Baby Fever Bride: A Billionaire Romance Page 22

  “Thanks, Melody,” I say, doing my damnedest not to let her know how much I don't need love advice. “Your help means a lot. If all goes well, I'll have her home in the next week.”

  “Okay, just hurry your ass up! It's New Year's Eve tomorrow. Last thing I want is my little girl spending another holiday all by her lonesome.”

  “She won't. Next time we talk, it'll be in person, and she'll be with us. Thank you again.” I hang up, and take a deep breath, pausing just long enough to pop a fresh pod in my coffee machine before I start dialing charter airlines.

  Unfortunately, the holiday bookings in the Chicagoland area screw me over. I find a jet that can get me as far as Seattle, but there's a big storm coming through the Cascades shortly after it lands, before I can find another way to go the last few hours to Portland.

  Involving Luke in my reunion is the last thing I want, but it looks like I don't have a choice. Five minutes on the line, and he agrees to pick me up in Seattle, in between shooting one last scene for the romantic comedy he's involved in, plus the flight lessons he's giving the local kids in community college.

  He reminds me I'm a 'lucky SOB' with his schedule. If it means having Penny back in my arms before midnight tomorrow, I just might be.

  Fifteen Hours Later

  “I appreciate you coming out here with me, especially after the flight,” I tell him. We're in a rental car, and I'm driving though the Portland 'burbs, into the forested country where the hills and trees start to rise wild.

  “Yeah, yeah. Just tell me I won't have to watch you and your woman suck face all night.”

  “We'll keep it behind closed doors,” I growl.

  “Gross. Not what I signed up for.” He looks at me sourly, before his lips twist in a smirk. “Believe it or not, I'm happy for you, bro. Grant told me how shook up you were when she skipped town. I'd rather see a smile on your face than save my ears from your lust.”

  “How did I get by without your class, brother?”

  Luke shrugs. “Chalk it up to the gal. You're a different man now, that's for sure.”

  “Different? How?” I glance at him out of the corner of my eye, while the GPS squawks about us closing in on our destination.

  He strokes his chin. “Alive, for one, like you haven't been since we lost dad. I think you got a little jaded, Hayds. Forgot what life was all about, and started going through the motions. You did business and went through women without even loving it, like Grant does, supposedly. This Penny, whoever she is, seems to have done a good job reminding you. And if I'm right, then hell, she's a keeper.”

  For once, I don't feel insulted by his on-the-chin observations. “I think you're right. I'm also glad you're coming around to my wife.”

  “We'll see, once I meet her.”

  We don't have to wait long. A few minutes later, I'm taking the car up the long driveway to the house on the hill, its big bay windows staring out into the wilderness.

  I kill the engine and step out. Luke drags his feet in the car, messing with his phone. I'm not waiting up, and thankfully, neither is my girl.

  I see the curtains moving next to the window upstairs. The door flies open about three seconds later. We're running for each other, breakneck speed, no brakes.

  She slams into my chest hard enough to leave a dent, and I don't even care. I've got her slung over my shoulder a second later, listening to her laughter, adding my own to the chaotic reunion.

  It's amazing because I started to doubt it'd ever happen in our darkest hour. I've never been this happy to be wrong, or to see the sun rising, and its new name is Penny Shaw.

  “God, Hayden. I missed you. Missed you so fucking –“

  Too much.

  I don't let her finish. My lips are too busy showing her how much I missed her in a long, searching, napalm hot kiss. It's teeth on lips and heat on souls. It's love and loss, grief and hope. A hundred highs and lows shoved together in sixty frantic seconds.

  She tastes good. Tastes real. Tastes like she's mine, and I'm never, ever going to let her forget it.

  “I've brought everything to back me up, if there's anything you need to know,” I say, as soon as we break for oxygen.

  Her eyes narrow, happier than her smile. “Are you serious? I saw everything yesterday. Mom told me you'd be coming.”

  “Damn, and here I wanted to surprise.” I wink, pulling her into my arms, marveling at how soft and sweet she is, right where she belongs. Has the hell we've suffered made us love more? “Let's go inside before you catch cold. Need you in peak shape for the catching up we've got to do.”

