STEELE
Eight months have passed and Arsen did manage to knock me up again. Another boy is heading our way, and it seems he plans on making his debut earlier than expected.
With our other kids safe with Kip and Peyton, Arsen is speeding towards the hospital. “You okay over there, Momma?”
“The contractions are getting much stronger. I’m pretty sure little Brody is about to enter the world. Just hope we make it to the hospital and you don’t have to deliver this baby in the back of the suburban.” I look over my shoulder and see some toys on the back seat.
His laugh comes out nervous. “Please hold on, Baby.”
“I’m really trying. I promise I am.”
The pain is ramping up and I have a bad feeling. The other two deliveries were nothing like this. Then warm liquid gushes out of me.
“Fuck!”
Arsen’s head snaps as he looks at me. “That did not sound good!”
“My water broke. What a mess!” Tears just start pouring out of me. “The car’s ruined. I’m probably going to mess it up even more by having our baby in it. Arsen, I’m so sorry.”
“You don’t have to cry. It will clean up or I’ll get us a new one, Baby. Don’t cry.” He rakes his knuckles across my cheek.
“But it’s not going the way we planned at all.”
“Nothing ever does, Baby.” He laughs and takes my hand just as another contraction hits and this one hurts like hell.
I squeeze his hand as it makes me scream. Arsen shouts, “Breathe, Baby!”
It ends and I take in a breath. “Arsen, hurry!”
“Hang on, please hang on!”
He puts his emergency flashers on and speeds up. Moving in and out of traffic as fast as possible. But I don’t think it’ll be fast enough as another contraction hits me hard.
I remember to do the breathing and get through it but feel more fluid pushing out of me. The next one hits only seconds after that last one. I turn to look at him as the sun’s last rays leave the sky. “Pull over.”
“No! No, no, no!” Arsen’s hands grip the wheel. “Shit!”
He hits the ‘On’ star button. A friendly woman’s voice asks, “Hello, Mr. Sloan. How can I help you this evening?”
“My wife is having a baby and I’m on the 101. Is there a hospital anywhere near my location?”
“The nearest hospital is thirteen point seven miles away. With the traffic in your area, your ETA is twenty minutes,” she says.
He looks at me and I shake my head as another contraction hits me. Through gritted teeth I say, “I don’t have that long.”
The nice lady tells us, “Take the next exit. There is a convenient store where you can pull into the parking lot. I will alert 911 of the emergency and your location. I’m connecting you to emergency services to talk you through the delivery, Mr. Sloan. Good luck, Mrs. Sloan. And congratulations to you both.”
“Thank you,” we both say.
Another pain hits me as he takes the exit and I notice his knuckles are white as they grip the steering wheel.
“It’ll be okay,” I tell him. “At least, you’ve seen this done twice before.”
“I never really paid attention to what the hell was going on down there. I was always so focused on you and keeping you calm. Shit! Why didn’t I ever pay attention to all that? Crap! Fuck me, Baby. I’m so fucking nervous!”
“Arsen. You have to get a grip! I need you to be that in control man you’re so good at being. Find that guy, quick.”
I watch him swallow hard and he pulls into the parking lot and pulls to the side of the store. I can hear sirens but they’re far away. He gets out and opens the back door.
Arsen tosses the toys off the back seat and then opens my door and picks me up and places me in the back seat. He pulls out a blanket from the far back. One we used when we went on a picnic last week.
He drapes it over me as he moves my legs to bend my knees. Then he pulls me forward until my ass is at the edge of the seat. Out of the glove box, he pulls out a pocket knife and cuts my panties off at each side.
“Glad you wore a dress, Baby,” he says. “And our son has a head full of dark hair.”
“How do you know he’ll have hair? Brady was born bald as they come.”
“Because I’m looking at the top of his little head.” He looks up at me and smiles. All calm, all cool, all in control.
That’s my man!
