She felt her own cheeks blush then and she nodded and glanced away from him. “Of course. I will see you in three days, then.” She had no idea how it was going to be, being intimate with him, but she knew that she was eventually going to find out.
“Also, this phone is for your service crew. They are here to take care of you, so be sure to let them do it. They’re close by just waiting to do whatever you need, so give them a call for anything, anytime, and they’ll look after you. Please… get my money’s worth from them.” He chuckled a little and she liked that he could make light of it, at least in a small way.” He handed her a small cell phone.
She nodded and took the phone from him. “I appreciate all that you’re doing,” she told him with a wide smile.
“The same goes for me,” he answered with a smile and a nod. “I’ll see you soon. Make yourself at home.” He turned then and left, and she watched him go, watching the door close behind him in absolute wonder as she turned and looked at the incredible space around her, and the check for ten thousand dollars in her hands. A few tears stung at her eyes, and she became overwhelmed. It finally hit her, and she walked to the sofa and sat down on it, crying softly for a few minutes before drying her eyes and giving her head a shake.
“Wow. This is real. This is really happening, and I’m not dreaming.” She laughed to herself and wondered how to begin her first day in her new life. A brand-new life that was going to leave everything she had ever known in a shadow. She and her mama would never have to worry about money again, and that gave her a sense of relief and joy to an extent that she had never felt.
Chapter5
“Mama! Mama, you will not believe this! I’m in the condo! It’s so amazing here. It’s the biggest home I’ve ever seen, and you would love the incredible view of Central Park from here! If I can get you up here for a visit while I’m here, I will. Oh Mama. I can’t believe this is real and that I’m really here and it’s happening! Do you know what he did? He hired a personal service for me. They are going to do everything for me. Grocery shopping, cleaning, cooking, errands, driving me places… it’s so bizarre, but it’s exciting!” She gushed in her delight with the changes that were happening so fast for her. It felt to her as if the sun was shining its brightest on her, brighter and more beautifully than it ever had, and she could do nothing but soak it up blissfully.
“My goodness, it sounds like you woke up in a dream! I’m so happy for you honey! If anyone deserves this, it’s you! How wonderful!” Theresa was elated for her, and it was clear in her voice that she shared her daughter’s happiness.
Kate looked down at the check and laughed again, shaking her head. “Mama, you’re not going to believe this, but I’m holding a check in my hand for ten thousand dollars. He gave it to me this morning. We are going to be alright. We’re going to be better than alright for the foreseeable future! It’s such a relief! Oh no, I’m going to cry again!” She closed her eyes as the emotion swelled in her again and leaked out in happy tears through her eyelashes.
“Oh honey, don’t cry!” Theresa insisted. Kate laughed softly.
“They’re happy tears, Mama, don’t you fret.”
“Well, it sounds like a strange and good thing, and I couldn’t be more pleased for you. Now you’re going to have that procedure in the clinic and as soon as they tell you it worked, you put your feet up and you rest. You don’t want to have anything happen to that little one that Mr. Carrington wants so badly. You take it easy. There’s nothing that you have to do except school.” She spoke with a tone of authority and Kate knew that her mother was serious about what she was instructing her daughter to do.
“I’ll be careful Mama.” She smiled. She wasn’t going to admit to her mother just how she was going to become pregnant. That part was the only thing that she was going to leave out. She just didn’t want her mother to know that part. It was a little too personal.
They talked a while longer and she ended the call and went to the bathroom to take a long, hot, luxurious shower. It was the best shower she had ever had, and when it was done, she found her way around the kitchen, made herself a cup of tea and then went out onto the balcony to sit at the table and look down onto Central Park and the city. It was sublime.
She sat there soaking it all in and loving every moment of it, and when she looked at the clock a little while later she realized that if she had not taken him up on his offer, she would have been at work and she would have been slaving away serving tables and wishing she was making more money. Instead, she was sitting on a beautiful balcony with an incredible view, sipping tea and looking at a check for ten grand. It was like she had stepped out of her real life and into some fantasy dream life that belonged to someone else. She hoped that if somehow it was the most realistic dream she had ever had, that she didn’t wake up to find herself in her old life.
Her belongings arrived the next day and she spent that day getting settled in and putting it all away. She didn’t come with much, so it didn’t take her long to put it all where she wanted it to go, but it did make the place feel a little bit more like it was her own home, and not some fancy hotel that she was staying in.
As promised, she took Olivia out for the fanciest dinner that either one of them had ever had, and they savored every single moment of it. She also reveled in the experience of going to the bank and depositing so much money into her account all in one fell swoop. She told the clerk at the counter that she would be back the next month with another check, and the clerk looked at her in impressed amazement.
