Love Child (5 page)

It was all so confusing. My head started to ache from all of the thinking.

“But if I could perhaps make one request.” From his tone alone, I knew whatever he was about to say would make me shift. “I want tomorrow night to be exactly as though we were in a loving, committed relationship. I don’t want it to feel like something you just need to get over with. I want this to be exactly as if you were my wife and we were ready to bring a child into this world.”

Somehow I found the courage to let my eyes wander back to his. His hand tightened around mine when they did.

“That means I want you to enjoy yourself too. I want to make sure you come with me, so if there’s anything you need . . . anything you like”—Abel’s mouth curled higher on one side—“please just say so. Or show me. I think you’ll find me a rather quick and eager learner.”

Okay, now I definitely understood what he was getting at. At the same time I felt embarrassed, I felt emboldened. He was asking me what I wanted. He was offering to give it to me. Before, a man like Abel Lockwood had never looked my way, and now, he was making my dreams come true and offering to keep fulfilling them in bed.

The problem was I had absolutely no clue how to answer him.

“So that request about me, you know”—I waved my finger between us—“
with
you? I’ve never . . . I don’t know if I can . . .” Could this be any more uncomfortable?

“You’ve never? As in”—Abel’s forehead creased—“
never?
”

I answered him with a shake of my head.

“Just so I’m clear, we’re talking about orgasms, right? You’ve never had an orgasm?”

Searching the floor, I started to wish I’d spilled the entire pie so I could focus on something other than his words and the way he was looking at me. “You’re clear on that.
All
of that.”

A quiet breath hissed through his teeth.

I might as well just get the rest out now. It wasn’t like he wasn’t going to find out tomorrow night anyway. “Abel?”

He nodded. “Yes?”

Chewing on my lip, I stalled for a few moments before getting on with it already. “I’ve never had sex either.”

At first, my words didn’t seem to register. His forehead stayed creased, his expression contemplative. Then realization dawned across his face. “Does that mean . . . ?”

“Yeah.”

He scrubbed at his face. “You’re a . . . ?”

Shifting, I nodded. “Yes.”

Then I made the mistake of lowering my gaze to a certain part of Abel’s anatomy that seemed to be taking that revelation with enthusiasm. With the loose fit and thin material of his pants—and I guessed he wasn’t wearing any underwear beneath—he looked huge.

“But your file. It didn’t say. I’m sure it didn’t.” He was speaking in broken sentences, still looking flustered, and that relaxed me. A little.

“I didn’t want anyone to know,” I explained. “I didn’t want men to read that about me and have it pique their interest. I didn’t want them to view me first as a virgin and second as the mother of their child. Does that make sense?”

I noticed him nod as he slid as close as he could toward me. Now both of our knees were bumping against each other. The warmth from his body radiated over mine. The strength I knew he possessed seemed to cast a net over me, protecting me from the whole entire world.

“Does that make you change your mind about me? Now that you know I’m inexperienced?” I pulled at the hem of my nightgown, suddenly self-conscious.

Abel’s hand reached out, stilling mine. His fingers scrolled across the exposed skin of my leg. “No,” he breathed. “A thousand times no. Knowing you’ve saved your body for this, for me . . .” His jaw ground together as the muscles spanning his shoulders bulged beneath his skin. “It’s taking every fiber of willpower I have in my possession not to lay you down right here on the kitchen floor and plant my baby in your virgin womb.”

His voice was coming from low in his chest, giving me chills. I imagined him saying other things in that tone in my ear tomorrow night, his body tangled with mine. My skin broke out in goose bumps. When Abel felt the raised skin on my leg, something dark shadowed his expression. It looked like that last fiber of willpower had just slipped free.

When I opened my legs the smallest bit, his hand slid up the inside of my thigh and slipped beneath the hem of my nightgown.

My heart wasn’t in my throat anymore. It was between my legs.

His hand stilled when it reached the apex of my legs, his fingers gliding along the wetness coating my skin. When I rolled my hips just enough to rub my panties against his knuckles, he groaned.

Like I was both torturing him and pleasuring him at the same time.

“I want to take you right here so badly I think it might kill me if I don’t.” When his knuckles brushed me again, eliciting a groan from me this time, the veins running down his forearms looked ready to burst. “But I will do right by you no matter what, Adeline Matthews. I won’t fuck you on some tile floor like I’m tempted to right now. But I will make love to you tomorrow night, in my bed, nice and slow so I won’t hurt you. I will take my time so I can give you pleasure.”

Now his fingers were touching me through my panties, making my head fall back into the drawers behind me.

“Why can’t you just take me into your bed right now and do that? Technically, it’s the fifteenth.” I checked the clock on the wall, moaning when he circled a certain place that was making me feel like a one-track-minded organism.

