Who's Your Daddy? (23 page)

“You might be in the same boat as Don, or it might go well. You know them better than I do.”

“That’s what I’m afraid of.” She rubbed the back of her neck and sighed. “They haven’t even gotten over the fact that Paul and I got divorced.”

I rolled my eyes. “If they think you staying with him is better than you getting a divorce, then you can tell them at least one marriage counselor thinks they’re idiots.” I paused. “No offense.”

She gestured dismissively. “None taken.”

“I thought they hated him, anyway.”

“Of course they did.” She made a half-flippant, half-frustrated gesture. “He’s the guy I chose to marry, so obviously he was the wrong guy. Divorcing him was the wrong decision too.”

“Can’t win, can you?”

“They just think since he wasn’t beating me or cheating on me, I should’ve sucked it up and stuck it out.”

I rolled my eyes again. “Oh Christ. He may as well have been unfaithful or physically abusive for as badly as he treated you.”

“They disagree.” She sighed. “No bruise, no mistress, no problem.”

“Ugh. Fuckers.”

She exhaled. “So, what do I do? About the baby, I mean? They’re going to have an absolute fit, and I…” She made a frustrated gesture and shook her head.

I took in a long breath and stared at our joined hands. Then I looked at her. “Well, here’s my take. Even if your parents are clueless and judgmental, they do care about you in their own warped way. If they’re remotely worth being called parents, then they do want what’s best for you, even if they suck at demonstrating that.”

She nodded slowly, dropping her gaze. “I think they do. They’re not as bad as Don’s dad. They’re just really,
really
hard to please.”

“Maybe if you take one of us with you, that’ll help.”

“You think so?”

I nodded. “Showing up with the baby’s father, addressing it as ‘we’ rather than ‘I’, might show them that regardless of how you got into this situation, it wasn’t some stranger; it’s not some guy who’s going to leave you hanging.” I paused. “Not that it’s their place to judge either way—”

“Which they will anyway.” She chewed her thumbnail. “They do know Don, so they wouldn’t think he would run off on me.”

“I’m sure he’d go with you if you asked him to,” I said. “You know better than I do how they’ll react to this. I’d like to tell you it’ll be all right and everyone will be thrilled, but between my job and my boyfriend’s father, I’ve seen enough to be realistic about it. They could grudgingly accept it, they could be ecstatic, they could disown you. I don’t know.”

“Well, whichever way they go, I’ll probably find out sooner than later.” With her free hand, she gestured at her belly. “I can’t exactly hide it much longer.”

“You can hide it from them.”

Carmen cocked her head.

I forced my voice and posture to remain as close to neutral as I could in spite of the rage boiling in my chest just thinking about her goddamned parents. “Quite honestly, if you think they’re toxic enough that they’d disown you for it or make it a more stressful situation than it already is, you don’t have to tell them. You don’t have to be around them. If you tell them, and they get nasty about this, that’s when you step up and tell them ‘I love you, but if you’re going to treat something like this as a reason to beat me down, you don’t need to be around me or my baby. When you can be happy along with us and celebrate having a grandchild, let me know’.”

Carmen chewed her lip. “You make it sound so easy.”

“It’s not. Not at all.” I ran my thumb along the side of her wrist. “It’s definitely not easy. But you need to put your emotional health first. You’ve got enough stress right now. They have no right to add to that.”
And they’d better be glad I won’t be the one going with you when you tell them.

“But, what do I tell them?” She grinned. “I’m guessing the words ‘threesome’, ‘drunk’ and ‘paternity test’ shouldn’t come into play.”

I laughed. “That’s up to you, but I wouldn’t recommend it.” More seriously, I said, “Just tell them as much as they need to know. You’re having a baby. It was unexpected but not unwelcome. Donovan’s the father, and—”

“Except he might not be.”

I shrugged. “They don’t need to know that. He has every intention of being a father
figure
, so calling him the baby’s father is accurate at least to an extent.”

