by KB Winters
“Sounds smart.”
“What? You agree with her?”
“After what Eve had planned, she’s smart to wait. Especially if there’s a chance she’s not yours.”
“There isn’t.” After seeing Lily and checking the dates of her birth I had no doubts. “I was her first and she was pregnant when she left St. Lucia.” I nodded at Noah’s shocked expression. “She’s worried we’ll come after her, accuse her of trying to get her hands on my money.”
“Isn’t she?”
“Hell, Noah, she never would have told me I had a kid if I hadn’t bought this fucking place! I have a three-year-old daughter.”
“Maybe,” he added again, unhelpfully.
“Look.” I pulled out my phone and brought up the photos I’d snapped at the beach. Lily was a little ham in front of the camera.
Noah whistled. “She’s definitely got those Mahoney blues. Adorable and she has those same dimples Jax does.” He said all the things I’d thought as I spent time with her.
“Bossy like me and curious like Ethan.”
“Yep. She’s a Mahoney,” Noah said as though that settled it.
“Now you see the reason for my mood.”
Noah held up a hand and spoke softly into the phone, sliding it back in his pocket and grinning. “We’ll have the results by the end of the week.”
“Thank you, Noah, but that wasn’t necessary.”
“I’ll take the thank you and you can save the ‘little girl’ shit for your little girl.”
I gave him the finger and he walked away chuckling and shooting me the same in reply. Noah never minced his words, probably a product of being a bachelor and raising his three rambunctious nephews. Most of the time I appreciated his words of wisdom, which for some reason always ended with him questioning someone’s manhood.
And even that made me think of Abby. Want her. Need her deeply. Ever since that kiss at her home I could think of nothing else but burying myself deep inside her beautiful body, and the day in the blue bathing suit proved she could still turn me on. She had sexy curves in all the right places. And I couldn’t wait to explore them, taste them. To hear her scream my name again.
I grew hard just thinking about having her again. Knowing no other man had enjoyed her body the way I had. “Fuck,” I groaned and shifted in my seat.
I needed to see her. Now.
I found Abby in her office two hours later, shoes kicked off, hair tumbling around her shoulders and Azurel Resort jacket hung on the back of her chair. “Abby, we need to talk,” I told her and shut the door behind me, locking it.
“I don’t have time now, Roc.”
“Make time.” Arms crossed, I stood in front of her desk and stared down at her.
She let out a frustrated breath, “I have work to do, Roc. What do you want, anyway? You can’t just burst in here and interrupt my day!”
I grabbed her wrist, resisting her efforts to pull back. “Actually, I can because I’m the boss.”
She growled and the sound shot straight to my cock, filling it with blood until I was hard and aching to bury myself deep inside her. “Then you’d better be here to talk about work.”
“Sorry, sweetheart, but I’m not.” She tried to pull back again and I let her but only because it suited my needs. “I’m here because we need to deal with this thing between us.”
Eyes wide as saucers she stepped back, though the desk still separated us. “The only thing between us is our daughter.”
Our daughter. I wondered if she even realized she’d said it, even though we both knew Lily wasn’t the only one between us. I laughed. “You really believe that?” She nodded, pure defiance blazing in her eyes. “If you do you’re either lying to yourself or full of shit.”
“Did you come in here for a specific reason, Roc?”
Damn right I did. Circling her desk until we stood toe to toe, I gazed down into fiery hazel eyes—angry hazel eyes—and smiled. “Yeah I did. You.”
She put those small and delicate hands on my chest and shoved. “That is not a damn answer!” She pushed me again and I took advantage of her position, pulling her close so I could spear my fingers through her hair with one hand and grab her ass with the other. “Roc,” she warned.
The way she said my name reminded me of all those years ago when I first kissed her. I leaned in the same way I did now and she purred my name the same way. I loved that breathy whisper thing she did. “Abby, you know.” She knew but I could see in her eyes she wouldn’t admit it. Wouldn’t give me any edge or advantage.
