Cowboy Baby Daddy

by Claire Adams

  “Oh, sounds intriguing,” she said as she let go of my cock. “What’d you have in mind?”

  “Well, I figured we’d start with coffee. That’s how we seem to start all our mornings, so who are we to ruin tradition?”

  “Tradition, huh? Alright, what’s after coffee?” she asked.

  “Shopping. If we’re here until Tuesday, both of us will need at least another two outfits, especially since I don’t think we have a washer and dryer here,” I said.

  “Sounds practical. Anything impractical to get ourselves into today?” she asked as she folded her arms across my chest.

  “After shopping, I figured we’d drop our stuff off here and go take a walk in Central Park. I hear it’s beautiful this time of year, and I’m sure we could find something to get into after that,” I said.

  “Oh, a walk in the park. How romantic, Christian,” she said mockingly.

  “I figured you’d like it,” I said, winking.

  She giggled before she sat back onto her heels, and I watched her slowly climb off the bed. The way her hips swayed as she found her way to the bathroom beckoned to my raging cock, and I knew I’d have to take a cold shower to get my body back under control. I had been resisting the hold she had on me for days. Now I had to hold back for a different reason.

  We were in a beautiful city, and I had the opportunity to escort a beautiful woman around it. I was not about to allow that chance pass me by.

  I got up and showered and met Stella at the door. She was dressed in a simple pair of leggings and a tunic, and my eyes couldn’t get enough. I held the door open for her as we made our way down to the lobby, then we walked into the city for four blocks before we stopped at a coffee house.

  “This place looks packed,” she said. “Must mean it’s good.”

  We grabbed our coffees and took a seat in the corner, relishing in how strong and potent the taste was. The designs in the foam were creative, causing us both to take our phones out and get pictures of them before we sucked it all down. We sat with one another quietly, watching people bustle in and out of the coffee shop, and by the time we got up to go, it was almost time for lunch.

  “Shopping then food?” she asked.

  “Sounds like a plan to me,” I said.

  We darted in and out of a few different specialty stores and boutiques, trying on clothes we both loved and hated. Stella apparently had this weird penchant for massive sunhats that made her look ridiculous, but it was outmatched by my apparent inability to match even the most basic of colors. Again, I found myself being dressed by Stella. As before, she delighted in being in control of my appearance and using her skills to make me look good.

  By the time we were done shopping and headed for lunch, we had a cab full of bags and would have to purchase more luggage just to get it all home.

  We took everything back to the hotel before we headed to Central Park. Lunch at a sandwich shop was delicious before we crossed the road to take a walk. The park was covered in trees and lined with people playing music for money, and I slipped my arm around her while we walked through the park. I watched her take in the trees and the people running around. She gawked at the birds and the swans in the lake. I saw her smile at the mothers walking with their children and the college kids leaning up against a tree with books, and for a split second, I could see a deep desire flicker behind her eyes.

  I wasn’t sure what it was, but I made a mental note to ask her about it later.

  “It’s beautiful here,” she said.

  “You make it even more so,” I said.

  “Christian, I’m serious,” she said, giggling.

  “What makes you think I’m not?” I asked.

  “I’m just saying; it really feels nice out here. It’s the first time since Dad died that—”

  She swallowed deep, and I wrapped my arms around her. I twisted her around, catching her watering gaze as her eyes stared down at my chest, and I crooked my finger underneath her chin to pull her gaze toward mine.

  “Don’t block me out,” I said. “It’s the first time since your father passed that what?”

  “That the world has seemed safe again,” she said.

  I pulled her close to my body and felt her tears wet my shirt. I knew exactly how she felt. How cruel she must’ve thought the world was for ripping away her only parent. I felt the same anger rise in the pit of my stomach every time I picked up the phone to call my mother to tell her something only to remember she wouldn’t be on the other end.

  “It’s alright, Stella. I’ve got you.”

  I brushed her hair from her face as she sniffled against my chest before the wind kicked up and swirled around us. The leaves fluttered around our bodies, and the grass began to rustle with its force. Stella peeked out from the safety of my chest to witness the way the earth seemed to hold us in the only arms it knew how to conjure, and suddenly she tilted her head back to grab hold of my stare.

  “Thank you for a beautiful day, Christian,” she said.

  “The day’s only half over,” I said. “And whatever you want to do is fine with me.”

  “What if I wanted to go see a Broadway show?” she asked.

  “Then I’d get us tickets,” I said.

  “What if I wanted to go play with puppies and kitties?” she asked.

  “Then I would find a pet store and some allergy medication,” I said, chuckling.

  “What if I wanted to take a nap before going to a titty bar and blowing through half the company’s money?” she asked.

  “I’d ask you who you were and then ask you where the hell Stella Harte was,” I said, smiling.

  “But you said anything,” she said slyly.

  “And anything is what you’ll get. Unless it involves spending half the company’s money,” I said.

  “Oh, but we’re cool if I want to go see titties?” she said.

  “Do I get to see yours in the process?” I asked.

