Lawful Wife (Eternal Bachelors Club) (12 page)

Holly patted her hand. “That’s just the morning sickness talking. Don’t worry about Audrey. She’ll get what she deserves. I’ll guarantee it.”

“Your word in God’s ear!”

When the door suddenly opened and brought with it a fresh breeze from the outside, Sabrina turned her head. She was surprised to see a man enter the OBGYN clinic—alone. Had he been a FedEx or a UPS delivery man, it wouldn’t have been unusual, but he wore an outfit that looked like he was about to go sailing.

He walked up to the reception desk and handed the receptionist a small gift bag, then talked to her in a low voice, too low for Sabrina to pick up the words. Though the blush on the receptionist’s face suggested that he was flirting with her. When the phone rang, the girl reluctantly answered it, and the man turned around.

Sabrina’s heart raced. She recognized the man immediately. It was Jay Bohannon, one of Daniel’s friends and one of the members of the Eternal Bachelors Club from which Daniel would be kicked out on his wedding day. Like Daniel’s other friends, he’d apparently driven down from New York a few days prior to the wedding.

Sabrina lowered her face and turned toward Holly, hoping that Jay wouldn’t see her. She didn’t want him to tell Daniel that he’d seen her at an OBGYN clinic, because even if it turned out that Sabrina was pregnant, she didn’t want to tell Daniel until their wedding night.

Holly stared into Jay’s direction, which wasn’t a huge surprise: she liked good looking men like any other living, breathing young woman.

“Yum,” Holly murmured under her breath.

“Don’t look!” Sabrina whispered.

Holly whipped her head to her. “Why not?”

“Sabrina Palmer?” the receptionist suddenly called her name, before Sabrina could answer her friend’s question.

Sabrina jumped up from her chair, her hands nervously brushing out the creases of her summer dress. Jay’s gaze snapped to her, and his mouth twisted into a broad smile.

“Sabrina!” he greeted her, walking toward her.

Sabrina caught the other women staring at her. Great! Now not only would everybody know who she was and connect her to the article in the
New York Times
, but they would also gossip about her meeting a handsome man at a women’s clinic. What else could go wrong?

“Hi, Jay,” she said hesitantly, stretching out her hand, but instead of shaking her hand, Jay pulled her into a brief hug. Well, he was a Southerner and they had met once before at a birthday party in the city. She couldn’t really push him away without making him think something was wrong.

“Fancy seeing you here,” he said lightly, then winked. “Guess Daniel will have his hands full very soon.”

“Uh . . . ” Sabrina glanced to the physician’s assistant who was waiting patiently at the door that led to the exam rooms.

Jay bent closer and winked at her. “Don’t worry, Daniel won’t hear it from me.” Then he grinned. “That is, if you introduce me to your friend here.” He motioned to Holly.

“Oh, Holly, this is Jay Bohannon, one of Daniel’s friends. Jay, my friend Holly Foster. She’ll be my bridesmaid.”

“Splendid!” Jay bent down to take Holly’s hand to press a kiss on it.

“Miss Parker?” the physician’s assistant called out again.

“Excuse me, please.”

With a last glance at Holly, Sabrina followed the girl and marched into the exam room she pointed out.

16

From the door to their en-suite bathroom, Sabrina watched as Daniel stepped out of the shower and reached for the towel. Drops of water were running down his hairless chest, traversing the ridges of his sculpted abdomen and disappearing in the dark thatch of hair that guarded his sex. Even in a relaxed state, his cock was magnificent. Her womb clenched at the thought of feeling him inside her. But this time the sensation was different. Because in her womb their child was growing. With their lovemaking they had created a new life.

When the physician had confirmed the pregnancy, she’d at first not known what to feel and how to react. But as the day had passed, she’d felt the joy about the news grow to monumental proportions. So much so that she wanted to shout it from the rooftops. But she wouldn’t.

This was a piece of news to be treasured. She didn’t want it to be tainted by the trouble the article in the newspaper had caused. No, this news deserved a platform of its own. She wanted to treat this as the gift it was. A gift for both her and Daniel. And there was one special time to share this gift with Daniel: on their wedding night. It would make everything perfect.

