The Baby Contract Read online

Liam crossed his arms as he stared down his nose at me. “Look at that. You are alive after all.”

  “Liam,” I said, nodding at the empty chair beside Heather. “Care to join us?”

  “Don’t mind if I do,” Liam said, sliding into the open chair and smiling a warm hello at my sister. “Heather, nice to see you. I see Ethan still makes time to see you. How nice,” he said, his gaze flicking over to me.

  “What?” I asked defensively.

  “Where have you been, dude?” Liam asked. “We never go out anymore. And you bailed early on me last time. What’s the deal?”

  I could feel Heather’s eyes on me. I had to play this cool. “There’s no deal,” I said as our food arrived. I leaned back as the waiter put my plate in front of me. The chicken rice bowl I had ordered was steaming, and my mouth started watering at the smell of curry. “I’ve been really busy with work. I know picking up women at the bars seems like a top priority, but I do have a company to run and sometimes the ladies need to wait.”

  Liam and Heather shared a skeptical look. I tried to ignore them by taking a bite of my food. I burned my tongue, scowled and cursed under my breath, and swallowed the piping-hot morsel. I sipped my water. They were both still staring at me.

  “Is there something the two of you want to say?” I asked over the rim of my glass of water.

  “Well, your sister and I have probably come to the same conclusion,” Liam said slowly, the corner of his mouth twitching in a smile he was trying to control.

  “Oh?” I said dryly.

  Heather looked at Liam than back at me. “Ethan, is there, perhaps, a new girl in your life? A girl you might be serious with?”

  Before I had a chance to answer, Liam leaned forward, both elbows resting on the table. “Yeah, you know, the kind of girl you don’t kick out of your bed as soon as you’re done with them? A secret girl you don’t want anyone to know about?”

  “No,” I said as nonchalantly as I could manage.

  “Really?” Liam asked, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms. “You’re sure?”

  “Leave it,” I said. “There’s no girl. And if there were, why would I tell either of you? You both behave like children at the slightest idea of me being interested in a woman.”

  “Because it’s fascinating,” Liam chuckled. “Womanizer Ethan getting serious with a girl. I just want to know what that looks like on a day-to-day basis, you know? Do you cook? Does she? Do you let her sleep in your bed, or do you banish her to somewhere else in the house so you can still get your beauty sleep?”

  I wasn’t in the mood for teasing.

  Heather giggled and covered her mouth. “Oh, come on. He wouldn’t be like that. Not if he loved her,” she said dramatically. She and Liam both burst into obnoxious laughter.

  I put my fork down, wiped my mouth with my napkin, and grabbed my wallet from my back pocket. I dropped enough cash on the table to cover our meals and a generous tip. “You two have fun with your fictional ideas,” I said. “I have to get back to the office.”

  “Don’t be like that, Ethan,” Heather said apologetically. “We were just having a bit of fun. Come, sit, and we’ll talk about something else.”

  “It’s fine. I really have to get back to work. I’ll see you both around.”

  They both called after me as I made my way out of the restaurant. As I passed them on the other side of the window, I kept my gaze straight ahead, feigning interest in the man throwing a miniature tantrum over the parking ticket he had discovered tucked under his windshield wiper.

  I called Eddison, who picked me up around the corner, and instead of having him take me back to the office where I should have gone, I had him drive me home. I was hoping Devon would be there.

  I needed her to be there.

  On the drive over, I called her cell. She answered, sounding a little sleepy. “Hey, Ethan.”

  “Hey,” I said. “Did I wake you?”

  “No, I just had a nap. I was in and out of it for the last fifteen minutes or so. What’s up?”

  I felt a little bad for waking her. Her voice was thick with fatigue, and I knew she was lying. She had been in a deep sleep. “I’m on my way home from the office. I just wanted to know if you’d be there or if you had class.”

  “I’ll be here. My class was earlier this morning.”

