Pregnant with the Werelion King's Cub (Paranormal Werelion Baby Romance) (Howls Romance Book 2)

by Claire Pike

  She slipped her arms around his neck, holding on as he kissed her in a way she couldn’t have imagined. She’d never been kissed before, but she’d fantasized about it hundreds of times. Yet in her fantasies, a kiss was a gentle, tender thing. Merek’s kiss was forceful, powerful. It made her body heat up and her loins tingle with excitement.

  When Merek stepped back, he took her hand and raised it to his lips, planting a kiss on the backs of her fingers. “Come with me,” he said.

  He started to lead her away. Abby glanced over her shoulder and caught sight of Rosie peeking at her through the curtains. She gave her friend a pleading look, not sure what to do. Rosie gestured for her to go, silently urging her to give in to desire and follow Merek wherever he led her.

  Merek led her to the far end of the balcony and then into the ballroom through the second set of glass doors, the ones closest to the ballroom’s entrance. A few steps later they were exiting the ballroom and heading down the hall. Abby took one last glance into the ballroom before she left. Rosie gave her a thumbs-up, but none of the other women in the cleaning crew seemed to have noticed her slipping away.

  Merek led Abby to the elevator. Once they were inside, he pulled a keycard from his jacket pocket. He slipped it into a slot on the control panel and the elevator started rising, taking them all the way up to the penthouse suite.

  Abby stepped into the penthouse, her eyes wide, looking around at the lavish decor. She had never been up to the penthouse. Only the senior members of the hotel staff were ever allowed up here. Everything looked so expensive, from the plush white carpets to the black leather sofa and the huge plasma TV hanging on the wall. She was afraid to touch anything, worried that she would break something she could never afford to pay for.

  Merek started kissing her again, and Abby was swept up in his passion and desire. He led her into the bedroom, his hands starting to roam her body. She tensed up, suddenly scared but filled with desire at the same time. No one had ever touched her like that before. She started trembling. Part of her wanted this. Part of her wasn’t so sure, especially considering she’d only known this man for a few minutes. She didn’t even know his last name.

  A voice in her head told her to stop. Told her that only dirty girls went to bed with men they’d just met.

  The voice sounded too much like her mother. She pushed it away and then pulled off her shirt, giving Merek the clear signal that she was ready and willing.

  He pushed her down onto the bed. The silk sheets felt like heaven against her skin. He started pulling off her pants, then her underwear. Within a few moments, she was naked on the bed, looking up at a large, powerful man standing above her. He was still fully dressed, and somehow that made her feel even more vulnerable. She didn’t know if she’d be able to say no now if she tried. But she wanted to say yes.

  Merek kept his eyes locked on hers as he slowly began pulling off his clothes. Abby stared up at him like a wide-eyed doe, her body shaking from head to toe.

  Once Merek had his shirt off, he knelt on the bed, cupping her cheek with his hand. “It’s okay,” he whispered. “I’m not going to hurt you.”

  She couldn’t find her voice. She licked her lips, searching for words. Unable to speak, she simply nodded.

  Merek caressed her cheek, studying the look in her eyes. His expression softened. “My dear, are you nervous? I thought that you…” He looked away, his eyes suddenly filled with shame.

  “No, it’s okay,” she quickly said, reaching up to turn his face back toward her. “I…I want to. It’s just…”

  “Just what?”

  “I’ve…well, I’ve never…”

  She looked away, too ashamed to finish the sentence. Merek ran his fingers through her hair and planted a gentle kiss on her forehead.

  “You’re a virgin?” he whispered softly in her ear.

  She nodded.

  “Is this what you want?”

  She looked up at him, meeting his eyes again. She nodded. She didn’t want to let her fears ruin this.

  “I’ll be gentle,” Merek said, leaning her back down onto the bed. He climbed on top of her, positioning himself between her legs. She lay there as still as possible, frightened and unsure what to do. She had been raised to think a woman’s role in sex was to let the man have his way with her. She held still, ready to do just that.

