31 Days of Summer (31 Days #2) (22 page)

‘Why the hell did I have to fall in love with the
most stubborn and independent woman on the face of this planet, Ellie Baxter?’
I growled, as I stepped inside, yanked her aggressively to me and took her
mouth in a crushing embrace. I had so many questions, there was so much I
needed to know, I wanted to see our child, but most of all I wanted to taste my
woman again. Eleven months hadn’t lessened my desire for her. She’d be lucky if
I’d let her stay away from me for eleven hours from this moment on, whether she
liked it or not. Her warm soft body melded against mine, just how I remembered
it used to and she let out a startled moan as I prised her lips apart and
darted my tongue inside her mouth. Seconds later her arms were around my neck
and she’d jumped up onto me wrapping her lithe legs around my hips. I gripped
her backside with one hand and the back of her head with the other, while I
attacked her mouth with renewed vigour. We were frantic, ravenous for each
other and I was ready to ram her up against the wall and fuck her brains out,
but sex could wait. Meeting my son couldn’t. We both gasped for air as I pulled
my head back, lust and love surging through my veins.

‘You’re in love with me?’ she whispered with tears
in her eyes as I studied her face, a face I’d pictured every night in my
dreams. Dreams were usually better than reality, not mine.

‘From the moment I met you,’ I replied, as I
kissed her again. ‘I’m a bloody idiot for not telling you sooner. I don’t know
why I didn’t, I’m so sorry, baby.’

‘Don’t. I don’t care, you’re here now. Why exactly
are you here now?’ I could hear the fear in her voice.

‘I came for you and my son, if you think I’m
walking away without either of you, then you need to revise your life plan
because it’s not bloody happening. If you’re seeing someone, it’s over. I’ll
tell them if you can’t. You’re mine, Ellie. You’ve always been mine, even
before you met me. We’ve had so much bad luck in our lives, because it was
preparing us for each other. The last eleven months without you have been hell,
we’re not being parted again, got it?’ I didn’t give her a chance to object as
I backed her into the wall, anchoring her against it atop my spread thighs as I
clasped her face and took her mouth again. I couldn’t get enough of her and we
had some serious making up to do. My cock was throbbing and I smiled inwardly
to feel her grind against it. Her nipples had peaked and I could smell that
sweet scent of her flooding, preparing for me. I was startled from my intended
seduction, with the door still wide open for all to see, by a cry from upstairs
and she stiffened up on me as I broke away and looked at the stairs, as my heart
rate picked up.

‘How mad with me are you?’ she whispered, drawing
my attention back to her. I held her gaze as I stroked her defined cheekbones.

‘I won’t lie, I was surprised, disappointed that
you felt you couldn’t tell me but … honestly? I think going through it with you
would have killed me, Ellie. To have lived through it, worrying each day that I
was going to lose you?’ I blew out and shook my head. I’d truly been better off
in the dark. ‘I just hate that you’ve been all alone with no support, emotional
or financial.’

‘I … I didn’t know how you felt about me,’ she
objected. ‘You weren’t exactly forthcoming about your feelings.’

‘Then let me be perfectly clear. I love you, Ellie
Baxter. I’m in love with you, crazily, madly, can’t stop fucking thinking about
you, in love with you, and I’m never letting you go.’

‘You really mean that?’ Her eyes filled with tears
again. I nodded and kissed her, loving how her lips rose to meet mine, that she
needed me as much as I needed her.

‘If I had to choose between my company and
billions or you, we’d live in a tent by the waterfall in Scotland, just the
three of us. I don’t need anything else, I don’t need anyone else.’

‘There’s been no one else for me since you left, I
promise. I’ve missed you so much.’

‘I’ve missed you too. I’ve been breaking things to
get out my anger that I couldn’t have you.’

‘Not your hand again?’ she gasped as she twisted
her head and kissed my wrist. I shivered to feel her lips on my skin, shook my
head and smiled. ‘How did you know? How did you find out?’

‘A certain fiery redhead badgered my PA to death
until I took her call. To say I was surprised was an understatement. I thought
you were on the pill?’

‘I was, I didn’t try and trap you on purpose. I
was so sick in Scotland, the night before I was due to come home, it must have
messed up my system. I’m just so worried, you never wanted children, what if
you can’t handle him in your life?’

