by Ada Stone
“There. Now we can eat.” He gave her a grin and reached for the pizza box.
“What?” He could feel her heated glare on him as he put the box on the kitchen table and he popped it open.
Once he had a piece of the pie on a plate, he looked over at her. Had any woman ever looked so damn fuckable when they pouted like her? “What? Did you want something?” he asked, taking a bite of the pizza.
“I’m not eating naked.” She reached for the clothes, but he was faster than her, grabbing the pile from the opposite side of the island and taking them back to the table with him.
“I didn’t say you were going to.” He left the pizza on the table and rounded the island. Sliding his arms beneath hers, he pulled her into a hug. “You are cute when you don’t get what you want.” He kissed her temple.
“You’re a child.” If the reprimand hadn’t come out laced with a soft chuckle, he would have been offended. “Maybe a bully too.”
He pulled away and spun her around to face the island. Pressing his hand into her back, between her shoulder blades, he put her where he wanted her. She yelped at the two hard swats he delivered to her upturned bottom but didn’t fight him. He gave her two more and damn near embarrassed himself by coming in his pants with the look she threw him over her shoulder.
“Behave,” he warned, secretly hoping she wouldn’t. His hand rubbed her ass, taking away any sting that might have been left from the very light spanking. Gripping her flesh, he groaned. “I could just do this for days to your ass.” He patted her lightly, then slapped her thighs. “Open.” Again, she moved right into the position he wanted her.
Passing his fingers over her pussy, he gathered the flowing juices. She was already sopping wet for him, and they’d just gotten started. Still keeping her bent over the counter, he thrust two fingers into her passage. She cried out but not from pain. He heard a soft curse leave her lips and he thrust again, harder. Her body clamped down around his fingers.
Letting one finger dangle forward, he teased her clit. The hard nub was already swollen and wanting, making his little touch that much more intense for her. She started to rock against his hand, fucking his fingers, and he wanted to scream.
“Fuck yeah.” With his free hand he slapped her right ass cheek, delighting in the little giggle. She didn’t stop moving, so he gave her another swat to her other cheek. “Good girl, fuck my fingers.” With one hand, he managed to unbutton and unzip his own jeans, moving to position himself behind her.
“Michael.” Her hands pressed down against the countertop, and she thrust harder back at him. “It’s not enough. I need more.” Her eyes landed on him, wide and pooling with arousal.
There wasn’t much need to wait any longer. He removed his fingers from her heated pussy and pushed his jeans further down, freeing his rock hard cock. He pumped it in his hand a few times, enjoying the envy in her eyes as she watched him. Finally, she wiggled her backside at him. “Please.”
“Oh, well, since you asked so prettily.” He gave her one last slap to her ass before gripping her hips and plunging hard into her. She yelled out but didn’t try to twist away when he pinned her between himself and the counter. Instead, she wiggled again. He wanted to laugh with delight, but instead, he withdrew and plowed hard into her again.
“Again!” she yelled, and who was he not to oblige her?
She lifted up from the counter enough for him to see her tits swaying with each of his thrusts. Her nipples grazed the countertop, and her head was thrown back while she uttered soft words he couldn’t understand. Other than a few “fucks” or “yes,” she didn’t make any sense.
But his mind wasn’t exactly clear either. Her tight passage clamped down around him, pulling him harder into her. Her body began to tremble; her thighs shook beneath him. Reaching around her, he flicked her clit, knowing it wouldn’t take much more to get her to explode. He flicked again and then he rubbed, manipulating her hot button in a circular pattern with more pressure.
“Oh, God! Oh. Oh. Oh.” She slammed her hand down on the counter and shoved back at him with all her strength.
“That’s it; that’s my girl. Fuck me. Come. Come hard.” And come she did. Every wave of her orgasm pulled him further into her, milking him. A familiar tingle began at his spine, and with two more stokes, he was screaming right along with her.
Her body milked him, taking every drop of his seed from him, leaving him exhausted. He’d fucked plenty of women, but none of them drained him of all self-control and energy.
He kissed her bare back as he slipped out of her. He yanked the towel hanging off the oven door off and cleaned her up. “Have you been to the doctor? I mean, you have a doctor?” He dragged the dish towel along her pussy, wiping away his own cum as it slid from her wet and swollen folds.
“Yeah, of course I do.” She turned around, her arms crossing over her chest. “Do you think I could have my clothes back before we, you know, talk about this?” Her eyes shimmered with her smile.
“Sure.” He patted her hip and stepped out of the way for her move around to the table. He finished getting himself put back together, then joined her at the table. “Take another piece.” He pointed to the pizza when she’d only taken one slice.
“I will. Let me finish this one first.” She laughed. It was an easy laugh, a casual sound that fit right into his house. She was exactly where she belonged, whether she understood that yet or not. It didn’t really matter.
“So, doctor. You’ve seen one.”
“Of course I did. I’m thirteen weeks along.”
“Good doctor?”
