"You're beautiful, don't worry about it," Ethan said automatically, his eyes still glued to the stick.
"I don't need your money," Nyla said as she started dabbing at her face with a tissue to fix her makeup. "I thought you had the right to know, and be involved if you wanted to be involved. I plan on keeping it. I am willing to let you sign over your rights if you don't want anything to do with the child. I promise you I didn't mean for this to happen, I'm still not sure how it happened, but—"
"Shut up Nyla," Ethan told her, looking up at her. "I never thought you'd do this to trap me, you're not that kind of woman. Why do you think I wanted to spend more time with you?"
Nyla blinked at him, her hand frozen against her face as she just stared at him in shock.
"I should have been there, when you peed on this stick. You shouldn't have had to do that alone. Of course I want to be involved, and I think we should get married. A child needs two parents, even better if one of those parents can stay home with the child during the first few years." Ethan told her, pausing and then added, "Of course, I wouldn't dream of making you quit your career if you insisted on working. I just think a kid needs a parent around when they are little."
Nyla didn't know what to say at first. This felt like too good to be true.
"What's the catch?" Nyla asked, suspiciously, having a hard time believing that any man could be this decent, this honest after a one night stand.
"No catch, Nyla, I wanted to date you. I was planning on coming here to tell you I wasn't going to take no for an answer, and I was going to put pressure on you to say yes. This just speeds up my plans a little bit. I haven't been able to stop thinking about you. I want you to be with me because you want to be, I won't force you into a relationship you don't want." Ethan looked at her and then got up and walked around the table and wrapped his arms around her and pulled her out of the chair to hug her. "I could love you if you let me. You deserve better than your ex husband, and you've worked hard for everything you have. I admire you. You don't need me, but let me be there for you. I want to be there for you. It's not a weakness to let other people be close to you, or to rely on them. It's okay to let someone love you."
"I'm not worried about love Ethan. We come from different roads in life. You're from a rich family, old money, I'm just a lawyer. Sure, I make okay money, but I'll never be from the same class of people you're used to." Nyla said, "I don't want to embarrass you."
"Nyla, sweetie, you could never embarrass me. Okay, maybe if you walked around in public completely naked and drunk, that might embarrass me, but you wouldn't do that, would you?" Ethan whispered in her ear as he pressed a kiss to her temple.
"No! Of course not!" Nyla responded, trying to picture the scenario in her head and then shook her head when she realized how ridiculous it sounded.
"Then you have nothing to worry about." Ethan smiled at her and kissed her lips gently before pulling away. "I want to be involved, even if we don't work out relationship wise, I want to be your friend. Will you give me a chance to be your friend, and possibly more?"
"I can handle being your friend Ethan, if you want to be involved, I'd like that." Nyla told him, and then wrapped her arms around him and let him comfort her. He smelled good and she buried her face against his chest. Nyla was pressed up against him and could feel his cock twitch through his pants. She didn't comment about it, but she did shift subconsciously against him, pressing herself harder.
"Nyla, we have a lot to talk about, and holding you like this makes me want to take you right here on your desk. We should probably go to lunch." Ethan whispered and met her gaze when she tilted her head back to look at him.
"My door locks." Nyla said and startled when he abruptly let go of her and locked the door and came back. Nyla grabbed the files off her desk and set them behind her on the book shelf and let him push her against the desk and kiss her.
His hand touched her through her pants as he rubbed his fingers against her.
"Do you know how badly I've wanted to just stop at your house and make love to you?" Ethan told her as he pressed kisses against her neck and chin and nibbled with his teeth as he unbuttoned her shirt, reliving a lace black bra that barely covered her nipples.
"My breasts are already bigger, it's the only bra I had that fit right now, everything else is too small," Nyla said stuttering a little as his other hand came up to grope her through the lace cups.
"I like it," Ethan said, grinning as he fondled her larger, fuller breasts. Brushing his fingers over the top, he watched her hiss a breath in as he touched her nipples. "Sensitive?"
"Very," Nyla said and then started undoing his belt buckle and then opening his jeans. She pulled his cock out of his pants and wrapped her hand around him and stroked him with her fingers and palm.
Ethan shut his eyes for a moment, his hand frozen on her breast as she squeezed and played with him. He liked the way it felt.
Unbuttoning her work pants, he pulled them down her legs until she stepped out of them after kicking off her shoes. Her lace panties matched her bra and he carefully pulled them down so he wouldn't rip another pair of her undies.
Ethan pushed her hand away, not wanting to cum on her fingers and took a deep breath to settle the feeling in his balls and tension that had been building from her playing with him.
"I guess we don't need condoms anymore," Nyla said and then shook her head and let out a small laugh before he kissed her again.
"I'm going to fuck you now Nyla, and then we are going out to lunch and we'll figure the rest of this out one day at a time." Ethan told her, determined to earn her trust. He'd decided she was the woman he wanted, and while a child right now wasn't the way he'd wanted to go about it, he had no qualms using the pregnancy to get close to her so he could get her to fall in love with him.