  But Merek had other ideas. He gently took her hands and moved them to his belt. He waited, letting her take her time. She slowly undid his belt, fumbling a bit when her hands started to shake. Merek planted gentle kisses on her face, soothing her. Slowly, she started to relax. Then she reached inside Merek’s pants, feeling his hardness through the silken material of his boxers.

  He tensed when she touched him there, and she hesitated. But then she saw the lustful look in his eyes. She rubbed him gently through his boxers, smiling when she saw the desire in his eyes. He grunted softly when she hit a certain spot, and she rubbed there harder, feeling pleased with herself that she could elicit such a reaction from him.

  Merek leaned back on his knees, pulling the rest of his clothes off. Abby stared at the hard flesh in front of her eyes. She reached out, slowly, hesitantly, and wrapped her fingers around it.

  Merek smiled at her and slid his hands through her hair. Then his grip tightened and he pulled her head forward. She had no choice but to open her mouth and take him inside, her lips stretching around his massive girth.

  Abby gagged a bit, but Merek was gentle, just as he’d promised. He held her head and caressed her cheek, guiding her motions as she slid her lips back and forth over his hard cock. She slowly became more confident, watching and listening for signs that she was doing something right. She smiled around her mouthful when her tongue hit a certain spot and brought a sharp moan from Merek. She was eager to do a good job, and she worked hard to make sure he wouldn’t be disappointed in her.

  Eventually Merek pulled back away from her. She looked up at him, a slight frown touching her lips, worried that she’d done something wrong. But he pushed her back down onto the bed and climbed on top of her. She gasped and clung to him, her eyes wide. She winced in anticipation when she felt his hardness pressing against her pussy, and she whimpered in pain when he started to push himself inside.

  Merek gently kissed her face and stroked her hair, helping her to relax. As the tension slowly faded from her body, he pushed in deeper, bringing a surge of wonderfully delicious pain. She buried her face against his neck, muffling her moans against his skin. Before she knew it, he was all the way inside of her, taking her in the way no one ever had before.

  She lay back on the silk sheets, looking up at Merek and running her hands across his muscular chest. He leaned back and held her legs up, driving himself deeper inside of her. Abby panted and whimpered with each thrust, not sure how much more she could take. The feelings building inside of her were so intense.

  Soon Merek’s movements became more urgent and forceful, and Abby couldn’t hold back her moans any longer. She grabbed Merek’s shoulders and pulled him down tight against her, holding on for dear life as he fucked her harder and harder. She closed her eyes, focusing on the wonderful sensation of being filled. Then Merek started to grunt and moan, his body tensing up. She looked at his face, her eyes wide with the realization of what was about to come. His eyes locked onto hers, filled with feral desire, and he let out a cry of ecstasy with one final thrust as he filled her with his seed.

  Abby lay there, gasping for air, feeling helpless and powerless and immensely fulfilled. Merek rolled off of her, leaning his head back against the pillow. He didn’t say anything, and she wasn’t sure what to say herself. She wanted to ask him if she had been any good, but she didn’t want to seem foolish and childish.

  She stared at the ceiling for a long time, her body still warm and trembling. Eventually she heard Merek start to snore. She watched him sleep for a few minutes, wondering what she should do. Should she leave? Should she stay? Would he want her gone, now that he was d
one with her, or would he want more, to hold her all night long?

  Then she remembered that she was still on the clock. She’d been gone for almost an hour. If she didn’t get back down to help with the rest of the cleanup, she could get fired.

  Abby slowly and quietly slipped out of the bed, searching for her clothes and gathering them up. She glanced back at Merek’s sleeping form, wondering if she should wake him and tell him she was leaving, or maybe leave him a note with her phone number. But she was convinced he’d never want to see her again. He was rich, and possibly a politician or something, as far as she knew. She was a poor girl who worked on the cleaning staff. She couldn’t give herself any illusions about what this night had meant.

