Who's Your Daddy? (10 page)

For whatever reason, any time she mentioned that about a man, I couldn’t help reading between the lines and hearing that I wasn’t such a catch. That I needed to take what I could get before he found some other woman who was far more worthy of him while I turned into a cat-hoarding spinster.

“I won’t wait too long,” I said, just to appease her. With any luck, Carlene’s son would be happily married by the time he came back with his PhD, and, oops, guess I missed another catch. Oh, darn. As if a catch like him would be interested in a recently divorced and quite pregnant creature like myself.

Thank you for the self-esteem, Mom. Really. I appreciate it.

I muffled a cough. “Should we go join Dad and the girls?” I nodded toward the living room.

Mom still scowled but gestured for me to go ahead. It was all I could do not to break into a run, just to escape this oppressive, stuffy room full of my mom’s criticism and disapproval.

Later in the evening, around the time we girls were making noise about calling it a night—always a slow, painful process, since Mom never wanted us to leave
quite
yet—Mom and Rose went into the kitchen to divvy up leftovers.

Eileen pulled me aside in the hall. Keeping her voice low, she said, “Listen, why don’t we go out shopping sometime this week, and maybe I can help you find some of the things you’re going to need?”

“You don’t mind?”

“Of course not.” She smiled. “We’ll do lunch, then hit up some of the different stores. I’ve been shopping for a lot of baby showers lately, so I know where all the good stuff and good deals are.”

“A lot of baby showers?” I raised an eyebrow. “Something in the water?”

“Maybe,” she said. “Thank God Tim is fixed. I am so not going through all that again.” She shuddered, and my stomach flipped. Then her eyes widened. “Shit, sorry. That’s…I mean, the whole infancy stage. It’s just—” Cutting herself off, she shook her head. “I’m just digging a deeper hole here, aren’t I?”

“Just a wee bit.”

She gestured sharply. “Okay, forget I said that. Anyway, let’s just say I have enough kids, and leave it at that.”

I laughed, but the tingle of dread lingered at the base of my spine. Suddenly I wished I hadn’t let my morbid curiosity keep me hanging on every word when she’d regaled Rose and me with the arrivals of her first two kids. All of her deliveries had been reasonably smooth, but everyone in this family was a natural storyteller. I might have been the only one who made a living doing so, but we all lived to turn even the most mundane things into wild tales.

Eileen’s from-the-trenches accounts of every minute, from the first heart-stopping contraction to the last local-anesthetic-hasn’t-kicked-in stitch, were enthralling stories back then. Now? Not so much.

“Well, I’ll give you a call later in the week,” I said. “I can use all the help I can get.”

“Don’t worry about a thing.” She smiled. “I’ll be glad to help.”

“Thanks. I—”

Don’s ringtone cut me off. I pulled my phone out of my pocket. To my sister, I said, “Would you excuse me for a second?”

“Sure, go ahead.”

She went into the kitchen, and I stepped out onto the patio. “Hey, what’s up?”

“Hey,” he said. “How’re you feeling?”

“I’ll feel better once I’m away from my parents’ place.”

He sucked in a breath. “Oh, ouch. You didn’t…tell them, did you?”

“Not yet. I think I’m going to wait until I can’t hide it anymore.”

“Good call.”

“Yeah. So anyway, what’s up?”

“Not too much,” he said with a grin in his voice. “But I’m planning something, and I need your help.”

“Ooh, a Donovan scheme,” I said, giggling. “Do tell.”

“Okay, but I want you to know up front that you can say no.” His tone was serious now. “If you’re not game, I’ll think of something else.”

“Duly noted,” I said. “But when have I ever not gone along with one of your little schemes?”

Don snickered. “Point taken. Okay, so here’s what I’m thinking…”

Chapter Seven

Isaac

When I got home from work one evening, Donovan met me at the front door with a gleam in his eye that made me shiver. We’d made plans to go out that night, which I’d been looking forward to all day, but the way he looked at me when I walked in said we weren’t leaving this house any time soon. The way he kissed me didn’t help matters either.