‘I never said I didn’t want children, Ellie. I
just couldn’t go through another pregnancy and birth again, not after Rebecca.’

‘I’m so sorry to have kept it from you,’ she
uttered, the pain written all over her face. I had some serious work ahead of
me, to make up for what I’d put her through since I’d left. My Ellie was
strong, even stronger than I thought she was. ‘I was so scared of stressing you
if I told you before, then when I had him I was scared of telling you. I
thought you’d go mad or try and take him away from me.’

‘I’d never have done that, I’ll
never
do
that. Children need their mothers, Ellie.’ I looked up again as there was a
louder cry from upstairs.

‘They need their fathers too, Dan. He’s hungry and
wondering where I am. Would you like to meet your son?’

‘Yes, very much,’ I nodded, as I felt a surge of
pride to hear her call him “your son.” As I turned to face her again I felt
sick. What if he didn’t like me? If he screamed his head off when I touched
him?

‘He’s going to love you,’ she smiled, as if
reading my mind. ‘Just like I do. Please don’t ever leave me again, I felt like
I was dying last time you left.’

‘Never,’ I confirmed sincerely with a final kiss,
before I set her down and shut the door behind me. I took her hand and led her
up to the lounge, wondering if she found it odd that she lived here now and I
was walking around like I owned the place. I chuckled to myself. I did own the
place, but it had never felt like home until I saw Ellie living here. I stalled
as I walked into the lounge with her in tow. In the corner was a playpen from
where a load of gurgling was coming. I swallowed hard and Ellie overtook me and
tugged on my hand, pulling me towards it.

‘Don’t be scared, he’s just a baby. But, in the
spirit of a fake disclaimer being no one’s friend, if he senses your fear he’ll
eat you alive,’ she teased making me laugh. We both froze and looked at each
other as a load of giggles came from the pen. A big smile spread across both of
our faces.

‘See he loves you already. He only started
giggling yesterday and only does it when he wants to, he doesn’t always laugh
when I laugh,’ she pouted. I released her hand as she stepped towards him,
while I hung back. I didn’t want to scare him. I had no damn experience with
kids, what if I was crap at this? I chastised myself. I didn’t like failing at
anything and no way was I going to fail at being a father. ‘Hello gorgeous,
were you laughing at your daddy?’ Ellie cooed. I could feel my breathing
quicken, as I watched her bending over the edge and craned my head, but all I
could see was a bundle of furry teddy bear heads. Tons of the damn things. She
straightened up and turned around and I swallowed hard. If I thought I loved
her before, I had no idea what my capacity for love was, until I saw her
carrying my son. My gorgeous son. He had my thick black hair, and Ellie’s big
round eyes and was smiling as he giggled and thrashed his arms and legs in
excitement. He was big. Not fat, but solid and seriously long. How the hell had
she carried him inside her? She was incredible. She kissed his cheek then
looked up at me and smiled. ‘Oliver, meet your father, Oliver Daniel Davenport,
but we need to call him Dan as I wasn’t sure I’d ever see him again and having
two Olivers in my life will get very confusing.’

‘Ellie … I … he’s …’ I completely choked. Not only
was I overcome with pride and emotion at seeing him for the first time, in her
arms as well, but for her to have called him Oliver, after me? She really
hadn’t stopped loving me.

‘Wow, daddy’s lost for words, that’s a first,’ she
laughed as she slowly made her way towards me and her face lit up as he started
giggling again, while my heart completely shattered. She stood just in front of
me as I stared at him. When his eyes looked up and met mine and he broke into
another smile, I reached up to wipe some tears from my face. I didn’t care
about my hard dominant male image right now, I was too full of emotion to care.
‘You can start by touching him, if it’s too much to hold him straightaway?’ she
offered. I nodded and lifted my hand and carefully stroked his soft hair. ‘He
loves gripping things,’ she added as she smiled up at me.

‘Ok,’ I whispered with a nod, as I wiped my face
again with both hands and held my index finger out in front of him. In an
instant he grabbed it, his tiny hand curling around it and squeezing tight.
‘He’s strong,’ I gasped.