  She patted my chest playfully as she flickered her eyes down to my chest. I felt her lean back into me, resting her chin against my heartbeat, and I knew what she was doing. She was relishing in the fact that it was beating, breathing life into me just so she knew this was all real. She missed the heartbeat of her father and the comfort his life brought her, so she was reminding herself there was someone here who cared for her whose heart was still beating.

  I knew that’s what she was doing because it’s what I did last night after she fell asleep.

  “Stella,” I said as she raised her gaze to mine.

  “Yes, Christian?” she asked.

  “You really do make this park more beautiful,” I said.

  I raised my hand to cup her cheek, drawing her lips closer and closer to mine while the rest of the world faded into the background. Our tongues collided in a soft tango of gratefulness and understanding, swallowing as much of each other as we could taste. Her body pressed into mine, gripping the fabric of my shirt and pulling me closer, and my hands cloaked her back as our lips began to swell with the pressure of the other’s.

  And all that was left was the beating of her heart rushing through my ears as it pounded against my chest.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Stella

  Our afternoon of romance swirled into another night of passion, and I found myself waking up Sunday morning tangled up in him. His smile brought warmth to my soul while his naked body filled my world with protection, and I swung my leg over his body just to draw him even closer. I couldn’t get enough of him, this man who had captured my world. Christian was far from the ignorant man-child I had accused him of being when this entire process started, and the way he kissed me evidenced the tenderness of a man that couldn’t soak up enough of me to satiate him.

  I felt beautiful when I was in his arms, and I silently dreaded what would happen to us after this weekend was over.

  “Another day in paradise,” he said, smiling. “How do you feel about going to see the Statue of Liberty?”

  “Oh, can we
do it on that boat ride? The one that offers lunch?” I asked.

  “I had a feeling you might ask that,” he said. “So, before we fell asleep last night I booked us two top-deck lunch dining seats for the cruise that takes us around the statue.”

  I squealed and threw my hands around his neck. I could feel him smiling into my skin, and I rolled him over as my knees planted into the bed. I wiggled and wiggled, ecstatic for what the day was going to bring, and I felt his hands slowly rub my back, trying to get me to calm down.

  “You’re a beautiful woman, Stella. You do that too much, and we’re going to be in trouble,” he said.

  “You’re not a morning sex person, are you?” I asked.

  “It’s not when I perform my best, no. But, if it’s something you wanted, I would be more than happy to give it my best shot.”

  “What about shower sex?” I asked.

  “Did you have something in mind for this morning?” he asked.

  “Not particularly. I’m logging things away for future use,” I said, grinning.

  “Well, you rode me pretty hard last night.”

  “Literally,” I said, winking.

  “Literally,” he said. “I could go for a warm shower, but I don’t know if I could make any more use of my body for a few more hours yet.”

  “I see I’m already wearing you out,” I said playfully.

  “And it’s the best I’ve felt in a very long time,” he said.

  I sat up on his hips while his hands lightly rested on my legs. I knew what he meant by an aching body. My back was most definitely not happy with me. I could feel my thighs trembling with exhaustion just trying to hold my body up over his, and his hands slowly massaged my legs before he leaned up and wrapped his arms around me.

  “How about we stay in bed and lose ourselves in each other’s eyes until we have to get ready for lunch?” he asked as he pressed his face into my chest.

  “Want to turn on the television and see what’s on?” I asked.

  “Oh, yes,” he said.

  We hunkered back down into bed and found a random movie to watch. Christian kept making these funny little comments throughout the entire thing which made it impossible to watch. I found out he was the type of person that yelled at the television screen like the characters could hear him, but every time I laughed at him, he scolded me.

  Something about the characters being stupid and them needing to know it or some such shit.

  When the time came around for us to get ready, we both took showers and got dressed. We took a cab over to the loading dock, where he helped me up to the top deck, and we placed our food and drink orders before the boat set sail. I was beaming with excitement as I glanced around the harbor, but as we got closer, I felt a bit of disappointment.

  I figured there would be someone narrating the journey for us instead of us just sailing around the statue in the harbor.

  “Everything alright?” Christian asked.

  “I figured there would be a tour guide or something. Is there not?” I asked. “I should’ve grabbed a pamphlet or something.”

  I looked around the deck, trying to see if I could find a microphone or anything of the sort. Anything to indicate that someone might come out here and educate us while we were dining. It was something I assumed would happen, but I honestly didn’t think to look it up before we got here.

  But, I guess Christian must have realized no one was going to come out and serenade us with facts about the statue, so he started to rattle off what he knew.

  “Well, the statue itself weighs 225 tons, which is around 450,000 pounds,” he said.

  “Really?” I asked.

  “Yeah. The actual statue, from its original base to the tip of the flame, is 111 feet and six inches tall,” I said. “And if any woman gets self-conscious about her waistline, all she needs to know is that one of the most important statues of this country has a waistline of 35 feet.”