“What are you thinking of?” Daniel asked as he wrapped the towel around his lower half, depriving her of the sinful sight.

“Nothing.”

He walked toward her. “It’s your parents, isn’t it?”

She shrugged, glad that he’d guessed wrong. “They are who they are.”

“What went wrong between them?”

Sabrina smiled softly. “You mean what went right between them? Not a lot. I guess they had different ideas of what kind of life they wanted to lead. Mom always wanted to keep up with the Joneses. And Dad couldn’t care less as long as he could hang out with his buddies on Friday night and watch football the entire weekend. Mom wanted more. She used to be a very affectionate woman when I was little. But Dad wasn’t. He just wasn’t the cuddly type. I think Mom craved physical closeness. And he couldn’t give it to her. He wasn’t very demonstrative with his feelings. Don’t get me wrong; they must have had sex. After all, they had me.”

Daniel brushed his knuckles over her cheek. “It’s sad to see how things can go wrong between two people who once loved each other. They did love each other once, didn’t they?”

“I would hope so, but I don’t remember ever seeing or feeling it. All I remember from my childhood were their fights, their sniping, my mother’s tears, and my father’s silence. Maybe they loved each other at the very beginning, before they had me. But I guess it wasn’t enough. They just weren’t meant for each other.”

“Not like we are.” Daniel pressed a tender kiss on her lips.

She reached for his hand, intertwining her fingers with his. “Yes, not like you and I. Still, I’m worried sometimes. My parents must have thought too that they were meant for each other when they got married. When they were in love.”

“You shouldn’t worry. You and I, we have a special connection.” He took her hand and pressed it against the spot where his heart beat against his ribcage. “I can feel it. Without you, I don’t feel complete. I’d always thought I didn’t need anybody. But I do. I need you. And the last few days have shown me that when somebody hurts you, it hurts me just the same. I feel it physically.”

Sabrina slid her hand that lay on his heart farther up until it reached his nape. She pulled him closer. “I’ve never felt as loved as I feel now.”

“That must be because I love you more than anybody else ever could. You’re everything I ever dreamed of, Sabrina.” He sighed. “And if I didn’t have to go to this darn bachelor party, I’d show you.”

She smiled, brushing her lips against his. “Nobody will mind if you’re a few minutes late.” She kissed him softly, but before he could respond to her and deepen the kiss, she pulled back.

A disappointed groan came over his lips, and his hands reached for her, trying to drag her back. But Sabrina had other ideas.

She dropped to her knees and tore on the towel around Daniel’s hips, jerking it off him and tossing it to the ground.

“Oh God! Baby!” he let out on a ragged breath when he seemed to realize what she was planning.

She stroked over his cock and felt it jerk. She noticed that with every second that passed, it grew bigger. More blood coursed into it.

Sabrina placed her hands on his thighs and pressed him against the wall behind him. Daniel groaned, and Sabrina couldn’t help but smile. She loved it when he lost control. And Daniel was about to lose control.

Her hand wrapped around his now fully erect shaft, and she brought her mouth to it. Her tongue snaked out and licked over the mushroomed head as if she were licking an ice cream cone, though no ice cream flavor could be as delicious as the taste of Daniel’s freshly showered body.

Feeling the hard flesh as she slowly descended on it and took him into her mouth, was a sensation she loved. It made her feel strong and powerful to bring a man like Daniel to his knees. She shivered when his hands touched her bare shoulders and brushed the spaghetti straps of her top off her shoulders, making it slide down to her waist. Cool air wafted against her naked breasts, adding to the erotic sensations that coursed through her body as she sucked Daniel’s shaft longingly.

His hips rocked against her, gently at first, but with every thrust his movements became more pronounced. She took him deeper, while licking her tongue along the underside of his aroused flesh.

“Fuck, baby!” he ground out, his voice nearly unrecognizable.

Sabrina slipped one hand to his balls, cupping them. His hips jerked at the touch, and a ragged breath tore from his mouth, echoing against the tiled walls of the bathroom. She gently played with the precious stones and felt the sac contract under her touch, pulling up toward his impossibly hard shaft, which she gripped at the base to add more pressure to her sucking motions.

She felt him tense under her ministrations. Then she gently scraped against his scrotum with her fingernails. His cock jerked in her mouth.

