Revival

by Noelle Adams

  When she received no response, Jane groped around with her hand again. “Daddy!”

  “I’m sorry, sweetheart,” Baron had said, his voice oddly hoarse. “Your daddy isn’t here right now. Can I help you instead?”

  Jane had blinked and turned her little body to look at Baron. Her expression was pained and disoriented, but she managed to explain with characteristic sobriety, “I meant you. You’re my daddy too, aren’t you?”

  Baron had made a choking sign and his face had twisted wrenchingly before he’d pulled Jane up into a hug.

  Leila was worried about their calling Baron “Daddy,” since Rick was still part of their life, and she’d been working hard to maintain a good relationship with him. They settled on “Papa” as an alternative and checked with Rick to make sure he was all right with it. He’d said the girls could call Baron what they wanted—as long as everyone understood he was still their father. Leila didn’t know what other stepfamilies did, but she knew something knit itself together inside Baron every time the girls called him “Papa.”

  “I love you too, Papa,” Jane piped up, evidently feeling a little left out of the sappy proceedings.

  Baron reached out his other arm and drew Jane against him as well. “Well, good,” he said, kissing the top of her head with a smile. “Because I love you so much that I would be completely crushed if you didn’t love me back.”

  “And I love all three of you,” Leila said. “But I’m the one who’s pregnant here, and I’m getting kind of tired, so is it all right if we head back home?”

  ***

  Baron was trying to work and not having much success.

  For one thing, he was feeling a weird ache of nostalgia as he sat in the library of his family home.

  The other reason for his distraction was more concrete.

  “Papa?” a voice came from the doorway, the third interruption in the last hour. “What was the name of the big metal thing that crashes down to keep invaders out?”

  Baron looked up and saw Charlotte peeking into the study. “Portcullis,” he replied.

  “Jane, it’s port-cullis!” Charlotte yelled to her sister, who was probably halfway across the sprawling house. “Thank you,” she added in a more moderated tone.

  “You’re welcome.”

  Exhaling deeply, he turned back to his computer screen. They’d come out yesterday for the Christmas holidays, just as they had the year before. He still remembered the girls’ joyful exuberance on discovering that they were going to spend their holiday in the old stone house, which they assumed must be some sort of castle. When they’d arrived yesterday, their enthusiasm for the setting returned, and they’d been “playing castle” all day.

  Baron had been trying to work, since Leila had given him firm instructions on how he wasn’t allowed to work on Christmas Eve or Christmas day. So today was his last chance to get ahead a little. He’d done better this morning—getting through a lot of email and having a couple of phone meetings. But this afternoon his focus had been drifting more and more from the tasks at hand.

  Work wasn’t as overwhelming now that he’d done some reorganization and hired some more staff on the executive level, but there would always be more work than he had time for.

  He hadn’t heard a word from Steven after the settlement.

  He wondered if he should just give up now and go play with the girls. Or, even better, find Leila and take care of some of his restlessness.

  “Don’t you think you’ve worked enough?” another female voice came from the doorway, this one more lilting and more mature.

  Baron closed out his email and turned off his computer. “You must have read my mind.” He turned in his chair to see Leila approaching.

  She was absolutely beautiful, although she just snorted when he’d told her that recently. Their son was due in less than a month now, and the curve of her belly was heavy. But her fair skin glowed, and her very pronounced curves were unexpectedly sensual and compelling.

  He’d been plagued with lust for her for months now—even more than he usually was—ever since the pregnancy had begun to show. She’d been quite willing to accommodate him during the earlier months, but recently she’d been too uncomfortable to have much sex. Baron, of course, didn’t complain, but unsatisfied desire had been making him unusually restless.

  Leila said it made him grumpy, but he wasn't convinced that was the best choice of words.

  Even under normal circumstance, he couldn’t get enough of Leila. While she was carrying his child, however, he was like some sort of ever-horny teenager. He wasn't sure what that said about him.

  His body took interest even now, as she approached him in the study, wearing a stretchy top that didn’t quite meet the waistline of her jeans because of the wide curve of her belly. Her hair was loose, and she was grinning at him. "Good. You've been working way too long."

  “Did you have something else in mind for us to do?” he asked, surprised when his voice sounded so thick.

  Leila’s eyes widened behind her glasses. She knew very well how to recognize that particular tone. “Right now?” she asked, her cheeks flushing in a way he found absolutely mesmerizing.

  “Why not?” He leaned back in his chair and hoped she was feeling well enough to consider it. He didn't like to pressure her, but it had been almost three weeks.

  “Well, I think I'm finally recovered from the end of the semester,” she said, a naughty smile tilting up the corners of her mouth. "So maybe I'll be up for it."

  Baron stood up, wasting no time. “I’ll tell the girls not to bother us and then meet you up in the room.”

  Leila giggled irrepressibly as she walked into the hallway with him. Whether she was laughing in excitement over their impending lovemaking or laughing at him for being so obviously eager, Baron wasn’t sure.

  He decided it really didn’t matter.