She and Olivia went shopping and she splurged on some fun new things for the both of them. Olivia felt a little unsure at first, but when Kate reminded her that the money was going to flow like a waterfall for a long while, Olivia let go of her inhibitions and they had some fun.
Three days after she moved into the condo, Pierce arrived, having called her first to make certain that she was home and that it would be a good time for him to come by. She felt every nerve in her tighten with anxiety and anticipation, but she told him it was a fine time to come by.
His knock at the door made a jolt of electricity shoot through her and she caught her breath as her heart began to pound. It was time to start the job; time to become intimate with him and create a baby the traditional way.
She hadn’t known how it would be, but when she opened the door and saw him standing there in his suit, she felt as though she might not be able to go through with it. He came in and smiled at her, trying to ease the tension that had sprung up between them.
“How are things going here? Are you comfortably nestled in?” he asked, walking slowly past her and going to the living room. He turned to look at her and she plastered a smile on her face and tried to make herself look much more confident than she felt.
“It’s great. It’s an amazing place and I really love being here. Thank you for this, it’s such a great gift.” She gestured to the home around them.
“It’s for you and the baby,” he reminded her. “I want you both happy and safe and content. This is one of the ways I’m going to make sure that that happens.” He reached his hands up and tugged at his tie, loosening it and sliding it off of his neck. He held the silvery blue silk in his hands and ran his fingers over it for a long moment as he watched her.
Something in him was buzzing with uncertainty and it surprised him. He had never had a problem being intimate with any woman before her, but then again, he thought, he had never paid a woman to be with him, and he had never been attempting to create a life by the act. It wasn’t sex, it wasn’t love, it was business, and that made it strange for him.
“Well, it’s perfect. I’m already really so happy here,” she answered, twisting her fingers together in front of her as she continued to grin like a fool. She had no idea how to start or what to do with him.
“Do you need anything?” he asked, reaching his hand over the table beside the sofa and dropping his tie down onto it.
She shook her head. “No, I really don
’t. I feel like I have everything I need. Thank you for asking.”
He nodded and slowly pulled his suit jacket off, smoothing the sleeves down as he laid it carefully over the arm of the sofa. “That’s what I’m here for.”
Kate chewed her lower lip nervously. “Well, that’s not exactly what you’re here for this time,” she said in a softer voice, trying not to look coy and failing at it.
Her nervousness made him smile a little. “I know this might be awkward the first time or two, but I saw your fertility charts and I really don’t think we’ll need to do this too many times before it takes. We’ll get through this together. It’s not going to be awful, and perhaps it might even be somewhat enjoyable. We’re doing this to create a life, and that is a great and noble cause. Just keep focused on that,” he said, wishing he could believe his own words.
She nodded and folded her arms across her chest, watching him as he reached his hands up to begin unbuttoning his shirt at the neck. He opened four buttons down the front and then stopped and walked toward her.
Kate stood still where she was, and when he reached her, he took her hands into his. “This is just business, but… if you wouldn’t mind, I think I’m as nervous as you are, and that’s going to make it a little trickier to accomplish. Perhaps you wouldn’t mind going out after this visit and purchasing some lingerie. It might… inspire me, and it might make you feel more… in the mood. How would you feel about that?” He eyed her curiously.
She cleared her throat and felt grateful that he was holding her hands as he spoke. She felt like she was talking with a friend. “I think that might help a lot, actually, because I’ll be honest, this is weird.”
He chuckled a little. “It is. Let’s go into the bedroom. Maybe it will be less weird in there. Do you mind?”
She shook her head and he took her by the hand and walked with her into the master bedroom. He walked with her to the edge of the bed and she turned to look at him. “So you said this wasn’t going to be romantic, but I don’t know how to do this without being romantic.” She was hoping that he had an answer for her, after all, she thought, he seemed to have an answer for just about everything.
“Well, first of all, we don’t kiss on the mouth. That’s far too intimate and it’s not necessary for us to make the baby. Second, we focus only on the act. That’s going to help us as well, you know… not so much about pleasing one another as about getting to the finish line. Swift and simple. I think. Does that seem like it might work to you?” he asked hopefully.
She could see in his eyes that he was feeling just as unsure as she was. “Yes,” she agreed, and then a thought occurred to her and she gave him a little smile. “I just had a stroke of genius,” she told him, and she let him go and walked over to a wooden cabinet in one corner of the room. Opening it, she turned on the stereo that was inside it and pressed play on the CD player. Claude Debussy’s Claire de Lune began to play, and he laughed softly as she turned to face him.
“I think this might help take our minds off of the strangeness, especially this first time. Don’t you think?” she asked, walking toward him.
Something about the way her body moved under her dress and the sweet, sensual look on her lovely face made him stir with warmth, and in that moment he knew that they were going to be able to do exactly what they needed to do.