  She slipped out into the other room and quickly got dressed. Then she headed for the elevator. She pressed the button and stood there with her eyes closed, counting the moments. She’d rather Merek not wake up. Better to be gone before there were any awkward goodbyes.

  The elevator arrived and she hurried inside, pressing the button rapidly until the door closed. She headed back down to the ballroom and opened the door, peeking inside. The cleaning crew was still at work. Most of the dishes, trash, and confetti had been cleared away, and they were now mopping the floors and wiping down all the tables.

  She slipped over to the glass door and out onto the balcony, retrieving her smock and putting it back on. Then she got right back to work, sweeping up the balcony. She saw the champagne bottle and glasses, still sitting on the railing where Merek had left them. It seemed like that had been another time, another world. She almost didn’t want to believe it had been real.

  She grabbed the bottle and the glasses and then carried them inside with her broom and dustpan. On her way to the kitchen to drop the glasses off, Rosie intercepted her, a huge, mischievous grin on her face.

  “So?” Rosie asked, keeping her voice down to a whisper. “What happened? Did you…y’know?”

  Abby smiled bashfully, looking around to make sure no one else was listening. She gave a shy little nod. “Yeah.”

  “Awesome! How was it?” Rosie’s grin widened as she awaited all the sordid details.

  Abby glanced back at the balcony. She could still taste Merek’s lips on hers. Still feel the ache between her legs. She shivered from head to toe.

  “It was amazing,” she said.

  Chapter Two

  The next morning before work, Abby got up and looked at herself in the mirror. She felt like she should look different now, somehow. Older, maybe. More mature. Or like she had blossomed somehow. But she was still the same old Abby—dull brown hair, brown eyes, plain and ordinary. The only real difference was that she’d gotten laid last night.

  Remembering last night brought a smile to her face. But her good mood was short lived because she had to go work an opening shift running the drive-through. She headed into work, putting on a pot of coffee as soon as she got there. She spent the first hour or so stocking up all the paper cups, ketchup packets, and napkins, only getting a few customers here and there. Not many people came out before six in the morning, and the ones who did usually just wanted coffee. Once she got everything stocked up and ready for the day, she usually spent a lot of time standing around. And since the restaurant had a newspaper delivered every morning, she always stole the crossword puzzle.

  She was standing in the back drive-through window a couple of hours later, bored and sleepy, when she got a text message from Rosie.

  Girl, did you see the news this morning?

  Abby frowned at the text. It included a link to a news article on a tabloid site. She didn’t usually bother reading the tabloids; she didn’t really care much who Kim Kardashian was sleeping with, or whether Taylor Swift had broken up with her latest celebrity boyfriend. But she clicked on the link anyway, curious what had gotten Rosie so excited.

  She had to read the article’s headline three times before it started fully sinking in: “Billionaire Merek Armstrong Caught with Another Woman on the Night of his Engagement.”

  At the top of the page was a grainy picture of her and Merek, standing on the balcony last night, in the middle of a passionate kiss.

  Abby’s heart caught in her throat as she stared at the picture. She couldn’t believe what she was seeing. Not only that she’d been caught with Merek, which would have been embarrassing enough. But that he was engaged.

  The article told her the real story about last night. Merek—who she now realized owned the hotel she worked at—had hosted the fundraiser for a wildlife preservation society. Also attending the event had been Caroline Montgomery, a former supermodel who now worked as spokesperson for the preservation society, which raised millions of dollars each year to help protect endangered species and prevent urban development of some of the nation’s oldest forests. According to the article, the fundraiser had also doubled as an engagement party, where Merek and Caroline had announced their impending marriage.

  Abby felt sick to her stomach. She remembered how forlorn Merek had seemed, standing out there on the balcony. How he’d said the champagne had originally been for two. For him and Caroline, he’d meant. And for whatever reason, she had stood him up. And then he’d taken advantage of Abby. Of the naive young girl who had been too stupid to realize what she was doing.