“True.” She watched her thumb trace and retrace an invisible arc on the side of my hand. “Just feels weird to have that conversation and pretend you’re not part of the equation.”

“Carmen, listen to me.” I squeezed her hand. “You’re not leaving me out or snubbing me or anything like that. You know your parents well enough to know they aren’t terribly open-minded about these things, so it’s best to just minimize the shock. Tell them only what they need to know. You don’t owe anyone any answers that you’re not comfortable giving.”

“I guess that’s a good point.”

“You and I know the truth,” I said softly. “If they’re ready to hear that truth someday, and we’re comfortable telling it, fine. But don’t you dare create more heartache for yourself just because you think you need to give me a nod.” She said nothing, so I went on. “If you’re happy about it, then hopefully they’ll take that cue. Like your sisters did.”

“That didn’t work with my divorce.”

“Okay, maybe it didn’t. But most reasonable people are hard-pressed to stay upset very long when there’s a baby on the way. Even Ryan’s grandparents, on both sides, got over it.”

Carmen scowled. “Didn’t it take Julia’s folks until he was a toddler?”

“Almost kindergarten, actually. But they did come around.” I squeezed her hand again. “As long as you’re happy about this, then if they’re worth being parents, they’ll be happy too.” I paused. “
Are
you happy about this, Carmen?”

She took and released a breath. “I’m…I’m still overwhelmed, and I’m still not sure what’s going to happen, but…” She allowed herself a faint, shy smile. “Yeah, I guess now that I think about it, I’m kind of getting excited.”

I smiled back at her. “Good.”

“I’m still stressed as hell over it, though,” she said. “Especially now that it’s getting…real.”

“I can imagine. If your clothes are already getting tight and all of that.”

“Oh, there’s a little more to it.” She bit her lip. “Do you…do you want to see the ultrasound picture?”

My heart skipped. “Yeah, definitely.”

She picked up her purse off the floor and reached into the side pocket. She withdrew a small envelope, and from that, a picture that was maybe the size of an index card.

When she handed it to me, my mouth went dry. There it was. Literally, in black and white. Staring at the image, I struggled just to get my head around the reality of it all. Of course I’d known Carmen was pregnant and intellectually knew what that meant, but now there was actually a baby. A real, honest to God, unmistakable baby.

Our baby. Who would be here in a few months.

“Wow,” I whispered. I held out the picture to give it back, but she put up her hand.

“You can keep it,” she said. “I had them print a couple for me.” Her cheeks colored. “I thought, you know, you and Don might want one.”

“Oh. Okay, thanks.” I took the picture back and pulled my wallet out of my pocket. As I slid the ultrasound into the billfold, I said, “Listen, Don’s rotation is up today, so he’ll be home tonight. Feel free to give him a call, and I know he’ll be game for coming with you to see your folks.”

“I will. Thanks.” She grinned. “So, do I have to pay you for this?”

I laughed and waved a hand. “No, you don’t have to pay me.”

“I do appreciate it,” she said.

“Any time.” I leaned across the cushion and kissed her. “You know I’m always here for you.”

“Thank you.” She kissed me. Then we wrapped our arms around each other and sank into a long, tender kiss. My heart thundered and my head spun; just a gentle, sensual kiss like this was all it took for her to turn me on.

Not here, though. Much as I wanted to, we couldn’t do this here. I broke the kiss and met her eyes.

She smiled. Then she cleared her throat and looked at her watch. “I guess I should get out of your hair. We both have work to do, right?”

“Yeah, you’re probably right.” We both stood.

She paused, looking out the window. “Wow, you have quite a view from up here.”

“Yeah, it’s—” The words caught in my throat.

With the sheer curtains hanging over the window, the lightly filtered afternoon sun played with Carmen’s fair skin and picked out coppery highlights in her hair. Watching her now, mesmerized by her, I suddenly understood what people meant by that pregnant glow. I wasn’t sure I’d ever seen her looking so beautiful.