“Come here,” he said quietly, his blue eyes steady on her green ones. She felt her heart skip a beat and she reached him at the edge of the bed. He touched his hand to her cheek and spoke in a soft voice. “I’m going to try this from behind you, it might make it feel more like an act instead of anything romantic. If I do anything you don’t like or don’t want to do, please tell me. We are doing this together, and it needs to work for us both… so that it works for the baby.”
She nodded and he turned her away from him slowly, reaching his hands up to her soft blonde curls. Pushing them all aside to one shoulder, he unzipped the back of her dress and slowly slid it from her form, letting it fall to the floor.
She gasped quietly, and every part of her skin felt the zing of electricity. A moment later, she felt his fingertips moving gently down her back toward her little white satin panties. She closed her eyes as her heart pounded wildly, and he carefully slid them off of her. She told herself that she could do it, that she should just lose herself in the physicality of it, and when he gently bent her over in front of him, that’s exactly what she did.
Kate closed her eyes and felt his hands on her, moving over her skin, all along her hips and then at her core. She gasped and her fingers clenched tightly at the throw that was laid out on the bed. A moment later she felt the tip of him against her body, and in the next breath, he was sliding it into her slowly, taking her breath away as he filled her.
He was much bigger than any man she had been with before and it caught her by surprise, making her open her eyes as he reached parts of her that hadn’t been reached by another man before. As he began to move in her, her heart raced and she grew breathless, feeling pure pleasure rock through her in waves. She gasped and tried with all she could to catch her breath, but there was no way to do it. He moaned and the sound of him feeling so intense made her cry out softly as her body seemed to answer to his in every way.
Pierce began to move faster inside of her, his groans growing louder and more frequent with every push. She felt his fingers tighten around her hips as he pulled her close to him with every thrust, and her body trembled with release as she let go and felt her orgasm wash all through her. As she sighed with soft moans, he tensed and pushed himself fully into her, holding himself there as he too trembled, emptying all that was in him into her body.
There was a moment of quiet as they felt their orgasms mingle, and they were one for a passing moment. Then their breath came back to them and he hesitated before sliding himself out of her and letting her go.
She stood up and wondered how she was going to face him, but then she felt his hand on her shoulder and she turned and looked up at him almost bashfully, through her thick eyelashes. He gave her a tender smile.
“There, the worst of it is over. The first time is going to be the strangest, and we’re through it. It’s done. We’re going to have a much easier time of it from now on. Right?” he asked, looking at her encouragingly.
She nodded and gave him a genuine smile. “You’re right. The hardest part is over.”
He willed himself not to look at her bra, and instead leaned forward and hugged her, pulling her close to him only for a moment. “Thank you. I think we’re going to make a really fantastic child.”
She hugged him back and was surprised to find pure comfort in it. She hadn’t expected it, and as the comfort bloomed in her, she held him a little tighter and turned her face from him, resting her cheek on his shoulder. “You’ve already made this easier to do. You’re so kind, and that matters. This feels like a friendship, and that’s all new to me. I think we’re going to be able to get through this.”
She let him go then and reached down to the floor to pick up her dress and put it back on. “But if you want me to, I’ll still go pick up some lingerie. Perhaps it will help.”
He chuckled softly and his cheeks turned pink; something she realized was a surefire way to tell that she had gotten to him. “Yes, that would help. Thank you.”
Kate nodded. “I’ll take care of it.”
Looking over at her as he redressed himself, he gave her a shy smile. “I like sweet and romantic styles, with perhaps just a little bit of a naughty suggestion, but nothing overtly dirty or trashy.”
She gave him a nod. “I haven’t bought lingerie in longer than I can remember, but it sounds like our styles and preferences are the same.”
They dressed and walked out to the living room together. He went toward the door and stopped to turn and speak to her as he was about to walk out. “I’ll come back tomorrow night, if that works. Maybe the lingerie will be the right thing tomorrow night.”
She agreed. “I’ll be r
eady. See you then.” She gave him a smile and he nodded and left her, closing the door quietly behind him.
When she heard the elevator ring, she knew that he was gone and she went back into the bedroom and heaved a great sigh of relief. Walking to where they had just been, she reached her hand to the throw laying on top of the bedspread. It was crumpled in two places where her hands had gathered it tightly, and she ran her fingertips over it, thinking of how it had felt for him to be inside of her.
Honesty overtook her and she admitted the truth to herself. It felt good. It felt damn good, and she giggled softly at just how much it had turned her on to have him touch her the way he did and bring them both to an orgasm.
She bought some lingerie the next day and when he arrived at the front door, she answered it wearing a long white satin and lace piece that had coverage in most places, leaving some mystery and a hint of sensuality in other places.
The Billionaire's Secret Surrogate (MANHATTAN BACHELORS Book 4) Page 7
