Pleasure washed through me and I shivered again. My cock twitched in my pants and I pressed the heel of my palm against the growing bulge. Not here, not now. I had work to do.
By the timeI was heading home for the day, I hadn’t seen Vane at all. When I closed the door to Vane’s office, Jean-Paul—from his spot by the printer along the wall—raised his eyebrows at me and clicked his tongue in a similar way my mom used to when I was a child and had done something wrong. I’d always imagined him as the lecturing type, though, and he was Vane’s right-hand man. I didn’t want to piss him off.
I stopped in front of him, waiting.
“Mr. Elwood called and said he’d meet you at your apartment as planned,” he said bluntly, lips pressed together as an unimpressed expression passed over his face.
I nodded, my face suddenly feeling hot. While I’d spent my life since I was seventeen sleeping my way to whatever I needed, there’d never really been anyone I wasn’t having sex with involved, no one like Jean-Paul passing messages. It wasn’t difficult to deduce what was happening between me and Vane, and I didn’t know how I felt about Jean-Paul knowing. Did he also know about Vane’s… desires? The thought of Jean-Paul and Vane fucking made my stomach curdle in disgust.
“Thank you.”
He harrumphed and turned on his heel, striding back to his desk, and I knew when I’d been dismissed. I walked out of the deputy mayor’s office and headed to the elevators. On the ground floor, I grabbed my backpack from the designated intern area and made sure to avoid Kalinski, though I was stopped by our supervisor on the way out.
Harold Lang was an older man with a balding head. The little hair he did have was wisps of gray on the sides and a puff at the front, close to his forehead. Much shorter than me, he barely reached my shoulders. I liked him, though. He never gave me shit, and he was fair to everyone, no matter where you came from.
“Hello, Jaxson,” he greeted with a wide, toothy grin as he slapped me on the shoulder.
“Hi, Harold. What can I do for you?”
He waved a finger at me. “It’s not what you can do for me, but what you’ve done for yourself. I don’t know what you did to impress Mr. Elwood, but his assistant called me today. He’s transferring you to his staff permanently. You’re no longer an intern, my boy.”
“Really?” I ran a hand over my chin, surprised.Fuck.I knew the sex was good, but he’d already changed me from an intern to an employee?
“Yep.” Harold gave me another jostling thump on the shoulder before he winked. “You’ll be getting the paperwork tomorrow. Keep doing whatever you’re doing and you’ll be at the top soon enough. Anyway, take your possessions upstairs with you from now on. I’m sure the assistant will tell you where to put them. Good luck.”
He was off, marching in the opposite direction. All I could do was watch him go until the reality hit me: I wasn’t an intern.Fuck. That happened quicker than I expected. I grinned, unable to keep the stupid look off my face as I nearly skipped out of city hall and toward my bus, which turned up on time for once.
When I got to my apartment building, I was practically floating on air, Harold’s words bouncing around in my head. I wasn’t a fucking intern. Christ. I’d bend over as much as Vane wanted me to if it meant I could go even higher. Hell, he could “impregnate” me as much as he thought he needed to—or at least fuck me stupid trying.
I laughed to myself as I climbed the stairs. I couldn’t wait to tell Elsie the news. She wouldn’t believe it. I shoved my key into the lock, but the sound of Pete’s door ripping open made me frown his way before I could unlock it. He stepped out, paused when he saw me, and grinned.
“Hi, I was hoping to catch you.”
I held back my sigh and forced a smile. As far as neighbors went, he was a good one to have. “Were you? Sorry, I just got home.”
“I know. You got a delivery today. It was big, so I brought it into my apartment, didn’t want someone to steal it. Hang on.” He moved out of his doorway, and while he retrieved the package, I unlocked my door and threw it open.
I didn’t remember buying anything, but sometimes my dad had a habit of sending me things when he or Mom got some spare cash, which wasn’t often. They always preferred to spend anything extra on me, even though I’d told them to keep it for themselves in case they needed it. They never did.
Finally Pete emerged from his apartment carrying a large box, and my frown deepened, curiosity piqued. He huffed when he rested the package in front of my feet and straightened, grinning and staring like he expected me to kiss him in thanks. I did make myself smile his way as I picked it up.
“I appreciate it,” I said as I turned and walked into my apartment, kicking the door shut behind me. I almost felt bad, but really didn’t. Pete tried too hard and wanted something I couldn’t give him. The one time he’d asked me out, I let him down nicer than I usually did to other guys—told him he wasn’t my type—but that hadn’t stopped him from trying.
Dropping the box on the floor in the living room, I threw my bag on the couch before I tugged at the tape keeping the box flaps together. When I had it ripped open, I lifted out whatever was wrapped in plastic and tore that open too. The present came into view and my eyes widened.
Fucking fuck. It was a baby belly. An actual goddamn silicone baby belly.It looks so real.
My mind spun and I touched it, the feel of the material smooth and lifelike beneath my fingers. The very idea was crazy, stupid, and I knew what I should have done—waited until Vane got here so I could tell him I wouldn’t be wearing this. Instead, I wondered what it would be like to have it on my body.
I shoved myself to my feet and shook my head. No, the idea was outrageous, and I wasn’t going to wear a pregnancy belly. I laughed at the thought before I strode into the bathroom. I usually showered to wash off the grime of the day, and I especially wanted to do that with Vane coming. There was nothing wrong with still having sex. His cock was amazing, and I’d take a good pounding whenever I could get it.
My shower was hot and quick, and by the time I got out, I felt adequately clean and refreshed. I thought about putting on some jeans, but I opted for sweatpants instead. Vane knew what he was getting, and they were the easiest kind of pants to tug off. I grabbed a T-shirt, but rather than put it on I carried it out into the living room, where I again stared at the belly. Why was I thinking so hard about this? It was just a belly, and Vane’s weird kink. But he’d already taken me from the intern pool and made me an employee. What else would he do if I went along with his fantasies? The idea of reaching even higher in my career excited me, and I knew what I had to do.
I threw the shirt over the back of the couch and grabbed the silicone baby belly. It took some maneuvering to get it over my hips and up onto my own flat and rippled stomach, but when I finally had it there, I realized it was the perfect fit. Not too tight, not too loose, as though Vane measured me just by spending one fuck with me.
The baby belly was heavy, a lot heavier than I expected. I touched the rounded protrusion that hung off me, ran my palm over it, and marveled at how real it felt. It didn’t have the heat of human skin, but it felt like an actual stomach. The belly must have cost a mini fortune.
I walked, or more like wobbled, back into my bedroom to the full-length mirror I had standing beside my closet. Turning to the side, I studied my… pregnant self. It was strange, yet oddly not scary, or too weird. I didn’t look like myself, but it wasn’t an ugly sight, either. Running a palm over the bump, I frowned before turning to the other side.