  My eyes roll down her lips, down her throat, doing a quick glance at the cleavage showing through her robe. She grins, touches her forehead to mine, and I slide my fingers through her hair. Soft as silk, just like I expect. Just as good as it was before at making my cock twitch.

  “I'll make us some coffee,” she whispers, tempting me a dozen times with her bright green eyes.

  Sweet fuck, how I've missed them.

  There's so much more to say, but not out here. I can't wait to lay her down, get her under me, and tell her everything that's been building up for weeks with long, deep strokes. Then with kisses, fists in hair, my tongue exploring every damned inch of her.

  There's a language every man ought to know when he claims his girl for good, and it's all in the flesh.

  “Can't a guy get a normal introduction before he has to take a piss in a stranger's house?” Luke. I've already forgotten him.

  I stiffen, doing a slow turn, my hand on Penny's spine. “Love, I'd like you to meet my little brother, Luke. He's the reason I'm standing here in front of you, instead of getting stranded by the storm.”

  “Of course, the actor-pilot!” she says, racing forward. “It's so good to finally meet you. I owe you for bringing him back. I'd have started driving to Chicago myself, if you hadn't come, after I heard the news. Wind, snow, rain, or shine.”

  “Pleasure.” He takes her hand, giving me a smug look. “And I mean it, too. Hayds never said he landed a fox with a mouth on her. Lucky he found you first.”

  She beams. I step between them, taking my woman's hand, a low growl building in my throat. “We'll talk more inside so you can get to the bathroom, Luke. But first, there's something this hand's missing.”

  I reach into my pocket. Penny bristles, her skin warming as soon as the ring appears. I grab her hand, gently hook her finger in mine, and slide it into its rightful place.

  It sparkles, even beneath today's overcast skies. We walk, heading into her picturesque cabin.

  It's a perfect spot because everything else is.

  “Missed you like hell, love. I missed this.” Somewhere, my old self is laughing at the sappy, warm pillow talk flowing out of me while we're nestled in her bed upstairs, closer than ever.

  New me doesn't care. I suppress a growl and embrace her tighter, hellbent on making sure she's never out of my sight again.

  “I missed you, too.” Smiling, she runs her hand across my chest.

  Her touch electrifies, but it's taming as well. Even the lion inked on my bare skin doesn't look so ferocious when her wedding ring brushes his mane.

  Her bright green eyes stare at me through the darkness, drinking me in. It's a longing look, but there's something else. “What is it?” I ask, running my fingers through her red locks.

  “There's something I have to tell you. I was going to save it until we got back to Chicago, after we saw your brother off at the airport tomorrow...”

  “Luke? Forget him. Good, bad, whatever it is, he'll be oblivious. He's too busy itching to be back in Hollywood to care about anything happening with us.”

  “Hayden...” Her fingers grip mine, and pinch shut. I cup her cheek, holding and caressing her face, wondering why she's staring at me like she's wrestling the weight of the world. “I took the test a few days ago, when I wasn't sure what would happen with you and Brie.”

  I stiffen. “And? What did it show?”

  T
he pause before her next words is the longest I've ever heard in my life. “Positive. We're going to have a little boy or girl.”

  It takes several seconds to process what she's said. When it finally hits, it comes down hard. Then I'm laughing, rolling on the bed, pulling her in, holding her while she squirms on top of me.

  “You think it's funny, holding out on me? Christ, girl. Next time you've got news like that, you tell me the second I'm in your face.” Half my words are muzzled by my lips chasing after hers, landing kisses. Each taste makes me crave more. “A father! Fuck, I knew there was a chance we'd make it happen soon, but holy shit.”

  “Yeah. Get used to it. I think we're way past the time for any second thoughts.” She smiles, leaning in, teasing me with her lips just out of reach.

  “Come on. If you don't think I'm the happiest bastard in the world right about now, and the luckiest, then maybe I need to show you, Penny-love.”

  “Maybe,” she whispers.

  Just like that, her skin gets several degrees hotter to the touch. I've had my cock on a short leash all night, and now it's off the chain. I can't hold back.

