“I’ve got you,” he promised, his hand moving between my legs to rub his thumb against my clit. I sobbed as my pleasure spiked. It felt so good, so good… “That’s it, you’re a desperate girl this morning. I’ve got you.”
He rubbed mercilessly, over and over, until I felt myself seizing up and my body was wracked with that perfect ecstasy. I felt Laird’s thrusts becoming harsher and I moaned again, my orgasm prolonged by the feeling of his cock inside me, coming inside of me, and I wailed with pleasure and release.
Laird scooped me up and carried me to the couch, where we both collapsed. “Too lazy to take me to bed, huh?” I teased, poking him in the arm.
“You’re welcome to go there yourself,” Laird replied. “I’m staying right here.” Then he paused. “Actually…”
I burst into laughter as he got up and I realized what he was doing. “You and your damn coffee, honestly.” I was fond of it, though. We all have our quirks in life and I thought his thing about coffee was adorable.
Laird poured himself another cup, and then one for me, and walked over to rejoin me on the couch. I cuddled up next to him immediately. “Can I tell you something?”
“Anything.”
I rested my head on his shoulder. “I forgot how much I could enjoy sex. I forgot what it was like to want it. Back when I was with Pete… At first, sure, we had sex, but then… he never forced me in that way. I was lucky like that. But I still stopped wanting it and enjoying it and… it was rough. But now I’m with you and it’s like a switch has been flipped, almost? And I just want you all the time. Like I’m making up for it.”
Laird chuckled, but then to my surprise his face got serious. “Sweetheart, I want you to know, as much as I love you and as much as I want to fuck you on every bloody surface in this apartment, I’d still love you even if we never had sex. I’d still want to be with you. Whatever you want, I’m here for it.”
“I know,” I told him, and I meant it. “That’s part of why I love you so much.”
Laird smiled warmly at me and clinked our mugs together in a gentle toast. “To us.”
“To us.”
Okay, so yeah, this coffee was pretty damn fantastic.
Epilogue: Trudie
Maybe it was silly of me, but my first instinct was to hide the pregnancy test.
It had only been three months since we’d officially gotten together, and in that time I’d moved in with him and gotten married for real, in that beautiful church I’d been going to on my own. It was a small ceremony, nothing at all like the crazy wedding I’d attended with Laird. Liam and Alana were there, along with Edith and a few other girls from the co-op, and Red with some of my coworkers that I’d become close with. And Laird’s parents, of course. Only about two dozen people in total.
Everything had been lovely. Better than I could have dreamed. And Alana had helped out a lot, keeping everything simple and to our tastes as I struggled to balance planning the wedding with preparing to go into college and get a degree. Laird had been nothing but supportive as I’d gotten ready. I wanted to have a proper degree and start working—in what, I didn’t know, but I wanted a proper career in something that I felt passionate about. I was ready to finally get back to becoming the person that I was supposed to be, that I wanted to be, after Pete had derailed me for so long.
Ugh, Pete. At least that had gone off without a hitch. He was still serving jail time and I doubted I’d be seeing him any time soon. Laird’s lawyers had thoroughly taken care of that.
But after all that had gone on and everything moving so quickly—I must’ve skipped a few days with the pill. Stupid of me. How could Laird handle a baby on top of everything else that had been going on? We’d been moving at a hundred miles an hour and now that everything was set up, the wedding and college and all, we were supposed to get a chance to breathe.
It looked like the universe had a different plan in mind for us.
Should I keep it? Or tell him, and if so, how? Wouldn’t it be better to wait until we were more settled?
Stuffing the pregnancy test inside of my makeup bag—Laird would never look in there—I called Alana and asked if she was free to meet me for lunch. She’d know what to do. I would ask Liam, but asking Liam to keep a secret from Laird was a lost cause.
Alana listened patiently as I outlined everything, and to my surprise, she laughed. “Oh, I’m sorry!” She cleared her throat and made her face more serious. “I didn’t mean to make it seem… unimportant. It’s just that it’s so obvious to me that Laird would be ecstatic if you told him.”
“Are you sure? Wouldn’t it be smarter to deal with all of this later down the line?”
Alana shook her head. “He loves you and he’s always wanted kids. I know you two probably haven’t really had time to talk about it but even though he only has the twin brother, Laird comes from a big family. Lots of cousins. He grew up with all of that. And he wants that as a father. If you tell him this I promise you, he’s going to be happy. He’s not going to see it as too fast or as a burden.”
I nodded, and accepted Alana’s hand, letting her squeeze mine reassuring. She was incredibly kind, distracting me with talk about literally anything else until it was time for me to leave.
“You can tell him,” Alana promised me as she hugged me goodbye. “He’ll be ecstatic. I promise.”
The drive back to the apartment had never felt longer. Laird had bought me a car as a wedding present so that I could get around the city and to all of my college classes. I had tried to give him back the money he’d given me, but he’d told me that I’d earned it, fair and square, and so I was using it to pay for my college.
“I’m home!” I called into the apartment.
