Once Upon A Half-Time: A Secret Baby Romance (35 page)

I grunted. “Get in the damn car.”

Lindsey obeyed, squeezing in the back with her friends Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum, also known as her college roommates Carmen and Amy. They rooted through the first-aid kit and applied whatever medication they could find to Lindsey’s scrape.

That was how we lost our only tube of calamine lotion. Nothing bad could possibly come from that.

I had about two hours until I got them to the cabin, tossed them in beds, and had a few minutes of sober quiet.

Of course it didn’t work that way.

I pulled off the highway an hour later as Dad’s check engine light flicked on.

Lindsey mumbled from the back seat. “Why are you slowing down? What’s wrong?”

I knew as much about cars as I did pregnancy—and I learned too late what would happen if I let Nate’s dipstick check my lubrication.

“Um…” The car clunked. That probably wasn’t good. “I think it’s breaking down.”

Lindsey’s supersonic scream awakened the passed out bridesmaids. I doubted her shrieking would push the SUV the remaining twenty miles to the cabin.

“What do you mean we’re
breaking down
? We’re in the middle of nowhere! There could be bears outside!”

“
Bears
?”

“Or murderers!”

I eased off the highway. “Maybe they’ll kill the bears.”

“Haha. You’re always so funny. Well I’ll be the one laughing when you’re skinned alive first!”

“Jesus, Lindsey. You’re a friendly drunk, but you’re a monster with a hangover.”

“Don’t start, Rapunzel. This is your fault.”

“How can you be mad at me?”

“I’m
mad
because every single time you have some responsibility for the wedding, we end up with indigo invitations or no flowers or broken down on the side of the road!” Lindsey kicked her bridesmaids to free herself from the mass of purses, luggage, and bottles. She crawled into the passenger seat and grimaced as her skirt hiked up to just under her bra. “Save the apologies for the cabin. I don’t want to hear them now.”

“Good, cause I wasn’t giving you any!”

“Don’t make me call Mom.”

“Go on. Call her.” I bluffed. “We’re in our
twenties
. Even she’ll tell you to grow up.”

“
You
grow up.”

Lindsey stole my water and chugged it. She made a face, grabbed for the car door, and barely opened it in time to throw up.

The splash against the asphalt twisted my stomach.

And I had done
so
well battling the morning sickness tonight. The baby didn’t like his or her aunt tossing her bouquet.

I opened my door and threw up too.

“Oh you little
faker
.” Lindsey ripped her cell from her pocket. “I can’t believe you’re so desperate for attention you’d fake
vomiting
.”

I reached for my water. Lindsey stole it and drank the rest.

“Who are you calling?” I asked.

“Bryce.” She pointed the phone at me. “I’m getting us out of here.
Someone
has to be responsible.”

“I’m not trying to start a fight—”

Lindsey thrust a finger in my face to silence me as Bryce answered the call. She put him on speaker-phone and called his name until he groggily awoke from a dead-sleep.

“Yeah, sugarplum?” He grumbled. “What time is—”

“I need help. Dad’s worthless SUV broke down. Of course he didn’t check to make sure it’d get us to the cabin. I can’t believe he’s so careless.”

I bristled. “He let us
borrow
it, Linds. And he loaned it to us with a full tank.”

“I don’t see
Dad
out here, pushing the car for us.” Lindsey grunted. “No wonder Mom left him.”

The irritation swelled inside me. Baby or no baby, I’d walk home if she was going to be that ugly.

“You have no right to talk about Dad like that,” I said.

“Oh, I forgot.” Lindsey rolled her eyes at her bridesmaids. “Mandy takes
Dad’s
side.”

“I’m not on
anyone’s
side!”

Bryce’s connection crackled. “Angelkiss, where are you—”

Lindsey ignored him. “You are too on a side. You’ve always believed Dad over Mom.”

“What’s there to believe? They hate each other!”

“For good reason.”

“No. There’s
no
reason. I don’t know why we’re supposed to be happy they separated.”

Tears welled in my eyes. Great. Now I was crying over my parents’ divorce like I was a ten year old latchkey kid caught in a custody battle.

Lindsey groaned. “Oh, Mandy, grow up. Dad’s worthless and Mom kicked him out. Just be glad the holidays will be less insane.” She flicked her phone. “Bryce, we’re on the highway somewhere. Drive until you find us.”

He preemptively apologized. “But, tootsie, I’m not at home…”

“
What
?”

“I told you. You were going to the cabin, so I went with Rick to—”

“That
lecture
? In Ironfield?”

“He wanted company, and since he’s still hung up on Jada—”

“You’re leaving me
stranded
?”

