She slid her hand between her legs and started to rub. Almost immediately, her body tightened on his fingers and he felt the pulsing waves as her orgasm rolled over her. Reaching for her with both hands, he held onto her hips, driving her up onto her toes as he raced toward his own climax. She chanted his name in time with his thrusts, but as his cocked swelled and emptied hot jets deep inside her, all he could hear over the rushing in his ears, wasmine.
“HOW DO YOU want to handle telling your dad about the baby?” Luke asked when she got up to get another cup of herbal tea.
She’d always liked coffee better. Some days she’d practically lived on it, but even though decaf never bothered her before, for some reason, her pregnant self didn’t like it at all. She’d been working her way through herbal teas instead. Nothing tasted as good as coffee, but she’d found a jasmine green tea that came close.
She stalled, poking through the pods, pretending she didn’t know exactly what kinds of tea they had. How was she supposed to tell her father that the client on their biggest job to date had knocked her up, and they weren’t married or even engaged? If he was aware enough to understand her, he’d be furious and probably try to kill Luke, and if he wasn’t, he wouldn’t care what she was talking about. It had been easier not to think about it or try to convince herself it didn’t matter. He didn’t have to know. But this wasn’t like telling him about her mom’s death. This was his grandchild, maybe the only one he’d ever live to see. It didn’t feel right to hide it from him.
Maybe it could wait until she decided what to do about the ring she had tucked away in her underwear drawer. She still couldn’t believe Luke proposed. No-commitment-can’t-say-I-love-you Luke asked her to marry him. And the ring was perfect. She knew without asking that his inclination would be to get an enormous diamond solitaire, but the band of channel set stones was something she could wear safely while she worked. The fact he understood that was huge. Knowing he’d bought the ring before he found out about the baby meant even more.
It wasn’t that she didn’t want to be married before their baby was born or that she didn’t want to marry Luke. She loved him so much. There was no way she could picture her future without him. She wanted him and she wanted their family, but she’d been telling the truth when she said she wanted him to marry her because he wanted to, not because he felt like he had to, and that things were moving too fast for her.
He wouldn’t lie to her about when he’d bought the ring. She believed him when he said he’d known before the baby that he wanted to get married. That she could accept, and some of the things that were moving too fast, like the baby, were just going to happen. She couldn’t change it. She needed to embrace it. But getting married? She simply didn’t know how to think about that. She wanted it so much and was terrified of it at the same time.
“We could go this weekend if you want.”
She saw him watching her, a small smile curving his lips and she wondered for a moment if this might be his sneaky way of pushing without pushing. He’d know she’d be conflicted about telling her father and that it would make her think about the ring. He’d said he wouldn’t push, and he hadn’t outwardly, but she didn’t have any illusions about the depths he’d be willing to go to get what he wanted.
“Back off, Masters,” she said, pushing the button to brew the tea.
“What?” He sounded innocent, but when he looked up from his tablet he had a wicked gleam in his eyes that made her sure she was right. “Have you had a chance to go over the drawings?”
The question was a diversion, but it worked. She’d much rather talk about plans than grill him about pushing her decision. It had taken every bit of her energy on the Ashton Court job that week. By the time she got home, she’d been too tired to even try to fight him about working on the new flip. He’d gotten the preliminary plans back from the architect for the renovations to the Norfolk property. No way was she going to tell him she’d been too tired to get to them, and she loved that he wanted her opinion. She knew he had the paper set sent for her because she preferred to see the whole thing at once instead of working with it on the computer. Grabbing her pen, the tube of drawings and her tea, she went back to the living room, pausing on the way to lean over and kiss Luke’s neck.
His skin was warm and smelled delicious with just a hint of citrus from his aftershave. She nuzzled him, licking at the tender bit of skin behind his ear, and loved the way she could feel his murmur of pleasure under her lips. She stood glancing over his shoulder at his tablet and almost dropped her tea.
She knew he’d been reading, but she’d assumed it was work related. It wasn’t. If the picture of the upside down baby in a woman’s stomach was any indication, he was reading a book about pregnancy.
“What?” he asked, looking up at her like it was the most normal thing in the world for him to be reading about fetal development.
“I love you, Masters,” she said, shaking her head in disbelief.
He smiled up at her, love and passion, protectiveness and tenderness, everything she’d ever wanted shining in his eyes. “I love you, too.”
LUKE LOOKED UP from the chapter on birth plans, his stomach a little queasy. If she could do it, he could read about it, but maybe in smaller less graphic doses for a while. He’d give himself a chance to work up to the really big stuff. Like his baby’s head. Fuck. Women had been giving birth as long as there had been people but he didn’t know how he was going to handle Claire going through it. How was he supposed see her in pain and not be able to do anything about it?
He glanced over to where she sat cross legged on the floor in front of the low barn wood coffee table they’d picked to replace his sterile metal and glass one. Everywhere he looked the penthouse looked more like a home. Claire had woven her way through every inch of the place and he couldn’t be happier about it. He loved seeing her touch on the place. More importantly, he loved her touch on him. He was a better man because of Claire. He owed her his world.
She had her hair pulled back in a ponytail and she wore leggings and a T-shirt. It was the only concession she’d made to her changing body. Her still trim body wouldn’t look different to other people, but when she lay naked in his arms he could feel the soft mound of her belly sheltering their child. He couldn’t wait until she really started to show, and he got to feel their baby move.
The drawings for the Norfolk property were spread out on the coffee table, and Claire was chewing the end of the red pen she’d already put to good use, marking changes. He loved watching her mind work, and his project benefitted too. Her input was going to give him a more marketable property and in all likelihood save him money, if in nothing but change orders.
She drew a series of lines, changing what looked like a door swing and then glanced up and saw him watching her. She must have seen the love in his eyes or his exposed soft underbelly because before he could look away, she launched her attack, hitting him with what had recently become her favorite subject.
“You really should let Matthews bid on this, you know. He’d do a fantastic job.”
“We talked about this.” And they had until he could have the conversation in his sleep.
“You know the problems on the Ashton Court site weren’t Matthews fault.”
He did know. As it turned out, it looked like most of what happened had more to do with Ed Samson’s subs than Matthew’s. He hated to think it, but he wouldn’t put it past Samson to try to sabotage the job. There was no way he’d work with the contractor again, and he sure as hell wouldn’t be recommending him. He’d already told another developer his suspicions when he’d asked. Luke prided himself on dealing in facts, but the developer was a casual friend, and he couldn’t let him walk into the same kind of trouble Luke had.
“Claire,” he warned. He’d learned to avoid people and situations that attracted trouble, and he didn’t want to be pushed to change his mind about this. But when he met her gaze, he knew he’d already lost.
Quiet and serious with no hysterics, she looked at him. “I owe Mr. Matthews a lot. He gave me a chance when other general contractors wouldn’t. Could you please let him bid? For me?”
Ninth inning, bases loaded, game over. She asked him for so little when he would have happily given her the moon. There was no way he could say no.
“Jackson goes over everything, and if he has any reservations, they’re out. I don’t care how good their bid is.”