I didn’t miss the warning that flashed across his face. It read
don’t tempt me.

“Because having just found out your body is unspoiled, that no man has touched you the way you’re allowing me to . . .” Just as I could feel something starting to spiral inside me, Abel’s finger stopped moving. “I wouldn’t be able to control myself. I couldn’t be slow and careful. I wouldn’t be able to stop.
That’s
why we need to wait for tomorrow night. So I can build up the reserves of restraint you’ve managed to diminish with one word.”

Coming down from whatever place Abel had soared me to, I opened my eyes to find him rising, his manhood still straining through his pants. He was right. With him being so large and me being so inexperienced, we should be careful. We should go slow and steady.

That was what my head told me. Everything else was telling me something else.

Gathering me up in his arms, Abel lifted me from the floor, carrying me out of the kitchen.

“The rest of the mess.” I yawned, feeling sleepy all of a sudden.

His arms held me tightly. “I’ll take care of it. I need you to get your rest.”

“Because it’s late?” I guessed around another yawn, burrowing into his warm chest.

He grinned into the dark as he carried me down the hall. “Because you will be getting very little of it tomorrow night.”

My stomach dropped when the look he gave me matched the promise in his words.

After opening the door to my bedroom, he carried me in, keeping the lights off. He laid me down gently on the bed, pulled my covers around my body, and hovered beside me for a moment. His hand brushed the hair from my face. “Of all the men in the world, thank you for picking me to be the first one to share your body with.” His face lowered to mine, then he kissed my forehead. “Thank you for giving me the gift of the first child to grow in your body. Thank you,” he breathed one last time before making his way toward the door.

“Good night, Abel.” I rolled onto my side, watching him leave.

“Good night, Adeline,” he replied, pausing in the doorway just long enough to send a sexy smirk over his shoulder at me. Right before he sucked on a couple of his fingers. “By the way, your cherry is delicious.”

I felt my nipples harden despite the warmth of the blankets layered over me. I returned his tipped smile. “Don’t you mean my cherry
pie
is delicious?”

That was when I realized which fingers he’d just tasted. The same ones he’d had skimming beneath my nightgown.

His eyes smiled back at me as he slipped through the door. “That too.”

C
hrist
, she was a virgin.

I understood why Adeline hadn’t wanted to mention it on her paperwork with the agency. She was right. That would have been especially appealing to would-be fathers, and instead of five other candidates, I would have been up against a legion of them.

Hell, it was all I could think about, and we’d already come to terms with our arrangement. It wasn’t just the sheer ancestral thrill of being the first to know a woman’s body that was possessing me though. Part of the constant reminder was that when tonight came and Adeline was beneath me, her virginity needed to be at the forefront of my mind as I claimed her. I couldn’t hurt her. I
wouldn’t
hurt her. Even if it meant breaking my jaw from holding back, I would ensure my body caused hers no pain tonight.

I didn’t want to plant my baby in her while she writhed in pain beneath me. I wanted to plant my baby in her while she experienced the first erotic pleasure of her life. I wanted her fingers clawing down my back while I took her, not digging into the mattress as she braced herself. I wanted her hips rocking up to meet mine, not tilting away from the pain. I wanted my sighs and moans of pleasure to tangle with hers, not cries of pain or whimpers of fear.

I wanted to make love to her body for the first time the way Adeline Matthews deserved. I would too.

My hand had to be close to developing callouses from the number of times I’d had to adjust myself today, but it was impossible to think about crawling into bed with Adeline and breaking through her sweet cherry without going rock hard. I’d be lucky if I made it to the end of day without unloading in my pants.

Just the thought of feeling her unspoiled pussy, looking into her eyes as I broke through her virgin wall . . . I’d be lucky if I made it to five o’clock without blowing the load I’d been saving for her.

Work typically focused me, but not today.

Today, work was just enraging me. And surely the clock was fucking with me, slowing down time because it could sense my impatience.

As I pulled on my tie, a knock sounded at my office door. Closing the email I’d spent half the afternoon studying, I leaned back from my desk. “Yeah?”

A familiar face poked through the now-open door. “You missed the weekly recap meeting.”

My face fell. “Fuck. I did.” Shaking my head, I checked the time. I’d missed my computer and phone alerts, not that I typically needed those. My schedule was so programed into my head I ran on autopilot most days. The job had never taken a backseat in my life—so why did it seem to today? “Did I miss anything important?”

Ronan leaned into the wall across from me, pulling at his tie. The youngest Lockwood brother wasn’t exactly the company type like us other three were. He would have been happy wearing a Hawaiian shirt and selling coconuts on the side of some island road, but even as free-spirited as he was, he recognized the importance of the company our family had built from the ground up. He might have hated the suit and tie that came with it, but he accepted it.