The sirens are getting closer and a voice comes over the car speakers.
“Hello, Mr. Sloan?”
“I’m here,” he answers,
“How’s it going? I’m Donny, the EMT headed your way. How’s our mommy doing?”
“I’ve been better,” I say then groan with another contraction.
“I have the top of the baby’s head in view, Donnie,” Arsen says.
“Well then, do you have anything to catch this kid with?”
Arsen pulls a baby blanket out of the bag I packed a few days ago when I started getting things together for my trip to the hospital I hadn’t planned on taking for another month.
“How about a baby blanket?” he asks.
“It’ll help. Babies can be pretty slick and hard to hold onto. So use it to ease the baby out with the next few contractions. Do not pull on it. Are we on time or early or late or what?”
Arsen answers as I get ready to push with the next contraction. “We are a month early and it’s a boy we’re having.”
“A month, huh? Be advised we will be taking the baby and Mommy with us as soon as we get there so the child can be taken care of ASAP. Okay, Daddy?”
“Got it.” Arsen looks at me. “I’ll be right behind you, Baby. Don’t worry.”
I nod and say, “Get ready, Arsen. I think this is it!”
He looks at me and says, “I love you, Steele. Get ready to see Brody.”
I scream out with the contraction. “I love you, Arsen!”
It seems like an eternity then I hear the little cries of Brody and look to find Arsen with tears flowing down his cheeks as he looks at the red, little, wrinkly thing in his hands.
“Hi, Son. How are you doing this fine evening?” He sniffles and holds him up. “Look who’s here, Momma.”
I smile and lie back and take a deep breath as I hear the sirens pull in and stop next to us.
Thank you, God!
ARSEN
“And that’s how Daddy was the first person to ever get to hold you, Brody.” I rock my son in the nursery we made just off our bedroom.
Brody and Steele were able to come home after just a few days at the hospital and the little guy has grown to a decent ten pounds in the last couple of months since his birth in the parking lot of ‘Habeeb’s Fine Merchandise, Beer, and Cigarettes.’
Brady has told us he’s kind of jealous of his baby brother because he was on the news the night he was born. Seems the kid was born to be in the spotlight.
The sound of footsteps come into our bedroom and I look up to see Steele making her way towards us. “Did you get him to sleep?”
I nod. “He likes to hear his story. He falls right to sleep every time.”
“Glad he does for you. Man, that colic he has, drives me crazy. Thanks for taking him. I was at my wits end.” She runs her hand over my shoulder as she walks behind me and readies his crib.
“I’m glad he needs me like he does.” I get up and take him to lie him down. “He makes me feel special.”
After I place him gently in the crib and cover him up I turn to find Steele with her arms wide open. I grab them and pull her to me and hug her with a little swaying motion.
“I think you’re special too, Mr. Sloan.”
I kiss the top of her head and inhale the sweet smell of watermelon. “New shampoo, Honey?”
“Yes, Trace and I like it. Don’t you?” She looks up at me with a grin.
“All those expensive hair products I buy you and you use the kid’s shampoo.” I shake my head at her.
“Tra
ce likes our hair to smell the same way. What can I say?”
I put my arm around her and we leave the room and go to our bedroom. “I say, you’re a sweet mommy to do that for your daughter.”
“Trace and Brady want you to give them good-night kisses, but I already read them a book and told them you were taking the Brody shift this time. I’ll be waiting for you in our bed and just a little reminder. The doc approved sexual activities for me today.” She winks at me. “If you feel like it. I get it if you don’t.”
I pull her close to me and kiss her lips softly. “You get it, if I don’t?”
She nods. “Yeah. That was pretty gross what you had to see when you delivered the baby. My doctor said sometimes it takes dads a little while to put what they saw out of their minds. I understand. I won’t hold it against you, Arsen.”