  The second half of the article went on to theorize about the mystery figure Merek had been seen with on the balcony. The picture was too blurry to make out her face, or Merek’s for that matter. It looked like it had been taken from the roof of one of the nearby buildings. At least the blurry image meant that she was safe from being identified by the press, though that was a small comfort compared to the heartache she was feeling about the way she’d been used. She had given herself, given her virginity, to a man who was engaged. It didn’t matter that he’d been stood up by his fiancée. She didn’t care about how hurt he might have been last night. It was no excuse. The very idea of what she’d done disgusted her.

  She had a hard time concentrating for the rest of her shift. At the end of the day, all she wanted to do was to go home, take a nice, long shower, and go to sleep until the end of time. But then she remembered she was supposed to work a night shift at the hotel tonight.

  She got into her car and sat there in the parking lot, imagining what it would be like to walk back into the Armstrong Resort Hotel after her humiliation at the hands of Merek Armstrong. The longer she thought about it, the more she realized she could never do it.

  She pulled out her phone and called Rosie.

  “Hey,” Rosie said when she answered the phone. “How are you doing? That article was crazy, right?”

  Abby took a deep, shuddering breath. She wasn’t going to let herself cry over this. “Yeah. Crazy.”

  “How are you holding up? Don’t beat yourself up over it. That guy was a schmuck.”

  Abby was silent for a long moment. She didn’t know what to say.

  “You there, girl?”

  “I can’t come to work tonight,” Abby said.

  “Oh. Yeah, well, I guess that makes sense. Want me to cover for you?”

  “No,” Abby said. “No, just tell Nicole I’m quitting.”

  “What? Abby, that’s crazy. Don’t you need this job?”

  “I’ll find another one.” She stared out the window at the back of the restaurant. She was ready to quit both of her jobs after the day she’d had. “I can’t go back there. Not now. God, Rosie, he owns the damn hotel!”

  “Yeah. Yeah, I guess that is pretty nuts. God, girl, I’m so sorry.”

  “It’s okay.” Abby wiped the moisture from her eyes. She wasn’t going to cry.

  “Is there anything I can do to help?” Rosie asked. “I have some friends at other places in the city. Maybe I can ask them if there are any openings.”

  “Yeah. Yeah, that’d be great. Thanks.”

  There was silence for a minute. Then Rosie said, “Abby, don’t hate yourself. Hate him. Okay?”

  “Yeah. Sure.”

&
nbsp; “I’ll come by your place after work tonight. I’ll bring ice cream and wine.”

  “Thanks. That sounds good.” It didn’t feel very good, but Abby wasn’t sure what she was supposed to be feeling. Hurt? Humiliated? Mostly she just felt empty and worn out.

  “I’ll see you tonight,” Rosie said. “Take care of yourself.”

  “Yeah. Bye.”

  Abby headed home, and she made it all the way there without crying. When she got inside, she went straight to bed, stopping just long enough to pull off her work uniform and throw it into the trash, along with her housekeeper’s smock. Then she crawled into bed, hugging her stuffed triceratops against her chest.

  She didn’t let herself cry. But even without tears, she felt completely crushed.

  Chapter Three

  Abby paced back and forth in her living room, wringing her hands. Rosie sat on the couch, watching her as she moved from one end of the cramped apartment to the other, over and over again.

  “It’s probably done by now,” Rosie said.

  “Are you sure?” Abby stopped pacing just for a moment and frowned at her friend. “I mean, what if we check too soon and we mess something up?”

  “Honey, it’s a pregnancy test, not an apple pie. You can’t mess it up.”

  “Oh, hell,” Abby said, rubbing her hands down her face. “I can’t deal with this.”

  “Fine,” Rosie said, getting up and heading for the bathroom. “I’ll check it.”

  “No!” Abby followed after her, but Rosie didn’t stop. She headed into the bathroom and grabbed the pregnancy test off the counter.

  “What does it say?” Abby asked, afraid to look at it.

  “It says you’re pregnant.”

  Rosie showed her the stick. There were two little pink lines showing in the little window.

  “That can’t be right,” Abby said, grabbing the instructions and reading them over again.