Pregnancy Plan (7 page)

“
You’re such a thoughtful
soul.”

He paused at the end of his king size bed
and his hands tugged on her sweater. “You won’t need all these
clothes. They’ll just get in your way.”

He slid the silky fabric over her head. Her
upper body exposed, he dropped his hands to her smooth, shoulders.
His palms caressed the warm silk and he unhooked her bra.

Straps removed, he leaned closer until her
breasts lay against his shirt. His head dipped to brush kisses
across skin. Her arms circled his neck.

Fingers skimmed the waistline of her jeans,
and he released the button. The raspy sound of her zipper sang in
his ears. His tongue found her life’s rhythm at the base of her
neck. Why did she have so many clothes on?

He slid his hand beneath her cotton panties
to the heart of her heat. She moaned and arched closer. His fingers
played an alluring melody over the soft lips of her sex while her
hips wiggling and undulating in a sensual dance.

“
Derek! Please.”

He paused the music.

“
Now, honey, we need to get your
clothes off so you’ll be comfortable.”

He pushed her onto the bed. Her eyes wide,
she sat up quickly. He’d inflamed more than her passion.

“
What about your clothes?”

He squatted to remove her shoes. “That comes
next.”

“
Can I help?” Her hands briefly
touched his forearms.

“
No.” He stood, working her jeans off
her legs. “You get to relax.”

He fingered the buttons of his shirt. “Of
course, I don’t want you to be lonely, so I thought I’d join
you.”

“
Really? Do you always sleep in the
nude?” Her gaze heated and his jeans grew tighter.

He quickly unbuttoned his shirt. “No, I
usually wear shorts.”

The shirt gone, he unsnapped his jeans.

She groaned, her eyes widening and her mouth
dropping open. Her incredulous expression had him feeling like a
thoroughbred racehorse, fast, hot and driven to please.

After stripping, he leaned forward. The dark
hunger in her gaze fed his desire. Unable to hold out any longer,
he devoured her soft moist lips and tugged her into the center of
his bed.

He covered her, and his mouth covered her
breast. Her heavy-lidded brown eyes deepened to black. He gathered
her nipple between his lips and tugged. Her eyes closed. The
lustful sparkles vanished while a pleasured rumble echo through her
chest.

“
Derek, please.”

He rolled with her in his arms. Her
eyelashes fluttered, then widened as if in surprise at the change
in their position.

“
I’ll let you set the pace.” His hands
rested at her waist.

With intense care, she lifted her hips and
toyed with the very tip of him. Slowly, dragging his patience to
the end of the line, she sank. He groaned as her slippery wet heat
surrounded him, and then she started her ascent. Again, she
tortured him with her leisurely pace.

“
Honey, you’re killing me here.” His
hand fell between her legs and he found the bud of her desire.
Stroking it, he increased her speed into a wild ride. Face flushed,
eyes tightly closed, she gulped in air.

The thrust of her hips sent him teetering on
the edge. One more second, another instant, he fought to hold on.
Her pleasure as important to him as his own, he waited for her to
fall first. A whispered scream of triumph sounded in her throat and
she collapsed on his chest.

Derek quickly rolled over. Intense
sensations flooded him with each thrust, and he locked his lips to
hers. Allowing her no means of escape, he imprisoned her tongue and
stroked it until he felt her body climax again.

With one final punch, he collapsed over her.
The hazy glow of completion created a unique feeling, one he hadn’t
experienced with anyone else. Yet, he couldn’t name it. Didn’t want
to try, but it capture him, tied him in knots as to what he should
do.

Should he convince her that they belonged
together?

Marriage might work. After all, if she was
pregnant, he could take care of them.

The thought both shocked and delighted him.
He wanted to be apart of her life. Now how did he go about
convincing her she wanted to be part of his?

Rolling to one side, he carried her over
with him. Uncoupling, he felt the loss of the warmth. Comparing
that sacrifice to what it would feel like not to have her again,
convinced him they needed a more permanent relationship.