  “Great. I’ll see you shortly then,” I said, feeling the eagerness to see her, swelling in my chest and my pants.

  When I came in the front door, Devon called out a hello from the living room. I shouted back and kicked off my shoes before shrugging out of my jacket and untucking my shirt. I made my way down the hallway until I was in the living room. Devon was curled up in her favorite corner of the couch with a book in her lap. She gave me a beautiful smile and folded the corner of her page down.

  “How was your day?” she asked, shifting so she was facing me.

  “All right,” I said, making a mental note of how nice it was to have her asking me how my day went. “How about you?”

  She shrugged before standing. She tossed her book on the coffee table and stretched. She was wearing a pair of black cotton shorts with lace around her thighs and a black long sleeve shirt that was thin enough for me to see her nipples. She was most definitely not wearing a bra. The socks she wore were knee-highs, and I suffered from a rush of excitement at the thought of rolling them slowly down her legs and feeling her soft skin beneath my fingertips.

  “Class this morning was good,” she said as she made to walk around me, “but lectures always tire me out. I had a nice nap before—”

  I caught her wrist, spun her to me, and then crushed my mouth against hers. I couldn’t help it. I was powerless against the pull of her. She was so sexy, so soft, so intoxicating that I had to have her right then and there or my brain would surely explode in my skull.

  She tasted like a dream. I let my tongue caress hers in her mouth and traced her lower lip with a deliberate slowness that earned a soft sigh from her.

  I walked her backward without breaking our kiss. She followed my lead until I had her up against the wall. Her hands were cold as they wandered up my shirt. I caught her wrists, yanked her hands away from me, and pinned her by her wrists with her arms above her head. My free hand grabbed the hem of her shirt, and I yanked it up over her breasts.

  Her nipples were hard. I pulled my kiss from her mouth, down her neck, over her chest, and to her breasts, where I suckled her nipples and pinched them gently with my teeth. She squirmed in my grasp. Her efforts were futile. She and I both knew she didn’t want to escape me.

  “Ethan,” she breathed as I drew on her nipple. “What’s all this about?”

  “Hush,” I told her. “I just want to relieve some stress. And you look so damn good. I need you right now.” I returned to sucking her nipple and pressing my tongue against the soft flesh of her breast.

  She moaned softly, her eyes falling closed as she rested her head against the wall. Her fingers ran through my hair. “Works for me,” she said softly, her hands tightening to fists. “You can do whatever you want to me. Whatever you want.”

  I looked up at her. Her breast was still in my mouth, and her hands were still buried in my hair. I pinched her nipple playfully between my teeth and ran my tongue over the sensitive tip of her. She flinched, blinked her eyes open, and stared down at me.

  I could get lost in that bright stare of hers. “I’m going to ravage you, woman,” I said.

  She grinned and then gave way to the sexiest bout of giggles I had ever heard. “I expect nothing less from you,” she said.

  I pulled her wrists down but didn’t loosen my grip. I led her to the bedroom by her wrists, where I threw her down on the bed and stripped her clothes off her. She laid beneath me in nothing but her knee-high socks. I met her eyes and released her wrists.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Devon

  “Don’t move,” he whispered, his voice thick with need. I nodded my understanding as he lifted my right kn
ee gently. He pressed his lips to my thigh and rained kisses down my leg while his fingers drew my sock down, over my knee, my calf, and my ankle. He followed the ascent with his lips until the first sock was on the floor, and then he repeated the process with the other leg.

  By the time I was completely naked, a fire had begun to rage in the space beneath my belly. A tightness had formed, an ache I knew could only be satisfied by Ethan’s touch. I waited, completely at his mercy, as Ethan undressed before me. He had told me not to move, and I dared not disobey him. I watched hungrily as he pulled his shirt over his head. I ogled his body like it was the first time I had ever seen those lean and powerful muscles.