“Hmm,” I said between long kisses in the foyer, “something tells me you have something up your sleeve.”

“Do I?”

“Mm-hmm.”

“You’re right, I do.” He took a step back, drawing me toward the stairs. “I figured you’ve had a long day.” He paused for a long, deep kiss. “So it wouldn’t be right to drag you out again.”

“You’ll drag me upstairs instead?”

“Do I have to drag you?”

“Hardly.”

In a tangle of breathless kisses, we made it to the stairs. Then we separated so we could get up the stairs and down the hall. The bedroom door was closed, but instead of reaching for it, he turned around and reached for me.

“I was thinking,” he said, loosening my tie as he spoke, “your birthday is coming up.”

I groaned. “Don’t remind me.”

His hands stopped. “Don’t want your gift, then?”

Like I was going to turn down sex with Donovan. I put my hands on his hips. “I didn’t say that.”

“That’s what I thought.” Still holding my tie, he slid his other hand over the front of my pants. “So I was thinking about all the things I could give you for your birthday.” He let his lips graze mine as he spoke. “And I kept coming back to one thing I knew you would enjoy.”

I grinned and kissed him. “You know me too well.”

“You don’t even know what you’re getting.”

“I have a few guesses.” I pushed him up against the door and kissed him deeply. “God, I want you so bad right now.” I reached between us, but he grabbed my wrist.

“Nope.” He grinned. “Guess again.”

“What?” I eyed him. “What do you—”

He reached back and turned the doorknob. When he pushed the bedroom door open, I looked past him.

My heart stopped. Lying in bed, wearing nothing but a devilish grin and the flickering glow of a few candles, was Carmen.

Donovan pushed my jacket off my shoulders and kissed my neck. “She’s all yours tonight.” His lip brushed my skin, sending a shiver down my spine. “And I want to hear all about it when I get back.”

A mix of panic and arousal kicked my heart back into motion. “You’re…leaving?”

He raised his head and nodded. “I am. I want you to spend an evening indulging your curiosity, exploring some fantasies, all the things you’ve been wanting to do…without an audience.” A hint of seriousness diluted the amusement in his expression. “Assuming you’re comfortable with this?”

I glanced at Carmen and her come-hither grin. Then I looked at Donovan. “You are, without a doubt, the best boyfriend on the planet.”

He laughed. “Of course I am.” He herded me into the bedroom and put his arms around me from behind. “Now. Go have a good time.”

“Oh, I fully intend to.”

He started to let me go but paused. “One more thing.”

“Hmm?”

He kissed the side of my neck and whispered, “I fully intend to fuck you myself when I get home.”

And with that, he left me on weakened knees with a beautiful, naked woman in our bed. The bedroom door closed behind me, and I gulped.

Carmen moistened her lips. “Happy birthday.”

“Thanks.” I laughed quietly. Approaching the bed, I was thankful for the dim light, which probably masked the color in my cheeks. “So, I don’t get to unwrap my birthday present?”

She grinned. “Do you want me to get dressed?”

“No. No, don’t do that.”

“That’s what I thought.” She swung her long legs over the side of the bed and stood. “So tell me, Isaac,” she said as she moved toward me, “what do you want to do for your birthday?”

“I…” I couldn’t help staring at her. God damn, she was gorgeous, and my fingertips tingled with the mere thought of touching her. Touching her
everywhere
.

“It’s your birthday.” She put her arms around me, and her naked skin was hot even through my clothing. “Whatever you want to do, just say the word.”

There were a lot of things I wanted to do, that was for sure, but speech was lost on me. I’d been with her before, but never alone. Never like this. I’d thought having an audience, double-teaming her with someone who had more experience, was intimidating, but this? I might as well have been a teenaged virgin all over again.

“Isaac?” She took my hand. “You’re shaking.”