“You missed nothing besides the CEO talking about the twenty-percent growth the company experienced last quarter and the projected twenty-five for this next one. Buckets of money, buckets of money, humanitarian project of the month, buckets of money, meeting adjourned.” Ronan clapped. “That’s what you missed. You’re all caught up now.”

“How was CEO Lockwood today?”

“You mean Dad?” Ronan shrugged. “Other than definitely noticing his oldest son’s absence—the son he’s been grooming since infanthood to take over when he retires—he kept checking his watch like the rest of us, ready for the weekend to get started.”

I started drafting a quick email to the CEO, a.k.a. Dad, apologizing for missing the meeting. When we were within the walls of Lockwood Enterprises, we referred to him as the CEO or Mr. Lockwood. It was simpler to separate the father figure from the boss one. I thought it was easier for him too.

“Got any plans for the weekend?” I asked.

Ronin grinned. “Always. You?”

My throat cleared as I typed out the email. “I’ve got a few things planned.”
Like taking the virginity of the woman I’ve hired to have my baby.

Fantastic. Another hard-on. Rolling farther beneath my desk, I gritted my teeth and attempted to ignore the image of Adeline crawling over my cock and riding me until my cum was dripping out of her body.

“Anything fun?” My little brother’s voice broke me from my haze of lust. “Somewhat,” I understated.

“You know that to have fun on the weekend, it requires a guy your age to share some part of it with a woman, right? I mean, I get that you missed the memo and they crossed your wires so you think work is the height of life, but believe me, there’s fun. And there’s
fun
.” His brows filled in the rest . . . or maybe that was my especially creative, albeit filthy, imagination. When I stayed silent, focusing on my computer, Ronin clapped. “That’s it, isn’t it? God, I’m an idiot. Of course it is. You missing the meeting, you being all secret-agent with your answers—there’s a woman in Abel Lockwood’s life. Isn’t there?”

There was no way I was talking about Adeline with Ronin. In fact, I wasn’t ready to talk about her with any member of my family. Not because I was ashamed or embarrassed by what I was doing but because I knew they wouldn’t understand. My parents had fallen in love and created their family the socially accepted way. So had my two middle brothers. For them, love had come easy.

One day, perhaps I’d tell them the true manner in which I came to be a father. Until then, I was happy to keep it quiet.

“Hey, if you need any tips with this mystery girl, you know who to come to.” Ronin shoved off the wall, starting for the door.

“Not sure I want advice on women from someone who has the track record of a snail,” I fired before he could get through the door.

He shot me a wounded look. “Hey. At least I’ve got a track record.” He let that hang in the air before lifting a brow. “Oh, by the way, the monastery called earlier. Said your robes are all pressed and ready for you to slip on whenever you want to take those vows. Not that you haven’t already been living the lifestyle . . .”

When I snagged one of the signed basketballs displayed on my desk, Ronin disappeared. I still threw it though, to close my door so I could get through the rest of the email and get home to Adeline.

After sending my apology for missing the meeting, I reopened the email from earlier. Once I’d gone through the list of donor mothers in Love Child’s database and narrowed it down to Adeline, I’d hired a private detective to do a more thorough investigation of her background. Not because I didn’t trust her answers or the agency’s due diligence but because I needed to know everything there was to know about the mother of my child. I didn’t just want the details; I wanted the fine print too.

The agency paperwork had gone over her history of being born and growing up in Indiana. It had detailed her parents, her siblings, and that she’d lived on a farm. It had listed her activities growing up, GPA, and clubs she had been involved in. I felt like I knew all there was to know about Adeline from that file alone, but there was always more to a person than any exhaustive biography could ever hope to cover.

That was the reason for the PI. I didn’t just want to know the Adeline Matthews the agency presented—I wanted to know the woman behind all of that.

I’d known she came from a hardworking family of farmers who struggled financially, but I hadn’t known that her father had died recently, leaving the farm and his wife and children in dire straits. I’d known that Adeline was the oldest of seven daughters but not how she’d stepped up to the plate to try to keep the farm running in the months following her father’s death. I’d known that Adeline had decided to become a donor because she wanted to give the gift of parenthood to a deserving father and didn’t see it in the stars for her to find that person on her own, but now I also knew she’d done it to take care of her family.

The money she’d make having my child would be more than enough to save her family and their farm. She was sacrificing so much for others. For them. For me.

And I’d been convinced that Adeline Matthews couldn’t be any more beautiful than she was sitting on my kitchen floor, wiping up cherry pie filling and sharing her most personal secrets with me.

It wasn’t five o’clock yet. It was barely four. On a typical day, I didn’t leave the office until after nine.