  The tendons in his arms flexed as he undid his pants. His hips directed my gaze down as he pulled his pants and boxers off. His cock was as thick and hard as ever, pressing upward to rest just below his belly button. I swallowed and fought against the urge to sit up, take him in my mouth, and suck him until he either blew his load or fucked my brains out.

  Don’t move, I reminded myself as he climbed on top of me, holding himself up with his hands planted on either side of my head. He stared down at me, his dark eyes swimming with lust, his perfect lips slightly parted as his breath trembled between them.

  He wedged a knee between my thighs to spread my legs. Then he lowered his hips to mine. The tip of him grazed my clit, and I sucked in a sharp breath. The urge to lift my hips to his was overwhelming. I closed my eyes, licked my lips, and mentally pleaded with him to fuck me.

  He was going to make me wait. He stayed like that, hovering above me, for what felt like ages. It became infinitely more impossibly to remain motionless beneath him when he began nibbling my earlobe and pinching the skin on my neck with his teeth. After a particularly hard bite, he pressed his lips to my skin in an apologetic kiss.

  I felt the wetness between my legs bloom.

  “Please,” I whispered, unable to stop myself from lifting my ass off the bed so I could feel the tip of his cock pressing into my slit.

  “I said don’t move,” he growled into my ear. His breath was hot.

  I quivered beneath him and bit my bottom lip in an attempt to distract myself from his body above mine with the pain. It wasn’t helping. If anything, it was making matters worse. Regardless, I obliged and lowered myself back down on the mattress.

  He followed me down, the tip of him still inside me. When I was lying flat, he finally gave me what I wanted. He pushed himself inside me. I stretched for him, taking all of his length. A little whimper of pleasure escaped me as he pulled out and entered me again.

  This was what I needed. His slow and steady thrusts made quick work of my defenses, leaving me as nothing but a shell of raw need. I was gone. I was nothing but the sex, nothing but his cock sliding in and out of me.

  I reached up to wrap my arms around his shoulders.

  He froze above me and caught both my hands and then pinned them on either side of my head. I had forgotten I wasn’t supposed to move. He held me there, his jaw clenched, as he continued to fuck me.

  I could feel myself tightening around his cock. The burning below my belly had fallen lower and the ache was more desperate now. I was going to come soon.

  Ethan maintained his pace. Each thrust brought me closer to the brink. My fingers curled, and his grip on my wrists tightened to the point where it hurt. I didn’t say a word. I liked the pain. It was an exciting, exquisite kind of pain.

  “You’re ready,” Ethan said above me. “Let it happen.”

  HIs words were enough to unravel me. I came, harder than I ever had before. Ethan felt me constrict around his cock. He hung his head, giving me a view of his wild dark hair as he continued thrusting inside me until me orgasm abated and left me feeling weak but hungry for more.

  He pulled out, flipped me over, and slapped my ass. It was hard enough to echo throughout the bedroom and leave what I was sure to be a red handprint on my ass cheek for the next day or so. I didn’t mind. A reminder of this encounter wouldn’t be so bad. I was so turned on, so enthralled by Ethan’s ability to satisfy my desires.

  I arched my spine and lowered myself so that I was resting on my elbows and my ass was in the air for him. I watched him over my shoulder as he placed one hand between my legs. His fingers caressed my clit and he had me moaning within seconds. Then his other hand came into play. He slid two fingers inside me while he maintained the delicious, slow circle caress of my clit.

  I clutched the sheets, gritted my teeth, and rotated my hips against his touch. He pulled upward, his fingers inside me hitting a delightfully sensitive spot. I trembled, bucked against him, and came almost immediately. I heard the low growl of pride come from his throat as my pussy squirted all over his fingers.

  I was suddenly empty. I waited, ass still arched to the ceiling, until his cock was easing back inside me. I moaned happily when his cock was in me to the hilt and then began rocking against him. He seemed to enjoy it, so when he didn’t stop me or demand that I stay still, I continued fucking him, pausing only to rotate my hips in a slow circle before resuming the back and forth motion.