My face burned hotter. “Just…” I swallowed. “A bit nervous, I guess.”

She kissed the backs of my fingers. “We’ve done this before, though.”

“Yeah, I know, but not…” I avoided her eyes. “Don was there, so I guess this is my first time on my own.”

“You’re not on your own.” She smiled and reached up to pull off my tie. “You have me.”

“That’s not what I meant. I meant…” I paused, then shook my head. “I don’t even know what I meant. I’m sorry, Carmen, this is—”

“Don’t apologize,” she whispered, tossing my tie on the floor. “We’ll just take our time. And if you don’t want to continue, all you have to do is tell me, and we’ll stop.”

I grinned. “I’m not worried about stopping.”

“Just worried about doing something wrong?”

I nodded, cursing the heat in my cheeks. “I swear, I’m not this clueless.”

“I know; we’ve fucked before, remember?”

“That’s true, we have.” I gulped. “But I had him here to make sure you got what you wanted. This is my first time without adult supervision.”

She laughed. “You aren’t giving yourself nearly enough credit.” Her lips curved into a smile as she kissed me again. “You have nothing to worry about.”

“I’ll take your word for it.”

“Trust me.” Carmen unbuttoned my shirt with hands much steadier than mine even aspired to be. When it was unbuttoned, she grasped the front of my shirt and led me to the bed. There, she pulled me down on top of her.

I sank against her and kissed her hungrily, moaning when she hooked her leg around my waist and pressed her hips against my very, very hard cock. She slid her hands under the lapels of my shirt and pushed it off my shoulders. I was still mostly dressed, but losing that single article of clothing created a startling sense of exposure, and I shivered.

“You okay?” she asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” I moistened my lips. “What about you?”

Carmen grinned. “Oh, I’m just fine. But you? You are entirely too dressed.”

I laughed. “Maybe we should do something about that.”

“There’s no maybe about it, Isaac.” She kissed me. “Clothes. Off.”

Like I was going to argue with that. It took us less than a minute to get the rest of my clothes onto the floor where they belonged, and as we sank into bed again, I pulled the sheet up over us.

With fingers in each other’s hair and legs tangled up beneath the covers, we made out like we had all the time in the world to explore each other. The sheet covered us, but it also bound us, loosely cocooning us in the same bed. A smooth, Egyptian-cotton barrier between us and the rest of the world, but emphasizing the lack of a barrier between her body and mine.

Everything about her was familiar and unfamiliar, all at the same time. Where I was accustomed to the angular planes of a male torso, hers was all soft, smooth curves. I traced those curves and contours with unsteady hands, but I wanted to see every inch of her, so I pushed the sheet out of the way. I watched my hands follow her waist to the swell of her hips, marveling at the fact that this was real. That
she
was real. I’d always thought her tight jeans and tapered blouses emphasized every sensual, sexual curve of her figure. I was wrong. They muted it, hiding from the rest of the world what I now held in my hands. Clothed, she was sexy in the purest, most beautiful sense of the word. Like this, naked except for my hands, she
defined
sex.

I traced her body with my fingertips, just drinking her in. Her breasts were, like the rest of her body, gorgeous. Not large, not tiny, but perfectly proportioned to her figure, though considerably bigger than the first time we’d done this.
Because
of the first time we’d done this, I realized, but I forced those thoughts back.

The soft roughness of her nipple fascinated me as much as the smooth warmth of her breast. I bent and closed my lips around her nipple, letting my tongue explore that intriguing texture.

She whimpered softly and squirmed. “God, Isaac, you’re definitely doing fine without Don here.”

I laughed and moved up to kiss her. “We’ll see what happens when things get more complicated.”

“Complicated?” She grinned. “Is sucking cock complicated?”

I eyed her. “Well, no…”

She winked. “Same deal. Trust me on this.” Before I could protest, she pulled me down and met my lips with hers. Mid-kiss, she pressed her hand against my shoulder and shifted her weight. I followed her lead, and we settled onto our sides.