“Call AAA.”

“I have a better idea. What if I just get eaten by
bears
?”

“There aren’t any bears near the cabin—”

I sighed. “Don’t bother, Bryce. Lindsey thinks we’re gonna get Texas Chainsawed up here because every serial killer in a hundred-mile radius wants to ruin the wedding.”

Lindsey sneered. “You are such a little brat.”

Bryce cleared his throat. “Look, I’ll call Nate.”

My stomach dropped.

Lindsey sighed. “Fine.”

“No!” I didn’t mean to shout. “We’ll be fine. Don’t call Nate.”

“I am not going to sit here alone for some skeevy tow-truck driver,” Lindsey said. “It’s dangerous. We’re too pretty to get trafficked, and I am
not
above trading one of you—” She pointed to the blitzed bridesmaids. “—So I can escape and get married.”

“Really, we’ll be fine without Nate.”

My sister took the phone off speaker. “We’re like twenty minutes from the exit. Tell him to hurry.”

She ended the call. I said nothing.

“What?” Lindsey crossed her arms. “What? Just say it.”

“We could have handled it ourselves.”

She glanced at the bridesmaids. I didn’t trust her smile. “I know what this is.”

My stomach twisted. Could I get sick without her noticing? “What
what
is?”

“Nate.”

“There’s nothing about Nate.”

“Of course there is. I’m not blind, Mandy.”

I swallowed, but nothing made it past the rock in my throat. Instantly my body broke out in a cold sweat, and the morning sickness surged in the middle of the night.

“Lindsey, it’s not what you think it is.”

“I’ve known for a long time.”

“You have?”

“
Everyone
knows. And, quite frankly, we’re too nice to say anything. But not now. I think it’s completely inappropriate.”

I hadn’t had a single drink, but I felt like I got smacked by the empty whiskey bottle. I stared ahead at the dark highway, struggling with a breath that hurt to take.

“You hate Nate,” she said.

My eyes widened. Lindsey crossed her arms, smug.

“I
hate
him?”

“Of course you do. You always have. You’ve been nothing but a bitch to him these past few months, even when he’s trying to be nice. You’ve resented that he’s so involved in the wedding, and it’s
selfish
.”

Well, that was a freebie. “You’re right. That’s it. I hate Nate.”

“I can’t believe you’d just agree like that.”

“What can I say? I hate the both player and his game.”

“Do you want this wedding to fail?”

I gritted my teeth. “I have done nothing but support you.”

“You don’t support me. You never have.” She shook her head. “If it wouldn’t destroy Mom, I’d kick you out of the wedding.”

“Because of
Nate
?”

“Yes!”

I laughed. “You have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Fine. You’re out of the wedding!”

The SUV silenced. I should have argued. I should have told my sister she was stressed, tired, and drunk, and that she didn’t mean it.

But after spending three hundred dollars of my own money on her bachelorette party, I was done. I didn’t have the alcohol to blame on my rage, but I had a baby twisting my hormones. I was pretty sure the kid was on my side in this.

“Sounds good.” I tore the seatbelt off me. “You’re on your own.”

“And I’ll do a better job than you.”

“Fine.”

“
Fine
!” Lindsey crossed her arms. “Hogface.”

Childhood insults now? I kicked the door open. “Feetmuncher!”

“Douche Canoe!”

I slammed the door before I said the
real
insult on my mind. Lindsey couldn’t roll the window down without the keys.

She screamed instead.

“
Twatwaffle
!”

“I’m out of the car!”

“Get in here before you’re eaten by a bear!”

“Oh my God, Lindsey, there are no
bears!”

I sat on the guardrail and ignored her insults. After ten minutes she gave up and yelled at her bridesmaids. They lowered their seats and tried to sleep.

Not a soul passed us on the highway. The wind whistled through the wetlands below the guardrail. I swallowed. Whatever lurked in the grasses and shrubs rustled a lot and got too close. I smacked at imaginary bugs and pretended I didn’t have to go to the bathroom.

A
long
hour passed before headlights pulled up. Nate parked and got out of his car. That cocky smile was saved just for me and my desperation.

“You look like you need a rescue,” he said.

After an hour in the damp and chill, simmering in rage, and planning how best to turn my maid-of-honor dress into rags for waxing my car, I didn’t have the energy to argue with a man I was supposed to hate.

Except I didn’t hate him.

I didn’t hate his cocky smile.

I never hated the intense and perfect green of his eyes.

And there was no way I’d ever hate the feel of his body pressed against mine, either between the sheets or sitting at my side on the guardrail.