“Baby, there is not a thing in the world that would make me think you unattractive. That was a scary but beautiful experience. If anything, it made me respect you even more. Your body had to morph to bring our children into this world. It makes me love you even more to know the torture you would go through to give me children.” I kiss her again.
Steele’s hands run over my cheeks. “You are too good, Arsen. Almost too good to be true, I think sometimes.”
I shake my head. “No, I’m not. And if I am then it’s because you helped me to become that man. I am who I am because of you being a part of my life. I shudder to think what I’d be if I told Paul to take me home that night instead of stalking you.”
“I shudder to think about all I would’ve missed out on if I hadn’t gone completely against my nature and got in the back seat of your car, Arsen. Then I let you take me like you owned me. Just not me at all,” she says as she shakes her head. “Do you ever wonder what had us acting so different?”
“I try not to wonder about it, because what is the use, anyway?” I pull her in tight to me. “But I have now and again. I was no stalker, and you were anything but my type. But there was such a strong pull when I saw you. Like magic.”
She nods in agreement. “Like magic, Arsen.”
Her arms tighten around me. “I hope each of our children find a love like we have. I hope it doesn’t have to start with such a hard time. Man that would be hard to take.”
“That’s why I’m glad your parents didn’t know a thing about us until the day before our wedding. I bet your dad would’ve stomped my ass. As he would say.” I laugh a little, but I know it’s true.
That man is tough as hell and fiercely protective over his family. I’m lucky my shit was straight by the time I met him.
“You’re going to be just like him, you know,” she says. “Maybe that’s why we clicked so quickly. I’ve always been a bit overprotected my whole life. You came in and it felt kind of normal in an abnormal way.”
We laugh and hug and then I kiss her once more before I go kiss my other children good night.
I never thought there would be a woman who would come into my life one day and make it all alright. Not even my mother made it alright. Steele is my angel and I’ll always treat her like one.
For forever and a day…
And they all lived happily ever after
The end.
The Billionaire’s Game
A Bad Boy Billionaire Romance
What began as a game ended up changing lives …
Three men enter a bar, seeking out pawns for their sex game.
Three women are chosen, who happen to be sisters and the bar owner’s daughters.
Ethan, Phoenix, and Griffin think they have it made with the sexy women they’ve chosen to play their little game with.
Only they have no idea that Kel, Cait, and Jess know what they’re up to and plan on playing games with them.
Passions flare, seduction is key, and sexual prowess is a must when playing to win.
Let the games begin …
Chapter 1
Even though rain was falling in sheets, the press still stood outside the Boston funeral home where the heiress to Captain Jack’s Seafood Company, thirty-year-old Julia Loveless, was resting peacefully for the first time in her short life.
One tryst too many had found the beautiful young woman the victim of a hit and run. No one was sure who had done the evil deed, but many speculated that the wife of Judge Sanborn, a man Julia had been seen about town with, might have had a hand in it.
The private car Griffin Houser had been picked up from the airport in coasted into the area where a canvas tent had been erected to see the mourners stay dry as they made their way into the large funeral home.
Griffin was a thirty-year-old billionaire from old money. His family’s cattle company in Montana had gone in a new direction that had sent them from merely millionaires and into the billionaires’ category.
Montana Matrix was a prize-winning bull sperm operation. Griffin was supposed to be a salesman for his family’s fertile business. He seldom sold a thing, preferring to wine and dine women who didn’t have a thing to do with the cattle industry.
Griffin didn’t have anything to worry about. His wealth was secure even if he never sold a single vial of the liquid that had catapulted his family into a new tax bracket.
Julia had been one of his clients. Tall, legs for days, with hair that changed color with each passing month, Julia was an heiress he had liked to have fun with on occasion when visiting the East Coast. Her passing was sad news, but he had known the day would come when her promiscuity would catch up to her. Her early demise was inevitable in his eyes.
