Rapturous (39 page)

Now there’s a cheerful thought.
 

Between you and me, I’m thinking about having a baby on my own. Why not? It’s the twenty-first century, after all, and I have
friends who’ve done it. One of my college friends had twins by herself and then met a single dad two years later. They’re married now and delighted with their combined family.

Not that I think having a baby would improve my luck on the dating front, but I’m sick of waiting for something that probably isn’t going to happen, and I don’t want to wake up someday, after that timer has gone off, and
realize I missed my opportunity to be a mother.

I’ve gone so far as to look into what would be involved and have a doctor willing to work with me to make it happen. I’m due to see him again when I get home from Mexico, and the thought of actually doing it makes my skin tingle with excitement and fear and a million other emotions. I haven’t told anyone, even my sisters, who usually know everything,
but I suppose I’ll have to cue in my parents before I actually go through with it.
 

I giggle at the thought of showing up at my parents’ Beverly Hills home, thirty-six, single and pregnant.

“What’s so funny, love?” a voice asks from behind me. And not just any voice, but the panty-melting voice with the British accent that makes me swoon every time I’m around him. I once talked him into reading
The Night Before Christmas
to my family just so I could listen to the way he said the familiar words. My only regret is that I didn’t think to record it.

I turn to face Jasper, my brother’s close friend and business partner, who has also become my good friend during my tenure as a production manager at Quantum. Oh Jasper… tall, blond, muscular in a lanky sort of way, handsome as sin, talented
as all get-out and a manwhore of the highest order. He’s the proverbial pot of honey when it comes to women, attracting them as effortlessly as he breathes. Speaking of a man who will never settle for just one when he could have them all, Jasper Autry fits that bill to a T.

“I was just thinking about something funny that happened at home,” I say in response to his question, because I can’t very
well tell him I was thinking about egg timers and ovulation cycles.
 

“Care to share the joke?”

“It was one of those had-to-be-there things with the kids.”

“Ah, I see.” He hands me one of the two mimosas he brought outside with him.
 

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” His golden-brown eyes are always full of mischief, as if he’s got a huge secret he’s dying to tell me, or at least that’s how it
seems to me. Now is no different. Those amazing eyes are alight with glee. “How about our boy Hayden and our lovely Addie? Gotta say I never thought I’d see him so domesticated.”

“He’s happy,” I say more sharply than I intended. “Nothing wrong with that.”

Jasper’s brow lifts in response to my tone. He’s not used to women speaking sharply to him. He’s far more accustomed to them dropping their
panties at his feet than talking back to him. “Nothing wrong indeed.”

“Sorry. I just mean it’s nice to see. That’s all.”

“Believe it or not, I agree, even if my mates are falling like dominoes these days.”

“You might not want to drink the water.”

“Drinking the water is never a good idea in Mexico.”

I crack up laughing, which doesn’t surprise me. He makes me laugh frequently. His endlessly
witty take on life is one of many things I enjoy about him.
 

“I couldn’t help but notice you looked awfully pensive out here staring at the deep blue sea all by your lonesome. What’s on your mind, love?”

God, I want to tell him. I want to tell
someone
, and why not Jasper, my good friend who I trust to keep my confidences confidential? He’s not in my family. He’s not one of my girlfriends who
would try to talk me out of it, certain that my Mr. Right is just around the next corner waiting to be found. In fact, he might be the perfect person to test this idea on.

“If I tell you, do you promise not to breathe a word of it to anyone, especially Flynn?”

“Of course I won’t tell anyone. Let’s not forget you could fairly ruin me with the secrets you’ve kept for me over the years.”

“This
is very true.”

He takes me by the arm and leads me to one of the double lounge chairs on the pool deck. “Step into my office. My initial consultation is free of charge, but only for the best of friends.”

“You are far too charming for your own good.”

“My mother says the same thing. I say I’m just charming
enough
for my own good.”

Rolling my eyes at his outrageousness, I curl up on the lounge
and take a deep drink from the glass, seeking some much-needed liquid courage.
 

“Now tell me this deep dark secret before I expire from curiosity.”

With the moment of truth upon me, I blow out a deep breath, hoping to calm nerves that are going bat-shit crazy. “I’m thinking about… No, wait, that’s not true. I’m not thinking about it anymore. I’m actually going to do it.”

His brows lift, and
I swear he stops breathing.

“I’m going to have a baby.”

“You…” His gaze falls to my flat abdomen. “Like… Are you already… Oh. Well. Okay, then.”

I can’t help but laugh at his stuttering commentary. “No, I’m not pregnant at the moment, but I hope to be. Soon.”

“Forgive me for asking the obvious, but I can’t help but notice you seem to be stubbornly single. So who’s the lucky guy who gets to
father this child of yours?”

“Don’t know yet. That’s part of what has to be decided when I get back to LA. I’ve got thousands of men to choose from, and I have to decide whether I want looks over brains or maybe I’ll get lucky and find both in one donor.”

He closes his eyes and sighs. “Ellie…” Opening his eyes, he says, “For the love of God and all that’s holy, you do
not
need to resort to a
sperm bank to find a father for your child.”

A flash of anger hits me. “When you’re a single woman who wants to have a baby, you
do
need to ‘resort’ to a sperm bank.”