“Rough night?” he asked.

I couldn’t look at him, but I could enjoy how warm he felt next to me. “Can you take us to the cabin, please?”

“I’ll do you one better.” He kicked a bag of tools at his feet. “I’ll fix your car.”

“Think you can?”

“Only one way to find out.” That confidence amazed me. “I’m not going to leave you stranded out here all night…not without someone to cuddle at least.”

“If you fix the car, you’ll get a lot more than cuddles.”

“Is that a promise?”

“Better get under that hood.”

I didn’t regret my words. After twenty minutes, the SUV’s engine purred like a kitten. Nate tossed me the keys. The bridesmaids and Lindsey thanked him and begged me to drive. I walked him to his car.

“You girls should be more careful.” He crossed his arms, and I could only imagine what fantasy twisted his lips into a smile. “Never know what kind of creep might want to take advantage of a stranded, beautiful woman.”

“I’m well-aware.” I bit my lip. “You’re not going home, are you?”

“Where else would I go?”

“To the cabin?”

Nate narrowed his eyes. “You sure?”

No, but I had a bad enough night. “Someone should be there to protect me from any creeps following us in the woods.”

“No one would bother you if I were around.”

I stared at his lips. “Then you better follow close.”

“Mandy—”

“I’ll meet you there.”

I knew he watched me walk to the car. And I knew where he stared, what he wanted, just where his thoughts wandered because mine was already there.

Nate once thrilled me with a night of simple pleasures and dark fantasies.

And tonight, we’d do it again.

A
mistake was
something that happened once.

What was it called when it happened twice? Idiocy? Insanity?

Luck?

It didn’t matter. The last time I was overwhelmed by the wedding and my family, I turned to the wrong man to make it right. And he had—at least, in that moment. Now I wanted more of the same, knowing the consequences.

I invited him to the cabin and tossed the bridesmaids and my sister into the guest bedrooms.

I told him to wait while I quickly showered the night off and grabbed a warm, fuzzy blanket.

And we planned to repeat that wonderful mistake.

It wasn’t logical. It wasn’t safe.

It wasn’t fair to him.

But I couldn’t share the secret about the baby yet, not even with him. My family already danced around total annihilation. The drama would ruin the wedding, drive a wedge deeper between my parents, and destroy any relationship I had with my sister.

That sort of news wouldn’t be seen as blessed or joyous. It’d be scandal and shame, and no baby deserved that.

Once the wedding was over, I’d tell them.

And him.

I shut the cabin door behind me. I expected the night to be completely silent this far away from the city, but the chirping frogs and buzzing locusts muffled the click of the door’s latch. The cabin overlooked a field of wildflowers in the front. In the back, it stood watch over a lake, mirror-flat and still, reflecting a sky littered with thousands of stars.

Nate leaned against the porch railing. Was it possible for him to look better now, waiting in the dark stillness? The shadows struck the hard angles of his jaw, and his eyes absorbed the mystery of the night. Green gave way to midnight tones of blue and silver. I stared, imagining everything we had done and had yet to do.

“Everyone asleep?” His voice rumbled, low and cautious.

“They will be,” I said.

“You okay?”

“I will be.”

Nate crossed his arms. The tattoos creeping along his biceps and under the t-shirt edged black in the low light, too dark to hide anything but their intent. He wasn’t a man who saved damsels in distress, but he was the type to accept their gratitude however they wished to award it.

I cradled the blanket to my chest. Nate didn’t ask any more foolish questions. He offered his hand.

I took a breath.

My palm fit within his, and the heat coursed over me, through me, inside me.

He guided me along the dirt path leading from the cabin to the lakeside dock. I hadn’t been to the lake since I was little. Back then, the water seemed huge and impossible. Now the stillness was safe and serene. The lake lapped the dock, and the sky above stretched in brilliant shades of blue and the darkest purple. I almost giggled. The sky looked indigo.

We didn’t need to speak. I wasn’t sure what we would say. Nate had pushed, and I’d denied him so many times. But we ended here together, staring into each other’s eyes like it was the first and last time we would touch each other.

Nate laid the blanket over the wooden planks of the dock. My breathing shuddered, and I had no idea how to stand or protect myself or what to do.

But he showed me, just like he did before. I was so inexperienced then, and I was still inexperienced now. Despite the twisting in my stomach as the baby swatted at all the butterflies, I’d never felt safer.

Nate reached for me, his hand caressing my cheek. He pulled me in for a kiss and let his fingers tangle in my hair.

“It’s shorter,” he whispered. “You cut your hair.”