‘I wonder who he gets that from?’ she laughed as
she bounced him up and down and made him giggle again. He quickly let go of my
finger and placed his chubby hand on her chest. ‘Another thing he gets from
you, he’s a breast man, I’m really sorry but he needs to feed.’ She nodded
towards the sofa and I followed them across and sat down next to her. ‘Am I
going to embarrass you now by breastfeeding him?’

‘It’s not the way I’ve been imagining seeing your
breasts again, but right now I’ll take what I can get,’ I smiled. Damn it if it
didn’t make my cock stiffen at the thought of it though. I watched with bated
breath as she hitched up her t-shirt and heard myself growl as she unhooked her
bra from the front and it fell away, unveiling her swollen nipples. ‘Fuck,
you’ve grown.’

‘Just a bit,’ she smiled as she blushed. ‘I’ve
worked so hard on getting back into shape, but they’re not going down, they
might not if I continue doing this.’

‘Got to say I’m not complaining,’ I smirked. Then
watched fascinated as Oliver latched onto her and sucked greedily. ‘What was it
like? Having him?’

‘Scary, painful, seriously painful because I
refused to have any medication, I bruised Brooke’s hand I was squeezing it so
hard as I screamed.’

‘Everything went ok?’ I asked, feeling a wave of
guilt that I hadn’t been there washing over me.

‘Perfectly, no complications at all and he was
heavier and longer than normal, and all his tests and checks are fine. He’s
incredibly healthy so you don’t have to worry,’ she smiled. ‘He’s also a really
good boy, he nearly sleeps through the night in case you’re worried about not
sleeping much tonight with him crying.’

‘Him crying wasn’t the reason I was planning on
little sleep,’ I advised with a wink. ‘If you were thinking of sleeping
tonight, forget it. I’ve never been so desperate to unload in you as I am right
now.’

‘And you’d so impressed me with that whole
romantic speech downstairs,’ she laughed, then suddenly chewed on her lip as
she held my gaze. ‘Are we really going to do this? Because I won’t survive you
walking away from me again.’

‘We
are
doing this,’ I confirmed. ‘I’ve no
idea how we’re going to do this, but we’ll work it out. We can talk tomorrow,
right now I just want to watch you both, to be with you both.’

‘Ok,’ she nodded, as she started crying.

‘What is it?’ I frowned as I reached over to wipe
her cheek.

‘I’m so happy,’ she whispered.

‘Me too,’ I nodded as I leaned over and kissed her
then stroked Oliver’s head as he went to town. He finally let up and she
propped him up against the cushion back as she did up her bra and tugged her
t-shirt down, then picked him up and held him, rubbing his back. I laughed as I
heard him belch, loudly.

‘Don’t you dare encourage him when he’s older,’
she warned.

‘O my God,’ I gasped. ‘What’s that smell?’

‘I think someone’s filled their nappy. Come on up
to the bedroom, you’d better start learning.’

I was horrified to see the amount of ...
crap
he expelled and how badly it smelled. She made everything look so easy and made
me kick off my shoes and sit back on the bed, then directed me how to hold my
arm and carefully placed him on it, against my chest and stepped back as she
wiped her face. Thank God they were happy tears, I could barely contain my
emotions again as I looked down at his little face gazing up at me wide eyed.
Cradled in my strong arm he looked so small and fragile. I patted the bed and
Ellie crawled up and snuggled into my side, my right arm wrapped around her as
she put an arm across my stomach and kissed my shirt over my heart.

‘You’re amazing with him,’ I uttered, in complete
awe.

‘You learn fast.’

‘I can’t believe you did it all alone.’

‘I didn’t. Brooke and Molly moved in to help me
during the worst times, when I was exhausted and emotional and he wanted
feeding all the time. They only moved out yesterday, I guess that’s why she
rang you.’

‘I don’t care why, I just care that she did.
You’re not alone anymore, ok?’

‘Ok,’ she nodded and I rubbed my hand up and down
her bare arm.

‘O God,’ I uttered, as Oliver wriggled and let out
an adorable yawn. I just sat watching him as he struggled to keep his eyes open
and eventually gave in and went to sleep. I looked at Ellie when I heard a
contented sigh and smiled. She’d fallen asleep on me as well. Sitting here now,
with the love of my life and my beautiful son, hadn’t been on my agenda when I
woke up this morning, but from now on they were going to be on it daily. I was
going to love and protect them better than anyone ever could.