“You, love, could have any man you want.”

“That’s not true. It’s different for women. We can’t run around the way you guys do without getting a nasty reputation, especially when our parents and brother are household names. It’s
not as easy as you think.”

“I hadn’t really looked at it from that point of view. I can see how that might pose a bit of a challenge. And P.S. we don’t ‘run around,’ as you say.”

“What would you call it?” I ask in the drollest tone I own.

A charming smile lights up his gorgeous face. “Having fun?”
 

“I’ve tried that route. Hasn’t been all that fun. I’m done waiting for lightning to strike.
I want a baby, and I’m running out of time to make that happen. I’m doing this.” At some point during the getaway to Mexico, my plan moved from
maybe
to
definitely
.

“And you’re sure you want to do it this way?”

“I’m sure that this is the only way to do it in light of my perpetually single status.”

“It’s not the only way.”

I’m almost afraid to look at him, and when I do, the calculating look
he gives me makes my skin heat with awareness of him. “What do you mean?”

“You could ask an old friend who is both handsome
and
smart, not to mention incredibly charming, to provide the start-up ‘capital’ you require to get your project off the ground.”

I’m flabbergasted by what he’s suggesting, but I can’t show him that. I can’t take the chance he might be joking. “If only I knew someone who
fit that bill.”

“You do. You know just the guy.”

My heart is beating so hard and so fast, I fear I might hyperventilate. “And this guy would be willing to provide his ‘capital’ for such a project?”

“Under the right conditions.”

After a long pause, I say, “What conditions?”

“It happens the old-fashioned way. No laboratories, turkey basters or test tubes, just hot, sweaty, no-holds-barred
capital infusion
.”
 

My body ignites at the images that scorch my brain in the scope of five seconds. Holy shit.

Have I gone blind, deaf and dumb, or is Jasper Autry telling me he wants to sleep with me—and make a baby with me? “Are you for real right now?”

“My darling Ellie, I have never been more ‘for real’ in my entire life than I’m being right now.” He leans in closer to me, so close that
I stop breathing. “Say yes.”

I swallow hard. “Are there other conditions?”

“Only a few.”

“I’m listening.”

“When you’re with me, you’re with
only
me.”

“Same goes.”

Nodding, he says, “Same goes. And we do this my way or not at all.”

“What does that mean?” I ask, my voice squeaking.

“I’m in charge in bed.”

I’m suddenly so turned on that I’m concerned there’ll be a wet spot on the lounge
chair when I get up. “What if I’m not into that?”

“Then there’s no deal.”

I take a moment to process what he’s saying. He’s dominant in bed. Oh. My. God. Clearing my throat, I say, “What about custody of the output of your input?”

Smiling, he says, “All yours with liberal visitation for the capital contributor.”

“Would he or she know that you’re the contributor?”

“If that’s what you want.”

“And you’d be amenable to legally binding documents that spell out these things in advance?”

With his finger on my chin, he forces me to look directly into his eyes. “I’d be amenable to anything that gets the supremely sexy and endlessly untouchable Ellie Godfrey into my bed.”

Now imagine that sentence said in the sexiest fucking British accent you’ve
ever
heard. I know,
right
?! What the hell
else can I say to that but, “Okay.”

“Okay, what?”

“We have a deal.”

He gifts me with the sexy smile that made a cinematographer into a worldwide celebrity. “Suddenly, I can’t wait to go home.”

Watch for more on Ellie and Jasper’s story,
Ravenous
, Quantum Series book
5, coming later in 2016. Make sure you’re on my email newsletter mailing list
at
marieforce.com
and following the
Quantum Reader Group
to be kept informed of release dates for future Quantum books!

Acknowledgments

A very special thank-you to the readers who decided to give M.S. Force a chance last year with the initial Quantum Trilogy and begged me to write Hayden and Addie’s story. I
hope you loved their story as much as I loved writing it. If you did, consider leaving a review at the retailer of your choice and/or on Goodreads to help other readers discover the series. You can join the
Rapturous Reader Group
to talk about the book with spoilers allowed. Also join the
Quantum Reader Group
to be among the first to hear news about the series.

I love writing the Quantum Series
and have many more stories in mind for the cast. I’m looking forward to writing Ellie and Jasper’s story,
Ravenous
, in 2016. Stay up-to-date on the plans for future books by joining my mailing list at
marieforce.com
on the left side where it asks for your name and email address.
 

Thank you to Team HTJB for all you do to keep me sane: Julie Cupp, CMP, Lisa Cafferty, CPA, Holly Sullivan, Isabel
Sullivan, Nikki Colquhoun, Cheryl Serra, Courtney Lopes and Ashley Lopez. Special thanks to my husband, Dan, for his daily support of my writing career and to our kids, Emily and Jake, who make me laugh. Love to my longtime beta readers Anne Woodall, Kara Conrad and Ronlyn Howe and to Holly, who is always my very first reader. Thank you to my copy editor Linda Ingmanson and my proofreader Joyce Lamb
for your hard work on my books.
 

My readers gave me an absolutely incredible 2015, and I’m looking forward to a fantastic 2016. Thank you for your support of my books. I love you all!

xoxo

Marie