“You weren’t the only one who noticed.”

“It’s beautiful. You’re beautiful.”

His lips met mine. Why did I ever fight his kiss? He nibbled the words I couldn’t speak, soothed the fears I breathed, and hummed absolute
comfort
in every draw of his lips.

“Simple pleasure?” My whisper broke the silence, too softly for anyone but him to hear.

“If that’s all you want…” His voice caressed me like another hand. “That’s what I’ll give.”

“…What else could you give?”

“Anything you wanted.”

He seized me again. His touch became ferocious, conquering, but still so very gentle.

Since when was Nate Kensington
gentle
?

That wasn’t his reputation or his real desire. But he did it for me.

Because of me?

He tucked me against his body. The delicate press of his fingertips into my hips wasn’t the fierce grip my instincts expected. He touched slow, steady. I abandoned my hesitations and fell into heaven. My arms fit over his neck, and I drew myself to my tippy-toes to kiss him deeper.

It shouldn’t have felt so good. I had no idea if the connection between us was real or a trick of my heart. Nate was the only man who could soothe everything jumbled inside me—because he was the one who tangled it.

At first I dove against him and eagerly swept my lips, mouth, tongue on his, like the last time we tossed in a bed and the passion overwhelmed us in hours of frantic excitement. But this touch deftly tickled over me. Soft. Leisurely.

Nate was patient, and I knew why.

“I’m not a virgin anymore,” I whispered.

I broke the kiss. He chastised me with a tightened grip on my hair. A thrill of excitement trapped me in his arms, and he tipped my head back. He nipped my neck and claimed that soft hollow he knew I loved so much.

“You deserve to be spoiled with pleasure. To learn from someone who takes the time to show you how great sex can really be,” he said.

“I already had a thorough lesson.”

“No.” His voice could command and comfort in the same breath. “That night was selfish and quick. I thought you wanted to blow off steam.”

“I did.”

“That’s not how we’re doing it this time.”

“It’s…not?”

His smile might have stopped my heart. “No. I’m going to show you
everything
tonight. How you should feel. What you can take. This night is all about your pleasure.”

My voice weakened in amazement. “
Mine
?”

“I’ve been chasing you for a reason, baby. Once wasn’t enough to sate either of us.”

His fingers teased over my blouse, and his adept hands worked the buttons without struggle.

“I was satisfied,” I said.

“I can do better. I
will
do better.” He promised me with a kiss. “That first time, I thought I wanted a night with you so I could get off and silence my own desire. I was wrong. I realized my only desire is to give you pleasure.”

“Why?”

“How else would I express my gratitude?”

“Gratitude for what?”

“Letting me near you? Letting me touch you?” His words stilled as my blouse fell away. “Giving me the best night of my life?”

Nate’s kiss teased a mew from me. A wave of goose bumps washed over my body as he studied everything I offered.

“Don’t be embarrassed,” he said. “You are, without a doubt, the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.”

“I think you’re just saying that because I’m standing here in a bra and jeans.”

“Let’s test it.”

His fingers danced over my back. He unhooked my bra and tugged it off. The cool air wrapped over my breasts, and I bit my lip.

They were bigger than they had been. Fuller.

Nate stared, enraptured. I held my breath as his knuckle brushed my nipple. It immediately tightened, hardened and budded for his inspection.

I wanted more than just fingers. How quickly could I get him to lick and taste and suck?

“You’re beautiful with or without clothes.” His hardness pressed against my leg. “Though I prefer without.”

So did I.

Nate took off his shirt, but he only unbuckled his belt before dropping to his knees. His shoulders rippled with muscle. In the low light, the tattoos blended into his flesh, almost natural. I couldn’t imagine him without the barbs and coils of ink.

I loved the sound of his growl. He strained against his own need. I had no idea he possessed such willpower. He grunted, but he didn’t dive over me. I wondered what I’d have to do to get tossed onto the blanket, to let him have his way with my desperate and wanting slit.

I swallowed, tensing to stone as he studied my every curve. His touch shivered dizzying circles over my arms and waist. I loved and feared the inspection. He unhooked the button to my jeans.

Could he tell?

Was the baby still hidden?

Did he remember how I had looked before? I recognized the change, but it was slight yet. My nipples had grown a little larger, and my breasts softened and plumped. My tummy was yet flat, but the secret made me feel heavy and weighted, as if anyone who saw me would know.

Nate said nothing. His lips tenderly kissed my skin as he tugged at my zipper.

He centered a kiss directly over my womb. I gasped.

His eyes glinted, mischievous. “Feel good?”

I didn’t know what to say.