There was no answer. Odd, since I knew that Laird was home today. His car had been in its parking space. Had he gone on a walk? Was he working out and listening to music? Taking a nap?
I walked further into the apartment and saw him standing in the bathroom, my makeup bag open in front of him, a familiar looking stick in his hands.
My heart stopped.
“I ran out of chapstick,” Laird said, still staring down at the stick. “I thought I would see if you had any I could borrow. And I found…”
“I only did that this morning,” I blurted out. “I wasn’t keeping it from you.” Suddenly the idea of keeping a secret from him was abhorrent. I couldn’t believe that I had ever thought about keeping anything from him. “I just… I needed some time to… adjust.”
Laird set down the stick and turned to look at me. I couldn’t read his expression, which was unusual, and concerned me. Laird was such an open book to me.
“Please tell me you’re excited about this,” I begged. “I know the timing isn’t the best, but I do want to be a mother and I do want to have your child. Even if it wasn’t when we planned.”
Laird looked away, towards the mirror, and when he looked back I realized that there were tears in his eyes. “I’m sorry, love,” he said, and my heart plummeted. “I’m just… feeling overwhelmed. In a good way. I’m—I didn’t think we’d do this for a bit, yeah, but I’m overjoyed. I’m flying.”
My breath felt like it had been punched out of me. “You mean it?”
“Of course I mean it!” Laird walked over to me and took me into his arms, kissing me all over my face. “I know it’s not what we planned, but I want to be a father, I want to grow our family with you.”
I took his face in my hands, kissing him, hardly able to contain all of the joy I felt bursting out of me. “I want that too. I really do.”
We’d have to figure out college, and all the rest, but I had faith that we would. Laird picked me up and spun me around, laughing into my shoulder, and I held on tightly in return. This was the man of my dreams, and I was never letting go—not of him, and not of our bright, shining future together.
Rival Attraction (Sample)
Description
I’m never walking down that path again.
Even if he k
isses better than any other man.
We’ll always be bitter rivals.
Eight years ago, he ruined my life. Now, the grade-A jerk is back to do it again.
Christopher Kinnison is many things.
Cruel.
Arrogant.
Handsome.
Conceited.
One thing he absolute is not is kind.
He proved that eight years ago when he destroyed my dreams and career along with my heart.
What the hell did I ever do to karma that she sent him back into my life?
And we are supposed to be working together – again!
The devil might be easier to work with than Chris.
At least I could resist the beast with the horns.
But the flesh and blood man in front of me is another story.
We’re not the same college kids we were back then.
Being single parents means we both have bigger priorities than our own hang-ups.
But the same sizzle between us is impossible to ignore.
He may be my sworn enemy, but love isn’t always logical or fair.
Prologue
Hollie
Tuesday (Eight years earlier)
I was a horrible person.
Sure, I made mistakes in my life which were pretty bad, but suddenly it seemed insignificant compared to what I was about to do. Let me just make this abundantly clear, I was not the kind of person who liked hurting people and stabbing them in the back, but this needed to be done.
I needed to do this for myself.
I was raised by my amazing parents to stick up for myself and not let anyone stand in my way of getting to the top. And by top, I meant in life, and not sexually speaking. Although, being on top was quite fun, especially when I had the best view of my sexy boyfriend.
The same sexy boyfriend that would pretty soon hate my guts.
Chris shifted beside me and I glanced over at him. He had his back to me, his shoulder muscles moving under the rhythm of his breathing.
Don’t get me wrong, he was sexy as f*ck. Dark hair, dark eyes, and an intense gaze that melted my clothes right off my body. He was funny and smart and did well in his classes without really trying too hard.
Chris was also very competitive, and it wasn’t always a good thing, especially since we worked at the same advertising company as interns. He tended to be controlling at times and believed that his ideas were the best, regardless of anyone else’s.
Which was exactly the reason why I had this knot in my stomach.
We argued last night, about work, of course. We had to do a presentation in the morning for a room full of potential clients, and Chris had knocked down every single idea I had. Some of them were good, really good, but he believed that his idea was better. I believed mine was.
I had it all worked out. I would simply replace his presentation with mine. Sure, he was going to be pissed, but I believed in my presentation, and I believed that it was better than his.
Of course, when the argument reached its pinnacle, Chris came on to me with those chocolatey eyes and that crooked smile and before I knew it, we were making love in his dorm room, while music blasted down the hall.
How romantic.
I enjoyed every second of it, but couldn’t stop thinking that he was doing this simply to keep my mouth shut and forget all about the presentation.
It didn’t happen like that, obviously.
I stared up at the ceiling, thinking of the USB drive on my desk with my presentation on it, and the repercussions of my soon to be released actions. I figured it was better to sneak out of his room before he woke up and noticed the tension I held between my eyes.
Luckily, I had the ability to creep out of his bed undetected and quietly got dressed. I buttoned my jeans and pulled my t-shirt over my head, the logo of the University of Chicago proudly printed in white, contrasting perfectly against the maroon color. I tied my brown hair into a messy bun and quietly lifted my bag from the floor.