  Laughing, kissing, rolling, I flip her over. Her robe opens underneath my searching hands. I'm happy to see there's nothing underneath, ever since we came upstairs. My mouth finds her nipple, pulls it in, and rolls it against my tongue.

  Sweet bliss. I hear it in her breath, feel it in her fingernails raking down my shoulders.

  Every damn inch of me tingles. I want to kiss, lick, bite, and own the woman I've knocked up.

  I need to be in her, tonight and forever, renewing our wedding vows in sticky, devoted heat. She purrs when I plump her other breast with my hand. My cock rubs her slick pussy through my boxers, grazing the wetness, hungrier than it's ever been.

  I can't fucking wait to taste her. The next kisses trace a line down her belly, into her thighs. I stop next to her pussy lips, spreading them with my fingers, and breathe.

  She whimpers like she's about to come, just having my hot breath on her alone. Has she forgotten my tongue?

  I'll remind her. My mouth claims her cunt like a famished wolf. Sucking, licking, savoring her sweetness, fucking my tongue into her with a rabid will to bring her back to me for good, one O at a time.

  Doesn't take long to bring her over the edge. I'm smiling when it happens, grinning through her shaking legs in my hands, my mouth completely buried in her soft convulsions.

  “Fuck, Hayden – yes!” I know I've done my job because she's lost her speech, everything except the grunting, panting, beautifully basic words.

  I look up, gazing into her eyes before they pinch shut, giving her a warning as she chews the corner of the pillow to stifle her cries. Bite it hard, love, if you don't want Luke to hear us down the hall. That's for you. I don't give a damn if he does.

  Penny belongs to me. Every inch of her tender flesh, every curse, every time she cries out to me. Every single O I fuck into her lush body with my fingers, my tongue, my length, driving her flesh to come on mine like it's the only thing I care about.

  We're one.

  Memories. Heartaches. Every time we rolled the dice and beat the odds, and kicked them while they were down, the billionaire and his make believe bride, building something bright and real out of our twisted fairy tale.

  And now she's having my kid. I think about how this body I'm worshipping is going to change over the next nine months. Thinking about her tits growing bigger, darker, and swelling thanks to me causes my cock to throb like a lightning bolt crawled inside me.

  I need to be in my wife, my woman, the mother of my kid, and many more to come.

  Soon as she's stopped trashing on my tongue, I rear up and spread her legs, anchoring the aching tip of my cock next to her opening. She's still gasping for air, but the look she gives me says don't stop.

  “Please. Fuck me.” Three simple words. “I love you.”

  Six words. Top contenders for most beautiful in the English language in the Hayden Shaw dictionary.

  I push through her folds and root myself deep in her soft, sucking cunt. She's wet, tight, and all mine. My brain feels like it's going to explode if I don't start moving. My hips roll forward, all instinct, and my hands squeeze her ankles, pinning her legs to my shoulders.

  Thrusting. Growling. Fucking.

  We lose ourselves in each other all over again, love and lust colliding. Everything wells up inside us, faster with every stroke.

  I fuck with the fear I had a week ago, thinking I'd lose her, imagining two underhanded bitches torching everything I ever loved and worked for.

  I fuck with hope. Each time I drive into her, I see a hundred tomorrows, how I'll take her again and again in the years to come.

  I'm between her legs next Christmas, watching our first born marvel at the best of the season for the first time. I'm bending her over on Valentine's Day, after we're dressed to the nines, thoroughly wined and dined, with only our carnal hunger left for the night.

  I fuck her in the present, too. Here, today, in this little Cascades retreat. Bringing her off with every two dozen strokes, quickening the fire in my balls, the need to pump it hot and deep, just like I'm going to do when I give her three or four more kids. Hell, maybe ten.

  Zeno? I don't fucking care. I'm working on that problem, and I'll see it through. There's no stopping us. Just like how I'm about to unload in her with every muscle howling for release.

  I'm pounding through her second orgasm on my cock, and she's biting my chest. Her little teeth sink into my skin, right above my lion's mane, and my balls are on fire. I've got no more than ten more strokes before I lose it.