Yes
.

It felt amazing.

For one brief, insane second, I imagined he had kissed there because he
knew
. That he’d kissed because he was happy, and that this secret was ours to keep. In that world, this wasn’t a second mistake but the beginning of a lifetime of amazing opportunities and happiness.

I stayed quiet.

Nate held me tight as I kicked the jeans away. All the remained were my panties. Of course, they were a ridiculously pink and cute pair that had no place in my fantasy under the stars. He left them on.

Like he thought I was going to change my mind?

I wasn’t. I couldn’t. Every touch against my skin set a fire of confusion and delight. Had he peeled the panties away, I would’ve been ready for him then. Slick. Hot. I’d run for too long. What was I afraid of now? Nothing more earth-shattering could happen in his arms.

Except the
amazement
when he kissed me.

That was new. That was wonderful.

And it was so very frightening and
real
.

He guided me onto the dock, cradling me in the softness of the blanket. His touch wove so gently my heart only beat when his fingers graced my skin.

I reached for him, opening my legs so he could rest over me. His tongue responded to my delicate, tentative probe, and the rest of me shivered with warmth as his whisper promised everything I shouldn’t have accepted.

“You’re going to love this.” Even at his most gentle, Nate still grinned a wicked smile. “Every touch, every kiss. We aren’t leaving until you are nothing but a puddle of pleasure.”

“Promise?”

“You know how much I love a challenge. And I know how much you like when I do this…”

He flattened his tongue over my nipple and dragged the heat over my breast. I arched.

Oh God.

I was more sensitive than ever. My breasts weren’t just fuller, they tingled and tightened and if he did it again—

“You look better than I remembered.” His words rasped over his own desire. “Unbelievably sexy.”

His tongue returned, spiraling over the tight bud. Every stroke rippled through me with aching jolts. I couldn’t breathe. He liked that. Nate did the same to my other breast, slowly tickling my nipple with his tongue. It was as if he wished to torture me with pleasure until I revealed my secrets.

I bit my lip. He thought it was a dare to make me cry out. Nate centered himself over me, popping a nipple into his mouth so suddenly I arched in case he planned to suckle it off my breast. The bite came without warning. Not painful, but surprising. It earned the whimper he wanted, and, as a reward, he suckled the shock away.

This wasn’t how we fucked before.

Not at
all
.

I had no idea what Nate could do to my body, and he read my astonishment with a cocky wink. The nipple slipped from his mouth with a sloppy
pop
.

“Just wait, baby. You’ll regret that we didn’t do this sooner.”

I already did. I regretted every second of every day that I hadn’t returned to his bed.

I gained a bit of courage and threaded my fingers through the pale blonde of his hair. The pinkness of his lips against my skin wasn’t vulgar, but it delighted a secret part of me that longed to see more of him pressed against my darkness. I wished I had kept my eyes open the first time. I would have loved to watch his muscles, his arms, and his cock claim every inch of me.

I would this time.

No excuses. No shame. Nate was the most gorgeous man I’d ever met, and it’d be a crime to waste any opportunity to savor him.

He delighted my breasts, switching back and forth as he took such pleasure in the simplest of kisses. I never thought Nate would enjoy giving as much as taking, but my coos and groans only hardened his cock more. It strained against his jeans, and I wished he’d let it free.

But he worked with purpose. Deliberation. Concentration.

His kisses trailed over my waist, lower and lower, until he reached the panties that hid my most sensitive area. The last time he’d delighted me, he overpowered me, quick and fast, forcing me to the peak before I understood what’d happened.

Nate breathed over the crest between my legs. The heat rocked me, and I bit my lip before I begged him for more.

“I’m being selfish,” he warned.

I bucked my hips, hoping he meant he was too hard, too frustrated. God, I wished he needed to take me then and now.

“It’s okay. I’m ready.”

“I know you are.” He slowly peeled my panties down, teasing himself as the hint of my slit revealed to him. “Since I last had you, all I can think about is devouring you again. This…” He pulled my legs apart and stared at the dark petals quaking for his touch. “This is as much for me as it is for you. If I don’t taste you right now, I might go insane from your scent.”

His tongue danced over my pussy. Nate lapped, slow and steady, tasting my secrets. I’d kept my slit soft and smooth, and he rewarded me with a kiss upon the silken mound.

He stared at me, grinning as my hips chased his mouth. “This is the most beautiful pussy I’ve ever had the privilege of tasting.”

Oh, he made being a player sound like such a perk for me…and, it was. Nate understood my body in ways my showerhead had yet to figure out. This was something more than hard-earned skill.