  He went to find the girls and told them that he and Mommy were going to take a nap so they shouldn’t be disturbed unless it was an absolute emergency. The girls, who were deep in a plot to invade the castle, told him they were very busy and they shouldn’t be disturbed either.

  Then he went to the master bedroom and started to take off his shoes and socks, while Leila was in the bathroom. After a minute, Baron started to worry that she wasn't feeling up to it after all, but then she came out wearing a purple, high-waisted chemise with her hair falling down around her shoulders.

  At the first sight of her so lush and sensual, his body leapt into an almost painful arousal.

  Whatever control he used to have over his body's responses now seemed to have deserted him completely.

  “It was the best I could do,” Leila said sheepishly, looking down at her enormous belly beneath the silk. “Is it too bad?”

  “Too bad?” Baron managed to choke, his body tight and his pulse now pounding in his ears and his groin.

  Leila looked at him closely, her green eyes soft as they scanned him from his hair to his bare feet. Then her eyes widened. “Are you already turned on? How did that happen?”

  She looked absolutely delighted by his response to her. Baron might have been a little delighted too.

  ***

  Afterwards, they lay together in bed, Baron spooning Leila from behind and stroking her belly gently. He felt warm, sated, and content. There had been a little awkwardness in finding a comfortable position for Leila, but otherwise they both had a very satisfying interlude.

  She felt soft and substantial in his arms, and she smelled and felt like home for him. He still couldn’t quite wrap his mind around how the universe had allowed him to have someone like her. And that she actually loved him.

  “That was better than I expected,” she said, turning her head back to kiss the side of his mouth. “Of course, my expectations were very low.”

  Baron chuckled at what he knew to be her teasing. “You were making a lot of enthusiastic noises for someone who barely reached low expectations.”

  “Oh, did you think
those were sounds of pleasure? Sorry to disappoint you, but I was just practicing breathing techniques for childbirth to kill the time until you finally came.”

  His chuckle transformed into a real laugh. He kissed her hair, her temple, her cheekbone. “I love you so much.”

  She made a husky sigh of obvious satisfaction. “Me too.”

  His hand kept stroking the roundness of her stomach. The feel of his baby in the curve of her stomach roused an intensely primitive instinct that had lain dormant inside him for a really long time.

  He still wondered if he would be a good father to his son.

  “You okay?” Leila asked softly after a minute. She must have read the resonance of his silence.

  “Yeah.” He kissed her hair again.

  “You’re going to be a great father to him. You know that, don’t you?”

  “I hope so.”

  “Well, I have enough faith in you for both of us.” She grabbed one of his hands and brought it up to press a kiss into the palm.

  The gesture touched him more than it should have, and he couldn’t help but tighten his arms around her. “You always have.”

  ***

  That evening, they were all sitting on a sofa near the fire. Charlotte and Jane were taking turns reading aloud a new book about castles—a higher-level book than the one he’d gotten them last year but with equally beautiful pictures.

  Leila had started the girls on reading early, and she’d spent a lot of time helping to develop their skills. Baron couldn’t help but feel a silly thrill of pride that his girls were so advanced for their age.

  As they read, Baron found himself looking over the picture they made piled on the couch together. Leila had on sweats and a t-shirt and her hair was pulled sloppily into a ponytail. The girls had on their pajamas—Charlotte’s hiked up on one leg. Jane’s face was still tear-streaked from crying after she’d fallen and bruised her knee on the hardwood floors after dinner. Baron had a spot on his shirt from where Charlotte had accidentally spilled her lemonade earlier that evening, and he wasn’t wearing shoes.

  It occurred to Baron then that something had happened to him over the last year. Something fundamental and irrevocable. It wasn’t just falling in love with Leila and the girls. And it wasn’t just realizing that they actually loved him back. It wasn’t just walking away from impossible family pressures, living and dead. And it wasn’t just being so close to having a son of his own.

  It was more. It was family. It was what he’d always wanted.

  His father had been right all those years ago. Baron couldn’t have everything.

  But he could have this.

  Teaser Excerpt from Seducing the Enemy

  If you enjoyed Revival, you might enjoy Seducing the Enemy by the same author.

  Marietta sighed and drooped against the wall. “Yeah. I guess the moment is over. Every time I think I can…I end up…” Her resignation changed back into a smile. “Thanks for dancing with me, though. I really had a good time.”

  He realized she thought he’d lost interest—as if such a minor thing would dampen his attraction. If anything, he wanted her even more, her delicacy rousing some sort of latent protective instinct.

  “So that’s it?” he asked lightly. “You’re blowing me off now?”

  Her gaze darted up to meet his. “No, I just thought… I just thought—”

  “You thought I was such an ass that I’d be scared off by an irrelevant aversion?”

  “No. I didn’t think that.” She had the most delicious faintly French accent.

  He leaned in until his lips hovered near hers. “You thought I was such a beer guzzler that I couldn’t stand to spend time with someone who doesn’t love it as much as I do?”

  Surprised laughter rippled out of her and her hands closed around the lapels of his suit jacket.