“I know this is a bad idea.”
I knew it too. “But none of that matters, right?” I moved closer and closer until her cinnamon scented breath fanned over my face, bringing more memories to the forefront of my mind, memories of our past. She said nothing but I didn’t need her to, I could see her pulse hammering at the base of her throat. She wanted me. And I wanted her more than I wanted my next breath.
“No,” she finally whispered and licked her lips.
That little move was all I needed to swoop in and taste her sweet mouth, run my tongue along that plump bottom lip and then stealing a taste of her top before gliding along the seam of her mouth until she opened. When she finally gasped, I slid in, tangling our tongues and re-exploring the hot moisture of her mouth. Fuck, she tastes better than I remember. She groaned into my mouth and I gulped it down, tightening my hold on her.
Abby’s hands curled into my shirt, her tongue licked at mine. She sucked my tongue like it was my cock and I groaned, feeling her smile against me.
Fuck me, she wanted this too. With that knowledge, both hands skimmed down her body, past the hem of her dress to smooth bare legs and then my hands reversed the trip, smoothing up her legs, caressing her hips.
“Roc,” she hissed reluctantly.
Then it was my turn to smile against her lips as I lifted her up and sat her on the glass desk, stepping between her legs while my fingertips grazed the soft flesh of her inner thigh. “Abby,” I groaned, one hand crawling up her stomach, between the swell of her breasts to lightly grip her throat while the other hand found her hot center and slid inside the wet silk. “So wet already.” My words covered her gasp when one finger slipped into her hot wet cunt.
“Roc,” she pleaded and I obligingly added another finger until they were coated with her cream.
“Abby.” My voice came out harsh, thick with desire. Her eyes opened just then, dark forest green and disoriented with desire. “This,” I held up the fingers that had moments ago been inside her and licked them clean, “isn’t nearly enough for me.”
She released a strangled groan and her head fell back. Reluctant desire. “Dirty.”
“Not yet,” I told her and hooked my ankle around her desk chair, pulling it up and dropping down in it. “But very soon.” Breathing in the scent of her arousal sent my mind reeling, thinking about how it would feel to be deep inside her again. “Up,” I commanded, gripping her silky panties and pulling them down her legs. Like the bastard I am, I shoved them into my pocket and spread her wide, inhaling with a smile. “Abby, look at me.”
She did, a smile curling her mouth up.
“Keep looking, Abby, because I won’t stop until you tell me to. Got it?”
She nodded, her dark gaze trained on my face. My mouth. “Got it.”
I pulled myself as close to the desk as I could get, placing both legs over my shoulders. I couldn’t wait any longer, flattening my tongue I swiped through her folds and she cried out, thighs clenching around me. Losing myself in her taste, her scent, I licked and sucked while she squirmed and pulled my hair. Called my name.
“Roc, please.” That needy little plea snapped a few threads on my tether and my tongue dipped lower, fucking her pussy as her hips ground against my mouth.
“Please what, Abby?” She had always been shy about talking during sex and dirty talk made her blush a beautiful shade of pink. “This?” I asked and thrust my tongue into her over and over a
nd over, loving the way her walls clenched around me.
“Yeah, that.”
“Or maybe, this?” One finger teased her opening as my lips wrapped around her clit, sucking hard and letting my teeth graze that sweet little bundle of nerves. I sucked and sucked each time her cries grew louder, my finger doing nothing more than caressing the nerves at her entrance.
“Oh, Roc!” Her body went rigid, suspended in a long moment of pleasure before convulsions wracked her body.
But my mouth kept moving, although at a much slower pace. Soft and gentle my tongue moved across her sensitive lips.
“Roc, please. Yes!”
She didn’t say stop so I didn’t.
“Fuck! Roc…okay, stop.”
I grinned. “You sure?”
Her gaze narrowed.
I chuckled. “Well, if you’re sure.” I stood, freeing my erection and rubbing it against her until she purred.
