She wasn’t in this alone. Not by any means.
Did she have the strength to embark on this journey with him?
By the time she stepped out of the shower and dressed in a pair of yoga pants and a long-sleeved T-shirt, she was no closer to reaching a decision. A delicious aroma wafted from her kitchen, and she followed the scent to see what Kirk was up to.
“Perfect timing,” he said, folding an omelet in the pan and sliding it onto a plate that already had a generous helping of diced fried potatoes, bacon bits and onions on one side.
“I had all these ingredients?” she asked, sliding into a chair at the breakfast bar.
“You can do a lot with just a few key things. When I was growing up, I often helped my mom in the kitchen. She taught me a lot.”
Sally felt a pang for the boy he must have been. Her own upbringing had been so vastly different. They’d always had staff, including a cook, and as far as Sally could recall, her mother had never so much as baked a cookie her entire privileged life.
Kirk reached for a jar of salsa and ladled a little across her omelet before putting her plate down in front of her with a flourish. “There, now eat up before it gets cold.”
She forked up a bit of omelet and closed her eyes in bliss as delicate flavors of herbs and cheese burst on her tongue.
“This is so good,” she said. “Thank you. I hope you made one for yourself, too.”
“I can get something later.”
“Oh, please, you’ve given me far more than I can eat. At least help me with what I have here.”
“How about I whip up another omelet and you can give me some of your potatoes.”
“That sounds like a good idea.”
It felt oddly normal to watch Kirk working in her kitchen. He moved with an elegant grace and confidence that she found all too appealing. He withheld his true identity, she reminded herself. And he slept with you knowing exactly who you were.
And now they had made a baby.
She was going to have to press him for an explanation about that night, especially if they were going to move forward together and most especially if she was even going to begin to seriously consider his proposal. But not now. Not tonight. Right at this moment she was struggling to make sense of what her next step would be and how on earth she was ever going to be able to tell her father that she was expecting Kirk’s child.
Kirk took over cleanup duties when they’d finished their impromptu meal. Sally was too tired to argue the point by then. The food had given her a boost, but right now her bed was calling. Once he’d finished, she walked Kirk to the door.
“Thank you for dinner,” she said softly.
“I enjoyed it. I...” He paused a moment as if debating whether or not to say what was on the tip of his tongue. “I enjoy being with you.”
Sally didn’t quite know how to react. He was good company and she felt drawn to him in a variety of ways, but there was so much about him that she didn’t know—or trust. She reached for the door and opened it to let him out.
He was standing close, too close. The lure of his cologne mingled with the heat of his body and wrapped itself around her. She looked up at him and saw the way his pupils dilated as their gazes meshed. She wasn’t sure who moved first, but one moment she was standing there with the door open, the next it was closed and her back was pressed against the wooden surface as his lips hungrily claimed hers.
Eight
She gave a small moan of surrender, and in the next moment he was lifting her as if she weighed nothing, the hard evidence of his arousal pressing against her sex, sending jolts of need through her body.
She wrapped her legs around his hips, pulling him tighter against her. His mouth was hungry and demanding, and she was equally voracious—meeting the questing probe of his tongue with her own, nipping at his lips. Through the cloud of need that gripped her, Sally became aware that she was no longer pressed against the door and Kirk was carrying her in the direction of her bedroom.
He lowered her to her bed and bent over her.
“I want to see you. All of you,” he murmured even as he peppered small kisses along her jaw and down the column of her throat.
She was at a loss for words. One minute they’d been saying goodbye and the next, here they were, tugging each other’s clothing off as if they couldn’t bear to wait another second before they were skin to skin again. Right now, the only thing that mattered was losing herself in his touch, in the sensations that rippled through her body with his every caress.
“Your skin—it’s as soft as I remember,” he said reverently, stroking her underneath her top.
“You remember touching my skin?” she asked on a breathless laugh.
“Among other things.”
“Tell me about those things,” she implored him.
And he did, in clear and graphic detail. Following up every word with a stroke of his tongue on her heated flesh, with the heat of his mouth through her bra as he teased her tightly drawn nipples into aching buds of need, and with the tangle of his fingers as they stroked and coaxed the slick flesh at her core. Her first orgasm rocketed through her body, taking her completely by surprise, but he took his time over coaxing her body to her second.
She continued to shiver in aftershocks of delight beneath the onslaught of his mouth as he traced her every curve. And when his head settled between her thighs, she nearly lifted off the bed as he gently drew the swollen, sensitive bud of her clitoris against his tongue. Her second climax left her weak and trembling against the sheets, and when he shifted slightly to slide on a condom, she laughed.
“Locking the stable door after the horse has bolted?” she teased, reaching for him as he hovered over her again.
“You could say that. Maybe it’s just taking longer for the news to sink in than I thought it would.”