  I giggled before I continued to sip my drink. My eyes turned out toward the statue as Christian’s voice filled my ears, serenading me with that intelligence he kept buried deep within the recesses of his mind. Lady Liberty rose above the harbor, signaling a peace and freedom this country had always provided, and I drew in a deep breath to take in the sight.

  “What else?” I asked.

  “The torch is covered in thin sheets of 24-karat gold. It was restored in 1986 after a massive storm blew through, and they felt the torch of freedom needed a bit more pizzazz,” he said.

  “Wait, seriously?” I asked.

  “Seriously. And the seven rays on her crown? They don’t signify the seven parts of the country like many people think. They actually signify all seven continents on the planet,” he said. “And there is a date on her tablet: July 4th, 1776.”

  “What else?” I asked.

  “You can’t really see them unless you get up close, but the statue has broken shackles around her ankles to signify the broken bonds of tyranny the country was established under. And the statue has a name we truncated,” he said.

  “What’s the untruncated name?” I asked.

  “Liberty Enlightening the World,” he said. “This statue was supposed to be a beacon to the world. A symbol that if we could do it, others could, too. It wasn’t just supposed to bring us hope; it was supposed to bring hope to developing nations that they, too, could climb out of the mire and rise to the top.”

  I was looking at him in awe and wonder, but I knew I wasn’t the only one. I could feel people staring at him, hanging onto his every word while we traveled through the water.

  “And that concludes the information part of our journey, ladies and gentleman. Thank you for listening, and I hope you join us again sometime,” he said, grinning.

  I giggled at him as he finally pulled his eyes from the statue. People around us were clapping and I couldn’t help but join them, and the blush that rose up onto Christian’s cheeks reminded me of his innate charm. I couldn’t help myself… I couldn’t help the shock rolling over my features. I had no idea where he kept the amount of information he knew. He looked around to try and figure out what I was looking at. That’s when I realized he really didn’t know.

  He didn’t understand what a marvel he was.

  “Everything alright, Stella?” he asked.

  “Why did you never do anything with that brain of yours, Christian?” I asked.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Why have you let your intelligence waste away until a company was forced on you?” I asked.

  “I don’t know,” he said, shrugging.

  He picked up his drink as the waiter set our food down in front of us I reached out to curl my hand around his other hand, still on the table. I slid my foot toward his under the table, slowly running the toe of my shoe up and down the lip of his ankle. I knew he didn’t want to answer these questions, but I needed to know.

  I needed to know why he was intentionally getting in the way of himself.

  “Don’t block me out,” I said. “Let me in, Christian.”

  “I didn’t want to disappoint my mom. She loved my random facts, so I read as much as I could so I would regale her whenever she wanted,” he said. “But, if I put my intelligence out there and I failed, then I would be a disappointment like my father.”

  “Not even close to your biological father,” I said.

  “My biological father, while an absolute asshole, started off as a disappointment. He left my mother and couldn’t be the man she needed. He disappointed her, and I didn’t want to be the other man that reinforced that principle.”

  He took another long pull from his drink while my hand squeezed his in comfort. He still couldn’t bring himself to look at me, so I decided not to push it. We ate our delicious lunch quietly, though neither of us could finish. I held his hand while we watched the statue pass us by, and his facts were silenced while my gaze took in the whole of the beautiful monument in front of us.

  “You could never be a disappointment,”
I said as we pulled back into the harbor. “Not to your mother, and most certainly not to me.”

  “I was a disappointment to you my entire life, Stella.”

  “You were a little shit my entire life,” I said. “That isn’t the same as being a disappointment.”

  We finished our drinks and packed up our leftovers to take back to the room. I could tell Christian didn’t want to be out in public anymore, and I partially felt responsible for that. We got up from our seats, and he took my food, still trying to be a gentleman despite the subject I’d brought up.

  But, when we got off the boat I couldn’t help myself.

  I slid my hand into his while we walked down the road, our hands lightly swaying at our sides. Even with the sadness that had descended upon lunch, and though I had touched a subject that was sensitive to him, he never made a move to take his hand from mine. He didn’t try to get away from me or close me off, and I flagged down a cab before I turned and looked at him.

  I was finally happy with Christian, and as he turned his eyes to settle them onto mine, I could see a twinge of happiness in the glistening blue orbs of his eyes, too.

  “Bedroom and television?” I asked.

  “Bedroom and television,” he said, smiling.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Christian

  I woke up with Stella once again in my arms, but this time an ominous feeling had settled over me. We had enjoyed a beautiful weekend with one another, but now it was time to run this company. The meeting was this morning, and I was going to have to slip into boss mode, and I wasn’t sure what that would do to the dynamic Stella and I had developed over the course of the last few days.

  “Ready for the meeting?” she asked, her eyes hazy with the morning sun.

  “I think so. It’s a pretty big snag, however. I didn’t even realize your father was pursuing something like this until they called. I hadn’t gotten that far into his notes,” I said.

  “Ah, the first big blindside. How did that feel?” she asked.

  “Not good, I can tell you that. I felt like an idiot. But, I seemed to have regained my composure a bit. I want to take one more look at the notes before we head out, though,” I said.