“Nope. I got the worst one my insurance offered.” She gave him a wry smile before sinking her teeth into her pizza. He loved how she had no remorse for her appetite.
“Smartasses get spanked.” He raised his eyebrows and pointed a finger at her.
“Well, if it leads to what we just did over there,” she jerked at thumb behind her at the island, “then I’m game.”
“Funny.” He took another piece of pizza. “The morning sickness is bad, though, huh?” The memory of the hospital was still fresh in his mind. He couldn’t remember ever helping a chick puke before. He usually just waited outside to make sure they were okay before handing them off to their friend. But Belle wasn’t a chick. She was his woman.
“It’s not great. My mother keeps promising me it will go away soon. But so far, it’s shown no signs of stopping. Morning, afternoon, middle of the night, he knows no boundaries.”
“Like his father.” Michael grinned with pride.
“Cute.” She shook her head. “I wouldn’t mind a good night’s sleep, though.” She rubbed her eyes and leaned back in her chair.
“Maybe you shouldn’t work. You know, take time off.”
“Off? I need my job, Michael. I need the insurance, the paycheck, the retirement fund.” She ticked off on her fingers the benefits of her job.
“I already told you, I’ll take care of everything.”
“Yeah, about that.” She looked back at the counter where the envelope full of money still sat. “I can’t take that. I just can’t.”
“Fine.” He picked up his plate and grabbed hers on his way to the sink.
“Really?” she asked with a skeptical tone.
“Sure.” He shrugged and picked up the envelope. “The hospital’s been made aware to send the bills directly to me for your mom. I’ll just have the baby doctor do the same thing.” He opened the drawer the money had been sitting in before and tossed it back in. “I thought you’d like to handle that yourself, but if you can’t—”
She jumped up from her chair. “It’s not that I can’t, it’s that I don’t need you to take care of everything like that. That’s not what I wanted. This isn’t what I asked for.”
Her cheeks flushed with anger, but she looked hotter than hell to him.
“How about we don’t have this argument? How about we go sit in my living room and watch some TV? You can tell me about your day, and
I’ll rub those feet of yours. When we’re done, we’ll go to bed.”
She started at him unblinking. “Go to bed?”
“Yeah. It’s where I sleep.” He nodded. “It’s late. Let’s watch a movie, and we’ll talk about all the little details tomorrow.”
“You can’t just take over my life, Michael,” she snapped at him, but her eyes had already started to soften.
“I don’t want to. I just want to be a part of it, and I want to take care of you. I said we’ll talk tomorrow.” He walked over to her, linking his hand in hers. “Come on. Just for tonight, pretend to listen to me, okay?” He threw her a smile and pulled her out of the kitchen into the living room.
They’d talk in the morning, before she headed off to work. He’d get the name of her doctor, and he’d be sure she understood that he was taking care of the bills, that he’d be at every one of her visits. Nothing was going to be left to chance. He was going to take care of his family.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Michael was true to his word. All hospital and doctor bills were current, and Dr. Langston’s office had called Belle to let her know they could go ahead and schedule her mother’s procedure.
Sierra questioned Belle about her relationship with Michael, but all Belle would tell her mother was that they were seeing each other, nothing serious.
“He’s the daddy.” Her mother waved a hand at her. “I know it.”
“How do you know that?” Belle tried to deflect with a smile of her own.
“Because I’m your mother, and I know what I see when I see it. That boy is the daddy.”
“Mom…”
“I know my head don’t work right. I know potato, dammit, tomato…” Her mother took a steadying breath. Although the medicines were working to shrink the tumor enough to attempt surgery, it was still pressing on the part of her brain that messed with her speech. Now and then, the wrong words would come out, and try as she might, she couldn’t call forth the correct ones.
“Mom, you’re right.” Belle decided not to rile her mother up more. The words were harder to find when she was upset. “Michael is the father. But we aren’t serious. We are giving this relationship thing a try, but I don’t want you getting your hopes up, okay? He’s not exactly the bring-home-for-Christmas kind of guy.”
Sierra rolled her hand in the air. She wanted more.
“He’s in a motorcycle club, Mom.” Belle confessed that information with a hushed voice. The nurses walking past the door didn’t need to hear her. Sierra rolled her eyes and waved her hand again. “He’s a mechanic mostly, works in their garage. But…I don’t know, I think he does other stuff. Stuff that dads shouldn’t do, right? I mean, what if he goes off on one of his jobs and doesn’t come back? Then what would I do? It’s not like the MC has a life insurance policy.”
Her mother started to laugh. “And what would you do if he’s not in your life at all? Same thing!” She patted Belle’s hand, which rested on the bed beside her. “You give him a chance. He’s really good looking, that Michael.”
Belle sighed. Thankfully, he wasn’t there to hear the compliment. The last thing that man needed was an ego boost. He did well enough on his own. She wouldn’t deny that he was attractive. If any man could make her drool just with a grin, it was him. He carried himself with confidence, as though he owned every room he walked into. And people just seemed to know it.