“I am.” Heels scraped up the back of my thighs before settling on my ass and giving me an encouraging push. “Now.”
My hips canted forward and a loud growl of pure pleasure escaped at the feel of her, so tight and hot and wet around me. Squeezing me. “Fuck I missed this, Abby. Tell me you did too.” I couldn’t deny the smile of satisfaction that she couldn’t speak, couldn’t voice the words because of just how good it felt. She let out a disappointed whimper when I pulled out, only to slam back in. Deep. Hard.
“Yes, yes,” she moaned over and over, like a song just for me.
I needed more of her. Hell, I needed all of her. Leaning forward until every inch of our bodies pressed together, I captured her mouth as I pounded into her sweet wet pussy, hard and fast to the sound of her mewling cries. The feel of her as she neared orgasm. Pulling back so I could look at her flushed skin, arched back and kiss-swollen lips, my hands gripped the inside of her thighs so I could drive into her in perfect rhythm.
“Oh God, Roc! Please, oh yes!”
Music to my fucking ears. Both thumbs went to that bundle of nerves just below the blonde strip of hair, pressing together while I chased down our pleasure. Moments later my name fell from her lips and hers from mine as I emptied myself into her pulsating cunt. “Fuck, Abby,” I groaned with one final jerk of my hips.
She lay there across her desk, sated and breathless with just a hint of a smile curling her lips. But when Abby looked at me, all I could see was confusion and disappointment. The regret in her eyes.
Ah hell. I didn’t regret it for one second and she did. Already. Well fuck that. “Thanks,” I spat and separated our bodies, tucking my cock back where it belonged and strolling from her office.
Eight
Abby
Thanks. The man had licked and fucked me to within an inch of my life and he’d left me with nothing but a disgusted, “Thanks.” Well, he could shove that thanks so far up his ass, he’d be burping it out for the next twelve months.
That one word had played through my mind like a bad dream in the days following our unfortunate encounter. Unfortunate because it shouldn’t have happened, but of course Roc was a very skilled lover and therefore one hell of a way to break my four-year dry spell. And that bastard thanked me. I had to shake off the constant disgust I felt coursing through me—at both Roc and myself—because thanks to the DNA results arriving in the mail yesterday, he would arrive in less than an hour.
To meet our daughter.
It was the perfect end to a perfectly crappy week. And I had to put on a smile and act like this was good news or else Lily would catch on. Sometimes being the adult sucked. “Lily, come here, please.”
Her little feet smacked against the floor in her rush to get to me because my little girl did nothing slowly. “Yes, Mama?”
I held my arms out and summoned her. “I need to have a talk with you and I need you to listen to me. Do you think you can do that?”
She bobbed her head up and down and then jumped up on my lap, smiling so that every one of her teeth were on display. “Yeah.”
“Remember what I told you about your father?” She’d started asking about him last year when she realized that her friends all had fathers.
“That he would be here if he could but he had a new life when you found out about me.” She practically sang the words she’d heard at least a dozen times.
“That’s right, baby.”
Her little face twisted in a scowl that made me smile because I knew what she’d say next. “I’m not a baby, Mama.”
“Of course not. Anyway, your father is here in Puerto Rico for business and he would very much like to meet you.” Demanded was a more accurate way to describe it but it would be wrong to say that to a little girl. Right?
Her big blue eyes went so round I thought they might pop right out of her head. “My daddy? Here? Here!” She slid from my lap and ran to her room, and I couldn’t tell if she was upset or happy so I followed her down the hall.
“Hey, pumpkin, are you okay?”
She turned her back to her closet filled with clothes, those big sapphire eyes pleading with me. “I want to look pretty for Daddy.”
Something Roc inspired in most females, apparently. Except me, of course. I refused to put on any makeup and my hair had air dried into messy waves. I had on my favorite blue and white polka dot dress and no shoes. But that was me. For Lily I would do whatever I could to make this easier for her. “You’re already pretty, honey, but we’ll find you the perfect thing to wear.”