Griffin made his way into the packed parlor where Julia’s body rested center stage, spotlight included. A platinum coffin, a spray of red roses covering the bottom portion, held her in cushioned comfort. Her hair was a shade of blonde that matched well with her surroundings. He could see she was wearing a red dress.
Even in death, still the naughty vixen.
When a grin flowed over his face, he shook his head to stop thinking such inappropriate thoughts on such a grim occasion. He took a seat next to a tall man with long black hair that was pulled back into a queue. A Native American, Griffin was sure.
Though the music was quietly playing a sad song meant to pull the tears out of those who had congregated, Griffin tried to ignore the song and extended his right hand to the man he sat next to.
“Hello. Griffin Houser, Montana Matrix.”
The man shook his hand. “Phoenix Nelson, Texas oil. How’re you doing today?”
“Sad, I suppose, is the right thing to say to that,” Griffin said, then chuckled a bit. His action had people shushing him and giving him terrible looks. “Sorry. Inappropriate.”
When he was met with a grin from the man sitting on the other side of Phoenix, he was not only surprised but glad to see another human in the room who wasn’t so distraught. When he held his hand out, Griffin took it. “Ethan Southern,” came the man’s words, which were heavily laced with a Scottish accent.
“Griffin …”
“Yeah, I heard ya,” Ethan interrupted as his attention turned to Phoenix. “How’d you know Julia?”
Phoenix cleared his throat as he looked down and a grin had found him too. “In the Biblical sense,” came his answer.
“Aye, me too,” Ethan said, then looked at Griffin.
Griffin nodded and looked down as a man in the front, wearing black, asked them to pray. A long prayer that had nothing to do with Julia was said by the preacher, then the rest of the funeral proceeded.
The three men fidgeted a bit as the service went on and on. Many people got up and told stories about the woman they had known as quite the she-wolf. The only thing was, none of the stories they told were anything any of those men knew about the woman who lay in the coffin.
Tales of how generous she was had the three men smiling with their secret thoughts. Griffin could attest to that. Julia had been generous, all right. He didn’t know if she’d been generous with her money, but with her body … oh yes, she had been incredibly generou
s with that!
When the last speaker spoke about how Julia had given to charities all the time, the service ended, and it was time to file past the coffin and the lifeless body. Griffin stood in line, followed by Phoenix, then Ethan. One by one, the people looked down at Julia as they waited for their turn to lay eyes on her one last time.
The three stopped and took their turns at the same time. “Lifelike, huh?” Griffin asked the other two men.
“Her hair was red when I was with her,” Ethan muttered.
“It was pink when I saw her,” Phoenix recalled. “And she’d worn purple contacts. She was something else.”
Griffin ran his hand over her cheek, lightly. “Bye, Julia. Thanks for the education. You will be missed.”
“That she will,” Ethan agreed.
Phoenix nodded, then the sound of a man clearing his throat had them shuffling along. A man in a cheap blue suit was near the door where everyone was exiting; he held out a box of tissues to the three. Each took one.
“I don’t need this for anything more than to remind me of her,” Griffin said.
“I have a napkin from a bar we’d meet at,” Phoenix said as they walked outside.
They all looked up at the brilliant blue, cloudless sky. “It stopped rainin’. Can you imagine that?” Ethan said in wonder.
“She doesn’t want anyone to feel blue. She never did,” Griffin said. “And on that note, how about the three of us go get some lunch? We can talk about her and what she meant to each one of us.”
“Count me in,” Phoenix agreed quickly. “I don’t know another soul here anyway. The company would be much appreciated.”
“Me too,” Ethan chimed in. “I could use a stiff drink.”
Griffin led them to his waiting private car, and they all piled inside. “How about seafood?” When Griffin got two nods, he called out to the driver, “Neptune Oyster, please, driver.”
The men all were feeling exceptionally comfortable with one another. A certain comradery was felt between them all as they chatted lightly about this thing and another.
Hacked For Love & The Dom's Songbird: A Billionaire Romance Collection Page 86