“I’m coming! Fuck, I’m coming!” he groaned and pushed her back.

His cock slipped out of her mouth just as semen spurted from its tip, raining over her hand and his stomach.

Uneven breaths filled the silence in the room as Sabrina tenderly continued to caress his cock and balls.

When she looked up at him, she met his dark eyes and noticed the stormy look in them.

“If I didn’t have to go to this damn bachelor party, I’d bend you over the nearest armchair and fuck you until neither of us could move a limb.”

“That’s sounds very naughty.”

He breathed heavily. “Yes, because that’s what you deserve for seducing me like this. And you know how much I like to dole out punishment, don’t you?”

A bolt of adrenaline shot through her, fanning the flames inside her once more. “Not as much as I like to receive it.”

17

“The extraordinary meeting of the Eternal Bachelors Club is now in session,” Zach Ivers announced.

Everybody was assembled in Zach’s
man cave
on the first floor of his weekend home in Bridgehampton, several miles south of East Hampton. His main residence was a swanky penthouse in Manhattan, but in the summer and on weekends, Zach liked to withdraw to this almost modest three-bedroom house on Long Island. Daniel could understand why: the house was right on the beach and had the most magnificent view of the ocean. Tranquility radiated from the house and its surroundings. Even now, in the dark, there was something peaceful about the place.

“This isn’t exactly how I imagined my bachelor party,” Daniel said, looking at the faces of the other seven members of the club: Zach, who presided over the meeting; Paul Gilbert; Jay Bohannon; Michael Clarkson, who was the treasurer; Xavier Eamon; Hunter Hamilton; and Wade Williams, all tall, dark and handsome in their own right. They’d all attended Princeton together, where they’d formed the club after a night of heavy drinking.

Hunter grinned. “You know the rules.”

Wade jabbed Hunter in the side. “I don’t think Daniel cares much about the rules.”

“Guys, be nice!” Tim chastised.

“Tim, you’ve got no say, since you’re not a member of the club. We’re letting you stay for the meeting out of courtesy,” Michael protested.

Tim braced his hands at his hips. “Which it totally outrageous. I should be a member. I’m a bachelor, just like the rest of you. The fact that I’m gay should not have any bearing on this.”

Xavier and Wade exchanged a look then Xavier said, “Yes, but we didn’t want anybody in the club who has an unfair advantage over the rest of us.”

“Unfair advantage, bullshit!” Tim shook his head. “According to California law I can get married just like the rest of you.”

“That’s true. But that wasn’t the case when the club was formed,” Zach interjected. “So, sorry, Tim, but you can’t join now.”

“It just wouldn’t be fair,” Michael added. “After all, we all contributed money to the club’s coffers for years, and to have you join without a buy-in wouldn’t be right.”

Tim rolled his eyes. “How much are we talking about then?”

Michael glanced at Zach who nodded. “Well, might as well get on with the treasurer’s report.” He looked down at his notes. “Last quarter we closed out at 3.72 million dollars.”

Tim whistled through his teeth. “That’s not exactly chump change.”

Michael smiled. “Yes, and after Daniel’s wedding in a few days, only seven bachelors remain eligible to win the money.”

“Knock yourselves out, guys,” Daniel responded. “Not all the money in the world would make me change my mind about marrying Sabrina.”

Zach cleared his throat. “Well, since we’re on that subject.” He glanced at the other men in the living room. “The guys and I have been talking while we were waiting for you and Tim.”

Daniel tensed. Were they going to try to talk him out of marrying Sabrina because they believed the story in the
New York Times
?

Zach made a calming movement with his hand. “Before you say something, Daniel, let me speak for the club.”

Daniel leaned back in his armchair.

“We’ve all seen the article. We’ve known you for a long time, and we know what kind of man you are. What this reporter claims is clearly a lie. We stand by you and Sabrina. So, if there’s anything we can do to help you get this rectified, we’ll do it. You can count on us.”

Daniel let out the breath he’d been holding. “You guys. I don’t know what to say.” He looked at them as all nodded at him, underscoring Zach’s words. “You would really do that?”

Wade chuckled and cut in. “Only to make sure you’re really leaving the club, of course, but who cares about our motivation?”