Michael had taken her to dinner the night before. Nothing fancy, just a diner in town, and every waitress came up to say hello. The cook even came out to speak with him for a moment. The waitresses weren’t hanging on him, and they didn’t give Belle any evil glances. In fact, most of them had fully ignored her. They probably saw him with a lot of women and had stopped even taking notice of them. That idea had sent Belle into a sour mood.
It wasn’t his fault. He had introduced her to everyone who came up to the table, and once that happened, they were more receiving of her. However, the few women who walked into the diner just as they were leaving hadn’t been so polite. They didn’t just ignore her when Michael introduced her, they openly snubbed her.
Michael had started to say something to them, but Belle stopped him. No sense in him causing a scene, and who knew, they could be right. In two months, they could be over and done with.
“You give that boy a chance.” Sierra announced with a firm nod. Belle rose from the chair she’d been sitting in.
“You just get some rest, Mom. I have to get to work. I have the late shift tonight.” She swung her purse over her shoulder and leaned down to give her mom a quick peck on her cheek.
“It’s going to be all right, Belle. I know it.” The vow was spoken in a soft voice, but she could feel every ounce of her mother’s determination behind the words. Her mother had never let her down. Not once in her entire life had she missed a recital, a baseball game, a birthday—nothing. No matter how hard things were, how tight money was, or how busy she was, she never let Belle think for a moment that she wasn’t loved.
“I know it, Mom.” She gave her a wave before heading out the door, stopping just outside to take a steadying breath. As a child, her mother’s vows that everything would work out had always soothed her worry and taken away her panic, but now, seeing her frail and wasting away in that hospital bed, she didn’t feel the same relief.
Michael could pay the hospital bills, but he couldn’t make the cancer go away. He didn’t have that sort of power. Her stomach started to turn on her, and she took several deep breaths. The nausea was starting to get better. She threw up less and less, but now and then, she’d feel a little sick.
What the hell was she doing having a kid now? Her mother needed her. She was dealing with too many things. It had been a selfish thing to do.
“Belle.” Dr. Langston walked up to her in the hallway. “Are you all right?” He laid a hand on her shoulder.
She straightened up and smiled. “Yes. I’m fine. Just a little morning sickness.” She nodded and wiped a stray hair from her forehead.
“Your mother told me you were expecting. Congratulations.” He gave a wary smile that didn’t quite touch his eyes. He knew she wasn’t married, knew she was single. “I assume your boyfriend, the man who showed up at my office last week, is the father?” A pointed question.
“Yes. Michael. He shouldn’t have walked in like that. I’m sorry if he disturbed the office.” She tensed under his gaze. She didn’t think he was attempting to be so bold, so judgmental, but she was definitely getting that vibe from him.
“It’s fine. He was just trying to take care of your mother. I understand that.” He tried to wave away the topic. “I assume future payments will also be in cash?”
Belle’s eyes snapped up to meet his. The accusation wasn’t even hidden; the man was full on making his feelings about Michael known. The money was dirty.
“I can write a check if that’s preferred.” She readjusted her strap on her shoulder.
“It’s up to you.” He shrugged, then looked at the door to her mother’s room. “Whatever is easier for you and your, uh, boyfriend. Is your mother asleep?”
“No, she’s awake. I was just headed to work.” She bit down on her cheek to keep from saying something that would cause the situation to become more awkward and give him even more reason to judge her.
“Good. I’m just making my rounds. I’ll see you tomorrow. I think we can discharge your mother within a few days, until we are ready for the procedure. You may want to seek some home care, however, as she’ll need assistance around the clock. Someone to be with her while you’re working would be best.”
“Of course. I’ll look into it right away.” Belle nodded. “Thank you, Dr. Langston.” She said the words with all sincerity. He was proving to be an asshole, but the ass could help her mother, so she’d put up with him. “Really. For everything.”
He raised one eyebrow and gave a curt nod. “It’s what I do.” He gave a half smile and headed into her mother’s room. Belle wanted to kick him in his ass to
hurry him along but instead shook her head, took a deep breath, and tried to put him out of her mind.
What the hell did he know about anything, anyway? Michael wasn’t some lowlife scum just because he wore a leather MC kutte, rode a motorcycle, and had longer hair than most men she’d ever dated. He had no right to judge.
Then again, neither did she.
#
Church took place every Tuesday evening at the clubhouse. Attendance was mandatory for the immediate board members, the president, the VP, and all the captains. Everyone else was encouraged to attend but understandably, not all could. Some members had night shifts or third shifts or families or something else that kept them from sitting in with the rest of the club. No one was ever given shit for not coming. Family came first, even if it meant missing a meeting to attend a soccer game. The same men who would skip a meeting for their kids, would also miss their kids’ games if something important needed to be done for the club. It was a balancing act for those members with families. Women who married into the club knew what they were getting into. The club sometimes stepped in front of family for a time.