When Chris let out a snort, I hurried to the door and quickly left. God forbid he had to wake up now and see me sneaking out of his room.
Either way, I was doomed.
My alarm clock sounded sooner than I had hoped, and I groaned as I rolled over in bed. After a lengthy stretch, I climbed out of bed and noticed that there was no text from Chris, much to my relief, to be honest. I ate breakfast – as my mom always said it was the most important meal of the day – and started to get ready. I traded my casual college girl attire for something a little more professional, and to be honest I looked more like a lawyer than someone who was in advertising. My high-waisted pencil skirt hugged my hips snugly, and my soft white shirt was tucked into the band of my skirt, slightly loose to soften the hard lines. I parted my hair to the side, curling only the ends, and applied simple makeup, with a smoky eye and nude lipstick. A pair of pale pink high heels finished off my look, and I was more than satisfied with my reflection.
I arrived at the office before Chris did, and as I began to set up the projector in the conference room, a strange feeling filled up inside me.
Traitorous and fickle.
I truly wished that I didn’t have to resort to such an underhanded tactic, but Chris didn’t take me seriously. I had to prove once and for all that I was more than capable of having great ideas for a client. I wasn’t going to blow our presentation with the clients because Chris was being his usual stubborn self. Plus, I had a point to prove to myself. I was one of the few women interns in the office, and I wanted to prove that I was good enough, or even better than any male intern. In fact, my future career in the advertising business depended on it. Mr. Dalton, the owner, and CEO of the company only hired two interns, and I was going to make sure that I was one of them.
No matter what.
Did this include throwing my boyfriend under the bus?
Technically I wasn’t throwing him under anything. I was just replacing our entire presentation with mine.
I glanced up at the clock against the wall and swallowed hard as I noticed that the clients, as well as Chris, would be here in a few minutes.
“Morning, babe,” Chris suddenly said beside me and I turned to him. “You’re here early.”
“Hey,” I said as Chris leaned closer to me and kissed me swiftly on the lips. “I just wanted to make sure that everything is perfect.”
“As long as you say exactly what we rehearsed the whole of last week, it will be,” he assured me. “We’re going to kill it.”
I pursed my lips and nodded slowly.
Oh god. What have I done?
By the time the clients were all seated, my heart was already pounding painfully in my chest. I glanced at Chris and said to him, “Are you sure you want me to start?”
“Of course. You have a room full of men at your mercy, so smile that beautiful smile of yours, babe.”
A bitter feeling of nausea bubbled up in the pit of my stomach and I cocked my head at him. This is going to end badly, for sure. “Okay.”
“Just like we practiced,” he answered with a wink.
I approached the podium – only it wasn’t really a podium per se – and clutched the electronic clicker which controlled the digital presentation. “Good morning, gentlemen. My name is Hollie Jameson, and this is my colleague Christopher Kinnison. Today we wish to welcome you to Michael Dalton Advertising and hope that you will find our presentation of value to you. If there are any questions, I do urge you to wait until the end of the presentation,” I said with the utmost confidence.
I noticed Chris readied himself to step forward, and I drew in a quick breath to give me the courage I needed to continue. “We all know that advertising is the most important aspect of spreading the word for your company, and I have the perfect solution to suit all your needs. The times have certainly changed from flyers to all things digital, and my approach will give you the benefits of word of mouth distribution along with the cost-effective benefits we deserve in a digital age.”
&
nbsp; From the corner of my eye, I noticed Chris growing increasingly frustrated with me, but I dared not look at him.
Chris suddenly laughed out loud and the clients shifted their attention to him. “Don’t you just love a woman’s enthusiasm?”
He stepped forward and cleared his throat. “Let’s be honest, gentlemen. How many times have you heard a pitch like that from our competitors? Claiming that there was a way to maximize distribution reach, while at the same time minimizing your costs to a point that they are non-existent? Countless.”
“Chris, what are you doing?” I whispered through a forced smile.
“Let me handle this,” he turned briefly to me before addressing the clients. “Miss Jameson’s introduction was the perfect lure to entice you into agreeing, while there are so many underlying costs which our competitors will only make you aware of.”
“Excuse my colleague, but that’s not the case here,” I interrupted, and he glanced at me, his jaw clenched.
“Hollie…” he warned. “Sit down.”
“No, I am not going to sit down.”
“This is not the presentation that we agreed on.”
“You mean it’s not what you agreed on,” I pointed out to him. “Mine is better and they deserve to listen to the better presentation.”
“Yours is not better, Hollie!”
“Can you stop belittling me and just admit that my ideas are better than yours?” I asked and made the mistake of glancing at the clients, who looked stunned in their seats.
“Miss Jameson and Mr. Kinnison, my office, now.” I suddenly heard my supervisor’s voice behind me and sighed as I turned towards him. He stood in the doorway; his eyes angry. Both Chris and I quietly left the conference room and I heard Mr. Carlton apologize profusely to the clients.
Fake Bride: A Fake Marriage Billionaire Romance (Forbidden First Times Book 2) Page 21