“The fwowers, Mama.” She pointed at the white dress dotted with sunflowers and I took it down for her.
“With these sandals and I’ll give you two beautiful braids, sound good?” Wearing that beautiful excited smile of hers, she threw off her shorts and tank top and carefully pulled on her new outfit.
After dressing, Lily climbed into my lap so I could braid her hear. “Will my daddy like me?”
“Are you kidding, he’s going to love you.” I had no doubt in my mind about that. The rest however, was up in the air.
“Promise?”
“Of course, but maybe not if you shovel your dinner into your mouth like a wild animal,” I joked with her but truly she ate like a teenage boy.
“He’s eating with us?”
“Yep. So let’s get in the kitchen and you can rip up the lettuce for salad.” Lily’s shoulders fell at the thought of so many vegetables in one dish, and I couldn’t help but laugh as I herded her into the kitchen.
“Cake, Mama, daddies like cake,” she grinned with hopeful eyes.
“Tear the lettuce and we’ll see about cake. Later.”
“Aw man,” she grumbled and climbed up on her chair and tore up the lettuce as though it would bite her.
The fish and shrimp sat in marinade, ready for the grill and the salad only needed to be dressed while the string beans and potatoes roasted in the oven. For dessert, I had Aunt Melanie make Lily’s favorite chocolate brownies with white chocolate. I had a moment to congratulate myself on the meal before the doorbell rang and my daughter tore through the house as though she were being chased.
“Mama, he’s here!”
“Don’t you dare open that door, little girl.”
With a sheepish smile, she let go of the knob and stepped back. “But it’s my daddy,” she pouted.
“You don’t know who it is and that’s why I’m answering the door. Now should I open it or make our guest wait forever?”
She giggled and pointed at the door. “Open it!”
Of course I knew the devil on the other side of the door and no matter how much I wanted to turn back to the kitchen and avoid this night, it meant too much to my daughter. I opened the door with a blank expression and invited Roc inside. And I did it without noticing how incredible he looked in jeans and a lightweight short sleeved shirt that made his eyes pop. Not even one spare glance at those long, strong legs and that perfectly formed ass. Nope.
“Roc! My daddy is coming tonight!”
He squatted down so they were face to face and
grinned. “I know he is. Do you know how I know?”
“No...?”
“Because I’m your daddy.”
“You are?” Her gaze went from Roc to me for confirmation, and I gave her a quick nod before she flung herself into his arms. “Daddy!”
In that moment, I questioned my decision to keep the news of my pregnancy from Roc. Even though I felt certain I’d made the best decision for all of us, seeing them so fascinated with one another gave me a deep sense of regret. He may be a jerk to me but I knew he’d be great with Lily. “Why don’t you show your father your photo albums?”
Reaching for his hand she asked, “Wanna see my room?”
Roc thought for a moment, tapping his chin as though deep in thought. “I don’t know, is it pink?”
With a giggle she told him, “No, it’s purple and blue.”
“In that case, I can’t wait,” he winked and let her pull him down the hall while I returned to the kitchen.
As grateful as I felt that they’d hit it off so well, I didn’t want to see it. I wanted no reminders that I may have made a grave mistake by keeping them apart. I didn’t need any because my mind seemed determined to drill that message into my brain. I set a beer and a cup of juice on the table, unsure when they’d return, but I didn’t have to wait since they did just that a few minutes later.
“Thanks, Mama!”
“You’re welcome, honey.” I put together a light vinaigrette and tossed the salad, listening to father and daughter get acquainted. Lily told him all about her life on the island and even showed off the “tattoo” she’d gotten at the festival last week.
“Mama says I’m too young for a real one,” she pouted.
“She’s right, they hurt a lot.”
Based on the sounds of awe coming from the living room, I knew Roc had showed her the intricately designed tattoo that covered his shoulder and bicep. I hate that I remember that. Most days, especially lately, I wished I didn’t remember a thing of our time together. Or the heartbreak that followed.