Whatever she’d been about to say in reply fled her mind as he nudged his blunt tip against her entrance and slid deep within her. She rocked against him, meeting his movements—at first slow and languid and then speeding up as demand rose within them both again. This time, when she came, he tipped over the edge with her, and she held his powerful body as paroxysms of pleasure rocked them both.
Minutes later, exhausted, she slipped into sleep, unaware of the man who now cradled her sweetly in his arms.
* * *
Kirk lay there waiting for his heart rate to resemble something close to normal. If he didn’t take care, he’d be the one needing a bed in the cardiac care unit. The dark humor sobered him up immediately. This was Orson Harrison’s daughter he was sleeping with. And while the man was recovering nicely from his heart attack, he still wasn’t back at full strength. He still needed Kirk to carry the load of the company for him. Finding out about the baby had thrown Kirk for a loop, but he couldn’t allow it to make him forget all his other responsibilities.
He allowed his fingertips to trace small circles on Sally’s back as he listened to her deep gentle breathing. Somehow he had to disentangle himself from her warm, languid body and get dressed and get out of here. Put some distance between them so he could clear his head and do the job he was here to do.
Wh
ile it was still possible that Sally was the leak that was passing information on to HTT’s biggest competitor, he no longer wanted to believe that it could be her. Not the mother of his child. Not the daughter of the man he held in higher regard than any other man he’d ever known.
This pregnancy was a messy complication, but they’d work through it. Sally shifted against him, and Kirk found himself curving naturally to her. This wasn’t the action of a man about to leave the woman lying next to him, he warned himself, and yet, try as he might, he couldn’t find the impetus he needed to pull away. Perhaps just this once, he told himself, letting sleep tug him into its hold. It wasn’t the cleverest thing in the world to remain in her bed, but for now it felt like the right thing.
* * *
It was still dark when he woke. Dawn wasn’t far away. Beside him, Sally slept deeply, and he gently extricated himself from their intertwined limbs. His body protested, an early-morning erection telling him that leaving the bed was the last thing he should be thinking about. But he needed to get home to change before getting into the office for an early meeting. And he needed to examine his growing feelings for the woman still slumbering in the mussed-up sheets. He quickly and quietly dressed in his shirt and trousers and, carrying his jacket and shoes in one hand, he made to leave the room.
Something made him look back and take one more look at Sally as she lay there, the sheet halfway down and exposing her back and the curve of a perfectly formed breast. It took all his self-restraint not to drop his things where he stood and move to take her back in his arms.
Work, he told himself. Think of work. He wanted to be in full possession of all his faculties by the time he and Sally crossed paths in the office today. As he left her building and walked toward his car, he saw a town car creep into the visitor parking area. He recognized the man at the wheel as the bodyguard he’d met last night. It made him think. One of Sally’s security team could just as likely be the leak he needed to find and eradicate from HTT. He knew how easy it was to conduct a business call in the back of a car without considering the ears of the person driving.
Benton got out of the vehicle and looked across to where Kirk was parked. The man’s eyes narrowed as he identified him. Taking the bull by the horns, Kirk walked toward him. He didn’t want gossip about his relationship with Sally, such as it was, getting back to the office until she was ready for it to be made public.
“Good morning,” he said to the bodyguard, extending a hand.
Benton’s grasp was firm. Perhaps a little too firm, Kirk judged with an ironic lift of his brow.
“Morning, sir.”
“I trust that Ms. Harrison’s best interests are always at the forefront of your mind, Mr. Benton.”
“Always, sir.”
“Then I hope I can rely on you to keep the fact you saw me here this morning to yourself?”
The man hesitated a moment. “That depends, sir.”
“On?”
“On whether or not you are in her best interests...sir.”
Kirk nodded. “Fair comment. I will never do anything to hurt Ms. Harrison. You can rest assured on that score.”
“Then we don’t have anything to worry about, do we, sir?”
“No, we don’t. Have a good day, Mr. Benton.”
“Just Benton will do, sir.”
Kirk nodded again and returned to his car. Somehow he didn’t think that a bodyguard who took his duty to Sally so seriously could be a mole, but he’d have to check. Both Benton and whoever else ferried her about.
He looked up to Sally’s apartment windows and saw the bedroom light come on. He needed to get going.
* * *
That evening, after work, Benton drew the car to a halt outside the front portico of her father’s house. Sally thanked him and made her way to the door, where the housekeeper stood with a welcoming smile on her face.
“Good evening, Ms. Harrison. Mr. Harrison is in the library waiting for you.”
“How is he today, Jennifer?”
“He’s almost his old self, but we’ve had to remove all the saltshakers from the house.”
Sally gave a rueful laugh. No matter what his cardiologist told him, her father still railed against his new dietary restrictions. “I’m so glad you have his best interests at heart. I don’t know what we’d do without you all.”