Today, though, was not a typical day.

Powering off my computer, I snagged my briefcase, adjusted myself for what I hoped would be one of the last times before I could finally sate my desire, and left my office.

The drive from the office to my condo seemed to crawl despite the way I was whipping my Bentley in and out of traffic. The ride up the elevator felt the same. My whole body was firing to life, seeming to come out a hibernation I hadn’t known I’d been in.

Dropping my briefcase in the entryway, I powered into the living room. It was empty. The kitchen was the same. Helen typically had Sundays off, but I’d given her this Friday and Saturday off as well. I wanted to be free to make as much noise and make use of any surface in my home without worrying about being heard or seen. I guessed Adeline would be modest and wouldn’t be able to relax if she was worried about Helen wandering in while I rocked into her on the kitchen floor like I’d been fantasizing about since last night.

Moving into the hall, I paused outside Adeline’s room. The door was half closed. I guessed she wouldn’t mind if I opened it to step inside, but I wanted her to feel like this room was her own space. I wanted her to know that I respected her privacy.

I didn’t hear a sound coming from inside, so she must have been out. The note I’d slipped under her door this morning had indicated I probably wouldn’t be home until later. Now that I was here, ready, and my dick was about to stage a revolt if I didn’t do something about him, I really wished I hadn’t tucked that note into her room. I should have known that when I had Adeline and her virgin body waiting to welcome my seed, there would be no way to hang around the office like I normally did.

A tortured groan rumbled in my chest when I remembered the way she’d felt last night. She’d been so wet my fingers had practically been dripping when I pulled them back, and the way that sweet honey had tasted . . . I might have been desperate to get my cock buried between her legs, but I was just as impatient to get my face between them too.

Knowing I couldn’t stand outside her bedroom door for the next few hours without giving myself a coronary, I tromped down the hall to my room. I needed a hot shower to diffuse the tension in my muscles.

My room was at the end of the hall and had a great view of the city. One whole wall was made entirely of windows, and most nights, I fell asleep to the lights of Chicago. Tonight, I’d be falling asleep with Adeline.

God, I wondered what she’d be wearing when she came to me. If she wore the same kind of nightgown as she had on last night, complete with those soft cotton panties, I’d probably die right there on the spot. Adeline’s innocence endeared her to me that much more. I’d take her version of lingerie over any lingerie magazine any day.

As I stripped out of my suit, I found myself wondering what she’d like. Since this would be her first time, we’d have to answer those questions tonight, but I wondered if even she knew what she liked. How did she touch herself? Did she like the way I’d touched her last night? From the look on her face, it looked like she had. Would she like my fingers exploring her? My tongue? What would she think when I sucked her plump nipples into my mouth, one at a time, worshipping them the way they deserved?

What would she do when I put my mouth on her down there? I guessed she’d be uncomfortable with it, at least at first. At least until I’d shown her how much I loved giving her that kind of pleasure. At least until she accepted that I could spend the rest of my life buried between her legs and never get enough.

I stood in the shower for what felt like an hour, letting the hot water attempt to soothe my tense body. Not once did my cock even think about taking a break, and I doubted it would until it was spent inside Adeline’s body. I could spend the entire weekend buried inside her and not be anywhere close to feeling spent.

Stepping out of the shower, a cloud of steam filled the bathroom, so after cinching a towel around my waist and bracing myself against the counter for a few minutes, I opened the door and stepped into my bedroom, steam trailing out after me.

At the same time I noticed her, she must have noticed me. A surprised cry fell from her mouth at the same time the items she had draped over her arm fell to the floor.

“I’m sorry,” she said, spinning around like the sight of me wet and mostly naked was forbidden. “I thought you were still at work. I never would have come in if . . . if I’d know you were . . .” Her hand waved back at me, her back still to me.

“Naked?” I filled in for her, seriously turned on that she felt so embarrassed for stumbling in on me like this.

“Just stepping out of the shower,” she corrected. “You’re not naked. At least not totally.”

Glancing at the towel hanging off my hips, my brows lifted. What the hell? She was about to see all of me and more. I might as well just give her the full view so she knew what was coming.

“I
wasn’t
naked.” Tugging at my towel, I held it out and let it fall to the floor.

Adeline trembled when she heard the towel hit the floor. “I’ll go. I was just going to hang up your dry-cleaning and go get ready for . . . for . . . later.”

Now it was me who trembled. At her words. At her shy innocence. At the knowledge that I would be the first man to know her intimately and the first man to fill her with his baby. The sweet dress she was wearing was similar to the one she’d worn yesterday, but this one was a bit shorter and hugged her curves a little closer.

The urge to lift the hem of her dress and touch her to see if I’d find the same wetness I had last night became strong enough that I started toward her.