“
I think...” A ringing tone
interrupted. “Who could that be?”

“
Maybe it’s one of your girlfriends?”
Jillian teased and nudged away from him.

“
No one knows I’m here except the
people at work, and Jason.” Derek tightened his hold and tucked her
against his side. “We’ll let the answering machine get
it.”

Silently, they waited while the phone
continued to squawk. Finally, the answering machine clicked on.
They listened for the caller to identify himself. With the machine
located downstairs, the muffled voice couldn’t be heard.

“
What was it you were
thinking?”

“
I was wondering about your plans for
the future.”

“
What do you mean?”

He brushed his hand across her shoulder.
“When this weekend is over, and you find out you’re pregnant. Will
I ever get to make love to you again?”

She brushed her lips over his. He tasted her
addictive flavor. “You might not want to.”

He shook his head. “I don’t think that’s
possible.”

“
You never know. Once, I’m fat,
cranky, and bloated with a baby, you might not even want to come
near me.”

She appeared serious about such a crazy
unlikelihood.

“
I will always want you.” His lips
covered her before she could reply.

Fear of losing her unleashed his desire. He
ravished her mouth. Wild with uncertainty, he didn’t give her a
chance to respond. His lips shifted over her mouth, neck,
breasts.

He couldn’t get enough. He wanted to eat her
alive.

Her body as greedy as his, she bucked and
twisted beneath him. An inferno burned through his blood. Fire
demanded fuel. He drove into her, seeking the completion that only
she could give.

Flames rose higher and higher. He plunged
deeper and deeper. The spark ignited, he drenched her womb with his
sperm.

She would be the mother of his child.

He had no doubt of that fact.

****

Lying beside Derek, her head resting on his
shoulder, her hand skimming his chest, Jillian wished she could
believe he’d always want her.

But in her world, things didn’t last
forever.

He believed what he was saying, but as much
as it elated her to think of them having a future together, it
brought along some concerns.

What did he really want?

Her body? Her mind? Her will?

She struggled with letting another man
control her life. Her father had used both guilt and manipulation,
her brother, her willingness to help. Now with her dad dead and
Michael living in Dallas, she had her freedom, power over the
store, a baby hopefully on the way and the chance to live the life
she wanted.

If Derek wanted a commitment, did she know
him well enough to give him a chance and let him into her
world?

After sliding out of bed, Jillian extracted
a sundress from her suitcase and slipped it on, then reached for
her underwear.

Derek, on the other hand, had a very good
arsenal of weapons to use against her. One was her desire for his
body, and another the child she might be carrying.

She covered her stomach with her hand and
watched as he arrogantly exited the bed. His steel-gray gaze nailed
her with his determination. The man had decided.

“
I’m going to be around for a very
long time.” He stalked to her and kissed her possessively, then
bent to retrieve his jeans from the floor.

The alluring target of his naked butt was
too much to resist. She swatted it.

Jerking up quickly, he spun on his heels.
Fire lit his eyes. Her brazenness shocked her and she backed away.
He approached, ready to retaliate. She turned and rushed from the
room.

“
You’ll pay for that,” followed her
down the stairs.

Derek strolled into the kitchen. Jillian
stood next to the sink loading their breakfast dishes into the
dishwasher, her brown hair uncombed. A baby-blue cotton dress hit
the middle of her thighs, leaving her knees exposed. The material
hugged a round luscious tush. With her feet bare, she looked good
enough to eat.

Impregnating her wouldn’t be a problem.

He pushed the button on the answering
machine before he edged in behind her, pinning her against the
counter. His hands slid around her breasts. He pinched her nipples,
lowered his head, and nibbled on the curve of her neck. She relaxed
into his arms, moaning as he caressed her.

He whispered. “Next time you slap me on the
butt, you’d better be willing to pay the price.”

Several clicks echoed through the room.