  I make each and every one count. I grab her legs, hoist her up, and slam myself into her so hard I think we're about to break through the bed. Shit, maybe through the floor itself.

  “Hayden!” My name comes out of her in a whimper when I reach down, frigging her clit. Penny's beautiful green eyes go white as she hits the zone.

  Her sweet cunt clenches my dick so hard I'm seeing stars. Explosive, red, hot, and eternal. I'm coming in her for what seems like an eternity, grinding my teeth, mangling her name while my balls spit lava, turning my spine into a long twitching fuse. Pleasure races up it, hits my brain, and demolishes me in waves.

  When it's over, we're both a panting, well fucked mess. I tangle my fingers around her hair, pull her closer, and soften her lips with mine again and again.

  I can't get enough of my wife. I'll never stop kissing this woman, whether I'm rock hard or soft. Somehow, she tastes even better now that I know I've planted my seed.

  We're entranced in each other all night long.

  We alternate sleep, sex, and lots of love rolling off our lips. I start drifting off sometime after midnight, totally spent, my fingers still locked in hers, one arm slung over her shoulder. She's using my chest as a pillow, and I love it.

  “Sleep well, love. Now that you're back in my arms, you're going to be doing it every damned night.”

  15

  No More Make Believe (Penny)

  Two months later

  It's here. Today we're getting the wedding reception we should have had before, full of family, friends, and luxury. Then we're taking a honeymoon to Paris, on a jet that probably costs more than every house on the block where I grew up.

  I'm wearing white. It's a trimmed down version of my wedding dress, altered by Audrey, the same woman who prepped everything for our make believe wedding the first time. It feels like a decade ago.

  I'll have my hair done late in the morning before we head off to the event, but first Hayden wants to see me downtown.

  I'm not sure why. When I asked, he just smiled, and said there's a wedding present that's only fit for the two of us. Apparently, I have to receive it at the big, glossy lab on the city's outskirts.

  Reed drives us through downtown traffic, and holds the door while I walk in. The receptionist smiles when I give her my name. She leads me to the elevator, which takes me up to an of
fice on the third floor.

  I wonder if I'm in the right place because I don't see Hayden, or anyone else, waiting to greet me. A man who's lounging in the little row of benches near the elevator jumps to his feet when he sees me walk through.

  “Right this way, Mrs. Shaw! We've been expecting you.” He extends a clammy hand. “I'm Dr. Thomas, lead researcher in the Aphrodite Project.”

  “Great. Mind telling me what we're doing here?”

  He raises his eyebrows, and doesn't miss a step down the hall as I struggle to keep up after him in my heels. “I'm afraid Mr. Shaw insisted I leave that part to him. He'll explain everything as soon as we're where we need to be. Right this way.”

  Aphrodite Project? What's with the weird secrecy? I feel like I've just stepped into Area 51.

  About ten more paces, the doctor stops and opens a door. Inside, it's like any other office with a long table, glass windows, a TV, and a couple white boards.

  My husband sits at the head of the table, smiling. He's got three women I've never seen in my life next to him.

  “Sit down, love,” he says, standing up and pulling out a chair. He waits for me and the doctor to take our seats before he sits himself back down and continues. “Now that you're here, I'd like to introduce Maria, Francesca, and Kelly. The first three women in the world to test Zeno negative after having the disease. You're going to be the fourth.”

  “Cured? What? How?' I blink, speechless, choking on a thousand questions.

  “My money, his good work.” Hayden points at Thomas with his thumb. “I'll let him take the briefing from here. Can't say I know jack about medicine beyond the basics.”

  “I'm pleased to report we'll be fast tracked for clinical trials by the FDA later this year, Mrs. Shaw. These were our first candidates to complete the experiments overseas. Results have been simply stunning. We're tracking ten more treatments for Zeno positive women in Eastern Europe and the Caribbean. So far, their systems are making the same full recovery,” Dr. Thomas says, straightening his spectacles. “The cure was deceptively easy. Selective gene editing to strength the immune response in the T-548 chain...”