“It’s our honor to work for Mr. Harrison. We’re just glad he’s recovering so well.”
“Aren’t we all?” Sally said with a heartfelt sigh.
She made her way to the library, where her father sat before an open fire nursing his one approved glass of red wine a day. He put down his drink when he saw her and rose to give her a welcoming hug. There was nothing quite like it in the world, Sally thought as she allowed her father’s scents and strength to seep into her. And it still terrified her that she’d come so close to losing him.
“Hi, Dad. I hear you’re giving the staff grief about your food again?” she said as they let each other go.
“Just keeping them on their toes,” he said with a gruff laugh. “Can I pour you a glass of wine? This is a very nice pinot noir—you should try it.”
“I—no, not today, thanks, Dad. I’ll just stick with mineral water.”
At some point she was going to have to tell her father why she wasn’t drinking alcohol. She wasn’t looking forward to the revelation, but she certainly wanted him to hear it from her before he had the chance to find out through anyone else. Especially after her fainting spell at work yesterday. Gosh, was it only yesterday? It already seemed a whole lot longer ago.
Her cheeks fired as she remembered exactly what had chased so much of yesterday’s activity from her mind.
“Too hot in here?” her father asked, handing her a glass of water.
“No, no. It’s fine. Lovely, in fact,” she answered, flustered.
“Then what is it? What’s bothering you?”
That was the trouble with being close to your parent, she admitted. They knew you too well and saw too much.
“A few things,” she hedged.
“Is it work? I hear that Kirk has ruffled a few feathers. Glad to hear he’s given your sustainability initiative the green light. It’s about time we did more than just talk in circles about that.”
He’d heard that already? Sally gave an internal groan. What else had he heard?
Knowing her father was expecting a reply, she managed to say, “Well, I always expected some pushback. You didn’t seem so eager to embrace the idea, yourself.”
“Couldn’t be seen to be championing my own daughter, now could I. Had to make you work for what you wanted. I’ve always thought, if you’re passionate enough about something, you’ll make it work.” Orson took a sip of his wine and put the glass back down beside him. “Now, tell me what you think about Kirk.”
Sally felt the burn of embarrassment heat her from the inside out. Ah, yes, Kirk. That would be the man she’d slept with after turning down his proposal, after discovering she was pregnant with his baby. It sounded worse than the plot of a soap opera. She groaned to herself. Her father sat opposite her, clearly awaiting some kind of response from her.
“He seems to be very...focused.”
Orson snorted. “He’s good-looking, isn’t he?”
“Dad!” she remonstrated.
“Focused.” He snorted again. “The man looks as though he stepped off the front cover of GQ magazine, has a Mensa-rated IQ and you tell me he’s focused. You’re attracted to him, aren’t you?”
“Dad, I don’t think...” Sally let her voice trail off.
How did she tell him just how attractive she found Kirk? How he was so irresistible that the first night she saw him, she slept with him? That she’d done the same again last night?
Orson laughed. “I’m sorry, hone
y, can’t help but tease you a little. You’re so buttoned up these days. You can’t blame your father for giving you a little prod. Besides, you can’t argue the truth, can you?”
Sally chose to ignore his question and turned the conversation in another direction.
“Actually, now that you’re better, could you please explain to me just why you brought him into Harrison IT? We were doing okay. We certainly didn’t need to merge with anyone else, did we?”
And she certainly hadn’t needed to merge with Kirk Tanner, but that hadn’t stopped her from doing it again, that pesky little voice inconveniently reminded her.
Orson picked up his wineglass and swirled the ruby-colored liquid around the bowl, staring at it for a while before putting it back down.
“I guess, in part, you could call it guilt. Kirk’s father, Frank, was my best friend in college. We started in business together. But what I didn’t notice was that the man whose partying seemed harmless in college got in over his head when he partied hard in the real world, too. It got to the point where it took a lot of chemical help for him to get through the day. I didn’t realize he was a drug addict until it was too late. By then he had a wife and son, and he was pretty resistant to help. Eventually he agreed to go to rehab, but he never got there. Instead he loaded up on drugs and took a dive off Deception Bridge.”
He fell silent for a while, obviously lost in the pain of his memories. Eventually he drew in a deep breath and huffed it out again.
“I felt responsible. I should have been able to see the problem sooner, step in earlier, help him more.”
“Dad, not everyone wants to be helped.”
“I know that now, but back then I felt like it was all my fault. I did what I could to assist Sandy and Kirk when they relocated to California, and I set up a college fund for the boy. I’ve kept an eye on him. What he’s done pleases me. I guess, in the grand scheme of things, you could say he’s where he’d have been all along if things had gone differently with his father. Merging with Tanner Enterprises was a logical move—gives us both more strength in an ever more competitive market.”
Little Secrets--The Baby Merger Page 8