She glanced at me, then did a double take. “What?”

I cleared my throat. “Nothing.”

“You’re staring at me.”

“You’re right.” I stepped toward her. “I am.” Before she could speak, I cradled her face in both hands and kissed her.

For the longest couple of seconds of my life, we didn’t move. Had it not been for her body against mine, standing would have been impossible with the way my head spun and the floor lurched. It was an imbalanced feeling, like the world had suddenly shifted beneath my feet. Or had collided with another world.

Slowly, my equilibrium returned. Reality presented itself in the form of
yes, this kiss is happening
, and I gradually became aware of every place we made contact. Her hand was on the back of my neck, the other on my shoulder. I still cupped both sides of her neck, pressing my fingertips in as if I was afraid she’d pull away, but with each second, I relaxed. An uneven breath fluttered across my upper lip, though I couldn’t be sure whose it was. After a moment, she wrapped her arms around me, parting her lips as I deepened the kiss.

An eternity passed between heartbeats as our bodies moved closer together. Stubble hissed across soft skin, and fabric brushed across fabric, whispering
soon
to skin that ached to touch skin. Her hair was cool between my fingers, her palm was hot against the small of my back, and when she pulled me to her, my cock was rock hard and aching with the need to be inside her.

When we finally came up for air, we didn’t let go.

She rested her hands on the sides of my neck and touched her forehead to mine, panting against my lips. “Kiss me like that again, and we’re going to end up fucking right here in your office.”

“Promise?” I murmured and kissed her again.

Her fingers trailed down the sides of my neck to my shirt, then followed my collarbones and pushed my jacket over my shoulders. I let go of her just long enough to put my arms back and let my jacket drop to the floor.

“We can’t do this here,” she whispered.

“Why the fuck not?” I asked. “It’s my office. If I want to fuck someone…”

“But if someone hears us.”

“We’ll just have to be quiet.” I twisted her hair around my hand and tightened it until she whimpered. “There’s no one in here but you and me, and if I don’t fuck you—”

She grabbed the front of my shirt and kissed me.

It was impossible to say who led. She pulled my shirt, I pushed her with my body weight, and between the two of us, we made it to the wall. I shoved her up against it; she hauled me up against her. It occurred to me this position might not be comfortable for her, but she hooked her leg around my waist and pulled my hips to hers. Comfortable or not, she wanted this here and now, and I was damn sure going to give it to her.

Carmen moaned, her voice threatening to get dangerously loud when my receptionist and the other counselors were nearby. I silenced her with a kiss and pinned her wrist above her head. Then I did the same with the other and held them with one hand. My free hand teased her nipple through her blouse, and I caught every moan and whimper on my tongue as her body squirmed against mine.

Still kissing her, I slid my hand down her side to her skirt and gathered the material in my hand until my fingers found the bare skin of her thigh. As I parted her legs with my hand, she moaned against my lips and kissed me harder.

I pushed her panties aside. The wet heat of her pussy against my fingertips drove a groan from my lips, and my fingers drew a whimper from her as they slipped inside her. Another whimper when I pressed the heel of my hand against her clit.

Her wrists struggled against my grasp, so I released them. As soon as they were free, she went straight for my belt and zipper, and I couldn’t help moaning into her kiss as she unzipped my pants. Her fingers closed around my cock, and she stroked me in time with my hand’s slow, steady strokes inside her tight pussy, and she turned me on so damned much the whole room spun around me. Her hand, her pussy, the taste of her kiss, the scent of her. There was no way this was ending without both of us coming, or I’d go up in flames, I was sure of it.

She tightened around my fingers. Her hand tightened around my cock. Her back arched off the wall, and the breaths she released grew sharper, faster and hotter. A helpless sound thrummed against my lips, and her free hand clawed at my shoulder. She stroked me faster, her entire body tensing and trembling.