  Harrison was mesmerized by her lovely face—warm, amused, sincere, utterly real. The urge to kiss her was so overwhelming he no longer resisted.

  He closed the slight distance between their lips, brushing hers gently with his.

  He heard her quick intake of breath, felt her fingers clutch at him even tighter. He kissed her again, lingering against her mouth longer this time.

  She broke the kiss after a few moments but didn’t pull away—just asked against his mouth, “So are you?”

  He tangled his fingers in her hair until he’d cupped the back of her head. “Am I what?” He couldn’t wait for the answer before he closed his mouth over hers, deepening the kiss with his tongue.

  She opened for him, her body melting against his and one of her arms twining around his neck. Her responsiveness intensified his desire.

  He couldn’t remember the last time he’d wanted someone as much as he wanted her.

  When she finally turned her head, she panted out raggedly, “Are you a beer guzzler?”

  He chuckled and murmured, “I prefer Scotch.”

  It was evidently the right thing to say. She wrapped her other arm around him and kissed him with naked passion. Soon he’d hardened again as his tongue tangled with hers. She practically writhed between his body and the wall, and he wrapped one of her legs around his hip to align her groin better with his. She moaned into his mouth while he rocked into her and stroked her bare thigh.

  When his erection started to pulse tightly in his trousers, he knew they needed to stop. He couldn’t take her in the back hallway of a nightclub, no matter how tempted he was.

  He forced himself to release her and step back, still bracing himself with one hand on the wall.

  Her cheeks were deep pink, her hair messy, and her lips swollen. She was the sexiest thing he’d ever seen. “Wow,” she said. “Wow.”

  “I agree.”

  “Did you want to…” She ducked her head to hide an inexplicably shy expression.

  “I hope you were going to ask whether I wanted to continue this elsewhere. Because the answer is definitely yes.”

  She raised her eyes, and excitement flickered through her lingering heat. “Really? You don’t have to go back to work?”

  He smiled, privately cursing the damned inspection report he still needed to write. He was never late. His responsibilities as a Damon were always his priority.

  “Work can wait.” He couldn’t miss out spending the night with this beautiful, passionate woman. The report wasn’t urgent, and he could get up early tomorrow to prepare for the settlement meeting.

  She looked surprised when he suggested they go to his hotel, so he wondered if she’d thought he was a local.

  It was nice that she had no idea who he was.

  While she texted her friend, he ducked back into the main room to grab his tablet and tell the floor manager to release his table.

  “By the way, I’m Etta,” she said as they waited for his car.

  “Harri—” he began, then cut himself off. She might not recognize his face—not everyone did—but she could easily recognize his name. And that might change things.

  “You don’t really look like a Harry, but I like it.”

  He’d always hated being called “Harry.” In fact, schoolmates had only used that name when they wanted to annoy him. After hearing Etta say his name with that particular lilt, however, he decided it wasn’t so bad.

  She beamed with an overflow of warm excitement.

  “What did I do to deserve that smile?”

  She flushed and glanced down. “Am I too excited?”

  He almost choked. “Too excited? Who the hell told you that was even possible?”

  “I don’t know. It’s just that the world seems to think being cool is the way to go, and I can never pull it off.”

  He realized that was one of the reasons why she seemed so different, why she seemed so real. There was no pretense about her, and it thrilled him. “Cool is overrated.”

  She peered up at him curiously. “You seem to pull it off very well.”

  “Maybe I’m overrated.”

  “That remains to be seen.�
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  ***

  You can find more information about Seducing the Enemy here.

  About the Author

  Noelle handwrote her first romance novel in a spiral-bound notebook when she was twelve, and she hasn’t stopped writing since. She has lived in eight different states and currently resides in Virginia, where she teaches English, reads any book she can get her hands on, and offers tribute to a very spoiled cocker spaniel.

  She loves travel, art, history, and ice cream. After spending far too many years of her life in graduate school, she has decided to reorient her priorities and focus on writing contemporary romances. For more information, please check out her website: noelle-adams.com. She also writes under the penname Claire Kent

  Other Books by Noelle Adams

  One Hot Night: Three Contemporary Romance Novellas – Hearts can change in just one night…

  A Negotiated Marriage – Sex wasn’t supposed to be part of the deal…

  Listed – A marriage of convenience has never been like this.

  Bittersweet – Love is as strong as death.

  Intimate – They’ve loved each other for years, but they’ve never been intimate before.

  Missing – Sex would never be enough…

  Seducing the Enemy – She’ll never let him win…

  Other Books Written as Claire Kent

  Escorted – She hired him to take her virginity, but now she wants even more.

  Breaking – He knows what to do with her body, but he doesn’t always know how to love.

  Nameless – They named it anything but love.

  Christening – Love can be harder than she thought…

  Bundles

  Hearts in Hiding – 60% off the price of Bittersweet, Escorted, and Missing when you buy them as a collection.

  Loving the CEO – A Negotiated Marriage is included with CEO-themed romances from four other authors.