“
If this is the price, I’ll willingly
pay.”

Then a male voice rang from the answering
machine. “Hey Jason, are you home? I was wondering if you happen to
know where Jillian...”

“
No. I want...”

She stiffened against him and the voice
continued. “I’m trying to reach her. A friend of hers said she was
in Dallas, but she hasn’t called me. I want to warn her I’ll need
part of my inheritance sooner than I thought. That dot-com company
I bought into is not doing as well as I’d hoped. They’re looking at
doing a margin call here soon, which means...Anyway, give me a
call. Thanks, buddy.”

She stepped forward and leaned against the
sink. Her head hung in a dejected pose.

Derek cupped his hands over her shoulders
and drew her back into his arms. “Maybe it’s not as bad as it
sounds.”

Her head rocked back and forth. “You don’t
know Michael and money. The two don’t go together.”

With his arm around her, he directed her
into the living room and tugged her onto the couch beside him. “How
bad can it be? Surely, he has enough to cover the margin call or
he’d never have invested in the stock.”

“
That may be true of most people, but
Michael’s always overextending himself. We’ve divided most of my
parents’ property. I let him have my father’s car. A week later, he
showed up with a new BMW convertible. He traded in my dad’s car and
bought a new one. He said he got a heck of a deal, but it couldn’t
have covered the total cost of the car. So now, he has another
monthly payment.”

She buried her head into his shoulder and
her arms circled his waist. He held her close and decided she
needed protection from her brother. Otherwise, her brother would
drain her dry.

“
Now Michael will try to pressure me
into sell my parents’ house. He owns half, and he said he’d let me
buy him out, but...” Her hands tightened on his shirt. “Now, I’ll
have to spend the next few weeks getting appraisals so I can pay
him off as well as try to get a loan. Who’s going to want to
finance a century old house to a single woman who owns a little
over half of a hardware store?”

She rushed on, barely pausing as she relayed
her misery.

“
I was hoping to get him to finance
the house so he’d have a steady income and wouldn’t be tempted to
spend all the money in one place.” Lifting her head, she leaned
backward. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t bother you with this.”

Derek maneuvered her onto his lap and
positioned her head back onto his shoulder. “Jillian, I want to
help you. If getting a loan is a problem, I can loan you the
money.”

She jerked away, her stare telling him of
her resistance to the idea. “No. You don’t even know if I’d be good
for it.”

“
Doesn’t matter. As the future mother
of my child, you need a nice place to live. So why shouldn’t I help
pay for the house?”

Tears trickling down her face, she cupped
her hands around his face. “I may not even be pregnant.”

His mind refused to entertain any thought of
failure. Lips inches from hers, he whispered. “It’s just a matter
of time.”

The kiss he’d planned to be soft and
comforting quickly turned into a battle of possession. His tongue
warred with hers, dueling for the right to claim her mouth. His
strong arms held her close. He’d start by pleasing her, but he
wanted her total surrender. She needed him in her life.

His body burned with ways to convince her of
that fact. Her soft cries when his mouth brushed her breasts, the
shudders when his lips ventured lower, the spasms of delight when
his tongue stroked her heat, every reaction strengthened his desire
to be someone she could count on in the future.

Her climax ignited a fever to share himself
with her. The barrier of his clothes vanished with a hand, a nudge,
a shift, a kick, a sigh until he was free.

Spread out on the rug, she seduced him
closer and he covered her long sensuous body in one swift move. Her
hands clutched his bottom, fingers digging into his flesh. Unable
to delay a second longer, he drove into her soft velvet warmth with
a loud bellow of need.

On fire, he plunged into her over and over
until she convulsed around him. His control broken, he trembled and
climaxed with one final stroke.

Neither moved as they fought to catch their
breath.

Rolling onto his back, Derek drew her along
so he lay on the hard floor, cushioning her body with his. He
stared at the ceiling, spent by the impatient rush of sex.