  He slapped my ass. I yelped in surprise and from the hot sting of it.

  Then his hand was in my hair, and he was pulling my head back. The other hand squeezed my ass before he wound back and slapped me again. I flinched, moaned with sheer delight, and bounced my pussy on his dick.

  “Fuck,” he breathed, and I knew by the way he said the word that he was watching himself slide in and out of me.

  I took advantage of the sliver of control he was giving me. My hair was still in his fist, and he was craning my neck back, but I had full control over my lower half. When I felt his cock swell inside me, I froze. He growled like a primal beast behind me and slapped my ass. I teased him by wiggling my butt back and forth.

  He pulled my head back farther and leaned over me so that I was looking up at him. I gave him my most daring smile, rocked backward so that his whole shaft was inside me, and held myself there. If he was going to tease me, I was going to do the same to him.

  He released my hair and threw me down face-first on the bed. His hands grabbed both my hips, and he lifted me higher. Then he began fucking me hard and fast.

  I barely had time to muffle my scream in his blankets before I came. I shrieked into the duvet as he slapped my ass again and rode me until he came. When he was done, he pulled out slowly and spread me open so he could look at my pulsing pussy.

  He squeezed my ass once more, almost as if in appreciation, and then disappeared in the bathroom. I stayed where I was, face down on his bed with my ass still up in the air, until I had caught my breath. Once I had recovered, I went to my room and threw on my pink silk robe. I returned to the kitchen to grab a glass of water. As I was filling my cup from the water dispenser on the fridge door, Ethan emerged in his bedroom doorway.

  He was wearing black sweatpants but was naked from the waist up. He crossed his arms over his chest and watched me drink a greedy four mouthfuls. I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand and put the glass on the counter.

  “So, this is what I can expect when you’re stressed out?” I asked, feeling my own smile stretch my flushed cheeks.

  Ethan chuckled and rubbed the back of his head. “Sometimes. I needed that. I feel better.”

  “Glad I could help,” I said. “I don’t feel so bad either.”

  “Good,” Ethan said, his dark eyes lingering on my breasts through the thin silk fabric. His lust was insatiable. I wondered if he was considering going for round two.

  I padded around the counter and joined him in the open doorway. I rested one shoulder on the opposite side of the frame and looked up at him. “What had you so stressed out, anyway?”

  Ethan gave me his trademark one shoulder shrug and sighed. “I went to lunch with Heather this afternoon,” he said, “and she started asking me questions and accused me of seeing someone.”

  “Oh,” I said, my stomach doing a backflip. “That’s not good.”


  “I know,” Ethan admitted, uncrossing his arms and putting them behind his back before leaning against the frame again. “She’s hard to keep things from. She kinda has a way of sussing the truth out.”

  “I know. Best friend, remember?” I said, pointing my thumb at my chest. This wasn’t good. This wasn’t good at all. Heather would be furious if she found out what was going on between Ethan and me, not to mention how she would feel about the baby and him paying me to have it. I pressed the heels of my hands against my eyes and sighed. “We still have to keep this up for eight more months. How the hell are we going to keep it up?”

  “It will be all right,” Ethan said, stepping forward and resting his hands on my hips. “Don’t worry, okay? I don’t want you to be stressed out. We can still make this work.”

  “How?” I asked, my nervousness giving way to guilt.

  I was lying to my best friend, and it wasn’t some petty, small, doesn’t-mean-anything lie. This one was big. I had accepted a million dollars from her brother and was now carrying his child to give him an heir for his billions and his company.

  A wave of emotion rolled over me.

  Ethan noticed and pulled me to him. He held my head to his bare chest and stroked my hair gently. “Hey,” he said softly. “This will all work out, okay? Heather won’t find out. Eight months will fly by, and before you know it, things will all go back to how they used to be. Back to normal. Okay?”