He pushed his cock inside her, moaning when he found her already wet, and fucked her against the desk, with one of her legs wrapped around his waist as he slid between her folds in and out of her. His hands played with her breasts and he dipped his head to kiss her mouth with ardent passion.
Nyla let herself get swept away by the lustful emotions and feelings he was causing in her, and let the sensitivity from her pregnancy increase her reactions to the sex. Everything felt more swollen, and more intense right now, it didn't take her long to cum around his cock, getting her juices on the edge of her desk and thighs.
Ethan stiffened when he felt her cum, he'd already been close from her playing with his cock with her beautiful hands, and her pussy squeezing him tight over and over again as she came sent him over the edge to his own orgasm.
Breathing heavily, he touched his forehead to hers, not breaking their union. Right this second, he was just glad to be with her, glad to have an excuse to keep chasing after her, and a reason why she might give in to him and learn to love him over time.
When he met her that night, something about her made him want to save her, she might have needed rescued from a gang of bikers, but she was a capable, beautiful, intelligent woman who could hold her own, and was a wildcat in bed.
Her ex husband was a moron. She deserved better than that, and he intended to be the man to give her everything she deserved.
They eventually broke apart, cleaned up the mess and got dressed to go to lunch.
"When is your first prenatal appointment?" Ethan asked her as he escorted her out to her car for lunch.
"Next week." Nyla told him and then hesitated, "Do you want to be there?"
"I wouldn't miss it for the world." Ethan promised her grinning and squeezed her hand gently.
"Okay. I can handle this." Nyla told him. "One day at a time, right?"
"Yes, no pressure, we'll just let things develop naturally." Ethan promised her.
"Okay, but my mom is going to want to meet you," Nyla said and shook her head after she thought about it for a minute. "She's probably going to threaten to shoot you if we don't get married."
"I can handle an irate mom. Beside
s, I'd be more than happy to tell her I'll marry you as soon as you’re willing!" Ethan teased her.
"Don't encourage her. She'd love nothing more to see me pop out ten babies and never work again," Nyla said and then shuddered. "Two or three would be nice, but I still want a career down the road when they are older."
"I can live with that Nyla, we'll make this work. I promise, just trust me okay?" Ethan brought her hand to his mouth and kissed her finger tips as he searched her face.
Nyla looked him in the eyes and then smiled gently. "I do trust you Ethan. You had me from the moment you saved me in that bar."
"I have a feeling you would have found a way out of it if I hadn't." Ethan admitted, "But I didn't want to risk it."
"I had pepper spray in my purse." Nyla confided in him, "But it was a lot hotter to let you rescue me. Besides, I was trying to figure out how to invite you home from the moment you walked in."
Ethan laughed and wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her. "I'm not sure I totally believe you, but if that's what you tell yourself, I can live with it."
Nyla smiled against his lips as she kissed him back with wanton abandon. She never needed a man, but this man, she could want, and definitely learn to love if she let herself.
"You're right. I needed you to rescue me, thank you Ethan." Nyla said and touched his cheek for a moment before a car alarm going off broke their connection.
"Anytime, Nyla, anytime." Ethan said grinning, and opened the car door for her.
THE END
Snowed In With A Billionaire
Another participant had just dialed in. "Good afternoon. May I have your name and title?"
"Bill McConnell, CEO."
"Thank you, Mr. McConnell, you are now checked into the sub-conference. Is there anything you need?"
"I was about to ask you the same question. Do you have everything you need?"
"Yes, thank you sir, I believe I do." The IR guy and call leader, Donnie Kingman, had spent ten minutes giving her updates to her script and griping about how much he hated earnings calls. She didn't say that, though. Rather she replied, "I have all the updates Mr. Kingman, and nearly all the participants have checked in. I expect the rest will be dialing in any moment now."
"Good. Good. And your name is?"
"Amanda." She could hear the scratch of pen on paper.
"I like to know so we can use your name during the call, Amanda" he explained. "I think it makes us seem friendlier, more personal."
"I agree, sir."
"This is your first time with Forlanie, isn't it? Are you new?"
"Yes, sir. And this is my first earnings call," she said, neatly avoiding the wider aspect of his question. It was her first week working as a conference operator. This was, in fact, her first really big, important call. She'd done a couple of inter-office calls for various companies, but that was just signing people in and making sure the right people got heard at the right time. This call was different, and though she'd never have admitted it to a stranger, particularly one who was paying her salary, Amanda was a little nervous.
"Don't let anyone rattle you. Sometimes the callers can be aggressive. Just be firm with them. Donnie will give you your cues. He's very good about that even if he does come across like a cranky bear."
"Good to know. Thank you." She did appreciate the pep talk and the humor. Mr. McConnell had a nice, baritone voice, and it calmed her.
"Good, well done. I'll let you go about your business, now, and talk to you on the other side."
"Thank you, sir."
Once she'd put him on music hold, Amanda went down her checklist of things to do. She double-checked the script, signed a few more people into the conference, and went over the company roster of speakers. It lacked a minute to the start time, and one of the management speakers still hadn't checked in with her. At ten she made a quick announcement about checking in more participants, and paged Donnie Kingman, a tenor with a light Texas accent and a gruff manner.
"Are you not ready to start?" he asked. He sounded miffed.
"Mr. O'Dowd hasn't checked in yet, Mr. Kingman." she told him. O'Dowd was the Chief Operations Officer.
"Oh for Chrissake, he's forgotten to dial in again. I'll take care of it."
A minute later the COO dialed into the sub conference, and Kingman said, "Let's get rolling. Time is money."
Amanda took a deep breath. "Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to Forlanie Resort Group's twenty-fifteen fourth quarter and year-end earnings conference call," she said into her microphone. "At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the opening remarks, management will be available for questions. As a reminder, this call is being recorded. And now I would like to turn the conference over to Mr. Donald Kingman, Director of Investor Relations for Forlanie. Please go ahead, Mr. Kingman."
"Thank you, Amanda," Kingman said, and Amanda switched off her mic and sat back with a sigh. She'd done it perfectly and had sounded very professional. She was grateful to have done a little voice-over work in commercials in the past. It had taught her how to read through practically anything.
She listened to the opening remarks, following the outline she'd been given. After Kingman spoke, Mr. McConnell took the floor. He had a nice voice, too, kind of dark and a little rough as if he'd just been sipping brandy. She was sensitive to voices because she'd done so much voice work over the last few years. Bill McConnell could have done voice-overs if he wasn't CEO of some big company. If he was ever desperate for money he could record sexy audio books. Not that a guy as wealthy as Bill McConnell would ever have to scratch for a living.
The financial guy spoke after McConnell. He had an unfortunate voice thanks to a combination of a heavy New York accent, and a tendency to speak much too fast. He also sounded kind of spitty to Amanda, the sort of guy who sprayed when he talked. By comparison to McConnell, the poor guy sounded like someone's idiot cousin.
Someone else spoke after Mr. Spitty, and then turned the call over to McConnell for a few final remarks. When he finished, she would be starting the question and answer session, so she perked up a bit.
"And now we'd like to open up the call to your questions," McConnell said. "Over to you, Amanda."
"Thank you, sir," she said. She gave the instructions and introduced the first caller in the queue. While she was checking in another research analyst, she heard McConnell's voice sharpen, and her attention snapped back to what was being said.
"I think we've answered that same question several times, Duncan. If you haven't got anything else, we need to move along, and give someone else a chance to ask a question."
The analyst kept on talking, becoming increasingly hostile and demanding.
Kingman paged her and said, "Cut off Duncan Lansdale and don't let him back into the queue."
"Yes, sir." Amanda hit the disconnect button and grabbed her list. "And the next call is from the line of..." She read the name and affiliation, and connected the caller. Her heart was racing, but she'd done just what she'd been asked. She felt like she was part of the team now.
The call went on for another quarter of an hour, though without any further incidents, until there were no more callers in her queue. Lansdale had dialed in twice after being disconnected, but Amanda simply closed the line on him.
"I'm showing no further calls at this time," she announced. "I'd like to turn the call back to Mr. McConnell for closing remarks."
"Thank you Amanda. And I'd like to thank..." She was almost there. The call was nearly over, and she hadn't made any gaffes. McConnell finished, and Amanda slipped back into the conference with a serene closing.
"That does conclude our conference for today. Thank you for attending, and have a wonderful day." She clicked the music back on, and sat back with a sigh. That was it. She'd done it. Her first real conference call and she'd come through like a trooper.
Someone was paging her. "Yes? Hello?"
"It's Bill McConnell again. Thanks for all your hel
p."
"It was my pleasure, Mr. McConnell."
"You're a very good operator."
Amanda could feel her face grow hot. "I appreciate that, sir."
"You have a good voice, too, trained. Are you an actress?"
“Not really. I’ve done a couple of commercial voice-overs, but nothing more."
"Do you have ambitions in that direction?” he asked.
“No. I’m content to use my voice when I need to, but the acting life isn’t really for me.”
There was an awkward pause. "Well, I wanted to say thank you, and well done."
"Thank, you sir. It was a pleasure."
He closed the connection. Amanda was surprised to find that it made her a little sad to hear him go. He had such a nice voice.
"Why are you staring at the strawberries?" Helen was looking over Amanda's shoulder. "Oh gosh, I can smell them from here. You should get some. I'm going to."
"I haven't been able to afford them for so long," Amanda said.
"All the more reason." Helen grabbed a box and inspected it. "They look nice, too. Nothing mushy on the bottom. That's the worst."
"Y'know," Amanda said as she chose a box of berries for herself. "I didn't really mind being poor, and I sure don't mind working. I think everyone needs to work. But I just hated working and being poor."
Helen smiled and nodded. She'd been there, too, but had moved on from waiting tables to a fairly well-paying job at an insurance company. They shared an apartment, and for months Amanda hadn't been able to do more than pay her share of the rent and utilities.
ROMANCE: THE SHEIKH'S GAMES: A Sheikh Romance Page 32
